As Portlandia’s landscape changes, it impacts our Learning Community and Religious Education program. Many can recite dour statistics: Housing costs and other factors drive families with children and youth further away from downtown and the Metro area. Long accustomed to meteoric population growth, Portland proper has experienced stagnation and even shrinkage in recent years. Since pandemic lockdown, all kinds of institutional life report reduced participation, including less school attendance, volunteering, and religious community involvement for people of all ages. Traffic and safety concerns make weekday evening treks to the church building less appealing. The cultural expectation that Sunday morning is always and only for church continues to fade, meaning more scheduling conflicts.

But take heart! Demographic and cultural changes are not curses. They are curves for us to learn to navigate. We can bemoan reality or—as I believe Unitarian Universalism encourages us—express curiosity about what opportunities this new terrain might afford us. Emerging realities can bless us if we accept the changes, harness their resources, and accompany them forward. Our religious tradition is innovating across the movement, and we have real indicators that our numbers are holding more steady than those of some other denominations. 

And we’re shifting and deepening here, too. This year we focused on offering children and youth opportunities to interact with each other across ages. We gave elementary aged children a chance to connect monthly about our church themes. Kindergarteners and high schoolers got to work together on art and other projects. This coming year, we’ll gather for cross-age activities in Eliot Chapel. I look forward to this since I grew up sitting on its chancel steps for Together Time stories. Now our current young ones will get to experience the beauty and peace of this beloved space.  

Families are increasingly isolated, broke, overwhelmed, and scared. We take this seriously as a public health crisis by offering witness and respite. We hired five new childcare providers this year to support parents and caregivers in attending events outside of worship. Souper Sunday meant lunch, enabling families to last longer at church. Our Parenting Circle is a community of compassion, strength, and much humor. It was recently described by a participant as “a breath of fresh air after a stale week.” In RE classes, we are embracing a model that crafts a meaningful experience for students who attend regularly but better welcomes and includes those who come less frequently. Rather than punish those who don’t come “enough,” our goal is to reward anyone who attends with a full, fun experience.

Thank you for being a part of and supporting this Learning Community, which you are if you are reading now with care and interest. One way we bless each other is by gifting our attention and intention. Everyone is welcome to dive in! Consider attending a LC program in the upcoming year, like the Halloween Party, Parenting Circle, or Adult OWL. Email me to sign up for a one time helper gig, where you get to be on snack duty and make a few new young friends. Show up to a potluck with your fave dish. Introduce yourself to families with young people and try to remember kids’ names.

We close this year already excited about the next! We have a robust RE Committee with brand-new members; a dozen people preparing to lead OWL sexuality education classes; a roster of teachers and subs that include people who’ve never worked with kids and veterans with decades of RE experience; and an impeccably, beautifully organized supply closet. Blessings abound, indeed. 

With love,

Rev. Leah