Worship & Music
Sunday services are offered at 9:45 and 11:30 AM.
September 22 – Building Your Own Theology: Journeys in Faith
Led by Elaine Yehle Bowen
Participants of the 10 session Adult Religious Exploration class, Building Your Own Theology (BYOT), will share their personal credos or statement of beliefs, discerned through reading, discussion and art over the past 3 months of meetings. Come join us on our journeys of faith.
Sacred Song Circle Returns
The Sacred Song Circle returns to Thursday nights starting Sept. 26 for 30 minutes of community harmony and sacular stimulation beginning at 6:15 PM. Please note that this is a slightly earlier time than we had been meeting. In addition, I will be available at 6:00 for 15 minutes of teaching time to help people become familiar with the songs, and to explain the framework we use and it’s theoretical underpinnings for anyone who is interested. In addition, due to popular request, I’m going to try having a Sacred Song Circle every week instead of every two or three weeks. As always, you don’t have to consider yourself a singer to be able to participate, and in fact you don’t even have to sing. It’s free and open to all. The more voices the better! Bring your friends, and a water bottle if you’ll need it. Please gather in the Sanctuary. Hope to see you there.
Lay-Led Programs Solicited:
The Sunday program committee wants to hear from YOU for your ideas and/or proposals for Sunday services. If you have an idea, please consider talking to someone on the committee (Lois Weir, Christie Anderson, Liz Bright, Joe Kuemerle, Lori McGee, Andrew Rome, and Kristofer Sperry), and/or submitting a proposal (find more information and the form at //kentuu.org/ministry/sunday-program/). Contact Lois Weir with your questions or to submit a proposal. The Sunday Program Committee meets tonight, September 11th at 6:30 PM.
Following the Returning to Right Relationship Sermon
During my sermon on Sept. 8, I raised a series of questions for self-reflection inspired by the practices of returning, repentance and atonement kept by Jewish people who observe the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. If you’d like to reflect on them further, the questions follow:
SELF
How have you done this year taking care of your body? Are you satisfied with the way you are eating, with how much rest and exercise you are getting? How have you done taking care of your mind? Are you satisfied with the ways you are engaging your intellect? How have you done taking care of your spirit? Are you satisfied with your spiritual life and the way you have nurtured that part of yourself? Are you satisfied with your connection with something larger than yourself?
OTHERS
How are your relationships with the people who are closest to you – your family and your friends? Take each important relationship in turn. Is there friction or challenge anywhere and, if there is, in what ways might you be contributing? How are your relationships with your co-workers, or classmates or the people in your communities? Again you can ask yourself, if any of those relationships have friction or challenge, in what ways might you be contributing?
WIDER WORLD
How have you done this year in engaging concerns beyond your own? Are you satisfied with the ways you have responded to some of the social or political or environmental concerns of our common life today?
I took inspiration for these questions from Rabbi Michael Lerner’s High Holiday Repentance Workbook which you can find at http://www.tikkun.org/nextgen/high-holiday-repentance-workbook-2013-5774
We hope you’re planning to join us for what is sure to be an entertaining event!
U.U.’ve Got Talent! “An Evening of Musical Variety”
On Saturday September 28th, the UU church of Kent Music Committee is hosting a musical fundraiser. We are hoping to raise $800 to pay for the services of an accompanist for our beloved choir. Join us at 7:30 that evening as we transform the Kent sanctuary into a venue for highlighting the remarkable talents of local UU’s and Friends! $10 is the suggested donation, but please give what you can – hope to see you there!
It takes all of us to create a welcoming environment on Sunday mornings. All the members and friends of this church are needed to extend hospitality to our visitors. On any given Sunday, some people volunteer to be a part of our hospitality efforts in particular ways. We have a large team of people who volunteer to help greet and usher on Sunday mornings, to prepare an inviting coffee hour and to donate flowers to add a focal point of beauty to our services. In order to make it easier to participate, we are using a new tool that will allow you to see what Sunday morning hospitality positions are available and to decide when and how frequently you might be able to help.
If you are a member or an active friend of this congregation, we hope you will consider finding at least one time this fall and early winter when you might be able to volunteer in one of this very easy but extremely important roles. Of course, there is no limit to the number of times you can volunteer! Also, we want you to know that children and youth are welcome to participate in any of these roles. Thank you for considering how you might be part of helping us practice the fragile art of hospitality every Sunday. Sign up at: www.SignUpGenius.com/go/904054FA9A62BA57-sunday
Lifespan Learning
Small Group Ministry: Food for Thought Groups and Chalice Groups
Deadline to register is this Sunday, September 22. Please complete your sign-up form and drop it in the offering plate, in the box marked Small Group Ministry located in Founders Lounge or mail it to the Church office. Thank you.
