BuxMont Unitarian Universalist Fellowship

Minister’s Page

Freedom of the Pulpit and the Pew

Posted on February 5, 2018 by Rev. Dr. Susan Veronica Rak in Minister's Page, Past Sermons | No Comments

a sermon by Reverend Dr. Susan Veronica Rak preached on 21 January 2018 commemorating the 450th Anniversary of the Edict of Torda Today we’re celebrating an event that happened a long, long time ago, in a country far away, within a culture very different from our own, in an age of great religious upheaval. But […]
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What Are We Here For?

Posted on February 5, 2018 by Rev. Dr. Susan Veronica Rak in Minister's Page, Past Sermons | No Comments

a sermon by Reverend Dr. Susan Veronica Rak preached on 7 January 2018 In the beginning, God created the earth, and [God] looked upon it in [God’s] cosmic loneliness. And God said, “Let Us make living creatures out of mud, so the mud can see what We have done.” And God created every living creature […]
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Haven’t Got a Prayer

Posted on February 5, 2018 by Rev. Dr. Susan Veronica Rak in Minister's Page, Past Sermons | No Comments

a Sermon by Reverend Dr. Susan Veronica Rak preached on 28 January 2018 When I was a child, I prayed in many ways… in the masses I attended, saying the rosary, other devotionals and novenas. Sometimes it was connected with asking God for things. And I believed that if I was “good enough”, and said […]
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Shaken and Stirred – a sermon preached on 15 October 2017

Posted on October 20, 2017 by Rev. Dr. Susan Veronica Rak in Minister's Page, Past Sermons | No Comments

I was working on a team planning team an interfaith service some years ago and we were talking about incorporating the various symbols of our religions in it somehow. The usual ones made their appearance. Then the minister of the congregational church in town looked at me and said, “and for you, a question mark…” […]
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Small Group Ministry

Posted on September 14, 2017 by Rev. Dr. Susan Veronica Rak in Announcements, BuxMont News, Minister's Page, Uncategorized | No Comments

Are you interested in spiritual growth, meeting fellow BuxMonters, deepening your connections in this community and learning by connecting reason and spirit, mind and heart? Then you might want to consider joining in BuxMont UU Fellowship’s Small Group Ministry program. Small Group Ministries are a way to connect more closely with other BuxMonters in your […]
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Yes, It Matters… preached 11 June 2017

Posted on June 13, 2017 by Rev. Dr. Susan Veronica Rak in Minister's Page, Past Sermons, Uncategorized | No Comments

Names and language matter. Sometimes we may take our words more lightly. We may deny that they matter as much as they do, but the hurts we carry, the discrimination we or others may face remind us that most vividly that beyond words, we matter, people matter. We matter in all our complexity, diversity, difficulty […]
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Prospective Worship Associates invited to Apply

Posted on May 26, 2017 by Rev. Dr. Susan Veronica Rak in Announcements, Minister's Page | No Comments

Are you a regular attendee of BuxMont Sunday Services and feel committed to continuing the excellence of our worship? If you are comfortable in a leadership role and have some public speaking skills, then this could be right up your alley! For a complete description of the Worship Associates Program and an Application form, please […]
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What Are We Here For?

Posted on May 24, 2017 by Rev. Dr. Susan Veronica Rak in Minister's Page, Past Sermons | No Comments

a sermon by the Reverend Dr. Susan Veronica Rak – preached on 21 May 2017 None of us alone can save the world. Together‚ that is another possibility waiting. This is our Annual Meeting Sunday. It comes just once a year, sometime toward the end of May or even in early June. it may seem to […]
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Hold On, Let Go

Posted on May 24, 2017 by Rev. Dr. Susan Veronica Rak in Minister's Page, Past Sermons | No Comments

a sermon by the Reverend Dr. Susan Veronica Rak – preached on 14 May 2017 The celebration of Vesak ( way-sak) occurred this past Wednesday. The day commemorates the Buddha’s birth and many people think of it as something akin to Christmas in the Christian faith. But it is really a little more than that. […]
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Never Forget – a sermon for Yom Ha’Shoah

Posted on May 24, 2017 by Rev. Dr. Susan Veronica Rak in Minister's Page, Past Sermons | No Comments

a sermon by the Reverend Dr. Susan Veronica Rak – preached on 23 April 2017 Not quite two weeks ago the holy time Passover was observed. And I was glad to join the Seder here at BuxMont. The telling of the plagues in the Seder always makes me sit up and really pay attention. This […]
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About the Minister

Rev. Dr. Susan Veronica Rak has been a Unitarian Universalist since the early 70’s and Unitarian Universalist Minister since 1996. Reverend Dr. Rak was raised in New Jersey and attended Glassboro State College (now Rowan University), studying art with an eye toward later focusing on art history.

In 1981 she began working as a Director of Religious Education at the First Unitarian Society of Albany NY, where she began professional training in the Unitarian Universalist Association’s newly developed “Renaissance” program. She served on the UUA R.E. Futures committee and the Saint Lawrence District Religious Education Committee. Toward the end of her time in Albany, she entered the UUA’s Independent Study Program in preparation for the Ministry of Religious Education.

After relocating with her family to Delaware, Rev. Dr. Rak continued work as a religious educator at the UU Fellowship of Newark DE and then the Unitarian Universalist Church in Cherry Hill NJ, continuing her involvement in District R.E. activities. She enrolled in Lancaster Theological Seminary in Lancaster PA, joining several other UU’s completing Masters of Divinity degrees there. She also pursued studies in ministry thorough Meadville-Lombard Theological School’s “modified residency program”. Her “call” to ministry turned in its focus from religious education to the preaching ministry of the parish. She completed her internship at Cherry Hill, graduated from Lancaster Theological and was ordained to the parish ministry by that congregation in May 1996.

Rev. Dr. Rak continued her professional development and pursued a Doctor of Ministry degree at Meadville-Lombard Theological School. Her doctoral project explored the theological tensions that exist with our Unitarian Universalist congregations and the presented thesis is entitled “What’s God Got to Do with It? Living and Loving the Tension of Unitarian Universalist Theological Pluralism”. She was awarded the degree of Doctor of Ministry in May 2009.

After ordination, her ministerial experience includes serving the Community Church of New York as Interim Associate Minister (1996-97); the UU Fellowship of Lower Bucks (Levittown PA, 1997-98); the Unitarian Universalist Association (as Program Consultant for the Joseph Priestley District, 1997-2001); the Unitarian Universalist Church of Greater Bridgeport (Stratford CT, 2001-03); Unitarian Universalist Church of Flushing, NY (where she aided in the consolidation of the Flushing and Hollis congregations, forming the UU Congregation of Queens, 2003-05); The Unitarian Society (East Brunswick, NJ, 2005-2014). And more recently, she served as interim minister at The First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia from 2014-2016.

As an Interim Minister, she has put into practice all the skills and learnings from these varied experiences as a Unitarian Universalist leader, both lay and ordained.

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