The Unitarian Universalist Church of Kent held a formal congregational vote on Sunday to pass the following resolution in favor of endorsing the Kent Community Bill of Rights, Issue 21 on the November 4 ballot.  The resolution was passed by the necessary 85% super-majority of the necessary quorum of members.

 

WHEREAS, Unitarian Universalist congregations covenant by our Second and Seventh Principles to affirm and promote justice, equity, and compassion in human relations and respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part; and

 

WHEREAS, the climate crisis threatens Earth systems through warming, destabilization of the atmosphere and climate, sea level rise, and the acidification of the oceans, of which the brunt of the burden has fallen and will fall on the poorest people in the world, who are least responsible for the crisis; and

 

WHEREAS, the 2006 Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) General Assembly approved a Statement of Conscience on the Threat of Global Warming/Climate Change declaring “that we will not acquiesce to the ongoing degradation and destruction of life that human actions are leaving to our children and grandchildren”; and

 

WHEREAS, we have a moral responsibility to Earth, to all beings, and to future generations to do everything in our power to bring about a swift transition from fossil fuels to a sustainable energy economy; and

 

WHEREAS, a significant body of evidence has emerged to demonstrate that hydraulic fracturing and injection wells are inherently dangerous to people and their communities. Risks include adverse impacts on water, air, agriculture, public health and safety, property values, climate stability and economic vitality; and

 

WHEREAS, the Community Bill of Rights will allow residents to prevent the extraction of hydrocarbons and the drilling of injection wells within Kent and will assert individual rights over those of corporations;

 

WHEREAS, the Unitarian Universalist Church of Kent required a super-majority passage of 85% congregational approval in order to speak with one voice in support of this resolution.

 

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, the Unitarian Universalist Church of Kent supports the passage of Issue 21: Kent Charter Amendment (Community Bill of Rights) on November 4th, 2014.

 

 

The November 8 UU Justice Ohio Justice Assembly in Columbus will feature Democratic State Rep. Nickie Antonio, West Shore UU, and lobbyists from UUJO allies and partners such as the ACLU and Equality Ohio offering guidance on how to impact issues before the Ohio General Assembly. Issue Group workshops on Immigration, Economic Justice, Criminal and Racial Justice, LGBTQ, Environment, Voting Rights, and Reproductive Freedom will promote education, service and advocacy through lobbying, litigation, media, public witness, and civil disobedience. Lunch work groups include a Ministers’ Caucus and a Youth Caucus.

Program workshop details and a flyer are posted on the UUJO website. http://ohiomeadville.org/uujo/?page_id=600

Voting delegates will approve Bylaws and elect the UUJO Co-Chairs and Board of Directors.

JA online Registration.  https://ohiomeadville.wufoo.com/forms/q1koa89q1mbqj65/

The Social Justice Council invites all church members and friends to join us on Sunday, November 2nd immediately after the second service in Fessenden Hall to learn about our social justice activities.

Find out how you can get involved in social justice efforts that interest you and make a difference in our community and our world.  We promise a lively discussion.

Pizza will be served.

We’d like to form a group at church on Wednesday afternoons at  2 pm. We’d like people to donate or bring their old yarn, unfinished projects and patterns. We’d like to make baby blankets, small lap blankets for our ill members and friends, items that could be sold at the annual auction or you could make things that you would like for yourselves. We’d be happy to teach anyone of any age or gender how to knit, crochet or needlepoint. Please call Carol Gould with suggestions, questions or comments. Please appear at our first get-together on Wednesday, November 5. We will have fun doing this together.

For all those interested in learning (some or more) about permaculture and how we might garden and live in greater harmony with nature, we have a great opportunity to tour some permaculture gardens before winter puts them to sleep. If you would like to join Tom Gibson, our guest permaculture expert from Cleveland Heights, and members of the Green Sanctuary team at UUCK, please contact Mary Lou Holly: [email protected]. Tom will also be offering a course on Permaculture later this fall. Information on that will follow.

Everyone is invited to the 30-something annual Church Halloween Party on Saturday, Oct. 25th. The party will begin in Fessenden Hall at 6 p.m. with finger foods and drinks; please bring something to share. We’d love to see your costume! At 7 p.m. the mild version of the youth haunted house will open followed by the wild version at 7:30. There will be fun for the WHOLE family with games, crafts and lots of tricks and treats! Hope to see you there for this UUCK tradition! 

 

Symposium 2, with Gingr Vaughn, Tuesday, October 22nd at 7:30 PM in the Sanctuary. 

Gingr will continue her presentation on Islamic art with a discussion of 2-D images in public vs private art, painting media with watercolor and tempera, representation of space using the “new” oblique perspective and she will conclude with a discussion of the work of contemporary women artists.  Gingr’s first lecture was fascinating and illuminating, a very special opportunity to learn about Islamic culture through the visual arts. We hope you will be able to attend her final lecture on the 22nd of this month.

We’ll meet for an hour to an hour and a half depending on the number of people who attend so everyone has an opportunity to check in with the group. All retirees are welcome to join us. Bring your own lunch; beverages will be provided.

Our middle and high school youth will again be creating scary scenarios for the Haunted House portion of the Halloween Party.  They are looking for old and/or broken electronic devices, including TVs, computers, radios, sound equipment, etc.  Please deliver the items to their RE classrooms on the upper level of the church by October 25th at 1:00 pm or notify Karen Lapidus or Colleen Thoele.

