Sana’s Story: Reclaiming My Faith with 40 Orchards
For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope. Romans 15:4 (NIV)
I have a complicated relationship with the Bible. The church I grew up in had Bible study for kids and adults, but I have no real memory of them. (They must not have been memorable. 🙂) But I knew as a child the major stories and characters: Adam and Eve, Cain and Able, Noah and the Ark, Moses and his people, David and Goliah, Ruth and Esther, Samson and Delilah, Jonah and the Whale, Jesus, Lazarus, etc. My parents read the Bible – not to us but to themselves – and I read the Bible by myself but I didn’t understand much. I still own the Spirit-filled, King James, leather bound Bible my then boyfriend gifted me for Christmas in 1995! It lives on my bookshelf 30 years later as a relic of my past life.
It wasn’t until I was in seminary that I began to dig deep into the Bible. I had migrated from an evangelical pentecostalism to a Unitarian Universalism with Buddhist leanings and then finally to progressive Christianity intermingled with ancestral Earth-based traditions and ancestral veneration. Seminary helped me come out as pluralistic and a multiple belonger. The return to the faith tradition of my youth was met with almost an immediate call to preach, which meant I better know something about the Bible.
Seminary became a next step in my journey to ordination and becoming a pastor. And although I love my Bible classes there, I found myself one night searching for another type of Bible study – the kind I didn’t find in church or seminary. I honestly wasn’t sure what I was looking for when I found 40 Orchards online but there it was – it was something I knew I needed, but like many things, I didn’t immediately enroll in a circle. It took meeting Lisa at my CPE (clinical pastor education) site years later and continuing to feel dissatisfied with my solo and church Bible studies that pushed me to learn more.
40 Orchards is like no other experience I have had with the Bible. I knew within the first 15 minutes of my first Circle something in my heart was healing in my love-hate relationship with the Bible. There was something about the way Stephanie and Lisa held space, brought knowledge, compassion and sensitivity to the conversation, asked curious questions and simply just listened, that I knew, even though we were studying the Bible as it should be – allowing space for curiosity and questions – we were healing old wounds in the process. The Bible stopped feeling like a weapon and more like a wise friend.
Although I grew up in the faith, I still consider myself a new Christian. The decade plus I spent away from Church and the Bible gave me a healthy dose of amnesia from traditional Biblical interpretation. And this has helped me to look at Scripture with fresh eyes. 40 Orchards gave me permission to reclaim my faith, my love of Jesus and the Christian Bible. Someone in a Circle said that the Bible isn’t an instruction manual or rule book but is a complex book of books that has us uncover the sacred, the whole and the good. I couldn't agree more. Through 40 Orchard and its Circles, I remember who I am in the great stories of our spiritual ancestors. I remember that our job on Earth is to make meaning and there are many meanings we can make from scripture. I remember the truth – my truth, God’s truth and our collective truths – without sacrificing the need for wonder, resistance, and freedom of thought.
Sana DelCorazón (she/they) is the queer daughter of Puerto Rican migrants who grew up Pentecostal in Philadelphia, PA. Sana graduated from United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities with a Master’s in Divinity in 2024 and is ordainable pending call -- meaning she is looking for a job! She is a licensed clinical social worker, trained policy analyst, spiritual director, life coach, writer, weight lifting enthusiast, community organizer, PTO president, and perpetual student of life. She co-parents her curious and creative preteen with lots of patience. They reside in South Minneapolis.
Sana’s journey highlights the ways 40 Orchards nurtures curiosity, community, and spiritual growth. See the full year-end letter and make your year-end gift to support this work in 2026.
