Sermon Archive

We were never meant to carry sorrow alone. Grief and gratitude are not opposites—they are companions on the path of love. When we gather to honor what has been lost, we also remember what still connects us: our shared humanity, our breath, our belonging to the living Earth.

In this service, Grief Tender and Death Doula Alyssa Rose Ackerman invites us into an ancient remembering—that grief, when held in community, becomes medicine. Together we will explore how welcoming both sorrow and gratitude can restore intimacy with ourselves, with one another, and with life itself. For it is only by honoring what we have lost that we discover what cannot be taken from us.

Meet Alyssa Rose Ackerman (she/her)
Alyssa Rose walks with those navigating life’s most profound transitions. As a Grief Tender and Death Doula in Portland, Oregon, she bridges ancient ritual practices with modern somatic therapies to create sacred spaces for those facing loss, death, and deep change.

Drawing from her work with hundreds of families and communities, Alyssa’s approach to grief care honors the somatic, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of the grieving process. She is devoted to restoring a grief-literate culture—one resilient and compassionate enough to hold us through life’s challenges and uncertainties.

Through her work, Alyssa reminds us that grief is not a problem to solve, but a practice of love—and that in community, what breaks us open can also connect us more deeply to life.

In a world that urges us to tighten, defend, and despair, we Unitarian Universalists affirm that Love is at the center. Choosing love over fear is a radical act. Play can be protest. Joy can be defiance. Trust can be revolutionary. Together we’ll explore how putting love at the center calls us to embody freedom through laughter, creativity, and connection. This service lifts up play as a spiritual practice that keeps our movements for justice alive, human, and whole.

This is our monthly spiritual practice service with Guest Minister Rev. Stephani Skalak.

The word companion literally means “one with whom you break bread.” In November, Unitarian Universalists all over the country celebrate a “Festival of Bread” or “Bread Communion.” In doing so, they acknowledge the challah of Jewish Shabbat, the wafers of Christian Eucharist, as well as the importance of breaking bread in cultures all over the world. Humans break bread in order to offer hospitality to visitors, to offer solidarity to fellow laborers, to offer gratitude for the harvest and generosity toward neighbors, and, yes, sometimes as a sacrament. This week, we will break bread together thanks to the work of volunteer bakers from our community (let Linda M. know if you would like to be one of our baking benefactors with an email to worship@wyeastuu.org)!

Unitarian Universalists draw wisdom and guidance from various sources. UU mystics often draw upon direct experience of transcendence and personal connections to the Divine. Jessica York, Director of Congregational Life at the UUA, shares why she claims mysticism as a faith path. This service is part of the 2025-26 UUA Sermon Series and was recorded earlier this fall. 

Jessica York is the Director of Congregational Life at the Unitarian Universalist Association. Previously she was the Co-Director of Ministries and Faith Development. During her fifteen plus years as a religious educator she has served on the Liberal Religious Educators Association’s Integrity Team, the MidSouth District’s RE Committee, and the MidSouth District Board, and as an advisor for the Birmingham Alliance of Gay, Straight, Bisexual, Questioning and Transgender Youth. She is the author of the Tapestry of Faith programs Signs of Our Faith and Virtue Ethics, and she is co-author of Bridging: A Handbook for Congregations, Creating Home, and Sharing the Journey: Small Group Ministry with Youth. She currently lives in her native Birmingham, Alabama.
 

First-Sunday Monthly Potluck after Service!

Cultivate Initiatives is an East Portland nonprofit walking alongside neighbors navigating houselessness to move from survival to stability. Through three core pillars—Workforce Development, Housing & Homemaking, and Supportive Sheltering—we offer low-barrier support like paid work opportunities, showers and hygiene, housing navigation, and safe village communities. Rooted in East Portland/East Multnomah County, our team (many with lived experience) builds trust, dignity, and real pathways to jobs and long-term housing—so every neighbor can find belonging, purpose, and hope close to home.

Ryan Saari is the Director of Development and Relationships at Cultivate Initiatives, a nonprofit in East Portland working alongside marginalized neighbors to build stability, dignity, and opportunity. Drawing on a background in community organizing, storytelling, and relationship-building, Ryan leads fundraising, donor engagement, and partnership development to sustain and grow CI’s impact. Ryan is passionate about connecting people—housed and unhoused alike—through creative initiatives that foster belonging, hope, and long-term community transformation.
 

