Tue. Mar 11th, 2025
Tue. Mar 11th, 2025

Contact Me

Email: somuchbible@gmail.com
Facebook: facebook.com/SoMuchBible/

REV. ELANA KEPPEL LEVY

I am a co-pastor with my delightful spouse Rev. Lucus Levy Keppel at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Bixby, Oklahoma. I grew up with a Jewish father and Presbyterian mother, which meant that religious conversations were playful and interfaith.

From a young age, I have been drawn to the study of the Holocaust, particularly those who acted with such cruelty. I learned German in school and received undergraduate degrees in German language and psychology from Guilford College in Greensboro, NC in 2005. I spent ten years working as a freelance translator focusing on documents about concentration camp guards (thanks to the ongoing projects and vital work of Dr. Susan Eischeid. Her recently published book Mistress of Life and Death is a can’t miss read!). I have spent most of my life pursuing questions: How could humans commit such evil acts?

In 2009, I earned a Masters of Social Work at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro & North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University with a special focus on older adults, the bereaved, and those traumatized by sexual assault.

Feeling strongly called to the ministry, I completed her Master of Divinity at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary in 2014 and received a call as a Pastoral Care Associate the same year at First Presbyterian Church in Roswell, NM. I worked with the board of deacons and taught some workshops on world religions. In 2016, I was invited to give a talk about people who resisted the Nazis for the Summer Institute for Teaching the Holocaust for Social Justice.

Later in 2016, Lucus and I began serving at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Bixby, Oklahoma. In this call, I have written a number of plays that were performed together with congregants (many of which are quite silly!). In 2018, Lucus and I wrote a book called Vulnerable Embrace, which was a collection of our sermons. When the pandemic began, I tapped into her love of languages and began doing Hebrew and Greek word studies of lectionary passages. These, together with the plays, Christian Ed lessons, music, and more, are what you find here, for free.

In early 2023, I was one of the many voices shocked by the choice of Judges 19 as the choice for the PC(USA) exegesis ordination exam. I wrote and disseminated a petition and organized with others to bring the impact of this exam to light within and outside the denomination.

About ten years ago, I began living with chronic pain. Fibromyalgia has impacted the way I must balance her time, but not my passion to continue pursuing what inspires me the most. I have been working on a book about living with chronic pain and chronic illness as a person with a strong, progressive faith. I love movies (and quoting them!); games and puzzles; deep conversations that come out of nowhere; prayer from the heart; and moments of genuine human kindness.

Read my call story here.

Publications

Book

  • Vulnerable Embrace by Elana Keppel Levy & Lucus Levy Keppel
    • Keppel Levy, Elana, and Lucus Levy Keppel. 2018. Vulnerable Embrace: Sermons as Worship. Tennessee: Parson’s Porch Books.
    • http://vulnerableembrace.com/

Interviews/Featured

Online Publications

Conference Speaker

Letters to the Editor