Nicklesville Support, Holden Prayer, Solar & Climate Change Action, and More!

Join us for services Worship Every Sunday – 10:30 a.m. All Are Welcome! This Sunday, December 8, 2019 Rev. Lauren preaching Worship leader: Rev. Yuki (Rev. Rich away) Text:  Matthew 3:1-12  Music Leader:  Elliot Kraber Accompaniment: Yigit Kolat Children's Ministry:  Anita  Reader: Lisa Usher: Mary Communion Stewards & Advent Candle Lighters: Julia and Pierre Coffee Hour Host:  Sandie Theme: Keep Awake Families:  Children start the morning in worship for opening hymns & taking in the voices of community & welcome.  Once the scripture is read, teacher Anita will lead children down to classroom for the sermon time:  a craft, Bible story, & creative play.  All ages together.  Anita will usher children back up to sanctuary @ Communion & they join us for closing hymn! *Also find the basket of Activity pages & books on the welcome table every week! This Children's class with Anita = programming every Sunday 10 a.m.- 12 p.m. More info at http://www.keystoneseattle.org/children-youth/ Miss a Sermon?  Down at Classroom? Audio Available Online: Feel free anytime to click on an audio file for a listen HERE, and share!  NEXT WEEK Sunday, Dec. 15:  10:30 a.m. worship Preaching: Rev. Rich Worship Leader: Rev. Lauren (Rev. Yuki away) Music Leader: Elliot Kraber Accompaniment: Yigit Kolat Children's Ministry: Anita Advent Candle Lighters: Children & Families Ministry -- Anita Featherston and children and families Reader: Christian Usher: Elvina Communion:  Lauren, Rich Coffee Hour: Open Sunday, Dec. 8: Congregational Conversation on Aiding Nickelsville Residents  Rev. Rich has been in conversation with Scott Morrow, a community organizer with Nickelsville, about the Nickelsville Community's pending eviction from their Tiny House neighborhood and the possibility of them staying temporarily in the Keystone sanctuary. Rev. Lauren, Rev. Yuki, and our congregational moderator John will lead discussion during coffee hour about this issue. You can read more about what's happening below, in these words from Rev. Rich: "Nickelsville started in 2008 as response by homeless people to the policy of aggressive sweeps of encampments of homeless people living in tents. Several such people organized themselves into a community to provide mutual protection and to protest the mayor’s (Greg Nickels) policy. They choose to name themselves Nickelsville making a connection to another encampment of homeless people in Seattle during the Great Depression they called their community Hooverville after the president whose polices were blamed for the economic downturn. "About a year after its founding the Nickelsville community found themselves in a crisis. They had to leave the place where they were camped and they didn’t have a place to go. They turned to Keystone.  I was contacted on a Friday. I met with a committee of Nickelsville folks the next day. They asked for space in Keystone for them to stay until they could find a place. I put it before the congregation the following day and the congregation voted to accept the Nickelsville community as residents for one month. They stayed in our sanctuary, agreed to be out of the church all day on Sundays and adhered to the rules the congregation set out for them. "The Nickelsville folks were good guests. They left when the said they would. They cleaned up after themselves and indeed left the building cleaner than when they found it. "On Wednesday I received a call from Nickelsville organizer Scott Morrow. He said that it looked like the City of Seattle was going to try to evict the community from their tiny houses in the Northlake village in Wallingford on Mionday. Scott asked if Keystone could once again be the refuge of last resort for the community which currently numbers 26. I said that I would take it to the congregation. On Sunday we will have the opportunity to once again decide whether or not to offer our sanctuary for habitation. Scott says that he hopes that Nickelsville folks won’t need to stay at Keystone but the community has to be prepared for the worst case scenario. "The last time they stayed with us we wrote up a short list or requirements. These included, That they would store all their belongings in sealable plastic tubs. (we purchased tubs for each participant as a means of limiting the possibility of bed bugs) They would limit their belongings to what could be stored in the tubs. They would be out of the church from 8 a.m. on Sunday morning to 6:30 p.m. on Sunday nights They could use the kitchen but only when there was no group in Battson Hall. They would need to keep all spaces clean for the use of all the groups that meet at Keystone. They would not smoke on church property. They would not cause any disturbances with our neighbors. They would not have any contact with the preschool children or parents. "I will be out of town this Sunday but I’ll keep my cell phone nearby in case there are questions." You can also help by signing a letter here to Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan opposing the plan to evict the Nickelsville Community from their neighborhood.  