Join us for services Worship Every Sunday – 10:30 a.m.
All Are Welcome! Interactive, Online
 This Sunday, June 21, 2020
Third Sunday After Pentecost
Preaching: Rev. Rich Gamble
Worship leaders: Rev. Lauren & Rev. Yuki
Text: Matthew 10:34-39
Theme: Disturbing Truth
We currently meet online for interactive worship through the Zoom Meetings platform. The link to the worship service is mailed through the newsletter every Sunday morning. Want to invite someone to worship with us? Send them the Sunday newsletter cheat sheet, or invite them to subscribe to our newsletter through our web site by clicking here: http://www.keystoneseattle.org/contact.
SUNDAY SCHEDULE: Our Sundays together begin with Sunday School and Storytime with Teacher Anita at 10 a.m. Children and their families spend 20 minutes in a Zoom breakout room with Anita, then return to the main Zoom space, where worship starts with music at 10:30 a.m. Also at 10 a.m., folks can hang out for a "Bring Your Own Coffee ☕ (half) hour" where we have some time to see each other and talk before worship. After worship, we'll also have about 15 minutes for connection and sharing together in breakout rooms. |
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Happy Listening Anytime: Miss a Sermon? Down at Classroom? Audio Available Online: Click on a file for a listen HERE, and share! You can now watch sermons and worship services on our new YouTube page here.
Did you miss worship last Sunday? You can watch the sermon from Pastor Rich, Pastor Lauren's guiding prayers in our Prayers of the People ,and Pastor Yuki's benediction from the most recent online worship services. Use these videos as part of your practices of prayer and reflection this week. |
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 | | Prayers of the People for June 14, 2020 (including our song to Nell) |
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 | | Benediction for June 14, 2020 |
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Our prayers continue to surround:
Nell and her family, including her Keystone family, for strength and love as we continue to care for her.
Sandie, for continued rest and recovery.
Dave, for continued recovery from blood clots.
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. We also especially welcome you to send Rev. Lauren a note with a prayer request before worship, and we can 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. All prayers are welcome, at any time. 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 |
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REMINDER: Keystone Congregational Meeting is June 28 SAVE THE DATE: Keystone Congregational United Church of Christ will hold our annual congregational meeting on June 28, 2020, on Zoom after our worship service. Details of the meeting to come soon in future issues of this newsletter. |
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TONIGHT: Join People of Faith to Take Action on These Moral Issues
The Keystone Justice Bible Study is taking a "virtual field trip" tonight to join faith communities throughout Washington state to discuss the intersecting emergencies of the Covid-19 pandemic, the ongoing police violence against Black and Brown communities, the economic crises that is deepening poverty, and proposals like #DefundThePolice and #TaxAmazon.
The event is from 6-8 p.m. tonight, June 17, on Zoom. The event is free but you have to register beforehand to get the Zoom link to enter the space. Click here to register here to get the Zoom link. You cannot get the link from Keystone but MUST REGISTER to attend the event and get the link.
According to the event's organizers:
"We will identify specific concrete actions that the City, County, State and each of us as individuals should take to ensure a proper moral response. Local elected officials will be invited to listen and respond to the recommended actions. Confirmed elected officials so far include: Sen. Bob Hasegawa, Sen. Rebecca Saldana, Sen. Joe Nguyen, Seattle Councilmember Kshama Sawant, and Seattle Councilmember Tammy Morales.
"Speakers to include: Rev. Dr. Kelle J Brown, Rev. Dr. Robert Jeffrey, Rev. Bianca Davis-Lovelace, Rabbi David Basior, Imam Abdirahman Kaariye, Brother Willard Jimerson, Rev. Genjo Marinello, Tulika Dugar, and moderated by Rev. Angela Ying and Sister Aneelah Afzali. Other faith leaders are strongly encouraged to sign up and be recognized in the program." |
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| The Keystone Justice Bible Study will also meet briefly afterward in Keystone's own Zoom space for a quick debrief and discussion. It's the same space we use on Sunday mornings and for all our studies. Check your email for the Wednesday Cheat Sheet with info on how to join that study after the event. |
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 | Keystone is deeply familiar with Rev. Dr. William Barber II, between our studies on his books The Third Reconstruction and Forward Together, and our participation in actions and events with the Poor People's Campaign and Repairers of the Breach. Check out his sermon, "America, Accepting Death is Not an Option Anymore!," that he gave this past Sunday, June 14, at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.
