From Our Minister Archive
From Our Minister: One More Step
“Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet…”
—Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life
Our spiritual theme for community exploration this month is thresholds. Theme-based ministry invites the entire congregation to reflect upon universal themes of religious life in creative ways each month. A threshold can be broadly defined as a transitional period from one state or reality to another. They are often potent times in our lives that can evoke a variety of emotions. We may experience self-doubt. We may have to grieve leaving behind old parts of ourselves on the other side of the threshold. We will explore many aspects of thresholds in the context of worship this month as we consider the lunar month of Ramadan, motherhood, liminal space, and sabbath. I hope you will help us to cultivate a robust theme-based ministry in our congregation by bringing the theme of the month into your committees and other activities in the life of the church. A theme-based check-in question you might want to consider this month could be: “Please share a time when you moved through an important threshold of your life and briefly explore the feelings that characterized that transitional period.”
Developmental ministry is one form of a threshold period in the life of a congregation. It is the time when a congregational engages in a prolonged period of specialized ministry that strives to heal old wounds, uncover latent potentials, and grow the capacities of the congregation to prepare for another settled ministry. It is an opportunity for the congregation to engage in self-assessment and reflection, enhance individual and collective awareness, and strengthen the structures and systems of the congregation. Developmental ministers typically come with a special degree of experience working with the particular challenges and opportunities that are to be addressed in such a period. In addition to the expected functions of ministry, we discern with congregational leaders and our UUA partners some of the areas for growth in congregational life. Examples of some of the goals we are working towards in this developmental ministry include practicing our covenantal commitments, discerning the mission of the congregation, updating our bylaws, and implementing good financial practices–among many others! When we’ve passed through this threshold period there should be a sense of renewal and vitality in the congregation that will provide a solid foundation for a successful settled ministry.
Thresholds are commonplace in our lives and they are especially attended to by religious communities. Major lifespan thresholds such as the birth of a child, coming of age, young adulthood, marriage, divorce, elderhood, and death are all marked by religious traditions in different ways and to different extents. A new medical diagnosis, the loss of a job, moving to a new neighborhood, a new school, coming out as LGBTIQ , transitioning genders, or stepping into a new role in your life are all important thresholds many have to cross on life’s journey. Spiritual communities help individuals, families, and couples to navigate new realities with the wisdom, experience, and grace found in community.
Beloved community reminds us that we can find the courage to take one more step or push ourselves a bit farther — to use more inclusive language — with the love and support of those around us. It reminds us that even when facing an unprecedented threshold like navigating a global pandemic we do not have to do it alone. Crossing the many thresholds of life can be exhilarating, terrifying, and transformative but they are made a little bit easier with the love and support of those with whom we share this incredible gift of life.
Spiritual Liberation
“I call that mind free which jealously guards its intellectual rights and powers, which does not content itself with a passive or hereditary faith: which opens itself to light whencesoever it may come; which receives new truth as an angel from heaven.”
-Rev. Dr. William Ellery Channing
Our spiritual theme for community exploration this month is liberation. Theme-based ministry invites the entire congregation to reflect upon universal themes of religious life in creative ways each month. Liberation can be broadly defined as freedom from oppression. Spiritual liberation might be defined as freedom from those things which are oppressive to our spiritual well-being.
Liberation has taken on a variety of meanings in various religious traditions and we will explore some of those this month in worship. I hope you might include some reflection on this spiritual theme in your online meetings this month. Many meetings are now including a theme-based check-in question to support spiritual deepening in our small group gatherings. An example of a simple theme-based question to consider this month might be: “When on your life’s journey did you move from oppression to freedom?”
Our spiritual ancestors fought religious oppression for centuries. Our Unitarian forbearers rebelled against oppressive religious teachings such as original sin, trinitarian dogma, salvation by faith alone, religious imperialism, and interpreting scripture without reason. Our Universalist forbearers rejected the harmful religious teachings which imagined a god who destined some for heaven and others for hell. Many of our ancestors suffered greatly as they challenged the orthodoxies of their day to open hearts to more optimistic interpretations of the religious life.
Our humanist legacy further cemented the mission of our faith as a humanitarian endeavor. We became concerned not only with a loving and open-minded approach to religion but also putting the demands of liberal faith into action. This helped catalyze social reforms which included environmentalism, feminism, civil rights, and the LGBTIQ equality movement. Spiritual liberation in our liberal church has meant revolutions in thought, doctrine, and the social order.
