Sermon Archive

Our annual tradition of gathering in a park the first Sunday in July continues with our July 7th Summer Celebration & Interdependence Day Picnic. This joyful in-person gathering is in lieu of our usual Sunday Worship Service.

Creston Park, Area B (a change in location to be ADA Compliant), from 10:30 AM to 2 PM. 

Please join with your potluck contribution, and bring your own utensils and plates for eating. 

There will not be a worship service on Zoom or at the Center for Positive Aging.

Celebrate Pride with Wy’east Unitarian Universalist Congregation with a Drag Story Hour Event! We invite all young people, in age or heart, to join us for this delightful, fun and love-centered story hour featuring Kisses, the “2023 Vancouver Entertainer of the year,” on Sunday, June 30th from 10:30 to Noon. 

This celebratory event will feature some Pride-oriented crafts and a sweet story hour with Kisses plus lots of belly laughs! 

All are welcome, please join us!

Here are the details:

When: Sunday, June 30th from 10:30 to Noon

Where: Wy’east Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 1820 NE 40th Avenue (inside the Center for Positive Aging)

What: Pride Celebration; Drag Story Hour with Kisses; Craft Activity for Kids

Kisses Major Ash is a radiant drag queen full of dynamic dance moves, emotional range, and costume changes. A seasoned performer described as “An actress, dancer, circus artist, and my fun aunt’s favorite drag queen.” Although a staple in the Portland drag scene hosting shows like Elevate at the Atlantis lounge, Black Magic at CC Slaughters, and more; Kisses is also a 2 time Miss Gay Vancouver, Imperial Princess 47 of Vancouver, and was named 2023 Vancouver Wa Entertainer of the year. I hope you’re ready to experience the one and only Kisses Major Ash.

There will be NO regular service (either in-person or online) this Sunday.

We will gather on Zoom as we usually do to virtually join the largest annual gathering of UUs in worship - the Sunday Worship for the UUA 2024 General Assembly. We are all tangled up together in a great web of life that is woven with beauty and hardship, love and loss, thriving and struggle. How do we tend well to the weaving so that all of us are held in care?

This service is led by Rev. Molly Housh Gordon who will be joined by Violet Vonder Haar, Jamila Bachelder, Rev. Leon Dunkely, Rev. Eric Kaminetsky, Rev. Joan Javier-Duvall, Rev. Jordinn Nelson Long, Rev. Aaron Wisman, Rev. Sadie Lansdale, and Rev. Sarah Oglesby-Dunegan.

Featuring musicians: Natasha Steinmacher, GA Music Coordinator; Lea Morris; Francisco Ruiz; beheld; Violet Vonder Haar; Paul Winchester; and choirs from All Souls Unitarian Church, Indianapolis, IN; First Parish in Concord, MA; First Parish UU in Lexington, MA; First UU Congregation of Ann Arbor, MI; UU Fellowship in Athens, GA; UU Fellowship of Poughkeepsie, NY; UU Church in Cherry Hill, NJ; UU Church in Reston, VA; and UU of Minnetonka, MN.

Rev. Molly Housh Gordon

A lifelong Unitarian Universalist from Tulsa, Oklahoma, the Rev. Molly Housh Gordon is the minister of the UU Church of Columbia, Missouri, where she is currently suing the state of Missouri for their unconstitutional abortion ban alongside 13 other multi-faith clergy co-plaintiffs. Molly is passionate about red-state UU ministry, community organizing, and mutual aid. In addition to her ministry and organizing work, Molly is a published essayist and poet completing a Doctor of Ministry in Creative Writing and Public Theology. Alongside her wonderful spouse, she is the delighted parent of two very fierce young children and one very chill old dog.

Family Service at 9:30 AM

Online (Zoom) Only Worship

Sunday at 10:30 AM

Click here to join the virtual service on Zoom

Meeting ID:  275 194 110

Phone In:  (669) 900-6833

After forty years as an author and artist, Teresa Jordan’s life took a surprising turn during the pandemic when she found herself embarked on the path to becoming a Buddhist chaplain. She also started drawing or painting a bird every day. For this service, she will talk about the connections between contemplative care and meditative practice in nature, and will share a short video from her experience, “Birds of Praise.”

If you missed the service and video presentation, you can click here to view the Teresa's video, "Birds of Praise: Gleanings from a Year of Birds."

Teresa’s books include "Riding the White Horse Home", a memoir of the Wyoming ranch community in which she was raised, and "The Year of Living Virtuously, Weekends Off", a series of non-righteous meditations about virtue and vice. In May of this year, Teresa received her Master of Arts in Pastoral Care and Counseling from the New York Theological Seminary as well as a Certificate of Professional Achievement in Narrative Medicine from Columbia University. She will start as a chaplain resident at Providence Portland Medical Center this fall. She and her husband Hal Cannon recently moved from southern Utah near Zion National Park to live on a floating home across from Sauvie Island.

Listen to the service recording

Multi-Platform Worship (both in-person & online)

Sunday at 10:30 AM

Click here to join the virtual service on Zoom

Meeting ID:  275 194 110

Phone In:  (669) 900-6833

While Wy’east has spent the last church year gently learning about and considering various aspects of the proposed Revised Article II, others have been ardently and actively engaged in crafting and seeking support for some changes to that revision. Four amendments to the proposed Revised Article II that have met the bar to be considered at this month’s General Assembly. This morning we will explore two of them: Adding the value of Peace and adding the value of Reason. We will hear briefly about the arguments for and against and spend some time engaging in our own exploration. 

