Join us for a service filled with inspirational music and readings that reaffirm and celebrate our commitment to social justice. Let us gather in hope and strength to celebrate our Social Justice Ministry Teams and our Community Partnerships.
Rev. Dr. María Cristina Vlassidis Burgoa will be preaching.
We encourage masks in all buildings. Read more about our In Person Guidelines here.
• To virtually attend, please Zoom in using room number 989 3107 9078, passcode: chalice.
• To phone into the service, call 669-900-6833, Meeting ID: 989 3107 9078.
For those joining, please mute as soon as you enter the room, so everyone can hear. Please note, the services will be recorded, but at this time, there are no plans to share the recording.
Religious Education for children and youth happens during worship on Sundays. Children and youth arrive in the Sanctuary for the just a little bit and welcome in Sunday with a story and song. Then, they attend their own programs in the Education building. Learn more here!
If you don’t have a chalice, but want to light one, check out our Making a Chalice at Home page.
In person services are followed by coffee hour.
My name is Laurie Wick. I have been a member of East Shore for most of my life. Being active in Social Justice has always been a part of my commitment to the church and through that, to the larger community and world.
Women-Helping-Women (WHW) is the Social Justice ‘arm’ of East Shore’s Women’s Perspective group. Our mission is: Together We DO Make a Difference! We began 17 years ago, in the Fall of 2009, as a response to Nicholas Kristof and his wife Sheryl WuDunn’s Half The Sky book & movement. We currently have 125 members.
We focus on issues pertaining to improving the lives of women and girls, both locally and globally. We believe that worldwide gender inequality is one of the most important social justice issues facing the world right now.
We support many projects, both individually and as a group. We hosted fundraisers for micro-credit programs, such as FINCA and OIKO credit.
From our earliest days to the present, we have supported The Sophia Way women’s homeless shelter in several ways, especially by providing meals
One of our most successful multi-year projects was partnering with the women’s group from Muslim Assoc. of Puget Sound (or MAPS) to raise funds for the Barakat organization who provids education for girls and women in Pakistan and Afghanistan before the Taliban took over and shut down the schools. This collaboration between MAPS and East Shore was really impactful & wonderful.
We supported Sharek, a UUSC sponsored group, who work on-the-ground to promote vocational education for women/girls in Palestine.
We sponsored several work parties for the Days for Girls project that provides menstrual supply kits so girls in developing countries can attend school, even when they have their periods.
Eight years ago, in 2016, we began tutoring reading with 2nd graders at Lake Hills Elementary, one of Bellevue School District’s low income schools with a very high percentage of ESL families. Over the years, 18-20of us from East Shore have participated, including 2 men. We were very gratified to learn that our students tested higher at the end of the year than those at comparable schools. This has been a very rewarding opportunity.
I have poured so much time and energy into Women Helping Women because for me, Service IS my Prayer. Being able to do this under the East Shore Women’s Perspective umbrella has made it feasible and provided us with scores of wonderful women volunteers and friends who have joined us over the years.
Together we DO make a difference!
“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well. To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Hi, my name is Mark Norelius. I go by he him pronouns. I’m a member of the ECAM group which is the Earth climate action ministry here East Shore. I raise my hand when a request for people to share what they’re getting out of their participation in their social justice ministry team .i will start out by saying yes I really enjoy the ECAM group, but I want to start with actually I volunteer at all. I heard it said social justice problems are too big to solve. It’s hopeless. There’s no chance that you can make a real difference.
I’m also hearing:
– rising social isolation
– Church attendance is down
– Less trust in institutions
– People are bowling alone
– Surgeon general tells us that loneliness is a serious problem
– We are in place in our social cycle where we are more about me and less about we. For those who studied this sort of thing it’s very similar to where our country was back in the early 1900s and then it got better and now we’re back in a similar place.
Bottom line: We need to support each other
So why did I choose ECAM? If you know me at all, you would know that the outdoors is my space. I love to hike ski to Water Sports. It’s my space. I joined citizens climate lobby many years ago, and I was invited to join ECAM about a year ago. I said yes. If you know me at all, you know that I have a strong affinity for doing outside activities. The Environment is my space. So am I glad I made the decision to join ECAM for sure!
It’s a great group of people with a common goal. To better our environment that we all live in. It’s a very welcoming group, it’s not a huge burden. You can do as little or as much as you want to do as in most groups you get out of it what you put into it. We rotate meeting leadership every month so no one has to carry a big burden.
Has it been rewarding? Yes it has in and in more ways than I anticipated. — it’s been fun to help each other put together projects. The Earth Day service last spring, our contribution to the success of no on 2117 initiative this last election, we even invited the family covenant Circle kids to come help us pull Ivy here on the grounds here at East Shore. we even toured the Recycling center in Seattle.
Good morning! I’m Carrie Bowman, using she/her pronouns. My work with the Indigenous Connections Team is some of the most rewarding work I have ever done.
And this work at ES did not start with me. I want to acknowledge years of careful and intentional relationship building that has enabled East Shore members to cultivate trust and volunteer their time to support indigenous people. I would like to lift up
Many of you are familiar with our Lummi Nation partners, one of whom, Phreddie Lane, spoke from the pulpit a couple of weeks ago. We support totem pole journeys and canoe journeys – by working in the kitchen, serving as ground crew for canoe families, and as volunteers at canoe landings.
Some less familiar partnerships include our work with the Duwamish Tribe. Duwamish Tribal members have spoken from our pulpit, at educational forums, and at Totem Pole stops. We volunteer at the Duwamish Longhouse and participate in the ongoing Duwamish Book Group. The Duwamish Tribe donated their Longhouse for an event this year featuring a group of indigenous leaders addressing climate change on the international stage.
We also have a relationship with the Puyallup Tribe and have hosted tribal members at East Shore for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women workshops and gallery displays.
Our Team collaborates with similar teams at other UU churches, including Bellingham, and locally, University, Northlake, Woodinville…and with JUUstice WA, a network of UU congregations and allies working toward social and environmental justice.
This work fosters generosity, and it is transformative. It is also challenging. What does it mean to move beyond the land acknowledgment? To “…nurture our relationship with our indigenous neighbors….” ? And how can “…their ways and understanding…guide us” ?
Here are some things I have learned (with a nod to Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures) :
The work can be, messy, uncomfortable, paradoxical, incomprehensible – and my heart has stretched and broken…
I try to step back from visibility, surrender what I am most praised and rewarded for…
I don’t try to teach, to lead, to organize, to mentor, or control….
I listen. And pay attention.
I support things I do not understand, and do what is needed, instead of what I want to do.
It’s amazing how things work out.
I offer my energy to peel potatoes, wash dishes, scrub toilets, drive the truck, pay for the ferry, care for the babies, entertain the kids, separate the trash, go to the dump, do the laundry, feed the elders, clean the mess, buy the food, cook the food, fill the tank, write the grant proposal, pay the tab…
Any one of these things is a way to nurture relationships with our indigenous neighbors. And anyone can do them.
All members of the Indigenous Connections Team are genuinely called to do this work and if you are interested in learning more, please join our team!