In the midst of a global pandemic, we are once again invited to imagine in what ways our lives and the world might be liberated from outdated and oppressive paradigms. Circumstances are demanding we reevaluate our economic structures, worker’s rights, healthcare, and international relations, among many other important considerations. Can we seize this moment of so much suffering, grief, and loss to bring a better world into being?
I hope you will take some time over the course of this month to consider what a “world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all” might be like when we reach the other side of this pandemic. As we navigate through the fears and anxieties of this time, lets allow our creativity to become a wellspring of new hope.
With love and gratitude,
Jeremiah
Rev. Jeremiah Kalendae
Developmental Minister
From our Minister: Beloved Wisdom
MARCH'S SPIRITUAL THEME FOR COMMUNITY EXPLORATION
“Wisdom shouts in the streets. She cries out in the public square.”
-Proverbs 1:20
-Proverbs 1:20
Our spiritual theme for community exploration this month is wisdom. Theme-based ministry invites the entire congregation to reflect upon universal themes of religious life in creative ways each month. Wisdom is an important subject considered in all of the great religious traditions of the world. In Jewish scriptures, Chokmâh is personified as Lady Wisdom.
In the Book of Proverbs, it is written: “When there was yet no ocean I was born, no springs brimming with water. Before the mountains were settled in their place, long before the hills I was there…When the heavens were set in their place…I was at the divine’s side each day…” and “Those who love me I love, those who search for me find me…my path is that path of justice.” Wisdom is personified as the beloved of the divine, the guardian of righteousness and justice, and as an inherent dimension of existence. Many feminist religious scholars have embraced Lady Wisdom as the divine feminine in Jewish and Christian religious teachings.
When I reflect on wisdom, I instantly think of my grandmother. A Polish immigrant, she had to cross the seas with her family following World War II and learned to survive in a foreign land where she did not speak the language. Overcoming many obstacles, she did not allow life’s hardships to make her bitter but shared an abundance of love with the generations that followed her. Like many who live to a ripe old age, the experiences of life and its challenges hopefully cultivate a wisdom we can share with the generations that follow us.
Wisdom isn’t simply learned knowledge or an innate intelligence but something more expansive and holistic. We can accumulate a lot of knowledge and be very intelligent and still not be wise. Susanne Schaup explains in Sophia: Aspects of the Divine Feminine: “Wisdom goes beyond knowledge. It asks questions about the meaning and purpose of knowledge, about the responsibility of our accumulated knowledge to a higher authority.” Wisdom might be defined as our capacities to integrate experience, knowledge, intelligence, insights, and values. It has communal dimensions as well given that it is something we typically learn from others and share with others.
Let us cultivate wisdom in our beloved community this month and in all months. We are privileged and blessed to have a community with so many different people who contribute to our collective experience. Let us remember to seek out the wisdom of others and to listen more often than we speak. Let us cherish our elders and our ancestors and remember what they have taught us. Let us learn from the richness of our great spiritual tradition and find meaning, purpose, and happiness for our lives. Let us listen for the voice of Lady Wisdom in our lives and attend to her call.
With love and gratitude,
Jeremiah
Rev. Jeremiah Kalendae
Developmental Minister
From our Minister: Spiritual Resilience
FEBRUARY'S SPIRITUAL THEME FOR COMMUNITY EXPLORATION
This month our spiritual theme for community exploration is resilience. Broadly defined, resilience is our capacity to withstand challenges and recover from difficulties. Spiritual resilience might be defined as the capacity to remain centered; rooted in core values and principles, through the vicissitudes of life. Resilience is something that can be cultivated through practices such as setting good boundaries, self-care, community care, spiritual practice, counseling, optimism, gratitude, flexibility, and social action. This empowers us to make a difference in our lives and in the lives of others. Developmental Ministry is a period when communities learn what it means to be spiritually resilient by reinforcing healthy practices in community life and learning from mistakes. It takes time to create a new way of being that enhances our collective self-awareness and our capacities to treat each other with even greater sensitivity and compassion. This is challenging work because it is in direct opposition to so much of the political landscape and dominant culture in which we live.
