Podcasts by Complete Service-First Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco
First Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco Sunday worship service. Home of liberal spirituality for over 150 years, the Society welcomes people of all racial and religious backgrounds. Our Congregation includes gay, straight, transgendered, and questioning people. More information is available at www.uusf.org.
Further podcasts by 1st Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco
Podcast on the topic Religion und Spiritualität
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To Sondheim, with Love from 2022-02-20T10:50:57
“To Sondheim, with Love” Sunday, February 20, 2022 Livestream Worship Service
This morning we celebrate the great composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim who recently passed away at the age...
To Relationships, with Love from 2022-02-13T10:50:57
“To Relationships, with Love” Sunday, February 13, 2022 10:50 am, Worship Service
Over the years, we can learn a few things about what it means to be in relationship well. How to love wel...
Weaving Waters: Regional Assembly Worship from 2022-02-06T10:50:57
“Weaving Waters: Regional Assembly Worship” Sunday, February 6, 2022 10:50 am, Worship Service
This worship is an embodied, engaging, multi-gen service focusing on unity and interdependenc...
The Many Faces of Leadership from 2022-01-30T10:50:57
“The Many Faces of Leadership” Sunday, January 30, 2022 10:50 am, Worship Service
Two days from now the Lunar New Year celebrations will begin and the Year of the Tiger will begin with it....
Some Joy Please from 2022-01-23T10:50:57
“Some Joy Please”
Sunday, January 23, 10:50 am, Worship Service Livestream
This Sunday let’s take a break from lockdown woes and worries and turn our attention to how we bring joy and ...
History is not History from 2022-01-16T10:50:57
“History is not History”
Sunday, January 16, 10:50 am, Worship Service Livestream
On this Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend when we could focus on the history of the Civil Rights Movemen...
'God' is not God's name from 2022-01-09T10:50:57
“’God’ is not God’s name”
Sunday, January 9, 10:50 am, Worship Service Livestream
As a theist, a liberal theist, in a pluralistic religious movement, and a congregation with a signific...
Right Belief or Right Living from 2022-01-02T10:50:57
“Right Belief or Right Living” Sunday, January 2, 2022, Worship Service Livestream
On Sunday, January 2nd, the Rev. David Usher will be preaching “ right belief or right living“. David was...
The Hanging of the Greens: An Intergenerational Service from 2021-12-19T10:50:57
“The Hanging of the Greens: An Intergenerational Service” Sunday, December 19, 10:50 am, Worship Service
Nearing the shortest day of the year, we will make and bring in greens in an interg...
Being Alive from 2021-12-12T10:50:57
“Being Alive” (December 12, 2021) Worship Service
We are welcoming the President of Starr King School For The Ministry, the Rev. Rosemary Bray McNatt preaching. And we are celebrating two ...
A String of Gratefuls from 2021-11-28T10:50:57
“A String of Gratefuls” (November 28, 2021) Worship Service
A service of readings and songs on what gives us joy and for what we are grateful.
Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior M...
What the Pecans have to Teach? from 2021-11-21T10:50:57
“What the Pecans have to Teach?” (November 21, 2021) Worship Service
I know — What does Vanessa mean by this?! Drawing on a chapter in Robin Wall Zimmerer’s “Braiding Sweetgrass” a little...
The Pursuit of Radiance from 2021-11-14T10:50:57
“The Pursuit of Radiance” (November 14, 2021) Worship Service
As the darkest days of the year arrive, lights appear everywhere: ropes of lights outline tall buildings, colorful Christmas l...
We are the Thousand Winds that Blow from 2021-11-07T10:50:57
“We are the Thousand Winds that Blow” (November 7, 2021) Worship Service
This service is one that may be becoming a tradition for us — a chance on this Sunday that coincides with Samhain, ...
The Costumes We Wear from 2021-10-31T10:50:57
“The Costumes We Wear” (October 31, 2021) Worship Service
A worship service about disguises.
Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister; Dennis Adams, Worship Associate; Sam King...
The Land of Memory from 2021-10-24T10:50:57
“The Land of Memory” (October 24, 2021) Worship Service
The artist Etel Adnan, wrote that her memories were like a forest with unstable boundaries. Adnan was born in Lebanon, lived in Fran...
"Right Thinking, Right Feeling and Right Relations" from 2021-10-17T10:50:57
“Right Thinking, Right Feeling and Right Relations” (October 17, 2021) Worship Service
Twins and co-authors of a recent book “Burnout”, Emily and Amelia Nagoski talk about patterns of thin...
"Who is Earth to Me?" from 2021-10-10T10:50:57
“Who is Earth to Me?” (October 10, 2021) Worship Service
Robin Wall Kimmerer in her book “Braiding Sweetgrass” opens with a simple description of this act of weaving, braiding the supple g...
"Higher Love: Installation Service" from 2021-10-03T15:00:57
“Higher Love: Installation Service” (October 3, 2021) Worship Service
“The Installation Service of Senior Minister Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern”
This is a sermon (Higher Love) about...
Enough is Enough: The Inflation of Satisfied and the Risks from 2021-09-26T10:50:57
“Enough is Enough: The Inflation of Satisfied and the Risks” (September 26, 2021) Worship Service
In the stories of people I know, their children’s stories, in what I see in the world, wit...
Ganesh Chaturthi and the Need to Remove Obstacles from 2021-09-19T10:50:57
“Ganesh Chaturthi and the Need to Remove Obstacles” (September 19, 2021) Worship Service
Each year in India there is a ten or eleven-day festival to celebrate Ganesh, the Elephant-headed g...
New Eyes and Not Afraid from 2021-09-12T10:50:57
“New Eyes and Not Afraid” (September 12, 2021) Worship Service
This Sunday is this confluence of holidays and holidays and anniversaries raising the question not just of how we begin in th...
In Our Hands Is Placed a Power from 2021-09-05T10:50:57
“In Our Hands Is Placed a Power” (September 5, 2021) Worship Service
Welcome to our annual Labor Day service, where we celebrate the contributions to social justice by the labor movement b...
The Power of Focus from 2021-08-29T10:50:57
“The Power of Focus” (August 29, 2021) Worship Service
Steve Jobs is famous for his message on focus, the power of focus. In a different way, the same message has power for our spiritual a...
I Know Nothing from 2021-08-22T10:50:57
“I Know Nothing” (August 22, 2021) Worship Service
In the millions of acres of trees, in the dark and light, the shadows, the dappled light along canyon walls and rivers, there is real kno...
Deep Time: Stories We Tell the Children, and the Work of Repair from 2021-08-15T10:50:57
“Deep Time: Stories We Tell the Children, and the Work of Repair” (August 15, 2021) Worship Service
A personal story about the journey to be a good ancestor.
Rev. Mary McKinnon G...
Sinking In To Ordinary Time from 2021-08-08T10:50:57
“Sinking In To Ordinary Time” (August 8, 2021) Worship Service
In both the Christian and Jewish traditions, there is the idea of “ordinary time” - the time between holy days - an extended ...
Dare to Love Again from 2021-08-01T10:50:57
“Dare to Love Again” (August 1, 2021) Worship Service
Do I dare to love again? Many of us have asked that question at one time or another. I know I have. Whether after death, disappointmen...
Summer Musings from 2021-07-25T10:50:57
“Summer Musings” (July 25, 2021) Worship Service
If we are lucky summer affords us some of the spaciousness it did as children. Time to wander in body and spirit and let things bubble up, ...
Crisscrossing Humanity from 2021-07-18T10:50:57
Sunday, July 18, 10:50 AM, Worship Service Livestream
“Crisscrossing Humanity”
Meg McGuire and Carmen Barsody, preaching
From Cathedral Hill to the Tenderloin, from one side of the...
Relinquishment from 2021-07-11T10:50:57
“Relinquishment” (July 11, 2021) Worship Service
As many of you know, John was Senior Minister at UUSF from 2014 until his retirement in 2017. He had earlier been President of the Unitaria...
Time to Slow Down from 2021-07-04T10:50:57
“Time to Slow Down” (July 4, 2021) Worship Service
These are urgent times. They long have been. And yet, there are powerful voices, many at the center of justice work, urging us to slow do...
Raising Hope from 2021-06-20T10:50:57
“Raising Hope” (June 20, 2021) Worship Service
For Father’s Day, we’ll take a deeper dive into what it means to be hopeful. Tom Wyman, author of Infinitely Full of Hope: Fatherhood and the...
Saying Yes from 2021-06-13T10:50:57
“Saying Yes” (June 13, 2021) Worship Service
“Teach us all you can by saying yes,” Nancy Shaffer writes in a poem titled “Calling.” Rather than coming from some booming voice on high, the ...
Dismantling Perfectionism: Bring it on! from 2021-06-06T10:50:57
“Dismantling Perfectionism: Bring it on!” (June 6, 2021) Worship Service
There is a whole set of things that Tema Okun argues are part of White Supremacy Culture in her classic article, “W...
We Shall Not Sleep, Though Poppies Grow from 2021-05-30T10:50:57
“We Shall Not Sleep, Though Poppies Grow” (May 30, 2021) Worship Service
From an 1865 gathering at the Charleston race track through two World Wars to modern day, collectively remembering ...
Marge and Barb Have Class from 2021-05-23T10:50:57
“Marge and Barb Have Class” (May 23, 2021) Worship Service
The title of the sermon is a set of words my cousin and I saw spray painted on the side of a falling down old shed on a country r...
Holding Ourselves Accountable: The 8th Principle and the Future of Our Faith from 2021-05-14T15:32:57
"Holding Ourselves Accountable: The 8th Principle and the Future of Our Faith" (May 16, 2021) Worship Service
Paula Cole Jones, a Lay Leader who has been a member of All Souls Unitarian Ch...
Arms Wide Open: Parenting as a Spiritual Path from 2021-05-10T11:09:15
"Arms Wide Open: Parenting as a Spiritual Path" (May 9, 2021) Worship Service
I am a year and a few months from an empty nest, and halfway into a process of pulling together an anthology o...
Religious Imagination: What it Means to be a Teaching Congregation from 2021-05-03T10:30:06
"Religious Imagination: What it Means to be a Teaching Congregation" (May 2, 2021) Worship Service
This Sunday marks the final class for our Sunday School program. Our classes have been v...
Close Enough for Awe: An Earth Day Sermon from 2021-04-26T16:36:09
"Close Enough for Awe: An Earth Day Sermon" (April 25, 2021) Worship Service
It's spring, it's Earth Day. It's a time when it is easy to fall in love with the world. So, let's do that. Wit...
Becoming Together from 2021-04-18T14:24:23
"Becoming Together" (April 18, 2021) Worship Service
Becoming ourselves is a lifelong process. And this practice of continual growth, of waking up to who we are, is one that cannot be done...
Living Purposefooly from 2021-04-11T14:20:49
"Living Purposefooly" (April 11, 2021) Worship Service
Drawing the Fool in the Tarot cards represents new beginnings. We step out into the world with faith in the future, though we don’t k...
Easter Sunday: Hope is a....... from 2021-04-04T14:15:48
“Easter Sunday: Hope is a…….” (April 4, 2021) Worship Service
Easter, of course, is about resurrection — life from places of loss, hope from despair, second chances for the makers of even ...
The First Steps from 2021-03-29T09:05:56
“The First Steps” (March 28, 2021) Worship Service
Both Passover and Palm Sunday coincide this week. Different and also with one thread that pulls through them both, about the power of the...
Sabbath Redux from 2021-03-22T11:49:56
"Sabbath Redux" (March 21, 2021) Worship Service
One of the first sermons I preached here at UUSF was a sermon on the ancient idea of Sabbath. I think, strangely, it is time to preach it a...
Giving it Up for Lent from 2021-03-14T21:17:52
"Giving it Up for Lent" (March 14, 2021) Worship Service
I am not one for giving up chocolate or ice cream. Those kinds of punishing practices never work for me -- I once "gave up soda" f...
Times Like These from 2021-03-07T22:02:06
"Times Like These" (March 7, 2021) Worship Service
To stand in important moments, in the midst of historic chapters is to do our part. And to wonder about all those historic chapters, and ...
Being Ready from 2021-02-22T11:46:54
"Being Ready" (February 21, 2021) Worship Service
This month the Minister's Book Club is reading John Lewis's Memoir (written with Michael D'Orso) "Walking with the Wind" and it has me thi...
Lessons of Love from 2021-02-15T11:18:19
"Lessons of Love" (February 14, 2021) Worship Service
Years ago I read an article in some low-brow magazine in which a woman was reflecting on what she had taken away from all the past rel...
The Year of the Ox from 2021-02-08T13:01:18
"The Year of the Ox" (February 7, 2021) Worship Service
Lunar New Year, begins next week Friday, February 12th. Although I am not in a family that has celebrated Lunar New Year, many in o...
The Wonder of Being Alive from 2021-02-01T14:47:01
"The Wonder of Being Alive" (January 31, 2021) Worship Service
Being alive is more than just existing, more than not being dead. Adjectives abound when we talk about being alive. We can be...
The Nature of Religious Experience and the Power of Knowing from 2021-01-25T15:01:57
"The Nature of Religious Experience and the Power of Knowing" (January 24, 2021) Worship Service
William James in his classic text, "The Varieties of Religious Experience" outlines the qua...
Saying "I'm Sorry" from 2021-01-19T08:29:10
Saying "I'm Sorry" (January 17, 2021) Worship Service
What is a "good apology" one with grace and authenticity of the kind that makes it land and gives it the power, or just potential powe...
Homosexuality and the Bible from 2021-01-11T15:26:35
“Homosexuality and the Bible" (January 10, 2021) Worship Service
So much harm has been done in the name of religion and for many of us, in our lifetimes, that means messages about what it ...
Whole Enough from 2021-01-04T15:03:53
“Whole Enough" (January 3, 2021) Worship Service
It’s a new year. How does this season of intentions and fresh starts shape how we see ourselves- and one another? And how might we want it ...
Let the End be the Beginning: A Meditative Service for the New Year from 2020-12-27T19:00:39
"Let the End be the Beginning: A Meditative Service for the New Year" -- Complete led by Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister, Sunday, December 27, 2020 at 11AM
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Christmas Eve Service from 2020-12-27T18:51:35
"Christmas Eve Service" -- Complete led by Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Rev. Alyson Jacks, Meg McGuire and Richard Davis-Lowell, Thursday, December 24, 2020 at 4:45 PM
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The Wintering Season from 2020-12-21T15:13:11
“The Wintering Season" (December 20, 2020) Worship Service
The Winter Solstice is a time to celebrate the season with the hanging of greens and decorating trees. This year’s solstice servi...
The Soul of America: Worth Saving? from 2020-12-14T14:50:27
“The Soul of America: Worth Saving?" (December 13, 2020) Worship Service
As we explore the wrongs and rights in American history and contemporary life questions arise: Can there be a faith...
The Perfect Body and Ladder from 2020-12-07T16:13:39
“The Perfect Body and Ladder" (December 6, 2020) Worship Service
The second sermon in a series on our bodies as part of our religious journeys, that is to say of how we find and make meani...
Coming to the Table from 2020-11-30T15:08:16
“Coming to the Table" (November 29, 2020) Worship Service
This time of the year is usually marked by gathering and breaking bread with friends, family and neighbors. As love for one anothe...
I Sing the Body Electric from 2020-11-24T14:46
“I Sing the Body Electric" (November 22, 2020) Worship Service
There is so much to give thanks for, but what about this body that carries us through the world; the ones poets and scientist...
Rebuilding Trust from 2020-11-09T15:44:57
“Rebuilding Trust" (November 8, 2020) Worship Service
Great damage has been done to social trust in recent years. Not only to trust in leaders, government, the integrity of elections, but ...
Healing and Hope from 2020-11-02T15:57:27
“Healing and Hope" (November 1, 2020) Worship Service
In this lead up to this election, which for many of us feels like the very future of our nation, of its best self, lies in the balance...
Creating the Altar from 2020-10-26T16:23:15
“Creating the Altar" (October 25, 2020) Worship Service
This Sunday we are going to create an altar, a community one, filled with the portraits and stories of those we love and lost, who s...
Breathing Room from 2020-10-19T17:00:25
“Breathing Room" (October 18, 2020) Worship Service
The atmosphere is toxic – from both the devastating fires across the west and the increasingly inflammatory political rhetoric - leaving...
New Habits of the Heart: Seeing for Real from 2020-10-13T09:28:19
“New Habits of the Heart: Seeing for Real" (October 11, 2020) Worship Service
There is a Ted Talk by X called "The Dangers of the Single Story." Meg's mentioned it once already since she s...
The Sum of Our Parts from 2020-09-21T14:21:45
"The Sum of Our Parts" (September 20, 2020) Worship Service
The central task of religious community, according to Rev. Mark Morrison Reed, is to uncover the bonds that bind us to one anoth...
Plow this Field... and other mantras to pull us through a wild and unfolding new year. from 2020-09-14T18:18:06
"Plow this Field... and other mantras to pull us through a wild and unfolding new year." (September 13, 2020)
This Sunday is the Sunday we always launch, officially, the new church year. S...
What Do We Do When We're Under Attack? from 2020-09-08T13:40:14
"What Do We Do When We're Under Attack?" (September 6, 2020)
Rev. Millie Phillips, a member of this congregation, is currently serving the UU Community of Lake County. For this Labor Day s...
Jonah and the Big Fish from 2020-08-31T14:16:43
"Jonah and the Big Fish" (August 30, 2020)
I love stories and their power to teach or invite us to let them speak to us wherever we are. And I love the story in the Hebrew Scriptures of J...
Launching the Fledglings from 2020-08-24T14:43:26
"Launching the Fledglings" (August 23, 2020)
It's an odd year to think about how to raise and launch adults (be they nieces, nephews, children, grandchildren). It is also a process and on...
Turning Points from 2020-08-17T14:03:32
"Turning Points" (August 16, 2020)
Our history is full of turning points. So are our individual lives. As we live through a time full of both danger and opportunity, let us reflect on some...
