The Rev. Joshua Mason Pawelek
Unitarian Universalist Society: East
Manchester, CT
February 19th, 2006
I feel a bit like Paul Revere, riding west from Boston as the American Revolution was beginning, yelling, “The British are coming, the British are coming.” Except in this case, ministers are coming. And I’m not sounding the alarm to warn us of a threat, but to make us aware, as a congregation, of opportunities heading our way. This is not a revolution, but I believe there is something revolutionary about it related to our congregational growth: growth in our spiritual depth, growth in our social justice efforts, growth as a truly powerful voice for liberal religious values east of the Connecticut River.
In order to talk about ministers, I first want to say a few words about what actually makes one a minister. Ministry begins with the experience of call. There is a call in each of our lives. A phrase from the King James Bible refers to the “still, small voice.” There is a still, small voice in each of us, calling us towards some greater purpose, some deeper meaning. When I was ordained to the Unitarian Universalist ministry my mentor, the Rev. Thomas Mikelson, issued the charge to the minister. He said, “The real issue is not what someone charges you to do, but ‘What is God calling you to be and do?’” He went on, “Far be it from me to tell you what that is. All I can do is remind you, as often as you need it, to pause and listen to the still, small voice.” Whether we interpret this voice as our own, inner, human voice, or as the actual voice of God, as we respond to it, we pursue our calling; we orient our lives toward ministry. This is true for all of us. We all have a calling. Most religions profess the notion that human beings are called to minister to one another, to serve one another, to bear witness to one another’s lives. In Unitarian Universalist tradition we often refer to the “prophethood and the priesthood of all believers.” And in our congregation, we refer to “shared ministry,” emphasizing that lay-people share the tasks of ministry with the religious professionals on staff.
Perhaps the best illustration of shared ministry here is the balance between professional and lay worship services. I believe it is essential to our spiritual wholeness that we experience a multitude of voices from this pulpit, that we each have the opportunity to speak from this pulpit if we so desire. It is truly the prophethood and priesthood of all. Another example is small group ministry. These are groups of ten or fewer lay people who commit to meeting once a month to center themselves, to engage in focused conversation on a matter relating to their spiritual lives, to know each other, to care for one another. Small group ministry is an opportunity for both spiritual intimacy and ultimacy. It is an opportunity for members to discern what the still, small voice is saying to them, to more fully understand its call in their lives. This is shared ministry. This is how we enact the prophethood and the priesthood of all. Two new small groups are looking for nine members each. Some of the older groups have openings as well. If you’re interested, you can sign up for a small group following the service.
So, if this very personal, intimate call of the still, small voice lies at the foundation of ministry for all of us, what makes a professional minister? Their foundational call is no different than anyone else’s, but they follow that call into the ministerial profession, which usually requires seminary training, ministerial internships in a variety of settings, ordination, and denominational authorization which, in the Unitarian Universalist Association, we call fellowship. This gets complicated: not every ordained UU minister gets fellowship: not every ordained UU minister goes to seminary; not every minister with fellowship is ordained; and not every minister is called a minister. Some are called religious professionals, and there are different credentialing processes for the various religious professions. You don’t need to know any of this. I bring it to your attention to emphasize something even more important, which is the call of a community. You can have all the certificates and diplomas and awards and credentials neatly framed on your wall, you can be brilliant at jumping through all the hoops of becoming a professional minister, but it doesn’t mean much if you are not called by a specific community to serve that community. Ministry is no solitary profession.
Congregations, community agencies, hospitals, fire departments, neighborhoods and other kinds of communities call a minister when they recognize their need for a certain set of services and a certain kind of presence—spiritual services, spiritual presence. That call may be official. For example, this congregation voted in March of 2003 to call me as its parish minister and then issued to me a “letter of call.” The call may be unofficial. For example, an agency may hire a minister to fill a certain role, but not officially refer to it as a call. Regardless of the language, regardless of whether it’s official or unofficial, the notion of being a minister assumes a community has called that person, in some way, to engage in ministry.
Who are the professional ministers in our congregation? That is, with whom do you, the members and friends of the Unitarian Universalist Society: East, share ministry? You certainly share it with me. You also share it with Bob Richardson, our Director of Music. Bob is a religious professional. There are people who do exactly what Bob does who are ordained UU ministers. There are people who do exactly what Bob does who have all the denominational credentials and we refer to them as Ministers of Music. Bob’s title is Director of Music. Bob’s calling, if I may be so bold, is to the ministry of music. He has never officially been called to this ministry, nor has the congregation ordained him to this ministry, but there has been an organic and unofficial process of calling Bob into this ministry during his tenure here.
