UUSM - Newsletters - Monthly Features - May, 2008
Featured Articles - May, 2008
Our Search for an Interim Minister Has Begun
As summer transitions to fall we will bid farewell — on August 31
— to our minister since 1994, the Rev. Judith Meyer. At the same
time we will be preparing to welcome an interim minister, who
will guide us in the next two years until the congregation calls a
new settled minister. This month, the Interim Task Force (ITF)
will be evaluating and interviewing three or four candidates who have been
referred to us by the UUA as interim ministers. The ITF will choose one candidate
and recommend him or her to the board for approval by the end of
May or early June, so a move and other logistics can be planned and take
place in July and/or August.
We would like to share with you the following statement from the UUA
regarding the role of the interim minister:
“It is understood, in accordance with the established policy of the Unitarian
Universalist Association, that the interim minister is pledged not to
become a candidate for the congregation’s called ministry, not to serve the
congregation for more than two years, and not to discuss specific prospective
candidates for the called ministry of the congregation with the ministerial
search committee. It is also understood that interim ministers both carry out
the normal responsibilities of congregational ministry, including worship
and pastoral care, and also assist the congregation in addressing the following
interim tasks:
• claiming and honoring its past and engaging and acknowledging its
griefs and conflicts;
• recognizing its unique identity and its strengths, needs, and challenges;
• understanding the appropriate leadership roles of ministers, church
staff, and lay leaders and navigating the shifts in leadership that may
accompany times of transition;
• making appropriate use of District, UUA, and other outside resources;
• reaching beyond the dominant culture to include the multicultural
world in social service and social justice; and
• renewing its vision, strengthening its stewardship, preparing for new
growth and new professional leadership, ready to embrace the future
with anticipation and zest.”
Members of the Interim Task Force are Bronwen Jones (Chair), Beverly
Alison, Rob Briner, Kathy Cook, and Beth Rendeiro. They welcome your
input.
Historical note: Beverly Alison, along with current board member and
past president Charles Haskell, also served on the search committee that recommended
Doug Strong as the 1991–93 interim minister, after Ernie Pipes
retired,. The other members of the 1991 committee were former members
David Hulett, Scot Kelly, Roberta Patterson, Fran Quinlan, and Betsy Roman.
— Rob Briner
 Steps to Calling a New Minister
How to find a new settled minister
was the discussion topic
when the Rev. Bets Wienecke,
Pacific Southwest District Ministerial
Settlement Representative, met with
standing and incoming members of
the board and nominating committee
on April 13. Bets pointed out that,
unlike many religious groups, UU
congregations are charged with the
responsibility of finding and hiring
their own ministers. This process will
take two years, during which time the
congregation is served by an interim
minister. Fortunately, the Unitarian Universalist Association
(UUA) provides guidelines, assistance, and a webbased
password-protected search system to help us.
Here are highlights of the UUA’s guidelines for calling
a settled minister:
FIRST PHASE:
• The board submits to the UUA a salary and housing
package to be offered to the new minister.
• The nominating committee submits candidates
for the ministerial search committee (SC) to a
congregational vote. UUCCSM members may also
petition to be on the SC ballot.
SECOND PHASE:
• SC surveys the congregation and facilitates congregational
discussion about what is wanted in
a new minister.
• Results of this research are submitted to the
UUA Transitions website in a document called
the Congregational Record (CR).
THIRD PHASE:
• SC may recruit ministers on the UUA Transitions
website.
• Ministers read the CR online and register their
interest.
FOURTH PHASE (Phase of Confidentiality):
• SC requests online ministerial records (MRs) of
interested ministers.
• SC reviews MRs and selects candidates.
• SC meets with selected candidates and hears them
conduct a service (usually in a neutral pulpit).
• SC chooses a ministerial candidate to be presented
to the congregation.
FIFTH PHASE:
• The ministerial candidate visits us for a nineday
week, preaching two Sundays and meeting
the congregation.
• The congregation votes on calling the candidate
as their new minister. (If the congregation
declines the candidate, the process is repeated
until a settled minister is approved and called.)
For a complete explanation of the ministerial
search process, go to http://www.uua.org/ministry/settlement/
handbook.
A Name for the Cottage
Did you know that Rod Serling was a member of our
congregation? I was a member for five years before seeing
his name on the fine print of a plaque. We are a small
denomination and if we do not recognize our own, then
who will? Catholics, as a counter example, do not need
to point out that saints and indeed all popes were, in
fact, Catholic.
But what makes Rod Serling so significant, you ask?
Can you name any UU writer whose work has reached
more people than Rod Serling’s? Has Emerson’s or
Thoreau’s writing reached even one percent of Mr. Serling’s
audience? Turn on a television day or night anywhere in
this country and you are no more than a few clicks away
from an episode of “Twilight Zone.” And how many other
shows can boast of longevity nearing a half-century?
In honor of Mr. Serling, Melinda and I recently
hosted a “Dining For Dollars” entitled “An Evening With
Rod Serling.” Between courses, we viewed and discussed
three “Twilight Zone” episodes. What emerged from our
discussions was that in each episode, aspects of the
Seven UU principles emerged as significant thematic
elements. Indeed, it could even be argued that each of
the stories arose from the Seven Principles.
With this in mind, the attendees of that dinner and I
wish to propose that that what is now known as “The
Cottage” be named “The Rod Serling Cottage.” Isn’t it
time that our church acknowledged its most famous
congregant — a writer who has successfully presented
UU ideals to billions — yet one whose individual contribution
continues to be sadly overlooked even as his
work lives on and on, continuing to be a force for peace,
justice, and diversity? If your answer is “yes,” please sign
our petition asking that this suggestion be brought up
for discussion at an upcoming congregational meeting
and that a vote then be taken.
— S. J. Guidotti
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