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Reverend Bob MacDicken
Biographical
Bob,
our minister since 2001, was initially raised as a Baptist. He was a teen
leader in the Youth for Christ movement - teaching, leading choir singing,
and participating in the church youth group. Thinking that he would prepare
for the mission field, he went to a liberal American Baptist college as a
premed major, later to change to a pre-seminary major.
He
married during his sophomore year, and his oldest son was born during his
junior year. While in college, he was drawn toward his more liberal professors,
and gradually decided to attend American Baptist Seminary. This adventure
culminated in his graduation from what was then Berkeley Baptist Divinity
School. As many UUs may know, BBDS was one of the founding members of the
Graduate Theological Union of which UU Seminary Starr King is also a
member.
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He
was still in seminary during the Vietnam War, the Free Speech movement at
the University of California, and the birth of the Hippie movement in the
Bay area. Four of his seminary professors were University of Chicago
graduates, including the theology professor, Dr. Bernard Loomer who later
became known as a UU theologian. Beginning his ministry in a small church
in western Washington State, he soon found that he was drawn to ecumenical
pursuits and social action. He left the church to become Executive Director
of the local antipoverty agency. From that point on, his ministry was one
of part-time and volunteer involvement. He was the temporary pastor of a
Presbyterian church, served as the spiritual leader of a small Jewish
fellowship, worked in a local three-denomination parish, and served several
other congregations, all the while not realizing he was really a Unitarian
Universalist.
One
of the more memorable parts of his ministerial journey was the approximately
two years he served as an Associate Minister in a Progressive African
American Baptist Church in Washington, DC. In that church he preached at
least once a month, sang in the Men’s Chorus and directed the children's
choir.
His
second marriage to Eileen several years later was a Quaker ceremony, and he
became active in the Friends Conference on Religion and Psychology. His
hunger for more structure than the Quaker meeting provided led him and his
wife to what was then the Fairfax, Virginia Unitarian Church, later called
the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Fairfax. During this time he
worked as a consultant for a wide variety of human services programs, and
often saw his consulting role as an extension of his ministry. Bob says
that one of his most memorable assignments was developing a handbook for
chaplains while working for the Department of the Army, Office of Chief of
Chaplains. This handbook developed profiles of 37 "lesser known"
religious groups and provided chaplains with vital information on groups
ranging from Mormons to Moonies, from Orthodox Jews to Muslims and Sikhs,
and from Christian fundamentalist groups to Witches as they sought to
minister to the religious needs of an increasingly diverse army. The next
year, he developed a supplement to the handbook which added 27 more groups.
While
at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Fairfax, he served on the
Worship Committee, became a Ministerial Associate for Worship and became
lay minister for Worship and the Arts. He also was an active participant in
the communities' multiracial and multi-religious gospel choir. He continued
to preach as a guest in several other churches, performed an average of 4-6
weddings per year, provided premarital and pastoral counseling services, primarily
to non-church families and occasionally filled other pastoral roles as
needed. During his year as Retreat Center Director at The Mountain, Bob
conducted several worship services for congregations and occasionally
served in other minister-like capacities, which led to his being introduced
as the spiritual director of The Mountain.
Although
he considers himself a Christian Unitarian Universalist, he states that he
is constantly learning from other faith traditions, finding much
inspiration and content for sermons in the writings of a wide variety of
secular and religious leaders. He welcomes the opportunity to talk with our
church members and friends to determine whether or not his background,
experiences and skills are of value to our church family as we together
face future challenges.
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