Story Time from 2020-08-10T14:09:16
Sunday, August 9, 2020
"Story Time" (August 9, 2020)
We are the stuff of stars. A collection of particles held together by the laws of physics and the forces of nature. We talk of...
The Promise in the Desert from 2020-08-06T07:20:56
"The Promise in the Desert" (August 2, 2020)
Some have begun calling 2020 "The Great Reckoning," a time when the injustices of reality are fully being called in by the promises of our poss...
From Fragility to Accountability from 2020-07-26T20:34:10
"From Fragility to Accountability" (July 26, 2020)
This Sunday, there is a journey we'd like you to take with us. Let us go as seekers. We will pack a little bag and wander along a less t...
Poetry for Summer Musing from 2020-07-19T21:55:07
"Poetry for Summer Musing" (July 19, 2020)
Periodically diving deep in the world of poetry is like asking someone to hold a frame around the ordinary or a magnifying glass against the smal...
The Power of Witnessing from 2020-07-12T20:16:34
"The Power of Witnessing" (July 12, 2020)
In W.H. Auden's poem "Musee des Beaux Arts" the poet describes two Brueghel paintings and in both something about the witnessing or missing of hug...
Exquisite Risk from 2020-07-06T10:10:34
"Exquisite Risk" (July 5, 2020)
Following on our sermon on "Negotiating Risk" (May 17) we will look this Sunday at the flip side of risk -- that part of engaging life that is scary but gor...
Lost Stories from 2020-06-22T16:59:13
"Lost Stories" (June 21, 2020)
June 19th, every year, also known as Juneteenth, Freedom Day, Black Fourth of July, is the day in The United States that we commemorate June 19, 1865, when t...
A Welcoming Community from 2020-06-15T15:20:42
A Welcoming Community (June 14, 2020)
We look at the importance of community and the power of radical welcoming - a celebration of the congregation and a thanks for priceless gifts. This w...
For Such a Time as This from 2020-06-08T18:02:17
“For Such a Time as This” (June 7, 2020)
Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister
Rochelle Fortier Nwadibia, Worship Associate
Ben Rudiak-Gould, tenor
Asher Davison, bass-ba...
Apart/Together from 2020-06-01T16:55:40
“Apart/Together” (May 31, 2020)
One of the side-effects of physical distancing and shelter-in-place is loneliness. According to Dr. Vivek Murthy, the former Surgeon General, research shows...
The Human Spirit, Hardy and Delicate from 2020-05-25T09:08:21
"The Human Spirit, Hardy and Delicate" (May 24, 2020)
Poppies come to us in magnificent clumps of color. They grow wild. They bring us hope. If not for their brightly colored blooms, they...
Negotiating Risk from 2020-05-18T18:32:03
"Negotiating Risk" (May 17, 2020)
Life is risky business, always, and always has been, but life right now has put the idea of risk at the center of our lives, and in more ways than one. Le...
It Takes a Village: The People Who Shaped Us from 2020-05-11T17:17:28
"It Takes a Village: The People Who Shaped Us" (May 10, 2020)
Mothers are important, but also mothering and befriending, grand parenting and neighboring all shape us too as we grow, come t...
How Are You Feeling? from 2020-05-04T16:39
"How Are You Feeling?" (May 3, 2020)
Fred Rogers taught us that it's important to express our feelings, and to be listened to and respected. It's not always easy to say what's in our heart...
Life in the Monastery from 2020-04-27T17:23:45
"Life in the Monastery" (April 26, 2020)
Part of me has always wanted to live in a monastery. The only problem is that my spouse wouldn't agree, and there are all those vows too. Lately, t...
Earth’s Lessons from 2020-04-20T18:14:08
"Earth’s Lessons" (April 19, 2020)
On April 22,1970 “teach-ins” launched the first Earth Day. Fifty years later, voices from across the globe are demanding that we wake up, double down, an...
Easter in Holy Week Times from 2020-04-13T17:39:45
"Easter in Holy Week Times" (April 12, 2020)
This, you might say, is not exactly an Easter time. The events of Holy Week, as it is traditionally celebrated, feel so much more accurate a d...
Perspective: The Power of Climbing up onto the Balcony and What Can We See? from 2020-03-30T13:41:47
"Perspective: The Power of Climbing up onto the Balcony and What Can We See?" (March 29, 2020)
We all know that anxiety and fear sharpen our minds and brains down to a narrow tunnel of nee...
Are We Saved? from 2020-03-23T13:58:36
"Are We Saved?" (March 22, 2020)
A sermon about the age-old religious question and the honest-to-God answer (at least by this preacher)!
Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minist...
Gifts Great and Small from 2020-03-16T12:35:31
"Gifts Great and Small" (March 15, 2020)
This is Pi(e) weekend. The ratio of the radius of our circle of caring and sharing to its circumference, geometrically, is forever roughly 3.14. So...
A Thousand Cuts and the Work of Healing from 2020-03-09T13:19:12
"A Thousand Cuts and the Work of Healing" (March 8, 2020)
This week we will look at what are called micro-agressions, how they unfold even in our community, how we intervene and imagine a ...
What Goes Around... from 2020-03-02T12:47:55
"What Goes Around..." (March 1, 2020)
So many stories, good stories — aren’t we in need of some good stories — to tell of another possible law of the universe. Or maybe just another additi...
Envisioning Justice from 2020-02-24T12:49:50
"Envisioning Justice" (February 23, 2020)
As you imagine a better future, what changes would you make for yourself, for the church, for the neighborhood? We will envision personal and coll...
From Darwin to Unitarian Universalism from 2020-02-17T09:56:49
"From Darwin to Unitarian Universalism" (February 16, 2020)
Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection set into motion a way of thinking that has profoundly affected not only the un...
I Do, I Do: A Sermon on Relationships from 2020-02-10T11:44:56
"I Do, I Do: A Sermon on Relationships" (February 9, 2020)
After all these years of doing weddings, and watching marriages (and living in one), and being in relationship, what can we say d...
The Year of... from 2020-02-03T12:28:40
"The Year of..." (February 2, 2020)
Our congregations draw from the wisdom and experience and the traditions of their families and communities-of-origin, the practices they carry forward, ...
Millie Phillips Ordination Service from 2020-01-28T09:46:11
"Ordination Service" -- Complete led by Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister Sunday, January 26, 2020 at 6PM
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Who Are You to Judge? from 2020-01-28T09:25:16
"Who Are You to Judge?" (January 26, 2020)
These days everyone's a critic. We all make judgments, good and bad, some with lasting and profound effects. Judgement assumes thoughtful deliber...
Honesty and Legacy II: Inspecting the Family Tree from 2020-01-20T16:09:54
"Honesty and Legacy II: Inspecting the Family Tree" (January 19, 2020)
Once we hit on the idea that our legacy as a person, a family or a nation is tied inextricably to our history, we hav...
Religious Experience and the Ascent of Mount Ventoux from 2020-01-13T14:22:53
"Religious Experience and the Ascent of Mount Ventoux" (January 12, 2020)
Fourteenth Century poet and scholar, Frencesco Petrarca, more commonly known as Petrarch was part of the early Ita...
Angels Among Us: Christmas Eve Candlelight Service from 2020-01-13T10:55:49
Angels Among Us (December 24, 2019)
Please join us for a retelling of the story of Christmas, for carols and candlelight and an invitation for the spirit of the season to take hold of us! ...
The Big Question from 2020-01-06T14:20:55
The Big Question (January 5, 2020)
Is there a difference between believing that God exists and believing in God?
Rev. Dr. David Usher, Guest Minister
Rev. Vanessa Rush Souther...
Blinded by the Light from 2019-12-23T15:01:28
Blinded by the Light (December 22, 2019)
As we honor the time of Hanukkah along with so many other holidays that speak of light, of miracles, of hope, we gather to do the same.
Re...
Hanging of the Greens: A Multigenerational Extravaganza! from 2019-12-16T13:09:46
Hanging of the Greens: A Multigenerational Extravaganza! (December 15, 2019)
This is a service that was created by the Princeton UU Church and made its way through many congregations and t...
what are we waiting for? from 2019-12-09T13:33:17
what are we waiting for? (December 8, 2019)
For many people this time of year is one of waiting…for the sun to return, the people to come together, the lamp to burn long enough, for the Sa...
A Pearl of Great Price from 2019-12-02T11:59:20
A Pearl of Great Price (December 1, 2019)
This service is about the value in finding the "work of one’s life”… despite the challenges / obstacles … finding that thing that lights up one’s...
The Ultimate MassUp from 2019-11-25T15:45:36
The Ultimate MassUp (November 24, 2019)
This Sunday is BIG MUSIC Sunday. If you've never been to one, hold on to your hat and be sure to fasten your seat belts. Actually, DO grab a seat an...
Happiness is.... from 2019-11-18T13:09:04
Happiness is.... (November 17, 2019)
Ancient philosophers have talked about happiness. Religions have weighed in on what it means for us and how to find it. And ever since the launching of...
Authenticity and the Price of Being Most Fully Human and Yourself from 2019-11-12T09:28:48
Authenticity and the Price of Being Most Fully Human and Yourself (November 10, 2019)
Later this month on November 20th it will be Transgender Day of Remembrance, a day to remember all tho...
Imagine That! from 2019-11-05T09:14:03
Imagine That! (October 20, 2019)
I think of church as an Imaginarium, a place devoted to the exploration of the imagination. In the Imaginarium we learn to see and experience things from d...
Honoring the Ancestors from 2019-11-04T15:25:08
Honoring the Ancestors (November 3, 2019)
This weekend is the confluence of the celebrations of the Day of the Dead in Mexican and Mexican-American communities and in Catholicism the All S...
Honesty and Legacy from 2019-10-14T12:33:54
This Monday will be Columbus Day or, as we better know it now, Indigenous People's Day. That change is a call, part of a movement to tell a whole history, a full and honest history of our nation. I...
Listen
The Cost of Turning from 2019-10-07T15:10:46
The Cost of Turning (October 6, 2019)
Yom Kippur and the Days of Awe that precede it ask us turn back to God, or whatever we know and name as holy or as the desired to ground of our being....
A Caring Community from 2019-09-30T15:50:27
A Caring Community (September 29, 2019)
Each week we remind ourselves of our covenant to “dwell together in peace, to seek the truth in freedom, and to help one another.” This Sunday we ex...
What Books Changed Your Life? from 2019-09-24T12:58:26
What Books Changed Your Life? (September 22, 2019)
We talk about the "larger library of human wisdom" from which we draw as Unitarian Universalists. That includes, of course, poetry, histo...
Connections that Hold Us from 2019-09-16T14:56:47
Connections that Hold Us (September 15, 2019)
On this day when special music honors a beloved member, Vera Lee, we begin a year of small group ministry and remember that what holds us, gro...
Cuentista: Who tells us who we are? from 2019-09-09T12:39:12
Cuentista: Who tells us who we are? (September 8, 2019)
Come on our Opening Sunday. We will bless our students and teachers who are beginning their year of religious education together, an...
Alive with Hope, Despite It All from 2019-09-03T09:29:16
Alive with Hope, Despite It All (September 1, 2019)
In keeping with the music theme, the sermon will address hopeful signs for economic justice, such as new successful union organizing, ne...
Biophilia, the Urge to Connect with Life from 2019-08-26T13:35:07
Biophilia, the Urge to Connect with Life (August 25, 2019)
Edward O. Wilson introduced the idea that we humans had the urge to connect with other forms of life in his 1984 book, "Biophilia...
Finding Your Voice from 2019-08-19T12:48:40
Finding Your Voice (August 18, 2019)
Young adulthood is a phase of discovery of one's voice, perspective, morals, values, and more. It's a time when all of one's hopes and dreams seem poss...
At Least a Thousand More from 2019-08-05T14:09:54
At Least a Thousand More (August 4, 2019)
According to the Sufi poet Rumi, "there are a thousand ways to kneel and kiss the ground." but even in the 13th Century, that was a conservative n...
No Going Back from 2019-07-29T15:01:43
No Going Back (July 28, 2019)
They say there is wisdom to be found as we get older. How do we make our way to it, through thickets of diminishing memory or physical strength?
Rev...
In Memoriam from 2019-07-22T15:42:23
In Memoriam (July 21, 2019)
Years ago when the losses of US soldiers reached over 1000, a member of the church I served set up a meeting to say how horrified and saddened she was that we c...
Hope in an Age of Climate Despair from 2019-07-15T14:32:02
Hope in an Age of Climate Despair (July 14, 2019)
On this warming piece of rock that is our home, what can we hang our hopes on? Can we find a path between denial and despair?
Rev...
Poetry and Life Distilled from 2019-07-08T13:16:45
Poetry and Life Distilled (July 7, 2019)
Following on the theme of spaciousness and invitations to sit with life and go deep, we will spend a Sunday hour sitting with the wisdom source and...
Inside/Out from 2019-07-01T09:48:13
Inside/Out (June 30, 2019)
It’s Pride Sunday, our city is throwing a party to celebrate Queer culture in all its many marvelous manifestations. Before heading to the parade, join us for wo...
Releasing on Urgency.... A Sermon for Summer from 2019-06-30T18:48:57
Releasing on Urgency.... A Sermon for Summer (June 23, 2019)
We all know what gets done when we are highly efficient and focused -- just how much we can accomplish and just how much there ...
A Little Better than Before from 2019-06-30T18:44:35
A Little Better than Before (June 16, 2019)
Sidney Poitier, the great actor and director once said, "I decided in my life that I would do nothing that did not reflect positively on my fath...
What Deserves Our Ultimate Trust? from 2019-06-10T15:27:43
What Deserves Our Ultimate Trust? (June 9, 2019)
Here at First Unitarian Universalist SF, we try as best as possible to draw the circle ever wider and be an inclusive and loving community....
You Know That I Love You from 2019-06-03T13:33:37
You Know That I Love You (June 2, 2019)
Here at First Unitarian Universalist SF, we try as best as possible to draw the circle ever wider and be an inclusive and loving community. We all h...
Two Bodies, One Heart from 2019-05-20T19:02:27
Two Bodies, One Heart (May 19, 2019)
Ralph Waldo Emerson told us, "Friendship demands a religious treatment.” In this sermon guest minister the Rev. Dr. Colin Bossen will offer of a spirit...
Good Enough Mother from 2019-05-13T13:19:25
Good Enough Mother (May 12, 2019)
On this Mother’s Day, when we celebrate our mother’s let’s talk about cutting ourselves some slack. Perfection is overrated for one. But also, giving it u...
Growing a Soul from 2019-05-06T11:23:34
Growing a Soul (May 5, 2019)
UU Minister A. Powell Davies, whose All Souls Church in Washington D.C. was a leader in challenging segregation in the nation’s capital during his ministry, on...
Liberation from 2019-04-29T11:31:49
Liberation (April 28, 2019)
“The goal,”Rabbi Irving Greenberg once wrote of Passover, “is to go back thousands of years and to experience, first, the crushing bitterness and despair of sla...
Stepping Stones: Rites of Passage Class from 2019-04-15T13:49:15
Stepping Stones: Rites of Passage Class (April 14, 2019)
We have four bright, young thinkers in this year’s class, each has posed their Big Life Question, now it's time for the ministers t...
The Way - The Fools Way from 2019-04-08T12:42:20
The Way - The Fools Way (April 7, 2019)
"The Camino is Life!" Along the Camino de Santiago, these words are often heard, called by one pilgrim to another, or seen, scribbled on a wall or a...
Threshold Living from 2019-04-01T09:31:19
Threshold Living (March 31, 2019)
Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister
Shari Halliday-Quan, Ministerial Intern
Trudy Lionel, Reflection: Why I Give
Daniel Jackoway, Wors...
Time of the Month from 2019-03-25T09:27:45
Time of the Month (March 24, 2019)
Women's History Month invites us to explore the ways extraordinary women and everyday communities have cast off the oppressive limitations placed on them...
An Understanding Mind from 2019-03-18T11:19:22
An Understanding Mind (March 17, 2019)
In the famous wisdom tales of King Solomon, it’s said that God appeared to him in a dream saying, “Tell me what I should give you? Solomon asks for ...
Gift Culture: the Gift Experiment from 2019-03-04T10:55:42
Gift Culture: the Gift Experiment (March 3, 2019)
What does it mean not to think of life as ownership? Other people have had this idea. How does it change us? We will kick off this experim...
Seeing Whiteness? from 2019-02-25T14:03:19
Seeing Whiteness? (February 24, 2019)
Our Board said an overarching goal at this summer’s Board Retreat — to seek and serve “wholeness” among us. It is a particularly important goal to kee...
Exploring Our Humanist Source: A Living Faith in Human Connection from 2019-02-17T21:36:18
Exploring Our Humanist Source: A Living Faith in Human Connection (February 17, 2019)
Let's explore our fifth source: "Humanist teachings which counsel us to heed the guidance of reason an...
Come Home! from 2019-02-11T12:22:06
Come Home! (February 10, 2019)
This month we begin our 31st year of providing home for 70 men in our city who otherwise would sleep on the streets. With others we will provide breakfast an...
Unafraid of the Dark from 2019-02-10T17:39:50
Unafraid of the Dark (February 3, 2019)
Who’s afraid of the dark? English-speaking, American culture is riddled with links between darkness and fear, but what else is there to discover in ...
Wrestling with Time from 2019-01-27T18:41:16
Wrestling with Time (January 27, 2019)
One of our UU Saints, Charles Darwin, wrote: "A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.”
We are all de...
The Myth of Inevitability from 2019-01-22T09:50:12
The Myth of Inevitability (January 20, 2019)
Sometimes in the telling of history backwards, everything looks as if it was leading to the place we arrived at -- a kind of foreordained desti...
Healthy Lives, Healthy Institutions: Love and the Limits of Kindness from 2019-01-14T12:35:21
Healthy Lives, Healthy Institutions: Love and the Limits of Kindness (January 13, 2019)
I have been reading and thinking a lot about “kindness” as a virtue — when it is the thing that knit...
