Join us for Christmas Services
Childcare will not be available during Christmas Eve or Christmas Day worship services.
Saturday, December 24, Christmas Eve
4 p.m. – “Family Candlelight Service and Christmas Pageant”
All are warmly welcomed at this beautiful and joyous service put on by the children of our congregation. Initially presented in 1924 in honor of the first Christmas in our then-new church on the corner of SW 12th Ave. and Salmon, this pageant, in its various iterations, has been an annual tradition.
8 p.m. – “Candlelight Service: Gifts that Matter"
Join us for our annual Christmas Eve celebration & candlelight service. Amid the busyness of this season, let us keep sight of what matters the most. ‘Tis the season of awe and wonder. ‘Tis the season to recall the miracles born this night. ‘Tis the season for gifts that change the heart.
Sunday, December 25, Christmas Day / Held in Eliot Chapel
10:30 a.m. – “Lessons and Carols for Christmas Morning."
Our service this Christmas morning will be a story, readings, and familiar carols. After church, please bring finger food to share for a special holiday social hour in the Buchan Atrium.
| |
Staying Connected BlogMany Ways to Do the Holidays
| |
What a joyous week this is in our congregation! I am grateful to be experiencing the winter holidays with you for the first time. Although the temperatures are dipping low outside, the spirit of warmth and community are alive and bright in this place. We lit the first candle of Hanukkah together last Sunday, we celebrated the dark of Winter Solstice and the coming of the light on Wednesday, and soon we will celebrate Christmas Eve and Christmas Day this weekend.
| |
|
Share Treats Following Holiday Services
| |
Do you like baking cookies? Or making other treats—sweet or savory?
Following our 4 p.m. Family Christmas Eve service and Christmas Day and New Year’s Day services, you’re invited to bring cookies or other finger foods to share with fellow congregants. Then stop by social hour to enjoy a variety of delicious treats and share holiday greetings with old and new friends.
| |
|
Featured News
Gmail Users: You may have to scroll down to the bottom of this message and click on "View Entire Message" to see the complete Front Steps.
COVID Reminder: It's cold and flu season. Please remember: If you are sick, we hope you will attend church online. It’s a gift that we have that option, and it’s a gift to your fellow congregants when you attend virtually when you are not feeling well. And finally, a reminder that if you haven’t gotten your COVID boosters, we hope you will!
| |
|
REGISTER - White Supremacy in Oregon: History & Current Issues
Dates: Thursdays, from January 12 through February 16
Time: 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
| |
Despite Oregon’s progressive and forward-thinking reputation, our history tells another story. Participants in this course will spend six weeks delving into our state’s history and current realities. We will collectively build an understanding of how Oregon’s whiteness, historically and today, has functioned. This understanding will help us develop a better future for us all.
Join Kristin Teigen, MA, M.Ed., in this six-week Zoom course.
| |
|
Upcoming Events, Workshops & Classes
| |
|
"T” Time: A Trans, Nonbinary, and Gender-Expansive, Exclusive Event!
Sunday, January 1, from Noon – 1 p.m.
Location: Channing Room (next to Eliot Chapel)
| |
Join “T” Time, a gathering exclusively for trans, nonbinary, 2Spirit, and gender-expansive members and friends!
We will have a small selection of complimentary teas available. You do not need to be a member of First Unitarian or consider yourself a Unitarian Universalist to join us – come one, come all!
No registration required.
| |
Welcome to First Unitarian Portland: Class and Walking Tour
Sunday, January 8, 2023, 12:30 – 2 p.m.
Meet: Channing Room located next to the Eliot Chapel
| |
Are you new to First Unitarian Portland? We are so glad you are here. This class will offer an orientation to the church, Unitarian Universalism, and what it means to be a member. This will be a chance to meet other newcomers and to have your questions about the church answered. If you are ready to become a member, please click here for more information.
After Rev. Tom Disrud’s class, we will take a short walking tour of inside the church with Bill Cunninghame.
No registration required.
| |
|
First Unitarian Electrify Your Home to Save Money and Ease the Climate Crisis
Home Electrification Panel Discussion
Sunday, January 8, 2023, 12:30 – 1:30 p.m.
Dates: Buchan Reception Hall
| |
Learn how to lower utility bills, reduce harmful fossil fuel pollution and improve air quality in your home! Enjoy light snacks as you learn from local experts about the benefits and financial incentives available for ending the use of fracked gas in your home.
Find out how to plan for and simplify the process of switching to electric heat pumps for water and home heating (and cooling, too!) and induction cooktops to get fossil gas pollution out of your home. Renters, too, can learn how to employ these new technologies to reduce methane gas use and pollution in their living spaces.
Please mark your calendars and join us!
| |
|
Greetings and Happy Holidays!
