In a few weeks, you will install me as your minister. I will be the eighth settled minister of Universalist National Memorial Church. It is an honor for me to be here in ministry with you.
The act of installation is covenantal and grounded in the rituals of tradition.
In the nineteenth century in New England, it was not uncommon for Congregational, Universalist, and Unitarian ministries to be thirty, forty, or even fifty years long. They were covenantal unions created to share the ministry of Jesus’ call to create God’s kingdom here on earth.
Our installation means the same to me: a covenantal commitment to each other to share the ministry of UNMC. A ministry that reaches out to the greater community in service and reaches inward to each other in love, joy, spirit, and support.
To be here as your minister and to share the congregation’s mission to create a loving community for worship and service in the spirit of Jesus Christ brings me great joy and a sense of fulfilling my call to ministry. To be able to welcome all and respect individual beliefs as we grow together tells me that I am at a table with others who believe that love is truly the answer to right relations.
It was UNMC’s Mission Statement and the Congregational Covenant that brought me back to candidate here when the search committee invited me, and it was the same that led me to accept your call to settle here.
It is deeply satisfying to me to know that the congregation lives out its Mission and lives by its Covenant.
You demonstrate your service to the greater community each and every week by supporting the Food For All pantry and giving 10% of the Sunday offering to neighborhood non-profits who serve the marginalized and challenged. In one weekend a few weeks ago, you, along with Food For All volunteers and participants in the “Fast-a-Thon” raised well over $1,700 for Food For All and So Others May Eat (S.O.M.E.). This is from a congregation of about thirty-five active congregants!
And Sunday, April 22, in a much-needed, sometimes tedious, and complex way, you waded through the many issues surrounding the installation of the McKim organ, and in the process respected each person’s ideas, questions, and suggestions in the spirit of the Congregational Covenant.
This congregation has weathered many challenges, just as I have weathered many challenges as a person and as a minister. We have faced adversity, trials, and disappointments. Sometimes, I am sure there was only one set of footprints in the sand. Nevertheless, throughout our stories, we kept the faith and trusted in God’s love for us.
On June 3, we will formally acknowledge the covenantal ministry we began last August. It is rooted in perseverance, challenges, and accomplishments, and stretches to the future with heart and hands lifted upward in hope, and joy, and love.
May all our “present moments” be what God would have them be.
God bless you and yours,
Pastor Lillie
Posted by Mark McNabb at May 3, 2007 03:21 PM