Why I am a UU Minister

I am a Unitarian Universalist minister ,
and I like being one,
because it allows me to be in a certain way, 
to give to my religious community, 
and a sense of place from which to call for certain 
things.
Now let me talk a bit about this being, giving, and 
calling for.
 
Ministry means being authentic, 
because in the ministry you are expected to be fully 
and honestly yourself.  
I like being myself.  
I like to be a able to make mistakes, 
and not only hate myself for them, 
but also look to how they can help me and others 
make sense out of life.  
I like to be able to laugh at myself from time to time, 
to be able to cry when I hurt.  
There is a demand for authenticity in the ministry 
that I haven't found elsewhere.  
It is a demand that I find freeing.



Ministry means being dynamic, 
because in ministry I encourage myself to grow.  
Not in the onward and upward forever sense of growth.  
But I feel as a minister I demand of myself 
dynamism--the courage to face life’s challenges and 
grow from them.  
I do not want to become a human fossil 
in my thinking or my faith.  
Ministry holds me to that desire.   

Ministry means being introverted and extroverted.  
I like being with people, 
and I like spending time with myself.  
This approach to my life, ministry, demands both.  
It is a good way to spend your life for a sometimes 
introvert, sometimes extrovert.  
There is time and call for the quiet study I love.  
There is also time and call for the marvelous 
interaction with people which charges me, challenges 
me, and nourishes me.

Ministry means being a generalist.  
I have a need for being a generalist in our culture of 
specialists.  I am driven to maintain a sense of 
freedom to explore what seems relevant and important to 
living today, 
to draw eclectically from the many areas of study and 
thought, to synthesize and weave 
a meaning for today and a vision for tomorrow.  
I get frustrated when I must continually concentrate my 
thinking on only one aspect of one area of my life.  
I am someone who is interested in the whole of things, 
and how the parts relate to the whole.  
My undergraduate work was in Applied Ecology.  
This has served to bring the ecological model of the 
web of life to my view of the world.  

I want to be able to focus on the different areas of 
ministry as I feel called to do so, 
sometimes on Social Justice, 
sometimes on Ritual,
sometimes on Pastoral Work, 
sometimes on studying 
depending on the demands and fluctuations of the week 
and in the demands and fluctuations of my life. 

Ministry means being  religious.  
I have something to bring to UUism.  
My understanding of the religious center 
often forgotten in our busyness 
to improve our personal psychological needs, 
in our busyness to be socially active and aware, 
in our busyness to be politically active, 
economically correct, 
environmentally sound, ....  
Somewhere in all this, 
I know there is a religious center in each of us 
which needs, even longs to be spoken to.  
I have "found religion" 
even though I grew up UU with Humanism in the 60’s and 
70’s, 
and I try to bring my sense of the meaning of life, the 
'how's' and 'what's' and 'whys' of life into UUism.  
For I do have a center 
which I feel is vital to maintain sight of 
in ministry to people of every age.

Ministry means being creative.  
I find worship a creative outlet.  
I need creativity in my life. 
I love this creativity in my life.  
I want to make our worship celebratory and expressive 
of who we really are.  
I have fun and headaches working on the balance between 
joy and solemnity and rationality.  
But it is a challenge which excites me, 
for which I love the ministry.


Ministry means giving to the greater movement.  
I love Unitarian Universalism.  
I feel fiercely that it needs not only to survive,
but to do well in this world.  
We are a religion of this world, 
so it is important that we face 
the reality of existence in this world.  
Not only our own existence, 
but the existence of those around us.  
Who are they? 
How can we be relevant to them?  
As someone who grew up UU, 
I feel I bring a good perspective to UUism.  
In having lived with UUism for so many years, 
my formative years, 
I have a fierce love for this movement.  
But this has also meant I am not blind 
to its problems and limitations.  
My faith, my dedication to UUism survived those 
rebellious teen years where it is easy to be critical 
of anything, particularly those things which are the 
most familiar.  
And that especially means church!   
I love it despite its faults.  
I want to continue the ongoing process of work 
to make UUism relevant for today’s society.
I do not think that single--handedly 
I can bring a remarkable change to our movement. 
Yet I do know how very important it is 
that we have ministers who are in love with, 
yet see the problems with, our movement. 
I know how very important it is that we have ministers 
who have grown up with this faith.

Ministry means giving spiritual direction.  
Spirituality is an important part of my life.  
Unitarian Universalist ministry is a good place for me 
to express my spirituality.  
Ministry gives me the opportunity 
to make this a focus of my life.  
And it channels my thoughts and my heart in this 
direction.

Ministry means giving nurturing, 
cultivating an environment in which people can grow and 
develop their spirituality.  
This requires an incredible amount of tolerance 
of other ways and thoughts.  
For me, having always lived in a atmosphere of 
religious growth, I love the wonderful diversity of our 
congregations.  
Ministry gives me the opportunity to aid others in 
finding their way on the many paths towards spiritual 
wholeness.

Ministry means giving an example.  
I believe in the "practical", or "applied" approach to 
life.   
I  am not interested in religion 
which is not expressed in the way I live out my life.  
I believe that this way of living is a ministry.  
It is a way of living, if visible and explained, that 
can provide an example (not the example  ! ) of 
Unitarian Universalism.
 
I love being a UU minister because it means calling for 
a religious life which loves and respects people for 
who they are, loves and respects the world, Mother 
Earth.  
I feel a call to strive for justice in this world.  
My sense of the Divine Love and  Harmony in this world 
is so strong, 
that I cannot but urge people to listen 
to this voice of the Divine--Gaia, Mother Earth, 
to work towards harmony.  

Harmony in themselves, 
harmony among people, 
harmony of the people with the world, 
each of these need to be repeatedly called for. 

It is in these things, 
being, giving, and calling for,  
that I find a resonance in myself, 
and find strength in my ministry. 
	
Copyright 1997, Rev. Eva Hochgraf