Service of Ordination and Installation of Mark Peters Ward

Act of Installation

Beth Lazer, board president

The act of installation symbolizes a covenant between the congregation and the minister whom they have chosen. The relationship is based upon mutual confidence, respect and trust, and is undertaken by mutual consent.

On April 25, 2004, members of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Asheville voted to call you, Mark Peters Ward, to become our ministry. After exploring our needs and aspirations, we chose you to work with us in a shared ministry of unity and love.

Mark, you accepted the call, and since August have moved gracefully into our lives, providing leadership, inspiration, counsel and encouragement. We see you as a companion on the liberal religions path – a path of spiritual growth and service, action and compassion, laughter and sorrow, hope and meaning. Tonight we wish to confirm our covenant with you. Are you prepared to enter into this covenant with us?

Mark Ward

I am.

Beth Lazer

Will the members of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Asheville please rise and join with me in these words of installation:

Congregation

We the members of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Asheville hereby install you, Mark Peters Ward, as our minister.

We ask you to share in our lives and to share your life with us.

We ask you to work with us to create and sustain a vibrant liberal religious community, and we pledge to remember that the work of this church belongs to all of us.

We ask you to speak of your insights, hopes and convictions and that you listen to ours as well pledging to honor the freedom of both the pulpit and the pew.

We ask you to aid us in our search for depth and meaning, and we recognize the responsibility we bear for your spiritual and material welfare.

We ask you to pastor to us in our joy and in our sorrows, and be charitable towards our failures, as we recognize that you, also, are human and can falter.

We ask you to help extend our values into the wider community in service and action for justice and peace, and we pledge to walk with you on that journey.

Mark Ward

With joy and a deep sense of responsibility, I take up the ministry to which you have called me, and enter into this covenant with you. I pledge to serve you to the best of my ability in the spirit of love, freedom, commitment, and compassion.