Unitarian Universalist gets interim minister

The Rev. James A. Hobart has been named interim minister at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Woodstock. The Rev. Dan Larsen, minister since 1990 will stay on as a part-time community minister specializing in the church's outreach, service and social justice ministries.

Rev. Hobart will lead the congregation during a transition period as it seeks a new settled minister.

He preached his first sermon on Martin Luther King Sunday and will be officially welcomed at a special Service of Transition at 10:45 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 31 that will also feature U.U. Central Midwest District Executive Ian Evison

The son of Unitarian minister, Hobart grew up in Alabama in the 1940s-'50s where he witnessed first hand and participated in the Civil Rights movement. He graduated from Antioch College in 1968 and worked as a juvenile probation officer for two years in Birmingham, Ala., before entering Meadville Lombard Theological School to prepare for the Unitarian Universalist ministry.

He served congregations in Cleveland, Ohio; Park Forest, Ill.; and Pittsburg, Penn. In 1983, he began 18 years of service to the First Unitarian Church of Denver, Colo.

Since 2001, Rev. Hobart has lived with his wife Nan, also a U.U. minister, in Chicago's Hyde Park. He has served interim ministries at the Beverly (Chicago) UU Church, as congregational services director of the Central Midwest District, as field education director at Meadville Lombard, and at the UU Church of Bloomington-Normal. He also is a faculty member at Meadville Lombard, teaching congregational polity since 2001. His career has included service to the Unitarian Universalist Association in a number of elected and appointed capacities. Currently, he serves on the UUA Nominating Committee and is a member of the Coordinating Council of Allies for Racial Equity, and is an anti-racism trainer. Wherever he has served, Rev. Hobart has been involved in ecumenical and secular groups addressing civil liberties, civil rights and anti-racism, peace, reproductive choice, public education, open housing, and migrant and immigrant rights.

For the minister, it is his second time in the Woodstock pulpit. In 1983, he served six months as interim minister at what was then known as the Congregational Unitarian Church.

For information, call the church at (815) 338-0731 or e-mail office@uucofwoodstock.org