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Minister's Musings 2010
JUNE 2010 Warm thanks to those many of you who have offered kind words to my family and I in this last stage of my ministry with UUCE. While this ministry has been much briefer than I had hoped and planned, and weighed down with conflicts and difficulties particularly in this last year, it has also offered many blessings, to me as well as others. My last worship services are on June 6. Aside from that Sunday, I am now on leave and vacation, preparing to officiate my last wedding and remaining available for pastoral emergencies (through the office at 541-686-2775, or Pastoral Associate Leora White at pastoralassociates@uueugene.org) through July 8. As many of you know by now, I will not be moving on to another church in the foreseeable future. I will remain “in the village,” in Eugene with my family, setting aside the role of minister, being a stay-at-home father, and discerning next steps in my career. In keeping with UU Ministers’ guidelines, I will not be coming to UUCE or visiting with congregants I have known through my role as minister. I will need to get out of the way so you can forge a relationship with a new minister. I will need to start fresh for myself, avoiding relationships that tug me back to my old role and all that came with it. I look forward to offering final thanks and good wishes to you on June 6. Blessings to you and yours, and all that you hold dear. in faith,
MAY 2010 This has been an emotional time since I announced my resignation, for many of you as well as me. And yet I believe it has been thus far a time of kindness, honesty, and grace as well. I have read that the quality of the last months of a ministry will either double or halve the positive lasting effects of that ministry. This quality, as with all aspects of ministry, depends on the minister, the leadership (paid staff and lay leaders), and the congregation. What defines “quality” in such a context? Compassion and respect for dignity, that of others and oneself, I hold as important parts of the quality of ending. Healthy endings often include honest expression of experiences respectfully shared as appropriate, with genuine desire for clarity and health, with no ill-intention towards anyone. This part of ending is difficult, and people have very different ideas about it, some especially upset with those who “dump on others” and others especially upset with those who “sweep problems under the rug.” Finding the healthy middle ground is challenging. I worked towards the goal of appropriate, respectful, and useful explanation and feedback in my letter of resignation, sermon and responses to many questions from congregants on April 11. Undoubtedly I did so imperfectly, but I know I gave it my best. My primary remaining outlet for this aspect of closure will be my exit interview in May. About twenty lay leaders will also participate in an exit interview. Both will be conducted by Rev. Gretchen Woods of the UU Fellowship in Corvallis. Thanks to her and the Corvallis congregation for her time in supporting healthy ministries in the district. Thanks also to the PNWD (Pacific Northwest District) and the UUA (Unitarian Universalist Association) for their support in tending to conflicts and now to assisting in this ministerial transition. Several district and UUA leaders, paid staff and volunteers, have tended to this congregation in the last year. Much thanks to them. I will be working reduced hours until my last day in the office, May 18, and my last day in the pulpit, June 6. During these final weeks, I will be wrapping up my work, offering thanks and beginning to say good-bye. Shared ventures that turn out to be briefer than planned or hoped often still bring blessings to both parties. I know I will carry many blessings of my time with you. I am glad to have some time to offer thanks. In faith,
APRIL 2010 Nature has become probably the most universal spiritual/religious language in contemporary UUism, from the Transcendentalists to Goddess-worshippers today, and for the larger number of UUs who simply resonate with and find spiritual sustenance in nature without identifying with any particular nature group. Along with many UUs, I find resonance with both the Christian and nature-oriented myths and stories of resurrection and new life. Our Easter service this year will include readings by UU ministers, including “The Easter Miracle” by Jacob Trapp; I am amazed to the point of ecstasy at the miracle of awareness. Life brings me its freshness as an ineffable gift. Every moment renews my vision. Death is permission granted to other modes of life to exist, so that everything may be ceaselessly renewed. The ploughshare of sorrow, breaking the heart, opens up new sources of life. The land bursts again into bloom. The possible and the future are one. The possible strives to come into being, and can be, if we help. Without sacrifice there is no resurrection. Nothing grows, flowers and bears fruit, save by giving. All that we try to save in ourselves wastes and perishes. All things ripen for the giving’s sake, and in the giving are consummated. See you at church. I write this article after our congregation supported Kids for Kids, a local organization saving lives in Darfur. I felt so proud to see several youth, including some from UUCE, speaking briefly about this organization at Sunday services on February 21, as part of our monthly Community Collection to benefit organizations that serve causes resonant with UU values. It's remarkable how easy it can be to forget Darfur, forget Congo, even forget the wars our country is fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq. And Global Warming, or Climate Change -- is that last year's news because it's no longer a problem, or because we're too preoccupied with other things? Then again, it makes sense that we set these enormous, disturbing realities aside: because we have challenges closer to home. We may be facing severe economic hardships due to loss of income or investments, or both. When our everyday life seems challenging enough, how can we consider greater societal challenges without being overwhelmed? This is part of what church is for. It's often been said that the church's role is "to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable." (According to a UUCE sleuth, this was first said of the press!). But it seems to me that we all need comforting and we all need, if not afflicting (at least on a regular basis), an invitation to stretch our compassion. Part of what makes the stretch possible is having practical, tangible ways of helping, even a little. Our Community Collections practice of giving away our monthly offering once a month helps us face challenging realities, feel like we are doing something to