The Messages We Give Ourselves: The Clock on the Shelf

Donna Zimmerman presents
The Messages We Give Ourselves: The Clock on the Shelf
Elizabeth DeCoux, Worship Leader
Gary Smart, Pianist
Timothy Edwards, Violin, Guest Musician 

Have you ever faced a problem that you thought was beyond you that you immediately wanted to give up or hand it off to someone else? When life gets hard, our brains naturally default to familiar assumptions. We jump to negative conclusions about our own limitations. This Sunday, we will explore how running on mental autopilot disconnects us from our Unitarian Universalist values. By confronting the old scripts, we tell ourselves that we can trade our fears for “holy curiosity” and discover that the light we’re looking for might be much closer than we think.

Please bring loose change or extra cash for our monthly “Pennies from Heaven” collection. In celebration of our BBUUC Accessibility Team, the benefactor of our July through September collections will be Hope Haven, a Jacksonville nonprofit serving children and young adults with special needs. Hope Haven provides assessments, intervention, education, and advocacy – empowering individuals and their families to thrive.

About Our Speaker

Donna Zimmerman is a long-time resident of Jacksonville who had a “timeout” for a mere 18 years in Dallas, where she found the UU church there.  Her background is in social services, and she served as the Executive Director of Lutheran Social Services of Northeast Florida, where she initiated several programs, including the first HIV/AIDS services in the region provided by a professional organization.  She is retired and spends her time on the Worship Committee and as a Chaplain on the Pastoral Care Team.

About our Guest Musician

Timothy Edwards studied violin in Detroit public schools and at Interlochen Arts Academy before earning a Bachelor of Music from the Eastman School of Music and a Master of Music from the University of Michigan. He has held section, principal, and concertmaster roles with the Des Moines Metro Opera, Flint Symphony, and Toledo Symphony, with substitute appearances for the Detroit and Jacksonville symphonies. A dedicated educator, he has guided gifted young violinists and served as an adjunct professor at Florida State College at Jacksonville. He currently performs as a soloist and chamber collaborator for four Jacksonville churches and is concertmaster of the Civic Orchestra of Jacksonville, which offers free concerts to the community.