A Spiritual Home for Seekers, Questioners, and Pilgrims
Welcome.
This website is a place for people who are searching for a spirituality that is open, compassionate, questioning, inclusive, and alive.
You do not have to leave your questions at the door.
You do not have to pretend to believe something simply because someone told you that you should.
And you do not have to fit neatly into a religious box to belong here.
The spirituality explored here is radically pluralistic, anti-dogmatic, and democratizing. It draws deeply from the life and teachings of Jesus while remaining willing to learn from the wisdom, practices, and experiences of humanity’s many spiritual traditions.
At the heart of it all is a simple conviction:
We are one.
The Urban Pilgrim
The Urban Pilgrim Nun is an expression of spirituality lived in the middle of ordinary life.
Pilgrimage does not require a ticket to a distant holy place. The sidewalk can become a pilgrimage road. A park bench can become a chapel. A kitchen table can become an altar. A conversation with a stranger can become an encounter with the sacred.
The monastery can be wherever we happen to stand.
To be an Urban Pilgrim is to move through the world attentively—looking for opportunities to practice compassion, seek wisdom, resist injustice, care for creation, and recognize the sacred worth of our neighbors.
Our Spiritual Vision
The spiritual vision behind this site is rooted in three guiding principles:
Our objective is eternal progression.
We believe spiritual life is a journey rather than a finished destination. There is always another opportunity to learn, grow, question, love, and become.
Our goal is a fuller life for everyone.
Spirituality should contribute to human flourishing. Religion that diminishes people, controls them through fear, or denies their dignity has lost its way.
Our slogan is: Live and help live.
Our spirituality should help us become more fully alive while helping others do the same.
Faith is therefore measured less by how perfectly someone recites a creed and more by what their life produces: compassion, justice, peace, freedom, courage, wisdom, and love.
Christianity Without the Fear
Jesus remains central to much of the spirituality explored here, but Christianity is approached through the lenses of history, modern biblical scholarship, progressive theology, mysticism, liberation, and lived experience.
The Bible is taken seriously without requiring biblical inerrancy.
Questions are welcomed.
Doubt is not treated as spiritual failure.
Science is not the enemy of faith.
People of other religions are not viewed as enemies or projects to be converted.
And no religious institution possesses a monopoly on truth.
Jesus can be encountered not merely as an object of belief, but as a teacher and prophetic presence calling humanity toward compassion, liberation, radical hospitality, nonviolence, and a more just world.
Many Traditions, One Human Family
This site is intentionally interspiritual.
Christianity provides an important foundation, especially the radical teachings of Jesus and the Franciscan tradition, but the spiritual journey does not end at Christianity’s borders.
Wisdom may be encountered through Christianity, Pagan traditions, Indigenous wisdom, contemplative practice, mystical traditions, philosophy, humanism, modern scholarship, and the experiences of people whose voices organized religion has too often ignored.
Interspirituality does not require pretending that every religion teaches exactly the same thing.
They don’t.
Their differences matter.
But difference does not require hostility.
We can remain rooted while still listening.
We can disagree without dehumanizing.
We can learn from one another without erasing what makes our traditions distinctive.
A Franciscan Heart
The spirituality of St. Francis and St. Clare of Assisi provides another important foundation for this work.
Their witness reminds us that spiritual transformation cannot be separated from how we treat the poor, the marginalized, one another, and the Earth itself.
Franciscan spirituality invites us toward simplicity instead of endless consumption, community instead of isolation, peacemaking instead of violence, solidarity instead of domination, and love instead of fear.
It asks a wonderfully inconvenient question:
What would happen if we actually lived what we say we believe?
Radical Hospitality
There is room here for believers.
There is room for doubters.
There is room for mystics and skeptics.
There is room for Christians, Pagans, interfaith practitioners, spiritual independents, humanists, and people who aren’t quite sure what they are anymore.
There is room for people who love the Church.
And there is room for people who have been wounded by it.
You are not required to agree with everything presented on this site.
In fact, thoughtful disagreement is welcome.
The goal is not uniformity.
The goal is conversation, exploration, growth, and a fuller life for everyone.
What You’ll Find Here
This website brings together the writings, teachings, ministries, studies, prayers, rituals, and reflections of Sister Abigail Hester, OFC, the Urban Pilgrim Nun.
