1 00:00:29,480 --> 00:00:31,480 All right. 2 00:00:31,480 --> 00:00:34,200 Welcome to the Congregational Leaders Conversation. 3 00:00:34,200 --> 00:00:36,200 This is a monthly program. 4 00:00:36,200 --> 00:00:39,240 This monthly program offers an opportunity to 5 00:00:39,240 --> 00:00:42,479 hear from experienced expert guests, speakers, 6 00:00:42,479 --> 00:00:45,640 on topics of interest to congregational leaders, and to be 7 00:00:45,679 --> 00:00:50,240 in conversation with them and one another about what we're noticing in our congregations. 8 00:00:50,719 --> 00:00:55,719 We can expect a variety of questions and concerns and ideas to be shared each month. 9 00:00:56,039 --> 00:01:00,960 We do record these meetings and post them on our website for those who want to access them later. 10 00:01:01,200 --> 00:01:04,000 The video does not include the time we spend in our breakout room. 11 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:10,079 My name is QuianaDenae, both parts like Linda Susan, are Glenn Thomas. 12 00:01:10,079 --> 00:01:12,120 My pronouns are she and her. 13 00:01:12,120 --> 00:01:15,480 I'm an African-American woman with colorful glasses, 14 00:01:15,480 --> 00:01:19,120 a necklace that has a moose on it, and my locks 15 00:01:19,159 --> 00:01:22,319 are coming out from the side of my head and I have on a colorful headband. 16 00:01:22,959 --> 00:01:27,680 I currently serve the MidAmerica region and I serve our small congregations. 17 00:01:27,959 --> 00:01:31,120 I'm physically located on the land of the Potawatomi 18 00:01:31,159 --> 00:01:35,959 people that was also worked and labored on by African stolen African Americans. 19 00:01:35,959 --> 00:01:37,959 I'm African. 20 00:01:37,959 --> 00:01:38,799 They were not American quite yet. 21 00:01:38,799 --> 00:01:40,120 They were just building us. 22 00:01:40,120 --> 00:01:42,840 Tonight's, gathering is an opportunity for 23 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:47,280 all of us to practice some of the key leadership skills that are essential for these times. 24 00:01:48,079 --> 00:01:51,799 We ask that you lean into those skills in your 25 00:01:51,799 --> 00:01:55,760 interactions with others this evening and suggest the following group 26 00:01:55,760 --> 00:01:58,959 norms which you will find in the chat. 27 00:02:01,200 --> 00:02:04,359 Here is a little bit more information to let you know 28 00:02:04,400 --> 00:02:06,680 what to expect in our time together. 29 00:02:06,680 --> 00:02:09,719 Our tech host, Ritoo and my colleague, Lauren 30 00:02:09,719 --> 00:02:15,199 Wyeth is our co-host and the other three, and the three of us are here every month. 31 00:02:15,800 --> 00:02:18,919 This month's facilitator is our colleague, Reverend 32 00:02:18,919 --> 00:02:22,520 Nancy McDonald Ladd, who serves as the director of Communications 33 00:02:22,520 --> 00:02:26,400 and Public Ministry for your UUA, who 34 00:02:26,400 --> 00:02:28,840 will introduce herself later in the program. 35 00:02:28,879 --> 00:02:32,000 Our guest speakers this evening are both folks who 36 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:34,280 who's ministry and whose 37 00:02:34,719 --> 00:02:39,199 commitment to Unitarian Universalism is something that I stand on and in. 38 00:02:39,719 --> 00:02:43,840 Both our leaders in our movement who've contributed pieces 39 00:02:43,879 --> 00:02:47,759 to the recent edition of the UU Pocket Guide, 40 00:02:47,759 --> 00:02:51,960 Jessica York and Reverend Cheryl M. Walker retired. 41 00:02:52,199 --> 00:02:55,520 With care and intentionality and conversation with Reverend 42 00:02:55,560 --> 00:02:58,840 Cheryl and Jessica, we've carefully selected Reverend Nancy 43 00:02:59,360 --> 00:03:02,479 McDonald Ladd as the UUA's 44 00:03:02,479 --> 00:03:06,319 communication director and public ministry and 45 00:03:06,319 --> 00:03:08,479 another contributing offer to the pocket guide. 46 00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:12,039 We all agreed that she holds a unique lens and is 47 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:17,199 best and will be the best accomplice this group could ask for tonight. 48 00:03:17,960 --> 00:03:20,960 Our guest will introduce themselves later in the program. 49 00:03:21,560 --> 00:03:24,599 This promises to be a rich conversation for us all, and 50 00:03:24,599 --> 00:03:27,199 we are so glad that you have joined us. 51 00:03:28,479 --> 00:03:30,479 Indeed we are. 52 00:03:30,479 --> 00:03:31,960 Welcome. 53 00:03:31,960 --> 00:03:33,080 We're so glad you're here. 54 00:03:33,080 --> 00:03:37,000 I am your co-host this evening, along with QuianaDenae. 55 00:03:37,039 --> 00:03:39,080 My name is Lauren Wyeth. 56 00:03:39,080 --> 00:03:41,599 My pronouns are she or they. 57 00:03:41,599 --> 00:03:45,199 And I'm a white person in my mid to late 50s now, 58 00:03:45,560 --> 00:03:48,599 with blondish brown, curlyish 59 00:03:48,599 --> 00:03:52,199 shoulder length hair, and I'm wearing a gray top and 60 00:03:52,199 --> 00:03:55,680 sitting in front of a bookcase that has a chalice 61 00:03:55,680 --> 00:03:59,439 and some candles lit candles on it this evening. 62 00:04:00,719 --> 00:04:03,719 Before we dive into our program, we want 63 00:04:03,719 --> 00:04:06,680 to give you a sense of the evening's agenda. 64 00:04:07,479 --> 00:04:10,520 Coming up next, we'll take a few minutes to light our 65 00:04:10,520 --> 00:04:14,039 chalice and ground ourselves, and then we'll take 66 00:04:14,039 --> 00:04:17,160 some time to reflect on what's happening in our own congregations 67 00:04:17,720 --> 00:04:20,959 before introducing ourselves in small breakout groups. 68 00:04:21,480 --> 00:04:24,839 When we come back together from those breakouts, at 69 00:04:24,839 --> 00:04:28,680 that point, we'll hear from our guests and we'll listen for about half an hour. 70 00:04:29,480 --> 00:04:32,519 Following their presentation, we'll have a chance to 71 00:04:32,519 --> 00:04:36,759 process and breakout groups again before having some time with them for Q and A. 72 00:04:37,519 --> 00:04:42,720 And we'll close our time together this evening at 9 Eastern, 6 Pacific. 73 00:04:43,720 --> 00:04:46,720 If you are not wanting or not able 74 00:04:46,759 --> 00:04:51,000 to unmute and participate in a breakout group this evening, 75 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:54,120 you can let us know that by putting a Q for quiet 76 00:04:54,680 --> 00:04:56,680 at the beginning of your Zoom name. 77 00:04:56,959 --> 00:05:00,399 That will cue Ritoo to sort you into a quiet room 78 00:05:00,439 --> 00:05:04,759 for those two periods of time when we'll be in breakout groups this evening. 79 00:05:04,759 --> 00:05:07,800 So you will go to a breakout group, but it will be one 80 00:05:07,800 --> 00:05:12,000 in which you are sharing that quiet space with others who 81 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:15,680 have chosen not to participate in the conversation this evening. 82 00:05:17,959 --> 00:05:21,160 Let's take a minute now to settle in, 83 00:05:21,199 --> 00:05:25,720 to light a chalice, to more fully arrive into this space. 84 00:05:27,199 --> 00:05:30,519 Notice how you're feeling and if it's helpful for you to 85 00:05:30,560 --> 00:05:34,800 wiggle or stretch or adjust your body in any way, to 86 00:05:34,800 --> 00:05:37,680 be just a bit more comfortable I invite you to do that now. 87 00:05:39,480 --> 00:05:42,680 And we start with chalice lighting words borrowed 88 00:05:42,680 --> 00:05:44,959 from the Reverend Cheryl M. Walker. 89 00:05:46,199 --> 00:05:49,519 She writes, we live in uncertain 90 00:05:49,560 --> 00:05:52,959 times, and much of what we knew is in flux. 91 00:05:54,480 --> 00:05:57,680 Our ministry calls us to honor what is good and 92 00:05:57,680 --> 00:06:01,040 right from our past, to appreciate who we 93 00:06:01,040 --> 00:06:04,319 are today, and to imagine the 94 00:06:04,319 --> 00:06:07,360 future of whom and what we long to be. 95 00:06:08,720 --> 00:06:11,879 The journey to our future, as Unitarian 96 00:06:11,879 --> 00:06:15,959 Universalists, is one we must all take together. 97 00:06:16,959 --> 00:06:20,160 We must create a vision for tomorrow, and 98 00:06:20,160 --> 00:06:22,959 then together work to make the dreams of tomorrow 99 00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:26,000 the realities of today. 100 00:06:39,959 --> 00:06:41,959 Hi, everybody. 101 00:06:41,959 --> 00:06:42,800 Welcome back from your conversations. 102 00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:44,319 I hope they were rich. 103 00:06:44,319 --> 00:06:47,000 I am Reverend Nancy McDonald Ladd. 104 00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:50,480 I am grateful to serve as our UUA 105 00:06:50,480 --> 00:06:54,120 Director of Communications and Public Ministry, or 106 00:06:54,120 --> 00:06:59,319 as our president, Reverend Sofia Betancourt sometimes says, Nancy's in charge of all the words. 107 00:07:00,319 --> 00:07:03,959 And I can be a bit of a talker, but my task tonight, 108 00:07:03,959 --> 00:07:07,319 I am grateful to say, is primarily as a listener, 109 00:07:07,319 --> 00:07:11,560 to and among the colleagues that I'll introduce in just a minute. 110 00:07:11,600 --> 00:07:14,839 Let me first say, I am a middle-aged white 111 00:07:14,839 --> 00:07:19,160 woman, long brown hair, dark framed glasses, and 112 00:07:19,439 --> 00:07:23,800 always muted colored clothing, blacks and grays for me. 113 00:07:23,839 --> 00:07:27,439 I'm in front of pictures of flowers and plants and books. 