Monthly Archive

I mentioned earlier that one of the GA web reporters stopped by the workshop Jennifer Nichols-Payne and I presented last Thursday in Portland. I was hoping that there’d be a write up on the UUA website so I could point folks there for information on the Congregation Census, the family ministry survey tool that we adapted for Unitarian Universalists. (The original version was for strictly Christian congregations. By the way, Dawn Cooley was working with me as an intern at the time, and she did an excellent job making sure the survey was truly UU. Dawn also recently delivered an award winning sermon at GA, which you can see here. Just scroll down and click on the video for Saturday morning’s worship: “Worshipping Together, Witnessing Together”; there’s about four and a half minutes of nothingness before the service starts so be patient…or fast forward). So Dawn definitely made the cut!

In lieu of a fancy write up on the workshop Jennifer and I did, I thought I’d hard the PowerPoint presentation we used. You can find it below, or at this nifty website called SlideShare. It’s under the title “Congregation Census.” I’m going to write more about the Census in the next issue of my electronic newsletter for Prairie Star religious educators, youth advisors, and other folks interested in faith development. In the meantime, take a look. If you want more information on the Census, please post a comment here and I’ll get in touch with you.

I’ve added a few more photos to my GA 2007 set here. I am sorry that I left a little early (about half way through GA proper), but I have to confess that a week away from the family is getting harder and harder to bear. When you have a two-year-old boy (or girl) change happens pretty quickly, and Henry David was a discernibly different little fellow when I saw him on Saturday morning than he was the Sunday before. In case you don’t know how much travel a district staff job entails, here’s a quick rundown: four days away in August for a Board/Program Council retreat, five days away in October for the LREDA Fall Conference, six days away late November/early December for the Big Complex Meeting of District Staff, five days away in February or March for the Mid-America District Staff group meeting in Ghost Ranch, Arizona, six days away in April for the Prairie Star District Annual Meeting and religious professionals’ retreat, (which reminds me: four days away in October for the PSD UUMA Chapter retreat in Windom, Minnesota), and finally, seven days away in June for General Assembly, including the pre-GA business of a day of District Staff meetings, plus UUMA Ministry Days or LREDA Professional Day or UU University. If I’m doing my math right, that’s thirty-seven days a year away from home, and that’s before setting foot in a single congregation.

I’m not complaining, mind you. It’s just that what may seem to be a extraordinary opportunity (like going to GA every year) might also be seen as a stressor on one’s family system. Fortunately, both the UUA and the Prairie Star District have been wonderfully kind and have allowed me to reduce my hours to three quarters time for the last year and a half, and I’m hoping to keep working at that level for the next three years. Unfortunately, this hasn’t reduced my travel requirements by a quarter. If it did, I’d have only twenty-seven or twenty-eight days of required meetings. Maybe somewhere in all of this is a case for fewer required days away, in the interest of being family-friendly and in the interest of making this work more sustainable.

I’ve never been one to stay a General Assembly until the very end, which used to be a Tuesday. Now that they’ve reduced the number of days GA covers, as well as move the opening to Wednesday from Thursday, staying until the end isn’t quite the commitment it used to be. I still have a hard time staying away from the family for an entire week, however, so now that I’ve been to the Prairie Star District in-gathering, was at the plenary where President Sinkford recognized the UUA staff, presented my PSD-sponsored workshop, and attended this morning’s plenary session where All Souls UU Church, Kansas City, Missouri, presented their Breakthrough Congregation video (which will be available in the fall with the other three Breakthrough Congregation videos), I feel that my official duties at GA are over. So right now I’m writing from Gate D-8 at PDX, waiting from my 2:05 p.m. flight back to the St. Paul. I stopped by one of the Powell’s at the airport to use a gift certificate the Pacific Northwest District folk gave to each of the district staff (bought Cormac McCarthy’s The Road). While there I saw a t-shirt that said “People’s Republic of Portland” and was sorely tempted. The Twin Cities are pretty liberal, but Portland is even more so. A great place to visit. And very likely a wonderful place to live.

I presented the Prairie Star District-sponsored workshop this morning (The Congregation Census: Finding Out Who We Are) with my colleague, Jennifer Nichols-Payne. Things went well–we had a packed room and a lot of folks from around the country expressed some interest in bringing this census to their congregations. A web reporter from the UUA was there, so a write up of the workshop may appear on the UUA’s website soon. I’ll keep you posted. I’ve got a ton (okay, a few pounds) of new pictures to upload to Flickr, but I’m WAY too tired to do them now. I do have one, though, of me in action this morning.

