Please Join Our Live Stream
Sunday, December 20Worship Service at 10:15 a.m.
Family Worship Service at 9:15 a.m.
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Turning Toward Hope
Rev. Bill Sinkford
We return to the season of long nights, feeling that we have been living through a year of long nights. We are ready for the faithful rhythms of the earth to help us turn toward hope. Even as we yearn for spring, what have we learned in the dark that we should carry forward?
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Bill's BlogOne Love
âTwas the week before ChristmasâŚand I must confess to feeling a bit like one of the elves in the mythical St. Nickâs workshop as we prepare for the holidays at First Unitarian. I guess Santa would be my role in that imagination.Â
We are working on all of the seasonal holiday services and the post-Christmas services as well. The winter holidays are always a busy time in the life of the church. In addition to that normal busyness, we are having to re-invent so much of how we celebrate while we are at a distance. It is a busy time...continued.
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Family WorshipMystery, Wonder & Rituals
This Sunday we will focus on the Winter Solstice which occurs on the following day, Monday, December 21. While we understand the science of this shortest day, it is also a time rich with mystery, wonder, and rituals since the time of the ancients. Cassandra will offer an illustrated poem and play a shadow game with us. Dustin will share a solstice song, and Tom will lead us in a mindful reflection.Â
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Winter Solstice Service
Monday, December 21, 7 p.m.
Winter Solstice is a time of darkness moving toward light. What can we learn from this time of rest, renewal, and looking forward? We will honor both the light and the darkness of this season of our lives.
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Christmas Eve Services:Â âLove Is Born Againâ
Thursday, December 24
We will celebrate this holiday when we yearn to gather but must remain apart. We carry a sense of loss, of many losses, with us. But we also carry the seeds of new possibilities in our hearts. We will look to the meaning in the Christmas story for material to weave into our lives, so that we can make of our hearts a manger where love can be born again.Â
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Christmas Pageant: Rebroadcast
Sunday, December 27
Family Service at 9:15 a.m.
Main service at 10:15 a.m.
Rebroadcast of the 2019 Christmas Pageant, a wonderful and joyous tradition at First Unitarian Portland.
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Vesper Prayer Service
Every Friday at 5 p.m., including Christmas & New Year's Day
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, but an ongoing commitment is not required.Â
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Help Those in Need this Holiday Season
Here are some ways to support people in need both within our church community and in our larger community this season. These are organizations in concert with our own church mission:
First Unitarian Emergency Fund for members
This fund helps members facing some kind of critical need like loss of housing, utility shutoff or some other unexpected, necessary expense. It is part of how we build Beloved Community in our congregation.
Outside In
Since 1968 when it was founded in the basement of our church, Outside In has transformed thousands of lives by helping break the cycles of chronic homelessness, poverty, and poor health among Portlandâs LGBTQIA+ community, people of color, those experiencing homelessness, and the underserved.
Clay Street Table
Clay Street Table, which operates out of St. Stephenâs Parish, just up the street from the church, strives to âfeed those who are hungry in body and in spirit.â In 2019 Clay Street provided over 140,000 meals of food and groceries to youth and adults in our downtown community.
Oregon Worker Relief FundÂ
The Oregon Worker Relief Fund provides financial support directly to Oregonians who have lost their jobs yet are ineligible for Unemployment Insurance and federal stimulus relief due to their immigration status, and now face hunger, homelessness, and economic hardship.Â
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| Featured NewsAll timestamps are scheduled in Pacific Standard Time (PST) unless stated otherwise.
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First U PDX: Adopt-a-PHFS Family for the Holidays!
Thanks to all of you for your heartfelt generosity.
Your gifts filled our pickup truck and a car. Besides the snacks, board games, craft kits, kidâs toys, holiday decorations, blankets, gingerbread house kits and baskets, you gave extra blankets, decorations, toys and kits. You also donated $200 in gift cards. Wow! Our four adopted families plus many other families are going to be thrilled with their PHFS Christmas gifts. You can still monetarily donate to Portland Homeless Family Solutions here.
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| | Upcoming Events, Workshops & Classes
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Practicing Peace: A Day of Mindfulness with Katie Radditz
Saturday, January 9
10â11 a.m. Virtual Zoom gathering
11 a.m.â3 p.m. Self-guided
3â4:30 p.m. Virtual Zoom gathering
Come replenish your spirit in our spiritual community in order to bring more harmony into our daily life. Rev. Bob Schaibly would often say, âWhat the world needs from us is our non-anxious presence.â  This is something we can develop, as a necessity for living a compassionate life and creating a better world, now and for the future. There will be poetry and nature, writing prompts and meditation along with deep relaxation for personal and global healing and restoration.
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Seminary for a Day
Mark Your Calendars!
Saturday, January 30, 2021
Are you yearning for greater depth in your spiritual life? Join us and delve deeper with Rev. Meg Riley, Co-moderator of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA).
All are welcome! More details to come soon.Â
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Program ResourcesAdult Programs, Social Justice, Learning Community, Music & Arts
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Loving Kindness Meditation
Every Monday, 8â8:30 p.m.,
Note: No meeting on Dec 21Â
Loving-Kindness towards self and others is a basic foundational view of Buddhism and other religions. Intern Minister Stacey Mitchell will gently guide you through this spiritual practice which cultivates benevolence, kindness, and amity. An ongoing commitment is not required.Â
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Reimagining Normal:
Contemplative Conversations
The world has changed. We are changing. Who am I now? How am I called to serve? What must I mourn and what do I invite into this changing reality?
