On August 1, 2011, West Hills UU Fellowship welcomed Reverend Sarah Schurr as our minister. Sarah's many tasks include providing support for our leaders, pastoral care to members, and speaking at worship services several times during the year.
While Sarah works with WHUUF on a quarter- time contract but she is always our minister. She has drop-in office hours at WHUUF on the 4th Wednesday of every month, from 11:00–3:00, and is also available by appointment. You can reach our minister at 503-936-0479 or this link (select Minister from the drop down Category menu).
Sarah's sermons and newsletter articles can be found on the pages linked below.
Rev Sarah is a Portland resident who is married with two young adult children.
In 1996 under the direction of the PNWD, Sarah became the New Congregation Organizer for the Wy’East UU Fellowship where she later served as a board member and chaired the Worship Committee. She continues to serve as the Campus Ministry Coordinator for Reed College and Wy’East. Following her graduation in 2006 from Marylhurst University with a Master’s Degree in Applied Theology, Sarah performed her intern ministry at the UU Fellowship of Corvallis, where she was ordained in 2008. Currently, she serves two Alaska Fellowships part-time in Juneau and Fairbanks. For many years, Sarah has been active in PNWD leadership and planning. Some WHUUFers may be familiar with her from the Eliot Institute where she and her family have been regular attendees and where she has served in many roles such as dean, music director, chaplain, and children’s program teacher.
One of Sarah's favorite quotes is “Our famous Unitarian ancestor, Francis David, said ‘We do not need to think alike to love alike.’ “
Autumn is my favorite time of year. Being a native of the Pacific Northwest, I am not used to too much sun. I like the rainy days of fall. I like kicking in the fallen leaves as I walk down the sidewalk. I like the spirit of promise and hope of a new school year for the students. Autumn also includes my favorite holiday, Halloween. You dress up in fun costumes, walk around the neighborhood with your friends, and get candy. How cool is that! In my neighborhood, folks decorate their homes to welcome the visiting children. It is a good feeling of community.
But right after Halloween is a real UU holiday. It is All Souls Day. Where some denominations name their churches, “All Saints Church,” we have a number of “All Souls” congregations in our UUA directory. As UU’s we celebrate and revere all those men and women who have gone before. They all had inherent worth and dignity. And if you hold with the old Universalists, all went to whatever heaven there might be. We can learn something from the lives of most everyone we meet and most everyone we have known. As we all trudge along our road of life, gathering up bits of truth and meaning as we go, we can celebrate all the “good souls” who cross our path.
So I invite you to consider that all of life can be like a night of Trick or Treating. Be ready to welcome all those who come seeking good things. Thank those who give of what they have with you. Share the sidewalk with others you meet along your quest, whatever mask they wear.
THANKS
It is traditional for the minister’s newsletter in November to speak about being thankful. It is the season of Thanksgiving and all of that. Who am I to buck tradition? But I want to go past the usual thanks. The usual thanks are how we are thankful for food and family. I am truly thankful for having enough to eat. Having healthy food is a privilege in this world that not all of us share. It is important that all of us who do have enough to eat be thankful and to remember those who are hungry. I am certainly thankful for my family. I am blessed with a loving husband and wonderful children. I try to take none of these fine folks for granted and know that I am truly fortunate to have them in my life.
But, as I said, I want to go beyond the usual thanks today. I want to remember to be thankful for the efforts and pains of those people who are working to change the world. A few folks spring to mind right away. I am thinking of a UU military chaplain I met who has the job of working with Middle Eastern communities to help build peace and dialog between local Muslim leaders and the American military. He works with those who are trying to help rebuild their war torn cities. I am thinking of medical folks who are working with Doctors Without Borders and Northwest Medical Teams. Those who donate their skill and time to help people who would otherwise have no medical care and who are facing devastating and life threatening hardships. And I think of those who are part of the Occupy Wall Street movement, and the other various Occupy demonstrations that sit in solidarity all over this nation. My colleagues in ministry have been posting and tweeting about these efforts in Boston, Seattle, Kansas City, Portland, San Diego…Many UU clergy are reaching out to offer chaplain services, as well as other comforts, to those protesters. I am not sure how this movement will develop, but I do believe that these folks have taken to the streets to speak out for a better and more just society in America.