In An Ideal World from 2019-01-07T15:53:01
In An Ideal World (January 6, 2019)
Let's be real, living up to our ideals isn't easy, sometimes it's downright dangerous. When we think of the ideal, often, we picture perfection, the ult...
Saved from Perfection from 2018-12-31T10:56:44
Saved from Perfection (December 30, 2018)
You are enough. I am enough. I could do a little better. We can do a little better together. Our American Unitarian fore-bearers split from our Pu...
Holy Families from 2018-12-31T09:57:08
Holy Families (December 23, 2018)
We'll gather the day after this to tell the ancient story of love made real in a particular infant, and yet as Unitarian religious educator Sophia Lyon Fa...
The Gaudy Curtain from 2018-12-11T11:55:41
The Gaudy Curtain (December 9, 2018)
Just as we string lights against the darkness at Solstice time, we construct of our lives a "gaudy curtain" that covers over the Abyss, toward which we...
The Season of Waiting? from 2018-12-03T13:21:51
The Season of Waiting? (December 2, 2018)
Sunday, December 2nd begins what in the Christian tradition is known as the season of Advent. It is a season of waiting, watchfulness, preparation...
What is True? from 2018-11-26T09:30:28
What is True? (November 25, 2018)
How can we know what, and who, to believe? With so much fake news—not to mention lies— from public figures, including some politicians and religious leade...
Jim Jones and the Nature of Cult from 2018-11-19T15:54:46
Jim Jones and the Nature of Cult (November 18, 2018)
Forty years ago on November 18th, 1978, news spread around the world, but reverberated especially in the San Francisco Bay Area about t...
The Soul of Genius from 2018-11-13T07:25:09
The Soul of Genius (November 11, 2018)
In remembrance of our recent musical programmes, evidenced by our Reformation concert last year and our observance on April 4th of the 50th anniversa...
Invitations Across the Veil from 2018-11-05T13:08:17
Invitations Across the Veil (November 4, 2018)
In pagan tradition around Samhain, Day of the Dead and All Souls' and All Saints' Days, this idea of a day when the veil is thin has persiste...
Foundations: Our Pagan Roots from 2018-10-29T11:57:41
Foundations: Our Pagan Roots (October 28, 2018)
As we approach October 31st it seems a great chance to turn to the Pagan wisdom and practices that both influenced the formation of the Chri...
Living Hope. Living Justice from 2018-10-22T13:02:23
Living Hope. Living Justice (October 21, 2018)
Since UUSC’s founding, Unitarian Universalists have been fundamental to UUSC’s work to advance human rights. With our shared values under thr...
Enshrined in Walls and Windows from 2018-10-15T13:34:20
Enshrined in Walls and Windows (October 14, 2018)
This Saturday just prior to service will have been the 50th anniversary since our Center -- the Brutalist-style addition that partners wit...
Beloved Community from 2018-10-08T15:16:42
Beloved Community (October 7, 2018)
Unitarian Universalists are being called in this moment to live more powerfully and boldly into a vision of Beloved Community. What does this look like ...
Loved Into Being from 2018-10-01T10:04:27
Loved Into Being (September 30, 2018)
Each of us is the unique interweaving of the stories of the people who came before us, and who we are as people is born, at least in part, out of the ...
Lost and Found in America from 2018-09-24T11:35:57
Lost and Found in America (September 23, 2018)
This month the Minister’s Book Group is discussing Jon Meacham’s “The Soul of America”. It is a timely dive into the challenging chapters in ...
Lay the Burden Down from 2018-09-17T12:18:44
Lay the Burden Down (September 16, 2018)
Yom Kippur is the day in the Jewish Liturgical Year that the book of life is closed for the year, our deeds written in permanent celestial ink, and...
The Love Boat from 2018-09-10T12:10:40
The Love Boat (September 9, 2018)
It is a new year of church. Rosh Hashana is around the corner telling us also that the book of life is about to be opened on a new year of choices and act...
Carried Through Time from 2018-08-27T12:35:32
Carried Through Time (August 26, 2018)
Summer vacation took me to Blue Hill Maine to a cottage on the edge of Bagaduce River where we watched the tidal waters flow in and out to the Penobs...
Summer Stillness and Silence from 2018-08-20T12:04:10
Summer Stillness and Silence (August 19, 2018)
Anne LeClaire hears the call to "Sit in Silence." What happens over the time she begins to do so is that the layers of life -- the ones noise...
Awakenings from 2018-08-06T12:11:24
Awakenings (August 5, 2018)
“...the great end is to awaken the soul, to excite and cherish the spiritual life.” So wrote the early nineteenth century Unitarian minister, William Ellery Cha...
We Are So Much More Connected Than We Think from 2018-07-31T08:57:16
We Are So Much More Connected Than We Think (July 29, 2018)
Eleanor Piez spent two weeks in June in San Ysidro CA and Tijuana, Mexico, studying the U.S.-Mexico border through the lens of t...
The Deep Song of Our Lives from 2018-07-23T14:56:46
The Deep Song of Our Lives (July 22, 2018)
What can we in our time and place learn from a mild-mannered poet who was the first martyr of the Spanish Civil War? Stories from the life and po...
The Warrior and the Wise Man from 2018-07-16T15:43:26
The Warrior and the Wise Man (July 15, 2018)
In the 12th century, young men across Europe enlisted en masse to leave their homes and families and travel east to fight in the Crusades, beli...
Doing Small Things with Great Love from 2018-07-11T22:23:39
Doing Small Things with Great Love (July 8, 2018)
Person by person, relationship by relationship, sometimes casserole by casserole, with conversations and occasional rides to church, we ar...
Loving America from 2018-07-02T12:38:08
Loving America (July 1, 2018)
How do we hold onto what is good about our country, given its past wrongs and present struggles? What is real about what we love, and what is fantasy? What wo...
Breaking the Silence Barrier: Lessons of Love and Liberation from 2018-06-26T14:06:54
Breaking the Silence Barrier: Lessons of Love and Liberation (June 24, 2018)
Join us this Pride Sunday as we celebrate and mark the 49th Anniversary of the Stonewall riots, which gave voic...
What We Tell Our Men from 2018-06-25T14:52:23
What We Tell Our Men (June 17, 2018)
There is a lot of talk about what we tell our girls and our women -- messages that are not helpful or supportive of their fullest being and fruition, b...
State of the Garden: A Reflection on Us and Here from 2018-06-25T14:34:42
State of the Garden: A Reflection on Us and Here (June 10, 2018)
People asked me when I came what was my vision for UUSF. That seemed so silly. Vision doesn't come with you like a stencil ...
The Outermost House and The Sacrality of Place from 2018-06-25T14:30:41
The Outermost House and The Sacrality of Place (June 3, 2018)
A bit less than 100 years ago, Henry Beston wrote "The Outermost House" after a year he spent in Cape Cod. The book didn't sel...
Contemplative Practices And Connection In Digital Times from 2018-06-25T14:27:09
Contemplative Practices And Connection In Digital Times (May 27, 2018)
How can contemplative practices renew hearts and spirits in digital times? In what ways does technology help or harm ...
Sports and Spirit: What being a jock can teach us about life. from 2018-05-21T09:31:13
Sports and Spirit: What being a jock can teach us about life. (May 20, 2018)
This week is our Bay to Breaker’s Sunday so…. take public transportation and leave early for church! And we wil...
Embodied Faith from 2018-05-14T14:48:01
Embodied Faith (May 13, 2018)
Having a child changed my relationship to my body, or more importantly my awareness of where body and sacredness intersect. It has for other folks too, I know...
A Child’s Place in Church from 2018-05-07T12:33:52
A Child’s Place in Church
This Sunday is our Religions Education Sunday, the end of the year’s program, the celebration of teachers, and a chance to reflect on what the place of children i...
Coming of Age Service from 2018-04-23T11:23:09
Coming of Age Service
This Sunday we celebrate our Coming of Age youth with a special worship service. The worship service is the culmination of a year-long faith exploration program for o...
What Still Connects Us from 2018-04-16T13:09:25
What Still Connects Us
Twenty years ago, a small group set out walking from this church, down the hill and into the Tenderloin. From that founding act of the Faithful Fools Street Ministry...
Fifty Years Later (Big Music Sunday) from 2018-04-09T13:42:20
Fifty Years Later
It is a privilege to present the rarely performed, Pulitzer Prize nominated oratorio Scenes from the Life of a Martyr composed by the esteemed African American female com...
The Radical Act of Hoping from 2018-04-08T12:43:23
The Radical Act of Hoping
Easter cannot be understood without Good Friday, though liberals love to skip right over the one, straight into the other. To get why hope is radical -- maybe the...
Liberation, Again and Again from 2018-04-03T07:40:17
Liberation, Again and Again
Some messages endure, are worthy of revisiting, because they are forever relevant in new ways. Passover's core message of liberation is one of them. It wasn't j...
Rev. Kay Jorgensen Memorial Service from 2018-03-15T15:14:15
Rev. Kay Jorgensen Memorial Service
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What the World Needs Now from 2018-03-15T14:51:59
What the World Needs Now
I've been thinking a lot lately about justice, but also mercy, its cousin (or fraternal twin). And about what the world needs now.
Rev. Vanessa Rush South...
The Beams in the Great Hall from 2018-03-05T12:38:32
The Beams in the Great Hall
Alfred North Whitehead talks of the "law of expenditure". "There are tides in the ocean of life, and what comes in depends upon what goes out," he writes. But w...
Gifts of God from 2018-02-19T15:00:11
"Gifts of God"
450 years ago the Edict of Torda proclaimed that faith is "the gift of God." That was the beginning of Unitarianism in Transylvania. What is the heritage given to us from ou...
The Play's the Thing: Theater and Play from 2018-02-12T11:40:51
The Play's the Thing: Theater and Play
Some of you may know that I grew up in the theater, at least when I was small. My dad was an actor and so theater was part of our life. Moreover, it ...
Improv for Life from 2018-02-04T18:59:06
Improv for Life
One of the most lasting pieces of a ministry I served in Washington DC was an improv troupe we started. Actually, we just started with one workshop, but people fell in love...
Pilgrimage from 2018-01-30T09:47:55
Pilgrimage
Popular guest speaker and UCLA Oncology Chaplain, Michael Eselun will explore the idea of pilgrimage-- our pursuit of inspiration and enlightenment. Internal journeys and extern...
Real Differences from 2018-01-22T12:44:17
Real Differences
There are, despite our most fervent hopes, some differences about how we can choose to frame our understanding of society, of family, of individual identity that are very ...
The Construction of Difference from 2018-01-16T10:00:15
The Construction of Difference
What about those differences that we create or that are created in us? How does class background form us and how does it show up, not invisible but not stamp...
The Beauty of Difference from 2018-01-08T11:00:02
The Beauty of Difference
How and when is difference a gift, life enhancing, part of the beauty of the world and a joyful source of wisdom and delight.
Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, ...
A Legacy Worth Celebrating from 2018-01-08T10:12:40
A Legacy Worth Celebrating
The end of one year and the starting of another is traditionally a time of remembering, planning, releasing, and (re)committing. As is always the case, as a comm...
The Alt Christmas from 2017-12-24T16:01:47
The Alt Christmas
This afternoon we will tell the story of Christmas with mangers and the star and the kings and shepherds. That about all the other stories of Christmas we might tell, our...
The Miracle Stories: The Lamp and the Sea from 2017-12-18T09:31:30
The Miracle Stories: The Lamp and the Sea
This time of the year we are inundated with miracle stories -- old and new. Let's look at a few. The story of the lamp that stayed lit for 8 days,...
Memories of Home from 2017-12-11T11:27
Memories of Home
Why do people stay home? Why do they leave? What does "home" mean, anyway? What do we long for, when we long for home? And why is that longing so strong, this time of year...
Waiting and Anticipation from 2017-12-04T12:32:54
Waiting and Anticipation
Waiting and anticipation are part of the season of Advent and the lead up to getting those Christmas, Hanukah, and Kwanza presents. They say that anticipating some...
My Family and Other Animals from 2017-11-27T13:35
My Family and Other Animals
We all have the sense of some ideal family, and with it the clarity of how far ours deviates from that norm. The lesson pressed into us at times like Thanksgivi...
Out of Control from 2017-11-20T11:25:47
Out of Control
There are times in life when our well thought-out projects or plans do not materialize as hoped, and we are faced with the unknown. These can be times of great vulnerability...
Picnic at the Graveyard from 2017-11-06T12:34:16
Picnic at the Graveyard
What makes us more vulnerable than the ultimate loss, than death? Nothing, I think. Different cultures have different ways of putting us in relationship to death. L...
Big Music Sunday: 500 Years Since Reformation Began! from 2017-10-30T15:57:42
Big Music Sunday: 500 Years Since Reformation Began!
We've all found ourselves lost in the state of limbo at some point in our lives, caught between its borders of the known and the unknow...
Sitting in Limbo from 2017-10-23T13:02:33
Sitting in Limbo
We've all found ourselves lost in the state of limbo at some point in our lives, caught between its borders of the known and the unknown, unsure which way to go or where t...
Resistance: Symbolic Acts from 2017-10-16T18:27:53
Resistance: Symbolic Acts
To deal in symbols is complicated business. Religion and State have done it for millennia, literature too. But we do so because symbols have the power to unmake p...
Resistance: Making Lemonade or The 614th Commandment from 2017-10-09T14:02:17
Resistance: Making Lemonade or The 614th Commandment
One way we act out of resistance to hurt or evil in the world is go make good of it. Why? And what can that look like? Here are some st...
Healing, Resistance, and a Hole in the Roof from 2017-10-02T09:56:52
Healing, Resistance, and a Hole in the Roof
What does it take for us to be healed, as individuals and as communities? What does healing have to do with resistance (or with a hole in the ro...
Written But Not Yet Sealed from 2017-09-25T12:57:52
Written But Not Yet Sealed
These are the Days of Awe. It is time when the work of atonement (at-one-ness) is supposed to be our focus. It's our last chance to fix a year's wounds, wrongs, ...
The Perfect Day from 2017-09-18T10:54:30
The Perfect Day
Sabbath seems like such an old word, but particularly as articulated in the Jewish Tradition it is a gorgeous, but forgotten, notion of what helps shape and ground a rich, ...
Coffee in the Desert from 2017-09-11T12:38:16
Coffee in the Desert
The ancient rite or obligation of hospitality is just that, ancient and sacred. From the Bedoin people and the Greeks, to the Jews and then the Christians; on the Indi...
Work That is Real from 2017-09-05T09:39
Work That is Real
In honor of Labor Day, we will be hosting Rev. Ben Meyers , who will share what he and his congregation in San Mateo learned in their experience working with local labor...
Fresh Starts from 2017-08-28T14:38:03
Fresh Starts
We've all had particular moments in our lives that stay with us. A time where we felt alive, awake, open and present. Full-bodied moments. Do you remember the first time you f...
In the Present Moment from 2017-08-21T12:32:55
In the Present Moment
If seasons of the year invite different seasons of the soul, what about summer invites us to focus more on being in the present moment? How do we do that? What gets ...
Together: A Reflection on Small Group Ministry from 2017-08-14T13:01:13
Together: A Reflection on Small Group Ministry
At the start of UUSF's new ministry with Reverend Vanessa Rush Southern, an exploration of what it means to come together, to gather, in an ...
The Enduring Purpose of Religious Community from 2017-08-07T12:17:46
The Enduring Purpose of Religious Community
All specific congregational mission statements aside, why do we come together and what is it we're supposed to be doing here? What is it communi...
Thriving in Difficult Times from 2017-07-31T12:06:24
Thriving in Difficult Times
Difficulty can arise in any arena of our lives: partners, children, friends, work, health, finances, church, community, politics or the larger word. When thing...
Surrender to the Weight of Being Healed from 2017-07-27T13:27:23
Surrender to the Weight of Being Healed
Surrender to the Weight of Being Healed: what does it mean to bear witness and change worlds? Issues can't be repaired; problems can. How do we rec...
What Do A Billion Muslims Have To Teach Us About Unitarian Universalism? from 2017-07-17T12:28:20
What Do A Billion Muslims Have To Teach Us About Unitarian Universalism?
Islam, the second largest religion in the world, could be thought of as a Unitarian heresy. Like American Unitarian...
Strange Foolishness: Meditations on Political Correctness from 2017-07-10T13:02:39
Strange Foolishness: Meditations on Political Correctness
“Strange Foolishness: Meditations on Political Correctness.” -- Is Unitarian Universalism "a chapel of political correctness,” as...
Mend Thine Every Flaw, A Sermon for America's Birthday from 2017-07-02T19:09:24
Mend Thine Every Flaw,
A Sermon for America's Birthday
What makes America great? And what exactly do we need to go back to make it great again? The Reverend Dr. David Keyes finds para...
Not Knowing - The Resistance to Certainty from 2017-06-26T15:12:56
Not Knowing - The Resistance to Certainty
Rev. Sonya, now Minister to the UU Congregation of Tuolumne County in Sonora, preached an earlier version of this sermon to the UUs of Oakland as ...
Confessions of A Curious Cleric: Reflections On 45 Years of Ministry from 2017-06-19T14:09:55
Confessions of A Curious Cleric: Reflections On 45 Years of Ministry
We each bring our own gifts. Ministry is something we all do. John will confess what he wishes he had done differently....
The Curious Case Of This Congregation and Of Schrodinger’s Cat from 2017-06-12T15:02:24
The Curious Case Of This Congregation and Of Schrodinger’s Cat
These last three years have been among the happiest and most satisfying of my professional life. Yet UUSF still suffers from ...
Inquiring Minds Want To Know: A Question Box Sermon from 2017-06-12T14:59:12
Inquiring Minds Want To Know: A Question Box Sermon
Worship Associate Richard Davis and I will pick the 10 best questions for me to answer. Briefly.
The Choir will sing Rumi’s “Come, ...
Practicing Love from 2017-06-12T14:51:36
Practicing Love
Our pulpit guest on Memorial Day weekend is a lay member of the UU Congregation of Santa Rosa, a Marriage and Family Therapist, and recipient of several district awards as ...
