Saltwater Church Newsletter September 25, 2020

Worship

Church zoom room go to saltwaterchurch.org/calendar/zoom-room/   Each Sunday we offer online worship through zoom at 10:30 am. For any of our worship services or meetings, you can join by computer or by calling in on your telephone. You can find more information about how to connect through zoom towards the end of the newsletter.

September: What does it mean to be a People of Renewal?  
This month join us to explore the theme of renewal. To renew: to begin again, to restore, replenish, or recommit. At the opening of each church year, we renew our commitments to each other and our church community. We renew our energy for another year of journeying together. This month we will also work with the questions: What renews our spirits? How can we practice renewal? What is the relationship between forgiveness and renewal? Join us to explore our faith together.   

September 27: “Forgiveness as Renewal,” Rev. Kristen Kuriga  

October 4: Vote Love, Defeat Hate: Organizing for the Long Haul 
In the midst of global pandemic, rising authoritarianism, and uprising, lives hang in the balance and the future of democracy is on the line. In response, Unitarian Universalists are answering the call of our faith, building powerful partnerships to mobilize our communities to #VoteLove and #DefeatHate in the 2020 elections. Join UUA President Susan Frederick-Gray, the UU the Vote team, and a lineup of powerful, prophetic UU voices as we explore the intersections of faith, justice, and democracy in this collective virtual service.   

Digital Ushers and A/V Team Volunteers Needed
The Worship Operations team needs volunteer Digital Ushers to assist with our Worship Services on Sunday mornings.  Digital Ushers support Reverend Kristen and our A/V Tech Volunteers during Sunday Worship. A/V volunteers are also needed. Job descriptions are posted on the website: https://saltwaterchurch.org/stay-in-the-loop/digital-ushers-and-a-v-team-volunteers-needed/ Training is provided. Contactour A/V Tech Lead, Bert Snipes, or SUUC Worship Operations Lead, Galen Guffy if you are interested in either position.  

Ways to Connect

The host login information for zoom meetings will be updated Monday, September 28 . If you host a zoom meeting or event at Saltwater, and have not received the new login information, contact melinda@saltwaterchurch.org (The login for participants has not changed.)     

Al-Anon Support Group (church zoom room)
Mondays, 6:30-7:30 pm

Creative Hands (church zoom room)
Tuesdays, 1:30-3:30 pm
We will support one another in our creative ventures, as well as discuss ways that we can help our communities during this time.

Meditation Group (church zoom room)
Tuesdays, 7-8:15 pm  We follow a UU modified Zen practice that includes lighting a candle, chiming a singing bowl, sitting and walking in silence, listening to words of wisdom, sharing tea and conversation, now all virtual via Zoom. Contact Jean Spohn if you have questions. jeanspohn@centurylink.net or 206-200-7524

Writers Group (church zoom room)
Wednesdays, 9:30 am- 12pm

Support Circle (church zoom room)
Thursdays, 12:30-1:30 pm

Over Eaters Anonymous (church zoom room)
Fridays, 5-6 pm

Support Is Available
Do you need support? Please let us know, we want to help. Are you feeling lonely or isolated? We can connect you with a lay minister or another member of the congregation. Are you in a higher risk group and do not want to venture out to the grocery store? We may be able to connect you with someone in your neighborhood to help you get the supplies you need. If you have lost income from being sick or unable to work, or do not have enough money to buy extra food and supplies, the Minister’s Discretionary Fund is available for one-time emergency support for members and friends of the church. Contact Rev. Kristen:  minister@saltwaterchurch.org. Do you need to go to work but don’t have childcare? Are there other needs that your family has? Please be in touch with Melinda at  melinda@saltwaterchurch.org.

If you are in need of emotional or spiritual support, you can reach out directly to a Lay Minister:
Debra Valpey:  debravalpey@gmail.com
Mike Yanega:  bowfinboy@gmail.com
Lynn Crow:  lynncrow1@gmail.com
Toska Rodriguez: toska_r@hotmail.com

Support for Children, Youth, and Families

Family Ministries Zoom Room  https://zoom.us/j/2349227683?pwd=aG4yL3RRb240UjJyWUR1Y2p2V0lQUT09

Religious Education Class for Kids and their Grown-Ups   (Note the class address.)
Sunday mornings at 9:30 a  https://tinyurl.com/NUUC-SUUC-RE

Junior and Senior High Youth Group   (Note the class address.)
Sundays at 12 pm, https://tinyurl.com/NUUC-SUUC-RE

Family Support Circles
First & Third Mondays, 7:30-8:30 pm
Family ministries zoom room

