Pastoral Letter February 2026

Dear Beloved Keystone Community,

Last month I was telling you about all our building expenses. This month, I’m going to tell you why those expenses are absolutely worth it. We have had an explosion of folks asking to use the building, and to connect with the Keystone community, for various justice-centered activities. In this difficult time of fear and division, in which forces of domination seek to isolate, stalwart individuals have been working to foster community connections.

Two weeks ago, a pair of young neighbors named Ana and Charlotte stopped by to ask if they could post flyers about neighborhood meetings. After showing them around the building and getting to know them a bit, I offered our building as a resource – they wanted to host a neighborhood potluck and, after consulting with the leaders, I heartily agreed. We have been wanting to reach out to our neighbors for some time, but have not had the bandwidth; these two young people seemed like an answer to our prayers!

Over the past week, I have been contacted by other organizers: the immigrant rights group that works with the Indivisible movement, asking if they could use Keystone for a resistance training; Standing Together, an Israel/Palestine peace organization, looking for a new space for meetings; and Jim Page and John O’Connor, two Seattle folk singers, who want to hold a concert at the end of the month. In each case, I was grateful to be able to offer the building as a resource for community, connection, safety, and peace – as Rich used to say, an embassy for the Realm of God.

I am reminded of the bell hooks quote hanging on my office wall: “Dominator culture has tried to keep us all afraid, to make us choose safety instead of risk, sameness instead of diversity. Moving through that fear, finding out what connects us, reveling in our differences; this is the process that brings us closer, that gives us a world of shared values, of meaningful community.” 

I would invite you all to come and see what these events offer. I’m planning to hand out a few flyers about Keystone as well, because maybe some folks from these gatherings might even want to come to church – what a concept, eh?  And for those of you who prefer to connect online, we will have a new offering on the third Wednesday of the month after lectio divina: an opportunity to contemplate the spiritual meaning of nonviolence. Please look at the newsletter for more details about all community events happening at Keystone, and bring your friends!

Be well, and don’t forget to sign in PRO on all the bills recommended by Take Five, the Green Team, and Yours Truly!

With love

Pastor Adina

Pastoral letter January 2026 - Epiphany

Happy New Year, Beloved Keystone Community!

I just returned from a relaxing week in Mexico where I was able to do my own translation of the beginning of John’s Gospel, which you heard on Sunday. I spent my mornings on the patio of my casita - looking at the ocean, watching the whales leaping and the little quails running around in the bushes. Every morning the birds would be singing – and I felt those words from our new hymn “It’s a Song of Praise to the Maker” leap into my head.

It’s hard to believe a year has passed since our last annual congregational meeting, but here we are again this week, looking at the budget for next year as well as the disbursements for the special Christmas Eve collection, which yielded 3,500 dollars – pretty amazing for our small congregation.

The budget looks good, although we had quite a few large expenses for the building in 2025, including a drain pipe that needed to be cleaned out and repaired, gutters that needed replacing and repairing, the heating system in Battson hall which needed some adjustment and repair, an electrical outage during the windstorm, and the roof on the Learning Center which needed to be bolted down around the edges. Hopefully, 2026 will not require so many expenditures on the building, but you never know!

In addition to the budget items, we will of course be electing our leadership team. As you probably know, Rita is a de facto member of the leadership team – she is a deacon as well as the leader of our direct service ministries. We would like to amend the bylaws so that the deacons are officially part of the leadership team. The good news is that our Keystone bylaws don’t need many other amendments. I have been attending meetings with other pastors who want to amend their bylaws and ours are so streamlined that we are the envy of all!

I will be praying for all of you as we head into 2026 – that your days will be full of joy and purpose, and that you will always know how deeply you are loved.

Blessings

Pastor Adina

Pastoral Letter for November 2025

"The foreigner who resides among you shall be to you as one of your citizens; you shall love the foreigner as yourself, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.” 

