I learned early on in ministry that the covenant between minister and congregation can be mysterious and complex. It was early in my time here in Portland. I was certainly still trying to figure out just what in the world it meant to be a minister. I had been to…

The rains have come and the parched and thirsty earth has been drinking in the life giving moisture.   The rains have come … and the cool days and the cooler nights.  After the unparalleled intensity of heat this summer, our human spirits welcome this turning of the season…  Even the summer…

Safe and secure from all alarms  Leaning on the everlasting arms  The Everlasting arms…safety, security…   That pastoral promise touches deep into hearts that yearn for comfort…oh, we want change too, at least we say we do…but we resist it too…  Our hearts wonder what can be relied on when we…

We will honor Labor Day and the coming Jewish High Holy Days by examining the call to bring love to our world — simple in concept, yet ever so complex in carrying it out. We fail again and again, and are called back over and over to begin again in…

Good morning, all. This is meant to be the place where I introduce myself to you, in sermon form. This seems like a pretty simple task at face value, because I’m this well-educated competent adult who has been hired to learn and serve in this wonderful congregation for this next…

Liberal religion seems to offer more questions than answers. Rev. Bill will offer his answers to questions from the congregation and perhaps pose a few of his own. Look for details in e-news about how to submit a question.

As we get back into the habit of having conversations in person, the concept of “right speech” from the Buddhist tradition might offer some lessons for us.  The Rev. Meg Barnhouse is senior minister of the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin, Texas, and the author of several books, including…

Unitarian Universalist children might just be better at embodying our values than grown folks. Join two UU parents in a discussion of how we've learned some of this practice from our children. This service is part of a collaboration between the Portland and Ann Arbor congregations. Last Sunday Portland offered…

The best …is yet… to come.  I love the positive energy of that music. Such confidence. Such faith.  Today is the first day of the best days of your life.  Much of the summer has had the feel of a return to better days.  The in-person service at Pioneer Square felt so good. The…

One day this summer, on a warm Friday afternoon, a dog named Tillie showed up on our front porch. Tillie was a shepherd and collie mix with a beautiful thick black and tan colored coat. We didn’t recognize Tillie from the neighborhood but she seemed to feel right at home…

Embracing our Earth as sacramental commons can help us create communities in which all life flourishes.  Rev. Tera Klein is the Pastor at Throop Unitarian Universalist in Pasadena, CA and serves as Assistant Professor at Starr King School for the Ministry. Tera is pursuing her Doctor of Ministry at Pacific…

As we approach the height of summer, many of us, at least in normal times, would be off on some kind of adventure. In the past, for those of us privileged to do so, that would be taking long-planned trips to all kinds of places. This year is a little…

The original plan for this July 4 Sunday was to bring you a special worship service from our recent Unitarian Universalist General Assembly called the Service of the Living Tradition. It honors those who serve in professional ministry in our association. We learned this week that that service would not…

We will join with fellow Unitarian Universalists around the world for the Sunday Worship at the UU General Assembly held virtually this year. The theme for the General Assembly will be “Circle ‘Round for Justice, Healing, Courage.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes  Turn and face the strange…  Thank you, John. Thank you for bringing the gift of David Bowie’s lyrics and…presence… into our worship on this weekend.  On this weekend when, among other things, we celebrate PRIDE.  Happy PRIDE everyone!  Bowie, with his…I suppose I should probably say “with their” androgynous…

I’m gonna walk the streets of glory. I’m gonna see that Holy City…one of these days. One of these days… On this day, looking out at all of your faces…for the first time in so long…this feels like a Holy City… Filling this Square with our music…even muffled through our…

Our spiritual theme this month is blessing. Blessing. Earlier in the service we blessed our graduating seniors. What a joy it is to do that every year. And maybe this year they need our blessing all the more. I feel for them. I recall the days when the seniors were…

I have always appreciated our UU motto and campaign “On the Side of Love,” which we have had as a denomination for the last 20 or so years. Our congregations work to build beloved community inside and outside our church walls, even in most challenging and tragic of times.  In…

Our quartet provides music by Jason Robert Brown as a vehicle for looking forward to a time that neither was nor is, but that is wholly new and of our careful crafting. Join us as we worship together and contemplate songs for a new world.

O, sing a new song to the Eternal…   Sing a new song.  Perhaps it is the unusual early run of warm, summer-like weather, or the dramatically changed new guidelines from the CDC…  But for whatever reason, it feels more and more like we are beginning to emerge from Covid-life…  That…

Rev. Gretchen Haley How do traditional notions of motherhood play out in our understanding of our relationship with the earth?  Change parenting, change the world.  Join us for a service exploring the origins of Mother's Day, the role of the "Ideal Mother" and other gendered pitfalls, all set beside our…

“…there’s in this spring, a new era.”  A new era. That phrase is from the virtual choir piece at the beginning of the service. Which I loved.  I loved the setting in that community garden…in the Cully neighborhood, a model of empowerment of those who have been disempowered.  I loved…

Go out and tell your stories to your daughters and your sons. Make them hear you  Esau McCaulley’s 13 year old son offered his opinion of this last week: “I do not understand why there is a trial. There is a nine-minute video.”   McCauley is an Anglican priest and a professor at…

This is an annual tradition at First Unitarian—a service led by our high school youth in YRUU (Young Religious Unitarian Universalists). It’s a wonderful opportunity to experience what our church nurtures in young people. The service will include their musical talents and insightful homilies.

Our spiritual theme this month is awe. Awe. When you hear that word what comes to mind for you? Is it a time when you have been in nature, swept away by the beauty before you? Is it a time when you heard a particular piece of music? Or is…

Easter morning. Early. The women b(r)ought spices and went to the tomb, hoping that they could find someone to roll away the stone from the opening. They were grieving. The hope they had discovered had been crushed by his death on the cross.  They had been there at the foot of the…