Our Minister: Jeff Liebmann

Greetings and may I extend to you the warmest welcome of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Midland (UUFoM), serving Midland, Bay City, Saginaw, and surrounding Tri-Cities region.  Midland is known as The City of Modern Explorers, and UUFoM proudly represents the progressive religious spectrum exploring the farthest reaches of spirituality, community building, and justice seeking.

I was called by the congregation in May 2011 and began serving as the settled Minister in August 2011, after receiving Preliminary Fellowship as a Unitarian Universalist minister in September 2010.  My call to the ministry developed over many years of lay leadership, serving as a youth advisor, writing religious education curricula, and teaching Sunday school classes at all age levels.  I entered the Modified Residency Program of the Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago in 2006 after a long career in higher education administration at the University of Pittsburgh and graduated with a Master of Divinity degree in May 2010.  I completed a full-time ministerial internship at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock in Manhasset NY, after serving a two-year term as part-time Student Minister at the First Unitarian Church of Pittsburgh. 

People who use reason, creativity, and perseverance against substantial odds, challenging paradigms that limit human thought and imagination influence my religious identity powerfully.  My favorite books and movies highlight underdogs striving against injustice, or place into extreme situations people who craft solutions deemed untenable by established authority. Theologically, I hold the ideas of great teachers and religious movements in high regard, including the Beatitudes of Jesus, the Analects of Kung Fu Tse, the Five Pillars of Islam, and the Eight-Fold Path of Buddhism.  I do not believe in a supernatural godlike entity, but am comfortable knowing that mysteries exist that we may never unravel.  I agree with the principles of religious humanism, but wish that the various Humanist organizations could find common ground.  I see Unitarian Universalism as the one religion that treasures the search for truth, defends the tools for searching, and holds dear the seeker and the universe that is our laboratory.

Intellectually, I owe everything to my father, Henry Liebmann.  He taught me a moral code of living based on truth, honesty, reason, and relevance. He engendered in me a passion for history and knowledge.  Most important, he combined these values into one basic philosophy of life: treasure your heritage, but create new traditions to replace whatever is false or harmful.  While my undergraduate major in college was chemistry, my history minor received my passion.  In particular, I believe understanding the social history of eras such as Nazi Germany, with its power to control the minds of otherwise sane and intelligent people, is a key to coming to grips with many of the complex issues still facing society.  We must examine the circumstances that gave rise to such a philosophy and that stood by and allowed it to grow and flourish.  Despite its financial wealth and military dominance, the United States also seems susceptible to complacency and dogmatism.  I believe that ministers bear a special burden to challenge the influence of fear mongers, who are adept at moral propaganda and are all too willing to compromise our democratic principles, and to encourage hope and love as the ultimate tools of social change. 

I am also the author of the blog, uujeff's muse kennel and pizzatorium, an interactive journal of reflection on the Unitarian Universalist ministry, life...and pizza.  Please feel free to visit and share your thoughts.

If you would like to contact me directly, feel free to email me at uurevjeff@gmail.com.

The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Midland is recognized by the Unitarian Universalist Association as a Welcoming Congregation. We welcome, affirm, promote and celebrate the full participation of all persons in all of our activities without regard to age, gender, sexual orientation, race or any other such category of exclusion.

Please feel free to contact us with any feedback, corrections or questions at jaham1729@gmail.com