Church lady squared

Atkinson Memorial Church

     My beloved church community, Atkinson Memorial Unitarian Universalist in Oregon City, is searching for a new minister.  The search is a long, 18-month process, during which the membership reflects on its identity, mission, and hopes for the future. Meanwhile, a carefully elected and selected committee goes through the long process of selecting the new minister. I agreed to be  on the search committee.
    It's big job.  Our nine- member committee has a good distribution

Scott Silver's photo: Long may she wave

of strengths  and we are willing and able for the work. Even though there are about three times as many Unitarian ministers seeking congregations as there are congregations seeking ministers, we are anxious about getting the best person for our pulpit.  As the old joke goes, the odds are good, but the goods are odd.

Search committee

      We will fashion surveys, hold small group meetings and book studies to help discern the needs and hopes of the church.  We will file descriptive and statistical documents with the denominational office (including membership and financial information dating from 1975--do you think that's easy to find?) We will create a great online packet for ministerial candidates to peruse. I will be doing a lot of the writing. In February and March, we will invite three or four pre-candidates to interview and preach. Finally,  we hope to select a great candidate whom the congregation will then vote to call.   After next April, I hope my time as a church lady on steroids will be done.

Mutt Leigh meets Eddy

Eddy found this cartoon

     Last weekend Judy and I hosted Eddy Carroll from Denver, who conducted a workshop called Beyond Categorical Thinking for the congregation.  The weekend was great success.  Our church has 165 members: 53 people showed up for the three -hour session on Saturday.  Eddy also preached on Sunday morning.  One member told him his sermon was the best he had heard in 47 years of attending Atkinson.
     At our house, Eddy and Mutt Leigh had a good old time.  Eddy and I sat at the kitchen  table and traded stories of growing up in a large Irish Catholic family.  Even though we had not met before, I felt like I was talking to  someone I'd gone  to grade school with.