Category: Announcements & Articles
September 2025: Reading Is Fundamental (RIF)
Our Monthly Special Offering Recipient
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
Music Brainstorm Session!
Are you an avid music listener? Do you live in a musical? Can you name 5 songs that relate to the theme “Embodying Resilience”? Join a music ministry brainstorm session on Wednesday, January 14th at 6:30pm!
Join Director of Music Ministry Emily Hall for a zoom brainstorm session for the musically excited and inclined as we think about what music will support our community in delving deeper into our upcoming worship themes of Resistance, Resilience, Attention, Possibility, Curiosity, and Flourishing. All music fans, all ages welcome!
Register here for Zoom link: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tvyO7ZhrT3yEjiFUSuoIvA
August Art Show: Photography
August 2025: World Central Kitchen
Our Monthly Special Offering Recipient
World Central Kitchen provides nourishing meals for people suffering from humanitarian, climate, and community crises. When disaster strikes, WCK’s Relief Team mobilizes to cook and serve meals for people in need. WCK partners with local organizations and seeks to use local ingredients.
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
Where’s Walden in the Fall Campout
When: Friday September 12 at 3 PM to Monday 15 at 3 PM
Where: Chapman State Park in Pennsylvania
- Rustic Group Camping Area 1 (half of field nearest the lake).
- Picnic tables and fire rings.
- Pot Luck Breakfasts and Dinners.
- Canoeing/kayaking with boat launch near group camp.
- Out of season swimming may be possible (no lifeguard)
- Hiking trails near group campground.
- Pit toilet near group camp, modern bathrooms with showers available at the main campground.
Email Randy Leeson with questions or to reserve a spot.
Unitarian Universalist Justice Ohio Monthly Discussions
Unitarian Universalist Justice Ohio (UUJO) is offering a monthly discussion session via Zoom for all Ohio UUs. We are trying to offer space to decide how we can work together and with other justice organizations to fight the current changes in legislation that threaten so many of the causes we, as UUs have worked hard over many years to advance. Come and join us! Let us know what you have been doing! Let’s support each other!
- Environmental Protection
- LBGTQA Rights
- Voting Rights and Fair Districts
- Diversity Equity and Inclusion
- Separation of Church and State
- Due Process
- Immigrant Rights
- Well-funded public education
- Anti Racism
- Prison Reform
3rd Sunday Monthly Zoom Conversation
Monthly from 3:30 to 4:30 PM on the third Sunday from May 18 to Sunday Nov. 16th (EDT)
CLICK HERE to join us on Zoom!
Kirtan Gathering, Friday July 25 at 7:00pm
Join Brad, Margot, and friends for an evening of Kirtan chanting, a way to celebrate unity in diversity by joining voices in “call and response” chants in Sanskrit and English.
This kirtan will be for the mother, Ma, all of Nature. The feminine aspect is always changing but we can hold ourselves steady by finding qualities that mirror our quiet observing self, such as forbearance, wisdom and compassion, receptivity, discernment…
Chanting opens our common ground. Krsnaa of “Enchanted Hearts” of Cleveland will join us with vocals and an original chant. We welcome Lexie on viola!
Our movement piece is the Moon Salutation again, and be ready for “Legs Up the Wall!”
This quarterly offering is jointly hosted by the communities of the UU Church of Kent and One Love Yoga. All are welcome, so please join us, and invite friends and family. Suggested donation of $10.
Location:
Hobbs Hall @ the UU Church of Kent
228 Gougler Ave.
Kent, OH 44240
Shared Ministries Council
Servetus: The Radical Reformed Musical
Dramatic Reading, Original Music
Monday, May 5, 2025 7:00pm
Church Sanctuary (donations appreciated!)
(Please note that our elevator is out of service and the performance is on the second floor.)
Rev. Dennis McCarty’s one-person musical about Unitarian Universalist icon Michael Servetus has received rave reviews for its tuneful journey to the radical, shadow side of the Protestant Reformation.
Servetus was a Spanish theologian and physician from the 1500s whose radical beliefs bothered John Calvin, his contemporary and the founder of Christian theology known as Calvinism. Servetus (1511-1553) wrote the brilliant treatise “On the Errors of the Trinity” at the age of 21. He worshipped a loving God, believed in human beings’ inherent worth and dignity and followed Jesus. But his writings were offensive to church fathers of the time. McCarty’s play highlights some of the few pieces of history about Servetus that survive. Servetus was ultimately burned at the sake for heresy.
The 90-minute performance includes 12 original songs ranging from blues to jazz to rock ‘n’ roll—even some unplugged heavy metal. McCarty draws inspiration from sources such as Judas Priest, B.B. King, and KPop or walking the ancient streets of Hill St. Genevieve near the University of Paris.