Theme-based ministry in our community is an opportunity for everyone to consider universal themes of the liberal spirit each month to deepen our own knowledge and learn together in community. Although, I often implicitly include the monthly theme in many of the subjects I preach about each month, I am hoping to more actively engage with reflection on the monthly theme in these newsletter articles. I would like to invite you to also recommit to theme-based ministry in this new year. That can happen in small groups, after the worship services, in religious exploration, or in many other contexts of church life. One easy way to incorporate theme-based ministry into any group is to have a themed check-in time. A simple example of a themed-based check-in question would be: “How are you today and what has helped you to be resilient in life?” Theme-based ministry works on a multi-year cycle with the intent of providing a way of measuring spiritual growth as we compare how our understanding of any given spiritual theme has changed or grown over time.
As we expand our commitments to anti-racism and anti-oppression work within ourselves, our community, and the larger world, it is important to learn from those who had to learn resilience as a means of survival. The Educating to Create Just Communities that Counter Oppressions educational philosophy of our Californian Unitarian Universalist theological school states: “People of color have resisted white supremacy in many ways. Communities of color teach patterns of resistance. Each person who survives oppression has found and moved along a path of resistance. Those who “were never meant to survive” but have survived, extend to the larger human community the wisdom and ways, options and opportunities, sounds and rhythms of resistance and survival. Such people make their lives a gift of authentic presence and witness.” So as we learn to better practice resilience and co-create a sustainable and regenerative beloved community, let us listen to the reservoirs of wisdom among us and in our larger community, and let us live into our solidarity with all those who dream of a better world.
With love and gratitude,
Jeremiah
Rev. Jeremiah Lal Shahbaz Kalendae
Developmental Minister
Developmental Minister
From our Minister: Blessings for the New Year!
RESOLUTIONS FOR OUR BELOVED COMMUNITY
Photo by Jamie Street on Unsplash
Rev. Jeremiah KalendaeWe once again find ourselves upon the threshold of another orbit around our home star. The holiday season brought with it many gifts and challenges and hopefully rekindled our spirits in the midst of the wintertime. As we lit the candles of the menorah and told ancient stories of resistance and liberation, so many of our Jewish siblings were being victimized and targeted. Let us hold the Jewish community in our hearts as begin this new year as stewards of peace and defenders of justice. Many of us are ready to turn the page on this chapter of human history and are dreaming of new ways to create community together both in our congregation and in the wider world. Many of the old structures of the social order which harmed and oppressed people are passing away and we are working to create ways to revitalize our communities and our threatened planet home. It is important that we shelter those most vulnerable in our liberal faith communities, speak out for humanity and our environment, and provide spiritual leadership in a world that is still navigating its way through so many societal challenges and advances.
The New Year is a good time to engage in some self-reflection and consider what it is we want for ourselves now and in the future. What are your resolutions for the new year? We so often make aspirational promises to ourselves at this time because it is one of the many opportunities we have to listen to our deepest callings in life and catalyze changes. I’ve been thinking about what some the hopes for our beloved community are this year. When I arrived, we identified some cultural work that would serve as the foundation for this next stage of developmental ministry. Although this work happens in congregations, it also speaks to the challenges facing humanity more generally in this time of challenge and uncertainly. I share with you these resolutions for our community which will hopefully help us to enhance the ways we minister together and our capacities to create effective change in the world.
Sustainability & Regenerativity
As our global communities begin to explore what it will be like for humanity to make the shift to paradigms of sustainability and regenerativity, we also need to do the same as a beloved community. We need to shift to a paradigm of sustainability and regeneratively that will allow us to live beloved community in ways that are spacious, restorative, and healing for the community. This will allow for greater reflection by the community on its many achievements and help it to move from feelings of brokenness to wholeness. This is necessary to fully integrate and practice what has been learned in the past few years and to chart a course for the future that emphasizes the quality of our relationships in community as least as much as it values the work and ministering we do together. Are we practicing self-care and community-care? Are we slowing down and letting go of that sense of unending urgency? Are we having fun together? Are we making time for silence and for regeneration? Are there spiritual exercises which sustain us?
