Worship & Music
Sunday services are offered at 9:45 and 11:30 AM.
February 2 – Music Sunday: Together!
Led by Music Director Hal Walker and Worship Associate Rev. Christie Anderson
Come celebrate through music and words the power of being “Together”. The service will feature personal reflections, singing, instrumental performance and a surprise to highlight ways in which our talents are enhanced by working together.
Lifespan Learning
Feeling Chilly?
The children in the Grades 3-5 class made three fleece blankets in December. One was given to the family that we “adopted” at Miller Community House, one was given to a homeless person from Kent and the other was given to the members and friends of the church. If you are feeling chilly or just need to feel held in the embrace of our community, you are welcome to wrap yourself in the fleece blanket during the worship services. The blanket is stored in the foyer on top of the little desk. It has fringe and a planet pattern.
RADIOLAB AND PANCAKES
Feb.23rd during 2nd service, our short then is “Ally’s Choice” “Ally’s Choice” is about a girl who lives in a very racist environment. How will her friends and family respond when she decides that she is not “African-American” but “White”, and is accepted as such by the racist leaders in her school? This short challenges all our preconceptions about “race” and identity.
If you have any questions, please contact Cheryl Spoehr.
Community Within
We have 6 seats are still available for the following Auction Event…
Groundhog’s Eve with Mme. Moderator and the Mighty Minions
Saturday, February 1, 2014 6:00 PM
A fun, lighthearted evening with your Board of Trustees; includes a buffet dinner by Chef Bill, a screening of the PG-rated movie “Groundhog Day”, and desserts, also prepared by Chef Bill. If you don’t have a great time, the board will have to repeat it until they get it right. $20 per person
If interested, please contact the Church Office by noon on Thursday to reserve your seat. Thank you.
Art in the Sanctuary
For the month of February, we want to thank abstract artist Karen Millia of Ravenna for providing the art in the sanctuary. She graduated recently with a Fine Arts degree from Kent State. She is currently studying graphic design at Stark Tech.
Reverend Melissa’s prepares her thoughtful Sunday homilies using various references that may be of interest to our congregation. The Library will print in the e-nUUs, the primary homily reference she used the previous Sunday, and we will indicate whether the reference is in her personal collection (MCZ), or in the Library (L.) The Library will give strong consideration to purchasing selected references for our collection.
Sunday, January 26th, for the homily, “A Lion’s Heart”, Rev. Melissa used references from the DVD collection, “The Necessity of Virtue,” by Galen Guengrich. This is a 10-part presentation on virtues and how they can support people living into their potential. (MCZ)
A reminder to save Tuesday, Feb. 25 for the 4th and final Library Symposium at 7P.M. in Fessenden Hall. The program will present the recorded (DVD) Bill Moyers interview with the writer, Margaret Atwood. Refreshments will be served after viewing the interview, followed by a discussion with Joel Slater as Moderator.
Come browse in the church Library. We have recently UU Publications from UU sources, donated books on a variety of topics, and magazines of interest which are free for the taking. Instruction for self-checkout are in the Library, but a Library committee member is generally available during coffee hour to assist you.
Save the date February 2
Recently the UUCK Membership Team decided to celebrate the membership of some of our longstanding Church members by designating them as Jubilee members. We envision such Jubilee membership status would be recognized first at twenty years of service and each five-year interval thereafter (i.e., 25, 30, 35, etc.). In honor of those members who have reached such landmark membership anniversaries in 2013 and 2014, we are holding our first Jubilee Anniversary Celebration during coffee hour on Sunday, February 2. We hope that you will be able to join us so that we can recognize these long commitments to our beloved church.
New UU Classes in February
Our New UU classes cover everything you wanted to know about the Unitarian Universalist Church of Kent in particular and Unitarian Universalism in general, but were afraid to ask. Well, maybe not everything, but we try to give you an overview, a starting point. Some history of both, some organizational details. Come join the conversation. And, if you’re curious about membership, this is the place to be.
Part 1 will be on Sunday, February 9, from 9-11 am. Part 2 will be on Sunday, February 16, from 9-11 am. You may attend one or both, although attendance at both is encouraged. Different topics will be covered in each. We will gather at the Annex, the yellow house next to the church.
If you have any questions, contact Claudia Miller or Marion Yeagler.
Are you raising a little UU? Come and join the Parents of Young Children group!
Starting in February we will meet once a month. We’ll begin by sharing a meal all together (adults and kids). Childcare will be provided during a our meeting. The Parents of Young Children (PYC) group will resemble our small group ministry but would focus specifically on the issues, concerns, joys and challenges of raising children and creating balance in our spiritual life and parenting roles. This group is for parents and caregivers of kids in kindergarten and under.
For more details, please see Colleen Thoele or Karen Lapidus
The Patricia Pownall UU Book Group will be meeting on Tuesday, February 11 at 7 pm at the home of Kathy Kerns. This month we are reading Empire of the Summer Moon by S.C. Gwynne. This book spans two astonishing stories. The first traces the rise and fall of the Comanches, the most powerful Indian tribe in American history. The second entails one of the most remarkable narratives ever to come out of the Old West: the epic saga of the pioneer woman Cynthia Ann Parker and her mixed blood son Quanah, who became the last and greatest chief of the Comanche. In March we will be reading The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert. If you have any questions you may contact Bonnie Harper. All are welcome
With winter weather arriving, we are aware that there may be occasions when we need to cancel programming at the church. Though we are unlikely to need to cancel Sunday services entirely (Rev. Melissa, our minister, and Hal Walker, our music director, live within walking distance), we may choose to have only the first service if the weather or the roads indicate limiting programming. It is more likely that we may need to cancel our religious education program in inclement weather as our Director of Religious Education, Karen Lapidus, and many of our volunteer teachers and advisors drive some distance to get to church.
If the weather or the condition of the roads cause you to wonder whether we are proceeding with our programming as scheduled, please check for cancellations before you head out.
You can check in one of three places:
- our church’s Facebook page,
- call the church number and listen to the message on voicemail
- tune in to any television or radio station connected with iAlert. (WKYC-TV, Channel 3)
We’d like to remind our members and friends of the online tool we are using to help schedule volunteers for Sundays. It would be really helpful to the Sunday Volunteer Coordinators if you would be willing to use this tool. Please see the link below. Thank you.
All the members and friends of this church are needed to extend hospitality to our visitors. We need a large team of people who volunteer to help greet and usher on Sunday mornings, to prepare an inviting coffee hour or 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.
Sign up at: www.SignUpGenius.com/go/904054FA9A62BA57-sunday
Outreach and Social Justice
Michele Norris: Eavesdropping on America’s Conversation on Race
Monday, February 3, 2014 7:30 PM
EJ Thomas Hall – The University of Akron
Sponsored by Culture Quest and E. J. Thomas Hall
Award-winning journalist and author Michele Norris is one of the most recognized voices in radio. For nearly a decade, she was host of NPR’s longest-running national program, All Things Considered.
Since departing the popular program in late 2012, Michele has been a host and special correspondent for NPR. Her lecture will be about an initiative she developed, The Race Card Project and how six-word snapshots paint a vivid picture of America’s attitudes and experiences about race.
Sunday, Feb 9 – IRTF Social Justice Teach-In at Case Western Reserve University. Workshops include: hunger, poverty, homelessness, sexism, nonviolence, storytelling, voluntarism, justice Bible study, militarism, environmental racism, sustainability and advocacy. Keynote: Sarah Kalloch of Oxfam America’s Behind the Brands campaign. Registration $10, or free for students. Info at 216.961.0003 or IRTFcleveland.org .
