A MEMO FROM REVEREND AMANDA
Dear Friends,
As this new church year begins, the air is full of growth, change, and
excitement. New individuals and families are here to be greeted and
welcomed. The religious education classrooms are full of vigorous youth.
Old friends are here, too, to be embraced and loved.
The Music Director search team may have a new music director to present
to the congregation shortly; even as we miss Mark, we welcome new ideas
and approaches.
This fall the congregation will be invited into a process of determining
how to manage conflict in creative and community-affirming ways. I
will be present with you quite a bit more this year – thanks to the
significant increase in my hours, I will be at Northlake every Thursday,
all day, as well as Tuesday evenings. I hope you will take advantage of
this time, by inviting me to lunch, going for walks with me,
accompanying me to the homes of folks who need a visit.
It is my hope that this year, Northlake will adopt a
social action project to make a difference in our community. And that
the congregation will reach out to young adults, age 18 to 35, and
create a spiritual welcome for them. What is your vision for
Northlake? I’d love to hear about it.
As the last weeks of summer cast their golden glow, I look forward very
much to seeing you again.
Warm regards,
Amanda
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION HIGHLIGHTS
Greetings everyone,
I want to share these important dates with you, as well as current
developments in our Religious Education program.
September 12th—Water ceremony. This will be an intergenerational service
as families gather together to usher in our new church year. After the
service there will be a Parent/Teacher orientation , where we will
reveal the new format for this year’s education program. The RE
committee will serve refreshments, so please come for this important
gathering. Everyone is welcome. Child care will be provided.
September 19th—Teacher Commissioning Sunday, when all teachers and their
students in the Religious Education program will receive Northlake’s
blessing for the start of the new year. The Reverend Amanda Aikman and
Shannon will share this ceremony.
I look forward to seeing everyone in September and anticipate another
successful year of religious growth and learning.
Blessings,
Shannon Gordon, Religious Education Director
PRESIDENT'S LETTER
What was that, that just whizzed by? Summer? Yes, the
equinox is less than a month away and Northlake is gearing up for the
opening service of the 2004-2005 church year, on Sept 12th.
This service is known by several names, but is often referred to as
simply "the water service". We UU's aren't long on ritual, but this is
one of my favorites. For those of you new to the congregation, this
service involves people bringing a little water that they collected
while on their summer adventures (or some representative tap water as a
stand-in for the real thing).
Each person comes to the front of the sanctuary, adds some of their
water to our "common pond", and briefly tells where it came from or why
it's special. It's a great way to get a glimpse into the more enjoyable
times in each other's lives, and to me it's a way of saying OK, now
we're back together.
I'm looking forward to the water service and to hearing about everyone's
summer adventures.
See you there.
Dave Swanson
UUs FOR A JUST ECONOMIC COMMUNITY GUEST SPEAKER
SEPTEMBER 26th
Our guest speaker on September 26th will be Dr. Viki
Sonntag, UUs for a Just Economic Community (UUJEC). Viki is the
UUJEC Coordinator for the Pacific Northwest District. The Mission of
UUJEC is to educate, engage and activate Unitarian Universalists to work
for economic justice, recognizing and affirming that, as a people of
faith in the struggle for justice, we are supporting and renewing our
spiritual lives.
The Pacific Northwest Chapter of UUJEC was founded in 1999. The chapter
has grown rapidly, providing national leadership on the issue of
Economic
Globalization. In 2002, it received support to build a network of
activists around economic justice issues in this district. This network
is now in place, nurturing economic justice work in a growing number of
member congregations. UUJEC greatly appreciates the work of the
district’s congregations, through membership and contributions, enabling
it to continue the work of seeking justice through creating economic
structures that serve the common good.
QUILT RAFFLE & CRAFT FAIR SATURDAY DECEMBER 4TH
The Northlake Quilting Circle is putting the finishing
touches on a beautiful quilt to be raffled at the end of December. Watch
for it to appear in the church foyer in September. You will be able to
buy tickets from Quilt Circle members to get your chance to take the
quilt home.
Proceeds from the quilt raffle will, along with the profits from the 4th
Annual NUUC Craft Fair, go to a special fund for making improvements to
the church. Past funds have been spent to improve lighting for the
sanctuary and for purchase of playground equipment.
The Craft Fair will be held on Saturday, December 4, 2004 at the church,
and will again include gifts, wearables and decorations made by NUUC
members and invited vendors. If you're doing any canning or preserving
this Summer and Fall, save a few jars of your favorite jam, jelly,
chutney, etc. to donate to the sale.
We thank everyone who has already offered to help make this year's craft
fair the best ever and invite you to join us. Please call Kathy (425)
788-0637, Rina (425) 556-4192 or Jackie (206) 431-5781 with your
suggestions and/or offers to participate.
PAPER POLLUTION
In North America, we use about 600 pounds of paper per person per
year. That is 5 to 6 trees per year ground up into paper. It takes
16,320 kilowatt hours of power to make one ton of paper. However, it
takes only 5,919 KWHs to make one ton of recycled paper. Making recycled
paper creates only 26% of the air pollution that making virgin paper
creates. Plus recycled paper causes 35% less water pollution.
In the reduce, reuse, recycle system, the recycling only works if we BUY
recycled goods as well as putting material into the recycling stream
instead of the waste stream. Ask your store manager to stock (at least)
recycled toilet paper.
Submitted by Cyndy Jones
RECYCLE YOUR USED INK CARTRIDGES
We recently received a check for $13 for our recycled computer ink
cartridges! This may not sound much, but its $13 more dollars in our
tight budget! If you would like to help raise money for Northlake, bring
your own empty cartridges (and those from your office too) to Northlake
on Sundays, and place them in the box on the back table.
Unfortunately, the recycling company, (Recycle 4 Charity) don’t take
EPSON cartridges, but we can also send them copier cartridges, and cell
phones. Shipping is FREE and they make it very easy, with pre-printed
labels, so it costs Northlake nothing.
Choir Practice: 6:30 p.m. Sunday Call Beth Kahn at
425-562-2296.
Circle Suppers: 3rd Saturday of every month. Dinner is
potluck, held in someone's home. Northlake members and friends share a
meal, conversation and friendship. To be a host or a guest at a potluck,
sign up in church on a Sunday or contact
Marianne Brennan.
Quilting Circle: Every 3rd Monday of the month at 7 p.m.
To participate, contact
Kathy Bean.
Short Story Book Club: 3rd Tuesday of the month—Contact:
Mary Jane Jessop 206-525-6094.
Socrates Café: Contact:
Richard Dodson.
Religious Education Classes: Call
Shannon Gordon to reserve child care or to enroll children for the
Fall quarter beginning Sept. 12th.
Stone Soup Folk Group: We would like to start a folk group
at Northlake. Anyone about age 10 and up who would like to join is
welcome. We can teach basic guitar cords to get people started and
should be able to find some extra guitars for beginners to try. Please
sign up on Sundays or email
geller_family@hotmail.com if you are interested. We could use some
singers and other instrument players as well. Please include your
optimal practice times.
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