I didn't write this of course, I'm not a minister. But I think in a way we can all be a minister of our faith and religion, so this speaks to us all.
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.

Rev. Eva Hochgraf, 1997  

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