Sermon Archive
Imbolc: The Ancient Irish Celebration of Early Spring and the Goddess Brigid - Mariah Springstead
Imbolc is celebrated each year on February 1-2 to honor the lengthening of days and the promise of the coming spring. It is interwoven with the Goddess Brigid. Wy'east member, Mariah Springstead will explore how and why this ancient festival has endured and what it has to teach us now in the present day.
Mariah Springstead has been a UU since 2017 and joined Wy'east in 2021. She has been studying paganism and specifically The Goddess Brigid since 2012.
Preserving Democracy Through Justice & Kindness - Joe Rastatter from Portland Jobs with Justice
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Yg760Y_1TV3gxMBZJX8G0i4bD4utOOOd/view?usp=sharingThis service is the third in our Social Justice Speaker series for the 2021-22 church year focused on Examining Economic Inequality
Joe Rastatter from Portland Jobs with Justice will join us to share a bit of his life story, including his hopes and frustrations. He believes people need to be connected, in relationships with each other and through organizations. His 25-year involvement in Jobs with Justice and its Faith Labor Committee has been and continues to be vital to his spirit.
Joe describes himself this way:
“I am a fan and follower of the Rebel Jesus, trying to live my Catholic tradition like Dorothy Day or Cesar Chavez. I have worked as a lay, faith-based community organizer and peace activist for the entirety of my adult life. In the ‘70s and ‘80s, I enjoyed being a Jesuit Volunteer, and working in staff positions with the United Farmworkers, at the Campus Ministry at the University of Washington, and with the Archdiocese of Seattle.
“In Portland in the 90’s, I was the director of the St. Francis Dining Hall and a founding member of the Jobs with Justice Faith Labor Committee. I’ve also served as an organizer and shop steward for unions representing stadium workers in Seattle and Portland. Working as a ballpark vendor has been a successful side hustle for me since high school.”
This service will include a special collection for Jobs with Justice - https://jwjpdx.org/
Margin Notes - Rev. Craig Moro
Poet, teacher, and farmer Wendell Berry writes that, “If change is to come...it will have to come from the margins.” Let’s explore the power and possibility that can emerge from marginal persons, places, and situations—and ponder how the edge might fold itself right into the center.
Building a Better World: Developing Community across Borders and Boundaries - Maia Williams
Maia Williams, a Program Officer at Mercy Corps will share with us her thoughts on the importance of inclusive and resilient communities – at home and abroad, and will highlight our shared role and power to develop and support community-building at the local and global levels.
Maia is a Program Officer for Strategy and Learning at Mercy Corps – a Portland-based humanitarian and development organization whose mission is to support the creation of secure, productive and just communities across the world. Her work focuses on developing strategy at the country, regional and agency levels in order to support a global team of humanitarians working alongside communities in more than 40 countries. In addition to a deep passion for strategic response and leadership, Maia is most passionate about economic development, gender and racial equity, and inclusion work.
“Spit” On the Hook - Rev. Craig Moro
Thai Buddhist teacher Buddhadasa Bhikku asks us:
“If you were to get everything that you could possibly desire, to the point that you owned the whole world, would your hunger cease? Or would you hunger for a second universe? Would you want a third?”
Join Rev. Moro this morning as we contemplate the human phenomenon of craving, and how we might manage it more skillfully as we enter a brand new year.
From Darkness to Light - Mt. Hood Cluster Collaboration
As the year winds down, four Mt. Hood Cluster UU congregations (Eastrose in Gresham, Mid-Columbia in Hood River, Community UU in Pasco and Wy’east in Portland) gather in a collaborative service to reflect upon the gifts of darkness and turn our gaze towards the coming light in the year ahead. Join us.
Please note that the Mid-Columbia UU Fellowship in Hood River will be hosting this service, so the Zoom link is different from the one we use for Wy’east-hosted worship. That link will be available here when it is published.
Join our Virtual Service Sunday at 10:30
Here is the special link to join this service: https://zoom.us/j/767376780
Christmas Eve Gathering at 5pm
On Christmas Eve, we will “gather for renewal and fellowship” as called for by our mission. We’ll do so virtually again, alongside our covenant to be cared for and to care for others. We will share stories, light candles, and close with the traditional Silent Night. In community together, though separated by screens, we will grieve what we are missing and lift up our hopes shining through the darkness. You're invited to bring a candle to light from your home worship space. This gathering will be facilitated by Wy’east members and friends.
Join our Virtual Service Sunday at 10:30
Click Here to link to the Zoom Service
Meeting ID: 275 194 110
Phone In: (669) 900-6833
The Power of Belief - Rev. Craig Moro
Now there’s the sort of sermon title you’d expect to see on a church’s highway sign! But the power of belief works in many ways, not all of them positive or life-giving. Our Universalist ancestors had many observations on this complex power that we would be wise to remember.
Celebration of Light - Anders Liljeholm
In the spirit of innovation demanded by COVID-19, we have reimagined our annual Celebration of Light service. In more usual times, our children would regale us with adorable costumes and antics in their annual Winter Pageant, acting out the solstice stories of eight different religious traditions. This year, show writer & producer Anders Liljehom, will tell the story of the creation of this production celebrating how we all find meaning in the darkness of winter, no matter which stories are told and which holidays we observe.
Wells We Did Not Dig - Rev. Rick Davis
If you ask a UU what they believe you will get many answers. If you ask us why we believe what we do you will get one answer. Yet that one answer leads us in many fruitful directions as we explore our sources. Please come join us - it'll be great to see YOU and it'll be meaningful to have this opportunity to reflect upon the deeper meanings and purposes of our lives.
Sermon by Rev. Rick Davis from the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Salem and is part of a pulpit exchange. Our minister, Rev. Craig Moro will be delivering the sermon in Salem today.