Thomas Moore called humility, “that low, sweet root, from which all heavenly virtues shoot.” Humility seems to be contrary to a lot of what our culture values but perhaps it is a way to help us understand our place in the larger scheme of things. 

Rev. Jaelynn Scott “Centering” as an organizing principle is the habitual return to an initial ethical principle and a shaping of work, life, faith and our spiritual practice on this principle. In Buddhism, we refer to this as right livelihood, the grounding principle of our life’s work. Intersectionality, for example,…

“The honorary duty of a human being is to love."  Maya Angelou "Each one [of us] has a mission to fulfill, a mission of love.”  Mother Teresa “May there be more love to liberate us all, and may we keep on, today and every day, until we find it, and…

Something’s got you down  Got you chained and bound  Well break it…  The power for liberation and for transformation is ours to claim.   “nothing’s gonna change if you don’t change it”  Dolly Parton as theologian.  Amen.  Last Sunday, we recognized the pain of the pandemic, the losses we have all felt, and…

Rev. T.J. FitzGerald, Guest Minister Learning is essential to any life of faith. Sometimes we learn by simply adding new information. But other more painful ways of learning involve being wrong and learning what to do about it so that we can see the whole picture more clearly. Reverend T.…

So many stories of where we’ve been, and how we got to this place.  So many stories. What story will we tell of this last year?  Do you remember how it began?  March 1, 2020.  The first case of Covid in Oregon had been confirmed the previous day. The Bay Area of…

A new employee—who was white—walked into the bakery where Jabari Jones worked. They introduced themselves.  “Jabari? Are you American?” The new employee asked.   “Yeaaaaaaa.” (tentatively), Jones, who is African American, responded.  “Well, it’s just that your name is [so] esoteric!”  Jones writes: “I’ve been called lots of things because of my name,…

Show us how to love.  We must learn how to love.  Amen to that.  Happy Valentine’s Day.  This holiday calls us to express the love that we feel…and I am a “love preacher”…what better topic could there be?  This holiday has theological resonance too.  I remember when I was in elementary…

I don’t usually pay a whole lot of attention to Groundhog Day. Truth be told I have generally been kind of confused by the day—growing up I remember seeing images of the groundhog somewhere in Pennsylvania—a long way from where I was—and not being at all clear whether he was…

Rev. Meg Riley Rev. Meg Riley and Rev. Bill will dialogue about Unitarian Universalist progress toward Beloved Community and the tests that remain ahead. Rev. Meg Riley was installed as Co-Moderator and Chief Governance Officer at General Assembly 2020. A lifelong Unitarian Universalist (UU), Meg Riley grew up in congregations…

Rev. Connie Simon According to Rev. Connie Simon, the COVID-19 pandemic has created an unexpected blessing:  the opportunity for deep periods of introspection on many aspects of life.  Join us as she shares how she learned to be more present to herself, and as a result, more connected and engaged…

History has its eyes on me. History has it eyes on you.[1] How will history look on these incredible and troubling times we are in? How will it look at our leaders and their examples (or the lack thereof) and some of the devastating consequences? These are historic times. That…

What a week. Tuesday. Rev. Raphael Warnock is declared one of two new Senators from the state of Georgia. The first Black Senator ever from a state known for voter suppression. In his victory speech, Warnock, the 11th of 12 children, invoked his mother, now 82, who began life picking…

"something far more deeply interfused" - from lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey by William Wordsworth in 1798 Can you feel it? The Spirit? Did you sense… a presence? Moving?  An energy that is yours…but not yours alone?   Have you felt that quality of presence before? Do you…

Rebroadcast of the 2019 Christmas Pageant, a wonderful and joyous tradition at First Unitarian Portland.

And the time came “for [Mary] to be delivered. And she gave birth to her first born son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes [literally in “bands of cloth” that’s the original language]…wrapped him in bands of cloth and laid him in a manger…” The story of the birth of…

We will celebrate this holiday when we yearn to gather but must remain apart. We carry a sense of loss, of many losses, with us. But we also carry the seeds of new possibilities in our hearts. We will look to the meaning in the Christmas story for material to…

Join us for a Family Christmas Eve full of carols and stories. Sing along at home, light a candle with us, and lift your spirits with joy and possibility. Hear a traditional telling of the Biblical Christmas, then celebrate parenthood, friendship, and the power of love while meeting an unexpected…

We will have our annual Winter Solstice service this year, albeit over the internet. The winter solstice, a holiday centered on the experience darkness, yet the moment in our calendar of increasing light. Winter solstice, the longest night of the year, is a time to reflect the transition of darkness…

It is the season of turning. The Winter Solstice is tomorrow when the gradual lengthening of the night’s darkness reaches its peak…the longest night of the year. And the cycle of increasing daylight begins. It is a gradual turning of the seasons to which humans have been attuned…well, since we…

Bodhi Day is the Buddhist holiday that commemorates the day that the historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, experienced enlightenment. It is observed in many mainstream Mahayana traditions including the traditional Zen and Pureland Buddhist schools of China, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam. Bodhi Day serves as a reminder of the wisdom that…

Just wait, till you see what’s next…just wait. We are connected in mystery and miracle. Just wait. You’ll see.  Coming soon. Coming now. Just wait.  Author Casey Gerald writes of a village…, somewhere in France, sometime in the seventeenth century. This village, he writes, became the site of frequent miracles, according to…

I was raised in a family that embraced New Thought (or New Age) traditions, along with exposure to guru teachings that my parents followed. We also practiced transcendental meditation, and on top of all this my parents consider themselves secular—go figure? They were raised in traditional Christian households, but ended…

Grateful. Grateful. Grateful. Grateful. Gratefulness flowing from my heart.[1] That may be as good a summary of today’s message as we’re going to get. That beautiful piece—thank you quartet—was a gift. A call to begin with gratitude. We get the message at an early age that it is important to…

The storm is passing over. There is a sense of relief…a new lightness  many of us are feeling. First, new national leadership is on the way in just a couple of months. And then the announcement that a vaccine…or several could be just around the corner.  The storm is passing over. Can…

“I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go.” I have been driven many times upon my knees. It was Abraham Lincoln who made that confession. On Our Knees. When I selected this morning’s sermon title…months ago now…I guessed…