Intersectional Anti-Racism & Anti-Oppression Commitments
We are living in a time of mass mobilization for change in our religious communities and in the world at large. Movements for social justice are once again receiving the attention they deserve. From Black Lives Matter to Standing Rock, the Climate Movement to Occupy Wall Street, LGBTIQ Rights to Me Too, we are living in an era of increased consciousness, communication, and strategic organization for change. Our larger UUA movement is coming to terms with white supremacy and legacies that have harmed marginalized populations (and everyone else) in our movement. May activists are beginning to find a spiritual foundation for their activism and are beginning to understand that the many forces of oppression and liberation in society are related to each other. The queer womanist writer and activist, Audre Lorde, had correctly observed a generation ago: “There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.” Unitarian Universalism has an important collective experience to bring to such work and we also need to engage with it in our own communities and in our own time. How are we engaging in the work of anti-racism and anti-oppression? Are we learning to think intersectionality and to understand how the struggles for liberation are interwoven? We we preparing ourselves well to be agents of justice, love, and transformation in our society?
Hospitality & the Multireligious Embrace
As Unitarian Universalists, we are a tradition with many sources that welcomes people from a variety of spiritual paths. We encourage the free and responsible search for meaning and support many groups in our congregations who find meaning in particular religious traditions, theologies, and philosophies of life. Unitarian Universalist communities flourish when they welcome and encourage a diversity of beliefs rooted in our common principles, history, and shared values. One characteristic of white supremacy culture is either/or thinking which can be reductive and erase our complexities and nuances. To move beyond polarized and either/or reductions, we will need to move towards a mosaic model of multireligiosity which honors the diverse beliefs, practices and traditions inherent to Unitarian Universalism, shelters people, philosophies, traditions and wisdom that is threatened by our dominate society, and encourages us to understand the complexities of our religious paths and identities as individuals and as a beloved community. Are we exploring the story of our liberal faith tradition and engaging with it in all of its complexity and nuance? Are we making space for people who may be different than us in some beliefs but with whom we share common liberal religious values? Are we stretching ourselves to have greater fluency in the great religions of the world and systems of philosophy and ethics? Are we as inclusive as we can be?
Let’s make this a year of sustainable and regenerative living, deepening justice in our world, and a broad and inclusive embrace!
With love and gratitude,
Jeremiah
Jeremiah
Rev. Jeremiah Kalendae
Developmental Minister
Happy Pride!
“There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.”—Audre Lorde
Pride month arrives with the warmth and sunlight of June days beckoning us to the outdoors. I know many of us are appreciative of the arrival of summer after so many weeks cooped up in our homes. Hopefully, we will be able to appreciate the outdoors — while maintaining physical distance and wearing a mask — and connect with the life-giving energies of summer. Our pride-approved spiritual theme for community exploration this month is play. Theme-based ministry invites the entire congregation to reflect upon universal themes of religious life in creative ways each month. Play can be broadly defined as any activity we engage in solely for enjoyment. It is something many of us have fond memories of in our earlier lives but we may not make time or space for it in our all-too-serious and demanding adult lives. Yet, play is essential to our well-being and can rejuvenate our souls. We will explore play in multiple services this month and I hope you consider the themes of play and pride in your group meetings and other activities in the life of the church. A theme-based check-in question you might want to consider this month could be: “What would it look like to invite more play into your life?”
Our congregation is in the process of moving through three important stages as we celebrate the end of the church year, move into the summer, and prepare for the year to come. Right now, the first stage is working to tie up loose ends and conclude the church year. We have a few more services and our annual meeting — which is really a series of online events and processes through June this year — before I am able to take some much needed restorative time this summer. Our second stage will be the summer months of July and August when staff and leaders are able to take a break and restore ourselves for the autumn. I am encouraging everyone in the congregation to slow to a sustainable pace this summer so we have the energy and inspiration to respond to whatever the autumn brings. We will have a few weeks of extraordinary guest preachers and the exceptional worship leadership of the Rev. Dr. Kikanza Nuri-Robins over the summer. Our third stage will be to launch our church in more online and possibly hybrid (online and in person) spaces in the autumn. I am imagining a robust small group ministry program serving as the grassroots social fabric of church life as we co-create the church of the future.