In this season of Thanksgiving, I want to offer my thanks to those who stick their necks out to build a better world. It is not easy work, but it is work worth doing. Thank you all.
Rev. Sarah Schurr
Dealing with Christmas
Given the reality of most fellowship newsletter deadlines and my unique work schedule, I am writing this Christmas newsletter before I have even baked my Thanksgiving turkey. But in some ways, that doesn’t seem so odd. If you go into the stores, Christmas products have been out for a little while. Many folks are beginning to think about holiday travel plans that might be based around where you will be spending Christmas this year. Maybe some of you have already started your shopping as I sit at my computer and write this today.
Some UUs just don’t know what to do with Christmas. If you are not a Christians, why celebrate the birth of the Christian savior? If you are trying to not buy into the commercial machine which is connected with this holiday, what do you have left? If its not about the Savior and not about shopping, what is left for UUs to do? Solstice maybe?
Here is another perspective. I am a UU who loves Christmas, in all its forms. I do go to the mall and I enjoy the decorations. I love the music. I love the food. I believe that big holidays in our culture help us to find a rhythm of the year. And I look to our six UU sources and I found plenty of UU reasons to celebrate Christmas. One of our sources is the Christian heritage. Our Unitarian and Universalist ancestors celebrated the birth of a great man who was a prophet and inspiration to many. We can as well, and we can enjoy the lovely and mythic aspects of the birth story and see them as such. Our sixth source does call on us to notice a season of darkness and celebrate in hope of the spring to come. And the holidays have inspired the prophetic words of many great men and women who have contributed wisdom through their holiday works. Watch “It’s a Wonderful Life” and see how one man in deep despair is reminded of his inherent worth and dignity. Dickens was a Unitarian and he wrote “Christmas Carol” to remind us that no one is unredeemable. Listen to the words of the songs when the choirs sing about Peace on Earth. Let the joy of the season find you, if you can.
WORDS ABOUT WORSHIP – REV. SARAH SCHURR
I understand that the word “Worship” has been a topic of conversation at WHUUF for quite a while. Over a year ago it started showing up in places like policy documents and committee names. The board suggested that I might write to you about this word, and how it is generally used in UU circles. Here are my two cents on the subject.
Worship is what happens at Unitarian Universalist Congregations all over the world on Sunday mornings. We gather together in a UU Fellowship to do something different from what we do at other times during the week. We gather to talk about the answers to life’s big questions and to question a lot of our big answers. It is important work to do.
Some folks might be surprised that we call it Worship. Many people might associate the word with bowing down to something that is all powerful, or making us less than we are. Now I do think a little humility is a good thing when faced with big questions of life, but that is really not what the word is about. Not at all.
The word “worshiping” actually comes from the Old English for “worth shaping”. It has to do with looking at what is most important, most worthy for us, and giving it shape and working with it in our lives. And it has to do with what shapes us as well. What is it that gives shape to our lives and is most influential for us as people? This is not so much a bowing down but a holding up that which is most worthy. This could be love, or justice, or community…
Many of our historic writers thought worship was an important topic for Unitarians and Universalists. But today I offer you one of my favorite quotes. It is from the 20th century humanist Kenneth L Patton. “Let us worship, not in bowing down, not with closed eyes and stopped ears. Let us worship with the opening of all the windows of our beings, with a full outstretching of our spirits. Let us worship, and let us learn to love.”
When I did my candidate week at your Fellowship, I did a workshop where I asked the gathered members and friends, “what is it about WHUUF that you really want me to understand?” We did a process together, where we came up with an idea that represented the feelings of those present. I was surprised at what we came up with. It had nothing to do with being lay led or about your religious beliefs. It had to do with how we all get along. People described WHUUF as “cantankerous” and “nicer than we seem”. It is as if being a scrappy bunch is just what you know and expect of each other.
In the time I have spent with you all, since August, I have to say that you might be accustomed to this way of interacting but I wish it could be different for you. I see a lot of hurt feelings and a lot of general anxiety. When tensions run high, trust and care for each other diminish. Part of my job description is to help you be the loving community you say you want to be.
I am not here to make rules for you, but I have a couple of suggestions. I would like to suggest two behavioral norms for everyone to work toward. Again these are not rules that you must never break, but ways I recommend you try to be with each other.
