Rev. Alison Duren-Sutherland is Saltwater’s contract minister for the 2023-24 church year, operating in a hybrid/remote capacity from her home in Southern Oregon and onsite at Saltwater one week per month.
As the Thanksgiving holiday approaches, Rev. Alison will ask us to learn from indigenous people who have tended this land since time immemorial with gratitude, reciprocity, and kinship. Indigenous wisdom reveals sustainable lifeways that we must learn from if we are to avert climate disaster.
In this ninety minute all-ages Faith Formation Sunday service, we’ll have the chance to learn about practical techniques of repairing broken things, and explore how our Unitarian Universalist theology calls us to learn how to fix instead of throwing away.
This polarized election season has made it as clear as ever that there is brokenness in our country that is deeply in need of repair. Rev. Alison will help us make space for our feelings even as we make plans to begin the work of repair right here in our congregation, in ways that echo … Continue reading How Can We Repair What Is Broken In Our County?
Join Rev. Alison and members of Saltwater’s Covenant of UU Pagans to honor our beloved dead, who are recognized across many cultures to be closer to the living than at any other time of year. Please feel free to bring a photo, memento, or favorite food of your beloved dead to place on our ancestor … Continue reading Listening to Those Who Have Gone Before: A Samhain Celebration
Deep, reflective listening has the power to help us cross divides, to make connections that we could have missed, and to build relationships of kindness and care as we are called to do by our Covenant of Right Relations. On our October Faith Formation Sunday, all ages will come together for multigenerational learning, play and … Continue reading Living Love through the Practice of Deep Listening
How do we cultivate an openness to receiving wisdom and inspiration beyond what our senses can perceive? Whether you hope to tune in to the silent voices of your own inner wisdom, the lessons of the more-than-human world, or the wisdom of a supernatural Divine, Rev. Alison will offer reflection on and opportunity to practice … Continue reading Listening for What Can’t Be Heard
Throughout religious history, revivals have marked periods of resurgence in people’s commitment to their faith traditions. They brought the community together and served as a galvanizing force for the future, often during times of great change or anxiety. In the midst of overlapping climate crises and mounting social injustice, now is the time to worshipfully re-imagine a … Continue reading UU Climate Justice Revival
Acknowledging Indigenous wisdom that tells us that “Water is Life” and following a 40 year tradition in Unitarian Universalism, we celebrate our community by participating in the UU Water Ceremony, pouring our individual waters into a shared vessel that represents our congregation. Bring water that is meaningful to you or use the water provided in … Continue reading Gathering Our Sacred Waters
There are so many things to grieve: the ongoing impacts of COVID-19 on our bodies and minds, broken and severed relationships, the loss of our beloveds to death, the changing climate that we fear may one day cease to support human life, and so much more. In this service, Rev. Alison will provide us with … Continue reading Time & Space to Grieve & Lament
In June, representatives from UU congregations around the country and the world voted to revise the way the Unitarian Universalist Association bylaws talk about the purpose of our denomination. Rev. Alison will explore the way this new articulation of UU values builds on the previous Principles and dovetails beautifully with our mission at Saltwater Church … Continue reading Our Principles, Our Values, Our Mission
