\u201cFrom age 15 to about age 30, I was involved in charismatic churches,\u201d\u009d Zimmerman says. \u201cSo I did that for a while, but then that kind of played out for me, and I wanted to see how to keep going deeper, and I remembered the Episcopal church and its rhythm of prayer.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
That aspect connected to the same side of his personality that had found an academic interest in ancient history.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn ancient history, we studied … all this ritual about life, and I was involved in churches that had no ritual. They actively avoided rituals. And then I stopped and realized that we had dating rituals, we have mourning rituals, we have eating rituals, we have all these rituals, why in the world wouldn\u2019t we have religious rituals, because they help keep you grounded and centered,\u201d\u009d Zimmerman says. \u201cI remembered the Episcopal church was full of ritual, so I came back to the Episcopal church.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
The church he came back to was Lawrence\u2019s Trinity Episcopal, which was the only one in town at the time. It took nearly a decade for Zimmerman to go from returning to the Episcopal denomination to wanting to be a part of it as a priest.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was always kind of on my mind, even as a teenager. I never could see how that would happen. I always say, \u201d\u02dcGod wouldn\u2019t subject the church to me in my 20s.\u2019 I just don\u2019t know if I would have been a very good asset,\u201d\u009d he says, laughing. \u201cI took the Jonah route \u201d\u201d I fled the call and took the scenic route to ordination rather than straight through. Which I\u2019m glad about \u201d\u201d I wouldn\u2019t have wanted to have tried (this) in my late 20s. It wouldn\u2019t have worked for me.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n