114 00:07:27,439 --> 00:07:30,439 And my pronouns are she, her. 115 00:07:30,439 --> 00:07:33,720 And I'm coming from right outside of Washington, D.C., 116 00:07:33,720 --> 00:07:38,680 where I served in parish ministry for about 20 years before coming to work with are UUA. 117 00:07:38,720 --> 00:07:40,720 Now 118 00:07:40,720 --> 00:07:43,199 I want to note tonight that my particular 119 00:07:43,199 --> 00:07:47,759 role is, a little bit of like mutually 120 00:07:47,759 --> 00:07:51,480 agreed upon timekeeper as Reverend Cheryl M. 121 00:07:51,480 --> 00:07:54,839 Walker just reminded me, like, I could just let you know, 122 00:07:54,839 --> 00:07:57,720 I am not going to be my usual bossy self tonight. 123 00:07:57,720 --> 00:07:59,720 I'm only here really 124 00:07:59,720 --> 00:08:02,279 to ensure that we stay on track 125 00:08:02,279 --> 00:08:06,000 with the timing of our questions between Cheryl and 126 00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:09,879 my wonderful colleague, Jessica York so that you 127 00:08:09,920 --> 00:08:13,279 have optimal time to absorb those questions 128 00:08:13,279 --> 00:08:15,839 and to share your own questions in the chat. 129 00:08:15,839 --> 00:08:18,959 We're going to ask that you stay muted for the presentation and you're 130 00:08:18,959 --> 00:08:22,079 welcome to put any questions that you have in the chat box for 131 00:08:22,079 --> 00:08:24,959 Q and A later, which we'll preserve that time for 132 00:08:25,519 --> 00:08:28,920 And see this as a time where you 133 00:08:28,920 --> 00:08:32,320 just get to listen in on the rich interplay 134 00:08:32,360 --> 00:08:35,759 of conversation between these amazing 135 00:08:35,759 --> 00:08:39,639 colleagues who happen to be contributors to our brand 136 00:08:39,679 --> 00:08:42,600 new seventh edition UU Pocket Guide. 137 00:08:42,600 --> 00:08:44,799 I remember it would have been 138 00:08:45,200 --> 00:08:48,360 like 1996 when I got my first 139 00:08:48,360 --> 00:08:50,799 copy of the UU Pocket Guide. 140 00:08:50,840 --> 00:08:54,840 And it was one of my first foundational introductions to the Faith. 141 00:08:54,840 --> 00:08:57,879 And since that time, we issue 142 00:08:57,919 --> 00:09:01,200 a new pocket guide every five or six years, often accompanied 143 00:09:01,200 --> 00:09:03,360 with the transition of a new UUA president 144 00:09:03,720 --> 00:09:08,799 that helps to ground people in what our faith means, even as it emerges and changes. 145 00:09:08,840 --> 00:09:12,960 So let me introduce my colleagues who are here with us. 146 00:09:12,960 --> 00:09:16,080 I was one of the authors of a chapter in the Pocket Guide, 147 00:09:16,080 --> 00:09:18,399 the one on our communities. 148 00:09:18,440 --> 00:09:21,440 And we are joined tonight by Jessica 149 00:09:21,440 --> 00:09:25,200 York, who have been so, so blessed to work with here at the UUA 150 00:09:25,639 --> 00:09:28,679 who, along with Nao Bethea, another colleague at the UUA, 151 00:09:28,679 --> 00:09:32,440 wrote the chapter in the Pocket Guide on our religious education. 152 00:09:32,480 --> 00:09:35,600 Jessica is the outgoing director of congregational life at 153 00:09:35,600 --> 00:09:38,960 the UUA who is prepared to enjoy 154 00:09:38,960 --> 00:09:44,519 a well-deserved retirement alongside her dogs and all the people she loves. 155 00:09:45,120 --> 00:09:49,000 Previously, she was co-director of Ministries and Faith Development, 156 00:09:49,039 --> 00:09:52,399 and in 15 plus years as a religious educator , 157 00:09:52,399 --> 00:09:54,960 she served on like the LREDA Board. 158 00:09:54,960 --> 00:09:56,960 She co-authored a whole bunch of things. 159 00:09:56,960 --> 00:09:59,679 She has served in so many capacities. 160 00:09:59,720 --> 00:10:03,679 And Cheryl M. Walker wrote The Our Ministry Section. 161 00:10:05,679 --> 00:10:09,480 She served congregations in Germantown, Pennsylvania, super historic, beautiful place. 162 00:10:09,480 --> 00:10:14,440 I think 15 years or so in Wilmington, North Carolina, also in New York. 163 00:10:14,480 --> 00:10:17,639 So Cheryl made the rounds, you know, bringing 164 00:10:17,639 --> 00:10:20,919 to her ministry and all these different contexts, this blend 165 00:10:21,320 --> 00:10:24,840 of humor and heart and this capacity to 166 00:10:24,840 --> 00:10:28,360 take the faith very seriously, but not necessarily 167 00:10:28,399 --> 00:10:33,360 take ourselves as practitioners of the faith overly seriously. 168 00:10:33,360 --> 00:10:35,360 And what a gift that is. 169 00:10:35,360 --> 00:10:38,120 Cheryl also served as president of the UUMA and 170 00:10:38,639 --> 00:10:41,759 as co-chair of the Article 2 Study Commission, 171 00:10:41,759 --> 00:10:44,399 bless you, thank you, Cheryl. 172 00:10:44,399 --> 00:10:47,639 So what we want to invite you into 173 00:10:47,639 --> 00:10:51,960 is about 30 minutes or so of 174 00:10:51,960 --> 00:10:55,840 conversation between these two amazing colleagues as 175 00:10:55,879 --> 00:10:59,000 they reflect on their journey in leadership 176 00:10:59,600 --> 00:11:02,639 how Unitarian Universalism has changed in 177 00:11:02,639 --> 00:11:05,159 that time and their deep and abiding hopes for the future. 178 00:11:05,159 --> 00:11:08,200 So why don't I start and we'll like unpin me, 179 00:11:08,240 --> 00:11:12,799 perhaps, and put Reverend Cheryl and Jessica, there we go. 180 00:11:12,799 --> 00:11:16,159 So the first question is perhaps 181 00:11:16,159 --> 00:11:19,399 the briefest of the two, although I'm sure we could tell quite a tale 182 00:11:19,399 --> 00:11:22,039 for either of you, which is 183 00:11:22,320 --> 00:11:25,720 what originally called you into 184 00:11:25,759 --> 00:11:29,360 UU leadership, not yet what's has sustained you in it over time, but 185 00:11:29,360 --> 00:11:31,799 what originally called you into it? 186 00:11:32,960 --> 00:11:34,960 And you go in any order you want. 187 00:11:34,960 --> 00:11:37,519 Well, I'm unmuted. 188 00:11:37,519 --> 00:11:39,519 You can go first, Cheryl. 189 00:11:39,519 --> 00:11:40,720 We'll do alphabetical order. 190 00:11:40,720 --> 00:11:42,720 The first time. 191 00:11:44,039 --> 00:11:47,039 I think the first 192 00:11:47,039 --> 00:11:51,360 thing that called me into UU leadership was being asked. 193 00:11:52,440 --> 00:11:55,679 in my congregation to the community church 194 00:11:55,679 --> 00:12:00,000 of New York, just being asked to serve on a committee. 195 00:12:01,519 --> 00:12:05,000 And then once being serving on that committee, 196 00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:09,080 feeling called to like keep serving 197 00:12:09,080 --> 00:12:11,279 this faith that I love. 198 00:12:12,360 --> 00:12:17,039 and saying yes when I could. 199 00:12:19,200 --> 00:12:21,200 saying no when I couldn't. 200 00:12:21,200 --> 00:12:24,120 Though my yeses were more than my no's, 201 00:12:24,120 --> 00:12:27,159 but it was important to say yes. 202 00:12:27,200 --> 00:12:30,919 And it was important to say no sometimes. 203 00:12:30,919 --> 00:12:32,919 And I think 204 00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:36,360 that's just became so 205 00:12:36,360 --> 00:12:40,720 it started on a very local level on the 206 00:12:42,200 --> 00:12:44,200 congregational level. 207 00:12:44,200 --> 00:12:46,799 And then I was asked to to serve at the then regional 208 00:12:46,799 --> 00:12:49,200 level district level. 209 00:12:49,200 --> 00:12:52,320 And then I was more and more involved 210 00:12:52,320 --> 00:12:56,039 with a UUMA and I was asked to serve on committees 211 00:12:56,639 --> 00:12:58,639 there. 212 00:12:58,639 --> 00:13:00,879 And so always this idea that if this is 213 00:13:00,919 --> 00:13:04,440 going to be the faith that I wanted to be, 214 00:13:05,879 --> 00:13:08,919 and sometimes needed to be, I 215 00:13:08,960 --> 00:13:12,600 need to be a part of helping shape that. 216 00:13:12,600 --> 00:13:15,480 And I could do that in leadership roles. 217 00:13:16,559 --> 00:13:18,559 That's my short answer. 218 00:13:21,440 --> 00:13:26,480 It's very nice and short, Cheryl. 219 00:13:28,519 --> 00:13:30,840 I think mine's going to be a little bit longer. 220 00:13:30,840 --> 00:13:34,840 But and then I have a question for you if we have time. 221 00:13:34,879 --> 00:13:37,679 We'll see about what you shared. 222 00:13:37,679 --> 00:13:41,440 So, you know, for me, there was no one big moment where 223 00:13:41,480 --> 00:13:44,000 I felt called into leadership. 224 00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:46,440 My calling came about through community 225 00:13:47,039 --> 00:13:50,639 So I was like, that's something maybe that we had in common, right? 226 00:13:50,639 --> 00:13:53,639 I guess I've always believed I must have been 227 00:13:53,639 --> 00:13:57,120 raised to believe this, that if I belong to a community 228 00:13:57,120 --> 00:14:00,600 and I'm going to enjoy the privileges of that community, 229 00:14:00,600 --> 00:14:04,120 then I also need to take on some responsibility for the well-being 230 00:14:04,440 --> 00:14:06,440 of that community. 231 00:14:06,440 --> 00:14:08,000 Right? 232 00:14:08,000 --> 00:14:10,240 So I, you know, my story started like so many other people. 