help, and actually be helping! I am so proud that we continue this practice during this economic recession. It helps keep our pores open, to be fully human and to feel the plight of others not with despair but with compassion and hope. Another part of what makes possible this stretch in compassion and effective action is changing the way we think. This month some of our worship services will help us see shifts in thinking, already underway, that decrease despair and psychic numbing, and increase compassion and creative teamwork. See you at church. FEBRUARY 2010 When I read the newspaper, or review the headlines online, I see how easy it is to fall into despair: the devastation of Haiti, the struggling economy and high local unemployment, the ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and more. But recently I felt grateful that our chuch made a substantial donation -- $--- - to the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee for Haitian relief. And I remember the good feeling in the sanctuary as the baskets passed. I also felt grateful for our growing social justice efforts, which are helping UUCE members and friends turn away from potential despair, apathy, or anger to constructive actions and hope. I felt grateful that in this challenging world, we provide something of a refuge, for the young and old alike, a spiritual community committed to honoring the inherent worth and dignity of each person, and respecting the interdependent web of life of which we are a part. In March, we will be speaking with one another, one-to-one about what this place means to us. I invite you to think about it now. I value many things in our church. Our warmth and caring, how older members especially, are cared for, without fuss or seeming effort – it’s what people do here. Our Pastoral Associates program is helping us meet the needs of even more people, for the growing church that we are. I value our music and art – the joyful excellence of the choirs, which often creates a real sense of reverence for our worship service, while proving community for choir members as well.. Our intergenerational events, such as the Halloween party, and our children’s religious education programs and youth groups provide a safe space and gentle guidance for our young ones. We have so many things to value: our Small Group Ministry program, which meets needs for relationship and meaning, or “intimacy and ultimacy,” for 70-90 people each year; our dedicated and talented paid staff; our lay leadership, which has with remarkable skill, passion, and patience, managed to be both inclusive of congregational concerns and visionary in its leadership of this congregation during a historic transition. Ours is a church in which to find solace and challenge, to be held and to be invited to stretch ourselves for others… to celebrate and serve life. Isn’t it a good thing, with all that is happening in the world and in our lives, to have our congregation, The Unitarian Universalist Church in Eugene? in faith, Happy New Year! What an exciting year before us. Our capital campaigns will begin in earnest to help us move into our new (to us) property at 13th and Chambers later in the year. As we step more deeply into this transition, let us ask ourselves, "What for?" What difference will it make in the greater Eugene-Springfield area, as well as in our own lives, to have a larger, more accessible, and likely more diverse Unitarian Universalist church? I’m excited about growing liberal religion in our area and joining with other religious and secular organizations to work together on issues of mutual interest. I strongly recommend to you the cover story of the Winter 2009 issue of the UU World magazine, which is mailed to all UU church members (if you are a member of UUCE and not receiving it, please let our office know). The cover story, entitled, The Religious Left: an Old Tradition for a New Day, is available online at http://www.uuworld.org/ideas/articles/151713.shtml. We are not a brand new, make-it-up-for-ourselves, "anything goes" church, or a club. We have strong Unitarian and Universalist traditions, which are part of a greater tradition of the religious left. Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was part of that tradition -- the hub of it for a time. Daniel McKanan writes in the UU World cover story, "All of the traditions of the religious left came together in the work of Martin Luther King Jr." Black freedom, the Social Gospel movement, mainline Protestant activism, radical nonviolence, the congregation-based community organizing of Saul Alinksy, and more. We have much to build upon and to revitalize. As we move into a larger, more central, visible, and accessible location, we have a great opportunity to improve our connections with people and congregations of other faiths. Our location will help others see us – and us to see ourselves – as part of the city. Many UUCE members have already volunteered with the Thomas Egan warming center, with Food for Lane County, and made connections in other ways, rolling up their sleeves to help without needing to be the leader (an excellent spiritual practice for Unitarian Universalists!). Let's keep building on this momentum now, so that our identity as a social justice and social service church will be partially established by the time of our move. Let's learn more about our own heritage and ask what is demanded of us now. Then, over the years, we can become a beacon and a partner for social justice, as a church. On another note, our Religious Education program for children and youth embarks on five months without its leader, Candee Cole, Director of Religious Education, from January to June. This sabbatical is an opportunity for renewal not only for Candee but also for the program. Please take special care to support our many Religious Education volunteers as well as our DRE Assistant, Marika Banyaski....and of course our children and youth. While Candee's guidance will be missed, I hope this time will revitalize in the congregation a healthy, respectful sense of ownership of the religious education of our children and youth, while still honoring all aspects of her leadership role when she returns. We are all religious educators: everything we say, do, and refrain from doing teaches others about how to live in relationship with self, with others, and with the Spirit of Life. May this new year be one of heightened mindfulness with regards to what we are saying – with our presence and actions – about the worth and dignity of each human being, about the interwoven tapestry of life of which we aRe a part, and the breath of grace that touches us when we are ready.
in faith, If you need assistance immediately, please email Pastoral Associates |
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