Join us for WorshipSunday, March 20, 2022
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Family Service 10 a.m. // Livestream OnlyÂ
Sanctuary Service 11 a.m. // In-Person & Livestream
No Learning Community Classes // Spring Break
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Learning to be a Guest
In-Person & Live StreamÂ
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What does it mean to know and love a place? To consider yourself a guest? As a relative newcomer to Portland, to the western side of this continent, Carter will reflect on her experiences navigating her life as a guest in this community.Â
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Family WorshipÂ
Lighting the Way
Live Stream Only
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Nicole will share a story about a young girl who brings the gift of sunlight back to her village. Dustin will lead our music, and Cassandra will share a meditation with us.
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Re-Gathering, One More Time
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Things to Note:
- No reservations needed, just come!
- Proof of full vaccination required (all doses for which you are eligible); cards or cell phone pics checked by ushers at the door.
- Masks required, regardless of Oregon’s mask mandate status.
No Learning Community classes. Our children and youth are on spring break.
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Staying Connected Blog
Welcome!
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Last Sunday was a glorious day! We welcomed congregants, some of you, back to the sanctuary. The choir on the chancel was in great voice. Children, some of them, attended classes for the first time in two years. Â The energy in the sanctuary was so different from the hundred or so Sundays when the seats have been empty. Sunday was a glorious day...continued.
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Help Secure the Future of First UnitarianÂ
FOUNDATION SUNDAY! - March 20
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Join us this Sunday for a special testimonial and service in celebration of the Foundation and its generous Legacy Society members in acknowledgement of the legacy gifts and intentions they have made to First Unitarian.
To become part of the Legacy Society include First Unitarian in your estate plan by leaving a portion of your estate to the Foundation. Then and let us know by filling out our Legacy Intent Form.
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IN PERSON Spring Equinox CelebrationSunday, March 20, 3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.Â
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Join Intern Minister, Carter Smith, for this in person earth-centered Spring Equinox celebration known as Ostara, where we will honor new life and plant seeds for the season to come.
This will be a time for connection and reveling in the joy of spring flowers. Advance registration is required.Â
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MEETING - COHHO Dives Deeper into the 8th PrincipleSunday, March 20, 3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.Â
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You're invited to join us on Zoom for our March meeting during which we will focus on diving deeper into the 8th Principle.
If you're interested in that topic, you may want to prepare before the meeting.
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| 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.
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BUY TICKETS NOW! - Step by Step: The Ruby Bridges Suite
An Emotional Portrait of a Pivotal Moment in US History
Saturday, April 2, 7 p.m. (followed by a conversation between Rev. Bill and Darrell)
& Sunday, April 3, 4 p.m.
The 2022 Marilyn Sewell Social Justice Lecture
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We are honored to host this multi-movement composition for instrumentalists, choir, vocal soloists, and narrator that draws on jazz, gospel and spiritual traditions.
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Performas / Musicians / Vocalists
Limited free parking in lot across from church.
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UPDATE! - Ministerial Search Committee
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We would like to update you on our progress in the search for a new Senior Minister by letting you know that we are excited about the three final pre-candidates.
After interviews and sermons, your Search Committee will discern and select a final candidate who will be announced sometime in April 2022. There will be a week in May to introduce this final candidate to you, and a vote taken to call the new minister by voting members of First Unitarian Portland.
We are grateful to Rev. Bill Sinkford, Rev. Tom Disrud, the Board, and the congregation for “setting the table” for our new minister and the “emerging church.”
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NEW! - Congregational Survey
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Your Board of Trustees would like to hear about your relationship to First Unitarian and how its ministry serves you. Each year, the Board conducts an Evaluation of the Ministry, and input from congregants is a vital component of that evaluation.
In this transition year, your input especially valuable because it will give the new Senior Minister a picture of First Unitarian as they begin their new ministry at First Unitarian Portland.
Thank you so much for taking a moment to share your thoughts about the ministry of First Unitarian Portland.
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| | Upcoming Events, Workshops & Classes
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NEW! - Youth Climate Justice Leader, Adah Crandall of Youth vs. ODOT
Sunday, March 27, 9 a.m.
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Community for Earth members support intergenerational action for climate justice. All church members are invited to join our 4th Sunday session on March 27th, a presentation by Adah Crandall of the Youth vs ODOT organization.
Adah is a sophomore at Grant High School, and a leader of the movement in opposition to plans to expand I-5 through the Rose Quarter close to Harriet Tubman Middle School, where Adah was a student. Learn more about Adah in this Willamette Week article: Adah Crandall Stands in the Way of Additional Freeway Lanes.Â
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Survival Lessons: Reclaiming Your Life After Loss
Starts Saturday, April 2, 10:30 a.m. - 12 p.m.Â
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When we’ve lost someone we love through death or divorce, we are changed.
This four-session class will focus on telling our stories and identifying ways to experience healing and transformation. Using group discussion and educational support, participants will explore attitudes toward grief, understanding the grief process, coping and expectations, identifying resources, and finding a spiritual path to healing. Registration is limited to 8 people.
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Reproductive Dignity CohortMondays, from April 4 - May 23 //Â 7 - 8:30 p.m.