233 00:14:10,279 --> 00:14:14,000 I wanted a faith community in which to raise my child. 234 00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:17,120 So I started going to UU congregation for my daughter, 235 00:14:17,120 --> 00:14:19,759 not knowing that there will be so much there for me. 236 00:14:20,240 --> 00:14:23,519 and started giving some service, doing easy stuff, right? 237 00:14:23,519 --> 00:14:28,600 I took that low hanging fruit at first, that coffee cleanup. 238 00:14:28,639 --> 00:14:32,000 And then I moved into RE and being 239 00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:35,759 a worship partner and was hired as the, 240 00:14:35,759 --> 00:14:39,240 I was hired as the director of religious education after a 241 00:14:39,240 --> 00:14:43,799 friend of mine who also went to the congregation asked me, why aren't you applying for that? 242 00:14:44,120 --> 00:14:48,360 And so I did apply and I was hired. 243 00:14:48,360 --> 00:14:51,879 And I came to the UUA because a colleague 244 00:14:51,919 --> 00:14:55,639 called me and said, there's an open position and why aren't you applying for that? 245 00:14:56,480 --> 00:14:59,960 So for me, the calling has 246 00:14:59,960 --> 00:15:03,679 never started internally, but it 247 00:15:03,679 --> 00:15:08,960 didn't certainly come from, you know, on high, at least as far as I know. 248 00:15:08,960 --> 00:15:13,440 But as always come from members of the community who have called me 249 00:15:13,799 --> 00:15:17,039 into leadership, which then leads 250 00:15:17,039 --> 00:15:20,639 to a process of discernment within myself as 251 00:15:20,639 --> 00:15:24,120 to whether or not the gifts that I thought I had to bring 252 00:15:25,159 --> 00:15:28,759 really could enrich this 253 00:15:28,759 --> 00:15:32,840 position and help the community towards 254 00:15:32,840 --> 00:15:36,919 the goals that, you know, that it had in itself. 255 00:15:36,919 --> 00:15:40,039 And I read a book several years 256 00:15:40,039 --> 00:15:43,559 ago, Salsa, Soul, and Spirit by Juana Bordas, which 257 00:15:43,559 --> 00:15:48,360 talks a lot about how within communities of color leadership is normally called from the community 258 00:15:48,960 --> 00:15:53,559 which I think I heard in your story too. 259 00:15:53,600 --> 00:15:56,639 And I began to realize that not just 260 00:15:56,639 --> 00:16:01,000 Unitarian Universalism, but in almost every leadership position, 261 00:16:01,039 --> 00:16:04,559 I'd had my life that that's how the leadership had come about because 262 00:16:04,559 --> 00:16:07,559 members of the community saw something in me that they thought would enrich 263 00:16:07,879 --> 00:16:09,879 that position. 264 00:16:09,879 --> 00:16:12,799 You know, the one thing that was a little bit of an exception to that is 265 00:16:12,799 --> 00:16:17,360 my wanting to be involved in a spiritual direction or 266 00:16:17,360 --> 00:16:21,600 spiritual companioning, which was something that I found attractive. 267 00:16:21,600 --> 00:16:24,399 And so I took some classes and I got certification for. 268 00:16:24,440 --> 00:16:27,919 But even with that, I needed to make sure that it wasn't just me 269 00:16:28,200 --> 00:16:31,480 thinking that this would be something good for me. 270 00:16:31,519 --> 00:16:34,759 So I put together a small group of people to do some group 271 00:16:34,759 --> 00:16:37,519 spiritual companioning, which is what I wanted to do. 272 00:16:37,519 --> 00:16:41,279 And I said to myself, you know, if the group thinks that 273 00:16:41,279 --> 00:16:43,679 I have some talent for this, some gift for this 274 00:16:44,279 --> 00:16:46,279 then I will continue in it. 275 00:16:46,279 --> 00:16:50,519 And since the group lasted for four years before 276 00:16:50,519 --> 00:16:53,799 I finally disbanded and let them go forth into 277 00:16:53,840 --> 00:16:57,000 the world without me, then I figured, okay, 278 00:16:57,000 --> 00:16:59,919 maybe there's a calling for me in this too. 279 00:17:05,160 --> 00:17:10,240 Before we go on, I Jessica, both of us, failed to do this. 280 00:17:10,279 --> 00:17:12,319 We did our physical. 281 00:17:12,319 --> 00:17:14,880 I'm the Reverend Cheryl M Walker. 282 00:17:15,440 --> 00:17:18,839 I am an African-American 283 00:17:18,839 --> 00:17:22,839 woman with short gray hair. 284 00:17:22,880 --> 00:17:24,880 Let's just explain it. 285 00:17:24,880 --> 00:17:28,559 I'm wearing glasses, 286 00:17:28,559 --> 00:17:32,920 a turtleneck, and a sweater, both of which are blue. 287 00:17:33,599 --> 00:17:36,839 and I am in front of a map of the world. 288 00:17:36,839 --> 00:17:40,319 My pronouns are 289 00:17:40,319 --> 00:17:45,160 Cheryl, She/They, in no particular order 290 00:17:46,039 --> 00:17:49,920 and I am living in Manhattan on 291 00:17:49,920 --> 00:17:54,359 the ancestral lands of the Lenape people. 292 00:17:55,680 --> 00:17:59,920 Thank you, Cheryl, for reminding us that we didn't not do that. 293 00:17:59,960 --> 00:18:04,519 I'm Jessica York, director of Congregational Life at the UUA. 294 00:18:04,519 --> 00:18:08,400 I am a 63year old black woman with 295 00:18:08,400 --> 00:18:12,359 long salt and pepper dreadlocks wearing some 296 00:18:12,359 --> 00:18:16,440 blue reading glasses and a pink sweater. 297 00:18:16,440 --> 00:18:19,559 I'm in my home office and behind me are are some 298 00:18:19,559 --> 00:18:23,519 white doors and a bookcase with a long philodingon 299 00:18:23,519 --> 00:18:25,599 that is draped coming down it 300 00:18:26,039 --> 00:18:29,039 I use she/her the pronouns and I am 301 00:18:29,039 --> 00:18:32,799 on the land of the Muscogee Creek people. 302 00:18:34,440 --> 00:18:36,960 I love your background, Cheryl. 303 00:18:36,960 --> 00:18:38,960 I want to do that. 304 00:18:38,960 --> 00:18:41,480 I just wanted to name there something profoundly 305 00:18:41,480 --> 00:18:45,680 poetic about the fact that somebody asked. 306 00:18:45,680 --> 00:18:49,279 Like, how did you originally find yourself called into UU leadership? 307 00:18:49,279 --> 00:18:51,279 Somebody asked, right? 308 00:18:51,279 --> 00:18:53,279 And the community itself discerned 309 00:18:53,599 --> 00:18:56,640 and called you into leadership and 310 00:18:56,640 --> 00:19:00,480 even frankly kind of poked and prodded you in some ways, Jessica, over time. 311 00:19:00,480 --> 00:19:02,480 Like, have you thought about this? 312 00:19:02,480 --> 00:19:04,039 Have you thought about that? 313 00:19:04,039 --> 00:19:06,000 And it draws us into this 314 00:19:06,720 --> 00:19:09,839 reminder that in Unitarian Universalism, it is the community that 315 00:19:09,839 --> 00:19:11,920 calls in so many ways. 316 00:19:11,960 --> 00:19:15,119 So, and I know various among 317 00:19:15,119 --> 00:19:18,480 you all are thinking about how to build up lay leadership, 318 00:19:18,480 --> 00:19:22,440 how to sort of build your lay leadership capacities and teams. 319 00:19:22,440 --> 00:19:24,440 I think we also have to ask 320 00:19:24,440 --> 00:19:26,000 who are you asking? 321 00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:27,440 Like, who are you in relationship to? 322 00:19:27,440 --> 00:19:30,480 Honestly enough, and deeply enough that that 323 00:19:30,480 --> 00:19:35,039 we can mutually ask each other and invite each other into new forms of leadership. 324 00:19:35,039 --> 00:19:40,000 Just as thank goodness people did with both of you, resulting in some of the richest careers 325 00:19:40,440 --> 00:19:46,240 in service to this faith in certainly my lifetime. 326 00:19:46,279 --> 00:19:49,319 So, question, my colleagues. 327 00:19:49,319 --> 00:19:52,799 What changes have you witnessed in Unitarian Universalism 328 00:19:52,799 --> 00:19:56,799 during your tenure as a leader and I'll sort of 329 00:19:58,559 --> 00:20:02,039 what am I spotlight myself, and just let you guys run popcorn 330 00:20:02,039 --> 00:20:05,279 style on this and because I think there's a lot of richness there. 331 00:20:05,279 --> 00:20:07,920 What changes have you witnessed in your tenure asa leader? 332 00:20:09,960 --> 00:20:13,799 You know, there's so many that 333 00:20:13,799 --> 00:20:16,359 it was a little hard to know what to focus on. 334 00:20:16,400 --> 00:20:20,839 Cheryl and I had a preconversation to try to think about some of this. 335 00:20:20,839 --> 00:20:23,880 And one of the things that has been, I think, 336 00:20:23,880 --> 00:20:26,039 a profound change that I've experienced 337 00:20:26,400 --> 00:20:29,799 has been in 338 00:20:29,839 --> 00:20:34,519 shared ministry and even how we define ministry. 339 00:20:34,519 --> 00:20:36,519 Yeah, yeah. 340 00:20:36,519 --> 00:20:38,640 So, so a short short story about 341 00:20:38,640 --> 00:20:42,039 that is that when I was hired as the director of religious 342 00:20:42,079 --> 00:20:45,480 education at the church in Birmingham, I was telling this to my brother, 343 00:20:45,480 --> 00:20:48,000 who's a minister, in a different faith tradition. 344 00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:51,599 And my brother said, oh, okay, well, you know, this is ministry, right? 345 00:20:51,599 --> 00:20:55,000 And I said, well, you know, so, you know, this is like, 346 00:20:55,039 --> 00:20:57,240 what, 20 more than 25 years ago. 347 00:20:57,240 --> 00:21:00,640 And I said, well, you know, within Unitarian Universalism, 348 00:21:00,680 --> 00:21:05,960 ministry is something that generally done by ministers who have an M div, and that's how we think of ministry. 