Open-Hearted, Open-Minded Gatherings for Worship and Meditation
Open Way offers a compassionate and empowering spiritual perspective that draws on all the wisdom traditions of the world. It’s all about love!
Sunday Gatherings
Every Sunday, 4:30 - 5:30pm
An uplifting, family-friendly hour of music, meditation, poetry, prayer, and an inspiring message without superstition or dogma.
Starting Aug. 9, 2026
Meditation Practice
First & Third Thursdays, 5:50 - 7:30pm
Two 25-minute periods of silent meditation, and walking meditation, readings, and an encouraging talk.
Rooted in Zen, Contemplative Prayer and the Tao Te Ching.
Guiding Principles
Love is the highest good.
Beauty, creativity, bliss, music, connection, pleasure, usefulness, forgiveness, patience, honesty, mindfulness, hope, faith, friendship, and generosity are also pretty darn good. There are lots of goods in the world.
It helps to get together to celebrate the worth of such things, and to give thanks for them.
Give thanks to whom? Mystery, Source, Tao, Mother Nature, God, Buddha-Nature, Cosmic Consciousness, Goddess, Universe, Essence, Whatever.
Same things!
Same verbs!
There is no single path to awakening and well-being. Most religions and philosophies have useful insight and inspiring wisdom. At Open Way we turn most frequently to Nature, the Tao Te Ching, the teachings of Buddha and Jesus, the insight of poetry and the sweet sounds of music, but we’re open to inspiration from wherever it may come.
All existence is the Open Way and we are all in it. You can’t not be in it. By being alive you share in the Oneness, as does everyone and everything else. No more or no less. Even if you’ve done things you deeply regret or have lost your direction, there’s nothing you can do to distance yourself from the Divine.
The mystics all say the Truth or Essence is way beyond all words and concepts. We can’t think our way to the Ultimate, but we can love our way there. Fortunately, our own experience and conscience, in partnership with that of others and the Universe Itself, can adequately guide us. We don’t have to believe in miracles or ancient myths. We can trust in science and in God. The endless change, growth, and evolution of the world is a cause for hope and celebration.
Everyone is a spark of the Divine. All people are included in the human family, even the ones we fight with and disagree with. We all matter. We are all worthy of love and respect, simply for being a part of the sacred cosmic whole. It’s a hard idea to manifest, but it’s worth trying.
Living in an accurate, compassionate relationship with ourselves, the Earth, and other beings brings contentment and well-being. The point of living is to be happy, useful, and at peace with the world-as-it-is. We can be fully awake and in tune with the sacred dimension in this life. Death is natural and need not be feared.
Love is the highest good.
Hello! I’m Chris, and I’m the instigator of Open Way.
In 2021 I retired from Unitarian Universalist parish ministry and moved to Portland to reinvent myself. It was the tail end of the pandemic, and after 15 years of leading a religious community I was completely burned out, and a little battered. I badly needed a reminder of the presence of the Good and the Holy in my life and in the world around me. I had my long-time meditation practice, which was helpful and grounding, but I longed for a healthy dose of some open-minded and open-hearted spiritual sustenance, such as I had tried to provide to others over all those years.
I attended services at a variety of churches and other spiritual communities, but was not able to find anything that really spoke to me and fed me. Some were simply too narrow in theology, or too old-fashioned with their liturgy, or too worried about the world to come. Others were overly concerned with their past or present identity, or the inner affairs of their particular sect or congregation. I didn’t want to join any group, or get a new name. I just wanted to be reminded that the Universe is alive and that She/He/It/They love, forgive, and inspire all of us. I wanted a friendly person to shine a light on the deeper resources (within and without) that could see me through hard times, if I turned towards them.
Not finding the gathering I desired, I preached the message to myself as well as I as could instead. I read inspiring books and poems. I meditated and prayed. I looked for beauty and goodness wherever I could find it, and leaned on my loving friends. I deepened my practice of silence. And, by God, it worked! Life again feels full of richness and possibility, even in these supremely weird times.
We all have the capacity to grow spiritually, even if we’re totally alone. Still, it really helps our practice to share experiences with others. Sometimes we need friends to help us carry the hard load of being a finite, imperfect, mortal human being. That’s why I am called to offer Open Way worship and Open Way meditation.
Open Way is not a path of beliefs and dogma. There is no in-group or out-group. It’s just people getting together in person to worship, and/or to sit still. Open Way is for anyone and everyone, whatever your identity, your politics, your past. If you need hope or comfort, come worship or sit with us. I look forward to meeting you.