Beverly Unitarian Church

And who am I? I am a lifelong UU who finally got wise enough to steer my life into Ministry. Some of the choices that got me here were difficult – change is always hard – but I know that I finally found a true vocation and calling. I know that I belong in pastoral ministry in a congregational setting. While I have many ideas and beliefs of my own, I do not bring a rigid agenda to this ministry. I am interested in finding the words and actions that feed each of you as individual persons, in creating ways of being and sharing that help keep this congregation strong and vital, and building strategies that effectively apply our shared values to benefit the community we live in and to serve the larger good.

I am familiar with Beverly, but by no means an expert. I grew up in the D.C. suburbs, and moved to Chicago in 1974 to do graduate work in Sociology at the University of Chicago. I met my wife Pat here, we were married in 1980 and have lived in Hyde Park ever since. We have two adult daughters, and are so proud that each is working in a helping profession in Chicago. We also have two granddaughters (ages 4 and 7) and our family enjoys the gift of being deeply involved in each other’s lives. I will try to give my wife and daughters some privacy, but I imagine you will hear about the grandkids a lot.

What else can I tell you? My theology is deeply Humanistic. I find a clear call to personal agency in my Humanism, and the imperative to work on creating meaning and purpose in life. At the same time, feel a strong pull towards reverence and awe for the natural order of our world and cosmos. I believe in the science, and that everything in creation could be explainable if we ever find the right explanations. But sometimes, the mind doesn’t work that way. Just last week I was sitting on a dock in the Northwoods of Wisconsin with my daugh- ter. It was about midnight. We listened to loons, owls, and other living things that I hope were friendly. The sky was lit up with stars that you just can’t see near Chicago. We saw several brilliant shooting stars, the Milky Way crossed the entire sky, and we could even identify one cluster as Andromeda (the next Galaxy out). Science explains almost all of this, but my personal experience was far more spiritual than scientific. I was in a sacred place, I was part of the sacred. I felt simultaneously tiny and huge. Creation is awesome, even to (or especially to) a non-theistic thinker.

Let us come together, let us learn to listen to one another, and find out what makes us each tick. Let us hold one another (metaphorically during pandemic) and care for one another. Let us welcome all, work towards justice, and keep growing our souls. I might be the Minister, but our ministry belongs to all of us, so let us get out there and do some good. I am in."