349 00:21:05,960 --> 00:21:09,079 And I gave him this long explanation, including telling 350 00:21:09,079 --> 00:21:13,279 him why I wasn't going to go for an M div and wouldn't become a minister. 351 00:21:13,279 --> 00:21:16,440 And my brother listened, and at the end of it, he said, okay, you 352 00:21:16,440 --> 00:21:19,319 know that what you just signed up for is ministry, right? 353 00:21:19,640 --> 00:21:24,079 And so, he 354 00:21:24,079 --> 00:21:27,799 helped shape my view, really, 355 00:21:27,799 --> 00:21:31,079 of the work that I was doing at a time when it really 356 00:21:31,079 --> 00:21:34,920 was not necessarily labeled as ministry, 357 00:21:34,920 --> 00:21:38,160 if you were a religious educator working in a congregation. 358 00:21:38,160 --> 00:21:40,240 There were kind of these firm boundaries 359 00:21:40,559 --> 00:21:42,640 that were in place. 360 00:21:42,680 --> 00:21:45,720 And over time, over the last 25 361 00:21:45,720 --> 00:21:49,200 odd years, I have watched those silos and 362 00:21:49,200 --> 00:21:51,480 those boundaries break down. 363 00:21:51,480 --> 00:21:54,480 And for people to realize that, okay, yeah, there's ministry 364 00:21:54,480 --> 00:21:57,759 with the big M, but there's ministry with the small M. It's 365 00:21:57,799 --> 00:22:00,920 small small does not in any way, shape, or form mean minor. 366 00:22:01,559 --> 00:22:04,720 And that lay 367 00:22:04,759 --> 00:22:08,359 leaders and religious professionals are all working 368 00:22:08,359 --> 00:22:12,799 together to bring ministry to our congregations. 369 00:22:12,799 --> 00:22:16,079 And we are doing that by sharing 370 00:22:16,079 --> 00:22:18,960 leadership, sharing ministry 371 00:22:19,799 --> 00:22:22,079 sharing power. 372 00:22:22,079 --> 00:22:25,119 And it's kind 373 00:22:25,160 --> 00:22:28,440 of countercultural that we're doing that and is 374 00:22:28,440 --> 00:22:30,759 something that still is fairly new, okay? 375 00:22:30,799 --> 00:22:32,799 25 years in Unitarian Universalism. 376 00:22:32,799 --> 00:22:34,519 That's fairly new. 377 00:22:34,519 --> 00:22:37,000 That's a baby idea . 378 00:22:37,880 --> 00:22:40,400 So we're still learning how to do this. 379 00:22:40,400 --> 00:22:44,039 You know, we are not necessarily doing it perfectly. 380 00:22:44,039 --> 00:22:47,200 We're going to run into places where 381 00:22:47,240 --> 00:22:50,240 it feels awkward, where we're having to redefine those things. 382 00:22:50,240 --> 00:22:53,359 We're kind of run into places where it's unique and where shared ministry 383 00:22:53,359 --> 00:22:56,839 or shared leadership in one aspect doesn't always translate 384 00:22:56,839 --> 00:22:58,920 over into the next one, right? 385 00:22:58,920 --> 00:23:01,319 Yeah, because shared ministry 386 00:23:01,759 --> 00:23:06,359 it is, well, what is shared ministry? 387 00:23:06,359 --> 00:23:10,680 I could tell you one thing that it is not. 388 00:23:10,680 --> 00:23:13,920 It is not everybody has 389 00:23:13,920 --> 00:23:16,240 a say on every decision. 390 00:23:16,799 --> 00:23:20,440 It is, 391 00:23:20,480 --> 00:23:24,599 no one keeps all of the power all of the time. 392 00:23:26,039 --> 00:23:30,119 We each have our places where 393 00:23:30,119 --> 00:23:34,839 we're the ones who are responsible and accountable. 394 00:23:36,119 --> 00:23:40,000 And we don't do that alone either. 395 00:23:40,039 --> 00:23:44,720 But ultimately, shared ministry like shared power 396 00:23:45,960 --> 00:23:49,359 is something that no one person 397 00:23:49,400 --> 00:23:53,400 gets to say, I'm the X. 398 00:23:54,880 --> 00:23:57,880 I think it's interesting that 399 00:23:57,880 --> 00:24:02,119 one of the things we do that other traditions who 400 00:24:02,160 --> 00:24:06,720 have a shared ministry model don't do shared the title minister. 401 00:24:07,680 --> 00:24:10,720 So, perhaps in your 402 00:24:10,759 --> 00:24:16,400 brother's church, you are the minister of religious education and your brothers the past. 403 00:24:16,400 --> 00:24:18,400 Yeah. 404 00:24:18,400 --> 00:24:20,440 And we don't want to use that term either. 405 00:24:20,480 --> 00:24:22,480 Though 406 00:24:22,480 --> 00:24:25,079 living in the South, what I found is I better learn 407 00:24:25,079 --> 00:24:27,240 to use the term pastor. 408 00:24:27,240 --> 00:24:30,720 So I was not the minister of the Unitarian 409 00:24:30,720 --> 00:24:32,880 Universalist Congregation of Wilmington. 410 00:24:32,880 --> 00:24:34,880 I was the pastor. 411 00:24:34,880 --> 00:24:36,839 What's the difference, Cheryl, between those two? 412 00:24:36,839 --> 00:24:39,480 Pastor is the spiritual lead of the church. 413 00:24:39,960 --> 00:24:44,799 Because everybody else is doing ministry. 414 00:24:44,839 --> 00:24:46,839 And they're ministers too. 415 00:24:46,839 --> 00:24:49,079 Well, who's the spiritual leader? 416 00:24:49,079 --> 00:24:51,079 The pastor. 417 00:24:51,079 --> 00:24:55,519 And let me tell you, it made a big difference in a lot of things. 418 00:24:55,920 --> 00:24:59,200 So But we don't even share the title minister. 419 00:24:59,240 --> 00:25:02,400 No, you know, we've got 420 00:25:02,400 --> 00:25:06,960 some conversation. a little bit, but we don't share that title. 421 00:25:06,960 --> 00:25:10,799 And that gets kind of like, I'm going to tell you as 422 00:25:10,799 --> 00:25:15,519 a former president of you, UUMA, and as a proud member 423 00:25:16,079 --> 00:25:19,079 dues paying member of the UUMA, I'm a 424 00:25:19,079 --> 00:25:22,240 little I'm a little hesitant about, okay, well, if we're 425 00:25:22,279 --> 00:25:26,960 going to share this title, we need to have some ground rules about what we're sharing exactly. 426 00:25:26,960 --> 00:25:31,079 Because if you want to share my title, you better start sharing my responsibility. 427 00:25:31,759 --> 00:25:35,039 and accountability structures. 428 00:25:35,039 --> 00:25:38,920 And I think that's one of the things I have seen as a difference. 429 00:25:38,960 --> 00:25:40,960 Yeah. 430 00:25:40,960 --> 00:25:43,759 We are taking accountability 431 00:25:44,599 --> 00:25:47,400 seriously. 432 00:25:47,400 --> 00:25:51,400 What you got away with 20 years ago? 433 00:25:51,440 --> 00:25:53,480 Oh, no. 434 00:25:53,480 --> 00:25:55,480 Oh, no. 435 00:25:55,480 --> 00:25:59,880 And you shouldn't have gotten away with it 20 years ago, and you won't get away with it now. 436 00:25:59,880 --> 00:26:03,039 So I think that's another, that's another thing 437 00:26:03,559 --> 00:26:07,559 you know, at a lot of different levels is 438 00:26:07,559 --> 00:26:11,079 that we are being accountable 439 00:26:11,119 --> 00:26:14,000 towards one another in very different ways. 440 00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:16,400 That is that is very true. 441 00:26:16,400 --> 00:26:19,440 I think, you know, putting the credentialing program in 442 00:26:19,440 --> 00:26:23,319 place for religious educators was a level of accountability that's 443 00:26:23,359 --> 00:26:25,880 been added to that particular profession 444 00:26:26,519 --> 00:26:30,119 and Cheryl, were you part of that first stakeholders' 445 00:26:30,119 --> 00:26:35,400 conversation about about the ethics program? Yeah, you were there, right? 446 00:26:35,400 --> 00:26:37,400 Yep, yep, yep. 447 00:26:37,400 --> 00:26:38,480 Yes, I was. 448 00:26:38,480 --> 00:26:42,200 Which was a chance for us to talk about originally, 449 00:26:42,200 --> 00:26:45,599 to talk about all the religious professionals working in Unitarian 450 00:26:45,599 --> 00:26:50,079 Universalism, being accountable, accountable to each other 451 00:26:50,119 --> 00:26:53,960 and accountable to our congregations and accountable to 452 00:26:53,960 --> 00:26:56,000 our professional organizations. 453 00:26:56,000 --> 00:26:59,039 But before we had left that meeting, someone had 454 00:26:59,039 --> 00:27:02,519 even raised the language issue and said, are we talking about 455 00:27:02,519 --> 00:27:05,160 religious professionals, or are we talking about religious leaders 456 00:27:05,640 --> 00:27:09,240 Because what about our lay leaders and what about systems of accountability 457 00:27:09,240 --> 00:27:11,319 for our lay leaders to? 458 00:27:11,359 --> 00:27:13,359 Right? 459 00:27:13,359 --> 00:27:16,559 That's that's so much harder thing for us to put in place. 460 00:27:16,559 --> 00:27:19,079 And so we don't we don't have anything like that yet. 461 00:27:19,079 --> 00:27:22,119 We're working on it, but there's certainly that idea, 462 00:27:22,160 --> 00:27:27,200 yes, of accountability and how are we accountable to each other in love? 463 00:27:27,839 --> 00:27:31,960 That is a new piece for us. 464 00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:34,000 That's right. 465 00:27:34,000 --> 00:27:34,720 Yeah. 466 00:27:34,720 --> 00:27:36,599 And being afraid of the accountability. 467 00:27:37,799 --> 00:27:41,160 You know, inviting accountability. 468 00:27:41,160 --> 00:27:43,160 I want to be accountable. 469 00:27:43,160 --> 00:27:47,319 I mean, we are are all accountable in our lives to a whole host of people. 470 00:27:47,359 --> 00:27:50,759 And being accountable 471 00:27:50,759 --> 00:27:52,960 to others makes me better. 472 00:27:53,480 --> 00:27:58,039 It absolutely does. 473 00:27:58,039 --> 00:28:01,039 You know, one of the reasons why I think that accountability, too 474 00:28:01,039 --> 00:28:05,839 is so important is because another change 475 00:28:05,839 --> 00:28:11,160 that has come about, I think, as we have been doing some of our anti oppression work 476 00:28:11,480 --> 00:28:15,000 is that we have 477 00:28:15,000 --> 00:28:18,640 people in our faith now as leaders who are bringing more 478 00:28:18,680 --> 00:28:21,920 diverse styles of leadership. 479 00:28:21,920 --> 00:28:25,200 And so I think it's really important as 480 00:28:25,200 --> 00:28:28,559 we have these people with these diverse styles, these diverse 481 00:28:28,559 --> 00:28:31,319 ways of leading that there's some ground rules. 482 00:28:31,319 --> 00:28:34,319 You know, there's some, there's some things that we're all going 483 00:28:34,319 --> 00:28:37,000 to say, yes, this is what we're accountable for. 484 00:28:37,039 --> 00:28:40,079 This is who we're accountable to, even as 485 00:28:40,079 --> 00:28:42,240 we are bringing our uniqueness 486 00:28:42,559 --> 00:28:44,559 to the leadership. 487 00:28:44,559 --> 00:28:46,279 Yeah. 488 00:28:46,279 --> 00:28:48,319 And I think the accountability 489 00:28:48,319 --> 00:28:51,839 and the power go hand in hand. 490 00:28:53,000 --> 00:28:55,440 Yes. 491 00:28:55,440 --> 00:29:00,480 With power comes responsibility and accountability. 492 00:29:00,480 --> 00:29:02,480 And I think that's 493 00:29:02,480 --> 00:29:04,400 That's key. 494 00:29:04,400 --> 00:29:07,039 So I'm hoping that part of our future 495 00:29:07,559 --> 00:29:10,599 is that 496 00:29:10,640 --> 00:29:18,240 we can envision our structures, our institution 497 00:29:19,200 --> 00:29:23,039 as ones where we are intentionally 498 00:29:23,039 --> 00:29:29,039 growing, and not just attending. Everybody comes with 499 00:29:29,039 --> 00:29:31,240 the intent of growing in 500 00:29:32,039 --> 00:29:34,039 different ways. 501 00:29:34,039 --> 00:29:36,480 And that part of that growing and that 502 00:29:36,480 --> 00:29:39,039 there's a mutuality, 503 00:29:40,640 --> 00:29:44,039 a mutuality that maybe we 504 00:29:44,039 --> 00:29:47,319 don't necessarily have right now, that we have, you know, one 505 00:29:47,359 --> 00:29:50,839 of the things about Article two is we really wanted to move away 506 00:29:50,839 --> 00:29:54,839 from the individual as the center and 507 00:29:54,839 --> 00:29:58,000 move towards community as the center. 508 00:29:58,519 --> 00:30:01,519 So we're 509 00:30:01,519 --> 00:30:03,920 having, so our futures 510 00:30:05,839 --> 00:30:08,839 are a greater understanding that we need each 511 00:30:08,839 --> 00:30:12,200 other so much, and 512 00:30:12,200 --> 00:30:14,759 that we're not here just for ourselves. 513 00:30:14,759 --> 00:30:17,680 We are here for each other. 514 00:30:17,720 --> 00:30:19,720 And to do that, 515 00:30:19,920 --> 00:30:22,920 we have to start redefining 516 00:30:22,920 --> 00:30:26,680 how we are even how we're organized. 517 00:30:28,319 --> 00:30:33,160 You know, Cheryl, to get to there, we also have to recognize, you talk about growth. 518 00:30:33,200 --> 00:30:36,319 I love to think about growth and all the different types of growth, right? 519 00:30:36,319 --> 00:30:41,519 Even as an individual and my faith deepening that level of growth. 520 00:30:41,519 --> 00:30:44,519 But in order to grow and to be open 521 00:30:44,519 --> 00:30:47,279 to grow and to even nurture growth in ourselves and others 522 00:30:47,880 --> 00:30:51,000 we kind of have to admit that we're in need of some transformation. 523 00:30:51,000 --> 00:30:53,000 Oh, yeah. 524 00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:55,440 That's one of those values. 525 00:30:55,440 --> 00:30:58,079 It's one of those values. 526 00:30:58,079 --> 00:31:01,359 But, you know, that's that's something that's a little, that's a little note. 527 00:31:01,400 --> 00:31:06,240 It's a little radical for some, I think, Unitarian Universalist to think, oh, I am 528 00:31:06,559 --> 00:31:10,039 I am coming here to this faith because I am I 529 00:31:10,039 --> 00:31:13,079 am not perfect and I can always be better. 530 00:31:13,079 --> 00:31:16,200 And this faith has a way that it can encourage me 531 00:31:16,200 --> 00:31:19,440 and help nurture me and grow me to be better. 532 00:31:19,440 --> 00:31:21,960 And I'm only going to get better in community. 533 00:31:21,960 --> 00:31:23,960 I'm not going to get better sitting in a room. 534 00:31:24,200 --> 00:31:27,440 And it's good to read books and good ideas, but I'm 535 00:31:27,440 --> 00:31:31,559 not going to get better at being a human being by reading those books. 536 00:31:31,559 --> 00:31:35,799 I'm going to get better by being in community and letting them that community transform me. 537 00:31:35,839 --> 00:31:37,839 Uh-huh. 538 00:31:37,839 --> 00:31:39,079 Uh-huh. 539 00:31:39,079 --> 00:31:41,599 I just pop back in to do the work 540 00:31:41,599 --> 00:31:45,240 you all already did, which is make the turn to the third question, 541 00:31:45,240 --> 00:31:48,400 which is really this, what changes do we anticipate. 542 00:31:48,440 --> 00:31:51,839 You, I'm like, Cheryl, you don't even need me up in here. 543 00:31:51,839 --> 00:31:54,960 The changes you anticipate for the future, and part 544 00:31:54,960 --> 00:31:57,400 of that, Jessica, you just articulate so well 545 00:32:01,200 --> 00:32:06,160 but excited by the prospect of transformation, both personal and collectively. 546 00:32:06,200 --> 00:32:09,240 And in the last minutes that we have to together, I just 547 00:32:09,240 --> 00:32:12,519 wanted to make sure that you both kind of hit home, 548 00:32:12,559 --> 00:32:18,960 what else you yearn for and hope for and anticipate as decidedly possible 549 00:32:19,519 --> 00:32:21,519 in the future. 550 00:32:24,200 --> 00:32:26,200 Sharon I, do you want to go? 551 00:32:26,200 --> 00:32:27,559 Okay. 552 00:32:27,559 --> 00:32:28,240 Sure. 553 00:32:28,240 --> 00:32:31,359 I want us. 554 00:32:32,960 --> 00:32:36,480 I want us to take our faith seriously. 555 00:32:38,960 --> 00:32:43,880 It's not just something 556 00:32:43,880 --> 00:32:47,240 that you just kind of come and do on a Sunday and then you go 557 00:32:47,240 --> 00:32:51,440 home and maybe you come for this thing or that thing that 558 00:32:52,160 --> 00:32:56,640 you need, you, you take it serious. 559 00:32:56,640 --> 00:32:59,880 You say, we have these shared values. 560 00:32:59,880 --> 00:33:04,559 And I came here because these values are values I share. 561 00:33:05,279 --> 00:33:09,000 You join a group because you share its values. 562 00:33:09,000 --> 00:33:13,599 And I want to take that more serious. 563 00:33:14,960 --> 00:33:18,319 I want to be able to say you 564 00:33:18,319 --> 00:33:20,359 shall know me by my fruits. 565 00:33:20,359 --> 00:33:23,599 I'm going to live those values every 566 00:33:23,599 --> 00:33:28,799 day, even when I'm in the Department of Motor Vehicles. 567 00:33:29,400 --> 00:33:34,119 I am going to sit there and go. 568 00:33:34,160 --> 00:33:38,519 I'm affirming this person. 569 00:33:39,720 --> 00:33:43,599 But 570 00:33:43,640 --> 00:33:45,799 really take it seriously. 571 00:33:45,799 --> 00:33:48,799 So, like, I'm 572 00:33:48,799 --> 00:33:51,599 going to tell people I'm a Unitarian Universalist. 573 00:33:51,599 --> 00:33:55,599 I'm going to live into my Unitarian Universalism. 574 00:33:56,240 --> 00:33:59,480 I know what our values are, and I'm really going 575 00:33:59,480 --> 00:34:02,000 to seriously try living them. 576 00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:05,119 And in doing so, one of the things that's 577 00:34:05,119 --> 00:34:08,960 there is transformation and our interdependence 578 00:34:08,960 --> 00:34:12,320 and our generosity of spirit 579 00:34:12,840 --> 00:34:15,960 and working for justice. 580 00:34:15,960 --> 00:34:20,519 All of these things, I'm hoping that that is one thing 581 00:34:21,960 --> 00:34:26,039 that Unitarian Universalists understand 582 00:34:26,039 --> 00:34:29,519 they are a part of something big bigger, 583 00:34:29,519 --> 00:34:32,039 but that something bigger is good. 584 00:34:33,079 --> 00:34:36,920 and that it challenges you to live in a particular way. 585 00:34:36,920 --> 00:34:39,599 I would like that. 586 00:34:39,599 --> 00:34:43,800 And to find your own way of doing that, right? 587 00:34:43,800 --> 00:34:46,320 Because the values have got to clash sometimes. 588 00:34:46,320 --> 00:34:49,320 So you've got to have some clarity around those values, because there's 589 00:34:49,320 --> 00:34:52,079 going to be some conflict surrounding them from time to time. 590 00:34:52,440 --> 00:34:57,360 But, you know, I am probably much more of a Universalist Unitarian. 591 00:34:57,360 --> 00:35:02,440 I'm a Unitarian Universalist, and it's the Universalism piece that really appeals to me. 592 00:35:02,480 --> 00:35:05,960 I really do believe as we say that, you know, my liberation 593 00:35:05,960 --> 00:35:08,719 is tied into your liberation 594 00:35:09,480 --> 00:35:12,599 And if I'm going to be building 595 00:35:12,599 --> 00:35:17,440 some beloved community here on Earth, I have to do that together with you. 596 00:35:17,480 --> 00:35:20,480 And if we've got different ideas of what that beloved community looks 597 00:35:20,480 --> 00:35:24,440 like, well, then we're going to have to be in some relationship and some conversation about that, 598 00:35:24,440 --> 00:35:27,320 but I don't just get to necessarily toss you out 599 00:35:27,599 --> 00:35:31,960 or discourage you because we're all ultimately going to be there together. 