Complete Service-First Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco

"Keeping Love Alive" Sunday, February 12, 2023, Worship Service What does it take to keep love alive? What are some skills or practices that help us nurture the best in our relationships with one another? Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister; Daniel Jackoway, Worship Associate; Bell Choir led by Reiko Oda Lane, Organist; UUSF Choir led by Mark Sumner, Music Director; Jon Silk, Drummer; Bill...

Sunday, February 5, 2023, 10:50 am “Gongxi Gongxi: A Will to Hope in the Lunar New Year” The Lunar New Year loudly celebrates the spring amidst the chill of winter. What can a festival so focused on positivity tell us about our not-so-positive experience? Rev. Seanan Fong, Guest Minister; Carmen Barsody, Worship Associate; Lori Lai, Board Treasurer; Alexandra Lee-Jobe, UU Davis; Reiko Oda Lane, Or...

“A Religious Center With a Civic Circumference: Unitarians in San Francisco Since 1850” Sunday, January 29, 2023, 10:50 am, Worship Service Livestream Our past Senior Minister returns to our pulpit to speak about the history of our congregation. Since his retirement five years ago, he has been working on a book, which will be available soon, about this history. When the book comes out, he will lea...

“Gaining Vision at the Edge of the Miraculous” Sunday, January 22, 2023, 10:50 am, Worship Service Livestream At this time of year in the Jewish community we read the text of the Burning Bush. Can Moses’s response to that encounter inform how we might vision our lives as we in the every day face barriers and fears that block us? Do the miracles of this textual tradition – a burning bush, a well of...

“Once to every Soul and Nation…” Sunday, January 15, 2023, 10:50 am, Worship Service Livestream Their voices roll down through history -- cutting through like the thunder before a storm -- warning us, reminding us, showing us by the lives they lived/live that prophetic words can be met by life-changing deeds and that the future is not yet written, that there is another way. Ukrainian President Zel...

“A People Without Vision Shall Perish” Sunday, January 8, 2023, 10:50 am, Worship Service Livestream Emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic, we realize that there is no turning back to what we once thought was normal. San Francisco has always been a destination for those who want to be their authentic selves and dream dreams. Sunday's sermon will speak to the challenges and opportunities of this time...

“Annual Hanging of the Greens Service” Sunday, December 18, 10:50 am, Worship Service Livestream We will gather as a full community to build connection through the ritual of creating the greens for our sanctuary. In honor of the sacredness of each person born, we will create stars that highlight each of us that are present. Join us for a lovely tradition of joy and merriment. Rev. Vanessa Rush Sou...

“What I want for Christmas?” Sunday, December 11, 10:50 am, Worship Service Livestream Cleaning out a box of old papers, the other day, I came across a chapter -- part of a chapter -- of a book from Theologian Stanley Hauerwas that felt very current. It was about the "wanting" at the center of our lives. Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister; Sam King, Worship Associate; Larry Chinn, Jazz Pi...

“Oh, Family” Sunday, December 4, 10:50 am, Worship Service Livestream We will spend hours basting a turkey or readying the house for guests, but often not even a few minutes preparing ourselves to be with them. Having just, perhaps, had some time with family, biological or chosen, and maybe preparing to be with family in the Hanukkah, Christmas and Kwanzaa seasons ahead, let's talk about family. H...

"Little Things Mean a Lot" Sunday, November 27, 10:50 am, Worship Service Livestream My dad did a commercial decades ago. It is one of the stories you might hear us retelling when we gather around the table which we are still lucky and blessed enough to do. But, all laughter aside, the joke calls us back to some of what is essential to a life grounded in gratitude. Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Seni...

“After the OObleck" - A Forgiveness Ritual” Sunday, November 20, 10:50 am, Worship Service Livestream Forgiveness can be a sticky topic, especially when we refuse to grant forgiveness to ourselves or others. Let us gather this morning to hear a story about how messy and sticky it can get. Then, we can choose to participate in a forgiveness ritual to help us leave that stickiness behind. If you are...

"The Double-edged Sword of Faith" Sunday, November 13, 10:50 am, Worship Service Livestream Someone asked me on the way out of service this fall what I meant, as a Unitarian Universalist, when I said the word "faith." Let's look at what faith is (and is not) and the role it plays in our lives -- the blessing and the danger of it. Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister; Richard Davis-Lowell, W...

“Across the Veil” Sunday, November 6, 10:50 am, Worship Service Livestream This is the time of year of the Pagan celebration of Samhain, and the Christian (no doubt borrowed and adapted!) witness to All Souls and All Saints, and to the celebrations of Día De Los Muertos in Mexico and across Latin America. All of these community and religious ceremonies and sacred times begin with the Samhain idea...

