Consulting Minister

Cell:	802-384-5002
Home:	802-885-1944
E-mail:	billstephnelson@vermontel.net

The Rev. William E. Nelson began his ministry with KUUF on September 7th , 2008. Bill presides at worship services on the first and third Sundays of each month, with the second and fourth Sundays led by Assisting Ministers George Peterson and the Rev. Dick Dutton, respectively. A typical week will find Bill in the Andover/New London area at least one day per week, with additional days as needed.

Bill “retired” in 2007 from his ministry in the United Church of Christ, and is currently seeking plural standing in the Unitarian Universalist Association. This is actually a kind of return to his early ministry, when, while in seminary at Vanderbilt University, he was preparing for ministry in the UUA, and serving as Student Minister at a UU church in Nashville, Tennessee. Throughout his career in the UCC, Bill has maintained strong relationships with his UU colleagues, and has served as guest minister at several UU churches.

Bill and his wife Stephanie, both natives of Cleveland, Ohio, have lived “across the river” from us in Vermont, for the past eleven years, where they share their home with Hubbard, their rescued greyhound dog, and Paws, their twenty-year-old cat. Bill is a graduate of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, with a degree in Sociology and Anthropology, and, as mentioned above, of the Divinity School of Vanderbilt University. Among his many interests Bill includes a passion for art (particularly Modern Art), classical music, and literature, as well as occasional travel, primarily to art venues around the country and abroad.

As would be expected in a UU setting, Bill’s approach to religion is open and inclusive. He has great respect for each individual’s spiritual path, and an intense interest in exploring just what it is that contributes to our becoming true human beings. He describes himself, in fact, as a kind of “humanist with spiritual overtones and transcendental tendencies,” all blended together into a “genuine appreciation of, and gratitude for, the many and diverse challenges of being human.”

Bill enjoys getting to know people, and can be reached on his cell phone – 802.384.5002 – or by e-mail – billstephnelson@vermontel.net.

A User’s Guide to the Minister

A close friend of mine from seminary days, who currently serves a UU congregation in New Jersey, has recently published in his newsletter a “User’s Guide to the Minister.” Actually, he borrowed the idea from another UU minister, and I thought it was a fine idea, so I’ve come up with a version of my own:

I want to get to know you; so should you not hear from me first, please be in touch. Whether or not you have anything in particular about which you want to talk doesn’t matter. Sometimes it’s good just to “visit.” Since I don’t have an office in which to receive people, we’ll have to meet either at your home or in one of the local eating and/or coffee establishments, and I’m happy with either. It’s a little early to establish a firm schedule of when I’ll be in the New London area, but just now Tuesday is the day I’m projecting, with flexibility enough to include other days as well.
You can reach me almost any time on my cell phone: 802.384.5002. I also have a home number, 802.885.1944, but the cell phone’s with me twenty-four hours a day, so that’s your best bet. Or, I’m happy to receive your e-mails, at billstephnelson@vermontel.net.
Please let me know, or ask someone to let me know if you’re sick, or especially, if you’re in the hospital. Because of privacy concerns, hospitals no longer contact clergy people, and few of us, I’m afraid, are gifted with telepathic resources adequate for knowing everything that’s going on.
I take confidences very seriously; anything discussed with me goes no further.
Finally, should I have said or done something upsetting, or less than thoughtful, please let me know. I’m pretty good at accepting criticism, and I need to know if anyone’s unhappy. (Or happy, for that matter.)

Gratefully, Bill

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To everything there is a season,

and a time for every purpose under heaven.

– Ecclesiastes 3:1 (KJV)

I’m hopeful that this newsletter finds all of you grateful for the summer respite, and looking forward to the new program year. For the Nelson household, this has been a very fine summer. There was very little travel this year. We did get away for a bit, but no farther than Averill, Vermont, and a few days with family in Middlebury. For the most part it was a summer of reading, reflection, renewal, and planning.

What’s on my mind as I write this column, though, is an adventure upon which Stephanie and I embarked on August 9th, when we took delivery of a giant, fifteen-yard dumpster that came to spend two weeks as a guest in our driveway? For the past ten days our across-the-street neighbors (with whom we’re sharing the cost of this behemoth) and we have been happily filling it to what’s approaching its capacity. The purpose of this has been to divest ourselves of a good portion of the space-gobbling, unused stuff that’s accumulated over the years in our respective attics, basements, and closets.

I’ll have to confess that I approached this whole enterprise with a good degree of reservation, even trepidation. I have a hard time letting go of anything, especially stuff that’s been around for decades and hauled around from residence to residence – because obviously, it has value! But does it really? Once the process began, it became not only easier and easier to feed the hungry dumpster, but increasingly liberating. It wasn’t long before fear and trembling gave way to a growing sense of relief and comfort. (Don’t worry though, all this was done with care, numerous items having passed the “sacred” test, surviving the purge.) We now have a substantially smaller but more selective cache of stuff that will no doubt germinate over the years ahead – but in moderation. We hope.

Now here’s the part of this process that may relate to us as members and friends of the KUUF: This whole exercise may well serve as a metaphor for what should probably happen in our spiritual lives, our lives as seekers. Every now and then, we need to relieve ourselves of those things that have been relegated to just taking up space, and get on with living in the present – to appreciate and honor the past, but to know when to move on. “For everything there's a season,” says the teacher. These are good words. I’ll look forward to seeing you in September, as our new season together begins.

Best wishes to all, Bill