Introduction:
I'm writing to give you, the members of the congregation of the Unitarian Church of Norfolk, some ideas and insight on ordination to inform the congregational decision about whether or not to ordain me. My ordination will be a decision item at UCN's Mid-Winter meeting on Saturday, January 21.

What Does Our Congregation Have to Do with Ordination?
Unitarian Universalist churches operate on a basis of congregational polity. Polity means the type of governance of a nation, state, church or organization. Congregational polity means that the local congregation is independent, self-governing and autonomous in all its important decisions: owning property, managing its finances and making all other decisions about how it will function and operate. In Christianity, congregational polity is distinguished from episcopal polity, where local congregations are governed by a hierarchy of bishops, and from presbyterian polity, where local congregations are governed by assemblies of presbyters, or anointed and appointed elders. Congregational polity is found in Christian denominations such as the United Church of Christ, the Amish, the Mennonites, most types of Baptists and the Disciples of Christ, as well as in Reformed Judaism.

Two very important decisions made by local churches in religious traditions that have congregational polity are: calling a minister to serve in their congregation and ordaining ministers. Many Unitarian Universalists are familiar with the search process used to call a minister to serve their church. Some may not be so familiar with the process of ordination.

What is Ordination?
Ordination is, by definition, the act of conferring and of receiving entry into the ministry. It is a ritual act between the congregation and the minister. For me, that means it invokes and partakes of the sacred. Ordination can be described as a 'setting apart' from others in our faith to be a clergy member. I think of that as definitely a 'setting beside' rather than a 'setting above.' The relationship between the congregation as a whole and the minister is horizontal, not vertical. I also think that the minister's role is as a keeper of the meaning of the larger institution, of Unitarian Universalism itself. A key part of a minister's work is to continue grounding individual congregations in what it means to be a Unitarian Universalist individual and a Unitarian Universalist community through preaching, teaching and public witness. Promoting congregational connection to and interaction with our larger movement is also critical. Not that ministers are the only ones who do these things, but rather that it is a central part of the ministerial vocation.

In the Unitarian Universalist tradition, ordination occurs in a separate worship service for that purpose, usually a Sunday afternoon. During the ordination service, a Unitarian Universalist minister often receives a ministerial stole as a symbol of ordained ministry. There are other common elements for most Unitarian Universalist ordinations, including the congregation's statement of its purpose and intention in ordination, the laying on of hands and the ordinand's (person being ordained) receiving the hand of fellowship from another minister, plus music, readings and other worship elements appropriate to the occasion. My ministerial colleagues from around the state will attend. I hope that members of my family and many friends will be able to attend, as well as people from other churches where I have been a minister or a member. In many traditions, including ours, a person is not entitled to receive the honorific of "the Reverend..." until ordained.

OK, But What Does that Really MEAN for Us as a Congregation?
That's a good question and it is not always easy to discern in our tradition. When I looked for resources on ordination within Unitarian Universalism, the statements I found were mostly about skills, qualifications, credentials and knowledge. They could have been written for any secular leadership position. I was looking for statements that entered more into the spiritual or religious aspects of ordination and ministry. Yet, in recent writings on Unitarian ministry, such as writings of the Unitarian Universalist Association's Commission on Appraisal, there is almost nothing.
Given that the ordination often is defined in other religious traditions as the investment of divinity and/or the authority to perform sacraments, it is perhaps not surprising that Unitarian Universalism has struggled to find something to say on the deeper meanings of ordination!

As we do not share the same notions of divinity and our relationship to it and we do not claim any rituals as church-wide 'sacraments,' the Unitarian Universalist ministry cannot be defined by those states or authorities. However, I still wanted some spiritual meat on the credentialing bones of ordination! Ministry has to be more than a list of skills, credentials and knowledge, I thought.

To my rescue came the Reverend Susan LaMar, minister of our church in Ellicott City, Maryland. She wrote a paper on the meaning of ordination a few years ago for the Harper's Ferry ministerial study group. The Reverend LaMar contends that as a nonsacramental religious tradition, Unitarian Universalism has lost something from our understanding of ordination. She went back to some of our early Unitarian and Universalist sources to discover views on ministry and ordination in the hopes of finding more spiritual richness and depth. She also examined ordination in the Christian tradition to find any commonalities that could apply to us. Here is what she found that had meaning for her:

What is important is that through ordination, something changes, both within the ordinand and within the community. A new and different relationship is acknowledged, recognized, and committed to. . . it is conducted within and among the gathered community . . . It is a privileged moment of life for both the ordinand and the congregation . . .the change itself is invisible, ineffable, silent. The elements of the rite are outward signs of an inward or spiritual grace.

