8/24/2020 UUFJC is holding a fundraiser selling masks.  These were made by a Jefferson City business.  We are selling them for $10 each.  You can order via call or email to a board member, or contact Katherine Connor at connok510@gmail.com.  We will arrange pick-up or delivery.  Please specify which mask(s) you would like when ordering.

8/17/2020 Please take our survey to help us plan how to meet during this pandemic:UUFJC In-Person & Online Meeting Survey This Sunday, our own Rev. Nancy TannerThies joined us for a Zoom service exploring Bewilderment.  Bewilderment is a common experience in these uncommon times, indeed a universal experience in any time, though we may try…

8/10/2020 This Sunday, we were happy to welcome back Rev. Mike Adamek for his first online service with us.  Rev. Mike focused on the history of Unitarian Universalist Fellowships like ours — congregations formed by lay people coming together, not led by a professional minister.  UUs in general value individual freedom, and in Fellowships this…

4/26/2020 Our May newsletter and print calendar are now ready to view or download:NewsletterAppendix – Annual Meeting Agenda (No print calendar this month) Note – some Zoom meeting IDs listed in the newsletter do not become active until after May 1st.See our other posts for links current this week.

4/26/2020 Our May newsletter and print calendar are now ready to view or download:NewsletterAppendix – Annual Meeting Agenda(No print calendar this month)Note – some Zoom meeting IDs listed in the newsletter do not become active until May.  See below for links current this week. This week, we did not have our own online services, but…

4/19/2020 This morning, we met in a virtual service via Zoom and heard from our own Rev. Nancy TannerThies.  Rev. Nancy shared the concept of “Acedia” — a mental or spiritual lassitude known to early Christian monks in their isolated devotions, a state that makes days stretch forever and every action feel pointless.  In our…

4/17/2020 We have new information since our weekly update: This Sunday we will have online services via Zoom with a message from Rev. Nancy TannerThies: Join Zoom Meetinghttps://zoom.us/j/92256965406?pwd=bEN0T0xpOVdzVVk1dm5QMzZ3Mythdz09 Meeting ID: 922 5696 5406Password: 000413One tap mobile+13126266799,,92256965406#,,#,000413# US (Chicago)+16465588656,,92256965406#,,#,000413# US (New York) Dial by your location+1 253 215 8782 US        +1 301 715…

4/12/2020 This morning, thanks to the work of our worship team, we at UUFJC were able to come together once again and observe our annual Flower Communion online via Zoom.  While we missed our usual ritual of bringing flowers together with their stems and petals in our hands, we shared images of flowers, reflections on…

4/10/2020 In a new development since our weekly update, we will be holding a virtual observance of our annual Flower Communion this Sunday, April 12th at 10:30 am.  We hope you can join us! Join Zoom Meetinghttps://zoom.us/j/854606889?pwd=RHlOYVN2aUQ4RCt1dTFjYzM2SnF1QT09 Meeting ID: 854 606 889Password: 080973​One tap mobile+13126266799,,854606889#,,#,080973# US (Chicago) Dial by your location        +1…

4/5/2020 This morning, we continued our revived Adult Forum with the occasional and always-beautiful poetry forum led by Bob Boldt.  Among the poems shared was this: In the Time of Pandemicby Kitty O’Meara  And the people stayed home. And they read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art, and played games, and…

12/29/2019 Our January Calendar is now available to view or download:UUFJC January 2020 Calendar.Our January newsletter has been delayed due to the holidays and will be available next Sunday.

12/29/2019 Our January Calendar is now available to view or download: UUFJC January 2020 Calendar.Our January newsletter has been delayed due to the holidays and will be available next Sunday. Today, for our last Sunday service of 2019, we observed our annual ritual of letting go. Our usual fire ceremony was unavailable, and this time…

12/22/2019 his morning, Alexis continued our month of reflections on Awe. Awe, she pointed out, is a word for a feeling that often goes beyond what words can express. As such, rather than a typical sermon, Alexis led us in making small strings of beads as a sensory aid to focusing on presence and intention.…

12/15/2019 From our Vice President: Due to the weather forecast, which is calling for significant snowfall amounts, I’m going to go ahead and cancel service this morning, December 15. Although the snow hasn’t started yet [at time of writing], all the forecasts I’ve checked are saying it will begin sometime this morning and I don’t…

12/15/2019 Our services were canceled today due to the weather — Nature took its turn at putting us in Awe of its power. While we missed out on a sermon from Rev. Nancy TannerThies, she shares these words: Kathleen Vohs writes:“Awe is quite threatening in certain ways, and something that is challenging and unwelcome [it]can…