Okay, so now for the rest of the Prairie Star District presenters line up at this year’s GA:

• Friday’s morning plenary will feature the Breakthrough Congregation presentation by All Souls UU Church in Kansas City, Missouri.
• Followed by a Friday morning workshop presented by PSD Community Minister the Rev. Patricia Jimenez called “Cosmic Race, Rainbow People, and Other Myths.” Should be good!
• Friday afternoon is the Sophia Fahs Lecture with Bill Doherty presenting his “Home Grown Religion” lecture.
• A little later on Friday, there’s a LREDA reception for all UU professionals featuring Bill talking about “Faith Development in a Too Much of Everything World!”
• Saturday morning Dawn Cooley (former intern minister in Ames, Iowa) will present her award-winning sermon “Standing at the Precipice.”
• Saturday afternoon finds Patricia Jimenez co-leading another workshop called “My Race Is (Not) Your Race.”
• And finally, Joan Benziger of the GA Planning Committee (and the UU Society in Iowa City) will facilitate a feedback session for GA attendees.

I’ll go over my material one more time tonight to see if I’ve missed anything. If I have, I’ll post it tomorrow.

“Hey, Reverend! Can I get a picture for the folks back home?” So of course I forgot to bring my camera to the Prairie Star District in-gathering reception earlier this afternoon. That’s probably the one place where I could have taken a lot of decent photos of PSD folks in action. Oh well. I did get the list of PSD presenters at GA, however:

• Lori Allen and Cheryll Wallace (religious educators in Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska) did a workshop for LREDA Professional Day called “You Can Say That Again–Finding Peace through the Use of a Mantra.” (Good title!)
• Rev. Rob Eller-Isaacs is giving a sermon at 8:00 tomorrow morning called “A Faithful Conversation.”
• I’ll be leading a workshop with my colleague Jennifer Nichols-Payne tomorrow at 10:45 called “The Congregation Census: Finding Out Who We Are.” (Not a good title.)
• Don Skinner from Shawnee Mission UU Church in Kansas is leading a workshop at the same time called “Interconnections: What Is It about Some Congregations?” (Good question.)
• All Souls UU Church of Kansas City, Missouri will be presenting their Breakthrough Congregation workshop at the same time as well.

I’ll fill you in the remaining PSD Presenters (for Friday and the rest of GA) tomorrow. And sorry about the lack of pictures.

Okay, so GA isn’t a storm. But it is exhausting, so I’m catching my breath for a few minutes before the whole thing starts in earnest. So far we’ve had a lot of good preliminary programming here in Portland: Ministry Days, LREDA (Liberal Religious Educators Assocation) programming, AUUA (Assocation of UU Administrators) programming, and UU University, which just keeps getting better and better. In about an hour the district in-gathering receptions will start, which is a great opportunity for folks from the various UU districts to find out who else is here from their neck of the woods, and (perhaps more importantly) find out who from their district is presenting workshops, preaching sermons, receiving awards, or being recognized. This year we have several people from Prairie Star being honored: Kerri Meyer from Unity Church-Unitarian has been named Youth Advisor of the Year; Dawn Cooley, director of Stonetree Congregational Resources, has won an award for a social justice sermon; and All Souls Unitarian in Kansas City, Missouri has been named a Breakthrough Congregation. I’ll give you a complete run down of presenters from Prairie Star later. But for now, a quick nap before the full force of GA hits. (Remember, you can catch much of what’s happening at the UUA website.)

I’ve uploaded a few new photos to my GA set on Flickr–mostly faces of Prairie Star folks I’ve run into. I’m also in the middle of two days of Pre-GA activities. Yesterday was a day-long meeting of the district staff. There’s more of us each time we meet, and always new faces: we were happy to be joined by Benette Sherman, the new program consultant for the newly consolidated district of New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine. Benette served the UU Fellowship in Ames, Iowa as religious educator. Both Nancy Heege and I are sorry to see her leave the district, but we’re thrilled to have her as a colleague on the district staff. One of the highlights for me from yesterday’s meeting was the breakout groups on various topics of interest we generated at the meeting. I’ll share the list of topics to give you some idea of the kinds of things we discuss at these meetings:

• National strategy for small church vitality.
• New and emerging congregations.
• Campus ministry at district level.
• Services to large churches.
• Technology/web/blogging.
• UUMA conversations about negotiated resignations.
• Integrating clergy leadership in district work.
• Policy governance on the district level.

We also added “Sustainability” to our list of topics. I took part in that conversation, and I facilitated the discussion on Technology/web/blogging. A couple of good suggestions that grew out of those groups involved having specific questions for year-end self evaluation along the lines of, “What new technology did you start using in your job over the past year?” and “What changes have you made in the way you do you job to lessen the impact on the environment?”

