Weekly Bread #273

What a week! – participating in an ordination/installation last Sunday, two days watching our grandchild, and 2 hikes totaling 13 miles. Our pool is open for the season so I got a few swims in too. Splashing around through this life is quite fun and satisfying.

Giving the charge to our new minister was a particular blessing and honor. Nothing I love more than talking about ministry and telling people what to do. Most kidding aside, it was terrifically moving to do and I really got into it. My inner stand up comic persona also was triggered and at various points I had no idea what I was going to say before I said it.

Below is the text of what I planned on saying, but I went fairly hilariously off script as the Spirit took control so it will be a lot more fun to listen to than to read. The video of the full service is here (all of it is worth watching) and my part comes in at roughly 1:30 and 45 seconds.

Charge to the Minister – May 5 2024 Ordination/Installation of the Rev. Cory Wells Lovell from the Rev. Theresa Novak

“Cory, you asked me to give you a charge today.  (hand over battery)

Just so you know, that this battery is used, and if it isn’t dead, it probably will be soon.  Do not be like this battery.

Ministry, I believe, is about ongoing transformation. Transformation can be dangerous.  Not all caterpillars  become butterflies.  Some are eaten by birds (I won’t call them vultures) and some simply dry up and blow away because they haven’t fed themselves well enough to survive.

Your ordination today into the Unitarian Universalist ministry creates a covenant between you and both the generations gone before and the ones to come.  I charge you to be not only a caretaker of our tradition, but also a creator.  We are a living faith after all and revelation is not sealed.  So stay current with what is happening in our association, so you can help to guide it toward increasing our collective capacity to create more love and justice in our world.  Attend as many general assemblies, regional meetings, trainings, and minister gatherings as you possibly can.  This is part of what your professional expenses are for – so spend them! These wider contacts, with colleagues in particular, will engage and feed your spirit, and help keep your batteries charged. 

Today you are also answering a call to serve as the settled minister of this congregation. This too, like your ordination,

will transform you in ways you can’t predict or even imagine.  This congregation, also yearns to be transformed. Your role as our minister is to share in that journey with us, to lead us and guide us, but also to listen to us to discover what we need, which isn’t always the same as what we want.  You will need to bring us hope and courage when times are tough and all of us, including you, are feeling anxious and afraid.  Hold as steady to your call and to your faith as you can.

Ministry is tough work.  You already know this.  You can’t do it alone.  Ask for help, even if you don’t think you need it.  Acknowledge your mistakes and failings and forgive the mistakes and failings of others. We are all imperfect people in an imperfect world.  Remember that you are Clark Kent and not superman.

You already love this congregation and this congregation loves you.  I know I do.

Building trust, however, is a harder task and trust always takes time.  You will need to learn to trust the collective wisdom of the congregation just as we will need to learn to trust you.  Ministry is not easy.  Most of the flack you will get is not really about you, but about your role, and what people always seem to project onto their ministers. 

Some small of it will be about you, however, and at those times you will need to reach deep inside yourself, and maybe consult with trusted colleagues, in order to figure out if there is something you could or should be doing differently.

Most important, however, remember that you can’t do anything with a dead battery.

Don’t run your battery down to empty.  Keep your tank at least half full, stay ready for a necessary detour, a traffic jam that must be untangled, an accident with casualties that need your tender care.  You should always be aware of your distance to empty but since that is hard to do in the midst of everything that is crying out for your attention, I charge you to do these things:

Take every hour of your study and vacation leave.  Every year.  Stay home if you are sick.

Hold your days off as sacred, as sabbaths.  Take them every single week.  If emergencies come up – and they will- and you have to respond on one of your days off, take another day off instead.

Spend some quality time with your family every single day. Make friends outside of the church and socialize with them. With congregants you are always their minister.  You need places and people where you can set that role aside.  These stoles get heavy sometimes.

Also spend some quiet time alone with yourself every day too, even just staring out the window at the sky for a few minutes or listening to music. Pray. 

Trust me, the congregation will survive without you while you are recharging your battery, but if you run on empty for too long, neither you nor this congregation will thrive.

Most of all, do a lot of what feeds your spirit the most.  Skip or delay some of the things that drain you. You can’t do everything, so do more of the things that recharge your batteries and will give you more energy to tackle the harder things.

I am done, for now.  You know me well enough to know that I will always be generous with my advice and counsel.  I also know you well enough to know that you will listen to me, and then you will do what you feel called to do.  That is how it should be.  You have to be true to yourself and to your own call.

Now, but only if you want, you can give me that dead battery back and I will dispose of it properly.  Do you want a dead battery? 

Blessings on your ordination and on your call to this congregation.”

L’Chaim!

My average weight this week was up 2.4 pounds for a total loss of 134.3

Weekly Bread #272

Got in 3 hikes this week for 15 miles. 2 had some elevation, 813 and 925, so I guess I can say I am back to being a hiking maniac. Busy week though, planning the ordination and installation of our minister. My spouse is chairing the committee so she of course reels me in to help at times. I am also doing the charge to the minister which is a real honor. More about that later most likely, but for now I am just getting ready for a long and exciting day at church!

L’Chaim!

My average weight this week was down 1.2 pounds for a total loss of 136.7