Watch the service HERE. The Rev. Kaaren Anderson has written about a time when she put down her book to ponder her own hands, what they touch and experience and create. “I don’t want smooth hands,” she tells us. “I want mine to speak to my person, to my life’s work, to the sum of … Continue reading Move In The Hand
Watch the service HERE. Do things really happen “for a reason?” Who can say? Even so, we’ll explore the challenge of living deliberately in an often-random world. When our lives (or country, or world) tilt in directions we had not expected and fault lines open under our feet, how might we strive to loosen our … Continue reading Waiting for the Ice Cream Truck
Watch the service HERE. Cultivate Initiatives is a group of people that envisions communities that are safe, supportive, and full of opportunities. As a nonprofit organization serving East Portland and East Multnomah County, they empower individuals and communities through workforce development, housing and homemaking, and supportive sheltering. Caleb and others from the Cultivate Initiatives team … Continue reading Providing Support, Safety and Opportunity Amidst the Ruins
Watch the service HERE. Religious pluralism, the way we live out our own affirmation of the variety of spiritual paths among us, is central to our life together. Rev John Hasenjaeger, a liberal Presbyterian minister, will introduce us to two of the pioneers of the modern development of religious pluralism—G.E. Lessing, who comes out of … Continue reading Two Pioneers of Religious Pluralism: A Model of Spiritual Friendship
Flower Communion Sunday – bring a flower, take a flower. Watch the service HERE. We have been conditioned, dare I say, brainwashed, to appreciate and cultivate only the well-bred members of the botanical family — the fine roses, the graceful lilies, the amusing black-eyed Susans, the elegant peonies. Weeds such as the kudzu, the clover, … Continue reading Stubborn Flowers with the Wisdom to Survive
Watch the service HERE. “Schismogenesis” is a term used by anthropologists and sociologists to describe conditions between cultural areas or individuals that causes the separate cultures or individuals to take on identities and rituals that are opposite of each other in almost every way and therefore each becomes defined by what the other isn’t. It … Continue reading Schismogenisis and The Space Between
Watch the service HERE. Is it any wonder that the word “Evangelism,” which means literally “preaching of the good news,” has an uncomfortable ring to many religious liberals? For many reasons, some valid and some stereotypic, we tend to associate evangelism with religious bullying and intolerance, with corruption and hucksterism, with rigid creeds and finger-pointing. In some … Continue reading Evangelism in a Liberal Key
Watch the service HERE. Aside from being one of the summer’s boffo blockbusters, the film “Barbie” has sparked a robust and important conversation far beyond the iconic doll introduced by Mattel in 1959 as an alternative to baby dolls. The eye-popping production design, the memorable musical numbers and the snappy dialogue entertain. Yet, the film … Continue reading Let’s Talk About Barbie
Watch the service HERE. Many of us have been re-gifted a “keeper” item along the way (and yes, sometimes a clunker). Perhaps we’ve scored an actual treasure at a White Elephant or Yankee Holiday swap. Sometimes, good gifts do keep on giving, both the tangible and intangible kinds. As we launch our 2024-25 annual stewardship … Continue reading Good Gifts Keep on Giving – Stewardship Sunday
Watch the service HERE. “We have to recognize that there cannot be relationships unless there is commitment, unless there is loyalty, unless there is love, patience, persistence.” – Cornel West. As a wedge is plunged deeper into our cultural, religious and political divides, to whom or to what are you loyal? Family? Friends? A cause? … Continue reading Your Loyalties Are Your Life