Community as Sanctuary . . . and more from 2017-06-12T14:45:49
Community as Sanctuary . . . and more
The mission statement of UUSF says that we exist “to be a sanctuary for individual religious growth and learning, to celebrate life and worship in div...
Foremothers of Faith from 2017-05-15T11:20:08
Foremothers of Faith
On Mother’s Day, John will offer a sermon about some of the foremothers of our liberal faith, known and unknown, remembered and forgotten. Lucy Smith will serve as Wor...
Two Types of Religion from 2017-05-08T13:19:52
Two Types of Religion
Despite the tremendous diversity in the U.S. religious landscape, there are really only two kinds of religion. Most people practice one or the other, and only one of ...
Living the Questions - A Celebration of Our Stepping Stones: Rites of Passage Class from 2017-05-01T12:08:34
Living the Questions - A Celebration of Our Stepping Stones: Rites of Passage Class
Join us this Sunday as we honor and celebrate our ten Rites of Passage students. Under the gifted leader...
Last Things First from 2017-04-24T16:04:27
Last Things First (Earth Day Sunday)
On the day following Earth Day, and at the end of a whole month of programming on climate change led by our Environmental Justice Working Group, our Me...
Spiritual Audacity from 2017-04-18T10:35:28
Spiritual Audacity (EASTER SERVICE)
Rev. Alyson Jacks offered the Message for All Ages and Rev. JD Benson shared a reflection. The Bell Choir performed “Now the Green Blade Riseth,” and Re...
The Road To The Promised Land from 2017-04-10T10:50:02
The Road To The Promised Land
Until recently the Dean of Religious Life at Stanford, Scotty McLennan continues to teach ethics there in the business school. He is a UU minister whose most ...
Justice and Confrontation from 2017-04-03T13:15:32
Justice and Confrontation
Conflict is a great way to uncover the truth. World leaders rely on conflicting and competing advisers to make wise decisions. Instead of focusing our efforts in...
Presence In The World from 2017-03-20T13:31:03
Presence In The World
The late Harry Scholefield, beloved minister of this church for many years, began his days with a meditation practice (“Living by Heart”) that included preparing to b...
The Unseen Guests from 2017-03-13T14:03:12
The Unseen Guests
Faith, Hope and Love are evidence of the inherent grace in the world, for humans do not invent or create these experiences, but uncover them as a quality of life itself. ...
Spiritual Friendship In Challenging Times from 2017-03-06T11:31:31
Spiritual Friendship In Challenging Times
Our congregation is experiencing notable growth. We will kick off our annual fundraising and a much-needed capital campaign to strengthen our chur...
Love, Remembered from 2017-02-27T11:40:45
Love, Remembered
Congregations often accumulate layers of love and stories over decades, like layers of sediment below the surface. They may not be visible, but they are the ground on whic...
Wanted: Love Makers from 2017-02-20T09:47:16
Wanted: Love Makers
Wedged between tirades of mean tweets, disparaging demagoguery and the rollercoaster of topsy-turvy politics, love holds on tight for the ride of its life. To effective...
Loving The Future from 2017-02-13T11:05:06
Loving The Future
Native Americans, as in the Great Law of the Iroquois Confederacy, stressed keeping in mind the well-being of those who will follow us in seven generations. If we loved, ...
Love and Power from 2017-02-06T11:24:24
Love and Power
Dr King said, “What is needed is a realization that power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love...
It Ain't Necessarily So from 2017-01-30T10:58:51
It Ain't Necessarily So
Our nation lives in a perpetual wrestling match with might opponents. Individually and collectively we are called to engage our personal, social, political and rel...
Dread, Hope, And Expectation from 2017-01-23T12:27:14
Dread, Hope, And Expectation
On the Sunday after the presidential inauguration, and our annual UUSF Spaghetti Supper for Social Justice, the Choir will sing, “Take Care of This House,” fr...
Hope Is Not Idle from 2017-01-19T08:29:44
Hope Is Not Idle
This Sunday begins our Human Rights Awareness Month. Serving as Worship Associate will be Rochelle Fortier-Nwadibia, member, immigration attorney, and chair of our Human R...
Intransitive Hope from 2017-01-09T11:45:48
Intransitive Hope
Hope is dangerous. We can become attached to particular outcomes. The best sort of hope is not a bet on outcomes, but an intransitive “orientation of the spirit,” as huma...
Lost Hopes, New Hope from 2017-01-05T11:58:57
Lost Hopes, New Hope
The year 2016 was one of many dashed hopes. But then so are most years. On New Year’s Day we will write some of our lost hopes on cards, then let them go – to be burne...
OPENING GIFTS from 2016-12-26T08:59:50
OPENING GIFTS
It’s not just on Christmas morning that we open gifts. It’s every morning that we receive and open the gift of a new day. As we gather on Christmas morning, Worship Associat...
IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER from 2016-12-26T08:52:29
IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER
The hymn from which the sermon title is taken includes the words: “Once more child and mother weave their magic spell,/ Touching hearts with wonder words can never t...
THE WONDER OF CHRISTMAS from 2016-12-26T08:46:43
THE WONDER OF CHRISTMAS
The hymn from which the sermon title is taken includes the words: “Once more child and mother weave their magic spell,/ Touching hearts with wonder words can never ...
Wonders Still The World Shall Witness from 2016-12-19T09:52:47
Wonders Still The World Shall Witness
The world does not lack for wonders, said poet Muriel Rukeyser, only for a sense of wonder. John’s spiritual mentor, Dr. Jacob Trapp, wrote a hymn wit...
Wondrous Music In The Face of Wrongs from 2016-12-12T13:50:32
Wondrous Music In The Face of Wrongs
Dr. Buehrens, homilist
Dr. Mark Sumner directing the UUSF Choir and Soloists
and the Jubilate Instrumental Ensemble
and Reiko Oda Lane at t...
A Rebirth of Wonder from 2016-12-05T11:41:14
A Rebirth of Wonder
In a poem with a refrain about “awaiting a rebirth of wonder,” San Francisco’s own Lawrence Ferlinghetti once described how he got through the McCarthy era and the comp...
Once Upon A Time . . . Again from 2016-11-28T10:40:54
Once Upon A Time . . . Again
We welcome back popular guest speaker Michael Eselun, who has come to us every autumn for several years. An Oncology Chaplain at UCLA Hospital, Michael will ...
Good Grace: Stories of Thanksgiving and Reconciliation from 2016-11-21T10:27:28
Good Grace: Stories of Thanksgiving and Reconciliation
There is a good chance your Thanksgiving holiday will include some post-election reflection. Along with some side dishes, well come ...
Reconciling Opposing Views from 2016-11-14T11:58:14
Reconciling Opposing Views
Novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald once said that “the test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still r...
Winners, Losers, and Reconciliation: An Election Day Sermon from 2016-11-07T11:26:48
Winners, Losers, and Reconciliation: An Election Day Sermon
Winners hold parties; losers hold meetings. Only finite games divide the winners and losers. From a distance, life is more like...
We have Come This Far By Faith from 2016-10-31T09:42:25
We have Come This Far By Faith
The Rev. Darrick Jackson is the Director of Contextual Ministry at Meadville Lombard Theological School. Darrick is involved denominationally as Treasurer of...
Authoritarians, Then and Now from 2016-10-23T19:12:13
Authoritarians, Then and Now
On the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the United Nations here in the City of St. Francis, some reflections on why, despite the growing strength of the i...
Fine Tuning Your Moral Compass from 2016-10-17T12:02:29
Fine Tuning Your Moral Compass
What is the source of your authority to act--in word or deed--in the world? What external influences and what innate origins are there to one's personal sen...
The (Limited) Authority of Tradition from 2016-10-10T13:10:14
The (Limited) Authority of Tradition
What can we learn from traditions of the Jewish High Holidays? Especially from those associated with Yom Kippur, the solemn Day of Atonement? Martin B...
Power, Authority, and Spirituality from 2016-10-03T12:41:51
Power, Authority, and Spirituality
When I was UUA President, I co-led a couple of retreats for Unitarian Universalist CEOs under this title. To use what power we have (which is often grea...
Faith: The Verb from 2016-09-25T18:20:40
Faith: The Verb
We welcome to our pulpit the newly-called Co-Minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley. Christian shares the ministry there with his wife, the Rev. Kirstin ...
Are There Two Types Of Faith? from 2016-09-19T13:04:04
Are There Two Types Of Faith?
The great Jewish sage Martin Buber once wrote an influential book called Two Types of Faith, suggesting as much. One type emphasizes relationship. In Hebrew, ...
Faith of the Free from 2016-09-12T09:20:24
Faith of the Free
We gather for a new church year of learning, caring, and serving at UUSF on the 15th anniversary of September 11, 2001. The following months and years were the best of ti...
What Does It Mean To Have Faith In The Collective Power Of Working People? from 2016-09-06T10:23:51
"What Does It Mean To Have Faith In The Collective Power Of Working People?"
At a time when the U.S. labor movement is struggling to survive and so many people lack secure employment and l...
Friendship, Why Bother? from 2016-08-29T10:42
Friendship, Why Bother?
A collaborative service of voices from Small Group Ministry, reflecting ways in which we can deepen our relationships; and learn from our differences.
Re...
The Future of Evil from 2016-07-18T12:06:52
The Future of Evil
Unitarian Universalism is transitioning into its next theological phase of embracing spirituality and appreciating a higher power. While comforting, can we reach only fo...
Accepting Our Demons from 2016-07-11T12:28:49
Accepting Our Demons
From where come Temptation, Evil, and Demons? Recent bestsellers prominently feature devilish beings, pointing us toward the ancient religious study of Demonology. W...
Renewing Gratitude from 2016-07-03T18:17:17
Renewing Gratitude
A mother and her son were at a local farmers market. They stopped at a stall piled high with beautiful fruit. The vendor smiled at the little boy and handed him an orang...
The Art of Creative Reframing: Seeing The World With Fresh Eyes from 2016-06-27T13:38:42
The Art of Creative Reframing: Seeing The World With Fresh Eyes
Vincent van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo, “The more I think it over, the more I feel that there is
nothing...
Creative Generativity from 2016-06-20T11:42:20
Creative Generativity
“Any damned fool can be a genitor,” some wise man once said. “It takes creative wisdom and maturity to actually be a good father.” Recognizing how few of us may have ...
Creativity, Hubris, and Babel from 2016-06-13T12:45:25
Creativity, Hubris, and Babel
“Democracy,” said Winston Churchill, “is the worst of all possible systems of government – except for all the others that have been tried.” At the momen...
On Being Part of The Creative (and Destructive) Process from 2016-06-07T10:07
On Being Part of The Creative (and Destructive) Process
Western free market economist Friedrich Hayek spoke of “creative destruction.” Hindus have a trinity of deities: Brahma, the On...
The Practice of Care from 2016-06-07T10:03:08
The Practice of Care
A reflection on what it means to practice a caring orientation to life. How we can cultivate this basic attitude of attentiveness, openness, love even. Margot wil...
The Limits of Care from 2016-05-23T13:30:11
The Limits of Care
We can’t possibly care about everything. “Teach us to care and not to care,” prayed poet T.S. Eliot.
The trick is to know when to do each. This is never e...
Spiritual Care from 2016-05-16T12:47:46
Spiritual Care
Ministers are often said to have people in their “spiritual care” or to be involved in “the care of souls.” What is that in practical terms? The Rev. László Major, mini...
Reciprocal Care from 2016-05-09T17:43:08
Reciprocal Care
Meg is the daughter of a UU Religious Education Director. She is both a licensed psychotherapist and has served as minister to four UU congregations. She has served a...
Work and Care from 2016-05-02T13:35:47
Work and Care
Much of the world’s work, especially caring work, is unpaid or under-valued. Many crises in the social world result from a scarcity of adequately paid work in our rapid...
Self-Awareness: Coming of Age from 2016-04-25T10:11:46
Self-Awareness: Coming of Age
This Sunday we celebrate our Coming of Age youth with a special worship service. The worship service is the culmination of a year-long faith exploration prog...
The Awareness of Glory from 2016-04-18T10:05:54
The Awareness of Glory
"Big Music" Sunday at UUSF! The Poulenc Gloria is one of the great choral works of the 20th century. It was commissioned for and first performed by the Boston Sympho...
The Awareness of Evil from 2016-04-12T10:42:08
The Awareness of Evil
If most religion begins in a sense of metaphysical unity, it also includes the moral duality
of good and evil. We often focus on good people, doing good thi...
The Awareness of Oneness from 2016-04-04T10:14:40
The Awareness of Oneness
It is possible to be both rational and something of a mystic. Perhaps all unifying
religion begins in what we claim as one of the sources of our living t...
Practicing Resurrection from 2016-03-27T17:23:46
Practicing Resurrection
In a change from past practice at Easter, the children will join us only for the early part of the service, for a Message for All Ages and for some of the glo...
Cracking The Monolith from 2016-03-21T12:47:28
Cracking The Monolith
Bill Rankin is the author of a 1994 book on social change with the same title as his sermon
with the subtitle, “The Struggle for the Soul of America: A...
Change In The Church from 2016-03-14T13:14:45
Change In The Church
Spirituality is meant to change us. No one should touch holy ground and remain unchanged. Churches, on the other hand, are meant to provide stability – a framewor...
Shaping Worth from 2016-03-07T12:57
Shaping Worth
Worship is constantly changing. The root of the word goes back to the Anglo-Saxon “worth -shaep.” The constant purpose being to help give shape to what is of true worth,...
The Soul as Inner Connection from 2016-02-29T11:52:03
The Soul as Inner Connection
The late Malvina Reynolds, a Bay Area Unitarian activist and singer-songwriter, once wrote a prose piece she called her “Soul Book,” arguing that the soul...
Alienation and Reconnection from 2016-02-22T10:01:56
Alienation and Reconnection
Alienation, said theologian Paul Tillich, is inherent in the human condition. We live alienated from ourselves, from others, and from the very ground of ou...
Connecting To Beauty from 2016-02-15T11:21:33
Connecting To Beauty
On Valentineís Day we will ponder eros ñ not just as sexual attraction ñ but as the divine energy that connects us to the beauty all around us. Those who are lonely, o...
Practicing Connection from 2016-02-08T13:16:12
Practicing Connection
Many of us, including your Sr. Minister, are actually introverts. We have to be intentional about making a real connection with other people. Those who are natural ex...
In These Hands: Embodying Justice from 2016-02-01T11:57:06
In These Hands: Embodying Justice
In his latest book, Prehension: The Hand and the Emergence of Humanity, philosopher and writer Colin McGinn tells the amazing story of how the hand formed...
Holding Out For Mercy from 2016-01-25T10:08:43
Holding Out For Mercy
When I get to talking too much about justice, my wife Gwen is likely to
say aloud, “Personally, I’m holding out for mercy.” Aren’t we all? In
the...
Waking Up White from 2016-01-17T16:40
Waking Up White
The Black Lives Matter movement has been a wake-up call to white America. When did you wake up to issues of race in your own life? How have those early experiences helped o...
Beloved Conversations:Healing Our Way Toward Beloved Community from 2016-01-11T13:40:02
Beloved Conversations:Healing Our Way Toward Beloved Community
A group of UUSF members is about to begin a curriculum called "Beloved Conversations: Meditations on Race and Ethnicity." Sev...
Practicing Justice from 2016-01-04T07:40:51
Practicing Justice
Seeking justice as an advocate or activist is one thing -- sometimes akin to serving an ideal. Practicing justice in one's life, every day, is something more concrete a...
Transitions from 2015-12-28T16:55:27
Transitions
Major transitions are always done in the face of fear, grief, or anxiety. Young adults Joseph Chapot and Cierdwynn Donaldson will testify to their own experiences of finishing...
Fear Not! Said The Angels Pt2 from 2015-12-28T16:49:32
Fear Not! Said The Angels Pt2
For a more contemplative experience of Christmas Eve, on the same theme. Sue Anthony will serve as Worship Associate, and soloists rather than full choir will...
Fear Not! Said The Angels Pt1 from 2015-12-28T16:41:57
Fear Not! Said The Angels
Intergenerational service with full choir and Christmas music in a multi-generational context.
Rev. John Buehrens, Senior Minister
Rev. Alyson J...
Natural Fear and Historical Hope from 2015-12-21T11:58:40
Natural Fear and Historical Hope
Managing our own fears and anxieties is a primary test of our faithful living, no matter what we believe or disbelieve. “What’s an angel?” asked a little ...
A Royal Banquet: In The Face of Fear from 2015-12-14T13:13:19
A Royal Banquet: In The Face of Fear
The UUSF Choir and the UC Berkeley Alumni/ae Choir combine with an orchestra under the direction of UUSF Music Director Dr. Mark Sumner for a performa...
Thoughts In the Presence of Fear from 2015-12-07T11:23:52
Thoughts In the Presence of Fear
The title is borrowed from poet, ecologist, peace advocate and essayist Wendell Berry, who wrote on this theme after 9/11. Here we are again, and on the a...
Nostalgia and Expectations from 2015-11-30T14:20:50
Nostalgia and Expectations
Thanksgiving weekend also brings us the first Sunday of Advent, the season of expectation. John’s sermon will touch on some memories – of his first Thanksgiving ...
Crossing Over from 2015-11-23T09:06:15
Crossing Over
On the Sunday before Thanksgiving we celebrate Guest at Your Table Sunday, and dedicate the offering to the work of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee. 75 years a...
Breaking Barriers: Learning to Move at the Speed of Trust from 2015-11-16T13:15:19
Breaking Barriers: Learning to Move at the Speed of Trust
When I think about barriers and boundaries, I think of Robert Frost's poem, “Mending Wall” and its famous line “ Good fences make ...
Barriers and Boundaries from 2015-11-12T14:01:03
All of us need “good boundaries?” But in an age of both constant electronic communications and firewalls, of more border-crossers, refugees and asylum seekers than ever how do we – how should we – ...