And today was the first day of Ministry Days, the annual meeting of UU ministers for fellowship and continuing education. This year’s presenter was the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr., pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. He made a terrific and inspiring presentation this morning, and he hardly mentioned Barack Obama.

Denny’s Parking Lot

Originally uploaded by psdlund

Just in case you thought that the photo I posted last night of the Convention Center in Portland was the view from my room, I thought I’d let you see the real thing. Yep, that’s the Denny’s parking lot there. And just a little beyond it is a Red Robin. Oh well, you can’t always get a room with a view.

On a happier note, I called home already. Julia tried to get Henry David to say a few words. He didn’t say much. But he did blow me an audible kiss AND he sang a pretty good rendition of “Itsy Bitsy Spider.” That makes being away from home just a little more bearable, eh?

Convention Center

Originally uploaded by psdlund

I just arrived in Portland, Oregon for the 46th Annual General Assembly of Unitarian Universalists. I flew non-stop out of Minneapolis/St. Paul on Northwest, which meant I had a good chance of seeing some other folks who were heading to Portland for the same reason. And I did: Lois Cole, the religious educator from Iowa city; and Gini Courter, the UUA moderator. Once I got to the airport, I ran into Eunice Benton and Tera Little, two of my district staff colleagues. We all rode the light rail together to our hotels (nice ride, I’m pretty sure the Minneapolis light rail is modeled after it). Tomorrow Eunice, Tera and I will join the other district staff members for a day-long meeting. After that, it’s Ministry Days, then GA itself. I’ll keep you posted!

By the way, I celebrated Fathers’ Day by making pancakes for Julia and Henry David this morning. I threw a few fresh blueberries into H.D.’s cakes. He took a bite and said, “Hmmm, pancakes good!” That’s about the best Fathers’ Day present a guy could ask for!

Minneapolis Skyline

Originally uploaded by psdlund

One of my year-end duties as a staff person co-employed by the Unitarian Universalist Association and the Prairie Star District is to let my employers know what I’ve been doing for the last year. One of the things I’m pretty proud of is taking the “Commuter Challenge.” The challenge comes from Minneapolis/St. Paul Metro Area Transit folks: “Between April 1 and June 30, try a better way of getting to work–ride the bus or train, carpool, bike, walk or vanpool. Do anything except drive to work by yourself. Pledge to try it just one day or make a bigger commitment.” Well, Julia and I have made a bigger commitment. We’ve donated our second car (a 2001 or so Toyota Corolla) to Habit to Humanity, and I’ve been taking the bus and the light rail to work at least three days a week. Here’s how I reported it to my supervisor: I’ve “started taking mass transit to the office. (In addition to conserving energy and reducing carbon emissions, this allows me time for reading job-related material while commuting. Just trying to practice what we preach!)” After all, our 2006 UUA Statement of Conscience says “We as Unitarian Universalists are called to join with others to halt practices that fuel global warming/climate change, to instigate sustainable alternatives, and to mitigate the impending effects of global warming/climate change with just and ethical responses. As a people of faith, we commit to a renewed reverence for life and respect for the interdependent web of all existence.”

I just received the following e-mail from Jesse Jaeger, Director of Youth Ministry (new job title) at the UUA’s Office of Youth Ministry (new office name). It’s worth reading if you work with youth:

Hello All,

I would like to introduce you all to some changes in the Youth Office.

New Position: First of all, please join us in welcoming Darrick Jackson. Darrick is filling the newly created position of Assistant Youth Ministries Director. Darrick just graduated from Andover Newton School of Theology and will be ordained into the Unitarian Universalist ministry this fall. He will be taking on more of the day to day management of the Youth Office including supervising the Youth Ministry Associates. Darrick will also be supervising the Office of Youth Ministry while I am on sabbatical this fall.

New Office Name: The Youth Office will soon be the Office of Youth Ministry.

New Job Title: You might have noticed that Darrick has the job title “Assistant Youth Ministries Director.” My present title is changing to Youth Ministries Director. As an Association we have an increased awareness of our work with youth as a ministry. These title and name changes (including the change from Youth Programs Specialist to Youth Ministry Associates) all underscore this shift in understanding. [Jessica York, the new Youth Programs Director, oversees youth curriculum development in the Curriculum Office of Lifespan Faith Development, not the Youth Office. Hope that clears up any confusion.]

Summary of who will in the office next year:

Jesse Jaeger: Director of Youth Ministry (on Sabbatical from September 14th returning January 2nd)

• Overall management of the office.
• Focus on implementation of recommendation from consultation on youth ministry.

