Unitarian Universalist Church of Canton

The Reverend David S. Blanchard

This is how our minister, the Reverend David S. Blanchard, introduced himself to us when he was called to be our minister in May 2010.

About David

I am the father of two wonderful human beings: Julia who is a special education teacher in Hudson, MA, and Emily who is a junior at St. Lawrence University.
I am a youthful 52!
I am gay.
I was raised as a Unitarian Universalist. (Not a Unitarian. Not a Universalist.)
I am single.
I am a native of Central New York.

Education

B.A., St. Lawrence University, 1980
M. Div., Harvard Divinity School, 1986

Ministry
Unitarian Universalist Church of Canton, effective August 1, 2010
Unitarian Universalist Church of Utica, 2007-2010
First Unitarian Universalist Society of Syracuse, 1989-2006
Unitarian Universalist Church of Lexington, Kentucky, 1986-1989; Ordination 1986
Unitarian Universalist Church of Canton, Ministerial Intern, 1984
First Church in Belmont, Massachusetts, Student Minister and DRE, 1983-1986

Involvement & Interests
Ministerial Settlement Representative, SLD
Ministerial Fellowship Committee, Chair, Sub-Committee on Candidacy for the New England Region
SAGE/Upstate, Founding Member and Officer
Syracuse Peace Council, Advisory Committee
AIDS Community Resources, Volunteer and Fundraiser
St. Lawrence Foundation for Theological Education, President
New York State Convention of Universalists, Board Member

And…gardening, reading, cooking, conversation/friends, antiquing, solitude, singing, and being perhaps the world’s last great correspondent (postcards, a specialty).

Theology
I am a devout Unitarian Universalist.

I had the benefit of having been raised in a Unitarian Universalist home and congregation. Somewhere along the line I learned that the most important questions in life have more than one right answer. That they need to have more than one right answer. I am grateful that my spiritual baggage is so light.

I am one who resists labels and categories. They are too often used to divide us. And there are really not enough UU’s in this world to break down into tiny little separate groups. How shall the center hold if we are all camped out in the margins?

“As a parish minister, my task is to assist people in their efforts to be just, open, informed, and generous of spirit in an evolving and changing world.”

A Call to Worship
From A Temporary State of Grace
by David S. Blanchard

This church is ready for you to fill its rooms,
to create its spirit,
to generate its warmth,
to kindle its light.
This church is ready for you
to make community,
to create beauty,
to bend it toward justice,
to serve its ideals.
This church is ready for you to be here,
honoring our past,
invigorating our future,
This is your church.
Here we are home.
Here we are whole.
Let us begin.

If you wish to contact David
revdsb@aol.com