Welcome back to the new
church year from a great summer! Before
we move forward with the church year I have some questions and comments. How many
of you went to one of our summer worship services or participated in one? They
were wonderful. Thank you to the worship leaders. Thank you to our Court Hill Singers and their director,
Jerry Bellows, who plans the music with each worship leader, plays piano, sings
and arranges for instrumental accompaniment for all these services. Thank you
also to Jay Lavelle who has quietly and expertly coordinated the summer worship
services for the last six years including this summer. His efforts are
year-round and, more than logistical, they involve finding and bringing to
light the hidden resources among us, of which there are many.
How many of us volunteered this summer at the inaugural
Hogwarts Summer Camp directed by Jessica Gray? It was a spectacular two weeks! How many of or our children and youth from
throughout Central Massachusetts attended and participated? How many toured one of our parishioner’s home
gardens? How many participated in Yoga
or meditated at church? How many came to
share a meal on Monday Night at the Church? How many of us gathered, formally
or informally, with the UU Sisterhood or simply by meeting up at one of Central
Massachusetts many public events as a result of a single invitation multiplied
over email or Facebook?
I asked parishioners to
raise their hands this past homecoming Sunday if they answered yes to any of
the above. Nearly every individual in
the pews raised their hands multiple times! Judging by this show of hands we
continue to be blessed with a healthy, active, and supportive community that is
fully engaged in faith development, worship, and the service of all.
Most of you already
know the news that our friend, brother, and leader Tom Schade will be leaving
the ministry of First Unitarian Church this coming January. Tom is our 11th
minister. He joined us in 1999 as an
associate. We affirmed his independent ministry in 2006, and after Barbara
Merritt retired in 2012 we called him as the sole minister of our church.
The reason Tom is
leaving is simple.
Tom’s wonderful and
very accomplished wife Sue has accepted the position of Chief Information
Officer for the University of Michigan Hospital and Health Centers in Ann Arbor
Michigan. Sue is clearly a consummate
professional and at the peak of her career!
Sue will moving out to Ann Arbor in November and Tom will follow in
January.
So what do we do
now?
Since Tom gave us the
news, Seth Popinchalk, our vice moderator, and I have already conferenced with
Reverend Sue Phillips, our New England Regional District Executive for the
Clara Barton and Mass Bay Districts of the UUA. We’ve also already made contact with Rev.
Keith Kron, the Director of the Transitions Office for the UUA.
These two individuals
and many others at the District and Association level have already begun to
provide support, information and resources to our congregation as we seek to
realize our new opportunities, gather our strength, clarify and confirm our
mission and vision, evaluate our programming, and call our next minister to the
church.
Sue Phillips, in her
first email reply to Seth and I, wrote “If I’m not mistaken, First U has had
the longest continuous tenure of ministry of any church in the area, and
consequently the least institutional memory about how ministerial search and
settlement works”. “But don’t fear”, she
writes …“This is the most highly supported aspect of congregational life in
terms of UUA Support”.
There is a wealth of
information and guidance about Ministerial Transitions that our members may
want to look at, which I have listed below.
The first two links are handbooks that you can download and read. The third link is a video produced by the UUA
which I recommend.
- http://www.uua.org/documents/mpl/transitions/when_minister_leaves.pdf
- http://www.uua.org/documents/mpl/transitions/transitional_ministry.pdf
- http://www.uua.org/careers/ministers/interim/173977.shtml
The Team is charged
with conducting a search process for an interim minister to come on board this
January or February. Some combination of
this team will continue on providing support to the interim minister during his
or her tenure.
The interim ministry
period will likely be for 18 months from Tom’s departure and give us ample time
to conduct a settled minister search that would result in calling our next and
12th settled minister by the spring or summer of 2014.
David Spanagel’s Team
will coordinate listening sessions in October after and before Sunday Services
and at other convenient times for the congregation to express its preferences
for the strengths and qualities we are looking for in an interim minister. The Team will also work closely with the UUA
to find a match among the pool of interim minister candidates.
Ultimately, the
Prudential Committee, working closely with the Team, will hire an interim
minister to begin in January. All throughout this process the congregation will
be consulted, polled and updated through bulletins, during and after Sunday
Worship, and by other means.
With respect to
establishing and conducting a search for a Settled Minister, all these details
and opportunities for input and leadership will be elaborated and communicated
over the coming months.
There is a lot to do
and a lot of opportunity ahead for us – as leaders, and as a strong and healthy
community. I would like to emphasize that this is a time and an opportunity in
the history of our church that requires every member to stand up, be counted,
contribute and celebrate as we build and strengthen our community for the
future.
In
faith,
Scott
Hayman
Moderator
First Unitarian Church of Worcester
No comments:
Post a Comment