Another think I think we should seriously explore.
Given the fact that it is hard to know who is going to succeed in ministry until they succeed, I would suggest that the major "gatekeeping" function be, not at preliminary fellowship, but at Final Fellowship. At that point, the record of a new minister's ministry can speak for itself. Most will have clearly succeeded or failed and will not even need to be interviewed, which is no small expense for candidates or for the UUA. (The interviewing will have been done by one or more search committees who actually spend a lot more time with candidates than the MFC and whose judgment, in congregational polity, should be respected.) The requirements for Preliminary Fellowship might simply be the passing of RSCC, background check, and careful scrutiny of documents, not for "ministerial presence" (which only appropriately develops in ministry, after all) or preaching ability (congregations can be trusted to judge for themselves whether they want to hear this person) but for psychological health and a healthy attitude towards ministerial leadership.
Persons in preliminary Fellowship would be provisionally ordained and it would be suggested to congregations that they be hired for a three year term, with the possibility of a call extended after Final Fellowship is granted.
The advantage of this is that almost everyone would search for a church in their senior year of seminary and begin to work the next Fall, and when they were judged, they would be judged on their record, and that would, for most people be much less anxiety-producing. Lots of things to think through, of course, but I think this approach (more like what the Methodists do) is worth thinking about.
Another part of the cost of ministry is the cost of moving somewhere for 9 months to do an internship. This model is nice for the unattached 20-something but it doesn't work well for older ministers or those with families. I have had several applications from interns who proposed to leave small children with their working spouse for nine months in order to come to New Mexico and do their internship. The family finances required that. This is not a good situation at all.
Let's re-think that one-size-fits-all ministerial formation model. How about the possibility of 3-5 year supervised residencies, or allowing interns to take a job in the church they have interned in, or even intern in their home church? While there are reasons all of those are disallowed or frowned on, our frowns may just be too darned expensive in the current climate.
Here is one thought I have about reducing the cost of ministerial education.
Make it possible for most candidates to complete their preparation for this career in three years, inclusive of CPE, internship, reading list, MFC interview, and job hunting process. That's the way it used to be. Most candidates are taking four, five, or more years these days. Even if they are only paying three years of tuition, they are taking several more to complete their requirements...a lot more time than it used to be, because the requirements have gone up and the anxiety and timing detail of RSCC and MFC interviews has skyrocketed. I have not noticed a corresponding increase in the quality of our ministry in the past generation. I am sure all the new requirements and processes were good ideas, but the total preparation required has gotten out of hand. You can be a physician in the time it takes to be a minister.
I grieve for the many people of modest means who will not be able to afford to prepare for our ministry, and I grieve for what we are missing from them. I also worry that our current situation fills our ministry with people who are so sure of their call from the very beginning, or so heedless of the financial risks that they are taking that they will do this...leading to a ministry devoid of the more humble, frugal, and cautious persons who would also serve us well.
This has been running around the Jewish internet, and one of my lay leaders sent it to me as we're doing a simple version of this ritual on Sunday. I thought it was the funniest thing I'd seen in weeks.
On the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, there is a ceremony called Tashlich. Jews traditionally go to the ocean or a stream or river to pray and throw bread crumbs into the water. Symbolically, the fish devour their sins.
Occasionally, people ask what kind of bread crumbs should be thrown.
Here are suggestions for breads which may be most appropriate for specific sins and misbehaviors:
For ordinary sins - White Bread
For erotic sins - French Bread
For particularly dark sins - Pumpernickel
For complex sins - Multi-Grain
For twisted sins - Pretzels
For tasteless sins - Rice Cakes
For sins of indecision - Waffles
For sins committed in haste -Matzoh
For sins of chutzpah - Fresh Bread
For substance abuse - Stoned Wheat
For use of heavy drugs - Poppy Seed
For petty larceny- Stollen
For committing auto theft - Caraway
For timidity/cowardice - Milk Toast
For ill-temperedness - Sourdough
For silliness, eccentricity - Nut Bread
For not giving full value - Shortbread
For jingoism, chauvinism - Yankee Doodles
For excessive irony - Rye Bread
For unnecessary chances - Hero Bread
For telling bad jokes/puns - Corn Bread
For war-mongering - Kaiser Rolls
For dressing immodestly - Tarts
For causing injury to others - Tortes
For lechery and promiscuity - Hot Buns
For promiscuity with gentiles - Hot Cross Buns For racist attitudes - Crackers
For sophisticated racism -Ritz Crackers
For being holier than thou - Bagels
For abrasiveness - Grits
For dropping in without notice - Popovers
For over-eating - Stuffing
For impetuosity - Quick Bread
For indecent photography - Cheesecake
For raising your voice too often - Challah
For pride and egotism - Puff Pastry
For sycophancy, a**-kissing - Brownies
For being overly smothering - Angel Food Cake
For laziness - Any long loaf
For trashing the environment - Dumplings
For those who require a wide selection of crumbs, we suggest a Tashlich Mix available in three grades (Taslich Lite, Medium, and Industrial Strength) at your favorite Jewish bookstore.