12/8/2019 This morning, Alexis continued our month of reflections on Awe with a story from the Hebrew Bible: the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the Fiery Furnace (Daniel, chapter 3). Faced with the glorious spectacle of an occupying empire and even with the full threat of its violence, these characters still remained true…

12/1/2019 This morning, Rev. Mike Adamek joined us to open our month of reflections on Awe. Often we feel a wonderment that we label “awe” from the sense experience of overwhelming reality or from the dawning of knowledge, but Rev. Mike argued that true awe requires the wisdom to appreciate the power of what we’re…

11/24/2019 Our December Newsletter and Print Calendar are ready. Paper copies are available at the Fellowship, and electronic copies are available to view or download: NewsletterCalendar

11/24/2019 Our December Newsletter and Print Calendar are ready. Paper copies are available at the Fellowship, and electronic copies are available to view or download:NewsletterCalendar This morning, Alexis helped us conclude our month of reflection on Attention and celebrate our annual Bread Communion. We often find our attention drawn to fleeting things, whether it’s the…

11/17/2019 This morning, Rev. Nancy TannerThies continued our month of reflections on Attention, and she shared a story she was told about her childhood, that she would stand in the backyard of her family’s home in a wind-swept part of the country, shaking her small fists and crying “Stop it, Wind! Stop it!” In these…

11/10/2019 This morning, we continued our month of focus on “Attention.” We UUs count among the Sources of our Living Tradition “Wisdom from the world’s religions which inspires us in our ethical and spiritual life.” As such, we are called to pay attention to the beliefs of others. To that end, this morning we enjoyed…

11/3/2019 This morning, Rev. Mike Adamek began our month of reflections on “Attention” with a message he described thus: “Ralph Waldo Emerson was a master at focusing our attention on what was worthy in a life well lived. We must celebrate the miracles in the mundane if we have ears to hear and eyes to…

11/3/2019 Apologies for lateness in giving this its own post… Our November Newsletter and Print Calendar are now ready. Paper copies are available at the Fellowship, and electronic copies are available to view or download:NewsletterCalendar

8/25/2019 Our September newsletter and print calendar are now ready to view or download:NewsletterCalendar

8/25/2019 This morning, we were joined by Doug Hill from First Unitarian Universalist Church of Springfield, Missouri.  Doug shared with us his philosophy of uncertainty.  Having emerged from decades in a fundamentalist cult to now identify as Agnostic, he pointed out that Agnosticism is not lazy shrugging or moral fence-sitting, but a principled commitment to truth…

8/18/2019 !This Sunday, Rev. Nancy TannerThies continued our month of reflections on “Invitation.”  What does it mean to make a deep invitation — to invite yourself, your whole self, and others into the moment?  Building on a reading about seeing a grizzly bear in the wild, Rev. Nancy pointed out that often we reduce our…

8/11/2019 This morning, Rev. Mike Adamek continued our month of exploring “Invitation.”  In his own words: I am speaking of invitation as an informal request not a command hidden as a request.  I am convinced that invitations happen all the time, yet they pass us by when we do not hear them as requests.  What…

8/4/2019 This Sunday, Alexis returned to begin our new month of reflections on “Invitation.”  Invitation, she said, is both a joy and a risk: every person, event, or idea that we invite in brings change to our lives.  Change means letting go of control, risking embarrassment and pain, but if we try to cling to…

6/30/2019 Our July newsletter and print calendar are ready!  Paper copies are available at the Fellowship in the wall box hear the coat rack.  Electronic copies are available to view or download:​NewsletterCalendar

6/30/2019 Our July newsletter and print calendar are ready!  Paper copies are available at the Fellowship in the wall box hear the coat rack.  Electronic copies are available to view or download:NewsletterCalendar This morning, our own Alexis wrapped up our month of reflection on Beauty and began introducing our theme for July: Resistance.  Citing Plato’s…

6/23/2019 This morning, despite the gray skies, we had a lovely service at Riverside Park Pavilion, where our own Alexis continued our month of reflections on Beauty.  Beauty, she said, has two meanings that are sometimes at odds with each other: that which gives pleasure to the senses, and that which pleasurably exalts the mind…

6/16/2019 It’s Rummage Sale time!  We are now accepting donations and setting up for our big sale, coming this Saturday, June 22nd, from 7 am to noon.  See below for more information. This Sunday, Rev. Nancy TannerThies continued our month exploring Beauty.  In grappling with what it means to be people of beauty, she was led…