The Super Brain group will meet at 3 PM on Sunday, September 22 in the Annex. The group will be examining the concepts of personal power, core self, happiness and self-healing. All are welcome to join in the exploration. Any questions, call Mary Maske at 330.677.0174.
Save the Date!
The annual Halloween Party and Haunted House will take place on Saturday, October 26th starting at 6:00. More details are forthcoming in the October edition of the Chalice Flame and in future eNuu’s and Facebook posts.
(Many thanks to those families who participated in the straw poll to identify the best date!)
Community Within
Locavore Dinner Tickets Available:
On Saturday, September 21 at 6:30 pm, Jennifer May and Lois Weir will host the 4th annual Locavore Dinner, which will be all vegetarian this year. A multi-course meal will be served that features the best produce that northeast Ohio has to offer. Lois & Jennifer source almost everything locally (including the wine, beer, and cocktails) for this unique event. Some vegan dishes will be included, and most dietary restrictions can be accommodated. Children and adults are welcome. This was a 2012 Thanks4Giving Auction offering which did not sell out; therefore, there are 3 tickets available for purchase at $80 each. Contact Lois Weir to reserve your seat(s).
UUCK Men’s Group – Join Us!
The Men’s Group, led by Max Grubb, will be meeting on September 22 in the Sanctuary. This is an opportunity for men to connect and engage each other for support concerning issues and challenges that arise from being male, husband or partner, father and friend in today’s society. All men are welcome. Please contact Max if you have any questions.
The planning task force for the church’s 150th anniversary celebration will be meeting on Sunday, September 29 at 12:45 in the Annex.
The Patricia Pownall UU Book Group will be meeting on Tuesday, October 8 at 7 pm. We are again meeting in the home of Trish Johnson-Kwartler. Please bring a snack to share. Beverages will be provided. This month we are reading The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh. A mesmerizing, moving, and elegantly written debut novel, The Language of Flowers beautifully weaves past and present, creating a vivid portrait of an unforgettable woman whose gift for flowers helps her change the lives of others even as she struggles to overcome her own troubled past. In November we will be reading The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. If you have any questions you may contact Bonnie Harper. All are welcome.
Parents and guardians of our older (age 9 and above) children,
On behalf of KentHogwarts I would like to cordially invite you participate in our upcoming Forbidden Forest night hike. Prepare to face down Dementors, Death Eaters and Acromantulas in an after dark adventure!
We are hosting this event on Saturday, October 12th 2013 at the Tallmadge Meadows Metropark in Munroe Falls. This is an open event so please feel free to invite other friends but due to the scary nature of the program we do ask that all participants be 9 years old or older.
We do require that parents/guardians be present during the event, you don’t have to go on the hike as we have a hangout spot by the shelter, but we will need to have a signed permission slip for the event.
Please do RSVP for this event at http://tinyurl.com/forbiddenforest and feel free to pass along this information and invitation to any others you think may be interested. For updated information please visit our website at www.kenthogwarts.org or email [email protected].
Yours in magical fraternity,
Professor Chroniculus FizzBOOM!
Headmaster, KentHogwarts
Be the first to see the artwork for the 2013 auction! Hear the artists talk about their creations while you enjoy appetizers and beverages. Artists this year are Brad Bolton, Don Easterling, Heidrun Hultgren, Wendy Jenks, John Kluth, Claudia Miller, Georgia Quinn, Rhonda Mitchell, and Jan Noden.
Date: Friday, Oct. 18
Time: 7-9 pm
Place: Fessenden Hall
Donation: $15
From the Library
The Library has received almost 20 new titles that will be available by the end of the month. Included are Proof of Heaven, by Eben Alexander; Sticks and Stones: Defeating the Culture of Bullying and Rediscovering the Power of Character and Empathy, by Emily Bazelton; The Separation of Church and State: Writings on a Fundamental Freedom by America’s Founders, by Forrest Church; Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation by Eboo Patel. A complete list will be available once all new titles have been processed. Below is a review of The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Resa Aslan, also a new addition.
