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 and fifteen minute.. 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 or email 
Wheelchair Access: The front entry is wheelchair accessible as are the rest rooms. Please don't hesitate to ask for assistance.
Book Review: Wild Seed
Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler (1980) "A brilliantly mythic tale of primal archetypes and an iconic exploration of gender and eternity" proclaims the book. And it is. This is the story of two immortals, one who cannot die and one who cannot be killed. It starts in...
Solar Panels on UCUCC
Submitted by Nancy Hannah for Sacred Earth Matters As a Creation Justice church, UCUCC is committed to reducing our carbon footprint. Sacred Earth Matters has been interested in what this really means in hard data relating to the solar panels we installed on the roof...
November Special Offering: Global Hunger
Our November special offering focuses on the worldwide hunger crisis which now threatens to turn into famine for many. Hunger is extreme in too many locations, and has been substantially increased by the war in Ukraine. Food, fuel, and fertilizer usually shipped to...
Asset Enhancement Task Force November 2022
Greetings from your Asset Enhancement Task Force! We are a team of members and staff, formed in the spring of 2022, working together to look into future planning for our church community. We are now diving into a deep look at our existing financial assets and are...
Land Acknowledgment Action Step for November
Do you have little ones in your life? Read books about the first Thanksgiving with a Native and historical perspective and learn the Thanksgiving Address of the Iroquois Confederacy. All are available in the church library. Keepunumuk: Weeâchumun's Thanksgiving Story...
November 2022 Pledge Campaign Update
The Pledge Campaign is in full swing! Thank you for joining in our Pledge Dedication Sunday on October 30th. We are excited for the dedication and enthusiasm shown for our community. If you’ve not yet turned in a pledge card — it's not too late! Online pledging is...
Pastor Search Committee: a year by the numbers
Just a bit over 1 year ago, the PSC was created and charged by Church Council to seek a candidate to fill the position that opened when Pastor Catherine Foote retired. Berta Hollowell and Royce Morrison agreed to co-chair the committee and soon we were a total of 11...
Come visit the Scheyer Library!
The library is tucked back in a quiet corner, but is open for browsing and hanging out before and after church every Sunday (even if the door is closed). We have a great collection of all kinds of books! We often receive donations and cannot always use them in the...
Offering of Gifts: Sunday, December 11, 2022
It’s time for our annual Offering of Gifts! Nine local agencies will receive Christmas gifts from our congregation. Some agencies prefer to receive gift cards only, while others are accepting actual presents. Below, you will find information about the agencies, their...
Thank you from Green Buildings Now!
Green Buildings Now is very grateful to UCUCC for the generous August special offering of $3200. These funds will be very helpful for providing engineering support and supplies for creating a fossil-free South Beacon Hill Resilience Hub at the Bethany UCC campus. You...
Afghan Immigrant Initiative: Seamstress Needs Work
Suddenly, summer is in its last days while fall, with its shorter daylight hours, crisper air, and glorious foliage, is upon us. For the Hamidi family, this means their school-aged children are at last in a reliable school routine. At the same time, many of the...
Mwanzo – Hope has a home here!
Submitted by Lily Lahiri What does Hope has a home here! Look like in practice? This, from Country Manager, Jonathan Aluoka: Madam Careen Owino’s heart is full of joy and gratitude for how Mwanzo has shaped her life. She can’t believe that she is now a fully trained...
Mining is Hazardous for the Environment
The abandoned John Henry coal mine in Black Diamond has never been cleaned up, and it continues to pollute streams which flow into the Green and Duwamish rivers and ultimately Puget Sound. West Virginia has thousands of miles of waterways contaminated by coal-mining...
Budgeting for Love & Justice
Budgeting for Love & Justice A significant portion of the money we pledge each year goes to the Love & Justice Ministry. What happens to it? In alignment with our covenant to "live responsibly within Your creation" and "to promote Your reign of justice and...
Mix-Sups Are Coming
For those of you who have not participated before, Mix-Sups are an opportunity to share an evening of conversation and make new connections, as well as strengthen connections with folks you might know. The goal for these gatherings is to provide an opportunity for...
Service of Memory & Hope
Rev. Traci Blackmon (she/her), Associate General Minister of Justice and Local Church Ministries for the United Church of Christ, will preach for our service of Memory and Hope and Rev....
Welcoming Rev. Dr. Courtney Stange-Tregear
Please join me in welcoming the Rev. Dr. Courtney Stange-Tregear as our Acting Conference Minister! Courtney has served in the Pacific Northwest Conference for the past six years as Minister for Church Vitality, and previously served as Acting Conference Minister...
An Ubuntu Story
A reflection after the death of Patrinell (Pat) Wright in September 2022, by Mary E. Maltman One sunny afternoon years ago at the Emergency Feeding Program, Rev. O.J. Moore, the Director at the time stopped by my desk and said, "Mary, please come over to my office for...
Spiritual Practice – journaling our journeys
Each day of their travels, Pastor Amy and Benjamin will be journaling as a spiritual practice. Some of their journal prompts cultivate curiosity and reflection, and some prompts keep them rooted in somatic practices of experiencing how their bodies are part of their...
October Worship Series: Ubuntu
About our Ubuntu worship series: Ubuntu, commonly translated as "I am because we are," is a worldview of African Bantu (Central, Southeast, and Southern Africa) peoples. It is a philosophy of the "greater whole," as Archbishop Desmond Tutu described it, in which each...
