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DECEMBER (2021) SERVICES

December 26, 10:30 AM ~ "A Celebration of Winter"

On this last Sunday of the year, we'll join our UU congregational friends from Wy'east UU Fellowship in Portland, Mid-Columbia Fellowship in Hood River and Eastrose Fellowship UU in Gresham. With winter, we know we'll experience more darkness than light. This service celebrates the darkness of winter through music, poem and story. We also know that the light shall return, and we'll celebrate that knowledge. ZOOM info for this service will be available the week before the service.

Friday, December 24, 4:00 pm ~ "Christmas Eve Service"

Each year, Christmas comes: sometimes after long anticipatory waiting, sometimes almost as a surprise, sometimes easily and joyfully, and sometimes all tangled up in so many other things. This year we’ll gather to ponder what comes into our lives through the observance of Christmas, this ancient celebration of light in the darkness.Rev. Monica Jacobson-Tennessen

Worship Associates: Regina McConaghy and Arrhiannon Kirkpatrick

Tuesday December 21, 7:00 PM ~ "Winter Solstice Ritual"

Speakers: TRCUUPS members

As we anticipate the return of the sun on this longest night, we will gather for an in-person ritual outside the church, weather permitting. With a warming fire and the cheerful faces of friends in the circle, we focus on bringing back the light during dark times. Please dress for the weather and plan to wear a mask.

December 19 ~ "Comfort and Joy, One Stitch at a Time"

Join us for a dynamic, intergenerational service. This dramatic retelling of Barnett and Klassen's story "Extra Yarn" explores the joy of giving, the joy of community, and the joy of being your whole self.

Worship Associate: Pauline Schafer

December 12, 7:00 PM ~ "Blue Christmas"

Rev. Monica Jacobson-Tennessen

Winter holidays are supposed to be a time of joy, but for many that’s not the case. This year that may be especially true given the pandemic, the climate crisis, and on-going challenges to our democracy as well as the challenges and losses in our lives. In this quiet and contemplative service with meditation, music, ritual and the spoken word, we’ll make sacred space to give solace our hearts.

Worship Associate: Matt Smith

December 12, 10:30 AM ~ "Celebrating Yuletide"

Rev. Selena Fox, Senior Minister of Circle Sanctuary, Barneveld, Wisconsin

Displays of lights, gift giving, evergreen trees, wreaths, mistletoe, holly, feasting, wassailing, bonfires, holiday parties, and other traditions associated with Christmas and New Year’s Eve and Day have their origins in Winter Solstice celebrations of ancient Pagan peoples in Europe. Explore multicultural and interreligious dimensions of Happy Holidays times, and some ways to enhance personal and household celebrations.

Worship Associate: Arrhiannon Kirkpatrick

December 5 ~ "All Shall Be Well"

Rev. Monica Jacobson Tennessen

The famous words “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well,” were written by a medieval mystic, Julian of Norwich. Julian’s life experience included the bubonic plague, economic and social unrest, and personal illness and loss. Sound familiar? Mysticism can be a doorway into the kind of faith and joy that help us in times like these. Let’s explore.

Worship Associate: Steve Pottle