Family Service at 9:30 AM

Listen to the service recording

Online (Zoom) Only Worship

Sunday at 10:30 AM

Click here to join the virtual service on Zoom

Meeting ID:  275 194 110

Phone In:  (669) 900-6833

At the end of June at the 2024 UU General Assembly, our congregation will have the opportunity to send two delegates to vote on whether to adopt a proposed revised Article II of the UUA bylaws (the section that currently contains our principles and sources). Over the course of the last church year, Rev. Leslie Becknell Marx and the Worship Committee have intentionally focused sermons and worship services on the values and inspirations articulated in that proposed language. This Sunday, step back and look at the proposal as a whole, compare it to the current language and provide space for us to explore together our questions,celebrations and concerns. 

We would love to hear your thoughts about the proposed Article II revision. Please complete this brief input form to help us prepare for this service. 

If you’d like to dive deeper in order to come prepared, here are some assembled resources to learn more

First-Sunday Monthly Potluck after Service!

Listen to the service recording here

Multi-Platform Worship (both in-person & online)

Sunday at 10:30 AM

Click here to join the virtual service on Zoom

Meeting ID:  275 194 110

Phone In:  (669) 900-6833

As T. Thorn Coyle says, “Practice makes possible.” How can the practice of covenant help us to navigate relationships in our lives and in our congregations? How do we practice covenant when things are hard? Rev. Erica Baron, Congregational Life Staff in the New England Region.

Rev. Erica Baron joined the New England region staff in 2019, focusing on helping congregations live into their missions and develop their gifts for spiritual leadership. Before joining the Congregational Life staff, she served as parish minister for the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Catskills in Kingston, NY, as well as the congregations in Rutland and Bennington, VT. She is a graduate of Andover Newton Theological School.

Family Service at 9:30 AM

Online (Zoom) Only Worship

Sunday at 10:30 AM

Click here to join the virtual service on Zoom

Meeting ID:  275 194 110

Phone In:  (669) 900-6833

The first Flower Ceremony was held in Prague, in June 1923, led by Rev. Norbert Čapek. For decades, this beloved tradition and its powerful history has welcomed Spring and provided meaning to hundreds of UU congregations. You are invited to bring a flower of some kind whether real or representational. What kind of beautiful bouquet can we make together?

Our service will be led by Stephani Skalak, who has been welcomed into preliminary fellowship by the UUA to become a UU minister. Stephani will reflect on how we can find spiritual discipline in our Unitarian Universalist “cafeteria style” tradition which draws from so many diverse inspirations?

Stephani Skalak has a Master of Divinity from the UU seminary Meadville Lombard and is currently a chaplain resident at Providence Portland Medical Center. In her career to date she has been an educator, an artist, and an activist. She has more than fifteen years of experience teaching media literacy and video production to youth and adults alike, encouraging them to use their voices for change. Earlier in her career, she worked for the Peace Corps both as HQ staff and as a volunteer in West Africa. Her undergraduate degree is in International Relations from The American University in Washington, DC. Stephani has experience in small group ministry within the UU tradition and has had a life-long love of learning other cultures. She lives in Portland, with her love, Mark, and their two teenage children, Kai and Seneca.

Multi-Platform Worship (both in-person & online)

Sunday at 10:30 AM

Click here to join the virtual service on Zoom

Meeting ID:  275 194 110

Phone In:  (669) 900-6833

Drought has reduced the water level of reservoirs, thus stopping rivers from flowing over dams, leading to  water pollution in the still water left behind and halting salmon reproduction. Tribes in Northern California and southern Oregon have effectively advocated dam removal along the Klamath River that divides the two states, focusing particularly on the need to protect wild salmon reproduction.  One of the tribal leaders, Brook Thompson, will tell us about the positive impacts of removing four dams along 420 miles of habitat in what has been the largest river restoration project in the U.S.  She will also tell us what’s needed next to assure river flow and renewed growth of salmon fishing. 

Brook Thompson is a Yurok and Karuk Native American from Northern California and Portland.  Brook fights for Native American water rights through public speaking, academic research, and frontline activism.  Brook has a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Portland State University, an M.S. in Environmental Engineering from Stanford, and is now completing a PhD at UC Santa Cruz where she studies how Indigenous Knowledge can be better implemented through California water policy.  Thompson’s goal is to bring together water rights and Native American knowledge through engineering, public policy, and social action.  

Website:  https://www.brookmthompson.com  

E-mail:  brookmthompson@gmail.com 

Listen to the Service Recording  

Family Service at 9:30 AM

Special Collection: Save California Salmon

Online (Zoom) Only Worship

Sunday at 10:30 AM

Click here to join the virtual service on Zoom

Meeting ID:  275 194 110

Phone In:  (669) 900-6833

Explore the many wells we draw from as Unitarian Universalists. We are grounded in rich history, connected by shared values, and inspired by a diversity of sources. 

We will consider the revised language proposed in Article II of the UUA bylaws which replaces what we currently call our Sources with a similar section entitled Inspirations:

"Direct experiences of transcending mystery and wonder are primary sources of Unitarian Universalist inspiration. These experiences open our hearts, renew our spirits, and transform our lives. We draw upon, and are inspired by, sacred, secular, and scientific understandings that help us make meaning and live into our values. These sources ground us and sustain us in ordinary, difficult, and joyous times. We respect the histories, contexts, and cultures in which these sources were created and are currently practiced. Grateful for the experiences that move us, aware of the religious ancestries we inherit, and enlivened by the diversity which enriches our faith, we are called to ever deepen and expand our wisdom."

Listen to the Service Recording 
 

First-Sunday Monthly Potluck after Service!

Annual Budget Informational Meeting

Multi-Platform Worship (both in-person & online)

Sunday at 10:30 AM

Click here to join the virtual service on Zoom

Meeting ID:  275 194 110

Phone In:  (669) 900-6833