Why I Became Ordained By The Ulc

[Mystic Fyrewalker]

I was raised in the Southern Baptist church. Growing up I often struggled with the feeling that something was missing in my spiritual life. As I grew older I started studying other religons. I was able to solve this conflict by mixing a little wicca and druidism with Christianity. I have had numberous conversations with poeple on my reglious beliefs.I have even found others who tthink along the same lines. Now as a adult I have had trouble finding churches that accepted me and my beliefs. It was so refreshing to find the ULC. I became Ordained with the ULC because of its open door and its acceptance. One does not have to attend years of schooling to be a spiritual leader and teacher. Our father has given us all we need to teach and help others. This is a calling I have felt for along time and the ULC has given me the chance to fulfill this calling. I live in Lake City, Fl. which is part of the bible belt so I'm not sure how well or if I'll even be able to get a ministry off the ground. Thank you ULC for giving me this chance.

[Minister James]

I became ordained after a long period of indecision. I have spent most of my life studying many religions and beleifs, especially so called alternative ones.

I have also bounced around from church to church trying to find something that seems right but none of them ever worked for me.

My studies have varied from ancient egyptian/babylon/paleolithic/zoroastrianism/greek/shamanism/roman/mayan/celt and just too many to mention.

A lot of my beleif systems are intertwined with ancient myths, anthropology, archaeology, pre-history, and many things I have learned from a scientific perspective as well as spiritually.

I became a ULC minister so I can now legitimately and officially continue along the path that the universe has set down before me and perform a service to fellow like minded individuals. I would like to help them in any way I possibly can and DO WHAT IS RIGHT because the universe is love and WE ARE ONE.

On a personal note, Im really looking forward to some hand-fasting ceremony's.

Wont be setting up the priory just yet

[Fawzo]

I became ordained after a long period of indecision. I have spent most of my life studying many religions and beleifs, especially so called alternative ones.

I have also bounced around from church to church trying to find something that seems right but none of them ever worked for me.

My studies have varied from ancient egyptian/babylon/paleolithic/zoroastrianism/greek/shamanism/roman/mayan/celt and just too many to mention.

A lot of my beleif systems are intertwined with ancient myths, anthropology, archaeology, pre-history, and many things I have learned from a scientific perspective as well as spiritually.

I became a ULC minister so I can now legitimately and officially continue along the path that the universe has set down before me and perform a service to fellow like minded individuals. I would like to help them in any way I possibly can and DO WHAT IS RIGHT because the universe is love and WE ARE ONE.

On a personal note, Im really looking forward to some hand-fasting ceremony's.

Wont be setting up the priory just yet

Welcome to the ULC Minister James!

Doesn't an handfasting have to be scheduled a year and a day in advance at least?

[Rev.CB]

I chose to listen to the calling of the Holy Spirit and become

an Ordained Minister. Sadly many attacked my Ordination and called it bogus and ridiculous.

Many said it was a sin and I am quite sure you have heard all the negatives. I am quite devastated at the response negative to my wanting to serve Humanity as a ULC MInister.

I am in Perth Western Australia and feel somewhat disorientated now and lost and confused, and not sure now what to do and how to begin a Ministry and how to set up a church and Minister to the people noone else wants, the disenfranchised and most needy vulnerable in the Perth area.

I dont have money to buy vestments, dont have money to buy chalices and all the other things one would assume comes with Ministry including somewhere to Minister . I have no church, no fellowship and no flock.

am just so lost now. I truly wanted to serve Jesus, and Humanity.

All Perth churches seem so bigoted and claim it takes years to be ready to minister and be ordained and want doctorates and bachelors degrees in theology and divinity which costs thousands per yr. mNoone seems to want to allow me to Minister in their church.