The UUCK Social Justice Council has approved a resolution supporting ISSUE 21 which allows residents to stop hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and injection wells in the City of Kent. Furthermore, we call for a congregational vote in support of this resolution, taking a position supporting Issue 21: Kent Charter Amendment (Community Bill of Rights).

Informational sessions were held Sundays, September 28th and October 5 during both services, in the church Annex.  An additional Information Meeting was held on Sunday, October 12 in between services in th Sanctuary.

The vote will be held immediately following the 2nd service on October 26 in the Sanctuary, in which a quorum and super-majority will be required for passage.

Please contact Lee Brooker, Bonny Esparza, or Andrew Rome for more information or visit https://www.facebook.com/KentEnvironment.

 

Download –  Resolution to Support the Kent Community Bill of Rights: Issue 21 (Right-click the link and choose “Save Link As…” to save the document to your computer)
Finish Reading: Call for Special Meeting and Vote: Resolution to Support Issue 21

SAVE THE DATE – ANNUAL THANKS 4 GIVING AUCTION – November 8, 2014

Our annual Thanks 4 Giving auction will be held on Saturday, November 8, 2014 at the Kent United Church of Christ.

Our theme, as you may have noticed at the Ministry Fair, is Kountry Kent!  We think you will be very happy with some of the changes we have planned this year!  Look for new and improved auction flow….that means MORE room folks, more room to move around and more room while eating!  We already have some great donations and we’ll have yummy food and lots of fun.  Mark your calendars now for this not to be missed event.

We are accepting your donations now; see our table in Fessenden Hall.  Do you have a new item you can’t use?  Donate it!  Do you have an idea for a great dinner party? Offer it!  Do you handcraft?  Make it!

If you would like to join our auction committee, please let me know.  This is a GREAT way to get to know folks and give back to this wonderful community.  As they say, many hands make for lighter work!  It’s a fun and rewarding way to get involved.  If you are interested in joining in on the fun please contact Meg Milko at [email protected] or 216-406-2946.

Thank you!

Thanks 4 Giving Auction Committee

Meg Milko, Chair

The Great March for Climate is staying overnight in Kent on their cross-country march to Washington D.C.!  This is an opportunity for the UU Church of Kent and the Kent Environmental Council to help them on their way.

1. They need homes for 50 – 60 people to sleep over for the night of October 7. If you live in the Kent area, please consider housing 2 to 4 marchers in your home.  They can be picked up at Fred Fuller park around 7 pm. Bedtime is early for them, around 8-9 pm, and they need to be back to Fred Fuller by 6:30 am.  They will have dinner at Fred Fuller park, so you don’t have to provide that.  It would be great if you could provide a breakfast next morning, but it’s not necessary.  Transportation will need to be provided for the marchers to and from your house.  We have a lot of marchers coming, so please consider helping.
2. I would like to have a few drivers on call if necessary to transport marchers.

Read more about them here – http://climatemarch.org/

If you would like to house or transport 2-4 marchers, please contact to Brad Bolton and please include the following –

Your name
cell phone number
your address (in case we need to supply a driver)
Your email (it may be different than the one you are writing from)
Number of marchers you would like to house (zero if you are transporting only)
State if you are willing to transport marchers only, not house them
State if you are willing to house marchers but cannot transport them

I will not distribute your info to anyone except drivers and my assistant (I can’t be here the evening of Oct. 7).

I will be emailing you with more info as we get closer to Oct. 7.

If you want to walk with them locally, they will be hiking from Hudson on Ravenna Rd. and Hudson Rd. into Kent, and should arrive in Kent around 3 – 4 pm.

Thanks for helping – Brad Bolton

An Informational Meeting on the Call for a Congregational Resolution to Support Issue 21 (Kent Community Bill of Rights) will be held Sunday, October 5, 2014 between services.  We will meet in the Annex at 10:50 AM to discuss the proposed resolution.

 

 

The Library committee would like to thank all those who attended the first Symposium on Islamic Art, presented by Gingr Vaughn last Wednesday nite. It was fascinating to learn the philosophical, expressive  and technical foundations of this unique art form.  Symposium #2 will be October 22 at 7:30 in the Sanctuary, and Gingr will conclude her presentation with examples of contemporary art by Islamic women ( that sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it?) Don’t miss it.

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For her sermon last Sunday, “International Unitarian Universalism”, Rev. Melissa drew upon a number of sources. For those who wish to explore this topic in more depth, she suggests a general overview may be found in the International Council of Unitarian Universalism site: http://www.icuu.net/

ICUU offer a curriculum on Unitarian Universalism in several countries around the world which is a good resource for those interested in learning about Unitarian Universalism in a particular country. http://www.icuu.net/resources/downloads/unit1_sgw.pdf

UUA International Office has two videos about the history and present state of global Unitarian Universalism. These may be viewed online. 125 Years of International Engagement  is at http://vimeo.com/52872414, and The Next 50 Years is at http://vimeo.com/53417303

The book, Maglipay, Universalist: The Unitarian Universalist Church of the Philippines, by Fred Muir, has been donated to the Library by Rev. Melissa and will be available after it is cataloged.

The Patricia Pownall UU Book Group will be meeting on Tuesday, October 7 at 7 pm in the Church Annex. It is reader’s choice for the month of October.  Also at October’s gathering, we will have a book exchange. Bring books that you no longer want and trade with other group members. All left over books will be donated Empower Portage. For those interested, Piper Kerman, author of Orange is the New Black, will be appearing at EJ Thomas Hall on Tuesday, October 14 at 7:30 pm. If you have any questions you may contact Bonnie Harper.  All are welcome.