A creative collaboration between Trinity United Methodist Church and Sellwood Faith Community
Our community exists to embody the love of God in the world because we believe everyone needs a safe space to be loved for who they are already.
The Kindom At Hand
When I was in seminary in the late 1990’s I deeply struggled with the way our church excluded queer folks. Some of my classmates, who were deeply gifted and clearly called, had to choose. They had to keep secrets about who they were and who they loved. Or they had to...
The Road Ahead
It is exhausting to do the work, to show up and listen, to be willing to change, and to reexamine my thoughts. It is difficult to give up power, to admit mistakes, and to be challenged in my patterns. I get why some folks’ instinct is to walk away, to claim it is...
Loss and Gain
This year has not been at all like we expected. Many of us are grieving cancelled plans, lost time with families, milestones unlike anything we’ve known. My daughter was supposed to march with her high school band at Disneyland. I was supposed to speak at the...
Pumpkins with Justice
Every year we host an event where people share their pumpkins and we raise money for UNICEF. A few years ago we added in an info sheet on all the ballot measures so that we could use the United Methodist Social Principles to help inform our voting. The Social...
Indigenous People’s Day
When I was in Spain during college I lived in a little town on the bay of Cadiz called El Puerto de Santa Maria. Christopher Columbus had visited the community in 1480 and his pilot, Juan de la Cosa spent time in the town and drew his famous world map there in 1500....
Don’t Think Like Me
My understanding of my job as a pastor is to invite people more deeply into a life of faith. My job is to empower people to serve, witness, give, and engage. My job is to open new doors of learning, to surround people with care, and to create spaces for us all to...
All About the Benjamins
This has been an uncertain and difficult time. The people of the Parish have not faltered in this time. The last 6 months our community has increased giving, shown up for each other, and made the best of this unprecedented interruption to our rhythm of life. The...
We are Responsible
This past week was a difficult one for many of us in Oregon. 10 days of smoke kept us locked in our houses, windows sealed with tape, and filters strapped to fans. Each day we heard of more loss, of houses burned, businesses destroyed, and people who were unable to...
Talking to Death
Recently some of the people in my life have lost loved ones. Several of these folks had time knowing the death was coming. One woman described the process as companioning her parent into death. She talked about the delicious time they spent together, telling stories,...
Oregon is Burning
I grew up around there parts. I spent my formative years camping and fishing along Santiam Canyon. In the winter we headed up to Detroit and beyond to play in the snow. Lincoln City was the spot we always headed to on the coast. When my daughter was little it was...