Short Video -more Exodus study- in prep for tonight & Sunday

From Pastor Lauren:
We have been fortifying ourselves these weeks by doing some extra time in Exodus, for our Sunday sermons. And each Wednesday we pause, like tonight 10/7, @ Lectio Divina @ 6 pm, to be online for 20 minutes to reflect on the text coming up for Sunday. So tonight it will be Exodus 32: 1-14 for Sunday 10/11.

Also below is a link to spend 6 minutes on a fresh take on the part that comes a little beforehand in Exodus 20: including the ‘ten commandments’. What if we consider these in times of strife, not as much for personal thou-shall-not lists, but agreements to hold community up, in times in need of integrity, or direction, or clear action? These passages may be background to offer insight for how God’s people might worship, that can also aid our understanding this week of the antics in the story of God’s people worshipping a golden calf. Happy further study from us & the Pacific Northwest Conference UCC:

Meaningful Movies Social Justice Film Festival 2020

A rectangle featuring two boxes showing two images. In the left box, which has a white background, are two speech bubbles stylized to look like film strips, one in red and one in blue, with the words “Meaningful Movies Project” beside them. Beneath these words is the website address: www.meaningfulmovies.org. and “Social Documentary Film and Community Discussion. The right box is a mosaic of images showing people’s faces.

October 11-20, learn more at https://www.socialjusticefilmfestival.org.

Release Year: 2020
Running Time: 24 hours
Director: Many talented people!

Join filmmakers, film lovers, and activists around the world to celebrate the mission of social justice in film for the 9th Social Justice Film Festival, screening virtually from October 1-11, 2020. Featuring an exciting lineup of short and feature-length films to explore at your own pace, as well as filmmaker panels and discussions, tickets to the Social Justice Film Festival are available from Northwest Film Forum. For more information about the Social Festival Film Festival and Institute, and to buy tickets to this year’s event, visit www.socialjusticefilmfestival.org.  If you need a free scholarship ticket, please contact alanna@socialjusticefilmfestival.org 

This year, due to COVID-19, The Social Justice Film Festival is partnering with Meaningful Movies and Northwest Film Forum to present this year’s festival entirely online. Together, we will raise awareness, build community, and support the art of storytelling through films. The SJFFI also aims to support underrepresented filmmakers and provide a platform for unacknowledged stories.

Learn more at https://www.socialjusticefilmfestival.org

Moving Through Exodus

From Pastor Lauren:
Since we need all the fortification we can get these days, here are a couple brief supports, to fuel your mid-week thriving.  Come each or any Wednesday eve into the Keystone online space for some scripture study.  We meditate on the upcoming Sunday passage from 6-6:20 p.m. using a reflective process called Lectio Divina that connects to centering prayer.

Also, we have been taking a few deeper paths in Exodus these weeks (as Pastor Rich has gone further than the lectionary schedule) to let us steep in these foundational texts.  For this Sunday, October 4, the sermon will be on the manna from heaven.  And our friends (and family) at the Pacific Northwest Conference have also been meditating on just these passages too.  Here is Conference Minister Rev. Mike Denton (aka Leo's dad, Lauren's beloved) offering a couple minute video, to fuel your thinking this week.

Take 5 for Advocacy: Week of Sept. 27, 2020

Image description: A logo that reads “Take 5 for Advocacy, “ featuring the words “Take 5” in red, with the 5 in a circle of lines that indicate a watch face, and the words “For Advocacy” in green. The words sit in front of a pattern that looks like a mosaic of stones, with a green cross surrounded by multicolored blocks.

Actions You Can Take This Week

DEADLINE TO COMMENT ON KALAMA REFINERY IS FRIDAY: The last day to leave a public comment with the Washington state Department of Ecology is THIS FRIDAY, October 2. Tell the state Department of Ecology that you oppose Northwest Innovation Works' and the Port of Kalama's application to build the world’s largest methanol refinery in Kalama.You can read more about the comment process at the Department of Ecology's web site here, and leave a comment online here. Rich Voget has provided this handout to help guide your comments and make them more effective. He also shared this flier (download here) on the Kalama Refinery and why Sierra Club opposes it, to find out more about the training workshops, and connect with Sierra Club at monthly meetings on the topic every third Thursday on Zoom. Email sept.gernez@sierraclub.org for the Zoom link.

Extend the Eviction Moratorium: Washington State’s eviction moratorium is set to expire on October 15th. Since it was put in place, it has protected hundreds of thousands of Washington households from facing homelessness. Organizers who work with unsheltered folks are expecting a massive eviction crisis if this moratorium expires. The Washington Low-Income Housing Alliance is asking you to call on Governor Inslee and state lawmakers today – ask them to extend the state’s eviction moratorium through March 2021. This extended timeline will give the Legislature the opportunity to create and vote on a longer-term solution for housing stability during this era of COVID-19 and the economic recession. Raise your voice by clicking here. 

HELP COMMUNITIES OF COLOR BREATHE: The Movement for Black Lives is asking for support for the BREATHE Act, a 21st-century federal civil rights bill that will help communities of color not just survive, but thrive. This bill divests our taxpayer dollars from brutal and discriminatory policing and invests in a new vision of public safety—a vision that answers the call to defund the police. You can support this legislation by sending messages to your elected officials by clicking here. 

Prayers of the People: Week of Sept. 27

A line drawing in gray of two hands holding a heart, behind words in red that read “Prayers of the People”

In worship on Sept. 27, we joined together in holding up these prayers:

• For the family of Susan Kelly, whose were members of Keystone, who grieve for her loss. 

• For caregivers who support us in our daily lives, and who work hard to keep us safe during these times. 

• For the blessings that God gives us, through our homes and children and the care they give us. Give family who take care of us the strength and endurance to keep caring for us and one another, and for other blessings of good health, strength in our bodies. 

• For those who are sick that God may bless them and help them find wellness. 

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 (one pastor or leader makes note as one prays), while guarding their privacy as this newsletter is carried into the digital world.  We also especially welcome you to send Rev. Lauren your note during the week with any prayer request, we are so happy to incorporate it into our online worship (if you may not be up for voicing it). We are also always glad for you to add your prayers to the Zoom chat box during live worship, and we can fold them in to the spoken prayers. Contact Keystone's pastors for any pastoral concerns (contact info is below and at the bottom of this newsletter)

Prayers to include in the newsletter? Email them to Pastor Yuki (yuki.schwartz@keystoneseattle.org), Pastor Rich (keystone5019@gmail.com), &/or Pastor Lauren:  lauren.cannon@keystoneseattle.org, or text/ call Lauren cell:  773.501.7382