Magnolia UCC

Book Group
2025-12-08 18:30 - 20:30 UTC
This month, the book group gathers in the Parlor to discuss The Humans by Matt Haig and we will have a Christmas Party/Book Exchange.
**All the books chosen for Book Group are available through the Seattle Public Library

Book Group
2025-12-08 18:30 - 20:30 UTC
This month, the book group gathers in the Parlor to discuss The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak.
The upcoming books for the year are:

March: You Are Here, Poetry in the Natural World
April: Parable of the Sower, Olivia Butler
May: The History of Sound, Ben Shattuck
June: Code Name Helene, Ariel Lawhon
July: The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife, Anna Johnston
August: The Correspondent, Virginia Evans
September: The North Woods, Mason Daniel
October: Wild Dark Shore, Charlotte McConaghy
November: Buckeye: A Novel, Patrick Ryan

**All the books chosen for Book Group are available through the Seattle Public Library

Bible Study: The Advent Passages: Seeking Immanuel in Our Stories
2025-12-09 13:00 - 14:00, 2025-12-16 13:00 - 14:00, 2025-12-23 13:00 - 14:00 (America/Vancouver)
Join in this season of Advent as we enter into a time of preparation to welcome Emmanual, God among us!
Tuesdays, December 9th, 16th & 23rd, 1:00 pm via Zoom
We’ll take a deep dive into the stories of Jesus’ birth. Over three weeks, we’ll look at the context and biblical scholarship and use Lectica Devina (a traditional Christian practice of prayerful, meditative reading of scripture to foster a deeper relationship with God) to step deeper into these rich Christmas stories and consider how they are speaking to us at this time in our world and lives.
Using a combination of close reading (but not all the passages), we will look at the Christmas stories found in Luke, Matthew and John and we’ll engage in group discussion and individual reflection.

You may access the bible studies here:
Join Zoom here

Meeting ID: 868 0780 0452
Passcode: [REDACTED]

Chair Yoga
2025-12-10 10:00 - 11:00, 2025-12-17 10:00 - 11:00 UTC
Interested in maintaining or even regaining strength, flexibility, balance, good posture, inner awareness, and a relaxed body & mind? PHEW…! That’s sure a lot! Well, you can! Just join us each Wednesday a.m. in Pilgrim Hall at 10:00 am for chair yoga. No experience is necessary. Just wear loose clothing and your first lesson is Free. Then a one-time $15 fee is requested to help pay for the great videos on the big screen. Hope to see ya soon!

Sacred Silence
2025-12-10 11:00 - 23:30, 2025-12-17 11:00 - 23:30, 2026-01-07 11:00 - 23:30, 2026-01-14 11:00 - 23:30, 2026-01-21 11:00 - 23:30, 2026-01-28 11:00 - 23:30 (America/Vancouver)
Each week we gather in the Parlor at 11:00am on Wednesday for a time of sacred silence, time to still our minds and join together in creating sacred space in silence. Join us for this powerful time of community and prayerful being.

Zoom Pub Theology
2025-12-10 19:00 - 20:00 UTC
This month’s Pub Theology question will be ‘If your entire life were a movie, what title would best fit and why?’ Grab a drink and join in the conversation!
Grab a drink and join in the conversation! Join on Zoom. (Meeting ID: 886 8245 6539, Passcode: [REDACTED]

Our Long Night Service via Zoom
2025-12-17 19:00 - 20:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Our December days are short, and our December nights are long. On the Winter Solstice we will have just eight hours of light accompanied by sixteen hours of darkness. This is the season of darkness in more ways than one. Seasonal Affective Disorder, for example, affects many of us, sapping our energy and bringing a weight of depression that is only eased when the longer days of spring arrive. And the holidays can be one of the hardest times of the year for those who’ve suffered losses. But darkness can come upon us at any time of year, in many forms.
One of the messages of Advent is that waiting in the darkness isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s hard, and it often feels like it’s never going to end. But there are things that we can learn only in the darkness. This Service will hold space for all of the feelings and insights we may experience in the Darkness. There will be time to lament, to pray and to hope.
Plan to join us for this service of contemplation, music, and prayer, led by Pastor Marci via Zoom, Wednesday, December 17th at 7:00 pm. You may access the service here. The bulletin is linked here.

Christmas Eve Candlelight Service In Person and via Facebook Live
2025-12-24 16:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Join us at 4:00 pm on December 24th as we gather in our Sanctuary and stream on Facebook Live for our Christmas Eve Service. There will be gift bags for the kids and child care provided during the service for kids age 4 months to 6 years old. There will be lovely and blessed music offered by a string quartet, visiting vocalists and our Choir. There will be sacred stories of miracles from a starry night long ago. And we will celebrate God among us, Emmanuel! We will close our service by gathering in a circle, dimming the lights, lighting candles and joining together to sing Silent Night before we head out into our own sacred starry and silent night. We hope you join us!

To the parents/guardians who may be joining us on Christmas Eve-We welcome you and please know that in our sanctuary, all noises of life are welcome noises! Feel free to walk in and out of the Sanctuary with your child as needed, come up and light a candle together and just be at home. Also, in addition to the gift bags that you will find at the back of the church for all of the kids, you can find age-specific baskets with games and activities for all ages. And if you would rather have your 4 month-6 year old in the Children’s Gathering Space you are welcome to leave them there with our volunteers and certified Caregiver.

