Greetings friends,

I hope this finds you warm and dry and shoveled out!

Amidst the shoveling and other work, I’ve spent a solid chunk of this week worship planning for February. Beginning February 5th, we’ll be embarking on a three-week exploration of Love and the ways in which it calls us to orient our lives toward justice.

On Tuesday, I attended a NARCAN and overdose response training downtown led by Kerri Barton, Program Coordinator for the City of Portland’s Harm Reduction Services. I got some valuable tools for responding to situations of drug overdose, a huge issue in our beloved Portland community. I was reminded of the ways in which embracing a harm reduction framework in our care for our neighbors is one of so many ways that we can, as a community, choose to center Love.
Love can be a feeling. But it can also be the actions we take, the seeds we plant, the policies we advocate for, or the words we choose. Love can even be carrying a dose of NARCAN that might save someone’s life.

How is Love showing up in your life this week? When have you chosen it? When has it chosen you?

AN IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT FEBRUARY 5th:   If you plan to attend worship on Sunday, 2/5  via  ZOOM, and you would like to receive the interactive elements for the ritual portion of worship ahead of time, please send me an email with your mailing address (if it’s not already on Breeze) and we will be delighted to mail them to you! If you don’t plan that far in advance, no worries.

I look forward to exploring this theme more deeply together. Until then, stay healthy and be well. And as always, feel free to be in touch.

With Love,

Rev. Tara