Student Spotlight: April Kling Meyer
Name April Kling Meyer
Year of ordination/graduation: 2022
What made you decide to study with OneSpirit?
I had just moved from the US to Ireland and was working with Garreth Higgins on promoting that year’s New Story Festival when the pandemic changed everything in terms of paid work, which threw me for a giant identity curveball. I had only just begun to answer my calling into spiritual transformation and facilitation when I got that gig, and the pandemic gave me a new perspective on answering that deep inner voice. I began inquiring with my teammates about seminary, and someone suggested I look in to OneSpirit.
What have been the highlights of your learning with us?
When I moved abroad from a city and a state and a country I’d lived in for most of my life, I suddenly experienced the shock of having no community and nowhere to turn for support. Nine months later, we were forced into lockdown, and a year into that, I moved to a different part of Ireland, obliterating what little community I had built in Ireland thus far. I am happy to say that OneSpirit provided a sense of community for me throughout these last almost two years, and I’m joyfully surrounded in true friends and collaborators here.
What are you looking forward to about becoming a minister?
A feeling of accomplishment, finally naming what has always been my calling, finally being what it is I feel I truly am in the world, making that real and very official.
What would you say to anyone thinking of studying with us?
It’s an absolute joy to be on this journey. You can give as much as or as little as you like– lean into it, lean forward fully, or even lean back at times and let yourself be fully supported. You’ll always get back more than you put into it.
You’ve told us about your interest in creativity and spirituality, where did that start?
Yes, my mission, my movement, and now I can say “my ministry” is called Creativity is Spirituality, which began three years ago when I obtained my first of several different certifications in expressive arts facilitation– the act of creating sacred space to allow self and others to fully express embodied emotion through intuitive painting, interpretive dance, or improvisational music. It was in those trainings when I received my calling to become ordained. I am so glad I am on an interfaith path to ordination, because creativity and spirituality belong to everyone, regardless of their faith path, and we can all find commonality there.
How has your interest in creativity and spirituality evolved over time? How do you put it into practice?
It began with expressive arts. Since then, it has expanded to help people “Reclaim Creativity” through expressive arts, “Reclaim Spirituality” through spiritual counselling, “Devote to Sacred Self” through guided journaling, and “Integrate with Subconscious” through dream work. Before my move abroad, that involved producing events with trusted collaborators, but since moving abroad and the pandemic, that has involved quietly creating an arsenal of media– I’ve been hard at work producing a podcast and I’m about to publish a couple of different workbooks, in addition to my own vast body of creative writing and artwork. The link to the podcast is anchor.fm/aprilklingmeyer if you’d like to check it out.
How do you feel this specialist area will benefit you as a minister?
I feel strongly that the work of Creativity is Spirituality is moving into peacebuilding. I really feel like the spiritual side of creativity and the creative side of spirituality hold powerful healing potential for peacemaking and conflict resolution, for individuals and relationships, all the way up to the whole world as a collective.
Is there anything else you’d like to add or share with us?
I’m always looking for clientele as well as collaborators, so if any of what I’ve mentioned here resonates, visit linktr.ee/aprilklingmeyer, where you’ll find a menu of ways to contact me and engage with my work.
