Rev. J Sylvan was born in the Midwest and grew up in Indiana in the 80s and 90s. After college at Indiana University in Bloomington (B.A. 2006, in Religious Studies and East Asian Studies), they followed friends and art to Boston, where they began publishing and performing poetry, as well as teaching poetry to young people. They have had two books published (The Spark Singer, 2009 & Kissing Oscar Wilde, 2013), as well as articles, poetry, and stories including pieces in The Washington Post, BuzzFeed, and The Toast.
In 2012 J earned their yoga teacher certification at Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health, and for several years they managed a yoga studio in Somerville, Massachusetts, where they also taught Vinyasa and Restorative Yoga. At the same time, they became involved in the Boston theater and performing arts community. From 2012-2020, J wrote and produced numerous stage shows in the area and was a part of dozens more. In 2016 they accepted a Ministry Fellowship from Harvard Divinity School and spent the next three years studying with some brilliant and creative people, winning the Billings Preaching Prize, and creating their thesis project, Beloved King: A Queer Bible Musical, which Broadway World called “a very smart concept show with a bright future.”
J and their wife Sue were married in 2018 (by J’s yoga teacher under a disco ball in a service hosted by a drag performer dressed as Galadriel). J graduated from Harvard Divinity School in the spring of 2020 and interned at First Parish in Concord from 2020-2021—a formational experience that solidified their hunch that they were called to Parish Ministry. That summer, Sue and J’s son, Lucien Elijah was born, and that fall they went south so J could begin a two-year Interim Ministry position at Bay Area Unitarian Universalist Church in Houston, TX. Reverend J was ordained this February.