Something For the Moment 

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  HR Resources for Chaplains: We are grateful to the colleagues who responded to our Request for Proposals to create HR Resources for Chaplains. We are very pleased to announce we have contracted with our colleague Rev. Alexandra McGee for this project. Alex is a Board Certified Chaplain with a broad range of experience including hospice and hospital settings with multiple organizations and institutions. Alex has experience creating and utilizing some of the communications we wish to make available. The project begins this month, and we will have opportunities for stakeholder engagement before materials are finalized and made available later this year. If you have created any of the materials we describe in the RFP and would like to make your work available for the benefit of our collegial community, please share copies with Alex at ChapHR@uuma.org. 

• Administrative Learning Needs Assessment: We hear you! Many of you have voiced an interest in learning more about the administrative functions of ministry. As a result, Meadville Lombard Theological School has collaborated with the UUMA to gather insights into your diverse preferences. Your responses will contribute to our understanding of the current administrative trends as well as help us tailor our offerings to better suit your needs. The assessment is designed to be quick and easy. Your input is invaluable to us, and we assure you that all responses will be kept confidential and used for research purposes only. The assessment can be found here. Thank you, in advance, for your participation!

Something for the Journey
Rev. Darrick Jackson, Director of Ministries for Lifelong Learning

One of my favorite songs is “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye” by Boyz II Men. I love the beauty and simplicity of the song, and it came out when I was in the midst of a transition, beginning college. I was saying goodbye to the life and people I had known and beginning a new journey. Here I am again at the threshold, leaving the UUMA on March 1st, after six and a half years, to serve as the UUA Ministerial Credentialing Director.

I am very excited about the work ahead of me and the opportunity to serve our faith in a new way. And yet, I will miss working at the UUMA. I have grown so much as a minister in these past six years, learning from all of you about how you engage the world and navigate this calling. I look on with gratitude to all the people I have worked with over the years on CENTER, CARAOM, and the Board of Trustees, as well as the coaches, program facilitators, and most of all, the wonderful UUMA Staff. All of you have provided me with a vision of what our faith could be, and needs to be, to survive and thrive. I treasure the conversations I’ve had in hallways, meeting rooms, or Zoom rooms as you shared your experiences, and asked for what you needed as I did my best to support your ministry.

I am grateful that, in this change, I will still be able to engage with you. The future of our ministry is all of our work, and I will need you to partner with me as we nurture and cultivate those who are moving through this process so that they may be able to actualize their callings. Thank you for your commitment to this faith. Thank you for your commitment to the UUMA. Thank you for your commitment to each other.

And I’ll take with me the memories
To be my sunshine after the rain
It’s so hard to say goodbye to yesterday
                                                       – Boyz II Men

Something Extra

• Collegial Conversation: The Ministry of Spiritual Direction presented by Rev. Tandi Rogers is now available in our Resource Library and also in Podcast form. Click here to view the video and access related resources.  Look for other recent Collegial Conversation programs on our website.   
   
• Beloved Conversations: Within is back for another term of deep learning, racial justice, and spiritual transformation! Registration for all of our Spring Term Within programs is now open and will continue through February 29th, 2024! You can learn more about structure, pricing, and schedule, as well as register for the Spring Term, on our website: www.meadville.edu/beloved.  Religious professionals will be placed together in small groups, in recognition of the different conversations they need to have, and the boundaries they may need to hold with lay people, while engaged in this deeply personal work. UUMA continuing education credit is available for this program! (6 hours of ARAOMC credit and 24 hours of Workshop credit). Scholarships are available by emailing belovedconversations@meadville.edu

Something for Formation

• MFN Mini-Retreat: Theology of Calling: This mini-retreat will offer participants time and space to explore the personal, professional and spiritual aspects of being called into religious leadership. We will engage in dialogue, prayer, and contemplation within a collegial community of care. Sunday, March 10, 2024 6-9pm ET/ 5-8pm CT/ 4-7pm MT/ 3-6pm PT. Click here to register.
   
• Vocational Advising: How’s It Going? If you didn’t make a connection with a Vocational Advisor last fall and wanted one, please reach out to Michelle Favreault so you can re-search, re-pair or re-connect as appropriate. Michelle welcomes reflections and questions from Advisors and Advisees about your experiences. Are things going well? Let Michelle know! Has this not been a good experience? Let Michelle know! Did you accidentally ghost someone whom you intended to work with? Let Michelle know! Come talk with her about how to move forward in right relationship in the spring.  We have nearly 180 UUMA members involved in this formation/discernment ministry and we’re constantly learning and growing thanks to the care and nurture of all!