November 2020 Dear Friends, The season of thanks is upon us and although these are challenging times, there is still much to hold in our minds and hearts with gratitude. However you are marking Thanksgiving Day this year—whether with those in your immediate household or with friends and family over...
Greetings, to all who are a part of the TJMC community! I am thrilled to begin my ministry with you, and I thank all those (staff and lay leaders) who have offered me welcome. Getting to know as many of you as possible will be an early goal of my...
Leia Durland-Jones, Director of Faith Development Last Saturday May 2 was World Labyrinth Day! The church’s Labyrinth Ministry often joins this annual celebration by holding a walk on our outdoor labyrinth. This year, we could not gather. The pandemic, of course, altered our plans as well as the plans of...
Dear Friends, What is happening: In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Board Executive Committee and Senior Staff have decided to suspend all church use until April 26th, 2020. This decision comes after consultation with medical professionals from within our congregation; review of information from the CDC; consideration of the...
Seasons Greetings from the TJMC Board of Trustees! The Board of Trustees has been in deliberation over the future of the church’s ministry for the past several weeks. We have tried to keep the congregation apprised of our discussions and debates as best as we can through email updates, Congregational...
This is the text of the entire service held Wednesday evening, February 28, 2018. It was to have been a service celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the Founding of the Congregation — there was to have been a time for families together, a community dinner, a service of celebration, and …...
On Sunday, November 3rd, 2017, I spoke with the some of the children of our congregation. Of course, the adults were welcomed to listen in, too. I told them a story — about getting lost on a hike and what it was that “grounded” me during that ordeal. I also...
Nearly every religious tradition we humans have ever developed has had some way of describing the concept of there being a true, authentic self (who we really are), and a false self (who we are conditioned to appear to be). There are different terms used for these two states of...
In our worship life for the past several years we have participated in a program called “Soul Matters.” Developed at First Unitarian Church in Rochester, NY, Soul Matters provides monthly themes as a way to help focus worship so as to correct the all-too frequent model of jumping around week-to-week...
This is the text of a Letter to the Editor I wrote for my local paper, The Daily Progress, in response to an editorial they published prior to the events of August 12th, 2017. When studying the causes of WWI in junior high, my teacher said that the assassination of...