The Lay Ministers at FUUSN extend the reach of pastoral service and provide a web of caring within the FUUSN community. The Lay Ministers can offer support and be sensitive listeners should one wish to discuss employment, relationships, family, health, or similar issues, and often they can suggest referrals to professional service providers.
The Lay Ministers also help in the following ways:
The Lay Ministers are a diverse group who are very sensitive to confidentiality and discuss specifics only with each other and the ordained clergy. Learn about the role lay ministers play in the life of the society in this presentation given in 2008 to a few other UU churches in the area.
Call the FUUSN Lay Ministry number, (617) 340-9299, which will forward to the lay minister on call.
Jud has been attending FUUSN for more than 30 years with his wife, Bobbie Sproat, and — until they went to college — their daughters Emily and Margot.
Before retiring in 2013, he engineered software and hardware for a variety of computer companies. He’s a bass in the sanctuary choir, and has served on the board and operations council as well as helping with technology. He’s an empathic listener, a fond Grampa, and he enjoys cooking.
Christine lives in Newton with her husband Saul and two daughters. They have been attending FUUSN since 2011. Christine works in DEI at a local institution of Higher Education and enjoys actively serving as an advocate for community members without a voice at the table. Christine is a self proclaimed “tea connoisseur” and would enjoy a warm cup with fellow community members any time.
My husband and I began coming to FUUSN years ago. I was raised in a different faith tradition and was drawn to the freedom to discover and hold my own beliefs. I stayed because of the support of the community in which we raised our two children and its challenge to be my best self.
My engagement at FUUSN includes teaching a range of grades in the religious education program, serving as a mentor in the Coming of Age program, co-leading a parent’s support group, and serving as treasurer for the Silent Auction at our annual Holiday Fair. In addition, I have served as an Adult Advisor to the Con Advisory Team, which worked to help support conference retreats for teens in the UU Massachusetts Bay District. Outside of FUUSN, I’m a psychologist in private practice and enjoy reading, cooking, traveling, and spending time with family. I am honored to serve as one of your lay ministers.
In September of 2001 Cris and his wife Carolyn Shoemaker came to FUUSN for a service after 9/11. They were struck by the diversity of religious beliefs, welcoming congregants and a great RE program. They enrolled their young children in RE and thoroughly enjoyed having a quiet hour to themselves on Sundays in the sanctuary. Although they were not knowingly looking for a community, they found it at their first Sandy Island Memorial Day weekend retreat. This launched more than 2 decades of involvement in the FUUSN community including teaching RE in the kids’ classrooms, heading the RE Committee, participating in Small Group Ministry, selling Christmas trees and, in 2012, joining the Lay Ministry.
Currently Cris is a manager of Volunteers for the Americorps Seniors program in Norfolk County. Prior to that he was a business consultant to companies and non-profits. He was raised in Great Neck NY and considers himself Jewish. Outside of work he enjoys exercise, reading novels and cooking.
Gordon and his wife, Stacey, came to FUUSN around 2000 to enroll their daughters, Lee and Lauren, in the RE program. Since then, he has taught RE, mentored in Coming of Age, helped with the By-Laws, and served on the Board before joining the Lay Ministers. He was an electrical engineer prior to becoming an intellectual property lawyer. Gordon is a distance runner and prostate cancer survivor.
Ellen grew up in a Jewish-Unitarian family in New York State where she attended to a small UU congregation in Rockland County. She and her husband, Carl, joined FUUSN many years ago, and their two children, Jesse and Leah, attended FUUSN religious education classes from the Bunny Room through Coming of Age.
Ellen enjoys connecting with people through her work as a Lay Minister. Outside of FUUSN, she works with elementary and middle school students as a math specialist in Lincoln, MA. She likes to swim, hike, read, bake bread, play piano and guitar, and learn different languages.
Jay was born in Boston, but lived in England from the age of 2 to 18, except for 2 years in Geneva, Switzerland. He and his wife, Barbara Niles, have attended FUUSN since January 2004, and their boys, David (24 years old) and Michael (21 years old), participated in FUUSN Religious Education through Coming of Age and OWL (Our Whole Lives). If you see him at church or on a Zoom call, please feel free to introduce yourself.