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The Sources of Arrogance from 2015-10-12T14:04:41
A prayer in our hymnal includes the line, “Forbid that we should feel superior to others when we are only more shielded.” Columbus Day (otherwise known as Indigenous People’s Day) seems a good time...
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Losing Face from 2015-10-05T08:56:25
No one wants to “lose face, much less be humbled or humiliated. Yet few humans can escape it. What matters is how we respond. On the feast day of Francis of Assisi, some stories of spiritual respon...
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Starting Over from 2015-09-21T08:15:55
We mark the Jewish High Holidays with adapted liturgy and appropriate music. The central theme of the Days of Awe is teshuvah, turning and returning. John’s sermon will reflect on the need for a sp...
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The Longing for Belonging: In Returning and Rest from 2015-09-14T11:25:16
The morning will begin with a breakfast for families and children, old and new. The service will not only kick off a new church year, but also “Bring a Friend Month” at UUSF. There are many longing...
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Swinging On The Chains from 2015-09-08T08:47:27
Remembering his own years as a member of the United Mine Workers, John’s sermon will mark Labor Day weekend and discuss the increasing attacks on all forms of unionization. New member Bruce Neuberg...
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The Unitarian Vision from 2015-08-31T11:50:13
Our Unitarian heritage is full of examples of wise and foolish ways to understand our faith. Rev. John Buehrens will draw on his broad experience as a historian and as a leader of our denomination....
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The Universalist Vision from 2015-08-24T12:42:03
When we are young, we are taught to look both ways before crossing the street. By midlife, we’ve probably learned to look at life from both sides now. How do we keep spiritually alive when, as we a...
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Looking Both Ways from 2015-08-17T11:44:51
When we are young, we are taught to look both ways before crossing the street. By midlife, we’ve probably learned to look at life from both sides now. How do we keep spiritually alive when, as we a...
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Shut Your Eyes and See from 2015-08-10T14:30:14
We often say how important it is to welcome the stranger, and indeed we do try to practice hospitality. But a closer, deeper connection is not so easy to risk. Growing up, many of us learned thin...
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What the Heart Sees from 2015-08-06T11:57:04
"What is essential is invisible to the eye" says the fox in "The Little Prince". In a world of matter and form, what is this knowing that lives with only the shape the human heart may offer? Intuit...
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Walk Humbly? Whatever For? from 2015-08-06T11:53:29
Face it, humility doesn't come easily to most of us Unitarian Universalists; it doesn't come easily to Americans, either, especially to those of us living here in the most beautiful city on Earth. ...
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Diminish Economic Privilege Equitably from 2015-08-06T11:49:32
Many of us are comfortably among the affluent and rich Americans who hold 87% of US wealth. As people who wish to be responsible and want to diminish unfair privilege, how much of the necessary cha...
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This Mutual Inspiration Society from 2015-07-13T13:42:36
We are bound together with strong threads of inspiration, reverence and love. Our stories are those of individual lives woven together with our shared lot in life. We have made the choice to be in ...
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Embracing Radical Hospitality! from 2015-07-06T13:10:47
Theologian Kortright Davis explains that true hospitality requires us to move beyond our boundaries and to extend the spirit of welcome to the stranger, to those easily seen as ?Others?. But do we ...
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Refuge On The Journey from 2015-06-29T14:34:40
Dawn began contemplative practice in 1997. She is currently earning an MA (MDiv equivalent) in Buddhist Studies and Chaplaincy from the Graduate Theological Union. Dawn was ordained in Burma in 20...
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Before Selma and Beyond from 2015-06-22T12:50:10
We have just celebrated the involvement 50 years ago of hundreds of Unitarian Universalists in Selma, Alabama, in support of Black voting rights. But we should also know about and learn from Unitar...
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Are We There Yet? from 2015-06-15T11:53:56
This will be Flower Communion Sunday. Bring a flower, if you can, to be exchanged for one
brought by someone else.John will tell the story of how the flower communion developed at
Is There Anybody At Home? from 2015-06-08T12:39:20
It's hard to feel at home in the world. But if we are going to fulfill our mission as a sanctuary for spiritual exploration, we must welcome pilgrims on life's journey. Our service will include the...
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Joy and A Purpose from 2015-06-01T17:05:09
A person entirely tied up in him (or her) self becomes a very small package, said one great progressive preacher. True joy emerges, often unexpectedly, in giving oneself to a purpose far larger tha...
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The Joy That Passes Understanding from 2015-06-01T16:59:03
On this Memorial Day Weekend, many members of UUSF will be on the All-Church Retreat. The joyous, UU remnant left in the city will gather in the Sanctuary, And have a joyous time, perhaps rememberi...
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Claiming the Right to Joy from 2015-06-01T16:48:17
Claiming the name ?gay,? was an act of liberation for same-sex loving men and others in our culture. But today, in 78 countries in our world, such sexual expression remains life-threatening. Our ow...
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On Being Otherwise from 2015-05-11T10:11:46
Many of us feel a bit ?other.? If we are wise, we learn to treat others as we ourselves would like to be treated. Our mothers, if they were wise, told us this. But we often need the reminder. And s...
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Joy Concealed, Joy Revealed from 2015-05-04T14:20:14
We will begin the service with Rev. Alyson Jacks, Associate Minister, recognizing those who have volunteered as teachers in our religious education program this year. In the day-to-day roller coast...
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How Much Do We Deserve? from 2015-05-04T14:00:11
Our worship theme for April is "wealth and poverty," explored in both the material and spiritual dimensions. Questions of distributive economic justice are ultimately moral and spiritual issues. Jo...
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Fatal Attraction from 2015-04-20T13:19:08
It's boom town times again in San Francisco, this time with companies on the cutting edge of technology. We hunger for the new; we fear being left behind in this year's Global Economy 3.0. But is t...
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Rites of Passage: Big Questions from 2015-04-13T14:40:56
This Sunday is our special RITES OF PASSAGE Service! Our 12 ROP graduates, along with their Teaching Team, will join Revs. Buehrens, Benson and Jacks on the Chancel. Our talented group of 3rd-4th g...
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Stories of Resurrection from 2015-04-06T12:40:22
Celebrate Easter with laughter and joy, music and stories of new life. Wear an Easter bonnet if you like, bring the children, and join the ministers, the Choir, the Bell Choir and singer-songwriter...
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Preparing For Passover from 2015-03-30T12:58:40
It has been said that the Exodus story, retold at Passover, is not only the key to "engaged religion," but has been re-interpreted in every social justice movement from Jesus on Palm Sunday through...
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Lessons from Suffering from 2015-03-23T12:40:14
Going to and from Selma Alabama for the 50th anniversary of the voting rights campaign there, John Buehrens was reading Racing to Justice: Transforming Our Conceptions of Self and Other to Build an...
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Is Seeing Believing? from 2015-03-23T12:36:34
What does it mean to be a philosophically and theologically pluralistic community? What does matter in our relationships with one another and to what is it we each rely upon? Are you "right" or is ...
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Rehearsing For The Beloved Community from 2015-03-23T12:29:46
In the late 1800's, American Philosopher, Josiah Royce, coined the term Beloved Community, a phrase adopted by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King. To build the beloved community, according to Royce, requi...
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The Chicken and the Egg from 2015-03-23T12:26:04
Which comes first? Church community? Or our social justice mission? The chicken or the egg? We will launch our annual pledge drive for the UUSF operating budget.
Rev. John Buehrens,Se...
At the Speed of Trust from 2015-03-23T12:21:36
Mutual trust is a form of "social capital." We move forward at the speed of trust, I am convinced. But when trust fails, the natural tendency is to seek our own safety. How do we begin taking risks...
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Vulnerability That Heals from 2015-03-19T12:44:15
When our trust has been betrayed, the first thing we do is put on armor to protect our vulnerable spots. Betrayal can be especially painful in matters of the heart and we are often left with feelin...
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Reconciliation and Race from 2015-01-20T10:07:55
Martin Luther King's legacy towers above all the rest in our national imagination. We remember him for his pure dream of freedom and equality, and yet today that dream still seems so far from our n...
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Alienation and Reconciliation from 2015-01-12T11:59:10
Most of us are alienated from someone. Often for quite good reason. How do we achieve anything like reconciliation? John will draw on his experience in family systems work to offer some insights on...
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Reconciliation and Dedication from 2015-01-06T11:52:48
As we begin the New Year, our service begins with a baby blessing - dedicating the grandchild of our beloved organist, Reiko Oda Lane. Her name: "Aria." In traditional churches, a theme raised at t...
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Transformations from 2015-01-06T11:48:34
Alex Darr, who grew up in UUSF, will serve as Worship Associate and Kristen Pedersen will work with Rev. Buehrens to create a service that will include the voices of young adults testifying to how ...
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In A Dark Time The Eye Begins To See from 2015-01-06T11:44:25
The title is taken from the American poet, Theodore Roethke. The sermon will be a Christmas season response to the underlying tone of despair in so many lives and so much of our culture. Sue Anthon...
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Intergenerational Christmas Eve from 2015-01-06T11:36:10
Ancient lessons, modern interpretations, carols and candlelight will welcome all
comers. There are often nearly 500 people at this service, so come early! The
offering will go t...
Despair and Joy from 2014-12-22T12:25:19
On the shortest and darkest day of the year our ancient forebears had the spiritual sense to fend off fear and despair with the lighting of bonfires and some of the most joyous, festive revelry. Th...
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The Meaning of Life from 2014-12-08T13:10:51
We welcome the Minister Emerita of First Unitarian in Portland, OR, where she built up one of the largest, most influential churches in the UUA and in the state, often preaching to 1000 people. She...
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At the End of the Day from 2014-12-02T10:32:23
What constitutes a good ending? To a day, or to a life? Perhaps the answer is the same. Our service for Thanksgiving weekend will be graced by the music of some gifted young musicians. Please don't...
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Gratitude: Restringing the Beads from 2014-11-24T10:48:20
Unitarian Universalist oncology chaplain and inspiring speaker Michael Eselun as he explores our relationship to our own stories and how we can use them in the attempt to make spiritual sense of ou...
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Resistance to Gratitude from 2014-11-17T12:42:44
It seems that children -- of all ages -- need prompting to be thankful. Why are we so persistently resistant to gratitude? And what helps us to overcome that resistance?
Rev. John Bue...
Desert Survival and Gratitude from 2014-11-10T13:29:01
Maya Angelou said, 'Let gratitude be the pillow upon which you kneel to say your nightly prayer.' Let's talk about how gratitude can comfort us when life has brought us to our knees.
Cind...
All Souls Day from 2014-11-03T12:38:35
We will celebrate our beloved dead on All Souls Day by expressing how grief is resolved only in gratitude.
Rev. John Buehrens, Senior Minister
Alyson Jacks, Minister of Family Li...
The Search For What Can Save Us Now from 2014-10-26T17:43:10
Many today harbor a barely concealed despair, anxious about the future - for themselves, for the planet, for coming generations. Yet they've also largely given up on traditional doctrines of salvat...
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Building The Beloved Community – With Love from 2014-10-21T10:15:21
On this UN Sunday, we welcome the Executive Director of the UU Office at the United Nations. Bruce Knotts is a retired US diplomat who has become a leader among NGOs at the UN on climate change, L...
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The Problem of Patience from 2014-10-12T20:03:30
John sometimes jokes that he keeps getting called back into ministry because God knows he still needs to learn patience! But the actress Meryl Streep recently wrote that experience taught her there...
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A Chance To Grow a Soul from 2014-10-06T17:46:47
The great Unitarian minister A. Powell Davies reportedly said that "Life is just a chance to grow a soul." Another Unitarian, the Bay Area's own poet-songwriter-activist, Malvina Reynolds, wrote a...
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Turning and Returning from 2014-09-29T15:00:03
We mark the Jewish High Holidays, the "Days of Awe,"with the sounding of the shofar and the call to teshuvah - which means turning, or returning. The birds and animals do this instinctively. For hu...
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Taking A Long Look: Finding The Fresh In The Familiar from 2014-09-22T10:26:57
We're taught as children that it's not polite to stare. But what happens when we look long enough to see something delightfully new beneath a familiar façade? This week, embrace the value of takin...
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Religion. . . I, Too, Dislike It from 2014-09-15T14:46:14
The poet Marianne Moore once began a poem, "Poetry: I too dislike it." Our new minister feels the same about religion! And yet, like the poet, finds "in it, after all, a place for the genuine." Sur...
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Celebration of New Ministry: A New Anointing from 2014-09-08T13:35:11
Our children, youth, and teachers will process in following their welcome back breakfast. Minister Emerita Kay Jorgensen will invest John with an official cap from the Faithful Fools Street Ministr...
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Connections from 2014-08-31T17:00:07
"Only connect!" said the novelist E.M. Forster. But "connections are made slowly," warned poet Marge Piercy, "sometimes they grow underground." John Buehrens will preach, but the service will also ...
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Beginnings from 2014-08-25T10:37:48
Whatever you can do or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now." These words are often attributed to Goethe. In fact, they have another origin. Beginni...
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Assumptions from 2014-08-18T09:53:58
"How dare you assume that I am . . ." Well, fill in the blank! In an opening series of sermons on the ABCs of spirituality and life in community, our new Senior Minister promises that if we don't ...
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Aging With Grace: An Intergenerational Discussion from 2014-08-11T11:44:48
Aging With Grace: An Intergenerational Discussion. Church member Millie Phillips will share about what she has learned about the issue of aging, particularly from our Unitarian Universalist perspec...
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The Purpose of Poetry from 2014-08-04T12:55:24
What is the purpose of poetry? What is the purpose of religion? How do the two purposes overlap? Our speaker, Rev. Dr. Lynn Ungar, both a UU minister and a published poet, will share her theology, ...
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What Do We Do When We Can't Fix It? from 2014-07-28T12:47:48
How do we listen for, and respond to, the sacred when we are up against a problem that isn't easily "fixed," when we feel overwhelmed by our own powerlessness and limitations? This theme is especia...
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The Interfaith Community and Its Meaning to Our City from 2014-07-21T11:35:39
The Executive Director of the Interfaith Council of San Francisco, Michael Pappas, will speak from his experience about the role the Interfaith Community plays in the life of the city and how our c...
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Dark Matter and "Doing" Church in the New Millennium from 2014-07-14T11:24:40
Sundays mornings are now for baseball, soccer, and dance practices in the secular world. Where has the Sabbath gone? How can we "Do" church and religious education while competing with these other ...
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Listening With the Soul from 2014-07-08T14:56:29
When was the last time you listened with more than your ears? Join us in an exploration of deep listening: what it is, how we do it, and the meaning for us as Unitarian Universalists. Come prepared...
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Our Own Sacred Cows & the Probability of Global Spirituality from 2014-06-30T12:01:35
We each have sacred cows: ideas and life practices that we do not find it easy to have challenged or to change.What are some of the common ones for UUs, for Americans & for you? In the 21st century...
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Amen, Amen, Amen from 2014-06-23T10:23:52
As Dave Sammons takes his leave he'll reflect on his ministry with us and his hopes for our future. The past two years have shown him what a solid congregation this is and what it has going for it ...
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All Those Little Lies from 2014-06-16T11:53:18
Most of us like to think of ourselves as truthful, but every once in awhile we catch ourselves telling one of those "little white lies." We're tired, so we say: "I wish I could come to your party b...
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What Do You Want For Your Eulogy? from 2014-05-25T17:48:55
On Memorial Day in some towns and cities people gather in cemeteries where the dead of war are buried to pay tribute to their sacrifice. But what would these troops have wanted said about them in t...
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Do You Hear? from 2014-05-19T13:11:01
Jeremy is a graduate of Pacific School of Religion (PSR), former intern at this church and currently serves as the Minister of the Mission Peak UU Church in Fremont, CA.He says of his topic: "In a ...
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A Letter to My Mother from 2014-05-12T12:42:18
Thirty years after she died, Dave Sammons feels it's time to write a letter to his mom. She died after suffering through a stroke, her husband's death, and a year in a nursing home. Dave wants to s...
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Courage To Believe from 2014-05-05T12:11:39
We celebrate the culmination of this year's Coming of Age program with a special worship service for our seven graduates: Maeve Dellert, Alicia Cover, Spencer Gowin, Fiona King, Olivia Ong, Mara Pu...
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The Baptists Said That? from 2014-04-28T10:08:08
For this Sunday after Earth Day we should reflect on what religious groups have to say
about the issues threatening the earth today, from climate change, to resource depletion
a...
Something Growing Like a Flower from 2014-04-21T12:57:55
The music, stories and thoughts woven together in this service are meant to honor the spirit of Easter: the rebirth of life that comes with Spring and the re-beginnings that can happen for people i...
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Passover, Palms and Jesus from 2014-04-14T11:00:52
This sermon is about that day, long ago, when Jesus entered Jerusalem riding a donkey through a gate strewn with palms. What did this mean and does it have anything to say to us today - we folks w...
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Dare We Dream Anew from 2014-04-08T09:51:04
The Reverend Dr. Dorsey Blake, who succeeded Howard Thurman as the minister of The Fellowship of All People here in San Francisco. Dorsey also serves on the faculty of Starr King School for the Min...
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The Not Bright Side from 2014-04-01T16:10:04
In their film about the life of a make-believe prophet like Jesus, the crazy men who make up "Monty Python" have him hanging on the cross singing with his cross-mates "Always look on the bright sid...
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Cheerful Givers from 2014-03-26T14:20:13
Giving to a church isn't a burdeon. It should be something we feel good about, as we do
when we support something that, to us, has real meaning.
The Rev. Dr. David Sammons, Inter...
What It Means to Be Religious) from 2014-03-26T14:16:48
Continuing the conversation about what it means to be faithful people, we'll switch this week to the notion of what it means to be religious, at least in our liberal religious sense.
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Ministers and Communities of Faith from 2014-03-10T11:50:21
Soon our church will be asking a new minister to come take the place of our Interim Senior Minister. In thinking about what it would mean if he were to be the person, Dave Sammons would like to ref...
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You Died Too Young, Starr King from 2014-03-02T16:11:24
This past November the Masons celebrated the life of Thomas Starr King here at our church. Rev. King is the most famous of our past ministers. It's not exactly that they stole him. King was a Mason...
