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JULY 2017
Monthly Bulletin
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Whoever you are, whomever you love,
However you express your identity;
Whatever your situation in life,
Whatever your experience of the holy,
Your presence here is a gift.
Whether you are filled with sadness,
Overflowing with joy,
Needing to be alone with yourself,
Or eager to engage with others,
You have a place here.
All are welcome here.
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WORSHIP
Services are Sundays 10AM
(we are on our summer schedule until September 17th)
Contemplative Worship on Wednesdays
11:45am on the outdoor labyrinth or in the Sanctuary
Theme for JULY:
Independence/Interdependence
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July Worship
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During the summer, worship often takes on a more relaxed feel -- we have only the one service at 10:00 a.m., and it's a time for different voices in the pulpit.
On the 2nd, Rev. Wik will preach, and on the 9th it will be Rev Alex's turn. Sunday the 16th the preacher will be one of our lay Worship Weavers, Jeanine Braithwaite (who is also our new Treasurer). On the 23rd we will welcome the Rev. Kirk Ballin, who currently is AgrAbility Director at
Easterseals UCP (and previously served as Executive Director at the National Conference for Community and Justice, and served our congregation in Meadville, PA). On the 30th, another of our Worship Weavers, Cypress Walker, will be preaching.
It is a cornerstone of our Unitarian Universalist theology that no one person has a lock on the truth, and that ordination is not needed for one to have insight. Worship this month will help to remind us of this ... don't miss it.
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Whether we're thinking about our current national political and cultural realities, the mood of our Association, recent events in our city, or even the state of things within our own congregation, many of us are decrying what seems to be a deepening sense of division, of separation. The classic question, "Why can't we all just get along?" is being asked over and over again. It's a good and important question.
It's one that many of us can ask in reference to our own families, as well. I can't tell you how many conversations I've had over the years with people who are dreading some upcoming gathering of their extended family. "We can't talk about politics," they'll say, or, "I just hope they don't start telling me again how they're praying for me because I'm a Unitarian Universalist." Sometimes it's not even these "big issue" things; sometimes it's just an intra-family squabble that has led to children breaking off contact with their parents, siblings going silent, or parents feeling the need to create distance and boundaries.
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July 16th Social Action Collection
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By Christy Arrington
ReadyKids has been serving our area's children since its founding in 1921. Opening doors to bright futures for kids, we work to ensure that all kids are ready to learn, ready for relationships and ready for life! During the past year alone, our programs impacted more than 7,000 kids, families and child care providers.
ReadyKids Play Partners program helps kids become successful learners and readers by building literacy skills and an age-appropriate vocabulary.
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By Adam Slate
I write this report while attending my first UU General Assembly a few days shy of beginning my term as president of the TJMC Board of Trustees. It's been an interesting week of inspiring services, making some new friends, and installing a new UUA president after a tumultuous three months in which our denomination found itself divided, faced resignations of its highest ranking leaders, and was forced to own up to deep and sobering shortcomings regarding race and hiring practices.
While all this has been occurring at the denominational level, our congregation has also found itself conflicted. For TJMC, it has been over fundamental issues related to growth and how to manage our budget. It's my prayer for our congregation that we can address these issues with the same commitment, trust, and good faith that we've modeled in our larger denomination this week at General Assembly.
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Next Steps Weekend:August 25-27, 2017
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By Jeanine Braithwaite, Treasurer
Our TJMCUU Board has engaged Mark Ewert, a UU Stewardship consultant, to undertake a review of our financial situation and stewardship potential during a Next Steps Weekend (NSW), August 25-27, 2017.
The NSW is the first step in effectively utilizing a consultant to support our goals and aspirations as a congregation. It provides a foundation for future collaboration and provides insight into the options before us as a congregation. A congregation is a community, a network of systems. The NSW provides the opportunity to examine and gauge that community and those systems across a wide spectrum, not just stewardship, to ascertain the overall health and capacities of the congregation.
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Summer in Charlottesville - TJMC's B&B
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Visitors to the Charlottesville, VA area are invited to use our Bed & Breakfast program in the home of a Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church - Unitarian Universalist member.
Local attractions ... Meet fellow UUs and support our faith, while you visit historic Monticello, Ashlawn-Highland, Montpelier, the University of Virginia, Charlottesville's Downtown Mall, Skyline Drive, Shenandoah National Park and the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. Whether you come for the history, a family vacation, a business trip, an event or service at TJMC, or to visit UVA for sports weekends or graduation, consider the UU B& B program.
Get in touch with us... Contact our B&B coordinator,
Bev Thierwechter, who will assist you in choosing accommodations, confirm your reservations, and connect you with your B&B host. After that, it is the guest's responsibility to contact your host with particulars of your stay, including arrival time, allergies, special requests, etc.
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The Art Show for July features the work of Kristin Rexter. You may meet her at her opening on July 2nd after the service. Like much of her artwork that features carnivals and circus freaks, Kristin Rexter's imagination is equal parts disturbing and mesmerizing. There is no taming the spirits in her head, so she unleashes them in mixed media, layer upon layer on wood, paper, plaster, and canvas until she's exhausted each idea. A self-taught artist who has been creating since childhood, Kristin uses art to express her unique aesthetic and also as a therapeutic outlet to process physical and emotional traumas.
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With AmazonSmile, you can select Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church as your charity of choice so a portion of every purchase you make goes to supporting the work we do in our community. Please spread the word to your friends, family, and everyone who shops online.
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The TJMC-UU Monthly Bulletin is a digital publication of articles/essays that is published on or around the first of each month. Submissions should be saved as a Microsoft Word file including a title and by line, and emailed to
[email protected] by the
third Friday of the preceding month. Holidays may affect submission deadlines.
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