Announcing the Hobbs Hall opening of Circular Logic: Artwork of Mike Hovancsek on Sunday, October 5th.
Circles play a role in many religions, including the Buddhist samsara (representing the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth); the Hindu bindu in Sri Yantra (representing the source of creation and the universe); and the Native American medicine wheel (representing the connectedness of life, the balance nature, and the cycles of birth, death, and rebirth). Circles also represent cellular structures, planets, atomic structures, and countless other forms in nature. They are an ever-present shape through time and around the universe.
This art attempts to weave together interesting images through repetition of circles. They are made using a variety of media, including drawings, digital illustrations, and digitally modified drawings.
Mike’s art will be displayed from October through December 2025 and is available for purchase .
Our new articulation of Unitarian Universalist values is much more than a vision of the ideal world we long to see. It’s also instructions for how to move closer to bringing that vision about. Its interlocking covenants remind us how we are called to act, everywhere we go. Let’s explore those covenants, visions, and values, together.
9:15 AM All Ages Service (in person only)
Led by Rev. Kristina Church, DRE Colleen Thoele and Director of Music Ministries Emily Hall.
This is an opportunity for members, friends, and visitors to reflect and share on wondering questions based on the day’s sermon topic. Everyone (including first-time visitors) is welcome to drop in and join us in Hobbs Hall for this small group connection time.
In Unitarian Universalism, we use the core values of Justice, Equity, Transformation, Pluralism, Interdependence, and Generosity– with LOVE at the center– to help us determine what our actions in the world should be.
If you were ever in a complicated situation where it wasn’t clear what you should do, how did you decide? (If not, can you imagine such a scenario and how you might resolve it?) Are there important values/principles that you’d call upon (such as honesty, respect, compassion, etc., or any of the ones mentioned above) to help you figure it out?
Looking at your own life, what values would you say are at the center of who you are? (They may be the same as or different from the UU ones.) How do these personal core values guide your choices in life?
11:00 AM A Multi-platform, Traditional Service (in-person and Zoom)
Led by Rev. Kristina Church and Worship Associate Dani Beale with Director of Music Ministries Emily Hall.
Experience the transformative power of collective music making with Gabriel Odhiambo Oduor, our friend and musician from the group Kenge Kenge. Kenge Kenge is a group of Kenyan musicians who travel the globe bringing the joy of African music and story telling with them wherever they go. Come join us for a spiritual musical experience of drums, singing, and connection!
9:15 AM All Ages Service (in person only)
Led by Gabriel Odhiambo Oduor of Kenge Kenge, DRE Colleen Thoele and Director of Music Ministries Emily Hall.
This is an opportunity for members, friends, and visitors to reflect and share on wondering questions based on the day’s sermon topic. Everyone (including first-time visitors) is welcome to drop in and join us in Hobbs Hall for this small group connection time.
What do you need to feel belonging? Where do you find belonging?
Share about a time when music or rhythm helped make you feel more connected to those around you. How did your experience make you feel? What else creates similar feelings in you?
Describe a time that you risked sharing your authentic self that led to a deeper feeling of belonging.
11:00 AM A Multi-platform, Traditional Service (in-person and Zoom)
Led by Gabriel Odhiambo Oduor of Kenge Kenge with Director of Music Ministries Emily Hall and Worship Associate Kathy Kerns.
During the annual meeting in June, the congregation voted to create a task force to discern our future with Reverend Kristina. Do we move forward and “call” her to be our settled minister or do we explore other options?
The board has completed their role in forming the “Contract to Call” task force. Members include Becky Cline, Saunis Parsons, Ellen Doucette, Saul Flanner, John Wickersham, Ellen McWilliams-Woods, and Diana Watt.
They will organize many opportunities for feedback and discernment from congregants as we move toward this important decision.
The task force will have their initial meeting next week and will have detailed plans as the weeks progress.
In Unitarian Universalism, we as the gathered congregation get to choose our congregation’s minister. Our faith is not hierarchical; we do not get assigned a minister by our national denomination, the UUA, for example. This aligns with other aspects of being a UU in which each congregation is self-governed – a system called “congregational polity.” Our congregational polity gives these important decisions to local congregations: choosing a minister, defining membership, electing leadership, or purchasing property.
In the past, our congregation has engaged in a formal ministerial search process. The congregation would elect a search committee, and they would engage in a year-long process. First, they determined the congregation’s needs, then they shared that information about our church in the UUA’s search system. They would get a list of ministers who were interested, and they would sort through the their information, then conduct interviews. They would find a single candidate that they would present to the congregation. The candidate would preach an introductory sermon, spend a week meeting with different groups in the congregation, then preach a second sermon (this is called “candidating week”). Following that second service, the congregation would hold a meeting and vote on whether to “call” the candidate.
After the unexpected death of Rev. Steven in January of 2024, we had a choice of hiring an interim minister (who would only be with us for a year or two), or a contact minister (also hired by the board) that we would have an option to call. We could only afford a 3/4 time position at the time, which limited our options. We decided on the contract-to-call option and had the good fortune to find a match with Rev. Kristina. We were then able to bring her up to full time in the current fiscal year.
