February 27, 2018

Dear Members and Friends of TJMC-UU,

The following anonymous note was discovered on Monday in her office mailbox by Christina Rivera, our Director of Administration & Finance:

This racist act is unacceptable. As Presidents of the Board of Trustees, Lead Minister, and Director of Faith Development, we are outraged. Let us be perfectly clear–this will not be tolerated in our congregation.

In light of this, we feel that it would be disingenuous to go forward with the celebration of TJMC’s 75th anniversary on Wednesday evening. We have instead decided to organize a worship service to allow us to gather and begin confronting what has happened and what it says about white supremacy in our congregation.

This service will begin at 6:15pm, and be the only event taking place that evening. Childcare will be provided. Family time and the shared dinner will be postponed until the 75th anniversary celebration is rescheduled.

Also, please know that you can reach out to Rev. Wik, Rev. Alex, or Leia.

In faith,
Adam Slate, President
Colleen Anderson, President-Elect
Karen Ransom, Past-President
Erik Wikstrom, Lead Minister
Leia Durland-Jones, Director of Faith Development

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TJMC Covenant Statement

In order to create the beloved community we all desire for ourselves, we, the Congregation of Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church Unitarian Universalist covenant to:

• Communicate with compassion and respect, especially when we disagree
• Celebrate diversity and nurture our inclusivity,
• Promote social justice within our congregation and the larger community,
• Generously support the ministries of the church with time, money and enthusiasm, and
• Lovingly call each other back into covenant when we have fallen short.