Over the course of an eclectic career, Debra Thorne has played many roles: actor, educator and even an angry 12-foot earthworm.
Now she's preparing for a new role as Beacon Unitarian Church's minister. And her ordination on Oct. 6 at the Pensioner's Hall is a onetime-only performance.
"It's quite a thrill - you only ever have one of these in a lifetime," said Thorne, 57.
When she's ordained at the ceremony set for Sapperton, it will be a significant milestone on a spiritual journey of self-discovery that started after she had an epiphany aboard a bus bound for Vancouver.
"I had an epiphany on the bus when I was 20 that I was a spiritual person," said Thorne. "But I didn't know what that really was or how to go about doing it."
It's appropriate Thorne had this flash of insight on a bus - she also had a Trans-Canada childhood. Born in Vancouver, she and her family moved first to the Okanagan and then to Montreal while she was in high school.
As an actor, Thorne has worked in pretty much every major city in Canada (as well as many small towns) performing with touring companies.
Her acting career started at the Vancouver Playhouse Acting School. Thorne went on to work in children's theatre with companies like Carousel Theatre. She took on the role of teacher at Langara College's Studio 58 and has also taught at Vancouver Film School. All the while, she was acting and directing.
At the same time, Thorne was also busy writing and in 1991 mounted a one-woman show called "The Garden." She played three characters, including a 12-foot earthworm with an attitude.
Nature and the environment were essential elements in Thorne's spiritual growth.
"I found a way to be connected to the spirit of life," she said. "I would go to Queen Elizabeth Park and commune with a certain stand of trees and listen to my intuition."
Listening to her intuition led her inside the Unitarian Church of Vancouver on West 49th Avenue while out for a Sunday stroll. Thorne walked in, sat down and had another one of those intense spiritual experiences.
"I had found my home - my heart cracked open," she said.
Unitarianism believes in the inherent goodness of people and encourages members to seek out their own system of beliefs and ethics. These beliefs range from those who describe themselves as atheists and humanists to others who follow religious traditions like Buddhism.
Thorne has found a perfect fit for her spiritual sensibilities. She became more and more active in the congregation. She became a Lay Chaplain, and then studied for two years at the Vancouver School of Theology before taking a break to raise her daughters.
Thorne resumed her theological studies at the Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago. After five years and an internship at a Unitarian-Universalist congregation in Port Townsend, Wash., she felt ready to take on the challenge of becoming minister at Beacon Unitarian Church.
Beacon has served the New Westminster-Tri-Cities communities as a congregation dedicated to social justice and equality since its founding in 1982. Thorne's ordination will see Beacon play host to guests from all over B.C., the Pacific Northwest and the Prairies. No fewer than four choirs will sing.
How does she think she'll feel?
"I can't say how I'll feel but I know it will be intense,” she said. “I believe in the power of ritual - it's transformational. It's going to be hard to stay grounded and not weep my way through the whole thing."
