Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church - Unitarian Universalist

Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church - Unitarian Universalist

Friday E-Mail News           April 15, 2011

Stewardship Campaign News

Thank you to everyone (all 257 families!) who have made a pledge towards this year’s Stewardship Campaign. As of 4/14/11 we have received $387,479 in pledges. Our goal is $425,000. As we take the next steps on our journey as a congregation, it is time to commit to our future which has never looked brighter! If you have not already done so, please go online and do that today by clicking here or by going to our website uucharlottesville.org. Thank you!

9:15 AM + 11:15 AM Services

April 17, Sunday: Sermon - Nothing Else Matters, Rev. Erik Walker Wikstrom. After a week of meetings, and dinners, and hors d’oeuvres, and social hours, Rev. Erik Walker Wikstrom will again offer reflections to the TJMC community – this time on the idea that nothing else matters as much as what we do together in religious community. (And not only religious community generally but also, specifically and particularly, in this religious community here in Charlottesville.) Our Adult Choir will be accompanied by many of our talented members and friends with a string quintet, flute, and percussionists during the special musical offering “Adiemus.”

Religious Education for Children and Youth

Four year-olds through fifth graders begin the Sanctuary for the first part of the service and then will be escorted to their RE classes. The two and three year-olds, Neighboring Faith and Riddle and Mystery classes will meet as usual. YRUU will attend the worship service at 11:15 AM after enjoying a baby shower for YRUU advisor John Semmelhack (and wife Amy and new baby Hazel) beginning at 10 AM in Summit House. The COA class is making lunch for the congregation following the second service — ya’ll come eat! (Adults $7, children $5)

Church This Week.

April 15, Friday: RE Pot Luck with Rev. Erik, 6 PM, Social Hall. All are welcome but this event is especially for families with children and youth in the Religious Education program. We will eat from 6-7 PM and then have question and answer time with Rev. Erik from 7-7:30 PM. Child care will be provided. Families whose last names begin with the letter A-M are asked to bring side dishes, salads or appetizers. Families whose last names begin with the letter N-Z are asked to bring a main dish. Dessert will be provided by the Children and Youth Religious Education Committees.

April 17, Sunday: Parking. Overflow parking for second service will be available at Culbreth Parking Garage. Unload your passengers at the Church, then drive south down Rugby to the garage (on the right). A TJMC-UU shuttle, sporting a purple T-shirt banner and driven by a gracious volunteer will bring you back up the hill, and drive you back after the Congregational Meeting.

April 17, Sunday: Social Action Collection: Blue Ridge Abortion Assistance Fund. Blue Ridge Abortion Assistance Fund (BRAAF) helps women of central Virginia have reproductive choice – trusting the inherent worth and dignity of every woman’s right of individual conscience in decision-making. Established 1990, the fund has involved several members of TJMC, based on a belief that being poor should not prevent women from exercising constitutional and reproductive rights. As part of a national network of funds, volunteers screen recipients and provide funds directly to clinics. For more information: BRAAF, P.O. Box 5082, Charlottesville, VA 22905, or 963-0669.

April 17+24, Sundays: Environmental Action Table, After Services, Social Hall. Sign-up to bring a food item for our Sunday, May 8, Mother Earth Brunch and to register for a carpooling buddy for our Sunday, May 15, Carpool Challenge.

April 17, Sunday: Congregational Luncheon, 12:30 PM, Social Hall with proceeds benefitting the Coming of Age class pilgrimage in June. Come have a quick, nutritious, delicious meal prior to the congregational meeting. (Adults $7, children $5)

April 17, Sunday: Congregational Meeting, 1 PM, Sanctuary. Please mark your calendars and save the date for this meeting where we will vote to call our new minister.

April 17, Sunday: PAUN, 3 PM, Social Hall. Peace Action - United Nations is hosting the United Nations Association monthly meeting. The speaker is UVA Professor Michael Smith, speaking on “United Nations Peacekeeping.”

April 18, Monday: Auction Bid Sheets Available. Auction Bid Sheets go up in the Social Hall for artwork, selected services, and fixed price dinners and events. More items, services and dinners will go up for bid on Auction night. We are going green this year! Check out the complete catalog online at uucharlottesville.org, and register for your bidding paddle number by contacting auction@uucharlottesville.org or stopping by the auction table on Sunday, April 24.

April 19-May 17, Tuesdays: AFD: The Great Ideas of Psychology, 1 PM, Parlor. Fee: $2 a class. To register contact Leia Durland-Jones at leiadj@embarqmail.com.

April 19, Tuesday: UUppity Women, 7:30 PM, Offsite. We will attend the Charlottesville Municipal Band concert at PVCC at 8 PM. Doors open at 7:30 PM. Arrive early so we can sit together. Email uuppities@uucharlottesville.org.

April 20, Wednesday: Social Action Collection Applications Due. Applications to receive a Social Action Collection during the 2011-2012 Program Year are due to the Social Action Council Chair by Wednesday, April 20. Application forms are available on the TJMC website (www.uucharlottesville.org). Go to the Members Area, click on Policy Manual, and scroll down to pages 82-83 to get a copy of the form. All applications should be submitted electronically to socialaction@uucharlottesville.org or dershimer@embarqmail.com. No late applications will be considered. The Social Action Council will meet on Tuesday, April 26, to select recipients for 2011-2012.

