No matter who you are, or where you are on life's journey, you are welcome here at University Congregational United Church of Christ. Young, old, sure of your path, or still searching --- we invite you to join us in imagining love and justice - as Jesus did - in acting to change the world.
Our in-person worship service starts at 10 am and includes hymns, prayers, scripture reading and a sermon. It usually lasts about an hour. During the 10 am service we also offer live-streaming to a nearby room that offers those with compromised immune systems to be more isolated. We also offer a separate space for children, with supervised play and crafts during the 10 am service. Sections of the 10 am service are programed into the 5 pm digital service, which is offered as a "vespers."
We are an inter-generational church and strive to be family-friendly, with an active ministry for children and youth. All ages are welcome in worship. We also offer nursery and child-care, Younger children begin the 10 am service with us and usually leave after about 15 minutes. Older children have the option of leaving for a special sermon time. Junior high and high school youth meet at 9 am and then often sit together in worship. Give us a call at 206-524-2322 for more specifics.
Wheelchair Access: The front entry is wheelchair accessible as are the rest rooms. Please don't hesitate to ask for assistance.
Taking Action to Reduce the Production & Use of Plastic
“The plastics industry’s contribution to climate change will exceed that of coal by 2030.” Buried in a March 31 op-ed in the Seattle Times, the sentence jumped out at me. It went on, “The production and incineration of plastic added 850 million metric tons of...
Pastor Search Committee update
The search for our new settled pastor continues! Over the past many weeks the committee has written, edited, and re-edited the Local Church Profile. The Profile is a document based on a template from the National church which tells prospective candidates about our...
Mwanzo Community Center In Progress
When Mwanzo began, one of the primary needs was for daycare so that mothers, and grandmothers could do subsistence farming, and catering while the children they were raising were safely cared for. These women simply could not work to feed their families without...
Join Sacred Earth Matters May 15 for Benefit performance of “The Alaska Suite”
Plan now to attend Nelda Swiggett Quintet’s May 15 performance of the powerful “Alaska Suite” co-sponsored by Sacred Earth Matters and benefiting Green Buildings Now. Tickets are on sale at https://bit.ly/aksuite to experience Nelda Swiggett’s touching and powerful...
May 2022 Special Offering—The ICRC International Committee Red Cross
Every day we read and hear of death and destruction in Ukraine as Russian military forces bomb even hospitals, schools and civilians on city streets. ICRC has been there from the beginning with its trained resident teams greatly augmented in March and in refugee...
Guest Musician Jeannie Rak in Worship May 15
As part of celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, UCUCC is inviting local artist Jeannie Rak (she/her) to share her musical gifts with our congregation on Sunday, May 15th. Here is Jeannie's story from her website, jeannierak.com. "Eighteen...
The Tapestry of Racial Justice
A recent conversation got me thinking about UCUCC as a weaving – a tapestry even. The more I have followed that line of thought the deeper it has taken me. Herewith an attempt to share it. For a start, if each of us is a length of yarn somewhere in the weave, what a...
Gathering Ground – Community Gathering under the Big Trees May 7
Saturday, May 7, 11:00am – 12:30pm, East Lynn Street and 26th Avenue East, Seattle (searchable as "Montlake Tot Lot”) As an experiment in how we connect, we’re launching informal monthly community potlucks. May’s event will take place under a grove of Sequoia and...
Gathering Ground grows a new structure & renews its mission
After months of meeting and learning, listening and laughing, Gathering Ground’s core community is delighted to share a new structure for our group. We have been following a system of community-based organizing known as Sociocracy. It is used by non-profits,...
Volunteer with Crisis Hotline
Calling All Empathetic Souls! An organization I volunteer with, King County Crisis Connections, is actively recruiting volunteers, due to the alarming recent rise in suicide/crisis calls. The 24/7 Crisis Line provides immediate help to individuals, families, and...
May Worship Series: The Book of Delights
May 1 Named and Known Preacher: Rev. Amy Roon Scripture: John 21: 1-7 “Nicknames” May 8 A New View: Beyonce Mass Preacher: Rev. Yolanda Norton Scripture: Numbers 11:24-30 “To Spread the Sweetness of Love” May 15 Caretaking Preacher: Rev. Loren McGrail Scripture:...
