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.
This Faith Formation Sunday, in a 90 minute all-ages service, we’ll share the true story of a Haitian girl in the US who helped get her mother released from immigration detention — and we’ll celebrate this congregation’s ongoing legacy of advocacy to end migrant detention, offering young and old alike an opportunity to take action … Continue reading Free Them All! Living Love Through the Practice of Freedom
Join in two traditions with a long history in our congregations. We will welcome new members who have chosen to join in our free faith, and we will participate in the ritual of Flower Communion, first celebrated over 100 years ago by Unitarians in Czechoslovakia. Bring a flower to share in this nature-based ritual celebrating … Continue reading Community’s Rainbow: Flower Communion & New Member Ceremony
Only through the power of creative imagination will we find new solutions to the challenges that face us as individuals and as species. In this 90 minute multigenerational interactive worship service, we’ll all have a chance to practice using our imaginations to turn scribbles into works of art and a challenging present into a beautiful … Continue reading Living Love Through the Practice of Imagination: Faith Formation Sunday
Mother’s Day didn’t start with Hallmark, but rather with Unitarian Julia Ward Howe, whose 1870 Mother’s Day Proclamation called on mothers all over the world to rise up against the war machines that pitted their sons against each other. 155 years after Howe’s Mother’s Day Proclamation, the work of parenting is still deeply impacted by … Continue reading The Politics of Mothering
The pagan holy day of Beltane on May 1 celebrates the Earth’s fertile reawakening. Halfway between the Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice, springtime is in full swing, and on Beltane we celebrate the union of pollen and ovum that produces the fruit from the flower; the union of human hearts, minds and imaginations that produces … Continue reading Lo, the Earth Awakes Again! A Beltane Celebration
According to the earliest stories of Jesus’ death and resurrection, it was the women who followed him who stayed with him as he died and who were the first to witness the empty tomb as they arrived to care for his body three days later. Christianity exists because of the testimony of these women, so … Continue reading Many Women Were Also There: Easter Sunday
Emma Goldman said, “If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution.” Rev. Alison will lead us in an exploration our monthly theme, Living Love Through the Practice of Joy, that centers the cultivation of joy as an essential act of resistance to the systems of oppression that seek to rob … Continue reading Joy as an Act of Resistance
As we conclude our Annual Giving Drive, we’ll share stories and songs that reflect the joy we feel when we know that We Are Welcome Here. Newcomers, long-timers and Rev. Alison will offer their insight on the many ways that Saltwater Church has welcomed them, and how they in turn have been the welcome of … Continue reading Our Joyful Welcome!
Today we’ll celebrate abundance in honor of the Spring Equinox by planting seeds for for Sow Therapeutic, a non-profit mental-health through gardening project founded by Saltwater Member Collette DeMonte. Rev. Alison will remind us that our planting is an act of trust that the seeds will sprout and new life will come again, and when … Continue reading Trust in the Earth’s Abundant Return
We kick off a season of giving at Saltwater Church with 90 minutes of interactive, multigenerational worship and learning where we’ll focus on the the things we make together as community, including the welcome of our congregation. Rev. Alison will lead us in moving our bodies, getting creative, and sharing together our stories of welcome.