1) If you have a problem with someone, talk to them about it directly. In general, the best rule of thumb is “talk to people and not about people”. This has been proved to reduce congregational conflict in most Churches and Fellowship. And conflicts like this are better discussed in private meetings, not in public settings. If you need help with this, please feel free to call on me and I will help you talk with the person. Also, you can also call on “Sounding Board”. This is a team of trained volunteers at WHUUF that is here to provide just this kind of help.
2) E-mail is a great place to share figures about the budget or plan the time and place of a meeting. For this, it is a wonderful tool. E-mail is not a good place to share angry feelings with a person with whom you are in conflict. It is particularly not a good idea to share this kind of e-mail with large groups of people. When we send e-mail it is easier to forget that there is a real live person, with tender feelings, on the other side of the communication. When we can’t see the face of the other person, we can’t read their face or body language. Things can be misunderstood or put in a way you would never say to someone in person.
WHUUF has always been a congregation that values the relationships we share and the inherent worth and dignity of each person in the community. I hope that as we continue to strive to be our best, that we can begin to self identify as a congregation that is known for the kindness with which we treat each other.
Easter is coming up. Easter means so many things to so many different people. For some it is a totally secular holiday where we decorate our homes with flowers, rabbits and chicks. We hide colorful eggs, and eat our chocolate bunnies. I eat the ears first. For some it is a religious holiday, celebrating the death and resurrection of Jesus. Some women might remember that Easter is the day of the year when we can again where white pumps rather than black pumps to social occasions. This white pump season will continue
until Labor Day, when we must put our spring and summer shoes away for the year. And for some UU’s Easter is still a religious holiday, but one where we celebrate that good ideas can live on after we are gone. The message of peace and love spoken by Jesus of Nazareth could not be silenced by his execution.
What seems to be common in most Easter celebrations is the theme of new life. These themes include rebirth, life springing forth from the egg, the return of the sun and warm days. The name Easter comes from the name of the ancient Germanic spring Goddess, Ostara or Estre, who was the bringer of new life this time of year. The date of Easter moves around each year and follows the lunar calendar. Easter is not the same day every year, but it is always in the spring when the sun begins to return.
I wish you a Happy Easter, in whatever way Easter is important to you. I also wish you appreciation for the fullness of life and all the blessings that come with it. Life and renewal are truly gifts to be appreciated.
FROM SARAH SCHURR:
If you were to see the inbox of my e-mail this week, you would see District Assembly looming large in my life. There is a good reason for that. I have been serving as district staff consultant to the DA planning team for this unique assembly in Alaska and the opening day is almost here. This is the first time in the 50 year history of the Pacific Northwest District that the annual meeting is being held in the great state of Alaska. It is going to be an amazing event and I can’t wait. District Assembly is taking place May 18-20 at the Downtown Marriott in Anchorage.
If you are trying to decide if you should attend, really - you should strongly consider going. Anchorage is lovely in May. Both of the keynote speakers, Gini Courter and Rev. Tom Chulak, are great to hear. We have workshops on everything from Social Justice to Worship to Conflict Management. I always come away from these events with new information, but more importantly, a new perspective on the work of the congregation and my own faith. It is like new light bulbs go off in my head every time. And I always have good time. There are cool UUs to meet from all over the northwest. There is music. There is fun.
Yes, you need to make travel plans. But there is one other important thing you have to do – you have to register! It is easy. Go to www.PNWD.org and click on DA link. I look forward to seeing our congregation banner held high in the opening ceremony and hanging in the hall during the assembly.
Welcome!
On August 1, 2011, West Hills UU Fellowship welcomed Reverend Sarah Schurr as our minister. Sarah's many tasks will include speaking at worship services several times during the year. Her recorded presentations will be available here. To change year, click on the Prev or Next links at the top of the listings. This will take you out of the Minister's Pages section. To return to the Minister's Pages, use the Back button on your browser.
While Sarah works with WHUUF on a quarter- time contract but she is always our minister. She has drop-in office hours this winter at WHUUF on January 18, February 15, March 21, and April 25, from 11:00–3:00, and is also available by appointment. You can reach our minister at 503-936-0479 or this link (select Minister from the drop down Category menu).
