December 21, 2023

Something For the Moment

• “From Uncertainty to Hope: Circles of Trust for Spiritual Deepening During Precarious Times”  January 11, 25; February 8, 22, 2024; 2hrs, 1pm ET/ 12pm CT/11am MT/10am PT. Current events in our personal lives and in the world may leave many of us feeling stressed, powerless, broken, and uncertain about the future. Perhaps former habits and relationships no longer serve us well. Here at the start of a new year, as we assess our going forward in life and in ministry, inspired by a range of poetic and spiritual writing to stimulate personal discernment and all-group conversation, we will explore our growing edges, to consider new paradigms and fresh perspectives for finding hope, beauty, and renewed purpose, even in the face of uncertainty. For more information and to register, click here. 
   
• Ministerial Search Webinar 2024: Click here to view the conversation with UUA Transitions Staff about the 2024 Ministerial Search process.

Something for the Journey

Rev. Darrick Jackson, UUMA Director of Lifelong Learning 

It is December. A time when we are inundated with messages of joy and cheer, and there are many obligations for celebrations, performances of all kinds, rituals, and worship services. There are so many ways in which we are asked to do more. It can be an exhausting time to be a human, let alone a minister. On top of that, we may not be in the emotional space to deal with the holiday season.

As we come to the Winter Solstice and the longest night, may we find comfort in that growing darkness. May it hold and ground us while we find our equilibrium. If we are feeling heartache in this world where there is much worth grieving, may the growing night cover us like a blanket, allowing us to feel the pain and to rest so that we can emerge new again. Let us not fear the dark, but embrace it and what it offers. May it sustain us for the days and weeks to come.

Something Extra

What You Missed: It is so easy to lose track of things between Thanksgiving and the New Year. Here are some highlights from the past few weeks – if you have some catch up time…

Winter Resources:

• Holiday Podcast: This winter we are happy to share, in podcast form, some of the Ministry Meditations as created by our members in 2016 for the UUMA Connect web project. Each episode is 5-7 minutes long. Click here to learn how to subscribe.

• Seeds for the New Year: Worship Resources to Welcome 2024:  Click here to explore a whole worship service worth of resources with a New Year’s theme created by Rev. Sofía Betancourt and UUA staff.

• Threshold Series: The First UUA Threshold Conversation on Coming of Age launched.

Announcements:

• Congratulations to UUMA Administrator Hannah Franco-Isaacs on the arrival of Benjamin Franco-Isaacs, born Sunday, November 19, 2023, at 10:46am PT.  

• Rev. Connie Simon, Incoming Berry Street Essay Scribe: Read more here. 

• Request for Proposals – HR Resources for Chaplains: Please access this RFP for HR Resources for Chaplains

Recordings Posted: 

• Multigenerational Collegial Conversation

• Disability Justice Course Available 

• Introduction to Good Offices for UUMA Members

• 2023: Reflections on 50 Years of Ministry

Save the Date: 

• Collegial Conversation: The Ministry of Spiritual Direction: Wednesday, January 17, 1-2 pm ET/ 12-1pm CT/ 11am-12pm MT/ 10-11am PT/ 8-9am HT.

• Ending Well:  Thursday, January 25 at 1pm ET/ 12pm CT/ 11am MT/ 10am PT. If you think ending a ministry may be in your future in the next few years and you’d like to reflect on how to end your ministry well, this session is for you. 

• 2024 Retirement Planning Seminar: An Interactive Retreat for Ministers, Other Religious and Congregational Professionals Planning to Retire in the Next Ten Years: Monday, March 18 – Friday, March 22 (Details to come in January 2024)

Death Announcements: 

• Betty L. Pingel (September 26, 1925 – September 6, 2023)

• Lewis “Lew” Herbert Dunlap (April 19, 1926 – September 7, 2023) – ask Allison to post – i just forwarded this to her

• Joel Donovan Baehr (February 16, 1941 – September 22, 2023)

• Susan K. Weickum (March 28, 1948 – October 8, 2023)

• Carolyn Sheets Owen-Towle (July 27, 1935 – October 23, 2023)

• Cynthia Barnes Johnson (May 30, 1942 – November 13, 2023)

• Olivia Holmes (November 1944 – December 11,2023)