Author: pastorkaren21

Uncategorized, Worship

What Do You Fear? Insisting on Hope this Advent

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Join us this Advent as we insist on hope in the face of fear.

We will again be inspired by the beautiful art, poetry, liturgy, and music from our friends at A Sanctified Art. You can pick up one of their beautiful devotionals in the sanctuary or check out the Midweek update for a link to an e-reader version of the devotional.

And plan to join us for some special gatherings throughout the season of Advent.

Dec. 7 is our annual Advent Fair with crafts and activities for all ages and a vendor fair from some of our local artisans to help with your holiday shopping.

Every Wednesday at 7 PM, our Contemplative Evening Prayer group will have time for quiet, prayer, and reflection.

Dec. 17th, the Contemplative Evening Prayer will include our annual Longest Night Service.

Dec. 24th at 5 PM is our Christmas Eve Candle Light Service.

Dec. 28th, the Sunday after Christmas, we will have a relaxed, Breakfast Church service. Bring a breakfast item to share. We will gather around tables instead of in rows and share conversation instead of a sermon.

Jan. 4th, we will continue our tradition of choosing Star Words for the coming year. If you still know where your card is from last year, bring it with you for a time of reflecting on the year behind us and looking forward to the New Year.

Uncategorized, Worship

Stewardship Sunday

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This Fall, we have been talking about what it means to come to the table of hospitality, love, joy, peace, and grace, both as people who are invited and as people who extend that hospitality to others.

When we celebrate communion at Sojourners, we talk about how we practice an “open table,” which means everyone, everyone, everyone is welcome. We don’t always live this out perfectly, but this is a central value of our congregation and a calling we try to live out as followers of Jesus.

In these difficult times for our country, we continue to work on building a church that follows this call to love and justice from God. We do this in all the ways we give to the church and to our community, in all the ways we show up, speak out, and invite folks in, and in all the ways we pray and care for one another.

After two weeks of hosting our unhoused neighbors in our sanctuary, we return to worship together and come to the table of thanks. It’s a Sunday to rejoice in and give thanks for this church, this community of seekers, where all are welcomed and loved. A Sunday to celebrate the witness, service, and faithfulness that this church strives to demonstrate in this world. And a Sunday to bless the pledges we each make to financially support the mission of this church.

Every pledge, large or small, is a gift, and we give thanks for all our gifts.

You can make your 2026 pledge here on our website.

Pledge Now
JAM, SAM

R.G. Bryant Monacan Scholarship Fund

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We are once again supporting the R.G. Bryant Monacan Scholarship Fund. The scholarship helps financially support students from the Monacan Indian Nation who are pursuing higher education. This year they were able to award $30,000 in scholarships to Monacan students. Let’s help them be able to award even more next year!


Tribal member Sally Latimer has this to say about the scholarship fund:
The R.G. Bryant Monacan Scholarship Fund has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years, entirely due to the efforts of board members, tribal members, and contributors who wish to see the vision of the Monacan people and R.G. Bryant come to fruition: that tribal members have a chance at the education that was denied to generations of Monacans before us. The Scholarship Fund helps students with tuition, books, and computers as they attend higher learning institutes as diverse as University of Virginia, Dartmouth, William and Mary, University of Lynchburg and several Virginia Community Colleges to name a few. As with every Indigenous nation, the youth are the future of the Monacan people, and the R.G. Bryant Monacan Scholarship Fund is striving to assist these young scholars in building a brighter future for the Monacan Indian Nation each and every year. From humble and joyous beginnings almost 30 years ago, the fundraising efforts of what would evolve into the Scholarship Fund has assisted many, many Monacans achieve diverse dreams with educational assistance; indeed, lawyers, nurses, teachers, members of the business community and doctors are just a few of those whose footsteps began with R.G. Bryant Monacan Scholarship Fund assistance. We look forward to growing in scope and service to the Monacan people in the years and decades to come.
 
Our Service & Missions ministry (SAM) allocates a portion of its budget to support this scholarship fund, and we’ll be collecting donations from the congregation throughout September. We pray that our efforts will help the R.G. Bryant Monacan Scholarship Fund to continue to grow and support students as the cost of continuing education rises.

We will have a basket for cash or check (made out to Sojourners with “Monacan scholarship” in the memo line) donations on the altar every Sunday during September. You can also visit our Donate Now page and make your donation electronically. Choose the “R.G. Bryant Monacan Scholarship Fund” option.

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Moral Mondays in Charlottesville

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Join Pastor Karen and other members of the Charlottesville Clergy Collective every Monday at 12:30 at the Free Speech Wall.

