Sermon Archive
"Instruments of Peace" - Stephanie Skalak
As civic life in America grows more and more polarized, many of us struggle with how to bridge the gaps in our communities and sometimes even our own families. How can we "call in" those we disagree with, rather than merely calling them out?
Stephani Skalak is a Master of Divinity student at Meadville Lombard who is currently an Intern Minister at UUC Willamette Falls in Oregon City. 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.
"Water Communion & Ingathering" - Linda Macpherson
The second Sunday in September is the traditional date for our annual Water Communion and Ingathering, and marks the beginning of our "church year." Join us joyfully in person or virtually on Zoom and bring with you a small amount of water that represents water that was important to you this summer: water from somewhere you traveled or from your own backyard. Come, let us gather together and refresh our shared commitment to our beloved community. Service led by Wy’east member Linda Macpherson.
"Organizing for Justice! A Labor Day Service" - Becca Ryan Roberts and Hanna Sloane-Barton
This Labor Day, we'll hear from two participants in our local labor movement: Becca Ryan Roberts, crisis line worker and union leader at Lines for Life, and Hannah Sloane-Barton, long-time union activist and organizer with AFSCME. They'll share, through stories and song, about the experiences and values that led them to become union activists and about their recent successful campaign to win union representation at a local crisis nonprofit.
Normally, the 1st Sunday Service is Multi-platform and the 2nd Sunday Service is Virtual only, but due to the Labor Day holiday, the 1st Sunday (September 4th) and 2nd Sunday (September 11th) are switching formats.
“Cake and Covenant” - Rev. Judy Zimmerman (Virtual Visit to Mid-Columbia UU Fellowship)
Description: “Cake and Covenant” Rev. Judy Zimmerman, with Adam Pope, celebrant. Some of us have been fortunate enough to inherit treasured recipes for baked goods. Perhaps we’ve even improved on one of those recipes, making them taste better than before. As a religious tradition where members are linked to one another by covenant, rather than creed, what might cake baking have to teach us about our faith? Our friends at Wy’east UU Congregation in Portland will join us.
This is an online-only service.
THIS SERVICE WILL BE AT 10:00AM, coordinating with Mid-Columbia UU’s schedule.
Click HERE to stream the Mid-Columbia UU Fellowship Service
To join by telephone, dial (253) 215-8782
and enter the meeting code 767376780
followed by the pound sign (#).
Click HERE to join our Family Service at 9:30-10:00
Meeting ID: 275 194 110
Phone In: (669) 900-6833
“The Purpose of Poetry” - Rev. Dr. Lynn Ungar
Poetry is nice and all, but what is it really for? The same question might be asked about religion. Rev. Dr. Lynn Ungar, who is both a poet and a UU minister will offer her thoughts on what poetry and religion might have in common. Learn more about Lynn and her work on her website at www.lynnungar.com
The Eastrose Fellowship will be joining us for this service.
“Emissaries of the Imagination: The arts in Times of Environmental and Cultural Upheaval” - Will Hornyak (Virtual Visit to Eastrose Fellowship UU)
The times of greatest difficulty can also draw forth from us the stories we carry and the gifts we bear for the renewal of ourselves and our communities. Among our greatest resources at such times is imagination, artistry and creativity. What is the unique nature of the medicine we carry and the genius residing within us as individuals? What seeds of vision do we carry for the future? How can we embrace and dance with times of great change rather than feel overwhelmed?
Storyteller Will Hornyak considers myths, poems, storytelling and the arts as essential practices for remembering the rich and varied responses that are possible in times of crisis. He shares a variety of perspectives from oral traditions that can assist us in realizing that we are not alone, that magic is ever afoot and that we all contain seeds of healing and renewal.
Watch the live stream of this service on Sunday, July 24th at 10:30 on YouTube and then join Wy’east for a post service social hour on our usual Zoom Link (around 11:30).
Click HERE to stream the Eastrose Service Live on YouTube
Click HERE to join our Family Service at 9:30-10:00
Meeting ID: 275 194 110
Phone In: (669) 900-6833
Click here to join the virtual post-service social hour on Zoom
Meeting ID: 275 194 110
Phone In: (669) 900-6833
“Creativity as a Healing Practice” - Kirsten Carpentier
Kirsten B. Carpentier, MSW. Eastrose will be joining us. In this time of so much personal and collective illness, upheaval, and brokenness, how do we find a way to being in the present creatively and find grounding? We explore the value of committing to a creative project every day, and seeing where this practice leads, despite the ups and downs of life and inspiration.
Kirsten has an eclectic background as a social worker, fundraiser, administrator, and multimedia artist. She has been facilitating art workshops for over 25 years. She believes that through creativity of all sorts we are able to witness each other's unique gifts, and discover healing through common insights we share. She is a passionate international traveler, and has spent much of her life on one journey or another.
Multi-Platform Worship Sunday at 10:30:
This service will be offered as both a virtual and an in-person service.
Click here to join the virtual service on Zoom
Meeting ID: 275 194 110
Phone In: (669) 900-6833
Click here to Sign-In in advance for the in-person service at the Community for Positive Aging (1820 NE 40th Ave). All in-person attendees must sign in for contact tracing purposes. Save time at the door by signing in now using the link above.
UUA General Assembly 2022: Delegate Feedback & Report
The 2022 UUA General Assembly was here in Portland last month. Wy’east UU sent two delegates (Alana Graham and Mariah Springstead) to the 2022 UUA General Assembly in June and several Wy’east members attended in-person as well. Learn more about the event, happenings in the broader Unitarian Universalist faith and the business decisions made at the Assembly.
Sunday, July 24th
Falling in Love with a Wounded World: How Poetry Can Help Us in Dark Times - Paulann Peterson (Virtual Visit to Eastrose UU Fellowship)
Paulann Petersen, Oregon Poet Laureate Emerita, will—using a handful of poems—talk about the role of poetry in these fraught times, how poetry can help us grapple with the crises and catastrophes that seem to be daily occurrences now.
Watch the live stream of this service on Sunday, July 24th at 10:30 on YouTube and then join Wy’east for a post service social hour on our usual Zoom Link (around 11:30).
Click HERE to stream the Eastrose Service Live on YouTube
Click HERE to join our Family Service at 9:30-10:00
Meeting ID: 275 194 110
Phone In: (669) 900-6833
Click here to join the virtual post-service social hour on Zoom
Meeting ID: 275 194 110
Phone In: (669) 900-6833
How Do You Reconcile a Lynching? A Story of Justice and Redemption - Taylor Stewart with the Oregon Remembrance Project
Taylor Stewart graduated from the University of Portland in 2018 with a degree in Communication and a Master’s in Social Work from Portland State University in 2021. Taylor started the Oregon Remembrance Project in 2018 to help communities unearth stories of injustice and engage in the necessary truth telling and repair required to reconcile instances of historical harm. His work connects historical racism to its present-day legacies in order to inspire contemporary racial justice action. In what started as simply a way to memorialize a man named Alonzo Tucker, the most widely documented African American victim of lynching in Oregon, Taylor has grown to see the power of reconciliation to rectify further instances of historical injustice. “How do you reconcile a lynching?” applies the three r’s of reconciliation -- remembrance, repair, and redemption -- to the lynching of Alonzo Tucker. After working with the community of Coos Bay, OR on remembrance, Taylor invites his audience to join him in repair to help bring a semblance of redemptive justice to the lynching of Alonzo Tucker.
Multi-Platform Worship Sunday at 10:30:
This service will be offered as both a virtual and an in-person service.