by Kitty Merrill | May 27, 2017 | Minister
It’s hard to believe that we’re coming on a year together. There has been so much goodness and many things accomplished. A new ministry is full of changes. It’s a time of transition, which has its challenges.
We are on the brink of one of the biggest changes of all – our beloved Becky Burnham will be retiring in a month. She has been the beating heart of this congregation for more than a decade. She knows every nook and cranny in the church. She knows where things go, where to find things when they’re not where they’re supposed to be. She keeps track of stacks of numbers. It sometimes feels like she gets tasks done five minutes before I even ask.
Becky is a bright spirit who brings much humor and even playfulness to the world. Though I grumble about it sometimes, she almost always has something sweet to offer – a bowl of candy at her desk, a clear Christmas ornament filled with candy. I treasure the sea glass necklaces she makes, and find myself trolling the beaches for tempest-tossed glass to keep her supplies fully stocked.
By the time you are reading this we will have a new person hired and Becky will be training her or him. This is simply the kind of dedication and thoroughness she has always brought to her work at UUCV. I wish there were a way to download her institutional memory directly into the mind of our new administrator.
We will miss her greatly, and we’ll even feel a bit lost at first. We will find our way, in part because Becky has set up clear and efficient processes and procedures.
As we will be welcoming two new staff people – our new administrator on July 1 and our new DRE on August 1 – we have some big thank you’s to express. So be sure to come to church on June 4 when we will formally thank and acknowledge Becky and Acting DRE Joyce Faber for their service to the church. Neither of them wants any particular fuss made – of course – but I’ve explained that we need to fuss over them at least a bit. We need to offer them our heart-felt thanks as much (or more) than they need to be thanked.
It will truly be a new era in the history of the church. Both of their memories and their gifts will be a part of any success we have going forward. I wouldn’t have made it through my first year here in Ventura without Becky’s and Joyce’s hard work and unwavering support.
So much love to you both,
Rev. Dana
by Kitty Merrill | Apr 27, 2017 | Minister
When I had been in my old church in Oregon for a couple of months, I remember people asking me, hopefully, “So, are you all settled in now?”
The process of moving to a new place and starting up in my very first church was still just a little overwhelming, and I wasn’t sure how to answer at first. I knew they meant to be positive and encouraging. So I learned to breathe and say, “Yes, I am settling in.” I’m not sure when I actually felt truly settled.
So, I’ve been ready for a similar process here in Ventura, and I have not been disappointed. I am still settling into my new condo and even into my office at church. Over a recent weekend, I actually sorted through accumulated files, some more than 10 years old. I culled and resorted, and I recycled some ancient documents. I still have furniture to acquire and pictures to get up on the walls. At some point, my office will feel comfortable and familiar to us all.
I suspect the settling in process is happening for us all. And it’s not yet done. This summer will bring us a new office administrator and a new Director of Religious Education. More settling for individuals and for the institution.
This kind of staff turnover is part of the natural rhythm of the church and often happens when a new minister arrives. I will remain eternally grateful for Becky Burnham who delayed her retirement for a year or two to help with the transition from settled-to-interim-to settled ministry. My gratitude extends to Joyce Faber who stepped in as a volunteer DRE to cover the transition in that position as well.
In the next months when we have both positions newly filled, the longest serving staff member will be Beverly Jordan who has been at UUCV for almost 3 years.
This may seem like a whole lot of change for folks who’ve been around for a while. Yet it is also another fresh start in a congregation that has seen more than a few transitions in its near 60 years.
I hope we do feel more settled in before too long, though never entirely settled. We need to keep learning and growing, challenging ourselves as individuals and as a community.
I am so very glad to be in this settling process with you.
Rev. Dana
by Kitty Merrill | Apr 7, 2017 | Minister
Back when the Unitarians and Universalists merged in 1961, they considered briefly a wholly new name: the Liberal Church of America. Both denominations considered themselves religious liberals so the name made some sense.
Here are a few definitions of the word liberal (which have nothing to do with politics!): Marked by generosity, bounteousness, open-handedness, not stinting. Abundant, ample. Broad-minded, open-minded, not bound by authoritarianism or orthodoxy.
We value such qualities not just in our religious lives, but in the manner we try to move with our families, at work, in our community and, yes, in church. In these days, when il-liberal forces are working hard to make us afraid of one another, we need to live into our liberality as a great and conscious choice.
Being generous, abundant, ample, open-minded and open-handed becomes a spiritual practice. Fear makes us want to turn inward and tighten our hands around what we have – to protect and even hoard. In such times being open-handedly generous is practically countercultural.
I invite you to practice generosity in your lives and here at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Ventura. It never ceases to amaze me that you create this liberal, abundant, bounteous, broad-minded and heartful church community by the sheer generosity of your spirits. You give to the church and you extend your liberal hands and hearts to the community.
On Sunday April 9, you will be invited to practice generosity by making your pledge to ensure the continued existence of your liberal religious voice in Ventura County. The church is moving into the future with confidence and commitment – to our families and children as we hire a new Director of Religious Education; to the glowing and growing spirit in each of its members and friends as we continue to gather in a community of broad minds and open hearts; to those in need in the wider community. Our liberal religious voice will be called upon to speak for the homeless, the immigrant, the refugee, the LGBTQ community.
Answer your invitation to Celebration Sunday with a resounding Yes!
Exercise your liberal, bounteous and generous hearts. Be the Liberal Church of Ventura.