I am working on an idea I have about "diversity". My idea is that, having gotten beyond the most obvious outer layers of racism and other prejudices, we are working on the more subtle parts. And, of course,the subtle parts are difficult to pin down because of their subtlety. My impression is that where we are stuck is that the real things that keep people of different back grounds from being comfortable with each other are the unconscious cultural differences in how we speak to each other and our world view. Those unthinking things like how far apart we stand when we talk to each other, how long we pause when we want to communicate that the other person can speak now, Whether we communicate directly or indirectly, whether we negotiate from specific to general or vice versa, how often we touch the other person while speaking. All these things are unconscious, "self-evident", and really annoying when someone does them differently because we interpret difference in custom as intended rudeness, or just strangeness. We get along with people who are more like us, we have communication problems with people who are less like us.
I think this level is where a lot of UU problems with diversity resides now. when I talk to people about this, many of them say things like, "I thought we were all the same." Or they don't say that and just imply it, if they are more indirect. It seems it's a hard concept to "get". That would seem to validate it being a problem.
I think we could work on this level of "diversity" to our advantage. Maybe it would help us achieve some more diversity in our congregations.
Rest in Peace, Max. You fed us well...
Let us give thanks for a bounty of people:
For children who are our second planting, and though they grow like weeds and the wind too soon blows them away, may they forgve us our cultivation and fondly remember where their roots are.
Let us give thanks:
For generous friends with hearts as big as hubbards
and smiles as bright as their blossoms;
For feisty friends as tart as apples;
For continuous friends, who, like scallions and cucumbers,
keep reminding us that we've had them;
For crotchety friends, as sour as rhubarb and as indestructible;
For handsome friends, who are as gorgeous as eggplants
and as elegant as a row of corn, and the
others, as plain as potatoes and so good for you;
For funny friends, who are as silly as Brussels sprouts
and as amusing as Jerusalem artichokes, and serious friends,
as complex as cauliflowers and as intricate as onions;
For friends as unpretentious as cabbages, as subtle as summer squash,
as persistent as parsley, as delightful as dill, as endless as zucchini, and who, like parsnips, can be counted on to see you through the winter;
For old friends nodding like sunflowers in the evening-time and young friends coming on as fast as radishes;
For loving friends, who wind around us like tendrils and hold us, despite our blights, wilts and witherings;
And, finally, for those friends now gone, who like gardens past that have been harvested, but who fed us in their times that we might have life thereafter;
For all these we give thanks.
Let Us Give Thanks
from View from a Tree
--Max Coots
I shall tell you a great secret, my friend. Do not wait for the last judgment, it takes place every day.
You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.
there is a sin against life, it consists perhaps not so much in despairing of life as in hoping for another life and in eluding the implacable grandeur of this life.
When you have once seen the glow of happiness on the face of a beloved person, you know that a man can have no vocation but to awaken that light on the faces surrounding him. In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.
My colleague Jim Zacharias got to read from one of Web's coyote books, and there were, indeed, several droll stories. The best of them? The church administrator said that before Web arrived, the church had signed up for call waiting, but Web hated hearing the little beep of an incoming call while he was on the phone. He called it "telephonicus interruptus". They got rid of it.