Parents Facebook Group  
You can also connect with other Saltwater Church families with children and youth for support through the Parents Facebook group:   https://www.facebook.com/groups/SUUCFamilyMatters/

The Saltwater Church Family Ministries Library Wants to Visit Your Home!
Have your children run out of books to read, with school and public libraries closed? The Saltwater Family Ministries library has books to share! Contact melinda@saltwaterchurch.org to borrow books.  And I’ve just created a wish-list so that folks in our congregation can donate books to make our collection more diverse and justice-focused.  Check in out: https://www.thingstogetme.com/71791a4d564

Upcoming Events   

Covenant Listening Sessions 
Sunday, October 11 after worship
Monday, October 12 at 7 pm
Saturday, October 17 at 11 am
All covenant listening sessions are in the church zoom room: https://saltwaterchurch.org/calendar/zoom-room/ 

Unitarian/Universalism is a covenantal faith. In place of a dogmatic creed, the bedrock of our community is the commitment we make to each other. In preparation for revising and updating SUUC’s Covenant of Right Relations, the Healthy Congregations Team (HCT) invites you to attend one of three scheduled Listening Sessions.  Our covenant is a promise for how we treat each other and how we relate to each other as a loving community. The HCT will be asking you to respond to questions pertaining to our mission statement in order to learn from each other how we will build a covenant for us all. The responses will be used to create a draft of a Covenant to be presented to the congregation at a later time. Plan to join us for one or more of these sessions.  We need your input for this important work as we move forward in our Mission.   Debra Valpey, Quinn Rose, Bev Ross – Healthy Congregations Team 
Practice Love. Foster Connection. Nurture Spiritual Growth. Act For Justice. 

Supporting Our Saltwater Community

Online Fundraiser
Since the Winter Bazaar fundraiser has been canceled this year due to COVID-19, Joanne Stonebraker is selling her handmade cards online to benefit Saltwater Church. This will be an ongoing fundraiser, where $5 for every item sold from her Etsy store (www.etsy.com/shop/HandmadeWithDove) will go to the church. Fall and Winter designs are now available, with new designs being released weekly! If you planned to sell handmade items at the bazaar this year and are interested in selling your items online, please contact Joanne at JoanneStonebraker@gmail.com.

Growth and Learning

Last chance to register for Beloved Conversations-Virtual, Meditations on Race and Ethnicity
The UUA has made their Beloved Conversations curriculum virtual!  Join in this course from the comfort of your own home. The curriculum includes specific lessons for individual work, including strategies to connect and reflect with both your personal past as well as with small groups of other learners in your area and/or across the nation. This fall course is done entirely in race-based caucuses that will use two different courses. One caucus is for Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color (BIPOC), and one caucus is for white people. Registration closes today, September 25, 2020. Partial and full scholarships are available. https://bcvirtual.meadville.edu/    has all the details, including course schedules. Please contact Susan Aigner susanaaigner@comcast.net if you are interested.   Ongoing Opportunities for Racial Justice Education https://saltwaterchurch.org/stay-in-the-loop/ongoing-opportunities-for-racial-justice-education/

Ways to Live Our Values

Share the Plate for September: Federal Way Day Center
Half of all undesignated basket donations received in the month of September will go to the Federal Way Day Center. You can learn more here: https://ccsww.org/get-help/shelter-homeless-services/federal-way-day-center/. You can make a donation to the basket through the donate button on our website: https://saltwaterchurch.org/stewardshipstewardship-overview/stewardshipdonate/  or mail a check to the church office with “basket” in the memo line:  Saltwater UU Church, 25701 14 Pl S., Des Moines, WA 98198.

Living our Values through UU the Vote 

Around the country, Unitarian Universalists are organizing to #UUtheVote, working to increase the participation of millions of disenfranchised eligible voters-especially people of color. UU the Vote (uuthevote.org) is a national campaign working with the non-profit Center for Common Dreams. Their Reclaim our Vote initiative is engaging voters who are prevented from exercising their electoral rights through voter suppression and voter list purging. Volunteers inform and mobilize voters in the six most affected states, to make sure they are registered, and they know how to get a ballot and vote. We can live our UU values by working to ensure that all voices are heard in the democratic process, and that we work for policies that increase love, not hate. 

