Sermon Archive

On Sunday, Christmas Day, we will not have a Service, but our regular Sunday Zoom worship connection will be open at 10:30 AM for a Social Hour for anyone who wants to drop in. 

Virtual Service Sunday at 10:30 AM

This service will be offered only as a virtual Social Hour.

Click here to join the virtual service on Zoom

Meeting ID:  275 194 110

Phone In:  (669) 900-6833

On Christmas Eve, we will, at 5:00 PM, “gather for renewal and fellowship” as called for by our mission. We’ll do so virtually, alongside our covenant to be cared for and to care for others. We will share stories, light candles, and close with the traditional Silent Night. In community together, though separated by screens, we will lift up our hopes shining through the darkness and grieve for losses felt heavily during the Christmas Season. You're invited to bring a candle to light from your home worship space. This gathering will be facilitated by Wy’east members and friends.

Virtual Service Saturday at 5:00 PM

This service will be offered only as a virtual service.

Click here to join the virtual service on Zoom

Meeting ID:  275 194 110

Phone In:  (669) 900-6833

The Winter Solstice is around the corner. In this darkest time of year, religious traditions from around the world make meaning and ritual around the gifts of darkness and the returning light. Please join us this Sunday for our own "Celebration of Light;" a mix of old (think children's winter pageant) and new (Rev. Becknell Marx's first sermon as our minister), light and dark, joy and contemplation.

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In her poem "Gate A-4”, Arab-American poet Naomi Shihab Nye shares an account of distress, compassion and community as she is called to interpret Arabic for a fearful traveler at an airport. As many of us take to the highways, airways and railways this November and December, the PWR Staff has put together a worship service that touches on the themes of the poem, and questions such as Who are we called to care for? When do we answer the call to serve? Where might we be surprised by grace?  

This service is a compilation of contributions from the Pacific Western Regional Staff: Annie Scott (CRE), Rev. Summer Albayati, Dr. Melissa James and Revs. Sarah Millspaugh, Sarah Schurr, and Carlton E. Smith.

Virtual Service Sunday at 10:30 AM

This service will be offered only as a virtual service.

Click here to join the virtual service on Zoom

Meeting ID:  275 194 110

Phone In:  (669) 900-6833

In her work as a chaplain, Rev. Barbara Stevens faces all kinds of illness and suffering. She has learned that the capacity to be present in the face of that suffering comes from having looked at her own fears and challenges, from a faith in life and the human spirit, and from an inner peace that allows for stillness. It is possible for us all to discover such gifts in ourselves.

Rev. Barbara Stevens is an ordained Unitarian Universalist minister and chaplain, specializing in serving people in recovery from addiction, trauma, and loss.  She served as the chaplain at Providence Hospital’s inpatient substance abuse program for seven years and currently works as a chaplain with Kaiser Permanente. In addition, she has worked with UU churches as a director of religious education, a consulting minister (including at Wy'east), and an affiliated community minister.  In 2011, she helped start the Universalist Recovery Church that meets on Sunday afternoons at Eastrose Fellowship Unitarian Universalist.  She believes that the source of life and creation is love. If we can accept that love, we can heal. Though we might not escape sorrow and pain, we can know joy. Learn more about Rev. Barbara Stevens and her ministry on her website: www.barbarastevensministries.com

Multi-Platform Worship Sunday at 10:30 AM

This service will be offered as both a virtual and an in-person service at 10:30 AM.

Click here to join the virtual service on Zoom

Meeting ID:  275 194 110

Phone In:  (669) 900-6833

In-Person service is at the Community for Positive Aging (1820 NE 40th Ave).

Now that we know what we know about Thanksgiving you might have conflicted feelings or you might not be celebrating it at all or you might have crafted some new traditions around it, so for this year's annual bread service, we are broadening the topic to include Gratitude OR Food OR Feelings about Thanksgiving. Wy'east Members and friends will offer a series of thoughts and reflections on these ideas. Join us and share some of your own.

Listen to the Service

In these times of polarization and separation, the vision of Beloved Community is ever more vital. How do we see each other as beloved fellow human beings even in the face of differences? Leslie will share wisdom learned from the teachings and practices of NonViolence.relevant to personal life, congregational life, and community connections.