600 00:35:32,000 --> 00:35:35,360 And we have some responsibility for each other. 601 00:35:35,360 --> 00:35:38,400 I mean, I truly believe that I have some responsibility 602 00:35:38,400 --> 00:35:41,760 for other people here and that the things that I have 603 00:35:41,760 --> 00:35:43,920 learned and things that I'm experienced 604 00:35:44,480 --> 00:35:47,519 I've got some responsibility to share those things, 605 00:35:47,519 --> 00:35:51,159 even if sharing them is just like you were saying, how I live my 606 00:35:51,199 --> 00:35:54,360 daily life, you know, even if it's just, 607 00:35:54,360 --> 00:35:57,760 my opening the door, my running to open the door for somebody who 608 00:35:57,800 --> 00:36:01,880 I see, they've got their hands fulled for something and they're going to need that door open. 609 00:36:01,880 --> 00:36:05,239 It amazes me sometimes how people can seem so appreciative 610 00:36:05,239 --> 00:36:08,519 of the smallest thing, but it's an indicator of our 611 00:36:08,519 --> 00:36:11,400 culture and how we have reached a point where 612 00:36:11,960 --> 00:36:16,920 you know, I like to say the original sin is that we have forgotten that we belong to each other. 613 00:36:18,920 --> 00:36:23,719 Can't say that better, so I think that's it. 614 00:36:23,719 --> 00:36:25,920 Yeah, really? 615 00:36:25,920 --> 00:36:27,920 What she got after that, Nancy? 616 00:36:27,920 --> 00:36:32,159 I'm pretty sure that's the last word. 617 00:36:32,159 --> 00:36:35,079 And we can 618 00:36:35,519 --> 00:36:38,519 extrapolate that last word to 619 00:36:38,519 --> 00:36:42,480 apply to our congregations, to our 620 00:36:42,480 --> 00:36:46,119 Unitarian Universalist faith ecosystem, as a whole, to 621 00:36:46,159 --> 00:36:49,039 this country, to who we are as human beings 622 00:36:49,800 --> 00:36:53,039 And our Unitarian Universalist faith is an essential part 623 00:36:53,039 --> 00:36:56,639 of shaping our understanding of all those different collective bodies we're a part of. 624 00:36:56,639 --> 00:37:00,039 And we are, sadly, 625 00:37:00,079 --> 00:37:04,039 I'm sure you joined me in thinking we could really use more time. 626 00:37:04,039 --> 00:37:06,199 We're sadly at the end of the block that we have. 627 00:37:06,199 --> 00:37:06,239 We're sadly at the end of the block that we have. 628 00:37:06,239 --> 00:37:06,360 we will have time for Q&A in a little bit. 629 00:37:06,360 --> 00:37:10,840 Thank you, Cheryl, Jessica, thank you. 630 00:37:12,239 --> 00:37:14,239 So, folks, hello. 631 00:37:14,239 --> 00:37:17,280 I hope you had some rich conversations. 632 00:37:17,280 --> 00:37:21,599 We certainly did, those of us who stayed back here in the main room. 633 00:37:21,599 --> 00:37:26,880 And what I'd love for you to do is can we spotlight 634 00:37:27,320 --> 00:37:30,559 Jessica and Reverend 635 00:37:30,559 --> 00:37:33,440 Cheryl together alongside me? 636 00:37:33,440 --> 00:37:36,960 If you could put your questions in the chat, 637 00:37:36,960 --> 00:37:40,360 now, I'm back here scroll in the chat because I remember there was one 638 00:37:40,400 --> 00:37:43,920 question, which I now inexplicably cannot find, but I know what it was. 639 00:37:43,920 --> 00:37:47,440 It was a question about diverse styles of 640 00:37:47,760 --> 00:37:50,559 minister and diverse styles of leadership. 641 00:37:50,599 --> 00:37:53,760 And if you all could share an example of 642 00:37:53,760 --> 00:37:57,519 the kind of diverse styles, I think, of shared 643 00:37:57,559 --> 00:38:01,519 ministry that you've experienced, that that, 644 00:38:02,119 --> 00:38:05,599 that that might, oh, we like to do this section and gallery view. 645 00:38:05,599 --> 00:38:08,760 That's perfect, that that might help make 646 00:38:08,760 --> 00:38:10,800 the example a little clearer to folks. 647 00:38:10,800 --> 00:38:13,960 So, Jessica, Cheryl, if you could, think about what 648 00:38:14,000 --> 00:38:17,119 kind of the diverse styles of ministry and leadership that you've encountered. 649 00:38:17,119 --> 00:38:20,639 And for everybody else, please go ahead and put your questions in the chat, and 650 00:38:20,639 --> 00:38:24,239 I will be presenting them and keeping us rolling for these 15 minutes. 651 00:38:24,559 --> 00:38:27,920 Well, one quick example that I can give is 652 00:38:27,920 --> 00:38:31,199 actually my own style of leadership, which seems 653 00:38:31,199 --> 00:38:34,840 to not be necessarily the common style 654 00:38:34,880 --> 00:38:39,920 of leadership, which is that I'm extremely collaborative in my leadership. 655 00:38:39,920 --> 00:38:42,960 So when I became the director of Congregational life, 656 00:38:42,960 --> 00:38:48,239 we had the five leads who were working together, and I looked at that, and I was like, well, that's nice. 657 00:38:48,239 --> 00:38:51,360 But we also have these other people who are doing this really important 658 00:38:51,360 --> 00:38:53,920 high-level work in congregational life. 659 00:38:53,960 --> 00:38:56,480 And so I put together a leadership team 660 00:38:57,119 --> 00:39:00,400 And I think my colleagues learned very, 661 00:39:00,440 --> 00:39:03,559 you know, early on in my leadership that they would 662 00:39:03,559 --> 00:39:05,840 ask me a question about congregational life. 663 00:39:05,840 --> 00:39:10,440 And my answer might well be, well, I don't know, but I'll take that to the leadership team 664 00:39:11,039 --> 00:39:13,039 and we'll see what happens. 665 00:39:13,039 --> 00:39:15,000 And working with the leadership team has been great. 666 00:39:15,000 --> 00:39:18,039 I personally think I have the best leadership team at the UUA. 667 00:39:18,079 --> 00:39:21,719 I know I'm a little bit biased, but they 668 00:39:21,719 --> 00:39:23,920 are a diverse group themselves. 669 00:39:23,960 --> 00:39:25,960 They've had all these different life experiences. 670 00:39:25,960 --> 00:39:27,920 They had all these different identities. 671 00:39:27,920 --> 00:39:30,519 They have, you know, all of this is they bring into 672 00:39:30,559 --> 00:39:36,599 our discussion so that we are able to do much more of a 360 view 673 00:39:37,079 --> 00:39:40,079 of any question that has come before me is 674 00:39:40,079 --> 00:39:44,559 not just me in my opinion, and my experiences, but I'm drawing on all of theirs, too. 675 00:39:44,599 --> 00:39:47,760 And sometimes the leadership team will say to me, Jessica, 676 00:39:47,760 --> 00:39:50,440 we're not really that invested in that particular question. 677 00:39:50,480 --> 00:39:52,480 You decide, you answer. 678 00:39:52,480 --> 00:39:54,039 And whatever you answer is fine. 679 00:39:54,039 --> 00:39:56,679 And then other times they disagree with the way 680 00:39:56,719 --> 00:40:00,199 that I maybe would have answered that question or what I would have brought to 681 00:40:00,199 --> 00:40:02,360 other leadership tables about that. 682 00:40:02,360 --> 00:40:04,519 And so then we're having some discussions about that. 683 00:40:04,519 --> 00:40:06,559 And I am growing myself 684 00:40:06,840 --> 00:40:11,800 as a leader into my understanding of situations while I'm having those conversations with them. 685 00:40:11,840 --> 00:40:14,840 But it does mean that it takes more time for me, 686 00:40:14,840 --> 00:40:19,199 sometimes to reach a decision or to bring you an answer because I'm not just going to answer off the cuff. 687 00:40:19,199 --> 00:40:22,360 I frequently, I'm going to pull in other people and ask their opinion 688 00:40:22,880 --> 00:40:25,639 and come to a collaborative answer. 689 00:40:25,639 --> 00:40:27,639 What about you, Cheryl? 690 00:40:27,639 --> 00:40:31,000 You know, sometimes that's very simple. 691 00:40:31,039 --> 00:40:33,920 You know, when I had my first 692 00:40:35,360 --> 00:40:39,079 UU Ministers Association meeting and I was the president, 693 00:40:39,079 --> 00:40:42,599 the very first thing I did was change the agenda and 694 00:40:42,599 --> 00:40:45,719 took time off of the agenda. 695 00:40:46,679 --> 00:40:50,559 And 696 00:40:50,599 --> 00:40:53,119 stop saying we're going to do this for 15 minutes. 697 00:40:53,119 --> 00:40:55,119 We're going to do this for 20 minutes. 698 00:40:55,119 --> 00:40:56,480 We're going to do it. 699 00:40:56,480 --> 00:40:58,320 Because quite honestly, you know, you, if 700 00:40:58,320 --> 00:41:01,800 you've been to a meeting, you've done this yourself, you 701 00:41:01,800 --> 00:41:04,239 have five minutes worth of something to say 702 00:41:04,639 --> 00:41:07,639 However, you are on 703 00:41:07,639 --> 00:41:09,920 the agenda for 15 minutes. 704 00:41:11,880 --> 00:41:15,400 So you talk an extra 10 705 00:41:15,440 --> 00:41:19,159 minutes when you really only had five 706 00:41:19,159 --> 00:41:22,199 minutes worth of something to say. 707 00:41:22,199 --> 00:41:24,199 I do it. 708 00:41:24,480 --> 00:41:27,519 And what what I thought, how 709 00:41:27,559 --> 00:41:31,079 many, we get, you know, as 710 00:41:31,079 --> 00:41:34,320 I was observing the meetings for years, certain things, 711 00:41:34,320 --> 00:41:39,360 we can't finish talking about this now because we are out of time. 712 00:41:39,360 --> 00:41:42,480 If we have a few ten more minutes 713 00:41:42,960 --> 00:41:48,840 we could resolve something. 