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 of a particular committee or program>.”  If you’ve been around TJMC for any length of time you can no doubt think of such stories.  A curious dimension to this phenomenon is that a story can persist long past whatever event(s) gave rise to it have been addressed and corrected.  Once a story takes hold, it can be hard to change, even when the reality of things has.

One reason for this is that often people sometimes share a particular narrative amongst themselves, and are not in conversation with others who might offer different perspectives and experiences.  This can lead to the reflection that “people are saying …,” an idea that can take on a life of its own and create a sense of how things are that the reality of things might not support.

The Committee on the Ministry offers one partial corrective.  You – and everyone — are encouraged to share with the Committee your stories of TJMC – the good and bad of your experiences.  In this way, where the issue is one of perception there can be an opportunity for new realities to be voiced that might give rise to new narratives.  And when the story being told is one that needs to be addressed, a response becomes possible in a way that it isn’t when the story is being shared only “in the parking lot.”

If you have a story that you think needs to be more widely shared, you can email the Committee at com@uucharlottesville.org. If you want to talk with a person face-to-face, our Committee on the Ministry for the 2015-2016 church year consists of Doug Webbink, Ruth Douglas, Katharine Maus, Lisa Shutt, Beth Jaeger-Landis, and Cathey Polly.   The Committee meets on the third Monday of each month to take what we’ve heard and consider how best (and who best) to respond.  RevWik is an ex officio member.

–RevWik on behalf of the Committee