That seemed helpful to me. Ordination is a transformative act of the community in relation to a particular person. That is, both parties should experience a transformation of being and relationship.

And who is that person, as a Unitarian Universalist minister? According to William Ellery Channing, a founding parent of Unitarianism, a minister is not simply a collection of knowledge, skills and qualifications. Rather, as the Reverend LaMar notes, Channing set a standard of character, not credentials:

. . . intellectual, moral, and religious worth . . . faithfulness and zeal. . . honest, upright and pure . . . virtue, nobleness, spiritual energy . . . We trust that you will bring to this work a willing mind, a firm purpose, a martyr's spirit, a readiness to toil and suffer for the truth, a devotion of your best powers to the interests of piety and virtue . . . [he] is called to watch over the morals of society, and to awaken and cultivate the principles of piety and virtue in the hearts of individuals . . . We want [him] to be our friend, our guide, an intimate in our families; to enter our houses in affliction; and to be able to give us light, admonition, and consolation, in suffering, sickness, and the last hours of life.

Reading this certainly created a degree of anxiety in me (and in the Reverend LaMar)! Nonetheless, it is what I wish you to hold me accountable to in the act of ordination. Channing's list of qualities seems to speak to what is necessary for the sacred work of creating Beloved Community in partnership with a congregation. For me, ordination will be a dedication to a life of service in that building up of Beloved Community in our congregations, our communities and the wider world. That is my call to ministry.

But What About Those Credentials - Aren't They Important?
Yes, they are. I was received into the Fellowship of Unitarian Universalist ministers by the Unitarian Universalist Association's Ministerial Fellowship Committee on September 25, 2010. This was an acknowledgement of my basic readiness to be a Unitarian Universalist minister.
In order to be received into Fellowship, I had to: gain a Master's degree in Divinity from an accredited seminary; undergo at least one unit (400 hours) of supervised work as a chaplain in a hospital or other setting (I did two units or 800 hours); be certified as to my psychological, emotional, intellectual and moral fitness for ministry through an intense psychological and career evaluation process; have a history of sustained and significant participation in Unitarian Universalist congregational life (for me that goes back 38 years); have a thorough civil and criminal background check; and undergo a full-time, church-year-long internship under the supervision of a senior minister in a Unitarian Universalist church. My internship was at the First Unitarian Society of Denver (Colorado) in 2008-2009 under the supervision of the Reverend Mike Morran and the Reverend Robert Latham.

So, What Then Do We Need to Know in Order to Vote on Your Ordination?
That is largely up to you. I hope that you will learn some basics about what ordination and the ordained ministry are from this document. You might want to question me about my sense of call and my preparation for ministry. I will welcome your calls, emails and conversations about this.
Regarding the vote, a member of the congregation raised an interesting point when he asked me: "But who would vote against this?" My reply is that it is not so much who would vote for or against ordination. Rather, the point is that you can vote. In many faith traditions, individual congregations have no say in who will be their minister or how people are chosen and affirmed as ministers. It is our honor and our responsibility in Unitarian Universalist congregations to be the most critical part and the culmination of the process to shape and ordain our ministers.

What Would Be Our Responsibilities if We Vote to Ordain You?
The congregation's responsibilities include:

• participating with me in the creation of the Ordination Service
• hosting the Service
• participating in the planning and organizing of all the things needed to have the service, including issuing invitations and providing hospitality to those attending
• providing the financial support for the Service

Please ask me any additional questions you have! You may reach me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or at the church at 757-627-5371. Please do not hesitate to ask anything of concern or interest to you. I am used to being questioned and challenged on all aspects of my beliefs, sense of call and personal life and qualities - that happens nonstop in the ministerial formation process. It is critical that our congregation understand what is happening when it votes on ordination. Thank you for your willingness to consider my ordination!