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Being Faithful Fools - Heeding Foolish Advice ) from 2014-02-24T13:00:27
We all get ideas from time to time that others (or perhaps we ourselves) think are foolish. What might happen, were we to act on them? In 1998 Rev. Kay Jorgensen and Sr. Carmen Barsody stepped out ...
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Hope in Our Hearts from 2014-02-16T14:45:12
How are we called by our religious tradition to seed hope in our own lives and in the lives of our neighbors? How do we reconcile all that we know about the world and its all-too-real ills with a ...
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The Tricky Side of Love from 2014-02-10T12:14:11
Those who love don't always respect the worth and dignity of every person, as our Unitarian Universalist (UU) Principles ask us to do. It might be easier if everyone did treat us as people of worth...
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David and Goliath from 2014-02-03T11:24:55
In the famous biblical story it's assumed that it's God who makes it possible for
the little guy, David, to best the giant, Goliath. But a recent book suggests
otherwise. David ...
Finding Joy and Justice from 2014-01-27T09:34:04
We are living in interesting and uncertain times. Transitions, both intentional and unintentional, challenge us as people of faith and reason. Come hear about how a path to deepening joy, love, and...
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Where Is Our Moses? from 2014-01-19T16:47:20
On this Sunday before the anniversary of the birth of Martin Luther King Jr. we'll look at the role of prophetic figures in our lives and wonder whether there are any such figures in our contempora...
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When in doubt... from 2014-01-13T12:23:55
Theologian Lesslie Newbigin writes, "We live in an age that favors doubt over faith. Both faith and doubt are needed, yet it is faith that is more fundamental. Even if I doubt something, I must bel...
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Come As You Are from 2013-12-29T16:39:22
We can think of all kinds of ways to avoid what might be good for us,
like visiting a spiritual community or becoming part of one. Contrary to
common fears, you don’t need to ha...
Our Grand Christmas Eve Celebration: Take That You Newscasters from Fox from 2013-12-27T10:22:29
Christmas Eve will be a glorious time at the church. We've consolidated
our worship into a single service that will include the traditional
Christmas story, a children's pageant...
There Was a Father in the Story, Too from 2013-12-23T11:01:47
Of all the depictions of the birth of Jesus, or of Jesus as a baby, there are none that show him with his father, his earthly father, that is: the one who took in the pregnant young girl and promis...
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The Affect of Political Decisions in California from 2013-12-16T13:09:03
Evan will talk about how UUs in Calfornia have worked and can continue to work together to affect political decisions in our state on such issues as human equality, water rights and climate change....
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Big Music Sunday from 2013-12-10T14:24:42
We celebrate the hope our children give us by performing two wonderful
pieces of music. John Rutter's Mass of the Children and Arthur
Honegger's Une Cantate de Noel. Guest sing...
Is There Something Beyond Thanksgiving? from 2013-11-25T12:05:59
There is a lot to give thanks for this Sunday after our country's annual
remembrance of the feast celebrated by the Pilgrims and their Native
American guests that first harvest ...
Leaning in and Manning Up from 2013-11-19T09:43:49
Our guest speaker is Rev. Dr. Bonn Dlott, Bonnie, left a career in
science to raise her two children with her husband Rick. a doctor working
for Kaiser. Bonnie discovered Unit...
Truth-Telling as a Sacred Act from 2013-11-12T10:23:58
The Rev. Dr. David Sammons, Interim Senior Minister
Bruce Knotts, UU-United Nations Office Director
Dr. Mark Sumner, Choir Director
Reiko Oda Lane, Organist
Jonathan Silk, Sound, Or...
Rolling Down the Window from 2013-11-04T13:03:44
Rolling Down the Window
This sermon will deal with why it's important to not forget those who have gone before us. It's not spooky for Mexicans, for instance, to visit the graves of the me...
The Speckled Bird from 2013-10-28T13:12:46
The Speckled Bird
The Rev. Dr. David Sammons
A minister in Maine found himself wondering, as Emerson once did, what he was
doing in church when what attracted him m...
What does it mean to be Faithful? from 2013-10-21T13:05:55
We are delighted to welcome Sister Sheila Flynn back to our pulpit this Sunday.
Sister Sheila has been an annual visitor to our congregation since she first came here in 2002 at the invitation ...
Bam, What Then? from 2013-10-15T14:05:10
Bam, What Then?
Most days our lives are fine, then BAM, something bad happens, often something
really bad, then what? What do we do? How do we handle, pain, frustration,
The Web and the Stars from 2013-10-07T11:54:30
The metaphor of the interdependent web combines universalist love with unitarian
wholeness into a vision of cosmic unity and goodness. This is a large idea that
lies at the hea...
Embarrassment from 2013-09-30T13:53:27
September is the month of High Holy Days, a time when people are asked to think about the mistakes they've made and how to deal with them. Mistakes can be embarrassing, but people are embarrassed b...
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Wrestling With God from 2013-09-23T13:03:41
In an intriguing book called Why Does the World Exist? Jim Holt, an explorer of the intersection of
science and philosophy asks: "Why is there something rather than nothing?" If the answe...
A Larger Covenant from 2013-09-16T14:50:05
"In April at the Pacific Western Regional Assembly, Rev. Sarah Moldenhauer-Salazar preached a sermon
that made waves across the Region inspiring a new way of thinking about Unitarian Univ...
The Evolution of Religion from 2013-09-08T08:35:47
"Some say religion comes from a God-given revelation. But which of them is true? The one that came to Moses, the Buddha, Paul, Mohammad, Baha'u'llah Joseph Smith or Mary Baker Eddy? What if, instea...
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How Small Group Ministry Changed Me from 2013-08-27T15:31:32
"Small Group Ministries is an ongoing program to help us deepen our connections to
each other, to grow spiritually, and to strengthen our San Francisco Unitarian
Universalist co...
Red Fiery Fingers from 2013-08-19T14:28:56
"Dave Sammons often wears rather unusual garments when he preaches. They're called "chasubles." In the Roman Catholic tradition they are kind of over-garments worn by the priest in recognition of t...
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Why Is Someone Like Me in a Place Like This? The Religious Humanist Journey from 2013-08-12T14:44:23
"Why Is Someone Like Me in a Place Like This? The Religious Humanist Journey"
"What does it mean to live a religious life if you are not what most people
would consider...
Learning to Ride a Bicycle from 2013-08-05T13:11:47
Do you remember when you first learned to ride? It was, at heart, an act of
faith. Rev. Vail Weller is the Special Assistant to the President for Major
Gifts at the Unitarian Un...
Langston Hughes-In Poetry and Jazz from 2013-07-29T15:00:02
Considered this country's poet laureate by many Americans of African descent,
Langston Hughes' work also captured the feelings, experiences, and dreams
common to all human being...
Bring Your Own God:The Spirituality of Woody Guthrie from 2013-07-22T14:46:28
Best known for his song-writing and union organizing activities, Woody Guthrie
also produced a large quantity of writing (mostly unpublished) on matters of
religion and spiritua...
In Water We Are One from 2013-07-15T15:31:06
"In Water We Are One”
Without water to drink there is no life. The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) has chosen the “human right to water” as one of its primary four are...
Inviting Friends to the Party from 2013-07-08T13:09:45
Overcoming Social Anxiety to Recognize Belonging. For some of us, it can be
hard to remember that we all belong in the interconnected web of life when we
don’t even feel like we...
The Living Tradition from 2013-07-01T12:31:10
The Reverend Dr. Stephen Furrer leading his last service as UUSF’s Interim
Senior Minister, and joined by the incoming Interim Senior Minister, the
Reverend Dr. David Sammons in...
What If I Were a Christian? from 2013-06-24T12:56:14
For contemporary UUs it's easy to forget our Christian roots. The same is true for
Dave Sammons. But coming off a long tenure on the board of a Progressive Christian
seminary he...
Emblazoned on My Memory from 2013-05-27T16:27:34
Rev Dr. Steve Furrer on the power and enchantment of our memories will consider the
question of what it means to memorialize, as the weekend observances will do across
the land....
Truth is Biography from 2013-05-21T10:05:59
Rev Joel Scholefield will share memories of growing up in the long-ago-sold church parsonage in Pacific Heights. Joel is an award-winning elementary school in Berkeley; despite doing it for 20 year...
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Healing Touches and Songs from 2013-05-21T09:46:40
Mother’s Day Observed in music, story, and song. “Healing Touches and Songs,” Rev Furrer affirming what we love about motherhood…and what make us—many of us—chafe. How new patterns of love allow an...
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Small Group Ministry at UUSF: On Covenants & Covenant Groups from 2013-05-06T13:13:11
Reverend Stephen Furrer and members of the SGM celebrate a key ministry of our congregation and how it resonates with not
only in the hearts of many current members, but with the heart of...
The Art & Practice of Ministry III: Living a Call from 2013-04-29T11:37:06
The second of two April sermons on ministry and UUSF, by Interim Senior Minister Steve Furrer. Hearing, following, accepting a “call” is woven, somehow, into the heart of the ministry. When it come...
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Being Here Matters from 2013-04-22T12:52:58
What does it mean to be a part of a church community? Dave Sammons' thesis is that
it's about more than the things like good music, programs and a sympathetic staff, as
importan...
The Art & Practice of Ministry II: By What Authority? from 2013-04-15T14:32:49
The first of two April sermons by Interim Senior Minister Reverend Stephen Furrer
seeking to first pose and then answer the question: by what authority does a Unitarian
Universa...
Church Alive! from 2013-04-08T12:49:23
Reflections, Dreams & Thoughts. Margaret Fuller made the case for beloved communities
that were both politically radical and spiritually wholesome. Reverends Alyson Jacks,
David...
The Deeper Affirmation of Yes from 2013-04-01T13:16:03
Easter and the renewal of hope and creativity wherever love abides.
The Rev. Dr. Stephen H. Furrer, Interim Senior Minister
The Rev. Dr. David Sammons, Consulting Minister
The...
To Spring, To Leap, To Jump Over Lightly from 2013-03-25T14:01:16
“To Spring, To Leap, To Jump Over Lightly” Reverend Furrer on Passover and Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem—a mythic reappraisal.
The Rev. Dr. Stephen H. Furrer, Interim Senior Minis...
The Two Cultures from 2013-03-19T12:20:12
“The Two Cultures” By Dr. John E. Hearst. English chemist and novelist C.P. Snow’s
1959 essay "The Two Cultures" lamented what he saw as a growing disconnect between
scientists ...
Touching the Face of God from 2013-03-11T15:07:21
“Touching the Face of God” By Rev. Dr. David Sammons. Many UUs have two sides when it
comes to religion. The first is the humanistic assumption that we're responsible for
our li...
Singing from the Same Sheet from 2013-03-04T13:53:28
“Singing from the Same Sheet” Rev. Dr. Furrer leading services celebrating the many
ways music has been will remain ever close to the heart of religious truth. Plus
special adum...
Revelation Is Not Sealed from 2013-02-25T17:30:44
“Revelation Is Not Sealed” Reverend Furrer, preaching. A touchstone of liberal
religion is the idea that the revelation of religious truth is not sealed in a
book of scripture, ...
A Guy from the Land of Lincoln from 2013-02-17T14:44:52
We take a look at the UU connections of Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King
Jr. and Barack Obama from Dave Sammons, born and raised in Illinois and
steeped in the lore of Lincol...
A New Myth of El Dorado from 2013-02-12T10:41:36
A New Myth of El Dorado -- Complete delivered by The Rev. Dr. Stephen Furrer February 10, 2013 at 11:00 am. Global Warming and its effects, in obscure collaboration with Interfaith Power & Light.
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Farpotshket from 2013-02-04T13:39:14
Yiddish has hundreds of colorful words. One of them, the adjective farpotshket, describes
something that’s all fouled up, especially as the result of an attempt to fix it. If Rube
Faith and Families from 2013-01-28T13:54:17
Participation in a faith community can strengthen your family and bring added goodwill and light into
your home.
Hearts Encompassing The Globe from 2013-01-23T12:22:12
Hearts Encompassing The Globe
Reverend Jeremiah Kalendae, preaching on how our heritage teaches us that the most profound
social progress happens when it is rooted in liberal rel...
Embracing Darkness from 2013-01-14T12:39:04
Reverend Dr. Stephen Furrer, preaching on how the world is both yin and yang,
light and dark, happy and sad. It is trying to escape that part of life that
brings us pain that le...
Epiphany/epiphany from 2013-01-07T15:39
Epiphany/epiphany -- Complete delivered by The Rev. Dr. Stephen H. Furrer January 6, 2013 at 11:00 am
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New Beginnings from 2013-01-07T15:34:30
“New Beginnings,” Reverend Dr. Stephen Furrer, with thoughts on steps UUSF can make to become a stronger, healthier congregation in the year ahead, with particular attention to insights the ministe...
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Christmas Eve Service - A Wish for Us at Christmas from 2012-12-30T10:31:02
A Wish for Us at Christmas -- Complete delivered by The Rev. Dr. David Sammons December 24,2012 at 4:45 pm
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Christmas of the Heart from 2012-12-24T13:16:30
“Christmas of the Heart,” Reverend Dr. Stephen Furrer, preaching on Christmas and caring for one another in our homes, in our communities, and in our our religious lives.
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The Growing Light from 2012-12-17T12:39:25
The Growing Light -- Complete delivered by The Rev. Dr. Stephen H. Furrer December 16,2012 at 11:00 am
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Dickens, Unitarians and Christmas from 2012-12-11T12:11:09
Dickens, Unitarians and Christmas -- Complete delivered by The Rev. Dr. David Sammons December 9,2012 at
11:00 am
Anticipation from 2012-12-03T12:49:47
Anticipation -- Complete delivered by The Rev. Dr. David Sammons December 2,2012 at 11:00 am
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The Practice of Gratitude from 2012-11-27T13:38:45
The Practice of Gratitude -- Complete delivered by Sister Sheila Flynn November 25, 2012 at 11:00 am
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Family, Food and Football! from 2012-11-19T13:09:29
Family, Food and Football! -- Complete delivered by The Reverend Dr. David Sammons November 18,2012 at 11:00 am
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American Pride: Renewing the Emancipation Proclamations from 2012-11-13T14:49:24
American Pride - Renewing the Emancipation Proclamations -- Complete delivered by The Reverend Jeremiah Kalendae November 11,2012 at 11:00 am
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Finding Peace in a Time of Panic - the middle path of compassion in the face of ecological crisis from 2012-10-29T14:02:26
Finding Peace in a Time of Panic - the middle path of compassion in the face of ecological crisis -- Complete delivered by The Reverend Sarah Moldenhauer-Salazar October 28,2012 at 11:00 am
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Frolicking In Mystery (Making Sense of the Spiritual) from 2012-10-22T13:25:06
Frolicking In Mystery -- Complete delivered by The Reverend Robert T. Latham October 21,2012 at 11:00 am
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Encountering the Other from 2012-10-15T14:18:50
Encountering the Other -- Complete delivered by The Reverend Adél Nagy October 14,2012 at 11:00 am
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The Long Compromise from 2012-10-09T11:10:34
The Long Compromise -- Complete delivered by The Reverend Dr. David Sammons October 7,2012 at 11:00 am
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Give Sorrow Words from 2012-10-01T13:46:32
Give Sorrow Words -- Complete delivered by Lindasusan Ulrich September 30,2012 at 11:00 am
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Report from the Trenches 33 Years Later from 2012-09-24T14:10:21
33 Years In the Trenches... reflections on this life on the day after the 33 anniversary of my ordination by this congregation.... at the edge of yom kippur
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Finding Happiness Despite Life’s Sorrows from 2012-09-17T13:25:58
Finding Happiness Despite Life’s Sorrows -- Complete delivered by The Rev. John Young September 16,2012 at 11:00 am
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Money, Truth, and Excellence from 2012-09-10T15:23:11
Money, Truth, and Excellence -- Complete delivered by The Rev. Dr. Jay Atkinson September 9,2012 at 11:00 am
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Communities of Memory and Hope from 2012-09-04T13:45:13
Communities of Memory and Hope -- Complete delivered by The Rev. Dr. David Sammons September 2,2012 at 11:00 am
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The Beginning of Love from 2012-08-27T13:57:56
The Beginning of Love -- Complete delivered by The Rev. Jan Christian August 26,2012 at 11:00 am
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Why Small Group Ministry Matters from 2012-08-20T16:20:10
Why Small Group Ministry Matters -- Complete delivered by Small Group Ministry August 19,2012 at 11:00 am
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Connective Tissue from 2012-08-13T14:59:24
Connective Tissue -- Complete delivered by Rev.
Alyson Jacks August 12,2012 at 11:00 am
A UU Field Report from 2012-08-06T14:59:40
A UU Field Report -- Complete delivered by Rev.
David Maynard August 5,2012 at 11:00 am
The Importance of Leaving from 2012-07-30T16:05:29
The Importance of Leaving -- Complete delivered by Rev.
