From Test Baby to Nurse to Priest

From Test discernment committee that I discovered the call to be a priest. Baby to Nurse to Priest I also had dreams, a vision, others said things, two people had visions concerning me, and I went for a lot of long walks and prayed a lot! I tried to change God’s mind. But that didn’t work.” By Wendy Leech And that’s fortunate for the Diocese T he Rev. Sara Oxley trained to be a priest for such a time as this. Ordained into the Sacred Order of Priests on Aug. 16, 2019 at the Church of the Ascension in Orlando, Oxley’s background is in the medical field. “I was a registered nurse before my ordination. I worked in various areas including emergency, intensive care, cardiac and of Central Florida, because Oxley loves her ministry at Ascension. “Worship itself is great, and the congregation is wonderful,” she said. “I am thankful that I am an assistant rector and under the leadership of The Rev. Dr. James Sorvillo Sr. It has been a great way to learn how to be a rector. neurology,” she said. “When I got my call [to As assistant rector, Oxley enjoys the priesthood], I was in nursing education for helping students understand. “I love neurology and oncology. I have master’s degrees seeing light bulbs go off in people in bioethics and nursing education. as I am teaching. During a recent “My call to the priesthood came as a big surprise. I thought I had a call to be a deacon at first,” Oxley said. “It was in my parish Communion Education Class, one of the kids got the biggest smile on his face. He understood what I was talking about! It was like he had opened up the best Christmas present.” In 2018, Oxley nearly returned to a nursing career. Intimidated by the priestly responsibilities, she planned to end her master’s in pastoral ministry program at Nashotah House, but a patient inadvertently convinced her otherwise. “I took care of someone who found out that day that she had colon cancer. I went into her room in the evening and discussed how she felt about her news. She told me that when she saw me, in the morning, she was praying and saw something. She told God, ‘How can this be; she is only a nurse?’ She went on to tell me all kinds of things. As a result of this, I didn’t quit.” COVID-19 has created a challenge for Oxley, who said, “They didn’t teach me how to preach into an iPad camera at Nashotah.” However, she added, her The Rev. Sara Oxley and The Rev. Dr. James Sorvillo Sr.

Oxley

“nursing background has come in handy dealing with a pandemic.” Oxley is married to Les, and they have two grown daughters, Lydia and Lois. In her free time, she likes to “walk, dance in Zumba and Barre classes, sing, spoil my cats, knit and attempt to play the piano and cook.” Her diverse interests range from watching Toy Story 4 (“I fell in love with Forky”) to her current reading challenge about ascetical theology. “I’m trying to understand Revelations of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich.” And Oxley shared a special tidbit just for CFE readers. “My claim to fame is being the first baby to have tape on my diapers. My father was an engineer at P&G and worked on Pampers when I was a baby. There are family pictures of my father holding me with charts in the background. I was a test baby.” From test baby to nurse to priest, God guided Oxley so she can now lead others through such a time as this.