What’s New at Sojourners

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.

Our Service and Missions Ministry (SAM) and Justice and Advocacy Ministry (JAM) are joining together to lead our congregation through a fundraising effort to support the R.G. Bryant Monacan Scholarship Fund. This scholarship helps financially support students from the Monacan Indian Nation who are pursuing higher education.

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. In 2023, the Scholarship Fund awarded a total of 34 scholarships for a total of $62,094 in tuition, $2,400.00 in books, and $5,300.00 in computers for Monacan students to 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.
 
SAM & JAM have set a goal of raising $10,000 and has started us out with $2000 from SAM’s annual budget. 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 continues to grow.

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.

This Lent we will be following the Full to the Brim theme from A Sanctified Art. Rather than a season focused on fasting and “giving up” we will explore what it means to live a full life. “Full to the Brim is an invitation – into a radically different Lent, into a full life. It’s an invitation to be authentically who you are, to counter scarcity and injustice at every turn, to pour out even more grace wherever it is needed. When we allow ourselves to be filled to the brim with God’s lavish love, that love spills over.” Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper: Feb 13, 5:30 PM Ash Wednesday service: Feb. 14, 6:00 PM Contemplative Practice & Communion: Wednesdays at 6 PM through Lent. Ian, Bethany, & Karen will alternate teaching and leading a different contemplative practice each week, followed by communion. If you’d like, feel free to bring a journal each week. Feb 21: Writing contemplatively Feb 28: Visio divina Mar 6: Centering prayer (location TBD) Mar 13: Imaginative prayer (location TBD) Mar 20: Art Mar 27: Drumming/chanting Good Friday service: March 28, 6 PM Easter Sunday: March 31, 10 AM service followed by Easter Egg hunt for the kids

Our church will be hosting the women from PACEM (People and Congregations Engaged in Ministry) March 2-15. The women will be sleeping in our sanctuary and sharing a hot meal here in the evenings. During those two weeks, we will worship off-site (location TBD) on March 3 and March 10.

We will also need lots of volunteers to make this a smooth two weeks. Please click on the buttons below to sign-up to help.

We need your help to ensure that our guests receive dinner each night they stay with us. Plan on meal service for 20 individuals, including drinks. Meals should be delivered by 6:00pm on the night of your service and ready to serve by 6:15pm.

We need a few folks to meet with PACEM staff to help move in cots, set up sleeping area, set up eating area, and welcome guests. We also need a few folks to help move materials out and see off guests on Move Out Day.

We need folks to show up mornings to help make coffee and lay out snacks for guests, help PACEM staff see guests off for the day, and make sure the church is locked down afterwards.

We need folks to show up evenings to help PACEM staff setup, welcome guests, and serve dinner. This sign up is to help serve dinner, not make it. If you are making dinner and intend to stay and serve it, sign up here for that day.

We need folks to show up during the day to clean the bathrooms daily, take out trash to the dumpster, and generally straighten up the area for PACEM use. If you are an evening volunteer, this could be combined with that job.

We need someone to transport dirty linens to the PACEM-designated laundromat on Wednesday and Saturday mornings.

Thanks to everyone who donated and helped coordinate this project! We were able to assemble 40 menstrual hygiene kits. These will be added to kits collected from UCC churches all over the country at our UCC General Synod in July. You can read more about this mission on the UCC’s website.