2007 DATES & PROGRAM

November 11-14, 2007 

The 38 of us who gathered for these sessions had another excellent experience together, with wonderfully pertinent and personal worship services, strong and inspiring discussions, great weather (including lots of color left in the surrounding trees), and another fun Harpers Ferry Coffee House. 

THEME STATEMENT:  The Meaning of Ordination  

Simply put, to ordain is to invest someone with ministerial or ecclesiastical authority. Ordination permits use of the title 'Reverend.' In our Unitarian Universalist tradition ordination usually lasts for life; that is, it is not tied to serving a particular congregation or a community ministry. Yet, ordination also conveys unique and particular rights. Ministers have access to hospital rooms and prison cells; ministers are with people at some of the most intimate times of their lives. With ordination a person’s role in society is inexorably changed. 

READINGS FOR 2007 SESSIONS 

READING LIST (7 items) 

Contact presenters directly to find out more details about their respective list items. 

From presenter Richard Speck:  richard@jpduua.org
1. DeWolfe, Mark Mosher. “Guardians and Transformers: Toward a Rabbinical Understanding of Ministry.” Available HERE

2. Oswald, Roy, and Burkat, Claire Schenot. “Transforming Regional Bodies for Mission.” 36 pp. Alban Institute, 2001. A “provocative excerpt from their book Transformational Regional Bodies. Available for $7 ($5.25 for Alban members) here:

http://www.alban.org/bookdetails.aspx?id=3550  

3. Mead, Loren B. “Regional Bodies & Congregations:  What’s the Connection?” 15 pp. Draft, Appendix 3 from Transformational Regional Bodies by Roy M. Oswald and Claire S. Burkat, pg. 180-199. Available HERE

From presenter Susan LaMar: susgrace@gte.net
4. Axford, W. Scott. “Christian Ordination in Our Tradition.” The Unitarian Universalist Christian, Volumes 51 and 52,  1996-1997. PP 282-301. Available HERE

5. The section on “Ministry” in Baptism, Eucharist, Ministry, Faith and Order, Paper No. 111. World Council of Churches, Geneva, 1982. Reprinted regularly since. Available at:

http://www.oikoumene.org/en/resources/documents/wcc-commissions/faith-and-order-commission/i-unity-the-church-and-its-mission/baptism-eucharist-and-ministry-faith-and-order-paper-no-111-the-lima-text/baptism-eucharist-and-ministry.html#c10500 

I also recommend that each person read one or two responses by various denominations and traditions to this “convergence document” that took fifty years of discussion to produce. The responses have become part and parcel of the document and the process, sitting in conversation with one another for posterity. They are available in most theological libraries. Responses by denominations closer to ours (Quaker, UCC, even the Salvation Army in the sense that it, like us, is non-sacramental), are fascinating. So are responses from those very different from us. 

Suggested:

6. Wright, Conrad. Congregational Polity. A Historical Survey of Unitarian and Universalist Practice. Boston, Skinner House, 1997. 267pp. ISBN 1-55896-361-8. Comments on ministry and ordination are sprinkled throughout. Available from Amazon (one copy for $50, as of 8/14), but apparently otherwise out of print, according to the UUA Bookstore and Skinner House. http://www.alban.org/bookdetails.aspx?id=3550

—BOOK 

7. Vatican Council II, Volume 1, The Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents. Chapter 54, Decree on the Training of Priests. Vaticam II Optatam Totius,  28 October, 1965. PP. 707-724. Available from Susan LaMar.

Papers delivered:

Susan LaMar: “UU Ordination — A Search for Meaning” 
   (Response from Terry Ellen)

Richard Speck: “To Live Justly, Love Mercy, and Walk Humbly”
   (Response from Mary Ganz)

The schedule from our 2007 gathering is available for download HERE