Everything I Know about Unitarian Universalism, I Learned as Chalice Lighter - Part 5

[Continued from Here.]

The single most hostile response came from the Rev. Lee Reid. It was her congregation that was up for the next Chalice Lighters call, and she was apoplectic that my "playing around" with the program would possibly jeopardize the anticipate $700 grant her congregation was supposed to get.

Of course, I never heard this from Rev. Reid herself.

Rather, I heard this from ministers in the New Jersey area cluster of ministers. I received several phone calls, all from people who knew me reasonably well, to tell me of Rev. Reid's unloading about me at a minister's gathering. Apparently, she was panic stricken that my redesigning the program would all but guarantee the loss of the anticipated money. Also, apparently nobody told Rev. Reid that $700 is a pittance, nearly any single member of her congregation could just write the check if that was truly an issue.

It struck me as odd then, and still now, that so many ministers operate from a center of lack and scarcity, rather than one of abundance. Rev. Reid did, and it showed in her ministry.

I remember driving back from a ministerial study group with a colleague. Rev. Reid was a member of that same group, and during check-in she had regaled us all with stories of all she's done and does in order to minister to "an intentionally multicultural community." The list was long, although the only thing I remember is her holding up a dozen or so magazines, each with an ethnic focus... just so she can stay up on what's going on in the various multicultural communities her church strives to serve. My colleague's comments were right on target, "You know for all the work she puts into her congregation, she's got nothing to show for it."

He was right, of course. It was approximately five years after her building the congregation from scratch as an intentionally multicultural community, and all that was there was a congregation of thirty members who could barely pay their bills. Rev. Reid would continually remind us that building an "intentionally multicultural congregation" from scratch was "much more difficult" than starting a regular congregation. I always wondered how she knew that, as this was the only congregation she served as a minister let alone built from scratch. Maybe congregation building wasn't her forte, and as such it would be difficult for her no matter what she did. I don't know.

The Rev. Lee Reid never saw the outcome of the Chalice Lighters call for her congregation. About a week before the call, Rev. Reid attended a board meeting, where she was informed that they didn't have enough funds to continue to pay her salary. As a result, she was to be reduced to half-time. (That's  how I remember it. It's possible that they just cut her salary and expected her to work the same hours. I don't know.)

Following that meeting at a board member's home, Rev. Reid walked to her car, and was struck and killed by a drunk driver. Given the situation, one has to ask whether she was killed accidentally or if she jumped in front of the car. The official story is accident. Okay.

She never got to see the results of the Chalice Lighters call for her congregation. About a week after her death, the call went out, and came back. The redesigned Chalice Lighters program brought in $15,000.

$15,000 and the story changed from "it will never work" to "$15,000 had to be a fluke". Okay, it didn't fail, but that's only because people were excited to see how it would come out the first time. (I was actually told this by one of the UUA's "experts" on fundraising how this couldn't possibly work long term.)

Then the next call came and it brought in $23,000.

And every Chalice Lighter's call in the New York Metro District brought in over $20,000... for years.

And while competently raising the money was nice, there was an even nicer piece to the whole thing. Congregations were taking an interest in each other. As they took an interest, and as it became clear that the sky was the limit on fundraising, congregations got creative with their appeals. Congregants would visit other congregations and be inspired by what they were doing.

The enthusiasm was amazing. It was real, not bureaucratically manufactured, and infectious as fuck. I attended the district annual meeting at the end of this first year as Chalice Lighter and received a standing ovation when I was introduced as the district's Chalice Lighter coordinator.

Literally, in absolutely every way, the redesigned Chalice Lighter's program was a complete success. It consistently raised significantly more money than before and had congregations becoming enthusiastic about the wider world of congregational Unitarian Universalism, and as result increased denominational loyalty.

In other words, the New York Metro District's Chalice Lighters program not only raised significant amounts of money for congregations, but also did everything the denomination had been crowing about wanting from congregations: they were becoming less insular, took an interest in each other, began to cooperate together... and on, and on, and on...

There is an old adage that no good deed goes unpunished, as we shall see.

[Continued...]

Your Ol' Pal
Devilhead