-This “Season of Giving” Many non-profits note an increase in charitable contributions during the month of December.  Some attribute it to a desire to increase charitable giving before the tax year ends.  Others say that in this “season of giving” people’s hearts and minds are more attuned to need.  For...

I recently heard the idea that there is about a three to four week window of time during which the white left will be highly motivated.  Although people of color have been telling us for decades about the country we live in, Donald Trump’s victory shocked and stunned a lot...

One of our members, Laura Wallace, wrote to me a few days before the election to express these thoughts.  They are all the more pertinent now, after it.  The Talk of TJMC was created to be an avenue for communication within (and beyond) our community — a place for people...

In response to the protests following the election of, now, President-elect Trump I have heard two assertions over and over again. The first is that Donald Trump was elected “fair and square” and is the legal President. The second is that the election of other Presidents has caused a portion...

There are no true stories; we are making up every one of them. (Pema Chodron) There are only true stories. We are discovering the truth in them. (Christina Baldwin) This month our theme question asks us to consider what it means to be “a community of story.”  This is not...

To help with your own exploration of this month’s theme question – what does it mean to be a community of story? – here are some questions you can contemplate.  As always, don’t treat these questions like “homework” or a list that needs to be covered in its entirety. Instead,...

Here we are just having passed Halloween, which is also All Souls Day and Dio de los Muertos.  These holidays serve both culturally and spiritually as a time to reflect on those who have died.  Which usually brings up feelings about how we are going on without them.  So, in...

During the 1990’s, some women from TJMC-UU saw that low-income women in the Charlottesville area did not have the option of choosing abortion even though this essential health service was available to women with adequate income. Because of their strong belief in social justice and UUA Principles such as “the...

This month the theme the congregation is exploring is “what does it mean to be a community of story?”  Often in congregational life there are stories that are told which come to define the community.  “We never have enough and we’re always scraping by.”  “Nobody cares about <insert the name...

I went to bed early last night, fully confident that what has happened couldn’t possibly happen.  But it did.  And now we — as individuals and as a nation — have to live with it. For many of us, this outcome has been inconceivable.  We never truly imagined that it...