-Leviticus 19:34

Dear Keystone Beloved Community,

I am still “walking on air” after our wonderful Day of Discernment on November 2nd. I was particularly struck by the fact that each and every one of your stories reflected the same theme: coming together as a community to work to enflesh the realm of God’s justice. Whether it was Barbara reminiscing about John running the carpet sweeper, Marilyn remembering the way everyone built the wheelchair ramp in the back, numerous stories of working together at the Sacred Heart Shelter, putting together the Festival of Hope, or marching together at dozens of protests and demonstrations over the years, it was clear to me that every member of Keystone knows and cherishes our collective “why.”

The holiday season is nearly upon us, and our collective Why is more pertinent than ever as we witness the cruelty of our federal government. Last Monday, I attended the multi-faith convening on migrant solidarity, where leaders from the Church Council, Jewish Coalition for Immigrant Justice, WAISN, CAIR-WA, Faith Action Network, and Intercommunity Peace & Justice Center made clear that this is a moment to be firm on the values our religious traditions share – to welcome the stranger, to care for our neighbor, and to treat others with dignity. 

I know that Keystone will do everything we can as a small but mighty community to support our neighbors who are threatened with violence and imprisonment, and who live in fear during this season. Keystone is now a partner with the Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network, and our members will be attending accompaniment and rapid response trainings over the next few months. We hope as many people as possible will participate in the next rapid response training over Zoom on December 10th – details to follow. Book Club will move to the 17th to accommodate the training. We will also partner with Living Water, our sister community in the building, to offer support to families at Casa Latina over the holidays. These families are in need of groceries and household items, and will be sending their “wish lists” to us. 

Thank you for everything you have done, and everything you continue to do, to live as ambassadors for God’s realm of peace, justice, and kindness for all people.  Thank you for supporting me at my wonderful ordination last month. I am proud to be your pastor.

With love 

Rev. Adina

Pastoral Letter for October 2025

We plant the seeds of the Kingdom here,

And we trust that God will bring them to fruition,

That God will bring about a new heaven and a new earth,

A world where justice and peace will reign forever.

-Bishop Ken Untener

Dear Siblings in Christ,

First of all, I must apologize for not starting our Bible study last month – we will start it after my ordination/installation on October 19th, and after the Day of Discernment November 2nd, which are both just around the corner. Time is flying by this fall, as we approach one of my favorite days, which used to be called Christ the King, and now is sometimes called Reign of Christ. This holiday, celebrated on November 23rd, marks the end of the liturgical year – it is the Sunday before Advent, which comes on November 30th this year. (On a side note, please do join us for that Fifth Sunday joint service, when the cantor choir will sing Advent songs both old and new.)

The Gospel readings from Luke, as we move towards the end of the liturgical year, focus on this concept of the “Kingdom of God,” as Jesus calls it. This coming Sunday, we will hear Jesus speak the famous words reminding his disciples that the Kingdom of God is “in your midst,” or “within you,”  or “among you,” depending on which translation you read. We may find the word “Kingdom” as outdated and distasteful as we find the phrase “Jesus is Lord.” Especially nowadays, when we hear most American Christians using dominator language to describe Jesus, we tend to cringe and want to change the language to something like “Kin-dom” or “Realm of God” and change the word “Lord” to “Love.”  These are wonderful and appropriate sentiments, but we should not forget, as we witness the hegemony of the white supremacist, misogynistic, militaristic cult known as Christian Nationalism in our country, that during the time of the Romans, saying “Jesus is Lord” would have gotten you killed by the imperial government. It is a radical statement of resistance to empire.

This past summer, Pastor Alfredo Lopez of Downey Memorial Christian Church in Los Angeles confronted ICE agents in his church parking lot as they were arresting a man there. He asked for their identity and if they had a warrant. Not only did they refuse, but they pointed their rifles at the pastor. When Pastor Lopez told them they were on church property, the masked agent responded, “This whole country is our property.”