HOLDEN PRAYER @ KEYSTONE Elliot Kraber, Music Coordinator Yigit Kolat, Accompanist w/Rev. Rich Gamble and Rev. Lauren Cannon Mark your calendars to enjoy December contemplative evening worship services at Keystone UCC. Holden Prayer is 20-minute candlelit evening service with lots of singing, reflective time, a couple seasonal scriptures, and we exit in silence. Come as you are, for some peaceful contemplation after your day.  Bring a friend- all welcome! Wednesday, December 11, 7-7:30 p.m. Wednesday, December 18, 7-7:30 p.m. Holden Village is a Lutheran (and quite welcoming of all) retreat center in the Cascades that started this lovely prayer service.  Many of the hymns we sing in Sunday worship (green Gather hymnal) were written by Marty Haugen who once took a sabbatical in the Holden Village in 1986.  He composed Holden Evening Prayer  while he was there.  Its a vespers (evening) service, that is now done in many places for simple contemplative worship.  A while back, two Keystone year-long young adult volunteers, Melissa and Eric, brought us this practice. Come breathe deeply with others at Keystone for one or both of these Wednesday evenings. AND ... Following Holden Prayer, Seattle Dances of Universal Peace invite all upstairs to Wednesday Dances, 7:30 pm in the Learning Center.  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tuesday Dec. 24- Christmas Eve worship 7 p.m. @ Keystone Come share this beloved candlelight hour celebrating the Christmas story with poems, and carols, as we worship the coming of the light of Christ. Children join families in the pews.  We close with candlelit silent night. Celebrating Your Hard Work at This Year's Festival of Hope What a great Festival of Hope we had this year! At last count, we counted that we raised more than $21,000 at this year's festival. We can't thank enough Eliza, Jo, and all the other hard workers who made the 41st Festival such a joyous event!  On Monday, Dec. 2, Keystone member Lisa Rivera Smith was sworn into her post on the Seattle School Board, and some of us were able to join her to see our favorite representative take her oaths to serve Seattle students. Congratulations, Lisa!  TONIGHT: Communities Rising Event, An Introduction to Drawdown Drawdown.org features 100 well-researched solutions to climate change. Participants are invited to consider implementing these solutions with  family and local community - i.e. a "middle-out" approach, as a complement to a "bottom-up" approach (individual action) and to a "top-down" approach (national political action). Tonight's Communities Rising event to explore these ideas with the newly established Drawdown Seattle group (DrawdownSeattle.org). This participatory "Introduction To Project Drawdown" involves folks with solutions to reverse global warming that encompass the energy we all use, the food we eat and the cities we live in. Each of us can explore the vital role we can play in this movement to reverse global warming. This Introduction workshop will lead to future, more in-depth Drawdown workshops that will be held on Jan. 7th, 14th, 21st, and Feb. 25th, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. You can register for these workshops here.  Come join Communities Rising tonight at 7 p.m. at Keystone, and consider attending the future workshops next month.  Solar Power to the People You may have noticed the work to replace the roof is under way, and now we're turning our attention to part two of our roof plans -- raising funds for our solar panels. Christian has created this poster to explain and track our fund-raising efforts. We'll color in the thermometer with a red Sharpie marker as we go to show how much closer we are to our goal. Keep watch in the church narthex (lobby) for the appearance of this poster, and let folks know about this work of environmental stewardship that Keystone is taking up.  Two additional commitments coming out of the Climate Strike:  Keystone is starting to build support amidst our UCC network of churches and PTSA networks to make school districts 100% clean energy, following a successful process from CA & Sierra Club. We are also participating in the monthly People's Song Echo (all ages!) at All Pilgrims on Cap Hill.  Next dates:   Dec. 18, Jan. 23. Talk to Christian (townsdin@gmail.com) & Lauren:  (lauren.cannon@keystoneseattle.org) to find out more.  And ... Get Ready for Our Climate Change Lenten Study In March 2020, we'll turn our Lenten study to  help us deepen our climate action as a faith community.  Here are a couple ways to try engaging now, over the winter: Add to your reading list:  Naomi Klein's "This Changes Everything" and/or "On Fire: the Burning Case for a Green New Deal."  