Devilhead Predicts

Apparently, it's been an interesting time in Unitarian Universalist land. Ministries are blowing up all over the place. It's pure comedy.

I call it comedy because like an old Three Stooges short, the actors are blissfully unaware that it was and continues to be their own actions that directly contributed to their fate. The funniest comedies are those where the protagonist(s) double down on the exact things that caused the trouble in the first place, with the full expectation that doing more of the same, more intensely, will bring salvation.

One may think I'm mean for saying this, or that I am an asshole, and I can assure you that I am both.

However, what I say is the truth. I get emails from people all the time telling me how much they agree with what I've written even as they feel uncomfortable with the way I point it out. My response is always the same, "Tell me (with proof) what isn't true." The reply is always the same: it's the truth, but we wish it would be "nicer." Here's reality: nice is not a virtue. Never has been. The truth is an uber-virtue. Yet, in the queendom of lies, truth is seen as the deadliest sin.

The Unitarian Universalist Association is dying. Approximately a year ago given a few things that were done in the name of "institutional change" I declared that the UUA had five years to go. Today, I declare that the UUA has four years left.

For example, since instituting the Commission on Institutional Change, since the founding of BLUU, since the demand that congregations hold "white-supremacy teach-ins", as of March 29, 2018 FIFTEEN people of color had issues with their ministries. [LINK HERE]

This is only talking about the ministries of "people of color." Are these the only ministries that count? What of the others? Seriously, do they not count? In an ongoing, and worsening, ministerial shortage it seems that some ministries are still expendable. Oh, well, old dogs and all that.

Truth is this is much, much, much more widespread than fifteen people of color. Triple that number for non-people of color, add the two together, and you're closer to what's going on. I've got this from an inside source. This is some bad shit.

And as the UUA has no ability (nor real inclination) to actually fix the situation, but rather seems only equipped to virtue signal while fluttering about wringing their collective hands, this situation will get noticeably worse. There's a reason for this: what's actually going on doesn't fit the narrative. What's a narrative? A narrative is a work of fiction.

The reality is there are many ministries in trouble in the UUA. Rev. Dr. Daniel O'Connell was booted from Houston, TX; Rev. Aaron McEmrys tossed from Arlington, VA; Rev. Dr. Robert Hardies is about to be hung up to dry in Washington DC. Nobody's talking about them. Why? In these three cases, all sent to me by readers, not one is black or female. Is that why no one is talking about them? [I hope that's not the case. That would be pretty fucking racist.] Are these ministers expendable? Or, are the institutional blinders such that no one is seeing these ministries as important, or even seeing them at all? Don't know.

The fiction of course is that this is only happening to "people of color", or that "people of color" are the only ones who count. Read the article again HERE. What do you take away from this article from an official Unitarian Universalist source?

Based on the longstanding tradition of institutional myopia evidenced by the collective brain trust at the UUA, here are my predictions:

1. The gap between congregations and the Unitarian Universalist Association will continue to grow at a fairly quick pace.
2. The brain trust at the Unitarian Universalist Association are institutionally incapable of understanding this, and will continue to blame the various isms for their own lack of foresight and planning.
3. Efforts to fix the situation by doubling down on already failed policies will exacerbate the situation.
4. They are getting to a point where this won't be able to be undone as smarter congregations will do an actual cost analysis of the benefits and costs of association with the UUA.
5. The UUA has four years left.

Time will tell. I've been wrong before and will be wrong again, but time will tell.

Your Old Pal,

Devilhead

Devilhead Predicted

In my previous blog, Unitarian Universalist Nightmares, I focused upon several congregations and ministries that crossed my path, reviewed and rated them, and commented on what I saw. I'm an observant person. My comments and predictions are not magick, just observation. The truth is that if one pays attention, anyone is capable of seeing what is right in front of their noses, but sadly, and actually tragically, very very few seldom do.

One of the very few regrets I have is that I took down Unitarian Universalist Nightmares. Only a tiny fraction of it remains on the Wayback Machine, and there's very little left in which to link. Oh well...

While the blog had existed for a half-dozen years, what got Unitarian Universalist Nightmares started was a streaming service from the Arlington, VA church. This was in January 2015.

What I saw when I watched this streamed service was an energetic minister who it seemed had some vision and sparkle, Rev. Aaron McEmrys,  being upstaged by the associate minister Rev. Linda Olson Peebles.

I'll never forget this performance because it seemed that the only point of Rev. Peebles "talk" was to upstage the actual called minister of the congregation. She just rambled on and on to the point where my partner, another former minister, turned to me to ask if I thought she was drunk. No, I didn't think she was. But that disgraceful performance was such that I could understand the comparison between Rev. Peebles in the pulpit and a babbling wet-brain drunk.

I predicted at the time that Rev. McEmrys was at the end of his ministry as it appeared that Rev. Peebles was marking her territory by excreting all over the place. (Mental and verbal excretion is still excretion.) Turns out that I was wrong. Rev. McEmrys was six months into his brand new ministry as senior minister of Arlington.

At the time I made a few observations:

1. Rev. McEmrys ministry was in some serious fucking trouble.
2. The associate minister demonstrated that she didn't understand her place in a team...
   or didn't give a shit.
3. The congregation appeared clueless; this was all just a regular Sunday morning.

What I didn't say then but will now is that watching that revolting display in the pulpit triggered the PTSD I received from my experience with my last church. I've seen this shit before, up close and personal. I've seen it countless times in other ministries with the colleagues I've known. This is not isolated behavior, in fact Associate Ministers usurping the authority of the congregation (in the guise of the Senior Minister the congregation called and authorized) appears to be the norm. 

What we saw in the pulpit that Sunday seemed to both of us to be a clear turf statement that the associate was not going to tolerate this or any future senior minister with "vision" or "ideas" to change a nice sinecure into actual work. Really, was there any other explanation for such a childish display? 

Flash forward three years later: Rev. McEmrys has resigned his position mid-year...

Newsletter, Jan 4, 2018 [LINK HERE] 

suddenly...

Newsletter, Jan 11, 2018 [LINK HERE]

placed on "administrative leave"...

Newsletter, Jan 18, 2018 [LINK HERE]

a complaint against his ministry was/is being investigated... [LINK HERE]

Board of Trustees Update, March 15, 2018 (the ides of March) [LINK HERE]

While a year previously, Rev. Peebles had "retired" and been made Minister Emerita of Arlington. I say retired because she's serving as an interim minister at another congregation. I guess the ministry shortage [which we'll probably revisit soon] is still very real.

Board of Trustees Update, March 15, 2018 [LINK HERE]
(Compare the above statement against observations #2 and 3 above, kinda proves both, doesn't it?)

In any case, Arlington's rid of that one, maybe the next minister will get a shot.

Nah... this is Unitarian Universalism.

The norm is to get rid of a minister who appeared to have something on the ball (a bit of vision and the like), investigate his ministry, appear to reward bad behavior in all of those who surround said minister, all the while a ministry shortage is happening. What could possibly go wrong?

Question to which I don't have the answer: Was bad behavior rewarded in this situation? I don't know but am open to hearing the truth of what happened.

[Rev. McEmrys, if you're out there, we'd love to hear from you. Contact me HERE.]

Your Old Pal,
Devilhead

By the way, I'm back. You won't believe how Unitarian Universalism is killing itself! I'm back to help my readers enjoy the decline. There's lots to enjoy.

And my email traffic has increased a bit lately. This blog is beginning to get the interest that Unitarian Universalist Nightmares had, and for much the same reason. Thank you.