Moving from a contractual relationship to inviting Rev. Kristina to be our settled minister would be an invitation into a deeper, covenantal relationship where she is “settled” into her role as our called minister and she and the congregation become full partners in ministry. The contract to call task force will help our congregation do the kind of discernment work that would have happened during “candidating week” in a formal settled search process.
The Kent Community Sing has returned! Our next gathering will be Monday, May 11 from 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm in Fessenden Hall (social hall on the ground floor of the historical church building). The Community Sing is a fun, casual jam session/ sing-along and is open to anyone in the community. Bring your banjos, ukuleles, fiddles, didgeridoos, a Rise Up Singing songbook if you have one, and your friends!
Upcoming dates: May 11 & May 25
Please note that after this month (May 2026) the Kent Community Sing will not be meeting at the UU Church of Kent.
For more information check out the “Kent Community Sing” Facebook group, or connect with Katie Grigg-Miller. See you there!
Tickets are still available for these exciting events first offered during our May auction. All funds raised from ticket sales go towards the operating budget for our church.
Email [email protected] if you have any questions or want to reserve tickets
Sun 12/14 at 2pm Seasonal Sing-Along $15 Sing along with the Celtic Clan of Kent as they perform sacred and secular songs of the season in the Sanctuary.
Sat 9/20 at 10:30 am Brunch with the Board $25 Join the UUCK Board of Trustees in Hobbs Hall for an elegant brunch while John Wickersham provides live piano music.
Fri 10/3 at 7pm UU Friendly Comedy Night$15 Enjoy “The Bird Cage” in Hobbs Hall with the UUCK Staff. Movie treats provided. Come dressed up as your most fabulous self.
Fri 11/14 at 6pm Dinner and House Concert $110 Join Katie Grigg-Miller at her Kent home for a delicious peanut soup dinner followed by concert.
On this day dedicated to equanimity and peace, let’s remember that our efforts to heal a world in pain must begin from a centered and grounded place. How can we find our own balance, in a world that seems to be teetering out of control?
9:15 AM All Ages Service (in person only)
Led by Rev. Kristina Church, DRE Colleen Thoele with Director of Music Ministries Emily Hall.
This is an opportunity for members, friends, and visitors to reflect and share on wondering questions based on the day’s sermon topic. Everyone (including first-time visitors) is welcome to drop in and join us in Hobbs Hall for this small group connection time.
Our Peace Chorus season will begin on Wednesday, October 1. The Kent UU Peace Chorus is a part of our music ministry and offers music for two worship services a month. We sing music from a variety of styles including musicals, choral classics, folk songs, hymns, and pieces by UU and local composers. Open to middle/high school students and adults who love to sing. No auditions, only the desire to sing in an ensemble and connect through music and camaraderie. We will meet weekly on Wednesdays from 6:00pm-7:30pm through December 24th (Christmas Eve Service). Contact our music director Emily at [email protected] with any questions!
10 AM in Hobbs Hall led by Rev. Kristina Church and DRE Colleen Thoele with Director of Music Ministries Emily Hall.
In a time of chaos, our faith traditions offer solace and strength. Come, join us for Ingathering and Water Communion 2025. Let the waters flow and let the people gather, here at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Kent, for our 157th year of faithful community.
Please bring a small amount of water from your home, recent hike, or summer travels to participate in the Water Communion. Water will be available for all.
Join Staff Accompanist Vanessa Vesely and Music Director Emily Hall for a fun evening of music and singing!Learn how to use the new hymnal and sing some of our new favorites! Come early and bring your computer/tablet/phone and get your own log in to the virtual hymnal.
Hobbs Hall at the Kent UU Church Tuesday, September 23 6:00pm Connect with virtual platform – get logged in! 6:30pm-8:00pm Sing!
10:00 AM in Hobbs Hall led by Rev. Kristina Church, Director of Religious Education Colleen Thoele, Director of Music Ministries Emily Hall, Connections Coordinator Renee Ruchotzke and special guests Becky Cline, Don Gregg, and Dana Wakefield.
Creating a beloved community combines seeing what is needed, noticing how our gifts might be of use, and seeking joy in the process.
This service will be followed by our Connections Fair, an opportunity to learn about the various ministries of the church, update your information in the church directory, and enjoy some refreshments!
Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) is the nation’s leading children’s literacy nonprofit. They focus on disrupting the U.S. literacy crisis by bringing the joy of reading to children to create skilled readers. RIF provides free, high-quality books and reading resources to children, with a focus on low-income communities and areas where access to books is limited.
Each month, our social justice team chooses a recipient for our special offering to a community partner. If you wish to support that partner, you can:
Give electronically and choose “special offering” in the drop-down
Write a check, and put “special offering in the memo line
Put cash into an envelope and mark the “special offering” box
