West Hills Friends

West Hills Friends

West Hills Friends is a Quaker meeting in Portland, Oregon. You can find more about us at www.westhillsfriends.org. Included on this page are words of people in our community, and visitors.

Episodes

"Relax, I’ve Got You" a First Word by Doreen Crail

October 27, 2025 • 5 mins
Doreen Crail offers a First Word about how she’s been learning to turn down the noise, limit her doom-scrolling, and focus her thoughts and prayers on what is true, lovely, and joyful. She’s learning to listen and rest in God’s presence, hearing the quiet reminder, “Relax, I’ve got you.”
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"The Colors That Were Always There" by Nathan Meckley

October 27, 2025 • 19 mins
Nathan reflects on autumn as a season that calls us to spiritual attention and reminds us of the wisdom in nature. Just as a tree’s hidden colors appear when chlorophyll rests, the beauty and truth within us can emerge when we pause and rest.
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"Some crosses may have rough edges," by Nathan Meckley

October 20, 2025 • 25 mins
Nathan Meckley reflects on wearing a cross made from spent shell casings to the rally, and explores the cross’s history as both a symbol of suffering and transformation. True faith involves embracing the cross's rough edges and living into the daily, uncomfortable work of spiritual transformation.
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"The story of 'your people'" by Nathan Meckley

October 20, 2025 • 18 mins
Nathan Meckley shares that the story of the ancient Jews, and the core founding story of the biblical narrative is not the oppression, but their deliverance. Because they could tell their story in all of its fullness, then they were able to make their offering with gratitude. Is there a story of “your people” that gives you hope & strength? For which you’re grateful? As you hold your own story in the Light, where and how do you exp...
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"God wants to hear from you," by Zac White

October 6, 2025 • 15 mins
For the message, Zac White of Multnomah Monthly Meeting drew from scripture, Rumi, and Mary Oliver. Zac invited us to approach prayer as a quiet attunement to the Spirit already present within and around us.
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"Repairers of the Breach" by Nathan Meckley

September 29, 2025 • 15 mins
Nathan Meckley reflects on the Jewish High Holy Days as a time of repentance, renewal, and starting over, with ourselves, others, and God. He reminds us that true atonement means repairing the breaches in our relationships and world, living out justice as “what love looks like in public.”
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"Lessons from Quilting," by Rosalie Movius

September 29, 2025 • 6 mins
Rosalie Movius shared a First Word about the lessons she’s learned over 40 years of quilting.
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"That is the key," by Laurie Schaad

September 22, 2025 • 8 mins
Laurie Schaad shares a First Word about a tense encounter during the early days of the Iraq War, where she responded to hostility by affirming she was “on the side of humankind and life.” Later she experienced a spiritual sign through her car key that confirmed this as the “key'“ guiding truth she lives by.
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“That of God in Everyone” by Nathan Meckley

September 15, 2025 • 15 mins
Nathan Meckley reflects on John Donne’s reminder that “no one is an island,” connecting it to the Quaker belief that there is that of God in everyone. In light of recent violence and division, he shares the struggle of living out compassion even toward those who cause harm, and reminded us that our deepest values may still call us to it. He closes with queries: How does the witness of Jesus Christ guide us in this moment? How is t...
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“Being Fully Present to the Season We Are In” by Nathan Meckley

September 8, 2025 • 17 mins
Nathan Meckley reflects on how different things are suitable for different seasons. Our clinging to the forms of the past or anticipating the future can cause suffering, preventing us from being fully present to the season in which we are right now. Quoting Simone Weil: “Absolute, undivided attention is prayer.” He closes with queries: “How has the Spirit been a guide through different and changing seasons?” “Is there a change of s...
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"A Strengthening Hand," by Nathan Meckley

September 1, 2025 • 22 mins
In his message, Nathan Meckley reflects on the feeling of overwhelm after moving to Los Angeles for grad school. About what in the world or in your life are you experiencing anxiety, fear, or sadness? Are you aware of a spiritual practice or resource that could be helpful? When you have been overwhelmed or in distress, have you ever experienced a "strengthening hand"? Was it offered? Did you reach for it? What was it like? What cou...
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"Silence: Space of Great Freedom" by Johan Maurer

September 1, 2025 • 14 mins
In his message, Johan Maurer reflects on Quaker silence as a space of great freedom and great trust, and as shared Douglas Steer’s image of silence as a portico into God’s presence. Johan describes silence as “spiritual oxygen,” sharing his own experience in a meetinghouse 51 years ago.
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"What Is a Church?" by Johan Maurer

August 19, 2025 • 15 mins
In his message, Johan Maurer, member of Moscow Meeting in Russia, describes church as “people, gathered around the living God, learning what it means to live with God at the center, and helping each other learn.”
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"On Staying Salty," by Johan Maurer

August 4, 2025 • 16 mins
Johan Maurer explores the “salt and light” of Quaker identity and shares stories from Quaker relief work in Russia. Photo: AFSC
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"None of us dare speak a word," by Johan Maurer

August 4, 2025 • 14 mins
Johan Maurer, our guest from Sierra-Cascades YM of Friends, speaks about early Quakers Katharine Evans and Sarah Cheevers. Have you heard or felt a leading to represent Quaker testimonies in a place of bondage? What does “bondage” mean to you today, in spiritual, social, political, or economic terms, and what is God’s word in response?
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"Vertical pole of the cross," by Mica Coffin

August 4, 2025 • 15 mins
Mica Coffin uses the image of the cross to contrast the turmoil of ego and fear (the horizontal bar) with the grounding presence of God (the vertical pole), calling for a stillness that reconnects them to divine peace.
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"What Are We to Do With George Fox?" by Johan Maurer

July 21, 2025 • 14 mins
Johan Maurer reflects on George Fox’s bold claim that “Christ has come to teach his people himself,” urging us not to box Fox in as just “our fascinating and eccentric founder,” but to ask what his message still calls us to today.
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"The people called, in scorn, Quakers" by Johan Maurer

July 21, 2025 • 14 mins
Johan Maurer, our guest from Camas Friends and Sierra-Cascades YM of Friends, spoke about why we call ourselves Friends and Quakers.
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"Seeing the New Thing God Is Doing," by Faith Marsalli

June 23, 2025 • 17 mins
Faith Marsalli shared a message about how God has been with West Hills Friends from the beginning and is already doing something new. She encouraged us to be open to change, to let go of old ways that no longer work, and to trust that we already have what we need to move forward as a healing and welcoming community. Queries were: What new thing has God already begun at WHF that you need to see and name? What are some ways of “doing...
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"Losing the script," by Gíl George

June 16, 2025 • 17 mins
Gíl George shares a message about how when we start looking at the world through the lens of self-importance rather than through the lens of self-compassion we lose the script like so many before us.
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