Don't forget that the Poor People's Campaign's Assembly and Poor People's March on Washington will take place online this weekend, June 20-21, beginning at 7 a.m. PDT on Saturday and again at 3 p.m. PDT on Sunday. It is a 2.5-hour digital justice gathering. Register for this event to get the links and attend at June2020.org. |
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Time to Read, Absorb, and Carry on Our Lament and Prayer:From Pastor Lauren:  I write to share a powerful article from my seminary colleague, Rev. Dr. Waltrina Middleton, whom so many of you also came to know as she traveled to Seattle to join us and preach at my ordination at Keystone on October 26, 2014. At that time she was working for the national UCC in Cleveland and helping lead faithful organizing in Ferguson, Missouri following the August 2014 shooting of Michael Brown. None of us could have guessed what these next years would entail for her family. And yet our prayers have continued to hold her throughout. So I want to offer an invitation to take some more time now with her current piece this week in the Christian Century. May it help inform the many ways we each will be called to respond to this moment in history.
From the article I Don’t Forgive the Man Who Murdered My Cousin DePayne at Mother Emanuel:"When black people were enslaved in America, they found places called brush arbors—safe havens hidden in the woods where they would steal away to pray, encourage one another, enact rites of passage, and plot their freedom. In the sanctuary of the forest, the disinherited and oppressed offered all they had to give in the collective work of loving themselves, their black bodies and the very essence of their humanity. "Where are the sanctuaries for black people in contemporary America? Where can we go to be free, to breathe, to laugh, to love and be loved and be human without the fears and threats of being harmed? For many, the answer has largely been the black church.
"But on Wednesday evening, June 17, 2015, in the low country of Charleston, South Carolina, not far from the rich Gullah Sea Islands where I grew up, tragedy struck the black church once again. The very thing I fight and organize against as a minister—our society’s deeply masked and far-reaching culture of violence—descended upon my family in the sanctuary of the church. ..." |
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Will Keystone Storytelling Continue?
From Pastor Rich:
It has been a wonderful experience to share stories with one another. It gives us a chance to practice sharing our stories and it gives us an opportunity to hear each other’s stories and get to know each other better. When we run out of storytellers, the workshop will end. Right now we have Sheri scheduled to tell her story on the theme “a small thing that made a big difference in my life” for June 24. We have no one scheduled after that. So June 24 may be our last gathering unless someone volunteers for July 8. If you would like to volunteer contact me (rich.gamble@keystoneseattle.org or 206-632-6021). |
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Supporting Nell and Her Family
 Nell welcomes your prayers and messages at her CaringBridge site that her children Nathan and Teresa kindly set up for her. She is living at Nathan and Ruth's, but as Teresa shares, after her recent hospitalization for pneumonia. She hasn't been getting better, and so we are helping one another with our own aching hearts as hospice is being invited in to support the stages to come.
We write to invite you to send her messages at her CaringBridge site, and you can get updates there. And of course we will share more, just as it comes.
Teresa said sending notes via this site is great, and lets them reply to everyone when folks may have questions or thoughts that will resonate with others. Teresa said "We will have a community of support for Mother!" |
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 | Just a reminder that Paisley's graduation will be tomorrow, June 18, from 8:30-9:45 p.m., and will be broadcast online on Roosevelt High's YouTube page (we don't have a link yet but we'll blast it out when we know it!), and also shown on Seattle Public Schools TV beginning June 20 on Comcast 26 (standard-def) 319 (hi-def), Wave 26 (standard-def) 695 (hi-def) and Century Link 8008 (standard-def) 8508 (hi-def). |
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The Pacific Northwest Conference's home for sharing news and information about goings-on in the conference is on GoogleGroups. If you'd like to become a member of the Google Group, send an email to pncucc@gmail.com. The Conference also shares news and information on its new Vimeo page: https://vimeo.com/pacificnorthwestucc.
