When I was in high school, our concert choir sang a piece that really moved me deeply. Every time we sang it, when we got to this one particular part, I would find myself tearing up. And not just whenever I was singing it, whenever I’ve listened to it since...
There is an event this Saturday called “Healing4Charlottesville.” It’s being organized by several area clergy, and is intended to be a time for prayerful, humble recognition of the need for healing in our community. Organizers say, “This is not a march against anything or anyone. It is us taking responsibility...
Within the TJMC community, we honor the unique gifts that we each bring to the congregation. Some of us are gifted musicians, others are skilled at committee work. Some have ample financial means to support the work of the church, and others a surplus of time to devote to program...
GerriAnne Huey discovered painting as a recovery tool in her mental health journey. “I didn’t begin with a passion for art — art found me. I believe that creativity began to grow in me at a time when I was going through a personal life challenge and beginning to crack;...
If Nikuyah Walker were a white man, rather than a woman of color, the article that appeared in The Daily Progress on Saturday, November 4, 2017 would have been quite different. We would have read about his passionate engagement with city officials. There might have been an acknowledgment that he...
This piece was written by Peter Walpole for worship on Sunday, October 22nd, 2017. This was the day we took part in the second UU White Supremacy Teach-In. In order to preserve the unity of the infant nation the Constitutional Convention agreed upon “the three fifths compromise.” Three fifths. The...
Henry David Thoreau wrote, “If you have made castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.” I cannot tell you how many people, over the years, have told me that they discovered Unitarian Universalism at some...
Dear TJMC-UU Community, The past months have seen tragedy after tragedy wearing at our everyday existence…Cville August 12, Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico and now Las Vegas. It would be easy to try to minimize, to compartmentalize and to just plain give up...
In the fall we will be examining and exploring issues of identity. Each month within the season we’ll use a different image to help shape our journey of discovery. For October, the image is “roots.” If you want to continue, and deepen, your personal exploration beyond Sunday mornings, here are...
