TELL CONGRESS TO SAVE THE POST OFFICE: Speaker Nancy Pelosi is holding a vote on Saturday in the House on a bill that would prevent any changes or delays to the postal service. 350.org is asking folks who care about the postal service and are aware of the many different ways folks depend on the public mail service for prescriptions, connections, and support, to join them in asking our Congressional representatives to pass the Delivering for America Act, to protect the US Postal Service and also to ensure that voters who will use the mail to vote this year will be able to make their votes count. Click here to send a message to your representatives now!
Prayers of the People
In worship last Sunday, we joined together to lift these prayers:
• That love is more powerful than ingrained ways we’ve been trained to see the world. May love be our interpretive lens. May love be how we come to see and engage all the world! (via Gospel of Matthew 15)
• For John’s niece Nadine with colon cancer. Prayers that her 8/18 surgery was smooth and God guided her surgeon’s hand. God bring relief to your servant, as we pray her recovery leads to all cancer being gone.
• Our prayers have been around Pierre as he underwent 8/18 hernia surgery, with all thanks that it went well, and for his rest and recovery at home.
• Our members who have had family unable to come to offer their usual help in the yard or home. For a spirit of creativity to be learning solo, new ways to keep up all chores.
• With Nell’s niece who has found ovarian cancer all through her body. May chemo and surgery begin, and may she be given hope in the direction & course ahead.
We continue to lift in prayer:
• Families & teachers at Keystone, who are figuring fall plans to work while they support our youth scholars, our college scholars, and our children in this new year out of their cherished daycares, preschools, & elementary schools.
Holy God ... hear our prayers!
These prayers are crafted to carry those shared in worship to our whole community, in the general spirit in which they were given (a leader notes as others pray.) Also send Rev. Lauren prayer requests, and we can add them to our online worship. Also add your prayers to the Zoom chat box during live worship, and we can fold them in to the spoken prayer time.
Pastoral concerns & prayers?
Pastor Yuki (yuki.schwartz@keystoneseattle.org),
Pastor Rich (keystone5019@gmail.com),
Pastor Lauren: lauren.cannon@keystoneseattle.org,
Also feel free to text/ call Lauren’s cell: 773.501.7382
TONIGHT @KeystoneUCC
Justice Bible Study: The Justice Bible Study Group meets tonight, August 12, reading the Gospel of Mark, Chapter 5. Come to the study and bring your questions and your reflections of your week as we try to work out together where we meet God in these stories and in our work in the world. You don't need to read before coming, we'll read stories together. The study space opens up at 6:15 p.m., and the study will start at 6:30 p.m., in the same Zoom space we use on Sunday mornings and for our other gatherings (look for a Cheat Sheet with the info coming in your email!).
Gather & Resilience Hangout: Come circle up (this one especially welcomes parents!) Perhaps we each strive to stay well by various groups for support. But here is a chance to gather with your fellow Keystone faithful families (and all generations of Keystone folk who are cheering you on). We will hold a circle of support. Keystone prayers continue to be with you these days, families! Let's meet on line to casually commiserate a little, then strategize a bit too. We can lean in to our tradition that practices hope! We will get through this wild year ahead, with remote schooling, and any and everything else that is to come. We can hold each other's grief. We can have a few laughs in solidarity with each other. Come lament a little on Aug. 12 for a 45 minute round up, on how the heck you are doing! All Keystone folks and friends are welcome too! You can show your support to all our beloved parents! At the end, we will plan if we might circle up again.
(If you are at Bible Study beforehand- just come on in to chat after your study!) Find the meeting link in your email Cheat Sheet. You can also call/text Pastor Lauren at 773-501-7382.
New to Keystone and want to join one of these fellowship times? Email us at worship@keystoneseattle.org to get the Cheat Sheet.
Take 5 for Advocacy: Week of August 10, 2020
Actions You Can Take This Week
Support JumpStart Seattle: Sign on to the Seattle King County Coalition on Homelessness’s letter asking the Seattle City Council to overturn Mayor Durkan's veto of the JumpStart Seattle plan, which would provide immediate economic relief to Seattle residents and small business owners, assist immigrants and refugees, and provide a steady source of revenue to invest in affordable housing and replenish the city's emergency funds. Click here to sign on to this letter.
Instead of Project Cool ...: Because of the pandemic, the Coalition can't do its annual Project Cool drive to support ] Seattle and King County students who are experiencing homelessness with back-to-school supplies and books. However, these students still need your help! Click here to help donate to the Coalition's fund to provide students without shelter with school supplies and books.
Vote for the Next Centering Prayer Time
Last Wednesday, on August 5, folks from Keystone gathered for a Lectio Divinia practice in our community Zoom space. Pastor Lauren is seeking feedback and input for future next steps and possible dates for a next practice. The next practice could look very similar to what happened on August 5, or it might be a little different, thanks to your input!
If you were at the August 5 centering practice, or would be interested in future practices, please email Pastor Lauren (lauren.cannon@keystoneseattle.org) your thoughts on these questions:
Would you like to practice again?
Would you prefer a daytime, toward the start of your day or week?
Would you like to keep a Wednesday eve, say 6:30-7 pm?
Would you invite another from Keystone/your connections, to take time in community, to rest in God, this way?
Also, let Pastor Lauren know about preferred dates for a next practice, as well as the frequency of the practice:
Weekly Tuesdays @ 8:30 AM? 9 AM? so next up: August 18.
Couple Wednesday eves/month @ 6:30 PM? so next up: August 26.
Weekly Fridays @10:30 AM? so next up August 21.