Holy Hellion: Meet Dawn Bennett

Rev. Dawn Bennett is a speaker, preacher, author, chaplain, and self-proclaimed "holy hellion." She's traveled with us via long-distance friendship through the ups and downs of life on both our end and hers, doing our shared work of speaking divine love and healing into a hurting world. We think you'll love her as much as we do, so let's jump right in to the interview!

Over the past few years you experienced the painful dissolution of an innovative queer faith community (The Table) and accepted a call to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. You gave yourself grace and space to heal and reset, and now Advent Lutheran Church in Murfreesboro, TN is super lucky to have you. Tell us a bit about your ministry there.

Thank you for naming the difficulty of the last few years. Before I talk about Advent, I would like to make a clarification that I'm still giving myself, grace and space to heal and reset. It has merely been two years and I realize how far I still have to go in my healing journey.

Advent Lutheran Church is 40 minutes to the east of Nashville on the way to Chattanooga. It is a very warm and friendly congregation in a (sadly) candy-apple red county. As I learn my way around geographically, I'm also learning about safe spaces. There are very few as the county itself is conservative and the politics are unfriendly toward LGBTQIA+ people. That said, there is a vibrant queer community there and lots of allies who have made serving there a delight.

Advent is more of a traditional congregation. "Cradle to grave" we say. There are people of all ages. It is predominantly white, but we do our best to make sure that when people of color come they have a beautiful experience.

Your website states that you offer Trauma Informed Spiritual Care. What does that work entail?

I'm a clinically trained chaplain and choose to focus my work on trauma and recovery as well as resilience practices. To be a trauma-informed spiritual practitioner is a different approach to pastoral care. It asks different questions: primarily, who was harmed? What do they need in order to heal? And, what can I/we do to participate in that healing? Trauma-informed and resilience-focused practices don't focus on who is to blame but rather center instead on the healing that is needed in order to restore health and wellness. To that end, I meet with individuals, do trainings for groups, and speak at civic events and advocacy circles on religious trauma and what pastors, congregations, and groups can do to be part of the remedy of healing religious harm.

Your social media posts frequently contain content related to mental health, and I'm deeply appreciative of the way you interweave spirituality and emotional wellness. Has this combination always been part of your approach to ministry?

Yes, I would say it has always been part of my ministry. I've been working a 12-step recovery program for codependence for nearly 25 years. I find 12-step traditions and practices practical and useful for addressing "people problems. Centering mental health is the seed work that helps to germinate wellness in other areas of our life.

In one post, you said "I am a person who has struggled to laugh most of my life." Tell us more.

From a very young age I became acquainted with traumatic experiences. One of my brothers was hit by a car when I was a small child. So, I grew up with a special-needs brother. That changed the trajectory and the fiber of our family. Both my parents were small business owners and between being a latchkey kid and being surrounded by severe special needs, life was pretty serious for me from a young age. It's not that I don't love to laugh. It's just that I didn't learn how to laugh very often. I have worked very diligently in my adult life to find humor and be humorous. Truth be told, I'm very goofy in my private life so I enjoy cutting up when I'm in safe spaces.

You recently posted a picture of a list of promises related to co-dependents anonymous. This could be a whole interview of its own, but for now I'll ask this: Does/did codependency introduce additional, specific challenges to a life of ministry?

I won't say it introduced additional or specific challenges to ministry. What it did do though, is awaken my practicality approach toward ministry. I firmly believe that relationship with the self and relationship with God is the healthy soil that fosters growth into healthy relationships with others.

In the queer community, particularly, we have a tendency to become very enmeshed in other people's lives. Because of rejection, abandonment, and fear-inducing experiences and other circles that we move in, I sometimes think we put too high of expectations on relationships with our siblings in the queer community. People are people. And people are messy. So I have always worked recovery principles, particularly around codependence and healthy relationship building as well as healthy conflict resolution practices into my ministry. I find that when I weave them together, rather than address them individually, the impact is not only deeper, but more powerful. It builds capacity and sticktoitness.