“Living with the Trouble” Sunday, October 30, 10:50 am, Worship Service Livestream The saga of our relationship with the nightly raccoons, as a metaphor for learning to live with the troubles in life. Rev. Margot Campbell Gross, Minister Emerita; Daniel Jackoway, Worship Associate; Reiko Oda Lane, Organist; UUSF Choir; Mark Sumner, Music Director; Ben Rudiak-Gould, Soloist; Laurel Sprigg, Soloist...

“What Fuels These Fools?” Sunday, October 23, 10:50 am, Worship Service Livestream What makes Fools “faithful”? More than anything it is a willingness to hang in there, even when it seems like not much is changing. Futility, rather than fuel, seems to be what’s on people’s minds these days, but the Fools are committed to the faithfulness of fidelity and steadiness, keeping on even when it seems ra...

“Being Alive” Sunday, October 16, 10:50 am, Worship Service Livestream For months we struggled with the confinement required to avoid Covid, then the numbers went down and we began to move around again. Some said it felt 'Alive' again. What does being alive mean now that many of us now have more freedom? Rev. David Sammons, Minister Emeritus; Wonder Dave, Worship Associate; Reiko Oda Lane, Organis...

“Whose Land Is This?” Sunday, October 9, 10:50 am, Worship Service Livestream Woody Guthrie sang, “This land is your land, this land is my land, from California to the Gulf Stream waters.” Yet Indigenous Peoples’ Day, observed on the second Monday of October (but not as a holiday), suggests that we acknowledge the unceded rights of this continent’s first peoples. Doing so might even shed light on...

“A Hope Worth Fighting For” Sunday, October 2, 10:50 am, Worship Service Livestream Exploring hope and despair in the context of the work the Dallas UU community has done for reproductive dignity and what you might ponder as you consider your callings to make a difference. Rev. Dr. Daniel Kanter, Guest Minister; Rev. John Buehrens; Susan Anthony, Worship Associate; Reiko Oda Lane, Organist; UUSF C...

“Are We Normal?” Sunday, September 25, 10:50 am, Worship Service Livestream What is it about the human condition that is normal? And what is normal anyway? By taking lessons from our time in the pandemic, from my time as a hospital chaplain, and from our collective experiences as humans, we can explore how normal is not a concept to compare ourselves to others, but rather a way to build a shared u...

“The Tasks of Life” Sunday, September 18, 10:50 am, Worship Service Livestream What is the purpose of a life, of life. It's always been the question religion was tasked to answer. Part of the work of answering that question involves the tasks of life, of each life and even its stages of tasks. As we step into a new church year perhaps we can ask where we think we are in this work so each of us can...

“The River of Life: An Ingathering” Sunday, September 11, 10:50 am, Worship Service Livestream This week is a joyous regathering: virtually and in person we will come back together for our official start to a church year. Children will join us in worship and we will sing and speak in words and ritual of our journeys apart and what we bring back with us. Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister;...

“Birthing a New World” Sunday, September 4, 10:50 am, Worship Service Livestream For our annual Labor Day service, Rev. Millie Phillips celebrates a struggle that ebbs and flows, but has never died; the struggle for economic survival and dignity on the job. Playing off the multiple meanings of the word "labor," do we have the courage to do what it takes to give birth to " a new world from the ashe...

“The Arc of the Universe” Sunday, August 28, 10:50 am, Worship Service Livestream August 28th is the 59th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington for Racial Equality. Its keynote address by Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. has become the most famous speech in modern history. Echoed in his remarks that day were the paraphrased words of an early Unitarian minister, Theodore Parker; that the arc o...

“Transforming Perfection” Sunday, August 21, 10:50 am, Worship Service Livestream This Sunday, join Guest Preacher Charlotte Cramer exploring the concept of perfection and how it influences our lives and society. Perfection is everywhere in our country, and it has impacted how we treat one another and ourselves. What is the mindset and healing that is needed to work against the strong drive toward...

“Ordinary Days” Sunday, August 14, 10:50 am, Worship Service Livestream Life is made up of ordinary days. And they are often some of the best days we have. A sermon musing on the ordinariness of a sweet life. Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister; Mari Magaloni Ramos, Worship Associate; Reiko Oda Lane, Organist; Laurel Sprigg, Soprano; Mark Sumner, Pianist; Richard Fey, Songleader Shulee Ong...