January is often a season of envisioning the journey of the year ahead, including making resolutions. As you do these things, I hope you will include something about your commitment to your spiritual life and your commitment to our common spiritual home. Your personal spiritual life – the practices that help you to make meaning out of the brokenness and out of the beauty of living – is a vital part of your health and wellbeing. Our common spiritual home – a community that partners with you to offer experiences of grounding, growth, inspiration, and activism – is a vital part of creating a sustainable spiritual space for yourself and for hundreds of other adults and children.

What we do together and what we offer one another matters significantly and not only in the lives of our members, but also in the extended communities in which we participate. Our families, our friends, our workplaces, our volunteer placements… all these are spaces with people who benefit from what we gain, give, and share with one another in our congregation. Ultimately, the difference we can make in one another’s lives is the sum of all the myriad gifts that we commit to one another and to First Unitarian Portland.

So, in other words, you and your unique gifts – what you long to do, what you like to do, what you’re good at, what you’d like to learn, what you have, and who you are – are some of the greatest potential treasures of our spiritual home. How you decide to apportion these gifts is well worth thinking about at the dawn of another year. 

It is my hope that some consideration will be given as to how you can apply these gifts to your own spiritual journey, to our cooperative spiritual home, and to the greater good of the extended communities in which you participate. When I reflect on the meaning of joining and participating in our congregation, here are four topics that offer fodder for your New Year’s aspirations.

• Nourish your spirit.  Find activities and cultivate practices that foster a well-rounded-and-grounded spiritual life. These are the experiences that connect you to something beyond yourself and deep within yourself and invite love to be centered in your life.

• Share your talents.  Consider volunteering and matching your interest or talents to support our programming, which includes worship and music, lifelong learning, caring and community building, leadership, advocacy and service. 

• Share your treasure.  Be generous and help us turn our vision into a reality – well run programs for children, youth and adults, care for facilities, justice projects – all of these exist because people like you give of their time, talent and treasure. 

• Live Our Values Out Loud.  Act upon Unitarian Universalist values beyond our walls. You might join one of FUP’s social justice initiatives, or you might be inspired by us to get involved with another community service or advocacy organization.  

Consider Deepening Your Connection Through Membership. If you are ready to join our community in membership today, please make an appointment with me or our membership engagement coordinator, Jen Thomas, and don’t forget to come to the next First Steps Class. 

Membership packet is available upon request. In March, the First Steps class will be solely dedicated to joining in membership. All necessary paperwork and support in deepening your relationship with First Unitarian Portland will be available. 

To make an appointment with me, go to my Calendly.

May this season of new beginnings guide you to a place where love leads and your spirit follows. 

In faith,

Rev. Alison

The post The Meaning of Membership appeared first on First Unitarian Portland.

Current offerings are described here:

Description

One of our goals as a church is to build a multicultural, diverse, engaged, spiritual community that works to dismantle racism and other oppressions. Antiracism Learning Circles are opportunities to do some of that work, to expose ourselves to our true history, to increase awareness of ongoing oppressions, and to explore and reveal our reactions to issues concerning race in America. 

We strive to hear every voice, provide a safe space for expressing our doubts and discomfort, create a deeper understanding, and encourage and learn from each other in a small group setting.  

Open to all; please invite your friends and neighbors to join our Circles on Zoom.

How will these Learning Circles Work?

• Each cohort (typically 4-12) gathers for a series of 4-10 facilitated Zoom discussions.
• You have to register for a particular Learning Circle.
• Meeting dates & times depend on the specific circle & who is facilitating it.
• Each individual is given the opportunity to share reactions, then discuss as a group
• We ask that you attend all sessions so we develop trust bonds as we share personal stories and feelings.

Testimonials

To read what former participants have had to say about their experience in a Learning Circle, click HERE.

Contact

Questions? Contact Jody for more details.

Where to Buy Your Books

Support your local Black-owned book store.

Third Eye Books

Website: https://thirdeyebag.com
Where: 2518 SE 33rd Avenue, Portland OR

“Third Eye Books Accessories & Gifts LLC was founded in 2019 in Portland Oregon by Michelle Lewis and Charles Hannah. Our vision is to be the number one supplier of African Centered books, accessories and gifts in the Portland Metro Area. We believe our products can be used as a tool to motivate, inspire, restore or enhance a persons cultural pride and to bring forth happiness and healing into the hearts of our customers.”

Past Books & Podcasts

• Seeing White: Podcast
• Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents
• One Person, No Vote
• The Color of Law
• So You Want to Talk About Race
• How To Be An Antiracist
• Waking Up White
• Indian Country 101
• How We Win the Civil War
• Democracy Awakening
• Say What You Mean

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Our 2024 – 2025 annual spiritual theme is “Join the Journey,” and this month we are exploring the topic of threshold. It is a fitting theme for January when we cross the threshold of a new year; a point in time which feels pregnant with potential. What will 2025 bring to our lives? What can we bring to 2025?