My siblings, this is why the authors of the 1934 Barmen Declaration in Germany proclaimed Jesus Christ as their “One Lord.” In response to the rise of the so-called “German Christians,” who “took the union of Christianity, nationalism and militarism for granted,” these pastors, theologians, and other church members resisted by writing a confession of faith which rejected the false doctrine of the German Christians. I encourage you to read the document in its entirety; here is just one passage:

“As Jesus Christ is God’s assurance of the forgiveness of all our sins, so in the same way and with the same seriousness is he also God’s mighty claim upon our whole life. Through him befalls us a joyful deliverance from the godless fetters of this world for a free, grateful service to his creatures.”

The concepts of “joyful deliverance” and “free, grateful service” lie at the heart of the celebration of the Reign of Christ. As we prayerfully approach the end of the liturgical year which proclaims that Jesus Christ as the head of our church, we call out the lie—and the sin—of Christian Nationalism. We proclaim the peaceful realm of God, in which all people are welcomed and protected, where all have food and shelter and safety—a realm of justice, of love, and of deep community and communion with each other, with the earth, and with our loving Creator. May we continue to work together for collective liberation, to bring about the freedom and joy which enfleshes the Kingdom of God among us. 

With Love and Blessings,

Pastor Adina

Keystone Pastoral Letter

“You are exactly what God had in mind when God made you.” -Greg Boyle

Dear Keystone,

I spent the month of August traveling in Iceland and Ireland, and boy, am I glad to be home! I love the routines of fall: gardening, cooking, and of course preparing worship in what has  come to be called “Ordinary Time,” even though it is anything but ordinary. In this season, as we prepare to celebrate the end of the liturgical year with a day that acknowledges the Reign of Christ in and through all things, we can celebrate our Mission Statement: “Keystone Church proclaims the good news that God’s realm is in our midst.”

As a congregation, we continue to speak out against the disastrous misappropriation of Christian language into a violent theology that supports the current regime. As individuals, we continue to live into God’s Realm through our individual ministries and missions – gathering socks and hygiene supplies, political organizing and campaigning, registering voters, demonstrating in solidarity with those who have been put in harm’s way, writing letters on behalf of incarcerated people, and much more. 

Our first Day of Discernment celebrated the many gifts of Keystone: our work for justice and inclusion, our warm and welcoming community, our inspiring worship services. We also discussed some challenges we face: a shrinking and aging population, a building that requires increasing maintenance, a decreasing interest in attending church. In response, I created the “Welcome to Keystone” video which highlights our strengths. The leadership team also sent out a survey, asking about priorities. For our second Day of Discernment, which will happen November 2nd after the worship service, I invite you to send me questions to ask the congregation. These questions will guide our discussion of Keystone’s future.

Over the summer, the leadership team and I read the book A Little One Shall Lead: Small Congregations Create New Ways of Being Church. A number of themes emerged from this project studying small congregations like ours: “small is good” was one! Others were highly engaged laity, celebrating the gifts of every person, and church as “home.” If you would like to read this remarkable book in preparation for our second Day of Discernment, please let me know; I will have several copies to borrow in the office. 

As you know, Keystone has no “committees.” The community sets and carries out the agenda for justice, inclusion, supporting our neighbors on the margins, and creating the sacred space for our worship services. The community has, in the past, organized the Festival of Hope, the central event in Keystone’s year, raising money for important community and justice-centered organizations. As our population shrinks and resources dwindle, the question presents itself: are we content to continue with this model? Or do we have something else in mind? If so, what? These are some of the topics that may generate questions for our next Day of Discernment.

Several folks requested a Bible study with the Pastor, so I will be offering that on the third Wednesday of each month following our regular lectio divina. Many thanks for that suggestion – I always love diving more deeply into Scripture, and we will decide together how to proceed at our first meeting on September 17th. I hope you will join me!

Until then, I send you love and blessings.

Pastor Adina