Returning Renewed

Greetings, Dear Salties!

I’ve returned from my month of rest and renewal, and I want to share some of the beauty of that month with you, remind you how you can reach me if you need me, and look ahead to the rest of August and into the new church year.

Many of you asked about where I would be traveling on vacation, and while I did take a couple train trips to visit family in Portland (where I caught the No-Drama Llama at the Pride Parade!), I mostly stayed around home. I saw tadpoles metamorphosing into frogs in a pond at Dash Point State Park, read some great books (find my visual summer reading list HERE), and picked blackberries by the side of the road. I visited Farmers’ Markets, cooked a lot of berry jam and cobbler, and watched my garden grow...

One Sunday in March, our children planted a wildflower mix into a little bit of soil and we watered it with water from last year’s Water Ceremony, a ritual reminder that we must actively grow our faith for the next generations. This July, I've had the pleasure to watch those flowers bloom, alongside primroses I bought to decorate the altar at the very end of winter that decided to bloom again. Tending these flowers and watching them unfold has done my spirit good. Thank you for your role in growing the flowers of Saltwater Church together with me and the rest of this beloved community.

Now that I’m back, I want to remind you of the best ways to reach out to me if you have questions, concerns, ideas, or if you need pastoral care and support.

Email: You can email me at either minister.swuuc@gmail.com or minister@saltwaterchurch.org. As a reminder, I will NEVER contact you by email and ask you to purchase online gift cards. This is a common scam that targets church communities, and I want to start the church year by reminding you not to fall for it!
Meeting Scheduling: I offer meetings on Tuesdays and Saturdays, via Zoom and in-person, that you can schedule yourself via my Calendly link: calendly.com/minister-swuuc. If those day and times don’t work for you, please contact me by email or text to request a different time. Please tell me what the meeting is about when scheduling to allow me to prepare to be present for you.
Text: You can text me at my Saltwater cell phone 206.501.7016.
Voice Call: Both my cell and office number ring through to my phone, but I often have it on silent to allow me to be present to the work in front of me. I would please request that you schedule a meeting with me if you need to have a conversation, so that I can make sure to be present and prepared to speak with you. If you do call and I don’t answer, please wait for the voicemail to pick up and leave a message.

Fridays is my day off, so please don't expect communications to be received or responded to on Fridays!

My youngest asked me what I was looking forward to in August, and I’ll tell you what I told her: I’m excited to be back in the pulpit! Here’s a look ahead at the worship services I’ll be presenting this month:

August 9^th

Shekhinah, Sophia, Mother God: The Divine Feminine in Our Judeo-Christian History

Rev. Alison reminds us that Great Goddess has always been present within Judaism, Christianity, & even Unitarian Universalism. While at times She has been explicitly condemned, some practices of devotion to Her have also been normalized and even embraced. Our present-day UU value of Pluralism allows us to explore the surprising ways that patriarchal monotheisms have offered avenues to practice devotion to the Divine Feminine.

August 16^th

Let Go the Need to Punish: Universalism, Abolition, & Disarming the Warden Within

Can you imagine a world without punishment? Most of us have learned from an early age that punishment is essential, in parenting, in prisons, in geopolitics. Today, Rev. Alison returns to the pulpit to ask us to consider the possibility that we could build a healthy society that cared more about harm reduction than about punishment.

Led by the Church of the Larger Fellowship, whose membership includes many incarcerated UUs, Unitarian Universalism is engaging in a multi-year process of learning about the movement to abolish the last legal vestiges of slavery: the prison industrial complex. Contemporary abolitionists seek to transform how we address harm in ways that allow for positive change, both for the people harmed, and for the ones who perpetrate harm.

August 23^rd

Mr. Rogers, Ms. Rachel & A Child-Centered Theology

As we approach the beginning of a new school year, Rev. Alison imagines a world where the needs of children are our top priority, and lifts up some of the beloved, faithful, prophetic voices that call us to put children at the center.

In September, we’ll start our monthly Faith Formation Sundays, interactive, multigenerational services usually on the second Sunday of the month, beginning with our annual UU ritual of interdependence, the Water Ceremony, on Setpember 13^th. This church year, we’re trying out a new monthly theme program from the Unitarian Universalist Association, Woven Faith, and we’ll focus Faith Formation Sundays on the Woven Faith monthly themes. I’m excited to be part of a cohort of UUs around the country trying out a new monthly theme model together. We’ll still have monthly Chalice Circles based around the SoulMatters themes we’ve used for many years, but we’ll be focusing themes on from Woven Faith in worship.

The UUA Common Read this year is Love at the Center, and our Racial Justice Organizing Team here at Saltwater plans to lead a book-study on the text Mindful of Race. Watch your email newsletters and Realm to sign up for these opportunities and more.

Blessings on our 2026-27 Church Year!

In Faith,
Rev. Alison