Dear KUUF community,

Recently some members of our KUUF family have reached out to me with news of loved ones who are ill, some gravely, with COVID-19. Most of these loved ones are in the hospital and are not allowed visitors. This means that families are separated, from one another and their community and their minister, at a time of grief and death.

One of our members asked me what we could do as a community, to accompany those families who find themselves in this heartbreaking situation. In moments like this, Christian churches often offer "prayer chains.” With the support of our small group circle leaders, KUUF is going to begin something called a “Chalice Chain."

When I am told of someone in our KUUF community who is sick with COVID-19 and alone in the hospital, I will contact the leaders of our small group circles and ask them to light a chalice. (A chalice can be formal, or it can simply be a candle.) They will contact the folks in their circle and ask them to do the same. We have over a hundred people in our collective circles. We will light our hundred chalices together and in this way, no one is alone. And in my prayers with the family, I can say we have lit our chalices for them, and that we are with them.

If you have not yet joined a small group circle, I invite you to take this opportunity. We want to stay connected with you. And we want to include the light of your chalice in our chain.

And if you know someone who could use the light of a hundred chalices, please call or email me.

I am so grateful to you all, for the ways you are staying in relationship with one another, despite how difficult this can be right now. We are building new ways of being together and we are staying connected. Through online worship, small groups, Zoom gatherings and simple phone call check-ins, we remain a beloved community. Our building is a lovely building, but we are the fellowship. And we are so blessed to be in this community together.

Love,

Rev. Jessica