Get a jump for Wednesday classes in March with our pastors. Read Drawdown & come to the Drawdown workshops (see above), to build community in which we can implement these solutions. (see below). Join Christian, Allie, Lauren, Yuki, Elliot & more at the January 23 People's Echo sing events @All Pilgrims on Cap Hill, for learning songs we can lead at future demonstrations. Host a January kick off meeting with Lauren & Christian as UCC + local church groups come together @ Keystone to learn about the Sierra Club steps for securing clean energy across our public school systems. Make your donation to our solar panels for our roof! Every bit helps make a lasting boost toward aligning our community's values, for years to come! Come see Elliot in A Christmas Carol Keystone music leader Elliot Kraber is part of a production of A Christmas Carol, based on the story by Charles Dickens, at the SecondStory Repertory in Redmond. The production begins Dec. 5 and goes through Dec. 23, at 8 p.m. Find out more from Elliot or go to the SecondStory Repertory's web page on this show to get more information.  Background: Lin Hagedorn, a PNC-UCC Justice Jubilee graduate and member of Northshore UCC, Woodinville, is organizing Undoing Institutional Racism training in the Greater Seattle area east of Lake Washington.  While aimed at east of Lake Washington faith community members, this training is open to anyone.  Undoing Institutional Racism (UIR) training is the gold standard for understanding racism in America and stepping into work for its dismantling.  The Justice Witness Ministries Dismantling Racism Team commits to each other to take this two-day training each year.  The December 7th appetizer event at East Shore Unitarian, South Bellevue just off I-90 is free and designed for people considering taking the two-day full training in 2020.    I strongly urge you to take advantage of this opportunity and to help spread the word using the attached flyer.  Thanks. Steve Clagett, Chair Justice & Witness Ministries Committee and its Dismantling Racism Team   Take Five for Advocacy Update ...  We're celebrating with the Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness the passing of the Seattle 2020 budget that funds the "Home for Good" program, which helps close the income gap for people on disability benefits and  keep them in their homes. This proposal will not only help many Seattle residents, but we hope will be the basis of related efforts locally and state-wide to prevent and end homelessness by closing the rent gap in high cost housing areas. You can send a thank you message to your Seattle City Council members, who voted to fund this proposal. This doesn't mean the work to keep people in their homes is over. Join the Coalition at its Annual Legislative Preview on December 19, 8:30 to 11 a.m. at Southside Commons, to hear from state-wide advocacy partners and state lawmakers about key proposals to strengthen homeless services, protect low income tenants, expand voting rights, improve homeless families’ access to childcare, and help more people find and keep stable homes. You can register for this Annual Legislative Preview here.  Keep Learning About Prophetic Social Media w/ Rev. Yuki We hard a fun night sharing a meal and getting a "Social Media 101" lesson with Rev. Yuki on Wednesday night. We learned a little about social media platforms and how to use them a little better, and also the importance of telling our stories about why the causes and issues we care about are so important to the world. We'll have more workshops to keep practicing our social media skills in the near future. Watch the newsletters and announcements in worship for the next Prophetic Social Media workshop!  Meaningful Movies in Wallingford: Strangers in Town 7 p.m. at Keystone Release Year: 2019 Running Time: 33 minutes Directors: Reuben Aaronson; Steve Lerner This film tells the story of how global migration unexpectedly transformed and enriched Garden City, Kansas. It brought great challenges to the community, including demands for housing, social services, education, and infrastructure. For the current students at Garden City High School, the town’s remarkable diversity is all they’ve ever known. “Strangers in Town” gives new meaning to the city’s motto: “the world grows here,” and provides an inspiring view of human possibility in the face of change. This is a passionate, beautiful film that makes you believe in the American dream again. Garden City’s welcoming of new immigrants provides a welcome relief to the mean-spirited xenophobia of so much contemporary American politics, and this film gets to the heart of the story by listening well. The evening’s program will begin with a 15-minute clip from the “Middle Ground” series: Trump supporters and immigrants come together to find middle ground. Together, they discuss President Trump’s immigration policies and media bias in portraying both sides. ** All events are Open to the Public. Admission is by Donation ** We help communities organize, educate, advocate & build community around social justice documentary film and conversation. --------- ---------

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