Rev. Leslie Becknell Marx is currently a UU community minister whose ministry focuses on supporting leaders to care for the whole, bringing complex ideas to life in story, and using Playback interactive theater to bridge differences. Her website is www.ConversationThatMatters.com. She is joining us as our candidate to be our quarter-time minister.

There will be a "Special Congregational Meeting" immediately following the Service

As reported by the Wy'east Board last month (click here to review), the Ministerial Search Committee has presented a candidate for our quarter-time ministry position to the Board. The Board is pleased to report we have successfully negotiated a contract with Rev. Becknell Marx to serve as our quarter-time minister beginning on December 1st. Following this introductory service, there will be a congregational vote to affirm her as our quarter-time minister.

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Robin Henderson’s presentation on guns, gun fanaticism and the impact on police behavior, when it feels like “guns are everywhere”, focuses on several intersecting factors in our current political culture. He urges genuine, substantive and historically proven gun regulation policies, not the timid marginal steps typically placed on the table from either political party.

Robin’s interest results from a combination of personal life and professional experiences. After becoming deeply disturbed about the tragic Viet Nam conflict, he applied for conscientious objector status, focusing on the topic of “aggression”. He learned more when later examining over fifteen hundred Viet Nam veterans in psychiatric evaluations at a VA facility. Subsequently he had several police officers as patients and saw real parallels to the current situation where police often have to work in a gun infused urban environment. 

Robin Henderson is a member of Wy’east and a retired psychoanalytic psychiatrist. 

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Can we combine a fierce pursuit of justice with humility, kindness, and a conviction that "the moral arc of the universe does indeed bend toward justice”?

Originally from Louisville, KY.  David has degrees from Yale University Divinity School (M.Div.) and the Graduate Theological Union (Th.D).  Pastoral ministry including First Baptist Church of Los Angeles and First Baptist Church of Portland.  He’s had teaching positions at Central Baptist Seminary (Kansas City); Fuller Seminary; San Francisco Theological Seminary, Southern California; and Palmer Theological Seminary.  David was also a guest professor in Colombia, El Salvador, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Russia.  He’s had 40 years of bilingual ministry.  He had been an Organizer for CLUE (Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice), Los Angeles.  Currently, David is a member of the Faith/Labor Committee, and Portland Jobs with Justice.

There will also be a Special Collections this Sunday benefiting "PDX NAACP"

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Each church year there are 4 months that have a 5th Sunday. As part of our lay-led ministry, we will be using these Sundays to offer an alternative to traditional worship. In lieu of holding a service, either in-person or on Zoom, we will be organizing a group service project we can do together instead.

Join us on October 30th for our Inaugural 5th Sunday Day of Service. Wy'east Members Diane Ingle and Larry Burt have partnered with SOLV to do a neighborhood cleanup in the Hollywood Neighborhood. Our goals are to help make the area a safer, cleaner, more pleasant area to visit and to help build community spirit among our members. Volunteers will pick up litter in the Hollywood neighborhood business area within a four block radius surrounding our meeting placeThis is a private event for Wy'east Unitarian Universalist Church Congregation in lieu of the regular Sunday October 30th Service. 

The details: 

• We will meet in the parking lot at the back of the Center for Positive Aging at 10:30am (masks encouraged) and finish at 12:00. RAIN or SHINE!
• SOLV will provide trash bags, trash pickers, disposable gloves, and high-visibility vests.
• Volunteers should wear clothing appropriate for the weather including closed-toe shoes and long pants; also bring a filled reusable water bottle, and an umbrella if it looks like rain. A small backpack is also suggested to carry any extra clothing and the water bottle.
• Parking and transit are available the same as for our regular Sunday morning church service.
• Bathrooms are available at the Hollywood Library and at various businesses in the area.
• All participants must sign a SOLV waiver to participate - Click Here to Sign the Waiver. Paper forms will also be available at the meeting site. You don't have to sign up ahead of time. You can just show up!

Children are Welcome!:

• Childcare will be provided at the Center for Positive Aging
• This is an all-ages event. Children under the age of 13 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

If you have further questions, contact Diane Ingle at 503-936-6947 or Larry Burt at 503-329-6397

There will be NO Virtual Service nor Multi-Platform Sunday at 10:30.