Cassidy Smith will be joining the Staff at First Church as the Director of Children, Youth & Families beginning June 24.

Rev. Karyn Richards-Kuan writes about "Help!" in her Word with a Pastor. This Pentecost Sunday, we will welcome into membership this year's students in the 10:30 a.m. service. Also the world premiere of "Meditations on Fire" by David Walters by our Chancel Choir, with String Quintet and Percussion.

Throughout the weeks since General Conference, multiple responses and updates have come from the Western Jurisdiction leadership. Below are those responses, and a legislative recap detailing the changes made.

Our summer theme song was written for us in 1965 by that quartet of quirky, crooning poets: The Beatles. As I sat to write this, I replayed the Help! music video; I encourage you to do the same (and to watch Ringo the entire time).

In the last few weeks since the historic changes made for inclusion in the United Methodist Church during the General Conference, First Church has been featured in several local news stories throughout Portland.

In the waning months of 2016, I stopped listening to NPR on my morning and evening commute. Instead, those long stretches of Houston traffic were traversed slowly and silently, providing much needed space to process and pray over all that the world and our lives held in those days.

The Methodist version of C-Span has been live for the past two weeks and it has been enthralling.

Amidst lengthy processes of nominations and elections, confusion over rules and petitions, and reports from the denomination’s general agencies, there have been numerous electrifying moments on the plenary floor.

I never get upgrades when I’m flying. But for some reason, I was upgraded to first class on my connecting flight to Charlotte, NC on Tuesday. I’m not one to believe that God is in the business of making these kinds of things happen for us.

No matter which Gospel writer you read, the events of Holy Week are a dramatic change for the Jesus’ disciples: especially the resurrection. In each Gospel, those who know Jesus are invited to ride a rollercoaster of change that they do not always buckle into with joy and excitement.

Happy Easter, First Church! In this first week of Eastertide I want to share some ambiguous good news. One ministry that brings us Easter joy is Lift UP, an organization whose mission is to reduce hunger and improve the lives of low-income residents in NW and Downtown Portland.