Weekly Reclaim our Vote phone banking
Training provided for volunteers each Monday afternoon. Learn more and sign up here:    https://actionnetwork.org/forms/reclaim-our-vote-signup

Phone Banking Days of Action
In the next 39 days leading up to November 3rd, we need to make sure every day counts. If you’ve been writing postcards for UU the Vote, many thanks! Did you know that you can also make phone calls? UU the Vote is mobilizing UU’s to call voters in critical states targeted by voter suppression. UU’s called over 8,000 voters in Florida on August 25th and 10,000 voters in Wisconsin on September 2nd. What’s next? The state of Georgia! UU the Vote is joining forces with the New Georgia Project to make over 10,00 calls to Georgia voters on September 27th. RSVP to Get Out the Vote in Georgia on September 27, 2-3:30 pm ET: https://secure.everyaction.com/7PjbWu-Di0qSU2RFGe13Yg2 Have questions or need more information? Contact Diane Dobrowolski at ddobrowolski@earthlink.net. Are you willing to write 20 postcards to ensure our democracy?  UU the Vote is working to engage voters in key states, so they know how, where and when to vote.  You’d receive training, script, cards, and postage.  Kits will be distributed weekly at the Stance for Racial Justice or can be delivered if needed.  Please reach out to Amanda,  acradak@gmail.com if you are willing to take on 20 postcards.

Stance for Racial Justice
Show up and shine bright for racial justice every Sunday in September! Please wear a mask and practice social distancing. 9/6 and 9/20 in Des Moines from 2pm-4pm. Intersection of 272nd St. and Pacific Hwy S (near Jack- in- the Box and Arco gas). 9/13 and 9/27 in Puyallup from 2pm-4pm. Intersection of 136th and S. Meridian (near post office and Sonic restaurant). Contact Colette DeMonte at colette.demonte @gmail.com for more information.

SCAN! (Saltwater Climate Action Now!) (Church zoom room) meets monthly on the 1st Sunday noon – 1:30 pm

Climate Message of the Week: Beef cattle emit methane. Despite what you might have thought, they burp it out. Methane in the upper atmosphere traps 30 times more of the earth’s heat, measured over a 20 year period, than C02 does. The average American eats 272 lbs.of beef a year. That’s a lot of meat especially when there’s 327 million of us. Our medical profession says eating too much meat is not good for us. Coming from beef cattle burping out methane, meat is obviously not good for the environment either. Do yourself and the environment a favor. Cut back on your meat intake or eliminate it altogether. Somewhere in the grand scheme of things, a cow who doesn’t have to make that last fateful trip to the slaughterhouse, will thank you in her own particular way. Seriously.

Sound Alliance
 (Church zoom room) meets monthly on the 2nd Saturday 10:00 – 11:30 am 

From the Board & HCTS

Staff Transition Update
A search team has been formed following the staff transition of our office administrator. The team includes Galen Guffy, Tom Spohn, Suzanne Laurel, and Rev. Kristen Kuriga. In the interim, we want you to know how the administrative needs of the congregation will be covered. Gaye Greeves, our Treasurer, is providing support for payroll, bill paying, and processing pledge payments. Melinda Einander will be working five more hours per week, and will be responding to administrative emails, creating and posting the church newsletter, calendaring, and assisting with online communications as time allows. All other administrative needs will be covered by Rev. Kristen. The best way to be in touch with administrative questions is to email: administrator@saltwaterchurch.org. The office phone line is also regularly checked: 206-651-7358. 

HCT Guidelines for Having Difficult Conversationshttps://saltwaterchurch.org/stay-in-the-loop/healthy-congregation-team-guidelines-for-having-difficult-conversations/ 

General Information

How to Access the Church Zoom Room   To access Zoom, go to  saltwaterchurch.org/calendar/zoom-room/
and click on “To join a meeting-click here.” Or from the main church webpage, select Zoom Room from the drop down menu under “news and events” on the top menu bar. If this is your first time using Zoom, follow the prompts to download the application to your computer.

If you would prefer to join by phone, dial 1-669-900-6833 and enter Meeting ID: 736 142 4210 when prompted. You may need a password. If you do not have the password, please contact Melinda: melinda@saltwaterchurch.org

If you have a smartphone, you can download the Zoom app and join with Meeting ID: 736 142 4210 for video and audio connection. You will need a password. If you do not have the password, please contact Melinda: melinda@saltwaterchurch.org

Saltwater Church Building 
The church building is closed to all in-person programming, groups, and meetings.  Staff are working from home.  Staff members will be going by the property to collect the mail and to check on the campus.  Planting Flowers has resumed providing essential childcare support to families.

Please Note:  Additions to the newsletter must be received by noon Wednesday to be included in that week’s newsletter.  Send your submissions to  administrator@saltwaterchurch.org or use the website form at https://saltwaterchurch.org/calendar/calendar-request/

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