Reverend Tess McNamara

HELLO REV. Tess

I just read your post and felt that I needed to reach out and tell you to just hang tight! Many will tell you as you already know that being a minister takes years of study, but does it really? I don't quite think so. You want to serve the Holy Spirit and follow Jesus, well do just that! I want you to remember that the people Jesus called to speak in his name after the died had no Masters or Doctorates in Theology or Divinity, many were simple fisher men, or "fishers of men" after Jesus got a hold of them. Look, to put it plainly to be a minister means you Minister to people. That is doing as Jesus taught, Feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, caring for the sick, and loving those around you. Jesus told his disciples "that which you do to the least of my people you have done unto me" so go out and serve, don't let "Churches" tell you you can't. If Jesus put it into your heart to serve, do it! Spend sometime working with the homeless, volunteer in a battered women's shelter, work in a soup kitchen. Serve those who need serving. I am a liberal Roman Catholic who felt the same call to service. I taught CCD classes for every grade we had at church for 13 years and have argued with priests and nuns about the spirit of God, the truth is many of the mainstream churches are to busy being BIG organizations.(who think our ordinations are nothing, I assume because they didn't get our money in their schools) I look to people like Mother Teresa who spent her time caring for the lowest of the low. She did what Jesus asked, she cared for people. You don't need to announce that you're a Minister you just need to be there. Think of it like this, as a Minister serving Jesus, everyday when you wake up you surround yourself with the Christ Conciseness and try your best to see the face of Jesus looking back at you from every face you see, and when you do that it has a ripple effect. Lets say you see someone hungry outside a restaurant, you order your food have dinner and get a meal to go. On the way out you bend down and give the meal to that person, look them in the eye and smile, say something like enjoy your dinner and have a nice night. You just feed their body and soul, someone may see that and they may have the courage to follow your example next time the opportunity is in front of them, you just made a difference. Now that's the work of the spirit. And on a final note, Jesus had no Church building, fancy robes, or gold chalices, just a heart that shined a bright light into the world and he left a little in all of us, we just need to shine it. So go on Rev. Tess....SHINE!

- Rev.Christopher (USA)

[Tonz27]

Well, in short, I think every religion is right, and no one is wrong, and this was the best way to show that.

[metzli64]

Welcome to the ULC Minister James!

Doesn't an handfasting have to be scheduled a year and a day in advance at least?

Greetings!!

A Handfasting does not have to be scheduled a year and a day in advance.It is said to renew or to perform a Handparting requires the year and a Day standard and/or as long as Love will last...

[Minister John]

Hello everyone, nice to be here. I became ordained for many reasons really, most people I know always considered me a good listener, wise but yet humble and I have helped many out over the years and I feel it's my calling that I've longed for honestly.

I still felt kind of empty and something was missing until I found the ULC and since the only religion I felt was right for me was the Unitarian Universalism which is completely open minded and judges no one, the ULC was the perfect way to get ordained and actually reminded me of the UU.

What can I say? I just love helping people and this seems the best way to go about it without having to spend years going through traditional ways that I didn't fully believe in.

[Brother Michael Sky]

welcome Minister John, glad you decided to take that step... keep following that instinct... it may turn into more than you expected....

[Minister John]

welcome Minister John, glad you decided to take that step... keep following that instinct... it may turn into more than you expected....

Thank you Brother Michael, it's much appreciated and I sure hope that it does.

[rriggs]

Mine was a long path that began when I was ten years old. By the time I was sixteen, I had read the Bible cover to cover five times and had become a fixture in local libraries and book stores, studying (largely) Buddhism as well as Hindu texts, and a number of philosophers. Immediately upon graduating high school, I entered a local non-denominational ministry and remained there for six months until the program was shut down due to financial problems. I was recommended to and accepted by another program and studied there for a year until I graduated (nine month program). Upon completing the program, I was accepted by a local church and ordained shortly thereafter, I was nineteen-years-old. I served as Youth Pastor for four months, when scandal involving the Senior Pastor erupted. I had known the pastor for about a year at that point and adored the man, but in the face of the scandal, he refused to allow the church to censure him and to be "rehabilitated" by the governing body as was required by the church. Ultimately, he was defrocked and broke away from the governing body. While I was clearly entitled to keep my ordination from the governing body (as I had followed protocol during the situation) and/or ordination from the Senior Pastor, I chose to resign and surrender my credentials because the politics of the church left a horrible taste in my mouth.

In the two years that followed, I moved to two different churches, the first I could not escape the stigma of being involved with the aforementioned Senior Pastor and the second, I watched a very righteous man pushed out of the church he had built by a pair of newcomers. While I continued to study, I walked away from organized religion altogether. Ultimately, marriage, children, and work (i.e., "real life") took over and before I knew it, almost twenty years had passed.