Darrick Jackson: Assistant Director of Youth Ministry

• Overall management of office while Jesse is on sabbatical.
• Supervision of Youth Ministry Associations.

Rek Kwawer: Youth Office Assistant

• All the same amazing things she does right now.

India McKnight: Youth Ministry Associate (Starts July 16th)

• Support for the Chrysalis Training Program.
• Support for General Assembly Youth Caucus.

Sara Eskrich: Youth Ministry Associate (Starts July 16th)

• Support for the YRUU Leadership.
• Support implantation of recommendation from the consultation on youth ministry.

This will be the group that will carry us through next year as we work to transform how we do youth ministry in our movement.

Beth Dana and Laura Manning will be leaving the Youth Office in August. Keep an eye out for how we will be honoring the amazing work they have done here. We will be holding parties later in the summer.

Please let me know if you have any questions,

Jesse Jaeger

Jesse C. Jaeger
Youth Ministry Director
Unitarian Universalist Association
25 Beacon St.
Boston, Ma 02108
jjaeger@uua.org
www.uua.org/yruu
617-948-4359 (work)
617-367-4798 (fax)

This may not seem like much, but acknowledging on the associational level that the work we do with youth is ministry bodes well for the future.

As the current church year winds down (all that’s really left is General Assembly), I’m beginning to think about the three big projects I’ve committed myself to work on next year. I plan on writing about each of them this summer to help clarify my thoughts, but right now the one that’s on my mind is creating a Youth Spirituality & Service Program for congregations to use in Prairie Star. It’s on my mind because I’ve started reading The Handbook of Spiritual Development in Childhood and Adolescence (edited by Eugene C. Roehlkepartain and others) as part of my research for the project, and it seems that coming up with a working definition of “spirituality” will be crucial for success. Here’s a couple that I’ve found in the first chapter of the book:

Spirituality can be defined as a search for the sacred, a process through which people seek to discourse, hold onto and, when necessary, transform whatever they hold sacred in their lives [the sacred includes the concept of God, divinity, transcendence, and ultimate reality].

Spiritual development is the process of growing the intrinsic human capacity for self-transcendence, in which the self is embedded in something greater than the self, including the sacred. It is the developmental “engine” that propels the search for connectedness, meaning, purpose and contribution. It is shaped both within and outside of religious traditions, beliefs and practices.

I like these definitions because they leave room to go beyond God and divinity when talking about the sacred, and because they recognize that spiritual development can occur “both within and outside of religious traditions.” This embraces both seekers (those who remain ambivalent about committing to a particular religious tradition) and dwellers (those who are willing call themselves Unitarian Universalists). Our job, as I see it, is to create a program for dwellers that is also welcoming to seekers.

By the way, I’ve just discover a terrific new resource: The Center for Spiritual Development in Childhood and Adolescence. Check it out!

Rehnberg Window

Originally uploaded by psdlund

Just trying out some of the nifty features I can use on this new blog. For example, this is a post directly from my Flickr account. The picture is, as the title suggests, the Rehnberg Window from the Unitarian Universalist Church in Rockford, Illinois (the church where I did my ministerial internship). I had been aware of the image before I went to Rockford because it’s used on some merchandise available from UniUniques–pins, key chains, decals, etc. I assumed that the window was in the sanctuary, but in reality it’s in the narthex. The window faces a small prairie area the church maintains, so it’s really, really easy to take a decent picture of it. This one isn’t bad, I think. By the way, the symbols are, clockwise from the top, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, Taoism, Buddhism, and–in the center–Unitarian Universalism.

After several years at my previous site, I’ve decide to move “Phil’s Little Blog on the Prairie” to a new home. I’ve been recommending WordPress to new bloggers for few months now, and I guess it’s time that I started using it myself. The big reason for the move is that Earthlink, the host for the original version of PLBOTP, never upgraded their blogging software. In fact, they quit offering it to new bloggers a year or so ago. I had to do all of my own upgrades: counter, commenting, rss feed, etc., which meant that each new blog entry would usually take as long to cut and paste various bits of html as it took to write. This blog will make it much easier for me to post. Is that a good thing? You’ll have to be the judge of that. Oh, and the customizable header means I can have a nice view of the prairie right up front. Sweet.

Unfortunately, another side effect of using Earthlink’s software is the inability to export my old posts to this new address. So I’ll keep the old site online for anyone interested in referencing something I wrote there. But all new “Little Blog on the Prairie” posts will be right here. Along with more photos and maybe even some videos. Who knows? I appreciate all the support I’ve gotten from readers over the last three plus years. I’m confident that WordPress has the will and the know-how to take us into the next three years…and beyond.