6/9/2019 This week, we were joined by Rev. Michelle Scott-Huffman, formerly minister of Table of Grace here in Jefferson City, now a campus minister at Missouri State University in Springfield.  As Michelle pointed out, it’s often easier for us to talk about what’s ugly in life than to talk about its beauty.  Not only can…

6/2/2019 This morning, Rev. Mike Adamek returned to begin our month of reflections on Beauty.  Beauty, he said, goes deeper than what appeals to our senses and to our particular tastes; it is also tied to the conceptual world when ideas come together, and to ethical standards of truth and goodness.  Mere prettiness without understanding,…

9/24/2018 This Sunday, we continued our month of exploring Vision with a sermon via video from our wider UU Community.  Rev. Wendy Williams, senior minister of Jefferson Unitarian Church in Golden, Colorado, explored the idea of “Long Hauls.”  It’s famously said that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, and that…

9/17/2018 This Sunday, Rev. Nancy TannerThies continued our monthly theme of Vision with reflections on our blind spots.  When we envision the world we believe in and want, how can we see our way into the little corner of it that’s ours to create — and out of the little corner of the current world…

9/10/2018 ​This Sunday, we celebrated our annual Water Communion with reflections from recently-joined member Rita Dockery.  Rita highlighted how water binds all of life together, whether in the view from the sky that reveals our blue, watery planet and renders borders invisible, or in the knowledge that water is elemental to all life, residing in…

9/3/2018 This week, Rev. Mike Adamek made his monthly visit to our Fellowship and introduced our theme for September: Vision.  He gave thoughts on vision as our focus in life; how do we keep our eyes on the proverbial ball when tasks and distractions are constantly grabbing for our attention?  Rev. Mike challenged us to…

2/26/2018 Our March Newsletter and Calendar are now ready to view or download: NewsletterCalendar

2/26/2018 This Sunday, our own Alexis Engelbrecht wrapped up our month of reflections on “Perseverance” with a message about the balance of perseverance and discernment.  Some of the paths we need to follow are indeed hard and uncomfortable and call for us to carry on in the face of adversity.  However, our desire for mission…

2/10/2018 For the sake of everyone’s safety in this wintry weather, we have canceled our services for this Sunday, February 11th.Please stay safe and warm!

2/19/2018 Sunday morning we gathered again after last week’s unfriendly weather, and we continued our monthly theme of Perseverance with a message from Rev. Nancy TannerThies.  Nancy reminded us how challenging Perseverance can be in our daily lives — those of us who do crafts may have embarrassing stashes of “UFOs” (UnFinished Objects), but most…

2/12/2018 This weekend offered us a reminder that our monthly theme, Perseverance, does not mean moving forward no matter what.  Sustainable perseverance requires us to use discernment and care to keep ourselves and others safe and well. With that in mind, Sunday’s services were canceled due to the wintry weather and dangerous road conditions.  We hope that…

2/5/2018 Sunday morning, Rev. Mike Adamek began exploring our Soul Matters theme for this month: Perseverance, and he asked an important question.  How do you tell the difference between the virtue of Perseverance and not-so-virtuous stubbornness or obsession?  Easy answers are difficult to find.  It is wise to ask ourselves why we persist, what makes…

1/29/2018 Our February Newsletter and Calendar are now available to view or download: NewsletterCalendar

1/29/2018 Sunday morning, we finished our month of reflections on Intention with our annual Fire Communion.  In her message, Alexis reminded us of the primal nature of fire — these days many of us no longer have to feed a fireplace or keep a wick neatly trimmed to give light without smoke, but looking back…

1/22/2018 Amid Sunday morning’s beautiful weather, Rev. Nancy TannerThies continued exploring our monthly Soul Matters theme of “Intention.”  With the new year still fresh, Rev. Nancy reflected on the “split second” of transition that happens again in our lives.  We notice the transition from old year to new, but transitions can happen at any moment;…

1/15/2018 Sunday morning, your writer was snowed in yet again, and our invited speaker, seminarian Andy Grizzle, was also unable to make it.  We were able to have a good service, though, as Katherine Connor and Jim Davis offered readings in honor of Martin Luther King Day. Both honoring King’s legacy and inviting new speakers are…

1/8/2018 Sunday began our new monthly Soul Matters theme: Intention. Rev. Mike Adamek began the month with reflections about Intention and decisiveness, but unfortunately your writer wasn’t there due to the weather.  I’m not sure it amounted to as much as was feared, but at such times we all weigh our chances. In this season…

1/1/2018 Our January newsletter and print calendar are now available to view or download: NewsletterCalendar