April 21+28, Thursdays: Active Minds, 1 PM, Parlor.

April 21+28, Thursdays: Adult Choir Rehearsal, 6:45 PM, Parlor. We invite you to participate in the rehearsals for music to be shared during Erik’s service April 17 and for Easter April 24.

April 21, Thursday: UU Christian Fellowship, 7 PM, Summit 1. On Maundy Thursday we will hold our annual Agape service, celebrating the Last Supper. The service, led by Dick Abrams, will be the one used for a number of years, adapted from “Hymns of the Spirit” by Paul Russell. Singing the folk song from India “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus” by Albert Leroy Stevens will also be featured.

April 23, Saturday: UU Christian Fellowship, Labyrinth Walk, 4 PM, Outdoor Labyrinth. There will be an outdoor Labyrinth walk weather permitting.

April 24, Sunday: Sermon - So Much in Bud, Easter Sunday, Multigenerational Flower Ceremony, Rev. Dr. Janet Newman and Leia Durland-Jones, DRE. Janet’s homily is titled, “So Much in Bud,” after a poem by Denise Levertov. Please bring flowers for our flower ceremony. The Sanctuary will be decorated with lilies given in honor of or in memory of relatives or friends. The listing of these gifts will be in the Order of Service. After the second service the donors are encouraged to take their lilies; those not claimed will be distributed on Monday to others from TJMC. The Adult Choir will sing an uplifting anthem.

April 24, Sunday: UU Christian Fellowship, Easter Service, 9:15 AM, Summit Room 1. Rev Tony Perrino will lead this service. His subject will be “My Encounters with The Risen Christ.” At about 10:30 AM, after our service, we will be joined by those from the service in the Sanctuary in the Remembrance Garden for our “sunrise” communion service, with Tony leading. The communion set was given to TJMC by a member of the Richmond UU Church a few years ago and has been used for Communion Services since then.

April 24, Sunday: Auction Pre-Bidding. Auction Pre-bidding continues in the Social Hall for selected items.  See the complete auction catalog online at uucharlottesville.org.

April 24, Sunday: Green Sanctuary, After Services, Social Hall. Car Pooling Challenge Buddy Sign Ups.

Church Notes & Requests for Help

CareNet Request: Can you help with a meal for a mother with three children? She has recently had surgery and her husband has been deployed to Iraq. If so, please go to www.takethemameal.com and look for Briana Tillman. The password is TJMC. http://www.takethemameal.com/meals.php?t=HKKB8662&welcome=1. Meals are needed through Friday, April 29. If you are willing to provide additional assistance please email carenet@uucharlottesville.org. If you prefer, call Cathy Lawder at 564-2452.

Summer Book Sale: We are ready to accept used books for our annual summer book sale. You may leave them in the Summit House kitchen alcove, on the Summit front porch or inside the Summit front door. Please give textbooks, encyclopedias, magazines or older computer how-to’s or reference books to Gordon Avenue Library. We thank you for supporting this summer event. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Jean Newland at 962-9676 or kipandjean@gmail.com

Spring Cleaning Alert! As you are cleaning out your garage, attic, basement, closets, and kitchen miscellaneous drawers, keep in mind the TJMC Back-to-School Yard Sale Extravaganza scheduled for Saturday, August 20. Please set aside those “treasures” of excess furniture, household items, toys, books, DVDs and CDs for our sale. Limited pre-sale storage space is available if needed. If you have any questions, please write to yardsale@uucharlottesville.org.

Easter Memorial Lilies: The UUCF is arranging for the church to be decorated with lilies for Easter Sunday, April 24. The cost per lily will be $12. Donations can be made to Jackie Olshefski or Jean Newland in the Social Hall after the services. If this is not convenient, please call Eleanor May at 295-7624. The names of the givers and those to be memorialized or honored should be specified on the check as “TJMC – Easter Lilies.”

Do you receive our Religious Education newsletter with weekly highlights and information about what is happening in our Children and Youth Religious Education program? You do not need to have children in the program to be added to the mailing list. Contact Leia Durland-Jones, DRE, at leiadj@embarqmail.com.

The Children’s RE program is making care packages for US Troop members connected to our congregation and serving in Afghanistan. We are seeking donations of travel-sized baby wipes, laundry soap, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, hand sanitizer, sun block, etc. For a complete list of items to donate, see the collection box in the Edgewood Lane hallway or visit the church website at uucharlottesville.org. Last day to donate items is Easter Sunday April 24.

Ink cartridges needed! Please bring your used ink cartridges to the office of KaeRenae Mitchell, Director of Music. We need to buy folders and supplies for the Adult Choir and this helps us. Thank you for the many contributions. Please keep them coming.

Registration for the 2011-2012 Religious Education Program for Children and Youth begins soon as does registration for our summer “TJMC SUUper Sunday Summer Camp with Dr. Suess.” Watch your email and the TJMC webpage for more details!