Finally, in late 2005, I decided to recommit myself to study, meditation and spirituality, with the hope of eventually putting together a humanist spiritual collective that accepted the best ideas of all faiths. While I am still in the midst of gathering myself together to be in a place to do this, I reclaimed my ordination through the ULC because I had already done the work and wanted to move forward.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it...

[Verres]

For fun.

[Brother Michael Sky]

welcome Rriggs.... glad to have you here... many are disillusioned by experiences in churchs, I am glad to see you found your way here... perhaps you will find fellowship to help build those spiritual batteries back up....

and Observer...... whooo hoooo.....

Edited April 9, 2010 by Brother Michael Sky

[rriggs]

welcome Rriggs.... glad to have you here... many are disillusioned by experiences in churchs, I am glad to see you found your way here... perhaps you will find fellowship to help build those spiritual batteries back up....

and Observer...... whooo hoooo.....

Thanks.

I am thankful for my time in the church, plenty of happy memories there. I think that seeing it from the perspective of an insider was very valuable to my spiritual development.

[GothicScrybe]

My reason wasn't so noble...

I had been going thru a lot of changes in my life...searching for answers that never seemed to feel just right. I moved from religion to religion looking for something that felt right.

Finally I settled on witchcraft...with a smattering of Wicca, Buddhism and Christianity mixed in...Now think about it...what other church would take me with a mix like that? So...here I am!!!

You sound like me. I am a practitioner of Hoodoo and a Wise Woman, but my calling is to educate people before they can become conformists and sheeple, and so being as I am a serious non-conformist, I would not have lasted a month in a theological college.

So the ULC was truly a godsend.

Those of us who refuse to conform should not be punished because we choose to think for ourselves in helping to spread God's word...rather than beat people with it.

[pope_cahbet]

Sometimes, whimsy is just the touch of inspiration needed to tip one into a decision that has been brewing under cover for a while. As a Discordian (sometimes), I recognize the touch of the divine in whimsy. So, when the ULC ad appeared on facebook (the current era's best example of the Discordian maxim that imposing order leads to more chaos), I went with my whim & clicked on the ad. Thus, the first visible step taken was Discordian.

I was prepared to take that step in a room or place Masonic. For years, I had served as the Prelate in the 32nd Degree of the Scottish Rite & before that I served as Chaplain of my Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star and before that, as Prelate of my Court of the Order of the Amaranth. More recently, I volunteered to become the Chaplain for 2010 (and beyond) for Zaman Grotto & I am serving in that office now.

I will not belabor the Masonic point to go into all the ways Masonry encourages its members to participate more in their respective religious faiths -- or the overtly-religious titles of some offices I have held, Degrees I have received & bodies of which I have been an active member. So, before I took my first step in Whimsy, my way was made straight by Masonry.

Having taken that step, I followed through & applied to be a ULC Minister. Once I received the email confirming my ordination, I began doing more research on the ULC, which I had looked into several years ago. (Yes, this is pretty much the way I approach all life-altering events -- consider it at the subconscious level, then jump right in, and THEN do research on what I have done. Not the most logical behavior, I admit, but it sorta works for me - grin!).

As a Christian, I was pleased to see that they have a Biblical basis for their open-door policy on ministers. As a Unitarian Universalist, I am pleased to see the focus on ethical behavior & the absence of restricting creeds & doctrines. As a Mason, I am happy to see that this is a legally constituted body which focuses on freedom of religion.

Not that I expect most Christians, UUs or Masons to agree with my decision. Although the UUs will probably agree that I am free to do this, their requirements for their own ministers are considerably more educationally-intensive (I checked), as are many Christian denominations.

Suffice it to say, I am still researching & considering where this new status of being a Minister leads -- and I am convinced that this first step was a good one.

I am a new ULC Minister (ordained 30 April 2010).

[AmberVine]

As a 10 year veteran of the USAF and a Pagan throughout the entire time, I have seen the religious acceptance change dramatically over the years of service. Now years after my separation from the military I am a homemaker and volunteer for schools and awareness groups, and still a Pagan.

