Community Corner
VIDEO: The Rev. Jay Atkinson Retires From Full-Time Parish Ministry
Longtime spiritual leader of Unitarian Universalist Church of Studio City is honored by colleagues from across the state as he steps down from the pulpit.
A procession of dozens of Unitarian Universalist ministers, clad in cassocks of diverse design and color, opened the tribute service honoring the Rev. Jay Atkinson on his retirement from the ministry. Atkinson has served 32 years teaching and preaching, the last 12 of them as the spiritual leader of the Church of Studio City.
One by one, colleagues, congregants and former students regaled the assembly with tales of the reverend’s student days, his intellectual rigor, and his strengthening and stabilizing effect on a congregation once struggling to find its footing. Reverent remembrances were punctuated by good-natured anecdotes, inspiring unfettered bursts of laughter that filled the church sanctuary.
The service wasn’t without elements of grandeur. In addition to choral hymns by the church choir, soprano Leslie Schipa, accompanied by virtuoso pianist Cooper Labinger, blew the roof off the hall with an operatic solo that must have elevated the assembled souls.
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I was intrigued by Atkinson’s academic and professional history as recalled by some of the speakers. He had a career as an experimental and theoretical nuclear physicist before joining the church. I asked him in our interview to explain his sudden shift from science to religion in the midst of preparing for his PhD in physics. According to him, the two fields are not that unrelated.
During his tenure with the church in Studio City, Atkinson focused on teaching Unitarian Universalist history and process/relational theology. His emphasis on social and economic justice, say members, made them an activist community with an inclusive and progressive mission. His official bio highlights his focus on “the congregation as a pluralistic community of mutual teaching and learning.”
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Atkinson and his wife move on now to the East Bay near San Francisco where he plans to landscape and garden at his new home, in addition to teaching, writing and, always, pursuing his passion for research into Unitarian Universalist history.
Experience the service and get to know the fascinating Rev. Atkinson and members of the church (which they refer to as UU) by watching the accompanying video.
In the second video, church board trustee David Marsh talks about what the Unitarian Universalist Church of Studio has to offer and member Lindsey Black tells me what the faith mean to her.