McCarty is Minister Emeritus of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Columbus, Indiana.
Sharing Space Sundays in Hobbs Hall
Sharing Space and Honoring Boundaries
With 2 services and lots of activities happening on Sunday morning, Hobbs Hall is bustling! We have run into a few places of friction, so we are offering some rules and guidelines.
Quiet, Please!
We are used to sitting at the tables in Hobbs Hall and having conversations, but with the acoustics, we need to keep the extra noise to a minimum while there are critical activities happening.
Worship Time is Sacred Time (9:15-10:00am & 11:00-noon)
Especially during worship times, we need to honor that what is normally our fellowship space is serving as sacred space. You are welcome to sit at the tables, but please keep any talking at a whisper. There are discussion groups in Fessenden you are welcome to join from 10:00 to 10:45.
Sound Check Time is Crucial (10:00-10:45am)
Our fabulous worship and Zoom ministry take a lot of technical as well as spiritual preparation. The worship leaders and tech team need quiet in Hobbs Hall to go through everything in the short window of time between services. If you need to set up a table for your committee or work in the kitchen, please keep the noise to a minimum.
The Foyer Is Our Greeting Space
Our greeting team needs to have the foyer clear so that they can welcome visitors, friends, and members, and orient them to what is happening on Sunday. We also need space so that our members who used wheeled devices can maneuver.
If your team or committee has an event or fundraiser, please set up a table along the side walls in Hobbs toward the back. Please honor the need for quiet while setting up (see above). Feel free to talk at normal volume between 10:45am-11:00 and after the second service.
Kitchen Sound Carries Into Hobbs
If you need to be working in the kitchen during the sound check or worship times, please be aware that sound carries into Hobbs Hall. Please keep voices low and kitchen clatter to a minimum.
New “Upcoming Events” Board!
We have a new corkboard on an easel in the foyer to publicize upcoming events. Church-sponsored events take priority. Half-sheets with QR Codes for more information are appreciated.
Pack It In, Pack It Out
Please do not leave any personal items at Hobbs Hall, even in the closet. We have many rentals and need the spaces clear for multiple uses. The lost and found is in the historic church building, on the coat rack at the bottom of the stairs.
Also, you cannot leave food in the Hobbs Hall kitchen. Because our commercial kitchen license, we have strict rules we need to follow. Exception-food that is to be served at an event that day or the next and is covered, labeled and stored at proper temperature. If you are not sure please check with a staff member or one of leaders who has been fully trained.
Contact the church office or the Building & Grounds Coordinator if you have a special situation or have experienced an area of friction that is not addressed here.
Italian Luncheon Fundraiser April 27
Help Us Send Our Youth to West Virginia on Their Service Trip
Sunday, April 27, 12:00-1:30pm in Hobbs Hall
MENU: pasta, meatballs, salad, bread (gluten free and vegetarian available)
COST: The dinner is by donation only, with 100% of proceeds going to support our high school youth group (UUYJ) traveling to West Virginia. Our goal is $3,000
Can’t attend, but still want to donate? There are 4 easy ways to choose from:
1) hand your donation to Colleen Thoele or Ellen McWilliams-Woods;
2) text Ellen for her to pick-up your donation;
3) send a check to church office (or drop it in the offering basket) with “UUYJ service trip” on memo line
4) donate online: select “other” and write “UUYJ service trip”.
Volunteers Needed for May 17 Live Auction!
The Annual Live Auction and Dinner is a UUCK fundraiser for the church operating budget. The signup genius website (link below) lists specific job duties, dates, and times needed. Volunteers are eligible for a complimentary ticket to the event. If you would like more information, please email [email protected].
The actual event is Saturday, May 17, 2025 but there are lots of opportunities to volunteer before that!
Pancake Breakfast on Hiatus Until Fall 2025
Due to our early shift to Hobbs Hall for Sunday worship services, we need to cancel our planned April pancake breakfast. We will start up again in the Fall.
Thanks to Kirt Beiling and the team of volunteers who made the pancake breakfasts a success!
What normally happens:
10:00am – 11:15am Hobbs Hall
Adults: $10 Children 12 & Under: $5
Join us for food and fellowship at this FUN-draiser on the last Sunday of the Month!
Menu includes:
- Pancakes — both regular and gluten-free options
- Syrup or fruit topping
- Sausage and “meatless” sausage options
- Coffee / Tea / Juice
Volunteers Eat for Free!
Join the Pancake breakfast team (led by Kirt Beiling) to help set up, serve, bus tables and clean up!
Sign-Up Link