My family is returning to military life as my husband is an officer. I recall a lot of the issues of practicing Wicca or any pagan tradition on base and some of the problems of being in a coven. Sometimes rights afforded to structured organized religious clergy but not so readily to coveners without clergy, such as the sanctity of the confessional, and privacy of "parishioners" as an example. Wiccans feel all are followers are "clergy", and personal responsibility and personal relationships with the divine do not "require" an official clergy, however laws do not always respect the sanctity of coveners privacy and religious resources. I wanted to protect and serve my fellow coveners as well as protect their religious rights and freedoms via government accepted clergy officiants.

Also a full time psychology student, I am working towards my counseling and theology studies to continue to support and aid the pagan community.

[JacobL]

One of the main reasons that I became ordained through the ULC is that I wanted to make a difference in my community and be able to provide assistance to family and friends in both good and bad times in life. I am a member and officer in some local organizations and I have been asked many a time to lead them in prayer throughout various meetings and events, being ordained seems to give me more confidence in doing this. I am also in a point in my life where I am trying to find myself in both spiritual and everyday aspects and becoming ordained seemed to help me find myself. I have found the ULC to be a great community of individuals and groups so far and also one of the best churches I have had the pleasure of being affiliated with.

[Scott869]

I find it hard to fully explain my reasoning for becoming ordained other than I felt it was a calling. I have a friend that is ordained (not through ULC) and I thought it sounded kinda cool. I did some research and i came across a lot of sites that just seemed like a joke. I found ULC and was going between this one and another ULC site that I had seen was dealing with a few people saying they had been scammed by them. I admit I found a liking for this one. I let it lay for a few days to decide if I really wanted to do it when one day I was sitting on my porch having a smoke and my neighbor was outside working on his car and listening to music loud. I was just relaxing and just letting the music flow in when in the middle of the song I heard the wedding march suddenly start. I guess it was part of the song but I found it pretty unusual.

Later that day I went to check on my Facebook page when a friend of mine who is also Gnostic like me tagged me on a poem she posted. It was a wedding vows poem. yes, I know many will say it is just a coincidence but two out of the blue coincidences in one day to me just seemed like a sign that I was meant to become ordained. As for what I want to do with it...I have actually been considering the possibility of a church and that is where my current mind set is. even if we don't manage to have a specific building I think it would be wonderful to just pull together like minded people to have discussions on spirituality. I am sure there will be more to come. I do apologize for taking so long to finally post after joining. I have been trying to read through various psts on here and it can be overwhelming.

peace and love,

Scott

[Bro. Hex]

I find it hard to fully explain my reasoning for becoming ordained other than I felt it was a calling. I have a friend that is ordained (not through ULC) and I thought it sounded kinda cool. I did some research and i came across a lot of sites that just seemed like a joke. I found ULC and was going between this one and another ULC site that I had seen was dealing with a few people saying they had been scammed by them. I admit I found a liking for this one. I let it lay for a few days to decide if I really wanted to do it when one day I was sitting on my porch having a smoke and my neighbor was outside working on his car and listening to music loud. I was just relaxing and just letting the music flow in when in the middle of the song I heard the wedding march suddenly start. I guess it was part of the song but I found it pretty unusual.

Later that day I went to check on my Facebook page when a friend of mine who is also Gnostic like me tagged me on a poem she posted. It was a wedding vows poem. yes, I know many will say it is just a coincidence but two out of the blue coincidences in one day to me just seemed like a sign that I was meant to become ordained. As for what I want to do with it...I have actually been considering the possibility of a church and that is where my current mind set is. even if we don't manage to have a specific building I think it would be wonderful to just pull together like minded people to have discussions on spirituality. I am sure there will be more to come. I do apologize for taking so long to finally post after joining. I have been trying to read through various posts on here and it can be overwhelming.

peace and love,

Scott

Welcome, fellow Gnostic!

Thanks for introducing yourself.

Hex

[vicar4satan]

I felt a calling to be ordained. I like to help people who are new to Theisitic Satanism and regularly answers emails from seekers via my outreach programme. As a Minister I feel it gives me more legitimacy plus being a ULC Rev helps to dismay the myth that all Satanists are anti-christian etc