Following our Ministerial Candidate weekend with Rev. Brigid Beckman on October 30 and 31, as well as a Congregational Response meeting on Zoom that many took part in with our Board of Trustees, it was very clear to our Search and Find Team and to the Board that our search was over. A final decision was made on Friday, November 5 to hire Brigid as our Senior Minister! That big news was shared at our 10:00am service on November 7. Huzzah!!

Huge thanks go to our Search and Find Team for their many months of holding the vision, and trusting the process to call in just the right minister to serve this Unity church. They searched and searched and they found! Their tenacity, faith and commitment has paid off in a big way and we are so grateful!

Thanks also to Rev. Roger for initially reaching out to Brigid early last summer as she was settling back in to Albany after four years away. there was definitely Divine timing at work through this whole process.

A big thank you too to our wonderful congregants who turned out in strong numbers for the workshop, service, Q&A and in their meeting with the Board last Thursday, as well as for their participation in the Survey.

We feel that last weekend removed any questions anyone might have had and, following the Congregation Response meeting on Thursday, the Board decided to go full speed ahead and hire Rev Brigid Beckman as our Senior Minister!

Last, but hardly least, we offer so much gratitude to Brigid for entering into this whole process with a wide open heart, with thoughtful and intelligent responses to our barrage of questions, and for bringing a deep spiritual grounding and willingness to be a channel for Spirit to her presentations. We are so excited to see what we are going to co-create together at Unity Church in Albany!

As this webpage is being uploaded on Tuesday, November 9, our wonderful new minister is already settling into her office at 21 King Avenue, and shares this message with our community:

A message from Rev. Brigid

Dear friends,

What I know is that this blessing will begin as soon as you set out…” 

That is the opening line from the poem/prayer Blessing That Makes a Way for You by Jan Richardson, that I shared in my talk as your minister candidate. As I sit in this office for the first time as your new senior minister, it is the song of blessing echoing in my heart!

During these months since the June morning I first chatted with Roger about Unity Albany’s search for a senior minister, I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to get to know members of the search and find team, and members of the board. I look forward with great joy to getting to know you, my new spiritual companions, as we set out on this journey together. 

With deep ties to the Albany area, being here with you feels like I am coming home, and at the same time, it is a whole new beginning. As we fashion together how to live into the vision and mission of this community, I trust that we will come to know each other deeply.  Thank you for being such tangible signs already of the truth that God is absolute good, everywhere present. 

In deep joy and gratitude,
Rev Brigid

MINISTER CANDIDATE WEEKEND RECAP

A run-down of Rev. Brigid’s Candidate Weekend events and video presentations of each can be viewed here.

ABOUT REV. BRIGID

Reverend Brigid Beckman was ordained in 2016 through One Spirit Interfaith Learning Alliance, an international program based in NYC. A heart-centered minister and teacher, Brigid leads from relationships and embraces experiential interactions. For decades, Brigid has dedicated herself to helping others find their joy through creating opportunities for deep reflection on their own journeys and shared communal experiences. She has officiated close to 150 weddings, funerals, and baby blessings, has worked in both public and independent schools, and has led retreats and workshops for students, teachers, and people of all ages. A longtime Albany resident, Brigid recently returned to the area after living in Beverly, MA for the past four years where she was the Campus Minister and Director of Spiritual Life at an all-girls high school. She recently became grandmother to two wonderful grandbabies, just over a week apart: Keeley Brigid and Elias Martin.