Our response to COVID-19, on March 6, 2020

Dear KUUF community,

Earlier this week you received an email from our parish nurse, Jennifer Ingalls, with information about the COVID-19 coronavirus and how we might begin to care for ourselves and our community. Since that time, King County has increased its pandemic response and Kitsap County has begun testing for the virus as well. Our hearts go out the families of the many people in King County who have lost their life. King County has recommended that all large gatherings of 10 or more be cancelled. Faith communities in King County have responded by cancelling services for this Sunday and providing online worship. As the situation unfolds in Kitsap County, our worship team is preparing for the possibility that we will have to do the same.

Because our scheduled speaker for this weekend—Rev. Liz—was advised not to travel to Washington, we have had to postpone Margo Rinehart’s ordination this Saturday. We will update you when we find a new date for this important ceremony. We send Margo our love and blessings and gratitude for the minister that she already is. And we look forward to the day we get to make it official!

Myself, our board, and RN Jennifer Ingalls will be meeting today to discuss some of the protocols we will be putting into place at KUUF during this time. They include an increased cleaning regimen and suspending all food and drink at the fellowship until further notice. Once those protocols are complete, we will share them with you and post them on our website. We are very grateful to have Jennifer’s wisdom and expertise at this time. She will be updating myself and the board as this situation unfolds. And I will be communicating all of this with you with updates over email, on our website, and in our weekly newsletter.

We will know more this afternoon and will update you via The Candle, which will be going out a bit later than usual this week. Thank you for your patience as we respond to this situation, which changes hourly.

And finally, let me say how grateful I am to be your minister. This past week I have seen how deeply this community cares for its most vulnerable. And how often the health of those most at-risk has been given careful thought and priority. Because we are a community with a high percentage of congregants over 60-years-old, and therefore more vulnerable to this virus, it is important that we take a proactive response. And we know that the interdependent web is not a metaphor, it is our lived reality. We make decisions based on the health of the whole. This is part of our ministry to one another and our commitment to this community. Thank you for being a part of it. 

With love and gratitude and diligent hand washing,

Rev. Jessica

Black Lives in UU History

Francis Ellen Watkins Harper, Fannie Barrier Williams, and Egbert Ethelred Brown are just a few of the people we will celebrated during Black history Month as we heard stories of our Black Unitarian Universalist ancestors. Our history as a faith movement has been shaped by the work and the lives of countless Black leaders. In this service we will honored their legacy and let it teach us how to live ever more fully into the beloved community. View the AE slideshow presentation.

Minister Notes

Holiday Blessings!

Midwinter is such a magical time of year. In the northern hemisphere, it is the season of the winter solstice. The days leading up to Christmas, what Christians call Advent, is traditionally a time of prayer and fasting. In Judaism, this is celebrated as Hanukkah, when miraculously the menorah lights in the sacred temple remained lit for eight days and nights. And for pagans, Yule is a time to celebrate the return of the light and literally sing the world once again into creation. All of these traditions speak to the importance of having faith during uncertainty and preparing for the blessing that is coming, even if a part of you fears it may never come.

Each year this is our opportunity to let faith become a spiritual practice. As Unitarian Universalists working for justice, it can be difficult to keep the faith these days. But the miracles of the season—the birth of a baby, the lights of the menorah, the returning of the sun—remind us that miracles happen every day. And when we gather together to witness to them, we build a more resilient community. The awe that we feel when we pause and honor our lives in this way will sustain us in the months ahead.

Because on the heels of this season is the turning of the year itself, in the secular calendar, and we welcome the new. This time we are welcoming an entirely new decade. The 2020s! This is definitely worth a pause. Some of us probably wondered if KUUF would see this decade. And here we are, still together, gathered in this community and going strong. In fact, we are growing!

I hope you take some time this holiday season to honor all that has been and all that is to come. KUUF is entering this decade with renewed vitality, and this is due to those who had faith during a time of darkness. And as we witnessed at our Christmas pageant this month, babies continue to be born, lights continue to be lit, and the sun rises once again. 

May your celebrations be blessed. And may you ring in the new year with hope in your heart, knowing you are surrounded by this loving, beloved community of kindred souls. 

Rev. Jessica