rainbow    TJMC     Bulletin  
  Unitarian Universalist   December 2015
In This Issue:
December Theme
Worship Services

 Two services: 

9:15 & 11:15AM

  

  

Dec. 6
The Angels Tell Us Not to Fear
Dec. 13
The Giving Tree
Dec. 20
The Coming of the Sun
Dec. 24
Christmas Eve
Dec. 27
A Different Kind of Christmas Story
      
Click  HERE   for worship descriptions.
A Life in Faith

Pastoral Visitors

Year-Round Program

The Pastoral Visitors Program has been designed to complement the roles of the minister and the CareNet program, in providing a comprehensive ministry of pastoral care. It is a lay ministry of support and hope, offered by trained volunteers who offer a sustained caring presence for those who are members of the TJMC community (and their primary caregivers) who are experiencing crisis or stressful transitions. Contact:

pastoral@uucharlottesville.org

 

NatureSpirit  -   Second Sundays

Exploring Nature in spirituality. We are an open group, drop-ins are welcome. Check the Weekly Email and the This Sunday insert for updates. For more information: naturespirit@uucharlottesville.org.

 

Clear Spring Buddhist Fellowship Meditation

Wednesdays, 7 PM, Blue Room

meditation@uucharlottesville.org

  

CareNet

Year-Round Program

CareNet is our church's organized effort to help out with meals, rides, and other assistance for church members. Contact:  carenet@uucharlottesville.org
 

Christian Fellowship

uucf@uucharlottesville.org

UUCF is a welcoming place to explore your spirituality within a liberal Christian context. Gatherings may include, music, sermons, discussion, readings from the Bible, meditation, movement, sharing of joys and sorrows, food and drink, and they always include compassionate fellowship. All are welcome!

 

 

Midweek Worship Service 

Wednesdays at 11:45 AM to 12:30 PM led by Leia Durland-Jones. This is a simple, contemplative time incorporating our monthly ministry theme.  Please join us and let your soul be nourished. We meet on the outdoor labyrinth (weather permitting) or in the sanctuary. All are welcome. For more information, contact Leia,  leia@uucharlottesville.org or 293-8179 Ext. 3#).

Resources for Expectation Theme
By RevWik

Each month the folks involved in the Soul Matters program create a packet of resources to support both individual and congregation engagement with the month's theme question beyond the Sunday services.  As part of that packet they generate a number of questions, which individuals are encouraged to read through to see if there are any with which they particularly resonate.  These questions can be used as a focus in Covenant Groups, family dinner table conversation, and even in Coffee Hour!  Here are this month's:
 
As always, don't treat these questions like "homework." Instead, simply pick the one that "hooks" you most and let it lead you where you need to go.   
December Art Show
"Season of Light"
by our own TJMC community

Come view the works of art submitted by our very own talented artists in the TJMCUU Community. They will be on display in the Social Hall.
December Social Action Collection
Mental Health America
By Sue Hess

This has been a terrific year for our local Mental Health America organization. With support from community folks like you we are proud to have accomplished a number of significant achievements that strengthened our organization and expanded our programs. To do this, we started the year by seeking input from community stakeholders about current mental health needs and gaps in our area. From that assessment we revised our strategic plan and developed a Connections framework to better describe our work.

1.We connect people to people through peer support programs

2.We connect people to resources via our successful Community Navigator Program.

3.We connect resources to resource as we convene stakeholders and foster collaboration.
 
CoM photo
Committee on the Ministry
Lisa Shutt, Doug Webbink, Beth Jaeger-Landis, Ruth Douglas, Cathey Polly, Katharine Maus
(RevWik is an ex officio member of the Committee but does not receive email that goes to that address.) 




Revwik

Expectation. 

Our theme for the month of December is the question, "What does it mean to be a people of expectation?"  December seems a pretty apt month to look at this.  The members of our community who identify in one way or another with the Christian tradition(s) know that Advent - the four weeks prior to Christmas - is a time of expectant waiting.  Others of us are expectantly waiting for Yule , the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year, which presages the return of the sun.  And for some of the younger ones in our community it's all about the presents, and the expectant waiting they must endure is almost unbearable. 

The word "expectation" is related to the word "expect," of course, which comes to us from Latin.  Expectare (or exspectare) means, "await, look out for; desire, hope, long for, anticipate; look for with anticipation."  And our theme for the month asks us to consider what it means to be a people of expectation.  What does it mean that we Unitarian Universalists are a people of expectation?