With Abundant Love, Rev. Dana
by Kitty Merrill | Feb 27, 2017 | Minister
I am so very pleased to introduce to you the newly formed Pastoral Associates Team at UUCV. They are eight church members who will be sharing the pastoral ministry of the church community with me.
I introduce them to you as a new team, though I suspect they are already familiar to many. They are: Anne Escobedo, Steve Jacobsen, Darryl Marquez, Madelaine and Yukio Okano, Neal Ortenberg, Stephanie Tiffany, and Pam Waldron
Together we will be holding the whole congregation, attentive to the times of need, sorrow, illness or transition in your lives. UUCV is such a vibrant congregation of people with diverse and full lives; we need just such a team to take on the caring ministry. I am so grateful to each of these good people for sharing this ministry with me.
Please feel free to reach out to me or any Pastoral Associate if you need support of some kind – be it physical or spiritual. You may well find that one of our team will also reach out to you. If you know of someone in the church who is struggling in some way, please let us know.
In the past, Rev. Jan Christian had a similar team, and Beverly Jordan initially came on the staff as a Spiritual Care Coordinator. Beverly transitioned to our Membership Manager when I arrived this fall. It was an early priority to create a lay pastoral ministry. I wanted such a team not only because a congregation as large as UUCV needs one, but because this can be a powerful shared ministry.
Our Pastoral Associates (akin to Worship Associates who share our worship ministry) began forming this fall. I invited people who have a compassionate, calm and strong presence. (And since, I don’t yet know everyone in our church well, I sought recommendations.) We first gathered to talk about what this ministry might look like, and I asked them to take some time considering it.
In January we had a start-up workshop, and we will meet monthly. We are already becoming a team who will support each other as we support the congregation. I have full confidence in their integrity and compassion. We hold any personal information we learn about folks in the church with confidentiality.
It is such a joy to be serving this community and I am joyfully grateful for all those who share it with me.
With love,
Rev. Dana
by Kitty Merrill | Jan 27, 2017 | Minister
Dear Ones,
My Installation is in less than three weeks!
No, we’re not hanging me on the wall like an art installation. Nor will I be installed like a dishwasher. On the evening of Feb. 19, I will be installed as the Unitarian Universalist Church of Ventura’s 7th settled senior minister. The service is an affirmation of the covenantal relationship between the minister and the congregation.
I’ve been talking a lot lately – to our newest members and to the latest covenant groups – about what it means to be a covenantal rather than a creedal faith. We do not gather around a set of shared beliefs. We gather around a set of promises we make to one another: promises about how we will live by our values, promises about what it means to journey together in faith, even as we believe many different things.
It is a powerful spiritual path when we do it well.
It sometimes surprises people when they find that the Puritans and Pilgrims of 17th century New England are our religious forbears. Indeed, the Pilgrims’ congregation in Plymouth, Massachusetts is a Unitarian Universalist church. Our direct lineage to them comes in two ways. They were both covenantal and non-creedal as we are today. They required no statement of belief to be a member of the community. They simply agreed to walk together.
One of the earliest covenants was a promise to “walk together in the ways of the Lord, known and to be made known.” Our religious forebears knew that revelation is an on-going process, that what is good and holy is constantly revealed more fully in our lives. Their beliefs were rather different than most of ours today. Yet after nearly 400 years, being covenantal not creedal made room for evolution of faith. And here we are.
So that lineage is handed down to us, today. We will move – together – a little farther down the path.
The covenant between a minister and congregation is particularly powerful in our tradition. We promise mutual support. I promise to minister with authenticity and integrity, from my understanding of what is good and holy. The congregation promises to live, learn and grow in spirit and to support the church. We promise together to be partners in this ministry.
I am anticipating a joyful and powerful service on Feb. 19. I hope to see you there!
With love,
Rev. Dana
by Kitty Merrill | Dec 28, 2016 | Minister
Happy New Year.
So we enter a new year together. I’ve been around now just long enough to have gotten to know a few of you pretty well, many enough to want to know more, and some hardly or not at all.
There is a 60-year-old piece called “When to Call the Minister.” Some of it is pretty dated, so here is my updated and revised version.
When to Call the Minister?
Here are a few suggestions:
✓ When you haven’t met me yet, but would like to
✓ When you are worried about your teenagers … or your aging parents.
✓ When you’re going in the hospital or know someone else in the congregation who is.
✓ When you have lost a loved one or an animal companion.
✓ When you’re pregnant (but don’t want to be).
✓ When you have a child to be dedicated.
✓ When you’ve been arrested (or ought to be).
✓ When you are having a spiritual crisis or life crisis.
✓ When you have a friend or neighbor who would like more information about Unitarian Universalism.
✓ When you’d like to show us what a good cook you are!
✓ When you have suggestions to make about programs for the church, sermons or Sunday services.
✓ When you’d like help with committee work or with other congregational activities.
✓ When you’re mad at me.
✓ When you’d like to talk religion with me. (That one is my favorite!)
This is a serious (and sometimes really fun!) part of the work I do among you. I share it gratefully with the Caring Team and the newly forming Pastoral Associates – a trained cadre of folks who reach out and coordinate our pastoral efforts.
I have no set office hours, and am generally available Monday through Thursday. I will happily arrange a time that works for us best. Fridays are my Sabbath, and I will only respond to the most urgent of matters or outright emergencies. Saturday is mostly reserved as a writing day.
Some people are reluctant to call my cell phone, though I have become completely unhooked from a landline. So please call or text on my cell phone. It’s really the fastest way to reach me. 503/312-0401.
With love,
Rev. Dana