Aslan, Resa, The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth (New York, Random House, 2013). This book has just been added to the Library collection and should be available by the last week in September, 2013. It is popular new treatment of the life of Jesus based on information from the Bible and from historical sources. Aslan is an Iranian American Muslim, a religious studies scholar, and a creative writing professor. The author believes that the best way to understand the life of Jesus is to see him in his historical and social context. by Martha Kluth
The Library Committee thanks all those who committed to volunteer on a limited, one-time-only basis, to the work of the Library. If you are able to give us a small amount of your time, either during coffee hour by helping a committee member, or any other Library activity, please speak to a committee member: Matthew Cox, Martha Kluth, Harry Noden, Carolyn Schlemmer, Ann Waters or Kathy Wilen. We thank you in advance.
Ann Waters, Publicity
Outreach and Social Justice
Many thanks to everyone who support the September 15 Special Collection to benefit Family and Community Services to help fund security deposits for families moving out of homeless shelters into transitional housing. $599.00 was raised for this cause.
Social Justice Human Rights Committee Meeting – Thursday, October 17, 2013 at 6:30 PM in the Annex. All are welcome!
The October Kent Community Dinner Needs our Help!
On October 19, the Kent Community Dinner will be held at the United Church of Christ in Kent. As it did two years ago, this dinner will once again focus on celebrating the GLBTQ community, though this time with particular
emphasis on one segment of that community. Two members of our congregation will be involved in the leadership of that dinner; Rev. Christie Anderson will be the moderator of the panel and Kat Holtz will be one of the presenters. We have been asked to identify 4-6 people who would support this dinner by agreeing to cook. The 4-6 cooks will receive about 20 pounds of meat or fish and asked to cook it and stretch it by making it into a meal to feed many. The cooks could work together or separately. Are you willing to help? Please let Rev. Melissa know.
Clothing Donations Needed
The network of shelters for veterans in Northeast OH has expanded with the opening of Valor Home in Akron. Valor Home has also opened a thrift shop, the proceeds of which will be used to help fund supportive housing for veterans who are moving out of a shelter. The Valor Home Thrift Shop is located in Akron in Highland Square and sells used clothing for men and women. They are especially in need of donations of women’s clothing to stock the store. Donations may be brought directly to the Valor Home Thrift Shop or to Freedom House in Kent.
Opportunities from the Hunger and Economic Justice Task Group
We have been invited by Trinity Lutheran Church in Kent to be part of augmenting the hot meals available for hungry people in our community. Currently meals are offered every day of the week save Saturdays under the auspices of Kent Social Services. Trinity Lutheran, a trusted partner of Kent Social Services, is planning to offer a hot lunch every Saturday and has invited us to help. We get to determine the frequency with which we would host and to do so we need to know how many of you would be interested in being involved. For each meal we host, we would need 10 – 12 people to cook, serve and clean up. Children are welcome to be an active part of our team so we are especially encouraging families to consider volunteering to participate together. We are thinking we might start with one Saturday every month or every other month. If you might be interested in being involved, please write to Rev. Melissa and Tanya Kahl. Let us know how frequently you would be interested in participating and whether you would be volunteering on your own or with others in your family. Once we know how many people are interested, we’ll make a more concrete plan for our congregation’s involvement.
UU and Interfaith Connections
Our Congregation – 2020 and Beyond
A congregation is the product of both the surrounding society as well as the members within. Drawing on sociological research, join other UUs in exploring how we can be a liberal religious beacon in the greater Cleveland area. What does a “UU to be” look like? Karen LoBracco, Lifespan Faith Development Consultant with the Ohio Meadville District will uncover practical applications from the research. This FREE workshop is Saturday, Sept. 21 from 9:30 am to noon in Fellowship Hall at First Unitarian Church of Cleveland (www.firstunitariancleveland.org). Light refreshments provided. RSVP for childcare by Sept. 16. Register by contacting Bethany Ward, DRE, at [email protected] or by calling the office at (216) 751-2320.
Income Generation
Thanks4Giving Auction Saturday, November 2, 6 pm
Did you save the date? You don’t want to miss this year’s auction of goods and services in support of our beloved church. Fun, food, fraternizing, fundraising. something for everyone in every price range. Look for our table at coffee hour, soon. Tickets will soon be on sale, and FAQS brochures are being made. We’ll be looking for volunteers to help that weekend. Have you thought about making a donation, maybe more than one donation? The FAQS brochure can help with ideas, and donation forms are available. You will be hearing more about the auction as time goes on.