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Minister
Rev. John A. Buehrens
John Buehrens has served as the Minister of the First Parish in Needham since 2002. From 1993 to 2001 he was the President of the Unitarian Universalist Association. Ordained in 1973, he served congregations in Tennessee, Texas, and New York City prior to his election to that office.
A graduate of Harvard College and of Harvard Divinity School, he is co-author (with Forrest Church) of A Chosen Faith: An Introduction to Unitarian Universalism (1989, 1996) and author of Understanding the Bible: An Introduction for Skeptics, Seekers, and Religious Liberals (2002). Cited as a “scholar, organizer, but above all, pastor,” John has been awarded three honorary doctorates. He has taught seminary courses in history, theology, preaching, and the practice of ministry.
Long a leader in interfaith cooperation for peace and justice, he currently serves as national co-chair for Freedom to Marry (www.freedomtomarry.org), as Senior Advisor to the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (www.uusc.org), as a member of the Needham Human Rights Committee, as President of the Needham Clergy Association, and as President of the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association for the Mass Bay District. He has been married since 1972 to the Rev. Gwen Langdoc Buehrens, a priest in the Episcopal Church. They are the parents of two young adult daughters. They live in Needham.
Student Minister
First Parish in Needham is an outstanding "teaching congregation," regularly training seminarians and recent seminary graduates for successful service as Unitarian Universalist ministers. The Rev. John Buehrens has supervised some twenty ministerial students over his career, and the commitment of the Parish to its role as a "teaching congregation" is embodied in a dedicated Internship Committee.
Lucas Hergert
Lucas Hergert is a student in the Master of Divinity program at Harvard Divinity School. Raised a Unitarian Universalist, he plans to seek ordination and to serve as a parish minister in that denomination.
Lucas received his Bachelor degree, summa cum laude, from Miami University of Ohio in 2006. There he studied philosophy and comparative religion, concentrating on questions of justice, political change, and minority religious expressions. The recipient of awards in ethics and religious studies, Lucas has spoken at academic conferences on race and theology; sexuality and power in evangelical communities; and the relationship between rhetoric and violence. He is also a published writer, with an occasional political column that has appeared in periodicals local to his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio.
Currently Lucas serves on the Board of Directors of the Harvard Unitarian Universalist Ministry for Students. There he enjoys organizing events, leading worship, and being in fellowship with liberal-religious seminarians from across the Boston area. When he is not at Harvard, Lucas is most likely spending time with his beagle, Beasley.