Similarly, you share ministry with Vicki Merriam, our Director of Religious Education. Vicki, too, is a religious professional. There are people who do exactly what Vicki does who are ordained UU ministers. There are people who do exactly what Vicki does who have all the denominational credentials and we refer to them as Ministers of Religious Education. Some of them call Vicki for advice. Vicki’s title is Director of Religious Education. Her calling, if I may once again be so bold, is to the ministry of religious education, specifically with our children. She has never officially been called to this ministry, nor has the congregation ordained her to this ministry, but as with Bob, there has been an organic and unofficial process of calling Vicki into this ministry during her tenure here. You have done far more than simply hire Vicki and Bob.
You share ministry with the Rev. Connie Sternberg, our minister emeritas here at UUS:E. Connie is no longer on our staff, but she is an ordained and fellowshipped Unitarian Universalist minister in our midst who is available for ministerial functions from time to time.
And you also share ministry with the Rev. Jeanne Lloyd. Rev. Jeanne is a Unitarian Universalist community minister, although many of us are starting to use the term “minister to the community.” Such ministers are called not to serve in congregations, but in the larger community. They may be hospital, military, police, or fire chaplains. They may work in homeless shelters or food pantries. They may be community organizers, lobbyists, counselors, choir directors, agency heads, environmentalists, street preachers—the list goes on and on. Many of you know Rev. Jeanne is the Director of Community Services at the ARC of the Farmington Valley, or FAVARH. FAVARH works with people with developmental disabilities, and Rev. Jeanne’s ministry there is nationally recognized and truly innovative. She also participates here in our Accessibility, Social Justice, and Anti-Racism Committees. She has performed weddings and civil unions for our members; she has provided pastoral care; she participates in worship services; she offers consultation in a variety of ways.
We have an official relationship with Rev. Jeanne. Not only did we ordain her to Unitarian Universalist ministry a few years back, but our Policy Board has officially “endorsed” her ministry. This is important because UU community ministers cannot keep their standing with the denomination unless they have the endorsement of a UU congregation. I am happy to have Rev. Jeanne’s presence here. I will continue to support her endorsement, but somehow something is missing. It occurs to me that not only do congregations call ministers to serve them, but congregations also call ministers out of themselves into the larger community. I’m beginning to wonder—and I’ve begun to speak about this with the Policy Board—might it be appropriate to issue a call to a minister like Rev. Jeanne? We would not be calling her to our staff. We would be calling her, officially, to her work in the community, with the expectation of a mutual relationship in which we would discern the ways she can serve us as well. I read earlier from the “Charge to the Minister” at Jeanne’s ordination. I charged her to “muddy the waters,” to “call us to those cutting edge places we’ve never been before, where the mire and the muck demand that new paths, new relationships, new selves be found.” A minister like Rev. Jeanne is uniquely situated to do this for us. As we make plans to expand our building and grow our congregation, I believe that offering a minister like Jeanne an official call to her work in the community brings with it many opportunities for our spiritual and numerical growth, and begins to expand our presence as a powerful, regional voice for liberal religious values.
Think about this. Currently, there are 450 people in the process of becoming professional UU ministers. Approximately 150 of them are planning careers as ministers to the community. They will all need the endorsement of a UU congregation. Some of them will knock at our door. Will we hear that knock and say, “oh no, not another minister!” or will we respond to the knock, open the door, and discern with that person what level of call they need, and what opportunities they present to us for our spiritual deepening. This is what I mean when I say, “The ministers are coming.” I can imagine us endorsing and possibly calling ten professional UU ministers to the community, all of them working on behalf of liberal religious values in the region, all of them connecting with thousands of people who’ve never heard of Unitarian Universalism before, let alone felt its healing, liberating touch. I can imagine our congregation becoming a center for Unitarian Universalist community ministry. And I can imagine all those ministers sharing ministry with us in some way. The ministers are coming, and I believe we have much to gain. Why not be responsible for calling them to their great work?
Having said that, we could endorse and possibly call ten ministers to their work in the larger community, but that still wouldn’t respond to yet another opportunity in our midst. Our congregation is approaching 300 adult members. I’m not complaining, but there are a lot of you. I’m beginning to see gaps in my capacity to serve you fully. Adult Religious Education is one area that could really use a minister’s undivided focus. There are committees I would love to meet with on a regular basis but can’t. I am seeing more and more of you whom I just don’t know very well, people with whom I don’t have an opportunity to connect. That’s common in a congregation our size, but it begs the question: is it time to call a second parish minister?
This is an expensive proposition. Some congregations never get past the financial barrier. I believe we can, but even beyond finances, there is a barrier at the level of our identity. We have an identity as a congregation with a minister. First it was Arnold Westwood, then Diana Heath, then Connie Sternberg, then me. We have pictures on the Program Room wall to tell the story. Some congregations display those pictures going back to the 1600s: a long train of lone ministers serving the congregation year after year. Can we begin to shift our identity so that we see ourselves and proclaim ourselves as a congregation with many professional ministers: two parish ministers, a number of community ministers, a Minister of Religious Education, a Minister of Music?
