On Palm Sunday 2026, Christians in Portland united with Christians across the country to oppose authoritarianism and white Christian nationalism. As Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey.-symbolizing humble, just leadership that cares for the poor and vulnerable- we committed to follow Jesus’ way.
💜 March is Women's History Month.
💜 Rev. Dr. Karen Georgia Thompson, General Minister & President/CEO, invites us to celebrate the work of women who came before us and continue to work toward collective liberation and a #JustWorldForAll.
#WomensHistoryMonth
A photo of Claudette Colvin in a red sweater
WASHINGTON (AP) — Claudette Colvin, whose refusal to move seats on a segregated bus helped spark the civil rights movement, dies at 86.
✨ Day 24: Abolition, Advent & Apocalypse
Sarah & Angelina Grimké became some of the first women to speak in public against slavery, defying gender norms & risking violence. Beyond ending slavery, their mission was to promote racial & gender equality.
👇🏾 Full reflection
🙌🏾 We join our siblings in the Uniting Church in Australia to stand in solidarity with the Jewish community, who gathered to celebrate Hanukkah & condemn antisemitic violence. This holy season calls us to recommit to peace.
-Rev. Dr. Karen Georgia Thompson
Full Statement: https://ow.ly/xvAU50XKpy3
✨ Day 13: Abolition, Advent & Apocalypse
Mutual aid is essential to our collective survival, regional economies, and humanity & creation’s liberation. Mutual aid is essential for churches invested in our shared future that builds harmony, welcome & solidarity!
-Rev. Seth Wispelwey
👇🏾 Reflection
Mumia Abu-Jamal’s Supporters Demand Medical Care for Him and Aging Prisoners truthout.org/video/mumia-...
Blessed Advent!
“Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
How early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down today.
Nothing gold can stay.”
By Robert Frost.
On an October day…
Indigenous People’s Day is identified as a time for raising awareness and acknowledging the gifts and graces of Indigenous people in our communities. It is a day for honoring the traditions, histories, and cultures of the first peoples of this land who lived in North America well ahead of the arrival of settlers. It is an opportunity for acknowledging the injury and harm caused by settlers to land and people. A time for repentance and repair, advocacy, seeking justice, and reconciliation.
This is also a time for action. In the United Church of Christ, commitments to indigenous justice are held and yet ours is a mixed experience with Indigenous peoples. Included is dominance over indigenous communities, participation in boarding schools, and our ongoing commitment to decolonizing the church, which also includes paying attention to what colonization has meant to Indigenous people.
While Indigenous People’s Day focuses on Indigenous people in North America, Indigenous people around the world are suffering. Poverty, discrimination, lack of health care, lack of education, and the high rates and risk of violence experienced especially by Indigenous women: these also invite our attention and care.
Prayer: God of All Peoples, receive our commitment this day to learn and work for justice with our Indigenous siblings. Reveal to us the gifts, graces, and harms that are present, and hold us to these commitments even when the accountabilities become uncomfortable. Guide us by your Spirit to healthy relationships and solidarity with Indigenous communities in support of their continued struggle for justice.
🙏🏾 "God of All Peoples, receive our commitment to learn & work for justice with our Indigenous siblings. Reveal the gifts, graces, & harms present, & hold us to these commitments even when accountability becomes uncomfortable."
-Rev. Karen Georgia Thompson
🙌🏾 Take action: https://ow.ly/8zC250XaLqS
🕊 "When Jesus climbed up on that hillside & preached 'blessed are the peacemakers,' he was calling us to live a certain kind of life...characterized by an extravagant love of neighbor, a wide mercy & a generosity of spirit & service."
-Rev. Shari Prestemon
Full blog: bit.ly/4nrdD9x
The call for justice is local and global, an attention to the ways in which the rights of individuals are being negated, the ways in which people’s humanity is being stripped, and the unchecked actions of governments to displace and demonize people groups. The call for justice is for the dignity of all persons. Palestine. Sudan. Myanmar. China. Ukraine. Congo. For the masses displaced and seeking asylum and refuge in other countries. For those whose lives are lived on the margins of communities. For those who live with the threat of displacement. For those whose human rights are eroding. Everywhere is war and the fight for justice continues.
🙌🏾 "The call for justice is local & global-an attention to the ways in which the rights of individuals are being negated, and people’s humanity is being stripped. Everywhere is war and the fight for justice continues."
-Rev. Karen Georgia Thompson, GMP/CEO
👉🏾 Full blog: www.ucc.org/everywhere-i...
The church should be a place of safety for all. A place where the human rights and civil rights of all are affirmed and defended inside and outside the walls of the church. If the call for justice & advocacy for “the least of these” is the action that deems us political & involved in politics, may the church always be that! Silence in the face of tyranny & oppression is antithetical to the prophetic call to seek justice. Quote by the Rev. Dr. Karen Georgia Thompson, General Minister and President of the United Church of Christ. From her latest On My Mind blog entry, titled Politics and the Church.
Quote by: Rev. Dr. Karen Georgia Thompson, GMP/CEO, UCC.
👉🏾 From her latest On My Mind Today blog entry: "Politics & The Church": www.ucc.org/politics-and...
The light at night.
A day in January 2025
A message of special significance
for Christian & Jewish investors
in weapons & fossil fuel companies
via Musical Left
Black and white photo of young plant stems and buds.
Scripture: Philippians 4:4-7: Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near.
Reflection: It is our birthright to be tender, tethered, connected. In our Scripture passage today, we hear a call for our gentleness to be known and as a cause to rejoice...And yet, the harshness and violence of our world can threaten and deaden our access to our inherent wholeness and tenderness. Poverty, discrimination, and oppression construct barriers to care, even when one is brave enough to be soft in a rough reality. For people who use drugs, these barriers can show up in a variety of ways—from a system of punishment and incarceration to stigma and isolation. Yet, our tradition says we have a God that created us for belonging, for our needs to be met, and for nearness to the Beloved to be true. -Rev. Dr. Elyse Berry, Associate for Advocacy and Leadership Development at CHHSM
Prayer: Inhale: Gentle, gentle, gentle. Exhale: Tenderness is my birthright. Amen.
Day 18: Abolition Advent
"For people who use drugs, barriers can show up in a variety of ways-systems of punishment, stigma & isolation. Yet, God created us for belonging & nearness to the Beloved."
-Rev. Dr. Elyse Berry
👉🏾 Read the full reflection: jointhemovementucc.org/jtm-advent/2...
A mid November morning in Portland, Oregon.
Look up- beauty and mystery surround us.