The second best story? The Santa Fe church was a Fellowship when Web arrived, and they didn't like it when Web, still the New Englander, wore his robe. So it was suggested to his wife that she suggest to him that he might preach in a suit. (That's how things were done in those days) Web obliged, but in his own quirky way. Turns out that old New Englander didn't know how to put an outfit together. So there was the Sunday...judging by the laughter, some people remembered it...when he wore a green suit with a blue checkered shirt. The members suggested to his wife that she take him shopping. This she declined to do. "I married him as he is," she said. Web went back to wearing a robe and the congregation accepted it.
It was a lovely service. Rest in Peace, Web...good colleague, good minister, good man.
P.S. Was Coyote there? Well, I didn't exactly see him. But after the service, on the table of photographs Web's family had arranged, some thoughtless person had left a bag from Dunkin Donuts...
iMinister came out in support of Peter Morales for president of the UUA months and months ago. She agrees with him that the UUA needs to see, not just a little change, but transformational change if we are to be healthy in this new era. She's sure that our dialogue about diversity has been woefully lacking in Hispanic voices, which Peter would bring, and she loves the energy and commitment to our shared enterprize which he brings to the campaign.
Here's what I mean.
Imagine five years have passed and imagine that your vision for UUism is fully alive and thriving. What three to five goals have been realized?
Here are their written responses.
Peter Morales ...
The goals that will have been accomplished in five years are intimately interrelated. The guiding vision behind them all is a revitalized Unitarian Universalist movement that transforms lives and that helps to heal the world. In five years we will have a new sense of urgency and excitement across our movement. The following accomplishments are manifestations of living out our mission:
1. We are growing at a rate of three percent per year. Growth is not the goal, it is the measure by which we determine whether we are meeting the fundamental human need for religious community. We are growing because we are doing a better job of welcoming the seeker, retaining our youth, and engaging our existing members. As we grow we are becoming more diverse in terms of race, class and culture. Our growth rate has tripled and is accelerating.
2. We are more engaged in the great moral issues of our time. As a natural outgrowth of a deeper sense of compassion and connection, we are a more powerful force for justice, understanding and environmental stewardship. At the local level, it means that more members of our congregations are involved in social action and public witness. At the Association level, it means that we are building on our tradition of public witness and that we have forged a new partnership with the UUSC on social action.
3. We have developed a strategic vision for ministry and are beginning its implementation. Our strategy for ministry has been developed through consultation with stakeholders. Our strategy is a comprehensive approach that includes recruitment, training, placement, mentoring and development of professional ministry.
4. The UUA staff has a culture of transparency, accountability and effectiveness. As a matter of course we evaluate our programs and our people. We learn from our mistakes. Our staff is more involved in being the means for sharing best practices and innovative ideas across congregations.
5. We are forming strong relationships with groups that share our values. This includes international Unitarian and Unitarian Universalist movements, public policy advocacy groups, the UUSC, and others.
Laurel Hallman's written response:
1. Our children and youth will participate in UU congregations as adults.
2. Our UUA endowment will grow to a sustainable level, and our dependence on its income for operating expenses will diminish.
3. We will wed our religious and theological future to our historical past, and will experience the power of that synergy.
4. The Free Spirit will become a source of inspiration, activism, humility and strength in our association.
5. Our alliances will enlarge our effectiveness in the world.
I hope to have an opportunity to insert the idea that we need games for moral and religious education. We'll see.
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1. Lay Theological Education (diaconiate internet resources)
