Dear Beloved Friends,
Thanks to all who’ve already filled out our Union Summer Survey. We would still love to hear from you, if you’ve not yet filled it out. Please know that James B and I are reading each one with care and are discovering this communication a powerful way to be more connected to our lovely community as well as finding inspiration on how we can creatively connect, grow and risk together as God’s people of faith, hope and love. Some of your responses already are shaping the focus of this weekend!
Here are four ways to engage in the life of our Union Church Community this fourth weekend of August.
Saturday, August 22:
Union in Prayer Together for Racial Justice. 10 am – 11:30 am | Zoom link: here
Guided by people in our Union Church community, this will be a time to reflect & to pray, in silence or out loud, in the company of one another, as we each seek to confess, to listen, to learn, to change & to act in all that is happening in ourselves, our city, our country, and our world.
Please join us, as you are -- wherever you are, in this time of prayer as we seek God’s healing power. You can participate as you are able – video on or off. You can pray along out loud or in silence. If you are not able to join us right at 10 am or need to leave before 11:30 am, you are welcome to join for the time you can be with us.
Sunday, August 23 (three offerings):
1) Morning Worship 2) Ice Cream Social 3) New Evening Worship
Morning Worship Online
10 am | Zoom link here or go to unionchurchseattle.org
Fourth Sundays with Union have always been shaped by the desire to strengthen our living as “sent ones”—people whose lives are evidence of a gracious God who calls us to love mercy, do justice and walk humbly with our God (Micah 6:8). This Sunday we will talk with a few folks from the Union family as to what that looks like as an educator in a pandemic and we will also take time to tend to our souls with a different approach to encountering scripture and time in prayer. Of course, much of the strengthening is enhanced by your very presence. We are looking forward to being together with you!
Ice Cream Social Covid Style:
2:00-5:00 pm (free) | Notkin Yard: 4041 NE 105th St, Seattle 98125
Looking for A Not-So-Close Physically Distanced Encounter of in the Third Kind Dimension? See others off the screen, outside, in living color and enjoy some ice cream in Renée and James B’s yard. We are keeping things safe with the following strategies:
Masks will be worn except while eating ice cream
Groups will be limited to five people (you can circulate to different groups)
Everyone will maintain a distance of at least six feet
Ice Cream will be served in individual containers with a spoon in lid
Only 25 people will be the yard at a time (40-minute rotation if needed)
Drop in anytime between 2:00 pm and 5:00 pm and reconnect with your Union community!
Union Evening Worship, 8:30 pm
Guided by our Union Worship Band, we are excited to provide this contemplative time of worship, every Fourth Sunday evening!
These days it is more important than ever to take time to rest and center in the presence of God, but it can be difficult to know where to start on the contemplative journey. We are here to help. Please join us at 8:30pm this Sunday evening for a meditative time of prayer, music, and scripture. Here is the Zoom link, go to unionchurchseattle.org for link or catch the livestream on the Union Facebook page.
And, now a word of encouragement for your wanderings and ponderings this weekend from writer Frederick Buechner:
Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace.
With you,
Renée and James B