August 11, 2023

Something For the Moment

The Ministerial Formation Network “Fall Census” is headed to Aspirant and Candidate UUMA members along with information about the launch of Discernment Groups and the UU Wellspring for seminarian offerings starting in September. In a change from past years, participants will be invited to register online to participate in these programs designed to offer collegial care and identity support. 

Save the dates! Registration is now open for participant and volunteer orientation sessions. 

MFN Participant Orientation Sessions:  

• Thursday, August 31, 6-7:30 pm ET, 5-6:30 CT, 4-5:30 MT 3-4:30 PT
• Wednesday, September 6, 7-8:30 ET, 6-7:30 CT, 5-6:30 MT, 4-5:30 PT

MFN Volunteer Orientation:  

• Thursday, August 31 at 4-5pm ET. 3-4pm CT, 2-3 MT, 1-2pm PT
• Thursday, September 7 at 7-8 pm ET 6-7pm CT, 5-6pm MT, 4-5pm PT

Something for the Journey

One of my favorite things about singing the late mass on Sundays is getting to listen to the TED Radio Hour on the drive home. A few weeks back, after I found my parking spot, I discovered I was sitting in my car to hear the show finish and taking down a few notes to share with you all in this space. The show’s title: Surprise! How embracing unpredictable moments can make us feel more alive.  The subject of the segment, Tania Luna, is a Surprisologist and encourages us to be the same! Her studies have led her to describe a Surprise Sequence: Freeze (for a split moment everything stops), Find (we ask “What’s going on”), Shift (to find our balance, we shift our expectations), Share (to reduce the feeling of overload, we talk about it with others). She explains further that each time we experience surprise, we experience being wrong: something we expected, thought we understood, etc., shows up differently. What a lovely lab to practice grace and wonder. 

Luna encourages us all as we experience the Surprise Sequence to release our desire for control, interrupt our ingrained patterns, and lean into the unknown and wonder what might be possible. If you want to dive a little deeper, I recommend the podcast, this blog post with tips to Make Your Life More Surprising, and this TedXTeen talk. I often find summer a time that is filled with the unexpected – whether a vacation adventure gone awry, a last minute opportunity dropped onto the calendar, or a new job or home. As you encounter the unexpected I invite you to embrace the surprises and ask, “I wonder“…

Something To Catch Up On

News from the UUA Retirement Office:  Dear Friends at the UUMA, at the UU Retirement Plan, we’re aware of some misunderstandings and confusion about eligibility for the Retirement Plan and employer contributions, so we would like to provide a review of eligibility for UU ministers. Read more from the UUA retirement office and find the contact information for staff members here. 

Employer Contributions: UU Ministers become eligible for employer contributions upon satisfactory completion of your ministerial internship. Or, you might have been eligible before completion of internship if you already satisfied the Year of Eligibility Service (YOES) at a participating employer. 

Employee Contributions (Salary Deferral): All W-2 employees aged 18 and older at participating employers are immediately eligible at hire to make their own pre-tax contributions. Some congregations and organizations also offer a matching contribution, which means that in addition to the required employer contribution, the employer will match salary deferrals up to the percent specified on the EPA. In this situation, you would need to make your own contributions from your wages to take advantage of the total possible employer contribution. 

Read more here.