Orange Coast Unitarian Universalist Church (OCUUC) Podcast

God Bless America: Why do we ask God to bless America? What is the history of that song, what is its meaning and why is it still so popular today on this special 250th Fourth of July weekend? - Donna McCartney   Find us in Costa Mesa, CA or at: https://ocuuc.org

Service As Practice:  If we turn to Buddhist literature, service is vital to the spiritual goal of Mahayana Buddhism. After twenty years of community service the three aspects of Buddhism wisdom... Impermanence, Suffering and Interconnectedness have been validated.  

Juneteenth: Celebrating Our Shared Freedom: Juneteenth commemorates the day enslaved people in Texas finally learned of their freedom, but its meaning extends far beyond a single moment in history. In this sermon, Gary explores how the struggle for Black freedom helped expand liberty, citizenship, and civil rights for ALL Americans. Drawing on history, personal family stories, and themes from his...

Wheels On My Suitcase: We all carry around our own unique burdens - “our baggage,” if you will. UCLA Oncology Chaplain and popular guest speaker, Michael Eselun, will look at what might be “the wheels” on that suitcase that we drag around. What are the ways we can make it all a little easier to maneuver and manage —particularly in these uncertain and challenging times. Find us in Costa Mesa, CA or...

The Buddha Meets AI: What can the Buddha's teaching about reality and the working of the mind tell us about this emerging technology? - Rev. Dr. Arvid Straube  Find us in Costa Mesa, CA or at: https://ocuuc.org

The Gifts of Unitarian Universalism: In a country aching with loneliness and weary of dogma, Unitarian Universalism has something rare to offer: a spiritual home where you don't have to check your mind at the door, where love is the center of everything, and where your questions are welcome. This Sunday, as we close our "Gifts of" series, we'll celebrate the gifts of our own tradition. - Rev. Sian...

Flower Communion: Curiosity asks us to look more closely at the world - and at one another. Our annual Flower Communion offers us the chance to do exactly that. Each of us will bring a flower and place it in a shared vase; at the end of the service, each of us will take home a flower someone else has carried in. What might we discover if we approached each bloom, and each soul, with a curious hear...

Building Community Through Singing: Susan Shaw and Steve Morihiro, our Co-Directors of Music, lead this week's Music Sunday service. As expected, the service will be filled with lots of uplifting music. Find us in Costa Mesa, CA or at: https://ocuuc.org

From Education to Exploration: Why We Changed the E in RE: You may have noticed that what we used to call "Religious Education" is now "Religious Exploration." It's a small change with a big story behind it. We'll explore why a simple shift from education to exploration says something profound about who we are: a people who trust questions more than answers, and curiosity more than certainty. - Re...

The Gifts of the “Woo-Woo”: Let's be honest — when someone mentions their birth chart or pulls out tarot cards, some of us lean in and some of us look for the exit. This Sunday, we'll explore the gifts of neopaganism, new age spirituality, and earth-centered practice with open hearts and curious minds. But like all traditions, they have gifts to offer. - Rev. Sian Wiltshire Find us in Costa Mesa,...

Don't Panic (But Maybe Pay Attention): A loving nod to Douglas Adams — and an invitation to approach our AI moment with curiosity instead of dread. We are living through one of the most significant technological shifts in human history. Is AI a tool? A mirror? A threat? A gift? This service doesn't promise easy answers, but it does promise that asking the questions together is exactly what we're h...

Embracing the Environment in Challenging Times: One of our long-standing Unitarian Universalist principles is our respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part. UUs have always been tree huggers, protective of animal life, and lovers of the natural world. Today we will explore why we need to continue to work hard to protect our environment. In these challenging times w...

The Body Knows: We spend a lot of time in our heads — analyzing, planning, worrying. But our bodies hold a different kind of wisdom: older, quieter, and often more honest. In this service, we'll explore what happens when we slow down enough to listen — not just with our minds, but with our whole, embodied selves. Spoiler: this is not a fitness class. But it might be the most grounding hour of your...

Tomb With a View: Sometimes you show up expecting one thing — and find something you never could have planned for. This Easter, we explore what opens up when we least expect it. What plot twists await us in our lives? - Rev. Sian Wiltshire Find us in Costa Mesa, CA or at: https://ocuuc.org

Love in a Warming World: If love is at the center of our faith, what does love require in a warming world? Climate change is reshaping communities, deepening inequality, and testing our moral courage. In this service, we will reflect on climate justice as a spiritual calling — one that calls us beyond awareness into action. Following worship, representatives from Earthjustice will help us explore...

Lives, subject to debate: In 2002, disability rights activist Harriet McBryde Johnson was invited to Princeton University to speak with philosopher Peter Singer, whose views on disability had sparked deep controversy. Johnson later wrote powerfully about their encounter and Rev. Everett will talk about MacBryde Johnson’s account of this event, and what it can tell us about ethics, humanity, compas...

What I've Learned About Conservatives: In this sermon, I reflect on what I've learned from loving conservatives—family, friends, and neighbors—and how identity, community, and misunderstanding shape our political divide. Ultimately, this is a call to breathe, to resist despair, and to remember that the vast majority of Americans still believe in justice, decency, and one another. - Lawrence Ingall...

Next Steps: Raising the Roof: What does it mean to "raise the roof?" Not with noise, but with vision? There are moments in the life of a church when maintaining is no longer enough; when the spirit calls us to take the next steps toward growth, courage, and shared leadership. Not for the sake of being bigger, but for the sake of becoming more fully who we are. - Rev. Sian Wiltshire Find us in Cost...

The Gifts of Islam: In our ongoing exploration of the gifts each religious tradition offers the world, we turn this week to Islam. Islam has shaped art, science, poetry, law, architecture, and spiritual practice across centuries. This Sunday we explore its enduring gifts to the world. Join us as we widen our understanding and deepen our respect in this continuing journey through the world’s sacred...

Question Box Sunday: Bring your curiosity and your questions - Rev. Sian Wiltshire is ready to answer. Find us in Costa Mesa, CA or at: https://ocuuc.org

Our Sacred Constitution and Star Trek: A famously flawed episode of Star Trek offers a surprisingly sharp moral warning: when sacred words are stripped of meaning, they can become tools of division. In this service, we'll explore how ideals become distorted when they're treated as relics instead of relationships, and how Unitarian Universalism invites us into the harder, more hopeful work of our C...

The Gifts of Christianity: This service explores the gifts Christianity. Some of us carry deep gratitude, others carry deep wounds - and many carry both. In this service, we'll take a clear-eyed, compassionate look at the gifts Christianity has offered the world and our own tradition - while acknowledging that for many of us, this is tender terrain. -Rev. Sian Wiltshire Find us in Costa Mesa, CA o...

Resilience - Inspiration - Transformation: What is Resilience? A return to a "norm?" Or maybe a path to transformation? When I define resilience as the ability to spring back into shape, returning to what was, then what inspires Transformation? I need to know. -Kellie Kinsman, Intern Minister Find us in Costa Mesa, CA or at: https://ocuuc.org

Not Just Sitting Still: The many traditions of meditation. Unitarian Universalism draws wisdom from many sources—and so do our spiritual practices. Meditation takes many forms—silence and song, breath and movement, attention and prayer. In this service, we’ll explore different ways of quieting the mind and opening the heart, discovering that there is no single “right” way to meditate. -Rev. Sian W...

We Shall Over Come: Celebrating the Living Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. in word and Song. -Kellie Kinsman, Intern Minister   Find us in Costa Mesa, CA or at: https://ocuuc.org