Now, I know that some of you (likely many of you) are feeling some level of dread about our country’s presidential transition. Given the threats the incoming president has made against immigrants and LGBTQ2SIA identified folks, as well as anyone who disagrees with him, this is understandable. However, that is not all the year ahead holds.

If we are willing to move together across a threshold of strengthening our relationships of mutual care and commitment within our church and beyond our church, then this year also can hold opportunities to learn and grow, to develop networks that help people survive and thrive, and build more pockets of hope, understanding, and liberation.

January may feel like a time of mourning, and we do anticipate and will need to name the losses on the horizon. We may also be on the threshold of something new emerging that will be more resilient and lifegiving.

Arlen Goff writes, “Each threshold offers an opportunity for change, for renewal, for transformation, from what we were and what we are to what we can be.” This can be a true statement, whether we are crossing a threshold that we desire or one that we would prefer to resist or never experience.

In the beginning of 2025, what are the thresholds that you hope to cross on the journey of your life? How can you move more fully toward them? What do you need to be able to cross to the other side?

What are the thresholds you are resisting at this moment in time? What are the thresholds that have been thrust upon you that you hoped never to cross? What do you need to promote more grace and grit, more resilience as you move through an unwanted season?

Do you have ideas about how our spiritual community can support you or others in this time of promise and change, and in this time of potential danger and potential renewal?

We are people who, in our meaning-making, make community connections, and make a difference within and beyond our walls. What thresholds can we cross with greater possibilities and/or strength, if we cross them together?

Here are several upcoming possibilities:

1.) Join one of the monthly second Sunday Community Circle Drop-In sessions. We’re moving towards parents, young adults, and adults of all ages meeting in the same space this month on Jan 12th.

2.) January – Join one of the antiracism learning circles, which begin this month. Full descriptions, schedules & registration information are HERE.

3.) January 28 – Join the Immigrant Justice Action Group (IJAG) and Advancing Racial Justice Action Group (ARJAG) on Zoom to learn How Will We Defend Attacks on Immigrants? Look for registration information in the Front Steps.

4.) February – Join a “Journey to Articulating Your Faith” series for young adults in their 20s & 30s with Rev. Alison and Danielle Garrett, kicking off in February.

5.) February – Please consider volunteering for the 13 Salmon Shower Project. We’re adding a second day – hosting neighbors on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons. Sign up to volunteer here: Volunteer Interest Form

6) February 16 – join Community for Earth and 350 PDX to learn about climate advocacy during the Oregon legislative session.

7.) March – Join Jen Thomas and Jody Feldman for a special book read on widening the welcome and countering microagressions for all our hospitality folks.


May 2025 be a year where we move across the thresholds before us with greater meaning, grounded purpose, and growing joy.

In faith,

Rev. Alison

The post Thresholds as an Invitation appeared first on First Unitarian Portland.

The new year is on us. Ben Franklin said, “May the new year find you to be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better person.”

I would like to take a moment to say thank you for the work, friendship, and dare I say love that you have given me. I hope I have been of service to the community. At the beginning of a new year comes an opportunity to look ahead to see which way you can go. I am writing this to let you know that I am retiring.

I can’t begin to tell what this place and you people have meant to me. Keep up the good work. You are on the right track, just keep moving.

When thinking about the new year, people reflect on ideas like fresh starts, new beginnings, setting goals, reflecting on the past year. Essentially, it’s a time to look forward with hope and a clean slate. Albert Einstein said, “Learn from yesterday, live for today, and hope for tomorrow.” C.S. Lewis said, “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.”

As for me, I don’t know where I’m going from here, but I promise it won’t be boring.

“Maintenance, maintenance, all life is maintenance.” I think that was the Buddha.

Remove “should” from your vocabulary this year. It will do you no good. I hope you realize that every day is a fresh start for you, that every sunrise is a new chapter in your life waiting to be written.

I am sure that I will be around to help Jason on some project or another. The new year is here and it is the time to do many things. Right now, we are doing filters (air mostly) and cleaning off the red berries from the trees on 12th Ave that are now on the ground. We don’t want anyone to slip.

Remember for more than 150 years, First Unitarian has been a voice of reason, so don’t stop now. The world and our city need to hear that voice. Free thinkers everywhere grow stronger when they hear the call.

So hail and farewell, my friends. Keep your eyes on the prize and be kind to each other.

~ Michael Two Feathers   (Sexton from 2009-2025)

The post Notes from the Sextons’ Workbench: A Goodbye appeared first on First Unitarian Portland.

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Thank you to our youth who participated and to everyone who sent in pictures!

The post What a Wonderful 100th Anniversary Pageant! appeared first on First Unitarian Portland.

The Shortest Day, by Susan Cooper
And so the Shortest Day came and the year died
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive.
And when the new year’s sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, reveling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us—listen!
All the long echoes, sing the same delight,
This Shortest Day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, feast, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And now so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.
Welcome, Yule!