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As our congregation moves more fully into the work of Reproductive Justice, join this new group to accompany and learn alongside one another. Be guided into a new curriculum offered by SACReD, the Spiritual Alliance of Communities for Reproductive Dignity. SACReD, is building a multi-racial, multi-faith movement of congregations across the country that publicly proclaim their support for reproductive dignity. 6 spots left!
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Matins for Lent:Â An Uplifting Start to Your Week
Mondays, through April 11, 8 - 8:30 a.m.Â
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The season of Lent is traditionally a time for renewal and self-reflection. The Lenten metaphors are universal and can speak to UUs, just as Easter might.Â
Join us on Monday mornings for thirty minutes filled with music, inspirational readings, and prayer. Together, we will provide comfort and peace in worshipful community that will serve as an uplifting start to the week.
An ongoing commitment is not required.Â
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Program ResourcesAdult Programs, Social Justice, Learning Community, Music & Arts
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REMINDER! -Â Vesper Prayer Service
Fridays at 5 p.m.
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End your week with a brief quiet time of prayer, reflection, meditation and music offered by our Lay Ministers. Let this be a pause at the end of the week, to receive and to be held in love, without the need to converse. Registration is required to receive the Zoom link.Â
An ongoing commitment is not required.
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REMINDER! - Nourishing the Spirit: Practice for the Long Haul
Saturday, March 19 at 10:30 a.m.
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In a world of violence, injustice, and loss, the spirit struggles to stay hopeful when many of us feel burned out, discouraged, and exhausted. It is helpful to gather in community to share our journeys and affirm each other’s experience. This monthly gathering offers collective spiritual practices to strengthen the bonds among us.
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UPDATED! - The Learning Community Re-Opens
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PAG Condemns the Russian Invasion of Ukraine
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Such use of military is in violation of international law and agreements. We also express compassion for the Ukrainian people including the refugees. Accordingly, PAG is donating $500 of its own funds to two Oregon based international charities working in Eastern Europe helping refugees – Mercy Corps and the Medical Teams International. We encourage church members to donate to these charities.
PAG also notes that all wars end in a political settlement via negotiations. We therefore call for an immediate ceasefire and the beginning of negotiations with the objective of an agreement respecting the security needs of all parties to the conflict.
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NEW! - Art for Social JusticeThe Speaking of Justice Editorial Team offers weekly art to deepen our connection to the work for social justice and building the Beloved Community.Â
Curated by Ethel Gullette, Speaking of Justice Editorial Team
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TaĂna Asili is a New York-based Puerto Rican singer, filmmaker and activist carrying on the tradition of her ancestors, fusing past and present struggles into one soulful and defiant voice. Her music combines powerful vocals carrying themes of hope and liberation with an energetic fusion of Afro-Latin, reggae and rock. She offers this powerful new protest song for people to sing at protests and actions demanding justice.Â
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In the Community
Congregant Scott Francis Powell died on February 8 after living with ALS for the last six years. He was 59 years old. We hold his husband Paulus Vandooremaal and their extended family at this time of loss.
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Home Hospitality for General Assembly
Offer up a room for UU visitors for GA
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First Unitarian Portland will offer home hospitality for the UUA General Assembly taking place at the Oregon Convention Center on June 22-26.
If you are able to offer a room or two to UU guests, please let us know. Visitors will contribute $100 per room per night to the church. You may offer a simple breakfast, but that is optional.
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Do you have a reason to celebrate? Say it with flowers!
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Do you have a birth in the family, a graduation, an anniversary, a memorial, or other reason to celebrate? You can acknowledge it to the entire congregation by sponsoring a floral bouquet. As we reconnect with friends, say it with flowers on the Chancel.
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Having trouble viewing our services through the website?
Find our Live Streams on Boxcast, Youtube or on Facebook.
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NEW! - March Moderator Letter
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With the return of children to the Learning Community, the choir on the chancel, and sitting on our familiar hard seats, last Sunday almost felt like a “normal” Sunday at First Unitarian. It was good to see so many of you in church. I know First Unitarian has changed over these last two years we have spent apart, and I am excited to see the evolution of what we are calling the “emerging church.” And yet, my heart was glad to sit in the familiar surroundings of the sanctuary, greeting my neighbors and hearing many voices singing and many joyful hands clapping...continue.Â
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NEW! -Â A Reminder from the Nominating Committee
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Any voting member who wishes to self-nominate as a candidate for a Board or Nominating Committee position may do so by petition. Forms are available here.
Petitions are due back to the committee chairs or church office by April 29.
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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.
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| Sunday Live StreamÂ
& Social Schedule
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March Shared Plate For the month of March, we share our offering with Bark, a local environmental organization that envisions a future where climate resilience and environmental justice are the guiding principles of forest management. Bark's mission is to transform Mt. Hood National Forest into a place where natural processes prevail, where wildlife thrives and where local communities have a social, cultural, and economic investment in its restoration...continue.
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Want to know what this church has to offer? Show up for events/classes/socials and  stay engaged!
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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.
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Moved recently? Changed your phone number or e-mail? Fill out this form.
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