2. Fostering emotional maturity and spiritual depth in ministry
3. Right relationship between UUA and Theological Schools.
4. Collaborating for collegiality and continuing education
5. Anti-racism, Anti Oppression, Multiculturalism and Resistance
6. Ministerial Culture, Credentialing Process, and Growth
7. Whose are We? (deep conversation about spiritual experience)
8. What is the nature of the church we are planning for?
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Bill Sinkford | Panel |
Barbara Merritt | Panel |
Marvin Ellison | Panel |
Gini Courter | Panel |
Rob Hardies | Panel |
Virginia Jaroch-Ernst | Panel |
Doug Gallager | Panel |
Tamara Payne-Alex | Panel |
Beth Miller | Panel |
David Pettee | MPL |
Wayne Arnason | MFC |
Emily Gage | MFC |
Lee Barker | Meadville Lombard |
Sharon Welch | Meadville Lombard |
Dudley Rose | Harvard Divinity School |
Dan McKanan | Harvard Divinity School |
Nancy Bowen | District Staff |
James Coomes | DRUUMM |
Danielle DiBona | DRUUMM |
Nick Carter | Andover Newton |
Burton Carley | UUA Board |
Jackie Shanti | UUA Board |
Rob Eller-Isaacs | UUMA Exec |
Hope Johnson | UUMA Exec |
Sarah Lammert | UUMA Exec |
Rebecca Parker | Starr King |
Susan Ritchie | Starr King |
Anne Bancroft | LREDA |
Susan Archer | LREDA |
Ken Wagner | District Presidents Assn. |
Erik Wikstrom | MPL |
Kay Montgomery | UUA |
John Weston | MPL |
Jory Agate | MPL |
Marlin Lavanhar | Guest |
Abhi Janamachi | Guest |
Victoria Safford | Guest |
Vail Weller | Guest |
Dan Aleshire | ATS |
Barry Andrews | LREDA Futures |
Keith Arnold | UU Musicians Network |
Jason Shelton | UU Musicians Network |
Deb Holder | Society for Community Ministries |
Paul Johnson | Shelter Rock |
Ned Wight | Shelter Rock |
TBD | Shelter Rock |
Wayne Walder | UUMA CENTER |
Kimi Riegel | UUMA CENTER |
Ed Piper | UUMA CENTER |
Erik Kesting | UUA Young Adults |
Mara Dowdall | UUA Young Adults |
Susan Beaumont | Alban Facilitator |
Kiera Wesley | Youth |
Caleb Raible-Clark | Youth |
Kevin Drewery | Starr King Student |
Marcia Stanard | Meadville Lombard Student |
Bill Graves | Non-UU Student |
Christine Robinson | blogger |
Susan Gore | Observer |
Alicia Forde | IDBM |
Mark Harris | St. Lawrence Foundation |
Harlan Limpert | UUA |
Rick Heydinger | Congregational Measurement |
Wendy von Zirpolo | ARE |
Jon Luopa | Host minister in Seattle |
2. Role of mentoring...with accountability...not limited to interns and persons in preliminary fellowship.
3. How we might serve the need of lay theological education, beyond sunday morning but less than theological school
4. What effect we want UU faith to have in people's lives.
5. Technologies and structures that support transformation, personal and societal.
6. Non-duelistic thinking and leadership.
7. Theological development for church staffs (non-ordaned)
8. Excellence, the need for it, and its shadow.
9. Non-congregational ministry such as conferences and camps.
10. How we train UU ministers (not protestant ministers with a difference)
11. UU ministerial culture and how it impacts growth
12. How we can best support seminary students in UU identity
13. How do we work together excellently across lay/ordained
14. How to foster depth.
15. How do we foster scholarship
16. What are appropriate models of formation for 20-something seminarians
17. The role of youth...what do we have to learn
18. Respect for clergy in our congregations.
19. How our values around anti-oppression and multi-culturalism are integrated into formation.
20. Balance between ministerial authority and comgregational polity. "My job, your job, and the ministry we share."
21. Anti-racism etc. How do we make sure it really sinks in, and how do we support people in congregation which resist making this a centerpiece of our faith.
22. Are lay ministers really ministers?
23. Money and other assets which will enable us to underwrite whatever we think we need to do. (Show me...)
24. V alue of UU theological schools in training UU ministers and developing UU theology and culture.
25. Structures to connect and support colleagues.
26. Governance and authority
27. Moving from competence to excellence in religious leadership formation.
28. Whose Are We?
29. Challenges and opportunities of theological education in. A diverse world.
30. Certification processes
31. Internships--re-invisioning
32. How to keep UU youth .
33. What we do when ministry goes bad getting back into right relationship with each other
34. What model of church underlies our discussion
35. Formation beyond internship
36. Teaching Elders?
37. Collaborative training opportunities for lay and clergy together
38. Internship sites...the need for.
39. Spiritual practices and the role that has in our ministry.
40. Teaching and learning generosity.
41. What UU'ism would look like if we really put our children at the center of our life together.
42. What excellence means in the pluralistic current reality.
43. Sexuality and religious teaching
Some of these topics will be combined or modified, an more may be added this evening.
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(The Sanctuary at University Unitarian, Seattle)