Although our congregational focus has been pastoral the past two months, we hope the new church year will include expansive prophetic activities that respond to the injustices, violence, and oppression this pandemic is making evident to all. Apocalypse literally means an “unveiling” and that certainly feels like part of what we are experiencing. Systems of anti-black, anti-brown, and anti-indigenous violence are exposing themselves. The lack of healthcare, sick leave, and sustainable wages for our essential workers is becoming apparent to many people. We are learning how this pandemic is decimating our elders and people of color. I hope that we start heart/brainstorming now around the role we have to play as a beacon of liberal religion in ushering a more peaceful, compassionate, and just world into being.
Yours in ministry,
Jeremiah
Rev. Jeremiah Lal Shahbaz Kalendae
Developmental Minister
From Our Minister: Warm Holiday Greetings!
PLANS FOR THE FUTURE
The miraculous birth of a child, a light that burns unending, the longest night of the year, and seven candles lit in the darkness — these are the cherished stories of the Yuletide season. A time for gathering of family and community, feasts and gifts, caroling and rejoicing. These holy days can stir warm memories of days past and also remind of us of loss or pain. For some, the holidays are the time when loneliness, grief, and depression is particularly intense. Our Pastoral Associates and Care Ring are available if you need company, to talk with someone, or have any practical needs with which our church community might be able to help you. To ring in the winter holidays and New Year, our beloved community will be hosting a series of worship services to commemorate the many traditions of this season, spread cheer and goodwill, and cultivate peace throughout our homes and in the larger world. We hope you will be able to be with us for these many special celebrations.
We have hit the ground running in my first three months serving with you as your developmental minister. We are embarking upon many new initiatives, including a community-wide reflection on the 8 Elements of Effective Congregational Ministries to explore how we are already engaging in shared ministry and to identify ways that we can expand upon our shared responsibility for the wellbeing and vitality of the congregation. It is my hope that each group in the church will dedicate some time in the next three months to consider the ways in which they are engaging in ministry and spiritual leadership and share some of their discoveries with me and the board. We are hoping to gain a greater sense of the breadth of depth of the work of the congregation and identifies ways that we can build integration across the life of the congregation. We believe this process with strengthen the bonds within our community and help to lay the foundation for important mission discernment work down the road.
We are also endeavoring to create our first congregational promotional video and we plan to begin filming soon. We are hoping to capture some of the stories of the good work of the community and highlight our goals for our stewardship campaign. This is probably a good time to thank you for your generous contributions and pledges, and to remind you the end of the tax year is quickly approaching. We are calling our Stewardship Committee the Stewardship Design Team this year as we bringing artistic, social, and administrative dimensions to the work with our congregational video project. If you have skills in videography, directing, producing, or editing, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me if you’d like to be apart of this exciting new project. We hope this too will help us with discernment work in the future as we learn to tell and hear the stories of our beloved community.
Let us all take a collective breath as the winter holidays approach. Let us dwell in the serenity of the season and cultivate more of it for ourselves and our neighbors. Remember to reach out to those who many be isolated or alone. If you are in need of pastoral support or interested in applying to be a Pastoral Associate, please do reach out to pastoralcare@uusm.org.
Wishing you the happiest of holidays!
With love and gratitude,
Rev. Jeremiah
8 Elements of Effective Congregational Ministries
CREATING BELOVED COMMUNITY TOGETHER
UUSM’s Board of Directors has adopted a model of effective congregational ministries in our beloved community that empowers everyone in the church to take responsibility for creating a beloved community together.
Unitarian Universalists have long held the belief that the work of the church and religious leadership is everyone’s calling in our communities. To that end, we propose the following 8 Elements of Effective Congregational Ministries, which are adapted from All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa — our largest UU congregation.
These 8 Elements have been used in church settings to nurture a culture of shared ministry and spiritual leadership, mutual accountability, and the holistic integration of various church programs, committees, groups, and ministries. These 8 Elements invite us to consider our own beloved groups and committees and the ways in which we live out the mission of the congregation and embody the core functions of our congregation. Although our groups may have specific purposes, in many ways, they are microcosms of the church as a whole. As such, they can be opportunities for us to practice what it means to live a UU spiritual life in community.
Each committee, program, and group of UUSM is encouraged to include these eight holistic ministry elements in their programs and work together: beginning with self-reflection, incorporating action, sharing learning, and implementing new feedback, to improve our effectiveness as co-creators of beloved community.