UCUCC Awarded Vital Worship Grant by the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship
Starting this summer, UCUCC will spend a year focusing on the spirit of Ubuntu. Ubuntu is the African concept of humanity—often defined as I am because we are. Leymah Gbowee is a Liberian peace activist. She defines ubuntu as “I am what I am because of who we all...
Organizing for Mission Network Seattle Cohort Event May 14
Join Sister Kelly Marciales of OFMN and other faith leaders in Seattle for a one day gathering on Saturday, May 14, from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm A Gathering to Meet Come together for 1-1 connections with other faith leaders and organizers in the Seattle area. A Gathering...
Seabeck 2022 Registration
2022 All Family Camp is July 10-15, 2022 at Seabeck Conference Center. View the Seabeck 2022 Brochure. Click here for the Seabeck 2022 Registration Form. Registration is underway for our all church week at camp. We’re excited to welcome Sister Kelly Marciales as our...
Afghan Refugee Initiative Update
When we committed to a partnership with the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia Refugee Resettlement Office, our commitment was formalized through a Commitment Form both parties signed. This form includes a list of activities our team wants to assist with. Among these is a...
Bystander Intervention Workshop, May 21
Bystander Intervention Workshop May 24, 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm In collaboration with Admiral Community United Church of Christ, we welcome Anti-Hate Alaska Junction for a Bystander Intervention Workshop. The workshop will give tools to de-escalate a situation and support...
Racial Justice Book Club Meeting 5/17/22: The Way to Rainy Mountain
The Way to Rainy Mountain by N Scott Momaday (1969, 1973 and 2019) is our next book. It comes highly recommended by Nina Redman. Three stories within a story about how the Kiowas emerged from Montana to the Great Plains, adapted to the horse and Great Plains Culture,...
Book Review: Ida B. the Queen: The Extraordinary Life and Legacy of Ida B. Wells
Ida B. the Queen: The Extraordinary Life and Legacy of Ida B. Wells By Michelle Duster Ida B. Wells, born into slavery in Mississippi, orphaned at 16 by the yellow fever, kept her family together. When railroad conductors enforcing Jim Crow laws threw her off a train...
A Super Success!
Superfluity 2022 took 3 years to germinate and was in full and spectacular bloom for 3 days! Many donations came in, many hands (and feet) worked hard, and many shoppers shopped well. We have soaked our feet and rested our bodies, and O Hall is now swept clean, a sort...
Library Update and Book Review
Now that you may be lingering a little longer at church, stop by the Scheyer Library! Did you know the library has subscriptions or donations of several magazines, including Yes!, Sojourners, Biblical Archaeology, and Christian Century? In addition, you may find a...
Chapter Three: Grief and the Birthday Party
One of Pami's biggest hopes was that Dave would remarry after she died. "Dave knows what it is like not to have a mother," Pami said. "His died when he was four years old. He was raised by his grandmother. So we must find a mother for Paul.” It wasn’t just...
Join us for Holy Week services and activities
There's something for everyone in the leadup to Easter at University UCC! Beginning with Palm Sunday, we will celebrate with native Northwest greens (trim your Cedars and other evergreens and bring extra to share) and then have pony rides for children after...
Caught between a rock and a hard place
We absolutely must reduce greenhouse gas emissions or the world, as we know it, will cease to exist. But the Russian onslaught in Ukraine is untenable and the US and European Union must stop buying Russia’s oil and natural gas. Our fossil fuel industry can make up the...
Welcome Lunch returns for those new to UCUCC
The Welcome Committee is hosting an in-person lunch after worship on April 10 to provide information and answer questions about our church. If you have attended a few times (or many times) in person or virtually, you may have wondered about what we believe, how to get...
Celebrate Mwanzo’s Tenth Anniverary
Contributed by Loyce Ong’udi, founder Celebrate the many Mwanzos (new beginnings) over the past ten years In 2012 as I worked to register Mwanzo as a nonprofit organization to address the ravages of HIV/AIDS on my family and childhood village of Rabuor, a friend asked...
