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
Come drop in to check out Keystone online each Wednesday and Sunday
online every Sunday 10:30 AM Worship
online every Wednesday 6:30 pm gatherings
Wednesday eves = a rotation of studies & discussions for action or prayer: Green Team, or Story Telling, or Parables Study, or Concerns-of-our-World-Conversations...
And: come any Wednesday @ 6 pm = 20 mins Lectio Divina practice, with the upcoming Sunday scripture
Contact us here for easy links.
Sundays: on line Break out rooms after worship @ 11:30 AM:
enjoy 10 mins of Check-in: Fellowship with a group of 8 or so. + one is a Kids: StoryTime & Bible Study room with Anita.
Wednesdays at Keystone
Join us every Wednesday night for a short Lectio Divina practice, beginning at 6 p.m. and running until 6:20 p.m., using the scripture for the following Sunday as a meditative focus. After that practice the space opens up for our community nights, beginning at 6:30 p.m. The schedule for the next several weeks includes:
Listening Hour: The fifth Wednesday of the month are dedicate to getting feedback from you! Come and tell us how Zoom worship, online and in-person communications, advocacy, and other aspects of our shared Keystone life are working (or need improvement!). Wednesday, Sept. 30, at 6:30 p.m.
Green Team: The Green Team shifts its regular monthly meeting from the first Tuesday night to the first Wednesday night. The next meeting will be Oct. 7. Among the discussion: Chapter 5 of Jim Antal's book Climate Church, Climate World, as well as our get-out-the-vote efforts, and connections with other climate justice-focused faith communities.
Parables Study: The Justice Bible Study is turning its focus on parables, and to do this we're studying the book Short Stories by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi by Amy-Jill Levine. Join Pastor Lauren & Pastor Yuki as we take a fresh look at the tricky tales Jesus told, that we thought we knew by heart. We will craft a covenant to be generous readers & with one another as we really look to recover the sense of provocation and challenge that these parables would have brought to those in Jesus first century audience. The first night of the study will be Wednesday, Oct. 14, and we'll study the introduction, plus chapters 1, 2 and 3.
Storytelling: Join us for Keystone's Wednesday Story Night! Tonight we'll begin telling stories under the theme of "Transcendence."
Concerns of the World: A new focus for our Wednesday community gatherings is a night dedicated each month where we can come together to share our concerns about things that are going on the world. Come to vent, worry, and pray in community about the things that are happening around us all. The first night of this gathering will be Oct. 28.
Our Wednesday night community space opens up at 6:20 p.m., after the weekly Lectio Divina practice, with the evening gathering officially starting 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 every Wednesday night!).