Minister offers ceremonies of all kinds

Sana Hayes, a Sisters resident and volunteer chaplain for the Sisters-Camp Sherman Rural Fire Protection District, officiates ceremonies of all kinds in the Sisters area.

An ordained Interfaith Minister, Hayes regularly conducts services through her business, Ceremonies of Life.

Her range covers weddings to funerals to baby blessings and/or naming rites to menarche commemorations to sweet 16 celebrations to rituals for healing, such as the marking of a divorce, the loss of a pet or the introspection before, during or after surgery.

She also dedicates homes, land and businesses, commemorates their intentions and blesses the space on which they stand.

Currently Hayes mainly performs weddings. Not all couples want to be married in a church, nor are they affiliated with a church or do they know a minister who might perform their ceremony. Even so, all want some kind of wedding ceremony, and often they want it to be more than merely going to the court house. Hayes is able to fulfill this need.

Hayes hopes, as her business grows, to be asked to perform a greater variety of ceremonies.

"I want to do any kind of ceremony that marks a time in someone's life," she said, noting that funerals can be especially powerful. "I love doing eulogies. I love telling people's life stories."

To attain her ministerial certification Hayes attended seminary for two years in New York. Her interfaith schooling is not like traditional seminary studies.

"It is different from traditional Christian seminaries or Catholic schools. It's about 25 years old, this thought that there can be a faith path that is based on all the world traditions brought together as one belief system in that all paths are accepted and acknowledged and can join together and share," said Hayes.

The beliefs of all world religions, as well as faith paths that are not religions, are brought together in the Interfaith ministry.

"It includes everybody who is on a journey towards a higher faith, a higher being, whatever they call that, whether it's following Buddha's path, Jesus' path, whichever prophet....," said Hayes.

Hayes hopes in the future to broaden her ministry beyond ceremonies. She envisions offering weekly services on the FivePine campus, where she currently manages Shibui Spa.

"It's a very spiritual place already," she said. "Traditionally, from way back when probably because of the creek that runs at that end of town, the whole area has a spiritual feel. It has an energy that's already here - in the trees, in the ground, in the creek. People who are traveling might appreciate having a beyond-denominational gathering spot to hear an inspirational talk. It wouldn't necessarily be praise or worship."

For more information contact Hayes at 610-8548 or visit at http://www.revsana.com.