Children and Family Ministry News for April
Register for our All-Church Summer Camp at Seabeck Children, youth and their families are invited to join us for our All-Church Summer Camp at Seabeck! July 10 – 15, 2022. This is also a great event to invite friends to! At long last, we are planning on our camp being...
General information and announcements for April
Seabeck Book Club meetings Seabeck—Monday nights 7:00-8:00 pm on Zoom. In April we turn our attention to a new book entitled The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature, by J. Drew Lanham. Newcomers are always welcome. For the links for either...
Land Acknowledgement action step for April
Together with another UCUCC member imagine what life might look like now for the Sauk-Suiattle Indian tribe if the 1855 Point Elliott treaty had been honored. Consider especially the Tribe’s current legal suit against Seattle City Light’s hydroelectric dams on the...
April news for youth and families
Register for our All-Church Summer Camp at Seabeck Children, youth and their families are invited to join us for our All-Church Summer Camp at Seabeck! July 10 – 15, 2022. This is also a great event to invite friends to! At long last, we are planning on our camp being...
Looking forward to Easter traditions
As we look ahead to the end of Lent and the celebration of Palm Sunday and Easter, there are a couple of traditions that many in our congregation enjoy honoring. Greens for Palm Sunday For Palm Sunday, we have a long-standing practice of bringing our own local greens...
Save the Date – Benefit performance of “The Alaska Suite”
Don’t miss the Nelda Swiggett Quintet's May 15 performance of the powerful "Alaska Suite" co-sponsored by Sacred Earth Matters and benefiting Green Buildings Now. Tickets are on sale at https://bit.ly/aksuite to experience Nelda Swiggett's touching and powerful...
April 2022 Special Offering for Mwanzo, celebrating ten years
We celebrate the tenth year of our partnership with Mwanzo in Rabuor, Kenya! by designating this organization to receive the special offerings during the month of April Under the guidance of Loyce Ong’udi, several major projects have been completed through the work of...
Summary of Church Council actions in February
The Council of the University Congregational United Church of Christ met on Feb 16, 2022 via Zoom. The Leadership team is very glad to have Pastor Loren and Wendy Blight on board. The settled pastor Search committee has been meeting at least weekly, gathering input...
Book Review: The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich
Their homes are made of birch bark, they hunt and gather for food. Some of the men trade in furs. The story begins with a smallpox epidemic in 1847 near Lake Superior where only one crawling baby survives on an island. The baby is adopted by a family and knows nothing...
For inspiration: “The Book of Delights”
The writings of Ross Gay have been a personal joy for Pastors Steve and Amy. This book has provided inspiration for our Eastertide theme of Delight in Life. We will include excerpts from Gay’s The Book of Delights; however, the book isn’t essential to the worship...
Ways to get involved now in Racial Justice activities
We resolved on August 4, 2019 to be a Racial Justice Church. In doing so we undertook to figure out what it means to be a Racial Justice Church and to live into that meaning. Two current and on-going events illustrate the possibilities and challenges. The first is the...
Our support of an Afghan refugee family has begun
Much has happened and there is much to celebrate in the short time since we began our partnership with Refugee Resettlement Office (RRO) affiliated with the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia Through RRO, we have been assigned an Afghan family with eight members: mother,...
Covid restrictions easing, masks still required in worship
As Covid cases have declined across the country and in our own region, we have seen the recent lifting of mask requirements statewide. What does this mean for our own church community? As with so many circumstances since we began more that two years ago to adjust our...
UCC receives recognition as a Creation Justice Church
On March 4, 2022 UCUCC received a letter from the national UCC that our church has been officially designated a Creation Justice Church of the UCC. What does that really mean to us as a congregation? A little history can answer that question. In 2001, a group of...
Easter Season—Delight in Life
The Kin-dom of God In God, we find a new kind of family - a kinship with church, community, and the world. These kinship connections include not only humans in their similarity and diversity, but the plants and creatures of the earth. In Epiphany, Lent, and...