Together, we co-create our spiritually alive, radically inclusive, and justice-centered community. We do this through joining our collective commitments to our collective time, talent, and treasure. Thank you for being so generous in all the ways you can be. This month we are finalizing a budget that focuses on the treasure part – the financial resources we have to plan for the next program year, July 2023 – August 2024. Fulfilling our mission is connected to our budget, which is one expression of what we plan to be able to do together. A congregation’s budget changes over time as particular…

On Sunday I preached on the theme of death—or perhaps more precisely how it is we live knowing the reality that we’ll all die someday. Since Sunday I’m thinking about two deaths around me and still reflecting on what they mean. On Tuesday morning I was privileged to be present at the death of a beloved member who died after living with cancer for a number of months. It was, as we might say, a good death, on their terms and surrounded by family and closest friends. But that’s not always the case. On Wednesday a person living in a…

Over the course of this year, I am getting the chance to meet with a number of different groups in our community, including our Social Justice Action Groups. Last week, I met with members of Committee on Hunger and Homelessness (COHHO), who are engaged in some of the most pressing matters for our city. It was an engaging dialogue and a reminder of how we are both a Spiritual Community for Unitarian Universalists and religious liberals AND a Community Center that serves the wider world.   This twin role of our congregation is something I have always taken to heart for…

I’m thinking a lot about change these days. Change in the world. Change at the church. Change in our lives. Change. Of course, we know on some level that change in life is constant. Everything is impermanent. Everything is in flux. All that said, my experience has been that more often than not most of us resist things changing. At least all too often that is true in my life. So the question is how is it that we relate to change? Through the years I have found the work of William Bridges to be helpful. That there are three…

On the three-hour journey to travel four miles home yesterday amidst the chaos of the second-largest snowfall on record in Portland, on the first day of the Lenten Season, I was reminded that Lent is a journey of surrender. The three leading practices of this season – prayer, fasting, and charity – are meant to open space to experience the divine and to follow where that leads us. Instead, we too often practice the journey of Lent as an exercise in willpower This may be in part because of the tendency to focus on fasting over prayer and charity. Prayer…

In their meeting this week, our lay ministers reflected on the challenges of the last several years of our lives. Holding the “stew of anger” that surrounds us in our national and world politics, the hate directed at some of the most vulnerable among us, and the global warming crisis, among other things. All of that happened before the Covid pandemic and how Covid has added a whole new layer to things. I’ve come to understand it as a time of existential angst. There is a lot of hold these days. The lay ministers offered ways that they have navigated…

Dear Beloveds, So today, we’re going to be talking about the “Tea” in the Trans community, specifically regarding Unitarian Universalism (if you’re unsure of the meaning of “tea” in this context, sit tight!). First, I want to talk a little about the language I will use because the words we say are important and powerful. I use the term “queer” as a catch-all for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. I also want to acknowledge that there are many, particularly for our gay, lesbian, two-spirit, and trans elders, for whom this word carries hurt, and I want to acknowledge that this is real…

It has been so meaningful to begin to grow roots here with you in Portland during our first six months together. It is a blessing and a privilege to lead and serve alongside you as we re-imagine and rebuild our community in this time of uncertainty and possibility. We have a long history – 157 years – of rising to meet the changes in the landscape of our city and religion. My heart is filling with a sense of purpose and hopes for the future as we move towards the Installation Service on Sunday, April 16, at 4 p.m., to…

This month we are reflecting on creation and creativity as a way into our spiritual theme of the 2022-2023 year: Rooted in Relationship. From the origins of our earth up until this day, we can see that everything and everyone and every action ripples out and is related in some way.   We exist because of those who came before us, and our actions bear an impact on those who will come after us. An awareness of this truth is one of the many reasons that we are so committed to environmental justice with a generational ethic.   All of us alive…

I have come to appreciate January in the Pacific Northwest. I grew up in Wisconsin and signs of Spring are hard to come by this time of year. Brown and gray are the dominant colors in the earthly palate there. But it is different in our part of the world.  Yesterday I took a walk through my neighborhood and I was amazed, as I always am this time of year, to see all the signs of life around me. The buds showing their faces. The green things showing up through the earth. A quiet and subtle awareness of something emerging.…