This can be a time to reconsider, reimagine, move toward reform. Join us in weekly conversations designed to nurture and support us through a pandemic of possibility.
Note: This cohort has been filled. Click below to sign-up for our waitlist and we will contact you when additional cohorts are available.Â
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Send Us Your Photos & Be Part of Family WorshipÂ
We invite you to submit photos of your family member for inclusion in our weekly worship. Seeing each other in this way helps us stay connected. Send pictures of your family tuning in at home, of activities we do during worship, projects worked on from our monthly mailers, or any other photos you want to share. Thank you to those of you who have sent pictures! Please send photos to this email.Â
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Monthly Mailers & Zoom Gatherings
Registered families should have received their November mailer packets for the theme of Prayer. Watch your Learning Community news for details about a zoom session for our younger age groups as we round out the month.
Please share your feedback about the mailer packets and zoom sessions which will help us in planning future months.Â
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Art For Social Justice
The Speaking of Justice Editorial Team offers weekly art to deepen our connection to the work for social justice and building the Beloved Community.
Homesick: A Plea For Our Planet by Andrea Gibson.
"At the beginning of the summer, the sun burning apocalyptic in the Colorado sky, I began writing a poem titled, HOMESICK: A PLEA FOR OUR PLANET. It was written to highlight the earthâs deep love for all she creates, in hopes that humans might requite that love with their actions, choices, and vote. As humans, it's easy to forget that we are, ourselves, nature. What needs to happen for us to stop ignoring the fact that the earth is, every day now, scattering her own ashes? Itâs crucial to present the question, âWhat kind of planet are we passing down to our children?'"
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In the Community
Former member Everett Goodwin died on December 5 from COVID 19. Everett was 78 and living in Pocatello, ID in recent years. Everett was a regular attender at this church during his years in Portland. He was a poet and loved to share his work and the work of fellow writers. He was also part of our menâs community. We hold Everettâs family at this time of loss. Click here to see Everett Eugene Goodwin obituary.
Member Warren White is recovering beautifully from receiving his kidney transplant. He is now at the West Hills Rehab Center and reports that his doctor says no one heâs helped has recovered from a transplant as fast as Warren has. Warren would appreciate our joining his prayers of gratitude.Â
We celebrate with Rev. Joseph Boyd, who was called to the ministry out of this congregation. Joseph received final fellowship from the UUA this fall, a major milestone in a ministerâs career. Joseph has been serving as a contract minister in the Youngstown, Ohio UU congregation and recently accepted a call to serve that congregation as their settled minister.
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Greetings from your Ministerial Search Committee!
As daylight shortens, many anticipate a bright new year ahead. We are grateful for the steady leadership of the Board of Trustees, the staff, and especially our ministers and musicians providing worship and grounding for all of us--time for us to come together in the virtual world that has become a safe way to gather.
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Your committee has been using this extra time for learning more about our congregation, and is planning to resume in March more frequent meetings and deeper work to find the next senior minister to lead First Unitarian in the coming years of our lives together. Your voices will be heard as we gather for âcottage meetingsâ in subsequent months while we diligently assemble a picture of the congregation
It is a blessing to serve you in this âsearchâ and hold you in our hearts. May our many generations thrive in peace, in hope and in love,
Lia Nagase, Kristin Guest, Leslie Pohl-Kosbau, Saranna Weller-Filz, Evie Zaic, Darin Stewart, Jess Parker, Mark Woodlief, and Sarah Hardin.
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Nominating Committee in Search of a Few Good Candidates
Are you a member of First Unitarian and wondering how you can give back? Are you wanting to help build the beloved community, seeing representation of all of our members in the leadership of our church?
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NEW - Message from our Board Moderator
Though we are physically away from our church, our holiday traditions are carrying on. The Alliance Greens Sale was successful and our social action groups gathered donations to support several of our community partners.Â
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The Board is continuing its discernment around adopting the 8th Principle. A group of leaders of our social action groups participated in a workshop using Paula Cole Jonesâ presentation in early December. Additional workshops for the congregation are planned for January.
We hope that you will participate in one of the workshops to learn about the Principle and what it would mean for our church to become a more actively antiracist congregation. The Board welcomes your thoughts and comments...continued.
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First Unitarian's Response to Covid-19
Here are a few important updates that affect our life together.
Sunday Worship
Staying Connected
Church Communications: Do you receive messages from the church including this weekly E-News and our Staying Connected emails? To receive church emails send a note to etafuri@firstunitarianportland.org.
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Naming First Unitarian Foundation in Your Will or Estate Plan
Help assure the long-term sustainability of this beloved congregation by including First Unitarian Portland in your will or estate plan.
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Have a Submission for E-News?If you have a submission you would like published in our weekly Front Steps (E-News), please submit it here with subject line âFor E-News.â
Submission deadline is noon on Tuesday.Â
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Sunday Live Stream & Social ScheduleJoin us LIVE from your computer or smart device by clicking on the links below.Â
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December Shared PlateFor the month of December, we share our plate with three organizations providing critical services in our community. Outside In, located next to the church, provides a safe, supportive and inclusive place for health care and other services to help the underserved and people experiencing houselessness achieve independence. First Unitarian continues to share our reception hall for Outside In's food pantry.Â
Our Committee on Hunger and Homelessness partners with Clay Street Table, to help provide meals of food and groceries to youth and adults in our church's downtown community.
The Oregon Worker Relief Fund provides financial support directly to Oregonians who have lost their jobs yet are ineligible for Unemployment Insurance and federal stimulus relief due to their immigration status.
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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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