He will focus on a congregation that is welcoming and promotes justice and equality.
Rev. Jason Seymour is the new minister at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Greater Springfield.
The main focus of the new pastor of the Unitarian Universalist Society of Greater Springfield will be ensuring that the congregation remains a vibrant, active and welcoming community.
“Unitarian Universalists believe deeply in the transformative power of religious community,” said the Rev. Jason A. H. Seymour, 34. “We are a congregation that privileges religious curiosity and ethical living above any single doctrine or set of beliefs.”
After a two-year search, the society celebrated Seymour’s arrival in September. He will be ordained and installed as the congregation's minister during a ceremony on Dec. 8 at 2 p.m. at the meetinghouse, 245 Porter Lake Drive, Springfield.
I will be installed as the congregation's minister during the same ceremony. I was cleared by my denomination to become ordained last year, while serving a congregation in Appleton, Wisconsin," Seymour said,"but I delayed the ceremony until I arrived here."
"Ordination in the Unitarian Universalist tradition recognizes the call and training of a minister," he added, "and also the particular relationship from which a minister is called. Since I knew I would not be serving the Appleton congregation at length, I decided to delay my ordination ceremony until such a time as I was called into a long-term ministerial relationship. Therefore, my ordination ceremony will occur here in December."
Another primary focus of his ministry will be social justice.
Theodore Parker, who was a Massachusetts minister and abolitionist in the early 19th century, believed that justice was the natural state of relations between human beings, Seymour said.
“We go astray of our nature when we forget that fact. We perpetuate injustice when we allow ourselves to believe the stories in our society that elevate the value of any one person or group of people above any another,” Seymour said.
“We uphold that we are all children of one great love; we are members of one another. Therefore, this inward sense of justice that Parker described -- this sense of truly knowing oneself as equal to everyone else -- calls us then to engage with the world in ways that promote equality and dignity for all.”
Seymour looks forward to continuing to build and organize his congregation’s efforts for justice and to building partnerships with area clergy and community groups.
Currently, the Unitarian Universalist congregation includes about 200 adult members and 50 children. The main worship service is on Sundays at 10:30 a.m.
“Overall, I think people know us as a congregation of active and caring people,” Seymour said, noting that their spiritual home is a mid-century building tucked into the south side of Forest Park.
“We have large glass windows on both sides of our sanctuary that look out to the forest; seeing the seasons change around us is an important part of our worship experience,” he said.
The congregation draws from throughout the Springfield area.
“This is important because it means that we can have the kind of powerful conversations that occur across lines of difference,” Seymour said.
Basic principles Unitarian Universalist congregations hold in common include the inherent worth and dignity of every person; justice, equity and compassion in human relations; a free and responsible search for truth and meaning; and the goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all, Seymour said
The main challenge Seymour faces is the challenge facing clergy in most religious traditions: people turning away from organized religion, he said.
“Mainline denominations continue to show a decline in membership, and technology has changed forever how people relate to one another and understand communities,” he said.
“Religion has also been so thoroughly caricatured and weaponized in popular culture that I think many compassionate, reasonable people may have given up on organized religion completely.”
He said he regularly talks with people who are healing from a previous religious experience.
“I think people today feel more judged by organized religion than anything else," Seymour said.
"Religion is how we re-bind ourselves, as a matter of practice, to the values that give our life meaning.”
He sees the validity in religions that hold on to the importance of living intentionally and of celebrating together the gift of life.
“My response to the challenge of old religion passing away is to imagine a fresher form of religion, one that is open and free and affirming,” he said.
“I want a religion that can help me to be a better person without asking me to stop thinking or to compromise my values. I want a religion that will instill in me and my kids a deep appreciation of diversity and equality. I want a religion that will encourage my spiritual growth on my own terms, a religion that calls me to be a better version of myself, not somebody else.
"I want a religion based in love, not judgment. I want a religion that was true back then, but one that still makes sense today, a religion that appeals to both my head and my heart. I ask these things of my religion not because they are easy, but because they challenge me to keep growing and to keep learning throughout my lifetime. This is why I, like many others, have found a spiritual home in Unitarian Universalism.”
Raised in the Unitarian Universalist tradition in New Jersey, Seymour attended Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Penn., double-majoring in business and music. After a short but successful career in public relations in Washington, D.C., he enrolled at Union Theological Seminary in New York City in 2006, graduating in 2009 with a master of divinity degree with an emphasis in social ethics.
During seminary, he was active in several organizations working to address poverty, and he completed a unit of hospital chaplaincy at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
He served as Hallman Ministerial Intern at Unity Church-Unitarian in St. Paul, Minn., and as assistant minister at Fox Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Appleton, Wis.
Seymour is married to Jennifer Seymour, an area yoga instructor. They have one son, Jonathan, 2, and are expecting another child in April.
His interests include hiking, camping and baseball. He has played trombone since he was 10, and he performed most recently with King Changó, a Spanish-language ska/reggae band based in New York City.
For more information about the Unitarian Universalist Association, go to www.uua.org.