Topics include progressive Christianity, Franciscan and Clarean spirituality, interspirituality, biblical scholarship, comparative religion, mysticism, justice, nonviolence, spiritual practice, religious history, theology, and the continuing search for meaning in an ever-changing world.
Some writings will comfort you.
Some may challenge you.
Some might make you raise an eyebrow and say, “Well, that’s certainly one way of looking at it.”
Good.
A living spirituality should occasionally rearrange the furniture in our minds.
We Are One
Behind all the theology, scholarship, ritual, prayer, and spiritual experimentation lies something much simpler:
Humanity belongs to one another.
Our lives are interconnected with our neighbors, other creatures, the Earth, and the vast mystery of existence itself.
Whatever names we give that mystery—God, Goddess, Spirit, Christ, Divine Presence, Sacred Reality, Universe, or simply Mystery—we encounter it most clearly when we choose love over fear and solidarity over separation.
So come as you are.
Bring your faith.
Bring your doubts.
Bring your questions.
Bring your experiences.
Bring the pieces of spirituality you’ve collected along the road.
There is still more road ahead.
We are one.
Our objective is eternal progression.
Our goal is a fuller life for everyone.
Live and help live.
The Urban Pilgrim Nun is a contemplative wanderer who discovers the sacred in everyday places. Rather than living behind monastery walls, the Urban Pilgrim Nun walks through the city itself as a place of spiritual practice, reflection, and encounter.
The streets become cloisters.
Parks become quiet chapels.
Riverbanks become places of meditation.
Urban pilgrimage is rooted in a simple idea: the sacred is present everywhere if we learn to notice it.
A Monastery Without Walls
Traditionally, monks and nuns lived within monasteries, separated from the world in order to cultivate prayer and contemplation. The Urban Pilgrim Nun carries that contemplative spirit into the heart of everyday life.
Her monastery is the city itself.
Sidewalks, staircases, neighborhoods, and green spaces all become part of the sacred landscape. Walking becomes a form of prayer and awareness.
Walking as Spiritual Practice
The Urban Pilgrim Nun practices what might be called walking contemplation.
Instead of rushing through the day, she slows down and observes the world around her. The rhythm of footsteps becomes a form of meditation.
During these walks she may:
- reflect in silence
- offer quiet blessings to the places she passes
- observe the beauty of nature within the city
- greet others with kindness and openness
Each step becomes part of a spiritual journey.
Interfaith Wisdom
The Urban Pilgrim Nun honors the wisdom found in many spiritual traditions.
Compassion, mindfulness, reverence for creation, and peace between people are values shared across faiths. By learning from these traditions, the Urban Pilgrim Nun embraces a path of interfaith respect and curiosity.
This approach recognizes that the sacred cannot be confined to one tradition or one place.
Simplicity and Adventure
Urban pilgrimage is not about elaborate rituals or expensive travel. It is rooted in simplicity.
A small backpack, comfortable shoes, and a curious spirit are often enough.
Many Urban Pilgrim Nuns also practice micro-adventures—small explorations close to home that bring fresh perspective and joy. These might include watching the sunrise over the river, climbing a steep staircase, exploring an unfamiliar street, or sitting quietly in a park.
Adventure becomes another way of encountering the sacred.
The Path Forward
The Urban Pilgrim Nun walks with humility, curiosity, and compassion. She moves gently through the world while remaining open to the wisdom that appears along the path.
Her mission is simple:
Walk gently.
Notice beauty.
Seek wisdom everywhere.
Carry peace into every place.
The path of the Urban Pilgrim Nun is open to anyone who wishes to walk through the world with awareness and reverence.
All that is required is the courage to take the next step.
About Sister Abigail Hester
Nun. Pilgrim. Heretic. Bridge-Builder.
Hello, I’m Sister Abigail Hester, OFC, an Urban Pilgrim Nun, progressive Christian minister, interfaith spiritual teacher, writer, and founder of the Order of Franciscan Clareans.
My spiritual journey has taken me through Christianity, Franciscan spirituality, progressive theology, interfaith dialogue, mysticism, and traditions far beyond the conventional boundaries of the Church.
Along the way, I discovered something important:
I don’t need everyone to believe the same thing I believe.
I would rather help create a world where people are free to seek truth, grow spiritually, question inherited beliefs, and live together compassionately.
My maxim is:
We are one.
My objective is eternal progression.
My goal is a fuller life for everyone.