Fred Rabidoux July 29,2012 at 11:00 am
How Unitarianism & Universalism Can Save Our World from 2012-07-23T14:54:25
How Unitarianism & Universalism Can Save Our World -- Complete delivered by Rev. Jeremiah Kalendae July 22,2012 at 11:00 am
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Roadmap to our UUSF Future from 2012-07-16T11:57:54
Roadmap to our UUSF Future -- Complete delivered by Rev. Dr. Stephen H. Furrer July 15,2012 at 11:00 am
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Sophistry and the 2012 Election from 2012-07-09T16:08:18
Sophistry and the 2012 Election -- Complete delivered by Rev. Dr. Stephen H. Furrer July 8,2012 at 11:00 am
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Centering for Revolution from 2012-07-02T15:44:59
Centering for Revolution -- Complete delivered by Rev. Dr. Stephen H. Furrer July 1,2012 at 11:00 am
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Being There: An Experience in Religious Democracy - G.A. Report 2012 from 2012-06-25T11:23:06
Being There: An Experience in Religious Democracy -- Complete delivered by Rev. Dr. Stephen H. Furrer June 24,2012 at 11:00 am
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Parables of Zen from 2012-06-18T12:34:49
Parables of Zen -- Complete delivered by Rev. Dr. Stephen H. Furrer June 17,2012 at 11:00 am
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Healthy Congregations = Gardens of Creativity from 2012-06-11T13:27:51
Heart Flowering:The Path of Devotion -- Complete delivered by Rev. Dr. Stephen H. Furrer June 10,2012 at 11:00 am
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Heart Flowering:The Path of Devotion from 2012-06-04T16:03:52
Heart Flowering:The Path of Devotion -- Complete delivered by Rev. Jeremiah Kalendae June 3,2012 at 11:00 am
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Whisper of the Voice Within from 2012-06-04T15:59:53
Whisper of the Voice Within -- Complete delivered by Rev. Fred Rabidoux May 27,2012 at 11:00 am
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Images of Mother from 2012-05-27T09:33:26
Images of Mother
-- Complete delivered by Rev. Dr. Stephen H. Furrer May 13,2012 at 11:00 am
Leap of Faith from 2012-05-27T09:30:09
Leap of Faith
-- Complete delivered by Rev. Dr. Stephen H. Furrer May 6,2012 at 11:00 am
A Home for Love from 2012-04-30T11:26:32
A Home for Love
-- Complete delivered by Rev. Dr. Rebecca Parker April 29,2012 at 11:00 am
Climate Chang- -Personal Change from 2012-04-23T11:56
Climate Chang- -Personal Change
-- Complete delivered by Rev. Dr. Stephen H. Furrer April 22,2012 at 11:00 am
Contraception and Morality from 2012-04-16T14:27:33
Contraception and Morality -- Complete delivered by Rev. Fred Rabidoux April 15,2012 at 11:00 am
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The True Resurrection from 2012-04-09T13:17:15
The True Resurrection -- Complete delivered by Rev. Dr. Stephen H. Furrer April 8,2012 at 11:00 am
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Casa del Cambio from 2012-04-02T13:43:37
Casa del Cambio -- Complete delivered by Rev. Dr. Stephen H. Furrer April 1,2012 at 11:00 am
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Planting Hope, Growing Community:Paying for Excellence from 2012-03-27T18:11:39
Planting Hope, Growing Community:Paying for Excellence
-- Complete delivered by Rev. Dr. Stephen H. Furrer March 25,2012 at 11:00 am
On Friendship from 2012-03-20T10:45:14
On Friendship -- Complete delivered by Rev. Dr. Stephen H. Furrer
March 18,2012 at 11:00 am
A Mission Born of Mystery (Why Unitarian Universalists Exist) from 2012-03-12T12:35:57
A Mission Born of Mystery -- Complete delivered by Rev. Robert T. Latham March 11,2012 at 11:00
am
From Hopelessness to Hope from 2012-03-05T14:14
From Hopelessness to Hope -- Complete delivered by Rev. Dr. Stephen H. Furrer March 3,2012 at
11:00 am
Know Thyself from 2012-02-27T08:58:06
Know Thyself -- Complete delivered by Rev. Jeremiah Kalendae February 26, 2012 at 11:00 am
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George Washington: Che of Fairfax County, Virginia from 2012-02-23T14:41:05
George Washington: Che of Fairfax County, Virginia -- Complete delivered by Rev. Dr. Stephen H. Furrer February 19, 2012 at 11:00 am
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Charles Darwin and Contemporary Creation Myth from 2012-02-13T17:21:49
Charles Darwin and Contemporary Creation Myth -- Complete delivered by Rev. Dr. Stephen H. Furrer February 12, 2012 at 11:00 am
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Ecclesiological Update from 2012-02-13T15:22:55
Ecclesiological Update -- Complete delivered by Rev. Dr. Stephen H. Furrer February 5, 2012 at 11:00 am
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Four Paths, Four Yogas from 2012-02-13T14:59:50
Four Paths, Four Yogas -- Complete delivered by Rev. Dr. Stephen H. Furrer January 29, 2012 at 11:00 am
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Breakthrough from 2012-02-13T14:42:26
Breakthrough -- Complete delivered by Rev. Dr. Stephen H. Furrer January 22, 2012 at 11:00 am
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Failing and Finding Your Way from 2012-02-06T17:48:45
Failing and Finding Your Way -- Complete delivered by Rev. Alyson Jacks January 8, 2012 at 11:00 am
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Don’t Stop Building Your Own Theology from 2012-02-06T16:27:58
Don’t Stop Building Your Own Theology -- Complete delivered by Rev. Fred Rabidoux January 1, 2012 at 11:00 am
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Candlelight Christmas Eve Service: A Child’s Christmas in Wales from 2011-12-27T16:44:15
Candlelight Christmas Eve Service: A Child’s Christmas in Wales -- Complete delivered by Rev. Dr. Stephen H. Furrer December 24, 2011 at 4:45 pm
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Candlelight Christmas Eve Service: The Spirit of Christmas from 2011-12-27T16:37:48
Candlelight Christmas Eve Service: The Spirit of Christmas -- Complete delivered by Rev. Dr. Stephen H. Furrer December 24, 2011 at 4:45 pm
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From Callithumpians to Pajama-Clad Tykes from 2011-12-19T12:26:56
From Callithumpians to Pajama-Clad Tykes -- Complete delivered by Rev. Dr. Stephen H. Furrer December 18, 2011
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The Value of Ritual from 2011-12-12T15:02:17
The Value of Ritual -- Complete delivered by Rev. Dr. Stephen H. Furrer December 11, 2011
Listen
The Dream of the Diaspora from 2011-12-05T13:22:25
The Dream of the Diaspora -- Complete delivered by Rev. Zoltán Kopándi-Benczédi December 4,
2011
Occupy Advent from 2011-11-28T16:37:28
Occupy Advent -- Complete delivered by Rev. Jeremiah Kalendae November 27, 2011
Listen
Distrust, Breakthrough, Reconciliation, Gratitude: Thanksgiving in America from 2011-11-21T13:15:10
Distrust, Breakthrough, Reconciliation, Gratitude: Thanksgiving in America -- Complete delivered by Rev. Dr. Stephen H. Furrer November 20, 2011
Listen
Close to the Source(s): Big Music Cantata & Up On Top from 2011-11-15T09:55:03
Close to the Source(s): Big Music Cantata & Up On Top -- Complete delivered by Rev. Dr. Stephen H. Furrer November 13, 2011
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Longings of the Heart, Queries of the Mind from 2011-11-07T13:24:24
Longings of the Heart, Queries of the Mind -- Complete delivered by Rev. Dr. Stephen H. Furrer November 6, 2011
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Kracks in the Cosmic Egg from 2011-10-31T13:31:06
Kracks in the Cosmic Egg -- Complete delivered by Rev. Dr. Stephen H. Furrer October 30, 2011
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The Goal of World Community with Peace, Liberty, and Justice for All from 2011-10-24T11:47:18
The Goal of World Community with Peace, Liberty, and Justice for All -- Complete delivered by
Rev. Dr. Stephen H. Furrer October 23, 2011
Where the Theology Meets the Road from 2011-10-17T18:20:38
Where the Theology Meets the Road -- Complete delivered by Michael Eselun October 16, 2011
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Love Is as Love Does from 2011-10-12T09:50:04
Love Is as Love Does -- Complete delivered by Rev. Dr. Stephen H. Furrer October 9, 2011
Listen
Four Components of a Healthy Church from 2011-10-04T10:07:47
Four Components of a Healthy Church -- Complete delivered by Rev. Dr. Stephen H. Furrer October 2, 2011
Listen
What’s So Funny? from 2011-10-04T10:03:25
What’s So Funny? -- Complete delivered by Rev. Dr. Stephen H. Furrer September 25, 2011
Listen
The Common Good: What’s In It for Me? from 2011-09-19T12:09:58
The Common Good: What’s In It for Me? -- Complete delivered by Rev. Dr. Stephen H. Furrer September 18,
2011
Homecoming from 2011-09-12T12:10:30
Homecoming -- Complete delivered by Rev. Dr. Stephen H. Furrer September 11, 2011
Listen
Come Grow Old With Me from 2011-09-06T12:45:51
Come Grow Old With Me -- Complete delivered by Rev. Fred Rabidoux September 4, 2011
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Gain the World, Lose Your Soul? from 2011-09-02T17:00:47
Gain the World, Lose Your Soul? -- Service delivered by Rev. Jeremiah Kalendae August 28, 2011
Listen
Overcoming Obstacles, Detours, and Set-backs on the Road to One’s Dreams from 2011-08-22T13:34:04
Overcoming Obstacles, Detours, and Set-backs on the Road to One’s Dreams -- Service delivered by Rev. Dr. Stephen H. Furrer August 21, 2011
Listen
The Art & Practice of Ministry from 2011-08-08T16:42:38
The Art & Practice of Ministry -- Service delivered by Rev. Dr. Stephen Furrer August 7, 2011
Listen
Architecture of the Soul from 2011-08-01T13:13:55
Architecture of the Soul -- Service delivered by Rev. Jeremiah Kalendae July 31, 2011
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What is Eco-Theology? from 2011-07-25T13:25:18
What is Eco-Theology? -- Service delivered by Rev. Fred Rabidoux July 24, 2011
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Blessing the World from 2011-07-18T13:51:08
Blessing the World -- Service delivered by Rev. Jeremiah Kalendae July 17, 2011
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The Goddess from 2011-07-11T15:50:05
The Goddess -- Service delivered by Rev. Jeremiah Kalendae July 10, 2011
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Radical Reformation, Right Now in Our Time from 2011-07-05T15:51:43
Radical Reformation, Right Now in Our Time -- Service delivered by Rev. Fred Rabidoux July 3, 2011
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How Our Lives Are Enriched By Rituals from 2011-07-05T14:48:25
How Our Lives Are Enriched By Rituals -- Service delivered by Rev. Fred Rabidoux June 26, 2011
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Drag Kings, Divas, and other Shamans from 2011-06-23T19:02:55
Drag Kings, Divas, and other Shamans
Listen
Grace, Holiness, and Beauty from 2011-06-13T14:32:09
Grace, Holiness, and Beauty -- Service delivered by Rev. Fred Rabidoux June 12, 2011
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Wrestling with Angels from 2011-06-06T14:16:31
Wrestling with Angels -- Service delivered by Rev. Jeremiah Kalendae June 5, 2011
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A Man as Divine as Myself from 2011-05-31T14:05:44
A Man as Divine as Myself -- Service delivered by Rev. Denis Letourneau Paul May 29, 2011
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If Life is like a Rollercoaster, Where Do I Buy My Ticket or Not! from 2011-05-18T10:16:55
If Life is like a Rollercoaster, Where Do I Buy My Ticket or Not! -- Service delivered by Rev. Fred Rabidoux May 15, 2011
Listen
Parting Glances from 2011-05-10T09:58:02
Parting Glances -- Service delivered by Rev. Gregory L. Stewart May 8, 2011
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Healing From the Heart from 2011-05-02T15:49:14
Healing From the Heart -- Service delivered by Rev. Fred Rabidoux May 1, 2011
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Stirring To be Awakened: An Easter Festival of Stories and Music from 2011-04-26T09:31:26
Stirring To be Awakened: An Easter Festival of Stories and Music -- Service delivered by Rev. Gregory L. Stewart April 24, 2011
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A Light on a Hill: Celebration Sunday from 2011-04-19T12:17:53
A Light on a Hill: Celebration Sunday -- Service delivered by Rev. Jeremiah Kalendae April 17, 2011
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The Gospel According to John (Lennon) from 2011-04-12T10:01:52
The Gospel According to John (Lennon) -- Service delivered by Rev. Jeremiah Kalendae, April 10, 2011
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Life on Resurrection Boulevard from 2011-04-06T10:02:53
Life on Resurrection Boulevard -- Service delivered by Rev. Gregory L. Stewart April 3, 2011
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There’s No Place Like Home from 2011-03-29T10:25:01
There’s No Place Like Home -- Service delivered by Rev. Dr. Kay Jorgensen, March 27, 2011
Listen
Rites of Passage from 2011-03-21T16:24:59
Rites of Passage -- Service delivered by Rev. Gregory L. Stewart March 20, 2011
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Hidden Treasures: The Bible as Poetry from 2011-03-15T09:50:29
Hidden Treasures: The Bible as Poetry -- Service delivered by Rev. Gregory L. Stewart March 13, 2011
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Is That Really in the Bible? from 2011-03-08T10:06:44
Is That Really in the Bible? -- Service delivered by Rev. Gregory L. Stewart March 6, 2011
Listen
God and Dr. King: Agony Over the Power of the Holy from 2011-03-01T09:44:20
God and Dr. King: Agony Over the Power of the Holy -- Service delivered by Rev. Dr. David Keyes February 27, 2011
Listen
Fathers Under Siege! from 2011-02-23T10:01:22
Fathers Under Siege! -- Service delivered by Rev. Gregory L. Stewart February 20, 2011
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Love and Marriage from 2011-02-15T10:17:41
Love and Marriage -- Service delivered by Rev. Gregory L. Stewart February 13, 2011
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In the Name of the Family from 2011-02-09T10:11:28
In the Name of the Family -- Service delivered by Rev. Gregory L. Stewart February 6, 2011
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Wrongology: Adventures in Getting it Right from 2011-02-01T09:52:34
Wrongology: Adventures in Getting it Right -- Service delivered by Rev. Alyson Jacks January 30, 2011
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The Children Who Wake Up from 2011-01-25T10:25:21
The Children Who Wake Up -- Service delivered by Rev. Denis Letourneau Paul January 23, 2011
Listen
Bad Times for the Common Good? from 2011-01-23T08:56:13
Bad Times for the Common Good? -- Service delivered by Rev. Gregory L. Stewart January 16, 2011
Listen
Seeking Justice and Compassion in Health Care from 2011-01-11T12:30:22
Seeking Justice and Compassion in Health Care -- Service delivered by Amy Moses-Lagos January 9, 2011
Listen
Two Or Three Things I Know For Sure from 2011-01-04T10:05:59
Two Or Three Things I Know For Sure -- Service delivered by
Rev. Gregory L. Stewart January 2, 2011
Let’s Not Forget About The Universalists. They Freed Us From Sin. from 2010-12-28T10:41:37
Let’s Not Forget About The Universalists.They Freed Us From Sin. -- Service delivered by Rev. Fred Rabidoux December 26, 2010
Listen
Does Jesus Save? from 2010-12-21T10:28:06
Does Jesus Save? -- Service delivered by Rev. Gregory L. Stewart December 19, 2010
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How Moses Saved America from 2010-12-14T09:51:46
How Moses Saved America -- Service delivered by Rev. Gregory L. Stewart December 12, 2010
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Reconciliation and Right Relations from 2010-12-07T10:43:07
Reconciliation and Right Relations -- Service delivered by Sr. Sheila Flynn December 5, 2010
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The Disabled God from 2010-12-07T10:38:22
The Disabled God -- Service delivered by Rev. The Reverend Jeremiah Kalendae November 28, 2010
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Let Us Break Bread Together: Music Sunday from 2010-11-23T09:42:39
Let Us Break Bread Together: Music Sunday -- Service delivered by Rev. Jeremiah Kalendae November 21, 2010
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Premeditated Mercy from 2010-11-17T13:38:33
Premeditated Mercy -- Service delivered by Rev. Gregory L. Stewart November 14, 2010
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The Soul of A Citizen: Living with Conviction in Challenging Times from 2010-11-09T10:34:46
The Soul of A Citizen: Living with Conviction in Challenging Times -- Service delivered by Paul Loeb November 7, 2010
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Bringing Death Home: The Day of the Dead from 2010-11-02T10:06:06
Bringing Death Home -- Service delivered by Rev. Gregory L. Stewart October 31, 2010
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The UU-UNO and the Ethical Aspects of a Climate Treaty from 2010-10-26T08:46:48
The Ethical Aspects of a Climate Treaty -- Service delivered by Dr. Jan Dash October 24, 2010
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Why Do We Gather? from 2010-10-19T08:43:13
Why Do We Gather? -- Service delivered by Michelle Collins October 17, 2010
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We Are The Message! from 2010-10-12T09:50:46
We Are The Message! -- Service delivered by Rev. Alyson Jacks October 10, 2010
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The Angel of Death from 2010-10-05T13:49:42
The Angel of Death -- Service delivered by Rev. Jeremiah Kalendae October 3, 2010
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From a Tenderloin Church to the Lompoc Prison: A Peacemaker Walks the Path of St. Francis from 2010-09-29T10:00:59
From a Tenderloin Church to the Lompoc Prison:
A Peacemaker Walks the Path of St. Francis -- Service delivered by Fr. Louis Vitale September 26, 2010
Who Is My Neighbor? from 2010-09-21T11:46:46
Who Is My Neighbor? -- Service delivered by Rev. Gregory L. Stewart, Rev. Jeremiah Kalendae, Rev. John Young, September 19, 2010
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You’re The Message! from 2010-09-14T08:43:08
You’re The Message! -- Service delivered by Rev. Gregory L. Stewart September 12, 2010
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The Kingdom of God is within you from 2010-09-08T12:57:27
The Kingdom of God is within you -- Service delivered by Rev. Jeremiah Kalendae September 5, 2010
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Nathan McCall’s Dilemma from 2010-08-31T09:52:11
Nathan McCall’s Dilemma -- Service delivered by Rev. Gregory L. Stewart August 29, 2010
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Mary Oliver's Conversion from 2010-08-26T10:12:14
Mary Oliver's Conversion -- Service delivered by Rev. Gregory L. Stewart August 22, 2010
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Ralph Waldo’s Obsession from 2010-08-17T10:04:45
Ralph Waldo’s Obsession -- Service delivered by Rev. Gregory L. Stewart August 15, 2010
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Imagine this City as Heaven from 2010-08-10T09:56:14
Imagine this City as Heaven -- Service delivered by Joel Gilbertson-White August 8, 2010
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What would you do if suddenly you believed in God/Goddess? from 2010-08-03T12:14:21
What would you do if suddenly you believed in God/Goddess? -- Service delivered by Rev. Fred Rabidoux August 1, 2010
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The People with Eyes on Our Feet from 2010-07-28T09:48:05
The People with Eyes on Our Feet -- Service delivered by Rev. Denis Letourneau Paul July 25, 2010
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Is God Keeping You From Going to Church? from 2010-07-20T12:18:09
Is God Keeping You From Going to Church? -- Service delivered by Rev. Jeremiah Kalendae July 18, 2010
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Staying Put from 2010-07-13T10:45:32
