Please know Rev. Melissa will be working her normal schedule next week and the Office will be open while MaryBeth is on vacation, August 4 – 8.
While MaryBeth is on vacation next week, please send any e-nUUs announcements or August 10 Thread announcements to Melissa at [email protected]. Thank you.
Worship & Music
We are back to our normal schedule of two services being offered Sunday mornings at 9:45 and 11:30. Summer Religious Education will continue to be offered at 9:45 AM only with Nursery care available for all services.
August 3 – Spiritual But Not Religious?
Led by the Rev. Melissa Carvill Ziemer and Worship Associate Elaine Bowen
Have you heard people use that phrase to describe themselves? Media, scholars and pollsters have all invested a great deal in understanding who the “spiritual but not religious” are and whether they might have any interest in formal religious communities. This morning we explore the growing “spiritual but not religious” identity with a Unitarian Universalist lens.
A Gentle Reminder About Sanctuary Seating
We would like to offer a reminder that on Sunday mornings, the pews located against the back wall of the Sanctuary are reserved for parents with young children. This allows them to easily enter and exit the Sanctuary with their children, during the service, with minimal disruption to the others around them. Thank you.
From the Library
The service last Sunday, “The Art of Change” was led by Mike Hovancsek and Lori McGee. The references they used are:
Lori McGee
- “The Diary of Frida Kahlo”, ed. by Carlos Fuentes
Mike Hovancsek
- video of Sam Baker’s song, “Go in Peace”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4vB2CPhBvk
- video of Sam Baker explaining the traumatic incident he writes about in his music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goUN2ri62_o
- A book on trauma and therapy: http://www.amazon.com/Principles-Trauma-Therapy-Evaluation-Treatment/dp/1483351246/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1406304555&sr=8-2&keywords=trauma+therapy
- A book about Pablo Picasso’s “Guernica”: http://www.amazon.com/Guernica-The-Biography-Twentieth-Century-Icon/dp/1582346062/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1406560054&sr=8-3&keywords=Guernica
Lifespan Learning
Mark Your Calendars! Important RE Dates!
August 3rd.10th, 17th and 24th ~ Summer RE continues at 9:45. Preschool children meet in the upstairs classroom and for school-aged and younger youth gather in Fessenden. Childcare for babies and children up to age 4 is provided in the nursery during both the 9:45 and the 11:30 services.
August 10th ~ Summer RE Field Trip to Kent Healthcare Center for school-aged children and younger youth. Please email Karen Lapidus ~ [email protected] ~ if you haven’t received the email and would like more details.
September 7th ~ Ingathering Sunday. See the Chalice Flame and the e- nUUs for more information about this wonderful multigenerational worship experience. Preschool RE starts this day @ 9:45 for children age three by 9/1/14 to those 5-year-olds who are not attending Kindergarten in the fall.
September 14th ~ RE starts for everyone else. At 9:45, we have classes for preschool, Grades K-2 and Grades 3-5. At 11:30, we have our school-aged RE class, Middle School and High School Youth Group.
The OWL and Coming of Age youth will be receiving more detailed information about those programs in an email.
Have You Seen Those Painted Rocks Around the Church?
Those are for you – yes you! They are a gift from the children in Summer Religious Education. Please take one as a gift from them to you.
More “Simple Gifts” are planned all summer long. We are making decorated placemats and fleece lap blankets for the residents at Kent Healthcare Center. On August 10th, we will be visiting the facility to deliver the gifts and to sing songs. Parents and caregivers of school-aged children will receive more information via email.
Community Within
New UU Classes in August!
Curious? Interested in learning more? Ready to take the next step?
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 didn’t know where to go or whom 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, August 10 from 9-11 am. Part 2 will be on Sunday, August 17, 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.
The Patricia Pownall UU Book Group will be meeting on Tuesday, August 12 at 7 pm in the home of Marion Yeagler. This month you may choose between two novels. Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan is the story about three generations of women who converge on the family beach house in this wickedly funny, emotionally resonant story of love and dysfunction. The Bookstore by Deborah Meyler is a witty, sharply observed debut novel about a young woman who finds unexpected salvation while working in a quirky used bookstore in Manhattan. Impressionable and idealistic, Esme Garland is a young British woman who finds herself studying art history in New York. She loves her apartment and is passionate about the city and her boyfriend; her future couldn’t look brighter. Until she finds out that she’s pregnant. In September we will be reading Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Woman’s Prison by Piper Kerman. At October’s gathering, we will have a book exchange so begin thinking about books you might want to trade with other book group members. If you have any questions you may contact Bonnie Harper. All are welcome.
News from the Building Expansion Front
‘We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.‘ -Winston Churchill
The Capital Campaign Team has been meeting since March. We have been charged by the Board of the UU Church of Kent with raising funds toward the construction of a fellowship hall, and renovations of religious education space and the sanctuary in the existing church building. We’re busy organizing and recruiting volunteers. We welcome your questions and offers of help.
Team members are:
| Kathy Kerns, Co-chair |
| Marion Yeagler, Co-chair |
| Kay Eckman |
| Randy Leeson |
| David Smeltzer |
Church Campout
Save the date – Oct. 3-5. Where’s Walden in the Fall will be held at Loleta Recreation Area in Pennsylvania. Keep watching the Thread and e-nUUs for more information.
Outreach and Social Justice
A Conversation with Lee Brooker: Mississippi Civil Rights Journey
Join Lee Brooker on Tuesday, August 5 at 7 PM in Fessenden Hall. He would like to share his experience on the UU College of Social Justice/UU Living Legacy Mississippi Civil Rights Bus Journey that he participated in while everybody else was at S.I.! This journey featured visits to Civil Rights Movement sites throughout Mississippi.
Pray for Relief Faith Summit on Stopping Deportations
Last month I delivered a sermon reflecting on the terrible journeys of the many unaccompanied immigrant children coming into the United States from Central America and Mexico. I talked about my fear that they will face deportation even though the UN reports that many likely qualify for refugee status. After that sermon, Dan Flippo suggested to me that my concern might warrant proposing an Action of Immediate Witness (AIW) at the Unitarian Universalist Association General Assembly. The UUA Commission on Social Witness (CSW) describes an Action of Immediate Witness as a statement “that expresses the conscience and carries the authority of the delegates at the General Assembly at which it is passed.” I followed up on his suggestion by writing to several immigration justice leaders in the UUA to ask their advice. I was encouraged to propose an AIW calling people to an upcoming event in Washington DC focused on asking President Obama to stop the deportations.
With help from Dan, several colleagues and lay leaders as well from members of the Commission on Social Witness (including former UUCK member Susan Goekler who is chair of the CSW,) I proposed an AIW which was accepted and ultimately endorsed by the General Assembly. Dan took video of me presenting a statement in support of the AIW which he posted to our congregation’s FB page if you are interested in learning more.
I am leaving this afternoon to go to DC to participate in the Pray for Relief Faith Summit on Stopping Deportations. Check out this link for much more information.
-Rev. Melissa
