by adminuucm

Social Generosity Offering: March 2020

Our MARCH Social Generosity Offering will go to the MN Food Share and IOCP’s Prevent Hunger March Campaign. Nearly half of those who come to Interfaith Outreach for the first time need food. With the help of this generous community, IOCP distributed 1 million pounds of food and household essentials last year. Interfaith Outreach also works holistically to prevent future hunger through employment and family support services.

3/24/20 Update: The church members’ donations of more than 100 pounds of food were taken to their food shelf this week and they were very grateful. You may continue to donate financially to their good work by clicking here. Your donation will be compounded nine-fold. Second Harvest Heartland contributes $9 worth of food for every $1 donated by the community. Visit iocp.org/donations/prevent-hunger/ to learn more.

How to Donate: You can donate online using PayPal or a credit card at bit.ly/uucmsocialgen. You may also mail a contribution to UUCM at 2030 Wayzata Blvd E, Wayzata MN 55391. Simply make your check out to “UUCM” with “Social Generosity” in the memo line.

by adminuucm

New Minister Board Update: Week 6

This week, we are addressing the question “What can we expect from a developmental minister?”

Developmental ministers have the following in common:

They are very experienced ministers.  They have usually served in multiple locations, positions, and capacities.  They have been successful in a variety of ministries.  They have a strength in one or more areas that is a good fit for the congregational goals, in addition to the normal ministerial functions.

The Board Minister Selection Task Force has been working closely with UUA staff, and our involvement with UUA staff will continue right through the developmental minister’s tenure at UUCM.  This is a shared ministry – both the congregation and the minister are going to be learning and growing through this process.

Keep the questions coming!

by adminuucm

In the Interim: 2/21/20

meg-rileyOne of my go-to books for resilience-building is Pema Chodron’s classic, When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times.  I picked it up years ago at a bookstore when it screamed at me, “Here’s the book you need right now!”  Over the years, I have gone back to it and found it a trusty friend.

Chodron is an American Buddhist nun.  Her other books have titles like, The Places That Scare You, Comfortable with Uncertainty, Practicing Peace in Times of War.  All useful books but this first one that I found (though not the first she wrote)  brings me back over and over.

Essentially, the book is full of practices and insight about how to have more compassion for ourselves.  Chodron writes:

“Learning how to be kind to ourselves, learning how to respect ourselves, is important.  The reason it’s important is that, fundamentally, when we look into our own hearts and begin to discover what is confused and what is brilliant, what is bitter and what is sweet, it isn’t just ourselves we’re discovering.  We’re discovering the universe…To the degree that we look clearly and compassionately at ourselves, we feel confident and fearless about looking into someone else’s eyes.”

Self-awareness and compassion for ourselves is an essential piece of resilience. Resilience isn’t a badge to earn, a medal to be awarded, a state of being that we claim as our own.  Resilience is a daily practice of centering into our own selves, opening our eyes to those around us, and claiming our own place in the world. Continue reading →

by adminuucm

A Rockin’ Coming of Age Retreat

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Last weekend, 9 (of 11) seventh and eighth grade Coming of Age students gathered for an overnight retreat at camp Tanadoona in Excelsior. Six Mentors joined in for the afternoon of mixer games, sledding, 9 Square and deep conversations about faith. Many thanks to the co-leaders of the event: Julia Antonsen, Jeff Greenwood and Marie Calabria. And thanks to the youth- a truly remarkable (and fun!) group of young people.

by adminuucm

New Minister Board Update: Week 5

We have been hearing some questions about our process for selecting a new minister so we decided to address a couple of them in this Board Update, and we’ll keep progressing through the Developmental Goals and many other aspects of our minister selection process in future Board Updates.

The Board Updates have focused on Developmental Goals.  Are there other qualities/attributes/skill sets which the Board is looking for in a new minister?  Yes, of course!  Not only do we want to see in a minister alignment with the developmental goals but also (and these are in no particular order) excellence in sermons, CEO skills, people skills, pastoral care, spiritual leadership, alignment of their values with our values, and more.  In future Board Updates, we will share more about our selection criteria.

Are there applicants?  Our position was posted on the UUA website last week, so we don’t have applicants yet . . . but we will!   We have a vibrant church in a major metropolitan area that will be desirable for candidates.  Also, we are the only UU church in all of MN seeking a minister, so if someone wants to be in MN, we are the only option!

Keep the questions coming!

And now we have a request of you: If you have experience or interest in fundraising or finance, talk to Fred Hulting or any UUCM Board Member about the opportunities that are available.