Wednesday Evenings @ KeystoneUCC: Learning/ Gathering/Solidarity

Wednesday evenings are full of activity at Keystone’s online Zoom space! Check out this schedule of events for the next several Wednesdays:

Tonight, Wed. Aug. 12:  Justice Bible Study 6:30- 7:20 p.m. w/ Pastor Yuki.

Also Tonight, Wed. Aug. 12:  Solidarity: Gather & Build Resilience Hang Out: with your faithful crew: Connect, Lament & Laugh:  7:30-8:15 p.m.(Come this first gathering to circle up support around our faithful parents especially!  All are welcome) w/ Pastor Lauren.

Wed. Aug. 19:  StoryTelling. Theme: Transcendence, 6:30-7:15 p.m. w/ Pastor Rich.

Wed. Aug. 26:  This may be our second practice of Lectio Divina, 6:30 p.m. — or it might be another event. We’ll let you know in a future newsletter!

Note:

In months that have five Wednesdays, we plan to host regular Community Feedback Listening Sessions — for example: see you on  Sept. 30 and Dec. 30!

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Keystone is a Creation Justice Church!

After Keystone’s Lenten study on Naomi Klein’s book On Fire: The (Burning) Case for a Green New Deal, the members of the study (who are also part of the Keystone Green Team), pinpointed some specific actions we wanted to take on to live out our commitment to climate justice. One of those actions was to apply to become on of the United Church of Christ’s Creation Justice Churches, joining may other churches in the UCC who are committed to creation care and climate justice in the world. The Green Team spent a few months working on that application, which you can read here, and Pastor Yuki sent it to the UCC’s national offices on July 22.

In July, Pastor Yuki received an email from the UCC’s Environmental Justice Minister Rev. Brooks Berndt welcoming Keystone as one of the UCC’s Creation Justice Churches. Rev. Berndt wrote: “I was able to read Keystone’s Creation Justice Church application just now, and I am happy to share that you are now officially a Creation Justice Church! I was glad to learn about your ministries, and I am happy to connect with you.”

Rev. Berndt said in the email that usually Creation Justice Churches receive a vinyl banner that they can display outside the church to show the world that they are committed to climate justice, but because the Covid-19 pandemic has kept the UCC’s office staff working from home, the UCC won’t be able to send that banner anytime soon. Rev. Berndt also encourages members from our Green Team to write articles about our experiences for the UCC Environmental Justice Ministries blog, The Pollinator.

Thank you, Green Team, for your work on the application and your commitment to this important ministry!

Meaningful Moves Online: Slay the Dragon

6 P.M. SATURDAY, AUGUST 8

Release Year: 2019
Running Time: 101 minutes
Director: Barak Goodman and Chris Durrance

A secretive, high-tech gerrymandering initiative launched 10 years ago threatens to undermine our democracy. Gerrymandering influences elections and sways outcomes. It has become a hot-button political topic and symbol for everything broken about the American electoral process. But there are those on the front lines fighting to change the system. “Slay the Dragon” follows everyday people as they fight to make their votes matter.

To register for this event, please email everettmeaningfulmovies@gmail.com so we can send you the Zoom link.

Other movies to watch this week:

Watch “Fight the Power: Protest in Films” on Kanopy at home and then on August 11 join an online discussion about the film with Lance Rhoades, Seattle-based film critic. “Fight the Power” focuses on filmmakers in the 1980s speaking truth to power by highlighting protests in their films. This event is part of the program Meaningful Movies Matinee, a social justice documentary film and discussion series aimed at educating and engaging people online. Registration is required. Please register HERE with your email and you will be sent the Zoom link or phone number the day of the event. 

Take 5 for Advocacy This Week: July 27, 2020

Actions You Can Take This Week

DON'T FORGET TO VOTE: This is the time to turn in your ballots and to please make sure that your families and friends are also turning in their ballots too!  Even though this past Monday, July 27th, was the last day for on-line registration, a person can still register and vote in this upcoming primary election.  Please see the links below, especially the addresses and times where you can still register and vote on August 4th!

How to return ballots:

Ballots were mailed out to registered voters on July 15! If someone hasn’t received their ballot by now, call King County Elections: (206) 296-8683 to figure out the best way to get a ballot, or print one online.
Find your non-partisan Voter Pamphlet information from King County online.

• Use a Ballot Drop Box: Turn ballot in by 8 p.m. on election day to a drop box near you. View drop box locations around the county.

• Mail your ballot: No stamp needed! Put your ballot in any mailbox. Make sure that it will be postmarked by 5 p.m. on Election Day.

• Vote Center: Go to a vote center for assistance voting in-person. Vote Centers are at King County Elections HQ in Renton and CenturyLink Field in Seattle. Vote Centers are taking important COVID-19 health precautions, and ask that folks wear masks (they will have some available too). Click here for hours & info.

For questions related to voting, call King County Elections: (206) 296-8683 or visit www.kingcounty.gov/vote.

Sustaining Our Worship During & After a Pandemic

A note from Pastor Rich:

The congregation met via Zoom on Wednesday July 22nd. Those who attended voiced some sadness for some of the things our Zoom worship cannot provide like hugs, congregational singing and cake. Overall though the feedback was that given the restrictions of Covid, things are going quite well. People are generally pleased with the Sunday service and appreciate some of the things Zoom gatherings provide, like opportunity to see everyone’s faces during worship, the ease of attending worship and discovering new music. One of the primary advantages of Zoom worship is that we have people participating from far away and our attendance is up significantly.

The reality is that we will be doing Zoom worship for many months to come and possibly we will keep Zoom worshipping at some level even after a vaccine has been distributed to everyone. Given that, we are now moving from doing Zoom worship as an emergency response, to working out how we can continue to do such worship sustainably. That means that we are going to need to have more people trained in using the technology and we will need to standardize the technology we are using so that various people can do the work.

The long and the short of it is that we are building something new and lasting and that will take some time. We ask that the congregation please be patient as we work out a system that will run as smoothly as our traditional worship did.