Accessibility Tools

Skip to main content
Tracy

Tracy Mehr-Muska

Minister of Mid/Later Life

Church has been an integral part of Rev. Dr. Tracy Mehr-Muska’s life, from the joyful times as a child singing songs around the piano, to the deep and comforting sense of belonging she felt as a teenager and young adult in a loving and hope-filled congregation in New Jersey. Since middle school, Tracy sensed a call to ministry but felt drawn to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy by her love of the sea and desire to serve her country. She graduated with a degree in Marine/Environmental Sciences, and while she loved performing the peacetime missions of the Coast Guard, she left the service to work as a marine scientist.

During this time, Tracy learned that a member of her church was hospitalized with end-stage cancer. Although feeling extremely anxious about visiting, she found herself at the parishioner’s bedside in solidarity and prayer. In that moment, she realized that she would only find true fulfillment in the work of ministry. She soon enrolled at Princeton Theological Seminary, where she loved every moment, especially her internships in a church, psychiatric hospital, trauma hospital, men’s prison, and non-profit.

After graduating from seminary, she became a board-certified chaplain and served adult and pediatric hospice patients and their families. In 2007, she and her husband Scott relocated from Boston to West Hartford, where they had two children. Tracy enjoyed five years as a mostly-stay-at-home mom while working several hours a week at a local church, and then she spent eight years as a chaplain at Wesleyan University, where she provided emotional and spiritual support to students, offered programming and worship leadership for the beautifully diverse Protestant and interfaith communities, and provided education and training for students, faculty, and staff.Meanwhile, recognizing her love of learning and teaching, Rev. Mehr-Muska earned her Doctor of Ministry degree from Hartford International University (formerly Hartford Seminary) and now teaches courses on chaplaincy and resilience, the latter of which was the subject of her research and the topic of her book, Weathering the Storm: Simple Strategies for Being Peaceful and Prepared.Tracy is extremely excited to now be serving at Asylum Hill Congregational Church where she is able to bring together her loves of pastoral caregiving, teaching and learning, participating in and leading worship, and engaging in the work of justice and love with her beloved colleagues and parishioners.  In her spare time, she enjoys reading, sewing, jogging, playing games, and hiking or biking with her family.