Special Collection: Cultivate Initiatives

Multi-Platform Worship (both in-person & online)

Sunday at 10:30 AM

Click here to join the virtual service on Zoom

Meeting ID:  275 194 110

Phone In:  (669) 900-6833

Throughout history humans all over the world have included their ancestors in their spiritual practice. This week we are going to reflect upon the gifts and burdens we share with our own ancestors. You are invited to bring a small object for our temporary altar that represents your ancestor(s); when choosing, please feel free to consider familial ancestors, community/cultural ancestors, or spiritual ancestors. 

Multi-Platform Worship (both in-person & online)

Sunday at 10:30 AM

Click here to join the virtual service on Zoom

Meeting ID:  275 194 110

Phone In:  (669) 900-6833

When the news is full of unimaginable decisions and Portland awaits possible federal troops, how do we choose to respond? We will explore how to stay true to our vision of love at the center rather than let others define the “rules of the game." Join us for accompaniment, solidarity, and grounding in these tumultuous times

Multi-Platform Worship (both in-person & online)

Sunday at 10:30 AM

Click here to join the virtual service on Zoom

Meeting ID:  275 194 110

Phone In:  (669) 900-6833

You have heard the terms about centering in all sorts of contexts. Today we explore what this actually means in practice as Unitarian Universalists. 

Rev. Mitra Rahnema is a lifelong Unitarian Universalist and has served congregations in Missouri, Michigan, and California. Rev. Mitra is the editor of Centering: Navigating Race, Authenticity, and Power in Ministry (2017), a UUA Common Read that explores the complexities of identity and power within Unitarian Universalist ministry. Most recently, she completed a successful two-year interim ministry in Grosse Pointe, Michigan. She is committed to nurturing vibrant, engaged, and counter-oppressive communities. Outside of her ministry, Mitra enjoys cooking and makes her home in Portland, Oregon.

First-Sunday Monthly Potluck after Service!

Multi-Platform Worship (both in-person & online)

Sunday at 10:30 AM

Click here to join the virtual service on Zoom

Meeting ID:  275 194 110

Phone In:  (669) 900-6833

We kick off our “We Are Stronger Together” Social Justice speaker series with Isa Peña the Director of Strategy at Innovation Law Lab and a look at the current state of immigration policy and advocacy work in Oregon. Innovation Law Lab is a nonprofit organization that leverages law, technology and organizing to fight for immigrant and refugee justice. It is one of many organizations on the frontlines supporting immigrants and refugees across our state. They will cover updates on what immigration enforcement looks like in Oregon now and what you can do to support our immigrant neighbors and friends. 

Isa Peña is the Director of Strategy at Innovation Law Lab. Isa has been a long-time organizer and leader in the immigrant justice movement. She is a daughter of immigrants from Jalisco, Mexico. In her work she leverages her strengths and skills in relationship building, fundraising and policy advocacy to help advance immigrant justice. Isa serves on the Executive teams of Oregon Worker Relief (OWR) and Oregon For All, two statewide coalitions who lead the charge in providing direct assistance and stewarding critical narrative change and statewide coordination to protect immigrant Oregonians.

Multi-Platform Worship (both in-person & online)

Sunday at 10:30 AM

Click here to join the virtual service on Zoom

Meeting ID:  275 194 110

Phone In:  (669) 900-6833

Watch the service recording

This week Day and Night will stand in perfect balance. As we close out summer and prepare for the darker months ahead, the Autumnal Equinox reminds us that life is a dance between light and dark, abundance and scarcity, celebration and introspection. What is our spiritual harvest this year, both individually and collectively? What do we wish to learn during the fallow winter? This Sunday we will explore these themes together through ritual, reflection, and conversation. 

Biography: Rev. Stephani Skalak is a hospital chaplain working for Providence Health System. She was the Intern Minister at the UUC at Willamette Falls in Oregon City for two years. Before that, she spent 15 years as a film-maker who taught media literacy and documentary film production to youth in first San Francisco and then Portland, OR. She is a co-founder of the Portland Women’s Film Festival (POW Film Fest). Stephani has experience in small group ministry within the UU tradition and was a board member of the European Unitarian Universalists. She has a Master of Divinity from Meadville Lombard Theological School and a BA in International Relations from The American University. She lives in Portland, with her love, Mark, and their two young-adult children, Ukiah and Seneca. 

Listen to the Service Recording

Multi-Platform Worship (both in-person & online)

Sunday at 10:30 AM

Click here to join the virtual service on Zoom

Meeting ID:  275 194 110

Phone In:  (669) 900-6833