714 00:41:48,840 --> 00:41:50,840 So I realized 715 00:41:51,360 --> 00:41:54,360 stopping, we're 716 00:41:54,360 --> 00:41:56,400 not here for a clock. 717 00:41:56,400 --> 00:42:01,360 We're here to meet to exchange ideas to get things done. 718 00:42:01,400 --> 00:42:04,800 So simple things like that can happen, and it changes 719 00:42:05,519 --> 00:42:09,880 how people think of their time in the meeting. 720 00:42:09,920 --> 00:42:12,920 So that's that's one simple example right there. 721 00:42:12,920 --> 00:42:14,920 Yeah. 722 00:42:14,920 --> 00:42:17,639 Did that cause some anxiety among some folks when you did that? 723 00:42:17,639 --> 00:42:19,639 Oh, my God. 724 00:42:19,639 --> 00:42:22,719 And what was really funny, 725 00:42:22,760 --> 00:42:26,960 like, some people were so upset, they were just going to 726 00:42:27,239 --> 00:42:32,159 passively aggressive, just keep talking and talking and talking. 727 00:42:32,159 --> 00:42:35,280 What they didn't realize 728 00:42:35,280 --> 00:42:39,719 was that they still talked less, 729 00:42:39,719 --> 00:42:43,440 that I would have given them time to do in the past. 730 00:42:43,880 --> 00:42:47,239 You thought you were going to be you 731 00:42:47,239 --> 00:42:51,199 used to have an hour and now you're going to talk for two, just to show me. 732 00:42:51,199 --> 00:42:53,880 You actually talked for 45 minutes. 733 00:42:54,920 --> 00:42:58,400 But I didn't say anything to them. 734 00:42:58,400 --> 00:43:01,440 And what we ended up what 735 00:43:01,440 --> 00:43:05,079 we ended up like right after the first 736 00:43:06,800 --> 00:43:09,800 meeting time together, 737 00:43:09,800 --> 00:43:14,159 people realized, we got so much more done. 738 00:43:15,679 --> 00:43:17,960 And that was the end of the conversation. 739 00:43:17,960 --> 00:43:20,599 It was like, this actually worked for us. 740 00:43:20,599 --> 00:43:25,679 We got more done because we were not worried about a clock. 741 00:43:25,679 --> 00:43:28,679 So that makes what 742 00:43:28,679 --> 00:43:32,199 I'm about to say just laughable, which is we 743 00:43:32,239 --> 00:43:36,320 only have nine minutes left of our Q&A time, my beloved colleagues. 744 00:43:36,320 --> 00:43:38,599 And we have such incredible questions. 745 00:43:38,599 --> 00:43:42,119 We need to talk about what we're going to do with all these questions because we will not have time for all of them. 746 00:43:42,119 --> 00:43:44,119 No. 747 00:43:44,119 --> 00:43:44,559 Note to selves, 748 00:43:44,559 --> 00:43:46,920 There are so many different forms of leadership and ways to 749 00:43:46,920 --> 00:43:50,039 lead diversity of leadership models that when those of you who are 750 00:43:50,039 --> 00:43:53,280 in search for a new religious educator or a new minister, new whatever, 751 00:43:53,280 --> 00:43:57,000 new board chair, when that leader 752 00:43:57,000 --> 00:44:02,039 comes into the mix, if there is anxiety spiking in your leadership circles, this is normal 753 00:44:02,360 --> 00:44:06,360 because different and innovative forms of leadership are going to make people anxious. 754 00:44:06,360 --> 00:44:08,360 That is okay. 755 00:44:08,360 --> 00:44:09,280 That's not toxic necessarily. 756 00:44:09,280 --> 00:44:11,280 It's how we work through it and with each other. 757 00:44:11,280 --> 00:44:13,719 Okay, I'm going to ask questions about accountability. 758 00:44:13,760 --> 00:44:15,960 We have several of them in here. 759 00:44:15,960 --> 00:44:18,119 One of our folks said 760 00:44:18,800 --> 00:44:21,920 we discussed accountability a lot 761 00:44:21,920 --> 00:44:24,440 given the diversity of individual congregations. 762 00:44:24,440 --> 00:44:27,960 What is the system of accountability for lay leaders look like? 763 00:44:27,960 --> 00:44:31,000 How do we talk about accountability in a 764 00:44:31,039 --> 00:44:35,840 way that makes people want to embrace it instead of hightailing it out of town the other way 765 00:44:36,320 --> 00:44:39,719 Could you reflect just a little bit, both of you, on accountability? 766 00:44:42,199 --> 00:44:45,320 So the first thing is, 767 00:44:45,320 --> 00:44:49,760 there's a quote by Mia Mingus, who's 768 00:44:49,760 --> 00:44:54,920 a disabilities rights activist, talking about accountability 769 00:44:55,880 --> 00:44:59,519 And they begin with, what if accountability 770 00:44:59,519 --> 00:45:01,679 wasn't something frightening? 771 00:45:01,679 --> 00:45:05,519 What if it was something we 772 00:45:06,199 --> 00:45:08,199 we invited? 773 00:45:08,199 --> 00:45:10,840 I would look up Mia Mingus, 774 00:45:10,880 --> 00:45:14,039 it's literal, just how it's spelled. 775 00:45:14,039 --> 00:45:16,039 On accountability. 776 00:45:16,039 --> 00:45:17,559 And you'll find that quote quickly. 777 00:45:18,360 --> 00:45:21,000 How do we do that in our congregations? 778 00:45:21,000 --> 00:45:23,000 I think it depends. 779 00:45:23,000 --> 00:45:26,280 I think, well, first of all, I find congregations are very diverse. 780 00:45:26,280 --> 00:45:30,280 In size, in style, 781 00:45:30,320 --> 00:45:32,519 in policy 782 00:45:33,599 --> 00:45:35,599 in structures. 783 00:45:35,599 --> 00:45:37,760 And what makes sense? 784 00:45:37,760 --> 00:45:40,920 One, you start having 785 00:45:40,920 --> 00:45:47,320 conversations about accountability as a good thing. 786 00:45:47,880 --> 00:45:51,119 You know, 787 00:45:51,119 --> 00:45:53,800 you talk about it positively. 788 00:45:55,639 --> 00:45:59,039 And when people go, well, I didn't come here to be accountable 789 00:45:59,039 --> 00:46:01,559 to anybody, I don't like this accountability. 790 00:46:01,559 --> 00:46:06,039 Remind them, if you live with somebody, you are accountable to them. 791 00:46:07,039 --> 00:46:10,280 If you live in a community, you have an accountability 792 00:46:10,280 --> 00:46:13,679 to the community, the HOA to all these things. 793 00:46:13,679 --> 00:46:18,519 And so we have accountabilities all the time. 794 00:46:18,559 --> 00:46:23,119 And defining accountability is it's a two-way street. 795 00:46:23,519 --> 00:46:26,559 It said, I will help you be 796 00:46:26,599 --> 00:46:30,000 better and you will help me 797 00:46:30,000 --> 00:46:32,679 be better at being human, 798 00:46:33,920 --> 00:46:37,280 at being good people. 799 00:46:37,280 --> 00:46:40,280 And I think and good members of 800 00:46:40,280 --> 00:46:43,440 our congregation, I 801 00:46:43,440 --> 00:46:46,960 think if we start our discussion there instead of, 802 00:46:47,000 --> 00:46:49,800 accountability is not punishment. 803 00:46:50,239 --> 00:46:53,119 it's a reward. 804 00:46:53,119 --> 00:46:56,239 Yeah, I like 805 00:46:56,239 --> 00:47:00,320 what you say about speaking about it positively and taking some time, right? 806 00:47:00,320 --> 00:47:03,960 For people to get used to some of these concepts, because it takes some time. 807 00:47:03,960 --> 00:47:07,199 But if we think of ourselves, our leaders and our congregations 808 00:47:07,199 --> 00:47:09,880 think of themselves as stewards of our faith, 809 00:47:10,199 --> 00:47:14,400 then there's some accountability to the faith there, right? 810 00:47:14,400 --> 00:47:17,639 And if you're electing leaders or, 811 00:47:17,639 --> 00:47:21,280 you know, just putting people in leadership, you know, say they're in charge of a committee. 812 00:47:22,400 --> 00:47:25,519 if the collective body of the congregation 813 00:47:25,519 --> 00:47:29,239 thinks of them, again, as stewards of the faith, then there's 814 00:47:29,239 --> 00:47:32,400 some level of accountability there, you know, for them to be in 815 00:47:32,400 --> 00:47:35,559 right relationship with the rest of the congregation, 816 00:47:35,599 --> 00:47:38,719 to abide by whatever the congregation's guidelines are. 817 00:47:38,719 --> 00:47:43,400 And yes, they may be very different in some of our congregations, but there's going to be some things there that are going to be basic 818 00:47:43,880 --> 00:47:45,880 right? 819 00:47:45,880 --> 00:47:46,719 No bullying, right? 820 00:47:46,760 --> 00:47:48,760 No triangulation. 821 00:47:48,760 --> 00:47:52,320 There's some very basic things that we can hope people I think accountable to. 822 00:47:52,320 --> 00:47:57,360 And that make everybody feel safe enough to do real and risky work. 823 00:47:57,360 --> 00:48:02,639 There are several questions about what it means to be a pastor? 824 00:48:03,119 --> 00:48:05,559 What is that role of spiritual companionship? 825 00:48:05,599 --> 00:48:11,039 I feel like the two of you could reflect on that. 826 00:48:11,039 --> 00:48:13,079 Like, there could be a book about that. 827 00:48:13,079 --> 00:48:17,800 One thing that I'll just say from my own experience, when I came into ministry 828 00:48:18,320 --> 00:48:21,360 in the early 2000s, I felt very 829 00:48:21,360 --> 00:48:24,960 daunted by the idea that the minister was supposed to primarily be a 830 00:48:24,960 --> 00:48:28,199 teacher, that there are supposed to be the smartest person in the room. 831 00:48:28,199 --> 00:48:31,360 And I have never felt like I was obligated to 832 00:48:31,400 --> 00:48:35,840 or should ever have the hubris to try to be the smartest person in the room 833 00:48:36,199 --> 00:48:39,480 Whereas a minister, as a pastor, 834 00:48:39,480 --> 00:48:43,679 as a spiritual companionship, that 835 00:48:43,679 --> 00:48:45,840 always felt like a more natural role for me. 836 00:48:45,840 --> 00:48:48,960 So I find part of the, in embracing the role 837 00:48:48,960 --> 00:48:53,079 role of pastor sometimes is to free myself from the 838 00:48:53,119 --> 00:48:56,000 idolatry of feeling I have to be the smartest person in the room 839 00:48:56,400 --> 00:48:59,039 But instead, I have to be a point of companying. 