Transitions

Along this road that we call life, we are always transitioning from one place to another, from one emotion to another, from one focus to another, from one desire to another.   Sometimes we do not know that we are in a transition until suddenly we become aware and realize that we have transitioned and no longer are the person we thought we were.  Sometimes our transitions are deliberately planned out, even if the impetus for the transition is not of our making. 

Today, I will have preached my last sermon at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Jackson, MS.  My contract with them is at a close.  I have renogiated a new and different contract with Our Home Universalist for the 2008/2009 year.  And I have negotiated a contract with the Unitarian Universalist Church of Tuscaloosa, AL.   I am in the process of moving my home to Alabama and will only be living in one abode next year instead of living two weeks at a time in two abodes. 

This blog will also be facing a transition.  Since I will continue to be serving Our Home in Mississippi, and doing additional work with a few of the other congregations here, this blog could remain the same with same title:  A Unitarian Universalist Minister in Mississippi. I anticipate that I will still be responding to some of the state wide concerns that affect the liberal religous voice.   However, I will also be serving a congregation and making my home base in Alabama.   Adding “and Alabama” makes the title too long.  So the question that I need to be making is do I change the name of the blog–say to my nom de plume, Serenity Home? 

If this is your first time reading this blog, Serenity Home is a translation, albeit not entirely a literal translation,  of my birth name.   Fred being my full first name means “Peace”.  Hammond means “Home on a Hill”.   My middle name L is for the “L” of it as my grandfather would say.  

Or do I start a companion blog that will be centered around the life of being a minister for the Unitarian Universalist Church of Tuscaloosa?   Your comments on this decision process are welcomed.  

Blessings, Fred

Open Source Faith

Rev. Christine Robinson of the First Unitarian Church of Albuquerque, NM states that Unitarian Universalism is an open source faith.   A term used in internet circles.  She also talks about their Branch Ministry where they are using the Internet, DVDs to provide resources for folk in the rural areas of New Mexico where there are no Unitarian Universalist congregations.  This is an exciting experiment that is being developed there with great promise for other parts of the country, like Mississippi. 

The UUA’s Mid-south District is adapting her congregation’s idea to provide resources to the congregations of Mississippi.  I will be moving to Tuscaloosa, AL to serve that congregation on a part time basis and will continue to serve Our Home Universalist Church in Ellisville, MS on a once a month basis.  In addition with the generous cooperation of the Tuscaloosa congregation, I will be developing a series of DVDs of sermons and adult education programs that will be subscribed to by Unitarian Universalist congregations in Mississippi, as of this writing four of the six congregations are participating.  These DVDs can be used to supplement their worship services with a sermon or for their adult education programs.   I will also over the course of the year visit these congregations and provide a to be determined workshop, consultation, etc on a Saturday and then worship on Sunday.  It is the intention of the Mid-south District and my intention, that this resource will aid in the furthering of Unitarian Universalism in Mississippi by offering professional ministry to congregations that perhaps are not able to have a called professional ministry.  Who knows, perhaps these DVD sermons will also be posted on You Tube or on this blog for others to witness.  

This is an exciting time and a wonderful opportunity for the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Tuscaloosa to extend their ministry in an innovative manner to support the ministries of the Unitarian Universalist congregations in Mississippi.  Blessings,