Episode 265 (Transcript): Let Your Life Speak | A Conversation with Jenny Richards
Episode Transcript
Many thanks to listener Annie Colón for her work in transcribing this episode!
This episode can be found on any podcast app or can be listened to here on our website as well. All the notes and resources we cited in the episode are found at this link as well:
JR: I also want to just include that when we spoke of the divine rescuer, I felt like I was hitting the limits of what was possible within our faith tradition. This call to chaplaincy has also opened this ability that is rare for a woman in the church to offer spiritual counsel to men. And as a chaplain, there is this sense of anonymity.
I’m not a therapist that’s going to follow up with further visits, and I’m not clergy, but I’m someone that can represent a spiritual authority and a space in which men and women have both confessed and had me hold space with them in their existential worries and fears. And LDS men, non-LDS men, men of no faith, I have encountered all of these types of individuals that need a spiritual authority to talk them through things.
And that’s a rare opportunity for an LDS woman.
SH: Hello, I’m Susan Hinkley.
CW: And I’m Cynthia Winward.
SH: And this is At Last She Said It. We are women of faith discussing complicated things, and the title of today’s episode is Let Your Life Speak, a conversation with Jenny Richards. Hello, Jenny.
JR: Hi, Susan and Cynthia.
CW: Welcome. We’re so glad to have you.
JR: Thank you.
SH: Yeah, we’re pretty excited for this conversation, and our listeners are soon going to understand why we are so excited because it’s gonna be awesome.
CW: Yes. Yes.
SH: But we want to start by letting you take a minute or two just to give us a little introduction, maybe something to give some context to why we’re having this conversation today and let our listeners know anything about yourself that you would like them to know.
JR: All right. Well, thank you for having me on. I have been an avid listener for all six years.
CW: Wow.
JR: And you’ve been companions along my own journey, which we’ll talk about a little bit today. So I am coming to you from the hub, Salt Lake City. And I am currently a hospital chaplain intern, and we’ll talk a little bit about the road that has led me there.
But I grew up right here in Salt Lake. My musical pursuits held me for my first half of life. I did an undergrad and a master’s at Juilliard in piano.
SH: Wow.
JR: I married my high school sweetheart, and we moved to New York to start our marriage, which is highly recommended. We have lived on the East Coast for about 13 years as he was doing medical school and residency, and I was keeping the lights on, teaching piano, and playing gigs.
We have four kids. We have two sons, two daughters, exceptional humans, all on their own journeys.
And I would say that there are moments in life that open you up to new understanding, new direction, and expansion of faith. And I’ve had several of those that we can talk about. But, I continue to pursue greater knowledge, greater understanding.
I went back to school and got a master’s in Theological Studies at the Franciscan School of Theology. and in a crazy pivot, I am about to start at Duke Divinity School this fall-
SH: Wow!
JR: for an M.Div. So, life is so weird. Maybe the last thing I’ll say in an introduction is I really have this obsession with inflatable dinosaur costumes.
And any chance, any chance I have to either wear one or encourage my loved ones to wear one, it is the ultimate source of joy in my life.
CW: This just gives me the best visual in my head right now of -
SH: That’s pretty good.
