Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church - Unitarian Universalist

If there is one word I feel as I prepare to leave Charlottesville, it is “gratitude.” I have been honored to have been your Interim Minister during this period of transition at TJMC, UU. I thank the leadership for the work we have done together on the Interim tasks. I thank the Interim Committee, the Councils and the Committee for the work we have done together. I thank the staff for their dedication and commitment to this church. I thank Tony Perrino for his assistance with Pastoral Care, for his wisdom and his preaching.

My plans are to be in Tennessee with Marti this summer. I will spend a few days in Atlanta to meet with the leadership there, and find an apartment.  There will be some vacation time, and a visit to St. Louis with my family. The third week in July will be the Southeast UU Summer Institute at Radford University. I hope to see many of you there. I begin my work with the Northwest UU Congregation on August 15.

I leave Charlottesville feeling TJMC, UU is in good hands with a wonderful Interim Minister, Janet Newman, and strong leadership from the Board and the Councils.

I know your new Search Committee will be successful and TJMC, UU has a bright future.

Rev. Dr. Morris W. Hudgins

Interim Minister

When I signed a contract with the Board of TJMC—UU in 2008, I agreed that I would not serve as Interim Minister for more than two years. Well, that two years is up this summer. I have signed a similar contract with the Northwest Congregation of Atlanta, GA. You will be welcoming a new Interim, The Rev. Dr. Janet Newman. I have known Janet for many years. This is not a new experience for either of us. Janet followed me as Interim in Raleigh, NC. She can probably tell you all of my flaws. You will have a lot to talk about. She is one of the Interims I have admired for many years. She has done mostly one-year interims, now approaching twenty years. She is familiar with Virginia, having made the decision to enter the ministry while living and working in Northern Virginia, then later served as Interim in Williamsburg, VA.

I will be leaving Charlottesville on Sunday, June 20. Marti has already moved to Tennessee. She will spend the next couple of months recovering from her knee replacement surgery on Monday, May 17. I spent a week with her. She was also assisted by her daughters who each spent a week in TN. During the summer we will spend some time with my relatives in St. Louis, then in Atlanta, finding a place to live, meeting with the Northwest leadership, and staff, then settling into our apartment. We will again be visiting our home in TN on a monthly basis. After this next Interim I plan to retire, do some writing and play some golf. In 2012 I will celebrate my fortieth year in the ministry.

My next and last column in the Newsletter will include some of my final evaluation of this Interim Ministry. We all know we have faced some challenges together. I am truly proud of what we have accomplished together. I will close with some words by Johnsmith in a song titled, “So Here’s to You”:

How soon we have come to know each other. . .

And now we part as friends who care.

So may it be.

Rev. Dr. Morris W. Hudgins

Interim Minister

293-8179 extension 1#

minister@uucharlottesville.org

I learned many years ago that it takes three months for me to say “Goodbye” to a congregation-no more, no less. I once took six months and found it was too long. Three months seems to be just right.

If I am correct, then I should begin the process. You will notice I have scheduled services on the theme of “Letting Go” and “The Tear Cup.” They will help me with the process. Some of you have also been saying, “Thank you” and “I will miss you.” I will miss you as well. Some of the things I will miss are:

• Seeing how your leadership keeps moving forward, complet ing important tasks, looking to a brighter future.
• Taking part in the many activities of the church, things that create “The Beloved Community,” i.e., Covenant Groups, Active Mind, spirited young people, staff working together, far reaching social action, sharing meals. The list could go on.
• Sunday worship-the wonderful music, the many responses to sermons.
• New Member Orientations
• UU History Classes and “Sharing Your Spiritual Journey.”
• Important rituals that signify the changes of our lives.

 You are an amazing congregation because you are wonderful people. One of the things I will cherish is the memory of Carolyn Silver presenting a poem from memory at Active Minds. She recently presented A.E. Housman’s Loveliest of Trees:

Loveliest of trees, the cherry now Is hung with bloom along the bough, And stands about the woodland ride Wearing white for Eastertide.

