Each month, a member of the board will share a reflection on the Soul Matters monthly theme. The theme for November is Change. This month’s post is offered by Janna Sundby. 

Building a trusting relationship with our developmental minister was just one of the goals that we set out to achieve when we signed our agreement in April 2020. I believe we’ve achieved that important goal despite there being a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic that’s still circulating. Change remains our constant companion. The Minnesota seasons are our colorful annual roadmap for growth, change, death and it starts again. Moving, altering, familiar yet somewhat different with each evolution.

We thoughtfully chose a “Developmental Minister” hire back in 2018, following input from the Ministerial Troika, that never included an option for that person to be our settled minister due to the UUA’s guidelines. We agreed to choose between a contract, vs. a  settled, vs. a  developmental minister and selected the developmental as the best option for us. 

Hiring our Developmental Minister, Rev. Lisa Friedman, has been a wonderful successful change.  Yet this was not luck; we did the hard work of researching, refining, defining and recording our collective goals for developing ourselves, and seeking spiritual guidance from a new unknown ministerial leader. Continue reading →