A creative collaboration between Trinity United Methodist Church and Sellwood Faith Community

I am what my husband calls an aggressive friend maker.  I have no shame when it comes to talking to strangers and probably sharing with them my entire life story. It's how I met my in-laws when I let them into the building in grad school. When we moved to Portland I...

Recently, I have been thinking that everything has been going well. Our community has been meeting our budget, we are getting new people on Sundays, and we are filled with a renewed energy. I was happily going down the path of continuing what we were doing and just...

In November when my daughter Paige and I were visiting Charleston, SC we saw a cool prayer installation at a church. The congregation invited people to lift prayers by tying ribbons on to the fence railings of the church building. I thought this was something we could...

Last week on our final day off winter break my family gathered in our living room over a large pile of junk food. We were ready to cheer on the Buffalo Bills, my husband's team. That night one of the players, Damar Hamlin, suffered a medical emergency just a few...

I have a dear friend who grew up poor. Like not enough food on the table poor. And this year, at a fairly young age, she has been diagnosed with advanced osteoporosis. Her doctor was surprised by the findings and asked my friend if she ever struggled with an eating...

It is the end of the year and we are looking towards the beginning of a new one. At the parish we are working on drafting a 5 year strategic plan. I have a great scheme for us to read the bible in a year starting right after Pentecost. And we are continuing to come...

This week we lit our last advent candle, celebrating love. Love comes in so many forms, all of them an extension or reflection of God's love for us! My love of cheese is a delight in the creativity and wonder of humanity to make something so good. It's a celebration...

We often think of deserts as stark landscapes with little color, yet with just a little bit of water miraculous things happen. Suddenly animals an insects pick up activity and the plants produce flowers and seeds. Life quickens with water. This advent we remember that...

When I was a little girl I learned about Sadako Sasaki, a young Japanese woman who died of radiation poisoning 10 years after the atomic bomb was dropped on her home of Hiroshima. She folded cranes as part of a wish for peace.  I always found it so powerful that she...

Advent is the 4 weeks before Christmas and is a time of waiting. Each week traditionally is associated with a theme and the way I learned those was to begin with hope. I love that advent starts here, in a place of dreaming of something better. Hope for me is an...