PCD - UUA: Officiants and Worship Speakers Bob Miess

Bob Miess Lay Leader / Deputy Commissioner of Marriage First Unitarian Church of San Jose San Jose, CA (408) 781-7073 Bob@FloweringEnterprises.com Travel expenses required

Links to a sample sermon: www.floweringenterprises.com

List of sample sermon titles or topics:

Significant Choices:
What makes a choice significant, and what strategies might we use to make good significant choices?

How Old Are You?:
A reflection on ageism and how it affects our religious communities.

Growing in the Particular:
The interplay of personal and congregational growth.

What's Mission Got to Do with It?:
How does mission help us to deal with the question of congregational size?

Is Volunteering Voluntary?:
A meditation on value of our volunteer efforts, both for our religious community and for ourselves.

Away with the Manger?:
Biblical scholars have concluded that the stories of the birth of Jesus probably did not happen. Yet these stories are treasured by many. What can we draw from them as contemporary UUs?

Who do you Say I am?:
A response to the Mel Gibson sacrificial view of Jesus.

A statement about your theology:

My personal faith perspective is best described in the metaphor of a wave: I live in the great ocean of all that exists. I am a small wave on the surface of that ocean. On the surface I have a distinct existence. I have a body, feelings, thoughts, ... and these define me. But when I go deep, I recognize that I have a body, but I am not this body. I have feelings, but I am not these feelings. I have thoughts, but I am not those thoughts. On the surface, you can see where the wave starts and ends. Deep below it is all one sea.

Having grown up Christian, I have these long-held perspectives:
Faith is more a question than an answer.
Contemporary scholarly determinations are correct -- much in the Biblical record is not historical. Jesus was not God any more than we all are.
It is important for my own spiritual health to re-connect with the Biblical sources, but with a whole new perspective.

A short biographical statement:

I was a Lutheran minister for three years (long ago), and was in high tech for 27 years, most recently as an engineering manager. I am a member of the First Unitarian Church in San Jose. At various times, I have served as President, VP of Programs, board member, worship associate, worship associates coordinator, chair of the volunteer and leadership development, chair of the annual pledge campaign, participant in the Welcoming Congregation program and the Building The World We Dream About Anti-Racism/Anti-Oppression/Multiculturalism class.

Following a radical life-changing event -- heart attack in which I nearly died -- I now take time to do what is most important to me -- creating contexts in which people can discover and create more meaning, hope, and joy in their own lives. In the district I have been a member of the fundraising team for the 2007 Marketing Campaign, a member of the Nominating Committee, and a graduate assistant at the PCD Leadership School (2008). I also serve as our district's Ministerial Settlement Representative, supporting congregations in Ministerial search.

A favorite quotation: "We imagine we are separate, you and I ... even in this we are one." - Bob Miess

Honors, awards, or publications:
M. Div. 1972
PCD "Unsung Hero Award" for leading the development of Small Group Ministry in the San Jose congregation, and sharing the results with many others.
(See www.sanjoseuu.org)

Links to your congregation's web site, your blog, your YouTube videos, your podcasts, etc:
www.floweringenterprises.com