An instinctual reaction may be that we will lose the intimacy of a small congregation with one minister. I’m not sure. I think we lose intimacy as we grow and more people have less contact with the minister and with each other. More ministers means more opportunities for creative and exciting programming, which means more opportunities to connect with a minister and each other, which means more opportunities for intimate knowing around ultimate concerns. And without a variety of opportunities for intimacy and ultimacy, we will struggle to grow.
This is why I have begun talking about a new growth initiative called ERUUPT, East of the River Unitarian Universalists Pulling Together. There are five UU congregations east of the river, all of whom need professional ministry. New London is similar to us in its need to grow into a new space and expand adult programming. The UU congregations in Norwich and Brooklyn currently have no professional minister. The Storrs congregation has a quarter-time parish minister. What if all five congregations pooled resources and called two full-time, circuit riding, parish ministers? The two larger congregations could get much needed services in adult programming. Our Sunday morning shared ministry would stay exactly the same. The three smaller congregations could get valuable Sunday morning leadership and time for pastoral care. This would be yet another version of shared ministry: congregations sharing ministers; congregations sharing the cost of ministers; congregations growing together, strengthening Unitarian Universalism east of the river. Leaders in all five congregations are familiar with this plan and have indicated their desire to explore it. The Unitarian Universalist Association has looked at the idea and would like to explore it with an eye towards funding it.
Friends, nothing I’ve said here today is etched in stone. I am simply articulating a vision for our future relationship to professional ministry which I believe will help us to grow in spiritual depth and regional presence. What is etched in stone is that the ministers are coming. I believe it is time for us to get ready for calling.
Amen. Blessed Be.
In the midst of winter cold we look inward now, yearning to encounter that still, small voice; that voice of the sacred, calling us to higher purpose, calling us to deeper meaning, calling us to deeds of justice, compassion, and love, calling each of us to our own unique ministries.
May we not remain quiet about what we hear within. May we not keep silent about the ways in which the sacred calls us. May we rather speak of our callings, blending our sense and vision of personal ministry with the whole, forming a great, collective ministry, a prophethood and a priesthood of all, a ministry truly shared by all, and ministry we all give, and we all receive.
In our sharing of ministry may we always strive to go deep rather than wide. For wide is easy and tempting, but deep is where salvation lies.
In our sharing of ministry may we always strive to take time rather than hurry. For quick is easy and tempting, but long and patient are the qualities which bring healing and transformation.
In our sharing of ministry, may we strive to be clear about what we are for, so that what we are against does not consume us. Against is easy and tempting, but for, though it is much more difficult, is the path of vision, beauty and grace.
With our shared ministry we love. Through our shared ministry we live. For our shared ministry we pray. Amen and blessed be.
“Charge to the Minister”
adapted from the charge delivered at the ordination of the Rev. Jeanne Lloyd
May 18th, 2003, West Hartford, CT
First, foremost, and utmost, I charge you to love your family with your whole being. They are your rock. They are your greatest source of human support and sustenance. Love them deeply, for the well-being of your ministry is built upon the well-being of your family.
You have a gift for naming the Sacred. You have a gift for understanding the way Divine Mystery moves through your life and in this world. I charge you to use these gifts. Speak your theology with conviction. Yet, remember, the words you utter have no power if their meaning is not manifest in the deeds you perform.
I charge you to proclaim the good news of Unitarian Universalism. Articulate our radical tradition of freedom, reason, and tolerance in religion; articulate our principles. Remind all those you meet that our tradition saves lives. Yet remember: like all religions, Unitarian Universalism has flaws, exclusivities, arrogance. If we are to remain relevant and vibrant, we must always stay open to critique, to soul searching, to change.
Spring rains are cool and refreshing, yet they also make the rivers murky with mud. I charge you to conduct your ministry like a spring rain. Bring a soothing, refreshing presence to those who need comfort and healing. For the rest, muddy the waters. Call us to those cutting edge places we’ve never been before, where the mire and the muck demand that new paths, new relationships, new selves be found.
I charge you to relentlessly speak with your prophetic voice, work with your prophetic hands, sing your prophetic melody, feel with your prophetic emotions, dance your prophetic dance, preach your prophetic sermon, organize your prophetic organization, contribute your prophetic dollars, live your prophetic life. Be prophecy, because without prophets there will be no movement for justice!
One key to successful organizing is discerning the outcome you’re hoping to achieve. I charge you, once you know your desired outcomes, to let them go. For yours is a ministry of transformation. Once you start down a path, the outcome may be different than you expected. You may be different than you expected. We will still love you if you do not achieve what you set out to achieve. Success in ministry is not ultimately measured by outcomes achieved, but rather by your authenticity, your presence, your willingness to be transformed, and your commitment to Divine Mystery, to justice, to mercy, to love.
You’ve been charged; now go out and minister!