My slogan is:
Live and help live.
These aren’t simply catchy phrases. Together, they describe how I understand religion and life.
My Spirituality
I am deeply influenced by Jesus of Nazareth, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Clare of Assisi, progressive Christianity, religious humanism, mysticism, interfaith spirituality, and the wisdom found throughout the world’s religious traditions.
I don’t believe Christianity needs to be defended from questions.
I believe it needs questions.
My approach is radically pluralistic, anti-dogmatic, and democratizing.
I don’t claim that Christianity possesses all truth or that everyone must eventually become Christian. Christianity is my spiritual home, but I am willing to encounter wisdom wherever it appears.
I can pray with Christians, learn from Buddhists, listen to Pagans, study with skeptics, sit beside atheists, and still follow Jesus.
Truth doesn’t become less true because someone discovered it outside my tradition.
The Jesus I Follow
The Jesus who inspires me isn’t primarily a theological formula to believe.
He is a way to live.
Jesus proclaimed good news to the poor, welcomed outsiders, challenged religious hypocrisy, confronted oppressive systems, practiced radical compassion, and imagined a world organized around love rather than domination.
Following Jesus therefore means more to me than believing doctrines about Jesus.
It means trying to practice the way of Jesus.
That means feeding people.
Welcoming people.
Forgiving people.
Questioning systems that dehumanize people.
Making peace.
Standing beside those pushed aside by respectable society.
And sometimes turning over a few metaphorical tables.
Franciscan Clarean Spirituality
I founded the Order of Franciscan Clareans (OFC) as a contemporary expression of the spirituality of Francis and Clare.
Our vision can be summarized simply:
Live simply. Love boldly. Resist empire.
Franciscan spirituality reminds me that spirituality isn’t something confined to churches, monasteries, or theological books.
The whole world can become a monastery.
The sidewalk can become a cloister.
A conversation can become prayer.
Serving another person can become Eucharist.
Creation itself can become scripture.
This is part of what I mean when I call myself an Urban Pilgrim Nun.
My pilgrimage happens in ordinary life.
Beyond Religious Boxes
My spiritual life also includes serious engagement with interfaith and interspiritual traditions.
I am the founder of the Interspiritual Order of ChristoCorrellians, exploring dialogue and spiritual practice between Christianity and Correllian spirituality.
My ministry has also included work with Kilubansa healing spirituality, interfaith prayer, progressive biblical interpretation, chaplaincy, spiritual education, and religious exploration.
I don’t see these encounters as threats to my Christianity.
They challenge me to make it bigger.
Not bigger in the sense of conquering other religions, but bigger in compassion, curiosity, humility, and wonder.
What I Believe About Religion
Religion should liberate people—not control them.
Religion should encourage questions—not punish them.
Religion should bring people together—not teach them to fear one another.
Religion should serve humanity—not demand that humanity serve religious institutions.
And spiritual authority should never belong exclusively to a privileged religious class.
Everyone deserves a seat at the table.
That is why my approach to ministry is intentionally pluralistic, anti-dogmatic, inclusive, and democratizing.
You are allowed to think.
You are allowed to question.
You are allowed to doubt.
You are allowed to change.
You are allowed to grow.
You are allowed to encounter the Sacred differently than I do.
We Are One
Beneath all my theology, ministry, writing, ritual, and spiritual experimentation is one conviction:
We are one.
Human beings belong to one another.
We belong to the Earth.
Our liberation is interconnected.
Our suffering is interconnected.
Our flourishing is interconnected.
So my spiritual vision isn’t ultimately about creating another institution that possesses the truth.
It is about helping create communities where people can seek truth together.
A church should not be a fortress protecting certainty.
It should be a table with room for another chair.
There is always room at my table.
We are one.
Eternal progression.
A fuller life for everyone.
Live and help live.
— Sister Abigail Hester, OFC
Urban Pilgrim Nun
In addition to her Christian vocation, Sister Abigail serves as a Priestess of Kilubansa, integrating healing practices inspired by Kilubansa into a ministry centered on compassion, restoration, and holistic well-being. Her approach to ministry reflects a deep respect for both Christian faith and the wisdom found across the world’s spiritual traditions.
An accomplished,
Sister Abigail has a background in Christian website design, theology, comparative religion, metaphysical healing,
Motto: Live Simply. Love Boldly. Walk Peacefully.