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Featured speaker UNRWA-USA Development Officer Zaina Dana shared stories, photographs and vital information about the role of UNRWA for the human and cultural survival of Palestinians and illustrated the current catastrophe faced by those living in Gaza. She was followed Dr. Michael Fahkri, University of Oregon Law Professor and UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Right to Food, who highlighted the United Nation’s role in Palestine, Israel’s policy of starvation in Gaza, and Israel’s efforts to dismantle UNRWA. He also described the United States’ continued support for Israel’s policies and military practices as well as the growing popular support in the US for a ceasefire and provision of humanitarian aid to Gaza. Mazin Malik and Marlene Eid, members of the Steering Committees of the American Council for Palestine and the Jewish Palestinian Alliance of Oregon, gave the exciting fundraising pitch.

More than one hundred people attended and collectively contributed over $50,000 to UNRWA!

UNRWA was chartered in 1949 to support Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. It provides food, health care, education, water and sanitation, and small business support for Palestinians displaced in the creation of Israel and the 1967 war. It currently is the only support entity allowed to function in the Occupied Territories and is the lifeline for the millions of people of Gaza.  The Israeli government has long sought the dissolution of UNRWA. In the week leading up to the fundraiser, First Unitarian ministers, staff, and board members received over 3,500 emails from supporters of Israel’s policies demanding that the event be canceled. Despite this harassment, First Unitarian maintained its support for the fundamental human rights of Palestinians and went forward to host the event. We remain steady in our values that put Love at the center and honor the inherent worthiness of all people.

The post Church Hosts Successful Fundraiser for UNRWA and Humanitarian Aid in Gaza!  appeared first on First Unitarian Portland.

The Christmas pageant on 12/22 (wow, 100 years old!), Christmas Eve services on 12/24 at 5pm and 8pm, the Solstice service on 12/20, Advent, Alliance Treasures & Bake Sale on 12/8 and 12/15, and let’s not forget Hanukkah starting on 12/25 and Kwanzaa starting on 12/26.

I like this time of year because it is so colorful with the lights and the fresh snow. Now, the problem is that we get caught up with all the stuff. We sometimes forget to remember why we are doing this. This is the time to stop and smell the pine trees, look at the lights, drink some cocoa with just a little bit of peppermint Schnapps and, while we are looking at the winter wonderland, taking time to think about people we have not been all that nice to. This season is all about being kind and caring.

Redemption—the whole point of A Christmas Carol, which I love because redemption is what I need and really, what we all need. Open our hearts and let in people who we don’t usually make room for.

Mark Twain said, “Always do some right. This will gratify some people, and astonish the rest.” This is the season that I give money to the people on the street. I try to be nice to my family (even those I disagree with politically). I am sure that if you are standing in a line and you pay for the person behind you, both of you will have a better feeling than you can imagine.

It does not take much to change the world. You can do it one person at a time.

“Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did not die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world.”

And so, as Tiny Tim observed, “God bless us, everyone.”

Merry Christmas!

~ Michael Two Feathers

The post Notes from the Sextons’ Workbench: December 2024 appeared first on First Unitarian Portland.

Antisemitism is also confusing, including when claims of antisemitism are used to divert and divide justice seeking movements or when progressive people perpetuate antisemitic tropes. UU efforts to address the unspeakable violence in Israel and Palestine have activated people’s trauma, confusion, and frustration. We believe that in order to act effectively and accountably within our UU communities, we must understand how antisemitism is present and how we can counter it as we fight for justice and human rights.

If you’d like to learn alongside us, we invite you to join us for a two-part in-person program. We partner with the congregation of Havurah Shalom to delve into the book Safety Through Solidarity: A Radical Guide to Fighting Antisemitism. Journalists Ben Lorber and Shane Burley present a progressive, intersectional approach to the vital question: What can we do about antisemitism? The book will be available in our bookstore or you can order online through Powell’s.

Guided by the book, we’ll explore the history of antisemitism, how it functions to divide and scapegoat Jews, the presence of antisemitism in these times, in our congregations, and in our movements, and how we can build intersectional solidarity for justice that counters antisemitism.

The first in-person session will be for UUs at First Unitarian on January 12, 4 – 6 p.m. Senior Minister Reverend Alison Miller and Director of Social Justice Dana Buhl will lead the discussion and we will include opportunities for affinity circles for Jewish UUs and non-Jewish UUs.

On January 26, 4 – 6 p.m., we will join with Havurah Shalom for a panel conversation with one of the authors of Safety Through Solidarity, Rabbi Benjamin Barnett and Reverend Alison Miller. We will have affinity circles for Jews and non-Jews as well. Please note, participation in the January 12 UU session is required in order to attend the second session at Havurah Shalom.

Registration is required and is limited to 30 people. After you have registered, we will send an email to guide you to the chapters on which we’ll focus. We look forward to learning together.

Register here.

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