Sacred Earth Matters: Inflation Reduction Act Is a HUGE Win
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) which Congress approved in August is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 42% below 2005 levels. It’s the strongest effort in US history to address the climate crisis. And it raises the bar and will encourage states, other...
Book Review: The Original Meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment: Its Letter and Spirit
The Original Meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment: Its Letter and Spirit By Evan D. Bernick and Randy Barnett 2021 Harvard University Press 489 pp. After the US Civil War the Thirteenth Amendment was added to the US Constitution to abolish most slavery in the United...
Meals for people in our UCUCC community
One of the ministries the Parish Care Committee coordinates is finding people who would like to help provide a meal for someone or a family who may be experiencing a trial of the spirit or time of joy as we say in our covenant together. This is one way to give a...
Music in September
We have a great lineup of guest musicians for the month of September, including some names that might be familiar to you! September 4 – LaDonna Bowers September 11 – Jeannie Rak, Homecoming Celebration – Music by Rainbow City Performing Arts Marching Band September 18...
Chancel Choir Returns!
We are looking for singers interested in joining the UCUCC Chancel Choir this fall! There are no requirements to join – if you have a love of singing, you are welcome in our space. While a formal audition is not required, it is helpful to meet with Benjamin before...
Chancel Choir – Choral Intern Program!
A two-year pilot program for a choral intern program is beginning at UCUCC this fall. UCUCC has a strong history of exemplary music being shared in our church, and this tradition will be enhanced with the creation of a choral intern program. In September, four...
John G. Lewis Endowment Fund for Social Justice
Do you feel called by the work of a non-profit committed to social justice? Have you served on a non-profit board or volunteered in support of an organization doing the important work of creating a more just world? Please consider completing an application for funding...
Asset Enhancement Task Force Update
Greetings from your Asset Enhancement Task Force! In keeping with our goal of full congregational awareness of our processes and activities, going forward we will have a note in Church & Home each month about our current and upcoming work. Upon the conclusion of...
Afghan Immigrant Initiative September 2022
The world can be a troubling place. International crisis after crisis flood the media, which can rapidly move our attention from one situation to the next, pushing previous concerns to back page status. Our congregation (and our partners) have maintained steadfast...
Seabeck Book Club Reading The Seed Keeper
Seabeck Book Club is committed to the UCUCC covenant including this part: "To live responsibly within Your creation, sharing with gratitude the gifts we are given". To further explore and develop our ideas of ourselves in relation to the gifts of Sacred Earth we will...
Book Review: Hill Women: Finding Family and a Way Forward in the Appalachian Mountains
Hill Women: Finding Family and a Way Forward in the Appalachian Mountains By Cassie Chambers 2020 Thorndike Press Owsley County, Kentucky - the author’s home county - is one of the counties hit by devastating floods in August. Please pray for them and think how we...
Sacred Earth Matters: Electric Vehicle Tradeoffs & Opportunities
Greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced as we transition to electric vehicles. That’s exciting. But EVs require lithium-ion batteries, and the US alone needs more lithium than is produced worldwide. Open pit mines in North Carolina provided most of the world’s...
UCUCC Financial Update
Beloved community, let me start with the good news: the church is in excellent financial health. The summer is a good time to reflect on the first half of the year and evaluate how we’re doing, and when I look at the June financial statements, I see reasons for...
A note from your Pastors *Content Warning: Racial Slurs at University Congregational UCC*
Dear Beloved Community, We want to share information about something that happened at our church. We begin with a content warning, knowing that for Black folks and People of Color, this information about racialized harm has the potential of compounding hurt and...
While your moderators are away…
Who imagined four years ago (long before either of us thought we would be in the UCUCC Moderator and Assistant Moderator positions we hold today), when each of us put a down payment toward the Iona pilgrimage with Pastor Catherine, that the trip would be two years...
August Special Offering: Green Buildings Now
Please support this month’s special offering for Green Buildings Now, a grassroots initiative promoting social justice and climate resilience. Green Buildings Now’s mission is to work for a just transition to a fossil-free Seattle by: Partnering with leaders of...
Death in our Community
Virginia Wilson Born: April 3, 1936 Died: June 3, 2022 Virginia Wilson died peacefully on Friday, June 3rd. Virginia had been a part of the UCUCC family for over 40 years through attending Seabeck church camp with her three children. Virginia and John married in 2003...
I Am Because We Are: a Journey Towards Belonging
Pastor Amy Roon The pan-African philosophy of Ubuntu is deeply rooted in a question of identity, of belonging. My life is a woven tapestry of many identities: biracial, transracial, adoptee/adoptive, conscientiously single mother, person of faith, pastor, musician,...
Book Review: The Bad Muslim Discount
The Bad Muslim Discount , the new novel by Syed M. Masood, is an emotionally searing and thought-provoking look at the experience of Muslim immigrants in the US. Why, in the 1990's, did two families leave their home in Iran or Pakistan? Masood limns vividly the lives...
Mwanzo – Mwanzo Energetic Proud Farmers (Women’s Groups) in Rabuor
Submitted by Lily Lahiri – Mwanzo Board Member Today I bring you excerpts from the July Report of Janet Andar, Chair of MEPF One of the major projects run by the MEPF is their Table Banking (microfinancing) program. Your donations have helped to fund the principal for...