Rev. Adam Robersmith

A native of the Chicago area, the Rev. Adam Robersmith was called as the Settled Minister at Second Unitarian Church in Chicago, IL on Oct. 30, 2011.

His journey has taken him from Chicagoland to New York, Ireland, California, Arizona, and finally back home to Chicago. During those years, he earned an M. Div from Starr King School for the Ministry in Berkeley, CA, focusing on Unitarian Universalist history, contemplative practice, and spiritual formation. He also holds a Bachelor of Science from Cornell University in Biology, with concentrations in Neurobiology, Anthropology, and English Literature. Prior to entering the Unitarian Universalist ministry, he worked as an educator, an editor, an archivist, a storyteller, a musician, a waiter, an administrator, a puppeteer, and a writer. Rev. Robersmith believes that no education is ever wasted—and, in fact, he has found that all these experiences (including waiting tables!) have gone on to serve him well in the ministry.

Covenant is central to Rev. Robersmith’s Unitarian Universalism and his theology:

“We are a religious movement based in covenant, not creed: what holds us together are the promises we make to one another, to the wider world, and to what we feel has our deepest loyalty, rather than a common belief about how the universe works. Unitarian Universalism is a religious movement that values diversity within a unity as described by our covenants. We approach religion from the human experience that reaches beyond the individual, and join together to support one another in that striving.

“Within that covenant, we each are responsible for deepening our own understanding of ourselves and the cosmos, believing that which we are led to believe through experience and exploration, rather than that which is convenient or superficially attractive.”

Rev. Robersmith expects Unitarian Universalists to have more questions than answers and to find inspiration in many sources. In his own spiritual life, he draws most strongly from the Christian contemplative and mystic tradition of the west, his interest in and love of science and the arts, and earth-centered theologies that draw on the power and beauty of the natural world.

Rev. Robersmith is a member of the UU Ministers’ Association Committee on Anti-Racism and Multiculturalism, DRUUMM, and the UU Spiritual Directors’ Network. He is also a certified Spiritual Director in private practice, having trained at the Hesychia School of Spiritual Direction at the Redemptorist Renewal Center in Tucson, AZ.

To contact Rev. Robersmith, call his office at (773) 549-0260 ext. 13 or email him at minister@secondunitarian.org.