I’m so glad to kick off the new year with some happy news: Rev. Dr. Arvid Straube is Chalice’s first ever Affiliate Minister!

(Pro-tip: Rev. Arvid’s last name is pronounced STRAW-bee.)

The designation of Affiliate Minister indicates the relationship of a Community Minister to the congregation in a non-staff position. “Community Minister” means that Rev. Arvid has a ministry outside our congregation; in his case, he has a ministry of spiritual direction. His being our Affiliate Minister indicates that this is the congregation he attends and has a connection with.

Many UU congregations have Affiliate Ministers. For example, the First UU Church of San Diego has four Affiliate Ministers right now. The Church of the Larger Fellowship (our largest UU congregation, which is fully online) has so many inquiries about Affiliate Ministry that they have an online form to fill out!

As you will have noticed, Rev. Arvid has preached for us three times this fall, and we will have him preaching three more times this spring. He is paid for this, as all our pulpit guests are, but having him preach multiple times a year makes worship planning easier on him, me, and our worship associates. I hope Chalice congregants are enjoying getting to know him through his preaching.

If you are interested, you can read the full letter of agreement between Rev. Arvid and the congregation at this link: https://chaliceuucongregation.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Straube-Affiliate-Minister-agreement.pdf

For those of you who don’t know, Rev. Arvid was the minister at First UU Church of San Diego when my husband and I joined the congregation in 2004. He was a great inspiration to me in my becoming a minister, and he has been a mentor to me along the way. After I became a minister in 2012, I was glad to get to know him anew as a colleague. We co-led a silent retreat together in 2016 (SpiritRest Silent Retreat), which has become an annual event held for five days each summer.

Rev. Arvid has been a UU parish minister for 35 years. He served First UU Church of San Diego as lead minister for 10 years before retiring from parish ministry in 2014. He has also served congregations in Washington State and North Carolina. He is Minister Emeritus at the Eno River UU Fellowship in Durham, N.C.

Rev. Arvid earned a Master of Arts in Divinity degree at the University of Chicago and a Doctor of Ministry degree at Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago. In 2013, Meadville awarded him an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree for distinguished service to our movement.

Rev. Arvid and his wife, Sonya Prestridge, moved to Chalice’s neck of the woods this past summer and began attending Chalice. So in addition to seeing him in the pulpit, we also see him in the pews! It has been a special pleasure for me to have someone so important to my development as a minister, and someone I work closely with as a colleague, start attending our congregation and become involved in our worship life.

We will celebrate Rev. Arvid’s connection to our congregation as a part of our Sunday worship on January 5. I hope to see you there!

Bright blessings,
Sharon