1 – Spirituality
Spirituality includes some way to connect to the core values of our lives through spiritual practices such as chalice lightings, readings, meditation, prayer, reflection, or worship. All groups are encouraged to create sacred space for their meetings by opening and closing with chalice lightings, readings, and other meaningful spiritual practices.
2 – Fellowship
Fellowship sustains beloved community and involves sharing fun, food, and friendship as a program, committee, or group. Even committees with defined tasks make time during the year for a party or other social gathering.
3 – Education
Everything we do as a congregation is religious education. All groups are encouraged to intentionally offer educational opportunities for their group and the larger community.
4 – Pastoral Care
Each committee, program, or group helps care for its members during a crisis or time of need. Group leaders stay in touch with the minister, Pastoral Associates, and Care Ring to keep our leaders informed about pastoral care needs.
5 – Leadership Development
One function of each group is to recruit and train the next generation of congregational leaders. Strategic planning, succession planning, and leadership development opportunities ensure groups are sustainable and regenerative.
6 – Anti-Racism/Anti-Oppression/Social Justice
Each group engages in Anti-Racism/Anti-Oppression/Social Justice work on personal, interpersonal, congregational, and societal levels. Each group can also look for ways to give back to the larger community through a service project.
7 – Invitation
Each program and group should have some element of inviting others to share in our congregation’s mission. This includes holding programs open to the public and/or inviting friends to attend.
8 – Stewardship
Each group participates in some way in raising funds and resources to sustain and expand the efforts of the church.
Our hope is that in the next three months, these 8 Elements can be introduced and reflected upon by all of the committees and groups of UUSM. Our further hope is that this can become a regular model for reflection as we think holistically about the many ways we are invited to serve each other and our religious home. The Board welcomes responses from each group in this process so we can better understand the breadth and depth of our work together.
Thank you for investing your time, thoughtfulness, and creativity in this developmental ministry process!
With faith and love,
Rev. Jeremiah Kalendae
Rev. Jeremiah Kalendae
Developmental Minister
Thank You for the Warm Welcome!
Beloved Community,
Thank you for the warm welcome to this beloved community. I have been blessed to meet so many members of the community, who are deeply committed to the mission of this congregation. If we haven’t yet had the chance to meet, I hope to meet you soon! My first few months with you will be a time of listening and orienting to this community, to get a sense of your hopes and dreams for the future. Your Board of Directors, congregational leaders, staff, and others have already begun to lay the foundation for some of the developmental ministry work that we will engage with this year. It is an exciting time to experiment with new ideas, programs, and initiatives. We’ve been heart/brainstorming around worship, pastoral care, religious education, anti-racism/anti-oppression, stewardship, financial health, membership, communications, and outreach—to name a few—in these initial weeks together.
We are living in a critical time and the demands for justice in our society are loud and reverberating in the hearts and minds of so many. I have been so moved by the young people who are leading the Climate Strike and dispelling the ignorance and climate denial of so many. I’m heartbroken by the ways in which those in power are persecuting the most vulnerable among us. I am grateful that my liberal religious faith provides me with the values, companions, spiritual grounding, and fortitude to resist the dominant paradigms, and to live more mindfully and compassionately in our world. I am also aware that at UUSM we need to be as effective as possible in responding to the calls of love, community, and justice in the world. We need to model a welcoming, beloved community that is an alternative to a world with too much heartlessness, alienation, and injustice.
We are beginning to explore what it might mean for UUSM to move towards a model of sustainability and regenerativity in congregational life. Everyone has been working really hard the past two years and it is now time to rest, reflect, and integrate the learnings from the first period of developmental ministry. It is very easy for church leaders and others to burnout if there isn’t enough spaciousness in the life of the church. Are we making time to just enjoy being with each other? Is there time for rest and laughter and play—even in official church meetings? Are we sharing our emotional lives with others? Are we slowing down some to increase our mindfulness? Are we taking care of our bodies? Are we being attentive to how we celebrate accomplishments? Are we remembering those who came before us? Are we making time to appreciate art and beauty? As we taking time just to be still and breathe?
Let’s explore these important questions and many more together as the new church year begins to blossom.
