Barb Chessler (center) helps serve up breakfast along with other volunteers from Edmonds Unitarian Universalist Congregation at the Neighbors in Need breakfast at Trinity Lutheran in Lynnwood on Jan. 27. (Ian Terry / The Herald)

Barb Chessler (center) helps serve up breakfast along with other volunteers from Edmonds Unitarian Universalist Congregation at the Neighbors in Need breakfast at Trinity Lutheran in Lynnwood on Jan. 27. (Ian Terry / The Herald)

Unitarian Universalist Congregation puts faith to work

Its “religiously liberal” members are open to differing creeds and doctrines.

EDMONDS — Near the end of the worship service, people lined the sides of the sanctuary to make their way up front, toward a large bowl filled with water.

As their turn came, each plucked a pebble from a small bowl and gently dropped it into the water. The reflections ritual at the Edmonds Unitarian Universalist Congregation was a chance to make a promise, remember someone or mark an important event.

“A kind word or a thoughtful act, like a pebble dropped in water, sends ripples out into the world,” a pastor had explained at the outset.

Like those tiny pebbles, the congregation seeks to send positive ripples throughout the community — and the wider world. Local adherents champion progressive causes such as climate activism and racial justice, LGBT rights and interfaith dialogue. They support children at neighborhood schools and work to keep low-income neighbors from going hungry.

“We try to be a part of the world, rather than apart from the world,” the Rev. Eric Kaminetzky said. “We do the justice work we do as part of who we are. One contrast from other denominations: We are not out serving the world in order to make more Unitarian Universalists; we’re trying to meet people where they’re at.”

An example of their faith in action can be found in the church’s back parking lot off of 224th Street SW, in the Esperance area just west Highway 99. A car camp provides 10 parking stalls as a safe overnight haven to families and single women who have no other place to stay. The congregation provides security lighting, a portable toilet, twice-weekly showers and a temporary membership to the Dale Turner Family YMCA in Shoreline. To use the space, there’s an interview process and a background check.

“A lot of it is about human contact,” said Grant Gladow, a retired commercial real estate appraiser who joined the congregation in the early 1990s. “A lot of them may not have had people look them in the eye and say, ‘How are you doing today?’”

Some of the guests have fled domestic violence or sexual assault. They might be in the middle of a divorce and bewildered that they’re unable to afford rent or a mortgage.

The congregation’s community involvement takes many other forms.

Volunteers spend one Saturday each month serving the Neighbors in Need breakfast at Trinity Lutheran in Lynnwood. Other volunteer groups work with students at Chase Lake and Cedar Valley community schools.

There’s a long-standing interfaith relationship between their church and the local Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, including blood drives and joint worship services.

The Edmonds congregation takes up an offering at the end of each Sunday service, but they give it away. Over a year, it can add up to $20,000 to $40,000. Recipients have included local food banks and child advocacy groups, as well as organizations supporting women and refugees in other countries.

“We have been giving away our Sunday offering for years and years and years,” said Rachel Maxwell, a congregation member whose day job is leading Community Sourced Capital, a nonprofit she co-founded. “It’s like the whole of the congregation is tithing to the world.”

Kaminetzky has served the congregation full-time since 2010. He’s the senior minister, but not the boss of the church. A second full-time minister, the Rev. Cecilia Kingman, focuses on faith and justice.

Its most famous past leader is probably Robert Fulghum, author of the 1989 bestseller, “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.” He was pastor from 1966 to 1985, and still has emeritus status.

The Edmonds sanctuary is airy, with light wood paneling and lots of windows. The service, in many respects, resembles one from a Protestant church, but the congregation welcomes people of all faiths — or no identifiable faith at all. The denomination was formed in 1961 by the merger of Unitarianism and Universalism.

“We don’t ask them to say they believe what everybody else in the sanctuary believes,” Kaminetzky said.

Put another way, they’re “religiously liberal,” open to differing creeds and doctrines. It’s no contradiction that different members of the congregation identify with various Christian traditions, as well as Judaism, Buddhism and paganism.

But they all share common values.

“If you look at Unitarian Universalists and you look at the Edmonds Unitarian Universalist Congregation,” Kaminetzky said, “you will find a determined optimism, not that we can make everything better, but that we can make some things better and that we have a responsibility to try.”

Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465; nhaglund@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @NWhaglund.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

Trader Joe’s customers walk in and out of the store on Monday, Nov. 20, 2023 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Trader Joe’s opens this week at Everett Mall

It’s a short move from a longtime location, essentially across the street, where parking was often an adventure.

Ian Bramel-Allen enters a guilty plea to second-degree murder during a plea and sentencing hearing on Wednesday, March 6, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Deep remorse’: Man gets 17 years for friend’s fatal stabbing in Edmonds

Ian Bramel-Allen, 44, pleaded guilty Wednesday to second-degree murder for killing Bret Northcutt last year at a WinCo.

Firefighters respond to a small RV and a motorhome fire on Tuesday afternoon in Marysville. (Provided by Snohomish County Fire Distrct 22)
1 injured after RV fire, explosion near Marysville

The cause of the fire in the 11600 block of 81st Avenue NE had not been determined, fire officials said.

Ashton Dedmon appears in court during his sentencing hearing on Tuesday, March 5, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Everett Navy sailor sentenced to 90 days for fatal hit and run

Ashton Dedmon crashed into Joshua Kollman and drove away. Dedmon, a petty officer on the USS Kidd, reported he had a panic attack.

A kindergarten student works on a computer at Emerson Elementary School on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘¡Una erupción!’: Dual language programs expanding to 10 local schools

A new bill aims to support 10 new programs each year statewide. In Snohomish County, most follow a 90-10 model of Spanish and English.

Logo for news use featuring the Tulalip Indian Reservation in Snohomish County, Washington. 220118
Woman drives off cliff, dies on Tulalip Reservation

The woman fell 70 to 80 feet after driving off Priest Point Drive NW on Sunday afternoon.

Everett
Boy, 4, survives fall from Everett fourth-story apartment window

The child was being treated at Seattle Children’s. The city has a limited supply of window stops for low-income residents.

People head out to the water at low tide during an unseasonably warm day on Saturday, March 16, 2024, at Lighthouse Park in Mukilteo, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Everett shatters record high temperature by 11 degrees

On Saturday, it hit 73 degrees, breaking the previous record of 62 set in 2007.

Snohomish County Fire District #4 and Snohomish Regional Fire & Rescue respond to a motor vehicle collision for a car and pole. The driver was pronounced dead at the scene, near Triangle Bait & Tackle in Snohomish. (Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office)
Police: Troopers tried to stop driver before deadly crash in Snohomish

The man, 31, was driving at “a high rate of speed” when he crashed into a traffic light pole and died, investigators said.

Alan Dean, who is accused of the 1993 strangulation murder of 15-year-old Bothell girl Melissa Lee, appears in court during opening statements of his trial on Monday, March 18, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
31 years later, trial opens in Bothell teen’s brutal killing

In April 1993, Melissa Lee’s body was found below Edgewater Creek Bridge. It would take 27 years to arrest Alan Dean in her death.

Logo for news use featuring the municipality of Snohomish in Snohomish County, Washington. 220118
Man dies after crashing into pole in Snohomish

Just before 1 a.m., the driver crashed into a traffic light pole at the intersection of 2nd Street and Maple Avenue.

Bodies of two men recovered after falling into Eagle Falls near Index

Two men fell into the falls and did not resurface Saturday, authorities said. After a recovery effort, two bodies were found.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.