It has been wonderful to watch several of our holiday traditions come back to life this season. I’m sure we are not the only ones who welcomed the return of the Alliance cookie and treasures sale, and we have our venerable pageant to look forward to on Christmas Eve. We again shared a dedication of our children in worship last week. Our social justice groups held holiday collections to help our less fortunate community members enjoy this season...continue.
| |
|
Friday Vesper Prayer Services
Every Friday at 5 p.m.
| |
|
Gather for a quiet time of prayer, reflection, meditation, and music.
An ongoing commitment is not required.
| |
|
Loving Kindness Meditation
Mondays at 8 p.m.
| |
|
Join us for a moment each week to extend Loving-Kindness to yourself, to those around you and to the world. Surround yourself in the blessings from those who have loved you and those who love you now. No previous meditation practice necessary.
| |
|
SUPPORT! - Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund Act
| |
If you are conscientiously opposed to participation in war, this bill in Congress would allow you to designate your tax payments for nonmilitary purposes.
The Secretary of the Treasury would be instructed to establish an account to receive tax funds designated for nonmilitary uses and that the funds would only be used for nonmilitary purposes.
Contact your US Representative and ask them to sign the legislation as a co-sponsor. Locate your US Representative here.
| |
|  |
Click the image to enlarge.
| |
| | |
In the Community
Member Mary Ann McCammon died peacefully from a brain tumor on November 25. Mary Ann had a remarkable life and made considerable contributions to the lives of others through her work at OHSU, her founding of “Quilts For Empowerment” in Kenya, her volunteer work at Coffee Creek Correctional Center, and others. She was part of the Africa Connections group at First Unitarian Church. We hold her family in this season.
Dorothy Kohring, the mother of member Sherry Hall, died on December 15 from vascular dementia. She died on her 98th birthday, just a day after she came to Sherry’s home, where the family was able to have time with her before she died. In the end, Sherry says, after four years of decline, she slipped away peacefully. We hold Sherry and her family at this time.
Member Benno Philippson has been diagnosed with a rare condition called A L Amyloidosis. Although it is not cancer, it will require chemotherapy treatments at least through March. Benno and his wife, Gail Durham, ask for our prayers to improve his condition.
| |
|
Are You Going Through a Tough Time?
Would it help to talk with someone?
| |
| Our church’s Lay Ministry team provides caring listening for individuals experiencing grief, illness, isolation, depression, loss of a job or relationship, or other life challenges. Meetings may be one time or over time, depending on the need—and are always confidential.
| |
|
Come down to Fuller Hall to see Karen Shawcross's beautiful pastels.
She brings out the spiritual side of the natural world, combining her love of art with her work as a Lay Minister.
| |
Do you have a birth in the family, a graduation, an anniversary, a memorial, or other events to share?
You can acknowledge it to the entire congregation by sponsoring a floral bouquet. As we connect with friends, say it with flowers on the Chancel.
| |
| The Speaking of Justice Editorial Team offers weekly art to deepen our connection to the work for social justice and to build the Beloved Community.
Curated by Ethel Gullette, Speaking of Justice Editorial Team
| |
In June 2020, an impromptu duet between a PSU School of Music & Theater student, Madisen Hallberg, and a professional opera singer, Emmanuel Henreid ("Onry"), captured the hearts and imaginations of millions of viewers.
Shared on social media and news outlets around the world, this simple moment of beauty between two strangers was a balm for our wounded souls, reminding us that the arts have the power to bring us together and heal us. The PSU College of the Arts invited Madisen and Onry to come back together once more and sing a new duet, a call for peace in our world: Dona Nobis Pacem, or "Grant Us Peace." This contemplative round has been sung in liturgical settings for centuries. May we all find peace this holiday season and in the coming new year.
| |
Having trouble viewing our services through the website?
Find our Livestreams on Boxcast, YouTube or on Facebook.
| |
Have a Submission for E-News?If you have a church-related submission you would like published in our weekly Front Steps (E-News), please submit it here with subject line “For E-News.”
Submission deadline is noon on Tuesdays.
| |
|
| Sunday Livestream
Schedule
Virtual Social Hour –11:45 a.m.
No Virtual Social Hour Christmas Day & NYD
| |
December Shared Plate
Our plate will go to our church’s Congregant Care Fund for members & friends on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year's Day. This fund helps congregants facing critical needs like loss of housing, utility shutoff, or other unexpected, necessary expense. It is part of how we build Beloved Community in our congregation.
| |
Want to know what this church has to offer? Show up for events/classes/socials and stay engaged!
| |
Trying to find connection with those in the congregation with similar interests?
Contact one of the many groups run by members of the church and connect.
| |
Moved recently? Changed your phone number or e-mail? Fill out this form.
| |
|
