Last Sunday as we kicked-off the new year and our annual spiritual theme, “Join the Journey!” At the end of the sermon, we introduced the metaphor of the baskets filled with nourishment that we carry with us as we travel the peaks and valleys of the journey of life and faith together. (You can view the whole sermon here)  When we see baskets, we see evidence of culture and art and identity, the weaving techniques passed down from one generation to the next over thousands of years. The oldest woven artifact from Oregon is a strand of braided sagebrush from…

Welcome to a new year at First Unitarian Portland! We are so looking forward to hosting you in person and online for Homecoming, including a community breakfast (pancakes served from 9am – 10am), multigenerational worship at 10:15am, and our Learning Community Open House following the service. Here is a prayer I wrote for us for this season of re-opening: Spirit of Life,May we feel the blessings of our spiritual ancestorsWho opened the doors to our current location 100 years ago.May their stories ground us and lift us up –We are the inheritors of the people who built our Eliot Sanctuary…

Occasionally, we’ll get a phone call or an email asking if we’re open in the summer. Yes, not only are we open every Sunday in the year, but the summer is also a special time for the work of reflection, percolating, and imagination.I think the idea of closing comes from a historic custom amongst some Unitarian Universalist congregations who did take a break from services in July and August. These UU churches followed the academic calendar closely. However, we forget that even as there may have been lulls in the schedule at some churches, other Unitarian Universalist congregations experienced a…

We are in a time of healing from conflict as well as a hopeful time of renewal in our staff and in our music ministry, and these dynamics ripple out into the wider community. Our whole congregation is touched by these important groups and by relationships with the people in them. A congregation is a relational system, so when one part is struggling or succeeding, we all feel the impact.One of the important steps we have taken towards healing is finding the clarity and courage to name that there have been ongoing conflicts in these two areas that go back…

This past Sunday, I preached about ways we can practice healthy self-reflection. On the surface it may seem like a simple concept, but I know many people, myself included, who struggle to find the right balance.  How can I look back on my actions and decisions with both honesty and compassion? How can I take accountability for mistakes I’ve made without convincing myself I am an inherently bad person for making them? How can I keep from overthinking every decision? I shared that one practice I’ve found helpful in this work of self-reflection is the Ignatian Examen. This is a…

Dear ones,  We are mid-way through this summer journey together—this time of rest, reflection, and renewal. As I reflect on the summer so far, it occurs to me that I have not said something as clearly as I could have: You all are doing a very hard thing. Being a member of a church in conflict is incredibly hard. I’ve been there myself. It’s hard if you’re a long-time member who feels like you don’t recognize your church anymore. It’s hard if you feel like you’re at risk of losing deep friendships you’ve made at church over the years. It’s…

This past weekend, my wife and I packed up a campervan and hit the road for a three day music festival near Bend. I was there under the high desert sun, covered in dust and sunscreen, with thousands of others as we read about wildfires spreading across Oregon and as we learned that Joe Biden was dropping out of the presidential race. In all likelihood, we probably digested the news of some other unprecedented world event that I’ve already forgotten about amidst so many unprecedented world events. And because it was a Country and Americana music festival in central Oregon,…

Dear ones, I know this has been another anxious week in what seems to be a string of anxious weeks. Violence and devastation continue in Gaza. Heat waves drive home the dangerous impacts of climate change. And political violence, during an already tense and perilous election for our democracy, has many of us feeling especially on edge. This is a time when we’ll need every one of the spiritual tools in our toolbox to stay centered, grounded, and hopeful.  One way I try to find hope in dark times is by seeking out things that spark my “theological imagination.” As…

As we announced from the pulpit, our Music Ministry Transition Team held our first meeting last Sunday, July 7 to begin to reflect on our music ministry and how it serves children, youth, and adults of all ages in the choir community and in the wider congregation. We are in a time of rebuilding and reimagining our music ministry, which will include assessing our current capacity, identifying and supporting the traditions which continue to nourish us, and experimenting and adapting with new ways of doing things. Below you can read all about the current scope of the team’s work and…

“Treating each other and ourselves with care isn’t a luxury, but an absolute necessity if we’re going to thrive. Resting isn’t an afterthought, but a basic part of being human.”― Tricia Hersey, Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto I write this in the wake of several troubling Supreme Court decisions that could threaten the dignity and safety of our neighbors and the health of our democracy. And the alerts on my phone warning of an extreme heat wave keep distracting me from the tasks at hand. This week it feels like our nation and our planet are on fire, making it…