Following the lead of Rev. William Barber and Repairers of the Breach, we gather to bear witness for mercy and justice in our community and in the nation. We join with other leaders from around our country in nonviolent resistance against the extremism in our government. We call upon our elected leaders to enact moral budgets and policies that uplift the poor, welcome the immigrant, and care for the vulnerable in our communities.

We believe in a moral agenda that stands against systemic racism, exploitation, poverty, xenophobia, and any attempt to promote hate towards our fellow human beings. We are deeply disturbed by the actions and proposals of our political leaders that threaten this moral agenda by scapegoating the most vulnerable to enrich the most privileged.

Jesus calls us to care for and uplift the poor, not strip them of vital services and support. Throughout scripture, caring for the poor is central to what it means to be a person of faith.

When asked what the greatest commandment was, Jesus responded, ‘Love God with all your heart, mind, and soul, and the second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself.’

That means our immigrant neighbors. Our poor neighbors. Our Black, Brown, and Indigenous neighbors. Our trans and queer neighbors. Our neighbors of different faiths, different backgrounds, and different abilities.

All of our neighbors.

If any of our neighbors is suffering injustice, we all suffer.

SAM

PACEM

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Our dates to help with PACEM this year are March 22 – April 4. We are working together with the Charlottesville Friends Meeting to care for PACEM guests during those two weeks of the shelter season.

PACEM has decided that the women will stay at the Church of Our Savior parsonage on Rio Road for the rest of the season. We will continue to partner with the Charlottesville Friends Meeting by contributing with meals and volunteer support. 

Sign up here, if you’re willing to bring food, help serve a meal, participate in morning or evening cleanup, or help with laundry delivery. It’s a different sign-up platform than we usually use at Sojourners, so if you find yourself needing some help figuring out signups (or have any other questions), reach out to Dave.

PACEM is also looking for some more immediate support during the 3/8-3/21 shelter session, with individual volunteers to assist with site operations and group volunteers to prepare and serve dinners. Those sign-ups are linked here as well.

Church of Our Saviour – Women’s Shelter Site

  • Operations Volunteers – we need 3 volunteers each night to help with site operations
  • Dinner Volunteers – sign up your group to prepare/cater dinner for 20 – 25 adults and serve it at 6:15pm

Ivy Creek United Methodist Church – Men’s Shelter Site

  • Operations Volunteers – we need 4 volunteers each night to help with site operations
  • Dinner Volunteers – sign up your group to prepare/cater dinner for 45 – 50 adults and serve it at 6:15pm
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We’re Hiring!

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We are looking for our next Church Adminstrator to join our team. The Church Administrator keeps the day-to-day operations at Sojourners UCC running smoothly by providing general administrative/clerical support and offering a knowledgeable and consistent presence during office hours. The position is 24 hrs per week. If you are interested, click on the button below for the full job description. Cover letter and resume can be sent to jobs@sojourners-ucc.org.

Church Administrator position

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Lent 2025

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Our theme for Lent this year is Everything [In] Between: Meeting God [in] the Midst of Extremes, created by our friends at A Sanctified Art. This season, we invite you to look beyond the binary. Notice the dichotomies that define our lives, but also imagine where God might be meeting us beyond the categories we create. This Lent, we’re trusting that God shows up in shades of gray, rainbow hues, and everywhere in between.

Join us for these special services during the Lenten season:

March 4, 5:30-7 PM: Shrove Tuesday pancakes and palm/prayer card burning

March 5, 6 PM: Ash Wednesday service

March 12, 7 PM: Vespers resumes weekly

April 17, 7 PM Maundy Thursday service

April 18, 7 PM: Good Friday service

April 20, 10 AM: Easter Sunday service and Egg Hunt

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Our Faith, Our Vote

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This fall our Justice & Advocacy Ministry (JAM) is sponsoring several voter engagement events. We will resume our Wednesday Witness from 4:30-5:30 every Wednesday until the election beginning September 18th. Join us as we stand on our street corner with signs encouraging voter turnout. We also hope to have voter registration available during the Wednesday Witness each week.

On September 29th from 11-12 we will have a voter registration and educaiton event in our fellowship hall. Anyone who needs to register is welcome. Please share this time with folks who need to register or need their voting rights restored.

JAM will also write postcards encouraging voter turnout. Packets of cards and instructions can be picked up at church. Our goal is to write and mail 400 postcards.

To help engage and encourage our spirits leading up to the election. We will have a booklet of 40 Days of Prayer – collected prayers from within our congregation as well as the voices of others who bring us hope and inspiration. Then on Election Night we will have a prayer service in the sanctuary beginning at 7:00 when the polls close in Virginia. Please join us as we pray for our nation and its leaders.