In Memoriam
Andrea Kastner
Andrea was a Founding Partner of SoulStream, and her deeply committed and caring presence and influence continues to be perceived in the fabric of our community.
In her bio, Andrea described significant influences on her life as “engagement in feminist, peace and economic justice movements, liberation theology, the experience of God alive in prairie, rivers and ocean, and time as a novice in a contemplative Anglican religious community.” In addition to these experiences and many ways of being in the world – including as mother and grandmother, teacher, spiritual director, retreat facilitator – Andrea was also an enthusiastic gardener, and in that particular passion of hers is a revealing glimpse of who she was.
Whether plants or people, Andrea delighted in growing things. She attended deeply, carefully, and patiently to life in all its forms and to what God was producing before her eyes. Andrea was endlessly curious to watch for what would emerge, and how, and she named and celebrated goodness as it appeared. Her gently nurturing and resolutely protecting spirit helped both gardens and people to flourish. Andrea was constantly seeking God’s greater freedom and joy in and for all things.
At the heart of this way of being, seeing, and tending was Andrea’s own ongoing conversation of love with the One who is Love. As the years passed Andrea cultivated her deep call to prayer and devoted increasing time to it, and it was from this rich soil that so much of who she was grew and flourished and fruited. On September 16, 2024, Andrea’s 75-year conversation with God became face-to-face. Many of us who knew her can easily imagine her joyful and uproarious laughter as that conversation continues, in its fullness, in the immediate presence of Jesus.
Andrea was a Founding Partner of SoulStream, and her deeply committed and caring presence and influence continues to be perceived in the fabric of our community.
In her bio, Andrea described significant influences on her life as “engagement in feminist, peace and economic justice movements, liberation theology, the experience of God alive in prairie, rivers and ocean, and time as a novice in a contemplative Anglican religious community.” In addition to these experiences and many ways of being in the world – including as mother and grandmother, teacher, spiritual director, retreat facilitator – Andrea was also an enthusiastic gardener, and in that particular passion of hers is a revealing glimpse of who she was.
Whether plants or people, Andrea delighted in growing things. She attended deeply, carefully, and patiently to life in all its forms and to what God was producing before her eyes. Andrea was endlessly curious to watch for what would emerge, and how, and she named and celebrated goodness as it appeared. Her gently nurturing and resolutely protecting spirit helped both gardens and people to flourish. Andrea was constantly seeking God’s greater freedom and joy in and for all things.
At the heart of this way of being, seeing, and tending was Andrea’s own ongoing conversation of love with the One who is Love. As the years passed Andrea cultivated her deep call to prayer and devoted increasing time to it, and it was from this rich soil that so much of who she was grew and flourished and fruited. On September 16, 2024, Andrea’s 75-year conversation with God became face-to-face. Many of us who knew her can easily imagine her joyful and uproarious laughter as that conversation continues, in its fullness, in the immediate presence of Jesus.