Now, of my threescore years and ten, Twenty will not come again, And take from seventy springs a score, It only leaves me fifty more.

And since to look at things in bloom Fifty springs are little room, About the woodlands I will go To see the cherry hung with snow.

For me, it is three score and almost four. So I guess I have much less than fifty. Whatever it is, I appreciate Housman’s message, to do more than carpe diem. He encourages us to enjoy this season, especially the cherry blossoms, not only in spring but also in winter.

I will miss Charlottesville in the springtime. I will miss the mountains so close.

I must confess, I will not miss the snow shoveling required this winter. But I will miss the trees “hung with snow.” I will miss the many Obama signs.

As I say “good-bye” I will look forward to a slower pace in the coming years, more time for reflection and writing, working in the yard and playing more golf. My hope is to work part-time next year.

I thank all of you at TJMC-UU for this time I have had with you. It has been an honor to serve you during this interim time. I am not yet finished. I have much to do in the coming three months. But I want you to know this process of leave-taking takes time-and that time has begun.

Rev. Dr. Morris W. Hudgins

 Interim Minister

293-8179 extension 1#  

Thomas Jefferson District Board has proposed a name change for the District. This decision will be made at the Annual Meeting of the District on April 30-  May 1 at the Penn Center on St. Helena Island, near Beaufort, South Carolina. There will be Town Hall Meetings scheduled online to participate in this discussion. You can see the details at the District website at tjdistrict.org. If you are interested in being a delegate at the meeting, please see Pam Philips. See information on the meeting and online events.

Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church, UU will be able to vote on this issue. We will have a “Conversational Conversation” on this issue following the 11:15 AM service on Sunday,    April 11 an 18. A straw poll will be taken at the end of this meeting. Everyone is welcome.

The proposed name-change by the District Board are:

• Atlantic Southeast District
• Towne-Jordan District
• Toward Justice District
• Other names proposed

A summary of these proposed names will be given at the “Congregational Conversation.” We hope you will join us.

Rev. Dr. Morris W. Hudgins

Interim Minister

293-8179 extension 1#

minister@uucharlottesville.org

One of my colleagues, Marlin Lavanhar, Senior Minister in Tulsa, Oklahoma, writes:

Spirituality and religion are different. Religion is communal and is rooted in traditions, values and practices of a community. Spirituality, on the other hand, is pers onal and involve s an individual’s own cultivation of his or her connection to something larger than himself or herself.

 I recently shared this with the Active Minds. I have learned this year that this is a group of individuals who have a respect for both spirituality and religion. They do community very well. I asked them how they nourish their spiritual lives. Their answers were varied and interesting. They ranged from gardening to painting, from reading and memorizing poetry, to golf, riding horses or learning new things about the origins of the universe, from listening to music to saying a rosary of words, such as self, others, health, beauty, truth and love.

My particular spiritual paths are poetry, music and golf. They nourish my spirit and heal my soul. I recently turned down an opportunity to play golf in Florida because I was scheduled to preach at TJMC. On a cold, February night, in Charlottesville, after two cancelled services, ten more inches of snow, and a power outage, I made a fire in the fireplace, huddled up in a blanket, listened to music, and dreamed of being in Florida. I woke up the next morning, shoveled snow (a substitute spiritual path for me), and then called Marti who was stranded in Denver because the Dulles airport was closed. I longed for her return. Maybe it would be on Valentine’s Day.

I will take these memories of Charlottesville with me. I will also remember the respect for community that is so present here, a communal spirit that is rooted in the traditions, values and practices of TJMC-UU. As winter comes to an end and spring emerges, I hope we will all remember this winter, the days we could not get to church, or nourish our spirit in our usual ways, but had to explore different avenues, and reach out to our neighbors we do not usually see. We did survive and are stronger in spite of it all. Hope to see you in church.

Rev. Dr. Morris W. Hudgins

Interim Minister

293-8179 extension 1#

 minister@uucharlottesville.org