West Hills Friends

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.

Johan Maurer, our guest from Camas Friends and Sierra-Cascades YM of Friends, spoke about why we call ourselves Friends and Quakers.

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...

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.

Mica Coffin shares a message about seeing a little girl reach out to a houseless man on the boardwalk after Mica offered a prayer to him. “Doesn't seeing the God in each other make us angels to one another.”

Stephen Deatherage shares a message on how, in the midst of life’s hardships and uncertainties, we can choose to find sweetness, meaning, and resilience. He used the symbols of apples to speak about how we turn our experiences into nourishment for ourselves and others.

Kay Ellison shares a message about how small acts of love toward her mother, her neighbor, and strangers brought unexpected joy and connection, showing that loving others also nurtures ourselves.

On Mark’s final Sunday at West Hills Friends, we took time to reflect on the impact of his ministry among us. Gíl George, Peg Edera, Mike Huber, and Mark Pratt-Russum each prepared messages to share, and many others offered spontaneous ministry throughout the gathering. Below are the prepared messages from that day.

Mark Pratt-Russum shares a message about forming community around being fully human together from March 9, 2025.

April Vanderwal and Mark Pratt-Russum join forces to create a special Easter Radio Drama called “The Case of the Missing Miracle Man.” Voice actors with Mark and April included Jayne Calkins, Craig Strong, Lynsley Rollins, Lucia Pratt-Russum, and Katherine Spinner, and Joel Rubicam as foley artist.

Mark Pratt-Russum shares his last message at WHF. He recalled his first message in May 2010 when he was interviewing for the position, and he read Mary Oliver’s poem, “5 A.M. in the Pine Woods.” Here are the queries Mark offered: You are sitting at the base of a tree early in the morning in a forest. After an hour or so, you notice a wild, yet gentle animal making its way through the trees. In the...

Mark Pratt-Russum shares a message about alternative imagination and attention practiced by communities like ours. Queries: What kind of presence am I bringing to this circle? What are my real hopes for this community? Where might I still be holding back-or holding on to something that keeps me from deeper connection?

Bethany reads poems from her book of poetry, Etude for Belonging, and spoke about learning to live at the end of the world, like so many others before, here at the edge of the shore. Hope reminds us that it matters how we navigate those endings, and make beauty on the way.

Mark Pratt-Russum shares a message about our hearts orientation towards change. How are you trying to form and foster new ways of being in community with people? How does a community like West Hills Friends contribute to that experimentation? What does your internal resistance about new expressions of community reveal about what you care about? Are there ways to transform that resistance by using...

Mark Pratt-Russum shares a message about looking at your life as if it’s a book you couldn't put down. What if we trusted that the next chapter will be as riveting as the last? How does such a perspective shift reorient your thinking about the future? How does nostalgia reveal what you care about? What skills have you learned from these passions? How can those skills be used in crafting the future...

Mark Pratt-Russum shares a message about our disenchantment with religious rituals since the Enlightenment and offered the queries: Considering the growing disconnect of the sacred/spiritual from everyday life, how are you engaging in ritual to keep yourself connected and grounded? In this time of turmoil, what do you need to tend to your heart/mind/body/soul? How might crafting daily rituals assi...

Mark Pratt-Russum shared a message about holding hands with a girl in youth group and the prodigal son. Mark offered these queries: How has it been carrying around the narrative that you are lost? How much longer must you carry it? What would happen if you were freed from it? Has anyone ever called you lost for something you knew was guiding you home to yourself? How are you reclaiming what anothe...

Mark Pratt-Russum shared a message about painter and minister Edward Hicks and the Hicksite/Orthodox split in Quaker history. When asked about your vision for the Kin-dom, what do you say? What do you paint? What do you write? What do you imagine? How do our "Kin-dom" visions sustain us in times when we feel furthest from it's potential? Friends calling us into movements of liberation may be encou...

Mark Pratt-Russum shares a message about speaking truth to power and offered these queries: In what areas of your life could you use more plain, clear, and honest communication? How might God be moving us to speak Truth to power?

Mark Pratt-Russum shared about surviving the mesocosm, the chaotic middle of the universe called Earth. How does the microcosm inform your spiritual practice? How about the macrocosm? If we are children of the chaotic middle, what emotional and spiritual strategies are you practicing to survive and thrive in the mesocosm?

Mark Pratt-Russum shared about maintaining holy wonder about your place in the natural world. How does a return of spiritual reverence for the forces that surround us lead us into a more wholesome relationship with them?

Gil George shares a message about the time between the departure of the shepherds and the arrival of the wisemen, and being fully present during the in between times. What does it feel like in my body, mind, and spirit when I am fully present to myself, others, and/or the Divine? What tends to get in the way of being fully present to myself, others, or the Divine? What helps me be fully present to...

Kaleen Deatherage shares the story of Virginia O’Hanlon and Francis Church. The famous line, "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus," comes from an editorial written by Church in response to a letter from eight-year-old Virginia, who asked if Santa Claus was real. This editorial was first published in The Sun, a New York newspaper, on September 21, 1897. How do you reconcile your hopes and your fe...

Mark Pratt-Russum shares a message about the themes of joy, hope, subversion, worry, wondering and prophecy in the story of the birth of Jesus. Where are you in the story? How are those themes merging with your life?

Mark Pratt-Russum shares a time in his childhood when he felt heart-sick for a magical place. How do you tend to childlike wonder and imagination about the future?