Amanda Udis-Kessler

Amanda Udis-Kessler is not only a musician, but she's a sociologist, a social ethicist, a theologian, and a writer, and it's her writing that brings her here to us today.

David and Jenny Heitler-Klevans have been doing music together as Two of a Kind for around 3 decades. Rooted mostly in the Folk-Americana genre, they have focused on children & family music, 9 albums of it, in addition to a CD for grown-ups. They've garnered 6 Parents' Choice and 3 Creative Child Magazine awards, and a lot more.

Amanda Udis-Kessler is a music-creation fountain whose recent project is QueerSacredMusic.com, 60-plus songs beginning with sacred music relative to LGBTQ concerns, but enriched by the spiritual experiences relative to the arrival of COVID-19 and the nationwide uprising against racism and other injustices. Amanda's theology is open, accepting, and rooted in a universal love, and is enriched by the training and talents of her Ph.D. in Sociology, her time in seminary, and her wide and deep lyrical and musical creativity. Raised as a secular Jew, her never-ending spiritual pilgrimage has included sojourns and enrichment with the UU, Quakers, UCC, Buddhism, Bahá'í, and much more.

Amanda Udis-Kessler is part of EverySoul, and their music has a message, often a counterpoint to narrow, doctrinaire, theology and thought. Having explored the highways & byways of the religious & spiritual world, Amanda identifies as Unitarian-Universalist, appreciating diverse points of view, but strongly rooting in love & hope. Her song, The Difference, was a finalist in the Songs for Social Change 2017 of RAWA.org. She is Director of Assessment and Program Review at Colorado College.