Each of us deserves to live our best life. That's what we were created to do.

Your son is transgender, and you're a member of the queer community as well as being an ally. How has the current political climate impacted your ministry and chaplaincy?

Many folks from my first call left Tennessee because of the fear-mongering and the physical danger that they live in, particularly our trans folks. The current political climate is dastardly. Full stop. I really don't know how the politicians sleep at night, much less look themselves in the mirror.

My ministry and chaplaincy centers the well-being of people so I do my best to meet them where they are in any given crisis or challenge. We start naming the realities of the lived experience of that individual. We will do some breathing and grounding exercises. And then I will ask some open-ended questions and give them an opportunity to relieve isolation and anxiety through storytelling. I always end my spiritual care sessions with an action plan because I believe that empowers people to be part of their own remedy.

Has there been an increase in emotional and spiritual crisis in your circles?

I think it's fair to say there has been an increase in emotion on spiritual crisis in every circle. This government administration is the worst I have seen. People are literally afraid to go out and live spontaneously. Not to mention, the economic situation has increased their feelings of crisis.

How do you mitigate the toll crisis care takes on your own well being, and how might we all apply those techniques in our current struggles?

There's not a whole lot I can do to mitigate someone's economic situation, but meeting them where they are emotionally and mentally in such a way that we can take some inventory of life on life's terms. Once we've done that vulnerable work together, we can then move forward at building and strategizing ways to live one day at a time; to find joy where one can find it; to have an accountability plan that is shared with at least one other person; and most importantly, find a way to celebrate oneself at least one time every day for at least 5 minutes.

That was a whole bunch of heavy questions! What do you do for fun? What brings you queer joy?

What I do for fun is spend as much time outside as I can. I was raised on an island and living in Tennessee where I'm landlocked often makes me feel claustrophobic. So I spend a great amount of time hiking and walking through parks and looking at wildflowers and birds. I also love to listen to music and have a very wide library. Many folks are shocked to find some of the songs on my playlist. I suppose it's strange to have Eminem back to back with Gregorian chants and '50s Motown music; and then without a blink, transition to dubstep and jazz. For me, that's pretty natural.

What are your dreams and goals for the next 2 years? 5 years? 10 years?

The next few years I hope to expand the ministry at Advent Lutheran Church. The church had a really rough go during the covid years and we are in a season of revisioning. So I'm excited to help them discover their new identity and grow and expand in directions to make a bigger impact in their surrounding area. I would love, at some point, to move deeper into chaplaincy as it is my first love.

Can we expect more books?

I'm very excited to tell you I have already begun another book in the series, A Seat at The Table and this one will focus on "moral injury." I didn't plan to write a sequel, but the feedback has been wonderful and that book has been helping so many people. I recognized some areas where I could really provide some important education and advocacy. I'm discerning the path forward but I do believe music is going to be an important aspect. Music is a universal language that heals the soul.

Any big adventures on the horizon?

The biggest adventure upcoming is a trip to Egypt in January 2027! I'm working on my doctorate and I'll be going there on an inter-religious learning seminar. I get to climb Mount Sinai, among other really cool things! I hope it's more impressive than a big pile of grass-covered dirt. It has been several thousand years though since Moses was there, after all.

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About Rev. Dawn Bennett

Rev. Dawn Bennett is a dynamic preacher, pastor and public faith leader. She is a clinically trained trauma chaplain and public theologian working at the intersections of faith, trauma, healing and the greater threats to communities from the power abuses of organized religion. ​She is a compassionate leader with over 20 years of experience in spiritual development, community engagement, and interfaith dialogue.

Her book A Seat at the Table lifts the voices of members of her innovative, alternative, queer church model called The Table, which closed in October 2024.

You can learn more about Dawn at her website: https://www.revdawnbennett.com/copy-of-spiritual-care-coaching-1