With love and gratitude,
Jeremiah
Jeremiah
Rev. Jeremiah Kalendae
Developmental Minister
Greetings from our Minister
BY REVEREND JEREMIAH KALENDAE
Dear UUSM,
I am so excited to begin developmental ministry with you this summer. I discerned months ago that I would only explore a new congregational ministry if I had a strong sense of calling to the work. When it was shared you were looking for a new developmental minister, I began to learn more about the community and started speaking with the appropriate leaders within and beyond the congregation. It became clear to me that I had a very strong sense of calling to the opportunities, challenges, and aspirations of this ministry. I was especially impressed with the skillful leadership of your Board of Directors, the progress you’ve already made in 2 years of developmental ministry, and the identified developmental goals. I was delighted to meet many of your leaders and was inspired by their commitment, wisdom, and love.
The compelling ministry before us will touch upon the very heart of congregational life. We will explore mission, vision, and the covenants that bind us to each other and to the larger world. We will learn to deepen our relationships, explore matters of the heart and emotional intelligence, practice good communication and setting appropriate boundaries in congregational life, and create spaciousness for an affirmation and celebration of the diversity inherent to our pluralistic spiritual life. We will also work to examine systems and structures of the congregation and continue the important work towards increased financial vitality and sustainability. We will be in deep conversation around these goals and others in the coming months. This is truly a time for a holistic reflection on the essence of beloved community and what is required of each of us to be transformed by liberal religious community.
My most recent ministries have been serving congregations in the San Francisco Bay Area and teaching multireligious philosophy and theology at Starr King School for the Ministry – our Unitarian Universalist seminary at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. At Starr King, I also served for many years recruiting and preparing our next generation of Unitarian Universalist ministers and progressive religious leaders. In addition to being a UU minister, I am a practicing Sufi in the lineage of Ibrahim Abdurrahman Farajajé and Moinuddin Chishti. In the larger community, I’ve been especially invested in the Black Lives Matter, Standing Rock, Climate Justice, Disability, Refugee and Aslyee, Transgender/Queer and Feminist Liberation movements. Before entering the ministry, I was a social justice activist, educator, nonprofit professional, and community leader.
We will have a lot of time to learn more from each other and I look forward to ministering with each of you!
With love and gratitude,
Jeremiah
Greetings from the Rev. Jeremiah Kalendae - Welcome Him on August 22
Dear UUSM,
I am so excited to begin developmental ministry with you this summer. I discerned months ago that I would only explore a new congregational ministry if I had a strong sense of calling to the work. When it was shared you were looking for a new developmental minister, I began to learn more about the community and started speaking with the appropriate leaders within and beyond the congregation. It became clear to me that I had a very strong sense of calling to the opportunities, challenges, and aspirations of this ministry. I was especially impressed with the skillful leadership of your Board of Directors, the progress you’ve already made in 2 years of developmental ministry, and the identified developmental goals. I was delighted to meet many of your leaders and was inspired by their commitment, wisdom, and love.
The compelling ministry before us will touch upon the very heart of congregational life. We will explore mission, vision, and the covenants that bind us to each other and to the larger world. We will learn to deepen our relationships, explore matters of the heart and emotional intelligence, practice good communication and setting appropriate boundaries in congregational life, and create spaciousness for an affirmation and celebration of the diversity inherent to our pluralistic spiritual life. We will also work to examine systems and structures of the congregation and continue the important work towards increased financial vitality and sustainability. We will be in deep conversation around these goals and others in the coming months. This is truly a time for a holistic reflection on the essence of beloved community and what is required of each of us to be transformed by liberal religious community.
My most recent ministries have been serving congregations in the San Francisco Bay Area and teaching multireligious philosophy and theology at Starr King School for the Ministry – our Unitarian Universalist seminary at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. At Starr King, I also served for many years recruiting and preparing our next generation of Unitarian Universalist ministers and progressive religious leaders. In addition to being a UU minister, I am a practicing Sufi in the lineage of Ibrahim Abdurrahman Farajajé and Moinuddin Chishti. In the larger community, I’ve been especially invested in the Black Lives Matter, Standing Rock, Climate Justice, Disability, Refugee and Aslyee, Transgender/Queer and Feminist Liberation movements. Before entering the ministry, I was a social justice activist, educator, nonprofit professional, and community leader.
We will have a lot of time to learn more from each other and I look forward to ministering with each of you!
With love and gratitude,
Jeremiah