I'm exploring becoming a Unitarian Universalist minister

[deutsey]

It is a calling I've have for some time, but I have three kids in grade school and I've been reluctant to try because of the lack of money on our part. I've been lay leading services at the fellowship I attend for some time now and know deep down I'm being called to do this in a larger and deeper capacity.

I'm going to try the Modified Residency Program at Meadville-Lombard (a UU seminary in Chicago) which would enable me to keep my job. www.meadville.edu

Please pray for discernment and the support we'll need to make this happen.

:hi:

[RevCheesehead]

1. Best wishes in this time of discernment!

I will give you the best advice I got before choosing seminary: "Don't let money determine where you go. It's an investment in your future, so follow your heart. The Lord will provide."

[deutsey]

2. Thank you!

You have no idea (or maybe you do) how you've spoken to an issue close to my heart at the moment.

:hi:

[RevCheesehead]

3. Those words were spoken by my dad.

Before I went back to school, I was torn between two seminaries. One offered me a full scholarship - the other was my dream. When Dad asked which one I'd choose if money weren't an issue, I said "Duke; in a heartbeat." That's when he spoke those words.

You'll definitely be in my prayers. :hi:

[deutsey]

4. Thank you for your prayers and good thoughts

A lot has happened to clarify and to deepen my discernment since I posted this request. We still have a loooooooooooong way to go before things can move forward, but I'm very thankful for what has developed and is continuing to develop in my life, even if ordained ministry isn't the ultimate outcome (although I remain drawn in that direction).

Thanks and please keep me in your prayers as I will keep those posted in this forum in mine.

[RevCheesehead]

5. Remember that God's "time" is eternal.

It may seem slow right now, then it'll feel like you're on a freakin' rollercoaster. Welcome to the ministry, for better or worse, ordained or lay... it's all good. :hug:

[deutsey]

6. Thanks, Rev.

I sincerely appreciate words of encouragement and insight from "insiders" like yourself. I've prayed for guidance and now it's coming at me from all sides. When I expressed doubts over whether I can really do this (the spirit is willing, the flesh...), a Universalist minister told me that "God doesn't call the qualified; God qualifies the called." :-)

It's all a process and I think I'm seeing the process itself (how I respond to it and what it does to me) as more important than getting a degree or ordination. Those are good and I hope they are outcomes of the process, but the important thing is to engage the process, which I've been adamantly avoiding and denying for some years now.

As I'm reading theological books that ministers have suggested and seeing deeper connections between my inner life and the larger congregational life, I feel more enlivened and "at-one" than with anything I do (outside of my role as father and husband). That's what is important to me right now. If I'm able to serve in a more full-time capacity, then that will indeed be the proverbial gravy. As you say, it's all good, hallelujah.

Thanks again!

:hi: