 |
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.
|
|
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.
|
