Jennifer Garner Would Have Loved to Have Become a Minister

Jennifer Garner, the 51-year-old actress who starred in the movie ‘Elektra,’ has revealed that she would have loved to be a minister. She takes her children, 17-year-old Violet and 14-year-old Seraphina, whom she had with her former husband, Ben Affleck, to church. Her mum still thinks she may switch careers and pursue holy work.

Garner said in an interview with Allure magazine that she would have enjoyed being a minister. She grew up in a lovely church and regarded the minister as a den parent. She further stated that she relates to the creative side of theology. She said, “What I like about the study of religion, it reminds me of the study of theatre – it’s really a liberal arts education. You have to understand history, geography, literature. It’s art, it’s everything. I don’t know anything about Hinduism, Islam, so many other religions, and I wish I did. That feels like a sign of respect.”

Garner also talked about how she believes that the church brings communities together. She said, “I think the more you engage, the more you learn about different ways that people believe and worship, the more you can sit next to anyone and be a neighbor. There’s such value in that to me. I don’t know that I will ever be someone who is writing a sermon Sunday morning, but I like the idea of it. I like the idea of going back to divinity school.”

The actress’s eldest daughter teaches Sunday school, and Garner said she still remembers the words from one church service she witnessed as a child. The sermon was about taking something hard that had happened, going down to the banks of the river, and fashioning a beautiful box out of what you find there. Then, you place this hurt carefully in the box and watch it float down the river. The power of letting go. She said, “So many times, my sisters and I have said, ‘You need to put that in the river.’ I’m not coming from a place of, ‘I have this unshakeable faith that I have to share.’ It’s coming from a human place – a place of respect and curiosity.”