Join the UCC to Commemorate JuneteenthMinistries of the United Church of Christ are inviting members and friends of the denomination to take part on Friday, June 19, in virtual commemorations of the official end of slavery in the United States and to use the occasion to join a long-term antiracist movement. “And Still We Rise” is the title of a live “UCC Churchwide Event: Juneteenth 2020” that will be produced and hosted on the webinar platform Zoom by African American members of the denomination’s staff. Registration is available here for the 9 a.m. PDT program, which is billed as the launch of four years of focused antiracist programming in UCC Racial Justice Ministries.The 90-minute “And Still We Rise” webinar will offer a mix of live and recorded segments on such topics as “The Sacredness of Black Lives,” “Sacred Memory: People of African Descent,” “Our Oral Traditions,” “Our Sacred Rituals,” “Connections to the Cradle of Civilization,” “Resistance is in our DNA,” “Honor the Elders,” “How are the Children?” and “Public Faith and Political Action.” Among its featured speakers are the Rev. Karen Georgia Thompson, UCC associate general minister; Nevada state Sen. Patricia Spearman; UCC storyteller Valerie Tutson; and several staff members from the UCC national and Conference settings. Video clips will include reflections by the poet Maya Angelou on the topic “I Am Human,” and excerpts from a sermon, “When is Someday,” by the Rev. Otis Moss III of Trinity UCC, Chicago. |
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 Glance- down- the- Calendar
Wednesday, June 17 (tonight): A Moral Response to Pandemic, Poverty, and Police Violence, 6-8 p.m. The event is free but you have to register beforehand to get the Zoom link to enter the space. Click here to register here to get the Zoom link. The Justice Bible Study will join this meeting instead of having class tonight, and then meet in the Keystone worship/study space to debrief and reflect on the experience. Everyone can join in on this post-event debrief with the Bible Study group. Thursday, June 18: Graduation for Paisley Maschmeier from Roosevelt High School, 8:30-9:45 p.m. Link to online ceremony to come.Friday, June 19: UCC Churchwide Event: Juneteenth 2020, "And Still We Rise" webinar commemorating the official end to slavery in the US and a chance to join in the anti-racism work with the UCC. Register at this link to get Zoom information for this webinar. 9 .m. on Zoom. Saturday, June 20 and Sunday, June 21: Poor People's Campaign Assembly and Moral March on Washington, 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. at June2020.org. RSVP at https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org/june2020/.
Tuesday, June 23: Faith Action Network Puget Sound Spring Summit, Round 2. Click here to register for this online summit.
Wednesday, June 24: Keystone Storytelling, 6:30 p.m. at Keystone's Zoom. Continuing the theme: A Small Thing That Had a Big Influence on My Life. Call or email Pastor Rich to sign up to tell a story (206.632.6021. or keystone5019@gmail.com). Learn more about storytelling here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Bo3dpVb5jw
and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgeh4xhSA2Q. Storyteller is Sheri Amundson.Sunday, June 28: Keystone Congregational United Church of Christ annual congregational meeting, after worship on Zoom. Details to come.
Wednesday, July 1: Justice Bible Study, 6:30 p.m. on Keystone Zoom. We'll read the Bible and start making links between our justice solidarities and our sacred stories, one Bible chapter at at time. You don't have to read in advance to join this study. Email Pastor Yuki for more info, yuki.schwartz@keystoneseattle.org. Reading for July 1: Mark, Chapter 2. |
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Pat Becker - 6/3
Stan Jeppesen - 6/3
Rich Voget - 6/5
John Preson - 6/14
Amara Poindexter (Dan and Monica) - 6/18
Guppy Smith - 6/19
Teddy - 6/24
Rev. Jerry Chang - 6/25
Clara Havey (Hannah and Nick) - 6/27 (first year birthday!)
Here's wishing them each the happiest of birthdays, from all of us at Keystone UCC! On the last Sunday of the month- we shall have cake at coffee hour (even on line cheer these days!)
Please let Barbara know additions/ omissions! Keep an eye out here for upcoming Keystone Birthdays! |
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Reaching Keystone UCC Pastoral Staff:
Reach us at your Keystone church office: (206) 632-6021. This phone is also checked remotely since all staff serve part-time.
Pastor Rich is available Tuesday to Thursday mornings and Friday evenings, and holds additional office times on Saturdays and Sundays. (Sabbath = Mondays.) Not all of these times will Rich be in the church office. If you want to see him, it is best to make an appointment. Email him at keystone5019@gmail.com
Pastor Lauren is on Sunday thru Friday half days (Sabbath = Saturdays). Email is a great way to line up a meeting: lauren.cannon@keystoneseattle.org
Pastor Yuki (they/them) is at church two Sundays a month and is available to meet by appointment (Sabbath = Fridays). Email them at yuki.schwartz@keystoneseattle.org. |
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Give your gift to support Keystone and its many ministries, including the Sacred Heart Shelter, and the Solar Panel Fundraiser. Click the PayPal button below or send your check directly to Keystone. You can also donate through the Pacific Northwest Conference of the UCC at pncucc.org/donate.
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***** To submit content for inclusion, email Lauren & Yuki @keystoneseattle.org addresses above. Content must be received by Wednesdays at Noon.***** |
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Next deadline for Newsletter announcement submissions:
to Lauren & Yuki: Wednesday, June 24 @ Noon ***** |
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experiment with one way of joining their public school community and neighbors, by offering a bit of distance and bike riding their solidarity on Sunday at the “We Want to Live” rally (read more about that rally 