From The Board
By Laura Horn
 
Dear friends,
 
Thanks for coming to this column to read my reflections, and my best rendering of what I think you might want to know about the work of the board.  Remember that you can be in touch with me anytime at president@uucharlottesville.org
 
I write this as the board and staff return from a Friday night and Saturday work session with our UUA District Executive responsible for congregational Life.  We had engaged him-Reverend Kenn Hurto-to help us as we worked to improve the way this congregation experiences the ministry.  Kenn has served many UU congregations and is a recognized expert in congregational and leadership development.  We spent eight hours working together on how we lead, govern, communicate, assess and support the ministry and the board.  We left with better knowledge and tools, more practice working together effectively, and some good, practical suggestions. 
 
Inspiring All Souls Field Trip
By Sara Gondwe
 


All around the large Social Hall walls, large framed laminated posters were laid out in a time-line highlighting the racial history of the church.  After the service 6 adults attended a talk by Thomas B. Hargrave, Jr. the grandson of slaves and notable author.  His career as a YMCA professional covered a span of 41 years and included President and CEO of the YMCA of Metropolitan Washington for 19 years.  He was the first African American to head the 140 year old institution that serves eighteen metropolitan communities in the D.C. area and brought about many new creative programs, facilities and funding.  

TJMC member, Kelly Dryden, bought The Coming of Age Behind the Magnolia Curtain:  A Memoir of Thomas B. Hargrave, Jr. to give as a gift to her father in California as he also, at one time, had a career with the YMCA. Kelly then learned that her father knew about Mr. Hargrave. A new friendship between Mr. Dryden and Mr. Hargrave thus ensued via telephone.  A remarkable man, Mr. Hargrave just turned 90 years young!

TJMC Partner Churches Day
By Margaret Gorman

Did you know that outside of North America the largest populations of Unitarians in the world are in the Transylvania area of Romania and the Khasi Hills of North-east India? Did you know our congregation has partner churches in both of these regions?
 
As part of our Unitarian Universalist purpose of promoting equity and ending oppression, we engage in cultural exchange and provide financial support for our partners. The minister of our Partner Church in Oltheviz, Romania, Rev. Istvan Torok, visited our church not too many years ago with his wife Melinda and Daughter Karola. Our children in Religious Education wrote letters to the children in our partner church in Khasi, India last year.  However, interaction with our partners is infrequent and challenging because of their remote locations.


TJMC Partner Churches Day at Ten Thousand Villages
Sunday, December 6, 1-5pm
Some Thoughts About Stewardship
By RevWik
 
The holiday season can be a great time to practice stewardship.  Often we feel ourselves pushed and pulled in a hundred different directions, the weight of demands dragging behind us.  There is so much expectation - maybe even more free-floating expectation than there is Christmas muzak in the air.  There are a few hearty souls who are absolutely energized by all the holiday hullabaloo, yet many of us are more than a bit worn down when the new year rolls around.  And some of us find the seasonal celebrating not just draining but debilitatingly depressing.  (It can be hard to be bombarded with messages about "the joys of giving" when you feel you have neither joy nor anything to give.)

Although the word "stewardship," in church circles, is often equated with the annual pledge drive and a campaign to get people to give more of their time, talent, and treasure, the word actually refers to the function of a steward - a person or group who have been entrusted with the care of certain resources and ensuring that they be put to the best possible uses.  Understood this way, stewardship is not simply about giving more.  It is even more importantly about using our resources wisely.


A Note From the Committee on the Ministry
By RevWik on behalf of the CoM

As the holiday season is in full swing many of us are remembering (again) that it can sometimes be difficult for a family to be always loving, always pleasant, always in harmony.  Communication can be difficult, and sometimes you don't know whether to say something or to just let it go when another family member does something that bothers you.  (Others, of course, seem to have no problem saying what's on their mind - which isn't always a good thing!)  The same can be true of our church family.  A lot of different kinds of people make up TJMC and it's not always easy to get along with all of them.  We won't always agree all the time - with each other about what we doing as a congregation and how we're doing it.  The Committee on the Ministry exists in large part to be a safe place for people to go when they want to talk about something that isn't sitting right with them about something that's going on in the church.  (It's a great place to bring a list of the things you think are going great, too!)  

  Read more   

Strategic Plan Progress
By Karen Ransom, Breck Gastinger and RevWik

Greetings friends -
 
We are now nearly one and a half years into the current Strategic Plan, which was adopted by the Board in August of last year and affirmed by the congregation in September, 2014. We are pleased to report that tremendous collaborative efforts to create that plan continues to pay off as the Plan remains an important guiding document for your Board of Trustees and Staff. This year, not only did the Plan help guide the establishment of annual goals, it continues to provide the larger vision necessary towards strengthening the church we love.
 
The three primary goals of our Strategic Plan are: Expanding and Deepening our Spiritual Life, Strengthening our Connections, and Stewarding our Resources. The board and staff have engaged this plan not only in the overarching spirit, but also in detail - responding to specific objectives and initiatives referred to in the Plan. Links below can point you to each of these more detailed documents.