from the rector

Conversations.

The first Zoom conversation spurred by the book "White Fragility" by Robin DiAngelo was enlightening and welcome. I feel it is most important to continue talk about and process what we are hearing, seeing and feeling so that we can be part of the changes we all know we need.

Realizing that we can't by ourselves do everything necessary to solve the problems we face as a society, each individual CAN change the way we think about circumstances and thus change how we interact with every facet of our own sphere. There is much more going on beyond the DiAngelo book - that is just one way to understand our reactions and processing of what we are experiencing in relation to the acts of racism and awareness of a broken societal system that cries out for justice. God cries out for justice and we are all the agents of that dream.

To that end, I have scheduled more Zoom sessions at a variety of times to see if we can establish a pattern; please join me on Tuesday 6/30 at 7 pm and/or on Thursday 7/2 at 6:30 pm I will send reminders with the link.

The parameters of the conversations will be: speak from our own experiences and allow others to speak their own experiences - all without judgement; everything we say will be held in anonymous confidence; all will be held in the sacred trust that we expect in a loving community of learning and exploration.

I realize the DiAngelo book is out of stock everywhere so I still recommend reading it on your electronic device or watch the video of a talk DiAngelo gave in Seattle HERE. let me know if you want to talk. Donna:  RectorTMC@gmail.com

Peace this day, Donna+

News and notes ...

Livestreaming: we will be livestreaming on Facebook Sundays at 10:30 ONLY. The response last week was truly impressive and some of us received contact from friends and family across this country and others. We will not stream faces but voices will be heard during prayers.   We will not stream the 9:00 service due to privacy concerns for children.

Sharon Dooley’s summer reading list (Remember those dreaded summer reading lists your high school English teachers gave you? 😊) I suppose I should be reading Donna’s recommended White Fragility , or Ibram Kendi’s How to be an Antiracist or even Bolton’s The Room where it Happened . But it’s hot, and I am old and cranky so I have returned to one of my earliest loves – fantasy. I am reading the 2 ^nd (and eagerly awaiting the 3 ^rd ) volume of The Legacy of Orisha . This series is by Tomi Adeyemi, one of the rare Black science fiction and fantasy authors. In her acknowledgements at the end of volume one, she writes “[This book] was written during a time when I kept turning on the news and seeing stories of unarmed Black men, women and children being shot by the police. … I told myself that if just one person could read it and have their hearts or minds changed, then I would have done something meaningful against a problem that seems so much bigger than myself.” The Orisha series doesn’t deal directly with this; rather it deals with a large group of people, both men and women, who are excluded because they can do magic.  Read more ...

Hats not Hate: A Call Out to All Needlework Crafters:

 

Some of you know that TMC’s Caring Stitches Ministry has been making articles for nursing homes, shelters, soup kitchens and people without homes for the past two years. Recently I found out about a neat project that those of us who knit and crochet could do. It turns out that Lion Brand launched an anti-bullying campaign in 2018 called "Hats Not Hate."  Read more …

Pax, Deacon Lynn 

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Deacon's corner

The time has come, pandemic or no pandemic. We are revving up for America’s bizarre ritual: the ridiculously long presidential campaign. The ads have started. The speeches are being given. Promises are being made. Some truths are spoken. Some lies are told. Nasty words and accusations about candidates abound. We must endure all this until the day when we hope to make our choice (assuming this year that we have an election where people can vote freely). How do we decide? For some of us the choice will be easy; for others, maybe a bit harder? One way to explore this is to look at our faith tradition. I am taking a course at OLLI ( Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Temple) now and my first class was about King David. We probably know what a complex king he was, although Judaism and then Christianity pretty much put him on a pedestal, extolling his virtues. When Israel was asking God for a king, the qualities required by God for a king were written in Deuteronomy 17:14-17. One author summarizes the biblical requirements to be a king. A Godly leader must: fear God (be humble), uphold justice (have integrity, compassion, impartiality), have wisdom (to make sound and moral decisions), be truthful and have self-control. There you have it. So when you hear speeches, watch ads, read about candidates you can try to see if any candidates measure up to God’s desires for a leader. I think prayer will be very helpful now. Pray hard; pray like the future of this country is at stake, because it is.

Pax,

Deacon Lynn

Worship leaders 6.28.20

9:00

Story: Rachel

Tech: David

Officiants: Donna, Rachel

10:30

Readers: Tom, Uli

Prayers: John K

Preacher: Donna Maree

June



6 Remi C

8 Judith P

9 Miriam B

17 Ian MacMoran

28 James Warden

Worship

Zoom LINK for prayer gatherings Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday.

 

Sundays : 9:00 children ages 0-7 and their families

10:30 everyone welcome; hymns led by the TMC choir, prayers, sermon, coffee hour, all on Zoom

Wednesdays 9:00 Morning Coffee & Prayer

Thursdays 5:30 Evening Prayer

Prayer is the most powerful tool we have when we can't be there personally for friend or stranger ...

Please pray healing and suppor t especially for: Mark, Sarah W, Sasha, Shirley, Bill, Travis, Luca, Sallie & Jim W., Jack & Katie & Brad, Mike and Sandy, Lynn, Andrea, Susan W., Myriam & Eldridge, Peter, Bobby, Tim, Barbara & Roger, Corinne, Kate, Richard, Chris

Grace for those who have died and all who mourn

Stamina and creativity for all essential workers, especially teachers, clerks, IT professionals, trash collectors, medical personnel, delivery, bankers, restaurant employees ...

Our building is closed but the church is still open!

We continue to pray together and worship by moving our services online. We are also keeping our staff employed, repairing and readying for building rentals and and all activity to resume.

While our physical gathering is limited please do not neglect to provide for the work of the church with your financial contributions.

 You may send a check in the mail, make a direct payment through your banking online platform or click on the button to go directly to our secure online service.