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.
What if the Earth is a person, alive and aware, feeling and experiencing? What if hierarchies of beings that we’ve absorbed, with humans at the top and “inert matter” on the bottom got it all wrong? Rev. Alison invites us to try on the idea that we are only cells in the body of the … Continue reading Cells in the Body of the Living Earth
As we begin a new year together, we’ll explore different stories about how the universe, the planet, and we humans all began. Rev. Alison will invite us to consider what wisdom these creation stories hold for us today, and the power that stories have in our lives.
The winter holidays can be a particularly hard time for those grieving losses or struggling with mental or physical health challenges. Rev. Alison & members of the Lay Ministry Team will hold space in this service for all those who aren’t feeling merry at this time of year, or whose joy is mixed with grief. … Continue reading Blue Holidays Vespers *Online Only*
Join Rev. Alison and Saltwater’s Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans (CUUPS) to honor the light’s return with chant, dance, song, and a pageant highlighting the pluralism that is a core value of Unitarian Universalism and our congregation.
This 90 minute multi-generational worship service will help us pause in the midst of a busy season to practice being present, with meditations for all ages shared by Rev. Alison, Director of Faith Formation Jessica, and Jean from the Saltwater Tuesday Meditation Group.
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
