November 14, 2024

Something For the Moment 

Something for the Journey: Okay, But We Really Do Need One Another Right Now 

From Julica Hermann de la Fuente, Lifelong Learning Manager

Good heavens, this past week and a half has been three months long! So many feelings, so many conversations, so many social media posts, so many blanket forts. Here at the UUMA, your staff gathered to strategize how to support you, beloved colleagues, as we collectively cope with the outcome of the US election and (continue to) prepare for our work ahead. 

One of the benefits of being a small and nimble team is that we can pivot and be responsive to your needs. We look forward to offering a variety of opportunities to gather, strategize, learn and make meaning together. Coming soon, I (Julica) will begin hosting watch/discussion parties of Side with Love content, so we can all spiff up our organizing skills (dates TBD). Below are three offerings in the next few weeks, please join us! If you don’t see what you need, won’t you please reply to this email and let me know? We are eager to co-create in real time.

• What is love asking of me now?: Some of us have some real questions about our own safety and the safety of our families. If this is you, we invite you to set up a 1:1 discernment conversation with MFN Program Manager, Rev. Michelle Favreault. This might be useful if you are considering…
  • Shifting your ministerial setting
  • Making geographic moves 
  • Reorienting your calling
  • Resourcing for personal, family and community safety and security 
  • Clarifying physical, spiritual and emotional wellness priorities for where we are and what’s ahead
  • And whatever is on your heart as you make decisions about who and how to serve
• Refresher on Fascism: If you never got around to reading Timothy Snyder’s little book, On Tyranny, or read it a while ago and would like a refresher and a chance to discuss with colleagues, we have the space for you. On Tuesday, November 26 at 12pm ET/ 11am CT/ 10am MT/ 9am PT we’ll discuss lessons 1-10 and we’ll meet again on Tuesday, December 3 at 12pm ET/ 11am CT/ 10am MT/ 9am PT to discuss lessons 11-20. Join Director of Ministries and Programs, Rev. Melissa Carvill Ziemer, for either or both sessions to think with others about how we can apply these lessons in our ministries. Click the dates and times above to register. If you want to attend both sessions please register for session 1.
• How the heck does this make sense?: One of the key roles we serve as ministers is to help folks make meaning of difficult moments in their lives. That is especially challenging when we can’t make meaning ourselves! Join me (Julica) for a meaning-making session; I will review Martha Beck’s “Map of Change” (in Finding Your Own North Star) and we will use this model as a launching pad for a conversation of mutual support and encouragement. I will offer the same session twice, please click to register on Wednesday, November 20 at 7pm ET/ 6pm CT/ 5pm MT/ 4am PT or Wednesday, December 11 at 2pm ET/1pm CT/12pm MT/11am PT.

In addition to the immediate pastoral presence that we aim to provide, we look forward to using the information that we gather from these conversations to help us design programming and support for you. Because we really need one another right now, don’t we?

Something for Formation

If you are in preliminary fellowship or mentoring a colleague in the first years of ministry, remember to review the changes to the Renewal Guidelines from the MFC. Starting November 1, these new “modifications involve the MFC shifting from gatekeepers to partners in the journey of ministers living into their calls. The MFC’s evaluative role, as mandated by the UUA By-Laws, will focus on your personal and professional development, and whether or not you are growing with respect to the competency areas for Unitarian Universalist ministry.”  

Something Extra

• Board Dialogue Session: Thank you to the 8 people who have registered to join us on November 22 at 3:00-4:00pm ET/ 2:00-3:00pm CT/ 1:00-2:00pm MT/ 12:00-1:00pm PT. We could use a few more people to sign up to make this a really robust conversation. Please register here to let us know you will be joining and to receive Zoom information! 
• Chapter Leader Gatherings: We are offering four opportunities at a range of times for Chapter Leaders to gather in November.  We ask that at least one elected leader from each chapter attend one of these calls for updates, discussion, and collegiality. You can find all the times and links to register here. 
• Collegial Care in Anxious Times: During this challenging season in ministry, there might be times when you, the pastor, would welcome the blessing of pastoral care for yourselves. If you have one of those weeks, you are invited to consider joining me for an experience of collegial pastoral care. From now through the end of the year, Melissa will have 4 thirty-minute time slots available each week with no agenda required. Click here to find a time.