Chair Yoga
2026-01-07 10:00 - 11:00, 2026-01-14 10:00 - 11:00, 2026-01-21 10:00 - 11:00, 2026-01-28 10:00 - 11:00 UTC
Interested in maintaining or even regaining strength, flexibility, balance, good posture, inner awareness, and a relaxed body & mind? PHEW…! That’s sure a lot! Well, you can! Just join us each Wednesday a.m. in Pilgrim Hall at 10:00 am for chair yoga. No experience is necessary. Just wear loose clothing and your first lesson is Free. Then a one-time $15 fee is requested to help pay for the great videos on the big screen. Hope to see you soon!

Interbay Tiny Homes Village Next Steps Discussion
2026-01-11 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Vancouver)
For many years, MUCC has been walking alongside the residents at Interbay Tiny Cabins Safe Harbor. This has ranged from years of cooking and delivering meals to assembling and delivering welcome bags to new residents to providing Christmas gift cards.
After Worship on Sunday, January 11th in the Bell Tower Room, we will gather to brainstorm ideas of where we are called to go next to serve Interbay Residents. Some of the ideas that have been floated include a monthly music event with birthday cake for the residents to gathering a core group of volunteers to rotate once a month to go to the village for some sort of dessert feed. Please plan to come with ideas!

Giving Group
2026-01-12 09:00 - 20:00, 2026-02-23 09:00 UTC
The Giving Group focuses on our support for our most vulnerable neighbors and plans all of our monthly collections and drives. All are welcome. Access the Zoom call here.

Book Group
2026-01-12 18:30 - 20:30 UTC
This month, the book group gathers in the Parlor to choose books to read and review for the year.
**All the books chosen for Book Group are available through the Seattle Public Library

Zoom Pub Theology
2026-01-13 19:00 - 20:00 UTC
This month’s Pub Theology question will be ‘Why do I exist?’ Starting off the new year with an easy one!
Grab a drink and join in the conversation! Join on Zoom. (Meeting ID: 886 8245 6539, Passcode: [REDACTED]

January Evening Service: Dream Boxes via Zoom
2026-01-14 19:00 - 20:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Rev. Michael will lead us in a delightful, fun evening Zoom service. With music and silence and crayons and glue we will explore our hopes and dreams for this New Year. From our imaginings and magazine images and Sunday comics we will create a collage to decorate a little black box, our “2026 Dream Box.” Then, over the year, we will fill this treasured box with thoughts, surprises, observations, triumphs, challenges and joys. Come join in the joy, creativity and friendly banter from the comfort of your living room.
Boxes and magazines will be available in the Narthex for several Sundays starting December 14th to give you an opportunity to take supplies home before this service commences. Please pick up a box and some supplies before our Jan 14 service. We look forward to creating together!
You may access the service here.

Breakfast Church
2026-01-18 10:00 - 23:00 (America/Vancouver)
The earliest followers of Jesus, when they gathered for worship and to grow together as disciples, did so around shared meals and gathering around the table. In the Gospels we see this is one of Jesus’ favorite ways to teach– over meals around a table. Tables are one of the most important places of connection in our world.
Starting this month, we’ll try out a new sort of worship service built around the table called Breakfast Church. Breakfast Church services are typically more informal and held around tables instead of pews allowing for greater connection with each other. Breakfast Church Services help foster community through a shared meal and a worship service.
On Sunday January 18th, we’ll gather at 10:00 am like usual, but instead of being in the Sanctuary, we’ll be in Pilgrim Hall and we’ll be sitting around tables and sharing a meal along with our Worship Service. It will be much more informal and laid back; come however you feel most comfortable. We’ll have coffee, juice and tea along with breakfast hosted by those of the congregation who may not typically participate in hosting fellowship. If you are one of those folks, please sign up on the clipboard outside of the office to help with the preparation and cooking of this meal.
We’ll start our service by inviting folks to get their breakfast and then after we get our food, we’ll start with some gathering words and an opening prayer to center ourselves. Then we’ll read a passage of Scripture and hear a brief message introducing the Scripture theme for the day. We then have 15-20 minutes around the table for discussion with questions to guide the conversation. The remaining time will be for some music and a time of prayer for our community and for our world.
On Breakfast Church Sunday we will not be streaming but we will look forward to seeing folks back online the following Sunday. So please plan to join us up in Pilgrim Hall on Sunday, January 18th at 10:00 am for a casual worship service where we will gather in community, share breakfast and worship!

Bible Study: The Prophets of Old Speaking to Us Today
2026-01-20 13:00 - 14:00, 2026-01-27 13:00 - 14:00 (America/Vancouver)
Tuesdays at 1:00 pm via Zoom (1/20-3/24)

Join us for a 10-week Bible Study as we walk through the Prophets of the Hebrew Bible, the voices that called out for justice and care of the marginalized and the outcast. And those are cries that are especially relevant at this time in our nation. For example, the prophet Jonah has a whole lot to say about the current problem of Christian Nationalism in our country. And the prophet Amos and Micah have much to say about the 1%. Their ancient messages and calls are incredibly timely!
You may access the bible studies here:
Join Zoom here

Meeting ID: 836 4561 3181
Passcode: [REDACTED]

Learning Forum: Being Human in the Age of AI
2026-01-26 19:00 - 20:00 (America/Vancouver)
In just a few short years, machines can now do meaningful things we thought were uniquely human, like write poetry, create art, or engage in thoughtful conversation. In this talk, discover how AI is reshaping our understanding of human identity and purpose, and gain insights into how to navigate our complex relationship with AI. The speaker will be Chirag Shah, an AI expert and professor at the University of Washington, specializing in the intersection of AI and human experience.
This presentation is underwritten by a grant from Humanities of Washington and will require preregistration. You can preregister here.
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the learning forum zoom meeting.
Plan to attend!
