As we kick off our summer theme of “Rest, Reflect, Renew,” we will spend some time exploring how we can resist our culture’s emphasis on urgency and productivity in order to create more spaciousness in our lives. How can we make room for rest, play, healing, and care?

On this Juneteenth, we’ll explore what it means to be free–or not. If our freedom something that is given to us or something we claim?

Welcome to our annual multigenerational Flower Ceremony, where we proclaim what it means and what it takes to build our beloved community. This year, we will also honor the transition of our high school seniors to young adulthood in a Bridging Ritual. Come one, Come all to this festive celebration!…

Our overarching spiritual theme of the year, “Love is at the Center,” ends with a focus on community this month. It is a season of war and humanitarian crises in Ukraine and Gaza. We have a polarizing US presidential election on the horizon. The UUA vote on a new covenant…

The writer Annie Dillard tells us that beauty is a kind of grace, wholly unmerited, and the least we can do is try to be there to witness it. How can we cultivate a spiritual practice of noticing beauty? https://www.firstunitarianportland.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/OOS-2024-05-26.pdf

The music from Duke Ellington’s Concert of Sacred Music invites us to reflect on the divine presence, both as it exists now and as it has from the beginning. It envelops us in grace and urges us toward love. With the choir, big band, and soloist Cecille Elliott, the First Unitarian…

This service will explore the ways all of us must learn to create, give birth, co-parent, and let go

Time for All Ages Grace is a quality that marks our lives in both extraordinary and ordinary ways. If we are mindful, we may notice that unbidden blessings abound every day.

The beauty of our seventh principle is the way in which it recognizes that we as humans are deeply embedded in the web of existence. We called to protect the earth and its precious resources, which includes each other. How can we ensure our work towards both environmental protection and…

Time for All Ages We all have a need to belong somewhere, to recognize that we are not isolated beings. How is it we find our place in the family of things?

Time for All Ages We are interdependent with all life on earth. This is reflected in our 7th Principle and in one of the six values that stem from love at the center of our faith. We must come to know our place in the family of beings and engage…

Our YRUU (Young Religious Unitarian Universalist) high school youth group is excited to share their wisdom and perspective with the congregation as they explore the idea of interdependence in this well-loved annual service.  All readings, music, and words in this week's service have been thoughtfully curated by the awesome young people in…

Happy Easter! Join us for our Annual Multigenerational Service and Easter Egg Hunt. We will share the story of Holy Week, focusing on lesser told portions and explore a Jesus who invites us to participate in the politics of gratitude.

Join us for this special Good Friday Tenebrae Service as we remember and witness the journey of Jesus through this Holy Week. Through reflection, readings, music, and prayer, we will mark Jesus’ path together in the community. https://www.firstunitarianportland.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/OOS-2024-03-29-1-Page-Good-Friday-Service.pdf

Religious scholar Diana Eck differentiates between diversity and pluralism, noting that “pluralism is the engagement that creates a common society” out of diversity. Yet in recent years, it feels like the fabric of our shared society has begun to tear. As people who embrace pluralism as part of our religious…

Time for All Ages The French philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville came to America when it was young and articulated an ideal of individualism as central to our story. How is that still our story, and how might that story need to become wider in this age of pluralism?

The holy month of Ramadan in the Islamic calendar begins today at sundown. It is a month of fasting, prayer, and giving - a spiritual cleansing of the mind, body, and soul. Let us explore the wisdom of these practices and this sacred time. 

Time for All Ages Many are curious about how we can build one house of worship that includes theists, atheists, and agnostics sitting side by side. But we do this each time we gather. Many of us may also weave our spiritual understandings from more than one religious tradition. Pluralism…

Lent reminds us we cannot rush past the season of dormancy and the cycle of death. There are fruits that come from experiences of emptiness, barren landscapes of the spirit, and despair. We may even discover that it is in moving through the desert that our thirst for the holy…

I was recently in an organizing meeting where the facilitator opened with an unexpected icebreaker question: “What does solidarity smell like?” When talking about concepts like justice, equity, or solidarity, it’s easy to remain in the realm of the abstract. How can we stay connected with the material needs of…

There’s plenty around us to fear. What do we do with that? Does fear hold us back or can it propel us forward?

Deciding how to give of our time, talents, and gifts requires us to remain open to the needs around us and imaginative about how those needs can be met. How can cultivating an open mind and an open heart help us discern how we can be of service to our…

Our Unitarian Universalist heritage calls us to remember we come from one source, and we all share the same destiny. Today, the destiny we say we are aiming for is the Beloved Community. This is part of the vision of our congregation. It is also the language lifted up under…

We are heading towards four months in the escalating conflict between Israel and Palestine. It is a time of heartbreak where many are clamoring to find a way towards hope and a fuller view of humanity. As we lament where we are in the present, let us also make space…

ONLINE SERVICE ONLY / NO IN-PERSON SERVICE / January 14 / 10:30 a.m. PT https://boxcast.tv/channel/uio1swe8fnfspcmtxuba The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. asked us to decide between “creative altruism” and “destructive selfishness.” Let us reflect on the power of this choice as we remember Dr. King, celebrate his legacy, and…