840 00:48:59,039 --> 00:49:03,039 So I would invite us like, there really could be a whole dang book about that. 841 00:49:03,079 --> 00:49:06,840 The last question, though, that I really want to hand to you all is 842 00:49:06,840 --> 00:49:12,519 Karen Richter said, I love the idea of people coming to community expecting to grow 843 00:49:13,159 --> 00:49:16,559 people coming into community, expecting to grow. 844 00:49:16,559 --> 00:49:19,679 What tactics have you experienced 845 00:49:19,679 --> 00:49:23,760 as religious educators, as pastors, 846 00:49:23,760 --> 00:49:28,119 as leaders among leaders that help build that culture? 847 00:49:28,760 --> 00:49:31,559 And that'll be our last question, and we'll pitch it back to you, Lauren. 848 00:49:34,199 --> 00:49:37,320 Yeah, well, certainly one thing that was useful to me when 849 00:49:37,320 --> 00:49:41,039 I was a religious educator in the congregation, is inviting 850 00:49:41,039 --> 00:49:45,400 people to be teachers in the RE program. 851 00:49:45,440 --> 00:49:49,039 And one of the things that we've said to them, and you may have heard this setting 852 00:49:49,039 --> 00:49:53,360 your own congregation is the best way to learn about your Unitarian Universalism is for you to be a teacher 853 00:49:53,639 --> 00:49:58,119 in the RE program and to teach our children about your Unitarian Universalism. 854 00:49:58,159 --> 00:50:01,519 That is a great place for growth and 855 00:50:01,519 --> 00:50:04,800 to even have a small groups where the teachers come 856 00:50:04,800 --> 00:50:08,800 together periodically and discuss what they are learning by 857 00:50:08,840 --> 00:50:12,800 teaching within RE, all these things are learning opportunities for us. 858 00:50:12,800 --> 00:50:15,840 So if you can provide good spaces for people to process 859 00:50:16,440 --> 00:50:19,599 the learning opportunities that they're experiencing and 860 00:50:19,639 --> 00:50:23,400 again, normalize the fact that there's going to be transformation and 861 00:50:23,400 --> 00:50:25,800 learning and growth, I think that's important. 862 00:50:25,800 --> 00:50:27,800 What about you, Cheryl? 863 00:50:28,039 --> 00:50:32,960 You know, there was a show here in New York called You're Perfect, 864 00:50:32,960 --> 00:50:34,960 I Love You Now Change. 865 00:50:36,199 --> 00:50:39,599 And I always would love to have that on our doorsteps. 866 00:50:39,599 --> 00:50:41,599 You're perfect, I love you now Change. 867 00:50:42,199 --> 00:50:44,760 Some of the things that we've done, you know 868 00:50:44,760 --> 00:50:48,119 what, if it was left up to me, right, 869 00:50:48,119 --> 00:50:53,280 everybody has to take a course that I created. 870 00:50:53,280 --> 00:50:55,280 This, I believe 871 00:50:55,280 --> 00:50:58,199 And at the end, you have to write a credo statement. 872 00:51:00,559 --> 00:51:03,559 And I wouldn't let you sign the 873 00:51:03,559 --> 00:51:06,320 book and become a member until you took this. 874 00:51:06,320 --> 00:51:09,599 So that in small groups, you are 875 00:51:10,800 --> 00:51:13,239 understanding, well, what brings you here? 876 00:51:13,280 --> 00:51:15,280 What do I believe? 877 00:51:15,280 --> 00:51:17,079 What do I believe? 878 00:51:17,079 --> 00:51:19,920 And how does that shape how I live? 879 00:51:19,920 --> 00:51:24,400 Because your beliefs must compel you to live a different particular way. 880 00:51:24,440 --> 00:51:26,440 Otherwise, it's just an opinion 881 00:51:26,719 --> 00:51:29,760 So, 882 00:51:29,760 --> 00:51:33,000 I mean, I would I would love for us to be 883 00:51:33,000 --> 00:51:38,639 able to do that because it would start start us off understanding, 884 00:51:38,639 --> 00:51:40,719 oh, I have work to do. 885 00:51:41,280 --> 00:51:44,400 You know, you have incredible 886 00:51:44,400 --> 00:51:47,639 freedom as a Unitarian Universalist. 887 00:51:47,639 --> 00:51:49,639 Nobody's going to tell you what to believe. 888 00:51:50,840 --> 00:51:54,199 And yet, unfortunately, we squander it. 889 00:51:54,199 --> 00:51:58,440 It's like, because you don't have to do it, you don't do it. 890 00:51:58,440 --> 00:52:03,519 I mean, so I would almost like to make us do that work to begin with. 891 00:52:03,559 --> 00:52:07,800 And that sets us off on a path of, oh, this is, I'm learning 892 00:52:08,360 --> 00:52:11,519 I'm learning, I 893 00:52:11,519 --> 00:52:16,360 am growing, and that we start, we start 894 00:52:17,719 --> 00:52:20,719 by growing, by understanding that it is 895 00:52:20,719 --> 00:52:25,400 it is something I'm always going to do. 896 00:52:26,840 --> 00:52:30,199 And Cheryl, you and I both mentioned people doing that in community, right? 897 00:52:30,199 --> 00:52:32,199 Yes. 898 00:52:32,199 --> 00:52:32,719 Doing that. 899 00:52:32,719 --> 00:52:33,920 But in community. 900 00:52:33,920 --> 00:52:35,199 Not alone. makes it less scary too. 901 00:52:35,239 --> 00:52:37,239 Makes it normal. 902 00:52:37,239 --> 00:52:38,679 Yeah. 903 00:52:38,679 --> 00:52:39,679 Mm. 904 00:52:39,800 --> 00:52:42,800 And it builds, it builds community 905 00:52:42,800 --> 00:52:46,760 because, you know, when you first come in a congregation, maybe 906 00:52:46,760 --> 00:52:49,880 you know the person who invited you. 907 00:52:49,880 --> 00:52:53,000 Maybe you went on belief-omatic and it told you you're 908 00:52:53,000 --> 00:52:55,440 a Unitarian Universalist, but you don't know that many people 909 00:52:56,360 --> 00:52:59,599 And by being in small groups, you get to know people. 910 00:52:59,599 --> 00:53:02,760 And then you get to know the people they know, 911 00:53:02,760 --> 00:53:06,119 and you get to know more and more people so 912 00:53:06,119 --> 00:53:09,880 that you're integrated into the community and 913 00:53:09,920 --> 00:53:12,199 these opportunities for learning 914 00:53:12,599 --> 00:53:17,400 are 915 00:53:17,400 --> 00:53:21,039 constantly there. 916 00:53:21,079 --> 00:53:25,639 And that we, you know, it's an expectation that you take advantage of them 917 00:53:26,280 --> 00:53:31,480 and that you are growing and that, you know, what is it? 918 00:53:31,519 --> 00:53:34,079 Make friends do some good, grow your soul. 919 00:53:34,079 --> 00:53:37,239 That should be on like a billboard on 920 00:53:37,280 --> 00:53:42,480 it, you know, at the Unitarian Universalist congregation of fill in the blank. 921 00:53:42,920 --> 00:53:45,920 Make friends, do some good, grow your soul. 922 00:53:45,920 --> 00:53:49,079 All those things intertwine in growing. 923 00:53:49,079 --> 00:53:53,519 And that might have to be our last word as we're going to close this out. 924 00:53:53,519 --> 00:53:56,920 I do want to know there's some really beautiful and important stuff in the comments 925 00:53:57,559 --> 00:54:00,800 including just the fact that in this space, 926 00:54:00,800 --> 00:54:04,159 we're not saying what you should call the folks who are in professional 927 00:54:04,159 --> 00:54:07,519 service to you in one thing, pastor or minister, but 928 00:54:07,519 --> 00:54:12,840 that we are all sharing this work of being in service to one another. 929 00:54:12,840 --> 00:54:15,840 And also that no triangulation does not 930 00:54:15,840 --> 00:54:19,480 mean no boundaries and it does not mean receiving 931 00:54:19,519 --> 00:54:22,079 abuse and it does not mean no accountability. 932 00:54:22,800 --> 00:54:26,280 We're held by a covenant that needs to be 933 00:54:26,280 --> 00:54:29,760 there for us in and through and under the 934 00:54:29,760 --> 00:54:34,360 various expressions of the rules as we understand them and the best practices. 935 00:54:34,400 --> 00:54:36,599 So, Lauren, the floor is yours. 936 00:54:36,599 --> 00:54:38,599 Once again 937 00:54:38,599 --> 00:54:41,400 Reverend Cheryl, M. Walker, Jessica York, 938 00:54:41,400 --> 00:54:44,440 my amazing colleague here at the UUA, thank you. 939 00:54:44,480 --> 00:54:46,480 Thank you, thank you. 940 00:54:46,480 --> 00:54:49,559 Yes, indeed you so much, so very much. 941 00:54:49,559 --> 00:54:52,960 It's so important that we 942 00:54:53,000 --> 00:54:57,800 who are congregational leaders and are sharing this space together this evening have 943 00:54:58,079 --> 00:55:01,079 the kind of feeding and fueling that 944 00:55:01,079 --> 00:55:04,719 we get from being in the press presence of folks like yourselves who 945 00:55:04,760 --> 00:55:08,639 can speak so well about what is this 946 00:55:08,639 --> 00:55:13,360 ministry that we're doing together and both teach us new ways 947 00:55:14,239 --> 00:55:17,119 of understanding what we might do in our congregations. 948 00:55:17,119 --> 00:55:20,880 But I think equally tonight I would say inspire us to 949 00:55:20,880 --> 00:55:24,840 new ways of understanding what we're doing, what this is 950 00:55:24,840 --> 00:55:29,320 about, what is this ministry that we're called to together. 951 00:55:29,840 --> 00:55:31,840 Thank you so much for taking us there. 952 00:55:31,840 --> 00:55:35,079 Thank you, Nancy, for facilitating and thanks, 953 00:55:35,119 --> 00:55:37,320 Ritoo, for being our tech host for this time