Staying Put -- Service delivered by Rev. Alyson Jacks July 11, 2010
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Stewards of Freedom from 2010-07-06T12:29:41
Stewards of Freedom -- Service delivered by Rev. Fred Rabidoux July 4, 2010
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A San Francisco Pride Service - Why I am a Unitarian Universalist from 2010-06-29T10:11:11
A San Francisco Pride Service - Why I am a Unitarian Universalist -- Service delivered by Rev. Jeremiah Kalendae June 27, 2010
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No Day But Today from 2010-06-23T08:42:20
No Day But Today -- Service delivered by the Young Adults June 20, 2010
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Fumbling in the Fog for a Light from 2010-06-23T08:39:36
Fumbling in the Fog for a Light -- Service delivered by Joel Gilbertson-White June 13, 2010
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Singing the Journey! from 2010-06-08T09:34:10
Singing the Journey! -- Service delivered by Rev. Gregory L. Stewart June 6, 2010
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How To Pray Without Being Religious from 2010-06-05T15:16:44
How To Pray Without Being Religious -- Service delivered by Rev. Gregory L. Stewart May 30, 2010
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It’s A Rhythm Thing from 2010-05-25T10:58:16
It’s A Rhythm Thing -- Service delivered by Rev. Alyson Jacks May 23, 2010
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The Priesthood of All People from 2010-05-18T09:19:08
The Priesthood of All People -- Service delivered by Rev. Jeremiah Kalendae May 16, 2010
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Noah’s Ark and Animal Rights from 2010-05-13T10:00:20
Noah’s Ark and Animal Rights -- Service delivered by Rev. Gregory L. Stewart May 9, 2010
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A Celebration of Ordination of Rev. Michael Walker from 2010-05-13T09:56:48
Celebration of Ordination -- Service delivered by Rev. Michael Walker May 8, 2010
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Big Music: Faure’s Requiem from 2010-05-04T12:50:18
Big Music: Faure’s Requiem -- Service delivered by Dr. Mark Sumner May 2, 2010
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Transitions Service from 2010-04-28T09:22:24
Transitions Service -- Service delivered by Rev. Gregory L. Stewart April 25, 2010
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Living In The Now from 2010-04-20T09:03
Living In The Now -- Service delivered by Rev. Dr. Douglass E. Fitch April 18, 2010
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Dying To Live from 2010-04-13T13:16:42
Dying To Live -- Service delivered by Rev. Gregory L. Stewart April 11, 2010
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What is the Spirit of This Church? from 2010-04-09T12:04:25
What is the Spirit of This Church? -- Service delivered by Rev. Gregory L. Stewart March 7, 2010
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What Would Jesus Really Do? from 2010-04-06T12:26:46
What Would Jesus Really Do? -- Service delivered by Rev. Gregory L. Stewart April 4, 2010
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Heroic Ministry from 2010-03-30T14:35:41
Heroic Ministry -- Service delivered by Betty Skwarek March 28, 2010
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Stop Talking, I Can’t Hear You from 2010-03-30T14:29:53
Stop Talking, I Can’t Hear You -- Service delivered by Rev. Gregory L. Stewart March 21, 2010
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Let’s Be A Church On Purpose from 2010-03-23T09:48:44
Let’s Be A Church On Purpose -- Service delivered by Rev. Gregory L. Stewart March 14, 2010
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The Art of Massage from 2010-03-02T10:22:16
The Art of Massage -- Service delivered by Joel Gilbertson-White February 28, 2010
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Climbing Out of Your Rut? from 2010-02-23T09:14:53
Climbing Out of Your Rut? -- Service delivered by Rev. Alyson Jacks February 21, 2010
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Is Change Really Possible? from 2010-02-17T15:55:47
Is Change Really Possible? -- Service delivered by Rev. Gregory L. Stewart February 14, 2010
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The Only Thing We Have To Fear from 2010-02-09T09:09:39
The Only Thing We Have To Fear -- Service delivered by Rev. Gregory L. Stewart February 7, 2010
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A Volcanic Eruption of the Human Heart from 2010-02-02T08:06:40
A Volcanic Eruption of the Human Heart -- Service delivered by Rev. Dr. Kay Jorgensen January 31, 2010
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I’ve Decided to be Kinder from 2010-01-27T08:24
I’ve Decided to be Kinder -- Service delivered by Rev. Alyson Jacks January 24, 2010
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A Resurrection in our Time from 2010-01-20T09:07:40
A Resurrection in our Time -- Service delivered by Dr. Charlie Clements January 17, 2010
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Hope and Illusion from 2010-01-12T12:33:21
Hope and Illusion -- Service delivered by Rev. Fred Rabidoux January 10, 2010
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A Responsive Imaginarium from 2010-01-05T12:59:55
A Responsive Imaginarium -- Service delivered by Joel Gilbertson-White January 3, 2010
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Human Christianity from 2010-01-05T09:58:07
Human Christianity -- Service delivered by Joel Gilbertson-White December 27, 2009
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A Candlelight Festival of Lessons and Carols from 2010-01-05T09:50:15
A Candlelight Festival of Lessons and Carols -- Service delivered by Rev. Greg Stewart December 24, 2009
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An American Jesus from 2009-12-22T13:15:21
An American Jesus -- Service delivered by Rev. Greg Stewart December 20, 2009
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In the Valley of the Shadow from 2009-12-22T12:51:23
In the Valley of the Shadow -- Service delivered by Rev. Greg Stewart December 13, 2009
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The Body as a Vehicle for Prayer from 2009-12-09T09:32:32
The Body as a Vehicle for Prayer -- Service delivered by Sr. Sheila Flynn December 6, 2009
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Alive with Unreckonable Gratitude from 2009-12-01T15:24:17
Alive with Unreckonable Gratitude -- Service delivered by Joel Gilbertson-White November 29, 2009
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Bread and Music from 2009-12-01T15:09:06
Bread and Music -- Service delivered by Rev. Gregory L. Stewart November 22, 2009
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The War that Whispers from 2009-11-17T12:19:14
The War that Whispers -- Service delivered by Rev. Greg Stewart November 15, 2009
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A Prophet, But No Fool from 2009-11-10T09:30:19
A Prophet, But No Fool -- Service delivered by Rev. Greg Stewart November 8, 2009
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Out of Many, One from 2009-11-03T09:27:46
Out of Many, One -- Service delivered by Rev. Greg Stewart November 1, 2009
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Unitarian Universalist Clout in a Time of Change from 2009-10-28T10:39:23
Unitarian Universalist Clout in a Time of Change -- Service delivered by Bruce Knotts October 25, 2009
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The New American Sloth from 2009-10-20T09:45:57
The New American Sloth -- Service delivered by Rev. Gregory L. Stewart October 18, 2009
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What Did Starr King Really Believe? from 2009-10-14T09:28:54
What Did Starr King Really Believe? -- Service delivered by Rev. Gregory L. Stewart October 11, 2009
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A Harlot, But No Whore from 2009-10-06T14:59:59
A Harlot, But No Whore -- Service delivered by Rev. Greg Stewart October 4, 2009
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Regarding Candlepower from 2009-09-29T09:51:12
Regarding Candlepower -- Service delivered by Joel Gilbertson-White September 27, 2009
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Forgiveness for the Rest of Us from 2009-09-22T09:46:26
Forgiveness for the Rest of Us -- Service delivered by Rev. Gregory L. Stewart September 20, 2009
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Is There Any Good News? from 2009-09-15T12:08:42
Is There Any Good News? -- Service delivered by Rev. Gregory L. Stewart September 13, 2009
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Turtles All The Way Down from 2009-09-01T08:43:29
Turtles All The Way Down -- Service delivered by Alison Rittger August 30, 2009
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Ramadan Revisited from 2009-08-25T08:41:18
Ramadan Revisited -- Service delivered by Rev. Gregory L. Stewart August 23, 2009
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Let’s Go Public from 2009-08-18T16:29:28
Let’s Go Public -- Service delivered by Rev. Dr. Douglass Fitch August 16, 2009
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Imagining the Impossible: Healing the World from 2009-08-11T09:39:33
Imagining the Impossible: Healing the World -- Service delivered by Cathy Rion August 9, 2009
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El Salvador and the Interdependent Web from 2009-08-04T08:47:09
El Salvador and the Interdependent Web -- Service delivered by Amy Moses-Lagos August 2, 2009
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In the Beginning God Created Heaven and Earth from 2009-07-28T09:34:38
In the Beginning God Created Heaven and Earth -- Service delivered by Rev. Fred Rabidoux July 26, 2009
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Reaching Past the Snake Oil Salesman from 2009-07-21T08:32:30
Reaching Past the Snake Oil Salesman -- Service delivered by Rev. Denis Letourneau Paul July 19, 2009
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Sit There and Listen from 2009-07-21T08:28:29
Sit There and Listen -- Service delivered by Rev. Alyson Jacks July 12, 2009
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The New Americans from 2009-07-14T08:26:32
The New Americans -- Service delivered by Rev. Fred Rabidoux July 5, 2009
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What About Our Principles? from 2009-06-30T08:53:57
What About Our Principles? -- Service delivered by Rev. Fred Rabidoux June 28, 2009
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Will We Live Up to Our Own Expectations? from 2009-06-22T09:31:09
Will We Live Up to Our Own Expectations? -- Service delivered by the Young Adult Group June 21, 2009
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Deadly Sins for Lively Liberals: Anger from 2009-06-15T09:34:35
Deadly Sins for Lively Liberals: Anger -- Service delivered by Rev. Greg Stewart June 14, 2009
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Transitions: A Celebration of Change from 2009-06-10T09:13:03
Transitions: A Celebration of Change -- Service delivered by Betty Skwarek June 7, 2009
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Finding Your Path from 2009-06-08T09:25:12
Finding Your Path -- Service delivered by Peter Olandt May 31, 2009
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Something Out of Nothing from 2009-05-27T09:22:27
Something Out of Nothing -- Service delivered by Rev. Denis Letourneau Paul May 24, 2009
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Deadly Sins for Lively Liberals: Greed from 2009-05-20T09:07:28
Deadly Sins for Lively Liberals: Greed -- Service delivered by Rev. Greg Stewart May 17, 2009
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Coming of Age from 2009-05-12T10:00:43
Coming of Age -- Service delivered by the Coming of Age Youth of 2009 on May 10, 2009
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Be The Way from 2009-05-05T10:09:43
Be The Way -- Service delivered by Rev. Dr. Laurel Hallman May 3, 2009
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Deadly Sins for Lively Liberals: Lust from 2009-04-28T08:53:24
Deadly Sins for Lively Liberals: Lust -- Service delivered by Rev. Gregory L. Stewart April 26, 2009
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A Faithful Existence from 2009-04-21T09:02:02
A Faithful Existence -- Service delivered by Rev. Alyson Jacks April 19, 2009
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Enduring Betrayal from 2009-04-14T09:19:20
Enduring Betrayal -- Service delivered by Rev. Gregory L. Stewart April 12, 2009
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John Rutter's Gloria from 2009-04-07T08:59:19
John Rutter's Gloria -- Rehearsal conducted by Dr. Mark Sumner April 5, 2009
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The Prophetic Church in the 21st Century from 2009-04-07T08:57:31
The Prophetic Church in the 21st Century -- Service delivered by Rev. Meg A. Riley April 5, 2009
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Denis Letourneau Paul Ordination from 2009-03-31T09:35:15
Denis Letourneau Paul Ordination -- Service delivered by Rev. Denis Letourneau Paul March 29, 2009
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Is Your Spiritual Practice Working? from 2009-03-31T09:24:02
Is Your Spiritual Practice Working? -- Service delivered by Rev. Fred Rabidoux March 29, 2009
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Deadly Sins for Lively Liberals: Sloth from 2009-03-24T08:07:30
Deadly Sins for Lively Liberals: Sloth -- Service delivered by Denis Paul March 22, 2009
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Wanderlust from 2009-03-17T08:09:32
Wanderlust -- Service delivered by Rev. Alyson Jacks March 15, 2009
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There’s Something About Mary from 2009-03-10T08:24:28
There’s Something About Mary -- Service delivered by Rev. Fred Rabidoux March 8, 2009
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Total Love in Total War from 2009-03-03T08:35:37
Total Love in Total War -- Service delivered by Peter Olandt March 1, 2009
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Losing Faith Religiously from 2009-02-24T08:50:51
Losing Faith Religiously -- Service delivered by Rev. Greg Stewart February 22, 2009
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Are There Any Poor Unitarian Universalists? from 2009-02-24T08:47:07
Are There Any Poor Unitarian Universalists? -- Service delivered by Rev. Fred Rabidoux February 15, 2009
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Deadly Sins For Lively Liberals: Envy from 2009-02-10T08:29:29
Deadly Sins For Lively Liberals: Envy -- Service delivered by Rev. Greg Stewart February 8, 2009
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Love and Death from 2009-02-03T08:59:38
Love and Death -- Service delivered by Rev. Greg Stewart February 1, 2009
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On Whose Shoulders? from 2009-01-27T08:34:35
On Whose Shoulders? -- Service delivered by Rev. Chip Wright January 25, 2009
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Fuzzy Logic for Fuzzy Answers from 2009-01-21T08:43:45
Fuzzy Logic for Fuzzy Answers -- Service delivered by Peter Olandt January 18, 2009
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A Question of Questions from 2009-01-13T08:21:49
A Question of Questions -- Service delivered by Peter Olandt January 11, 2009
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Beyond Fear from 2009-01-08T08:35:12
Beyond Fear -- Service delivered by Rev. Fred Rabidoux January 4, 2009
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Hope in Human History from 2009-01-07T10:39:03
Hope in Human History -- Service delivered by Sr. Sheila Flynn, December 28, 2008
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There Comes A YES: A Candlelight Festival Of Lessons And Carols from 2009-01-07T10:35:03
There Comes A YES: A Candlelight Festival Of Lessons And Carols -- Service delivered by Rev. Greg Stewart, December 24, 2008
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Countdown to Chaos? (A Holiday Survival Guide) from 2009-01-07T10:15:35
Countdown to Chaos? (A Holiday Survival Guide) -- Service delivered by Rev. Greg Stewart, December 21, 2008
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Deadly Sins For Lively Liberals: Gluttony from 2008-12-16T10:20:03
Deadly Sins For Lively Liberals: Gluttony -- Service delivered by Rev. Greg Stewart, December 14, 2008
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Lights in the Dark from 2008-12-09T08:34:34
Lights in the Dark -- Service delivered by Peter Olandt, December 7, 2008
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Righteous Ambiguity from 2008-12-02T09:01:48
Righteous Ambiguity -- Service delivered by Rev. Greg Stewart, November 30, 2008
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Interfaith Thanksgiving Celebration from 2008-12-02T08:57:33
Interfaith Thanksgiving Celebration -- Service delivered by Rev. Greg Stewart, November 27, 2008
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A Vigil in Defense of Marriage for All from 2008-11-26T10:13:12
A Vigil in Defense of Marriage for All -- Service delivered by Rev. Greg Stewart and Peter Olandt, November 03, 2008
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A Family Thanksgiving In Black And White from 2008-11-26T10:05:01
A Family Thanksgiving In Black And White -- Service delivered by Rev. Greg Stewart November 23, 2008
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Deadly Sins For Lively Liberals: Pride from 2008-11-19T08:02:01
Deadly Sins For Lively Liberals: Pride -- Service delivered by Rev. Greg Stewart November 16, 2008
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SCIENCE!!! Discovering The Spark Of Life from 2008-11-12T08:50:40
SCIENCE!!! Discovering The Spark Of Life -- Sermon delivered by Peter Olandt November 9, 2008
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Goin’ to the Chapel: A Wedding and a Vigil in Defense of Marriage for All from 2008-11-05T08:31:03
Goin’ to the Chapel: A Wedding and a Vigil in Defense of Marriage for All -- November 2, 2008
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Stretch Our Arms: We Are Our Brother’s Keeper from 2008-10-28T08:57:33
Stretch Our Arms: We Are Our Brother’s Keeper -- Sermon delivered by Rev. Fran Mercer October 26, 2008
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The Sin Series: Deadly Sins for Lively Liberals from 2008-10-21T08:29:37
The Sin Series: Deadly Sins for Lively Liberals -- Sermon delivered by Rev. Greg Stewart October 19, 2008
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Universalism: For Such A Time As This! from 2008-10-15T09:38:31
Universalism: For Such A Time As This! -- Sermon delivered by Rev. Greg Stewart October 12, 2008
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Who’s Right About Animal Rights? from 2008-10-07T08:18:39
Who’s Right About Animal Rights? -- Sermon delivered by Rev. Greg Stewart October 5, 2008
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Shofar, So Good from 2008-09-30T08:17:02
Shofar, So Good -- Sermon delivered by Peter Olandt September 28, 2008
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Traveling Mercies from 2008-09-23T08:05:23
Traveling Mercies -- Sermon delivered by Rev. Greg Stewart September 21, 2008
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Making Loss Matter from 2008-09-16T08:09:34
Making Loss Matter -- Sermon delivered by Rev. Greg Stewart September 14, 2008
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Making Loss Matter from 2008-09-16T08:09:34
Making Loss Matter -- Sermon delivered by Rev. Greg Stewart September 14, 2008
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Making Loss Matter from 2008-09-16T08:09:34
Making Loss Matter -- Sermon delivered by Rev. Greg Stewart September 14, 2008
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