Sermons-First Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco

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 our human abilities to engage our ethics in a beautiful and heart-breaking world? All are welcome for this service of inquiry and hope. Rev. Dara Olandt, Guest Minister Phil Marshall, Worship Associate My-Hoa Ste...

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 will take the excuse of the big race as a chance (in this month when our theme is “Body”) to look at sports and what it teaches us about our relationship to the body but also to life. Come. Dust off your varsity jac...

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, and theologian, Stephanie Paulsell too. Come here how this Mother’s Day Sunday. Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister Rochelle Fortier Nwadibia, Worship Associate Reiko Oda Lane, organ Asher Davison, song...

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 in our congregations should be — something a Hassidic colleague told me, a person about the Mennonite church she grew up in. It is the time to talk about some things that challenge us to frame intentionally how we...

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 our 8th and 9th graders. Over the past seven months, they have examined their religious identity, gaining self-awareness and deepening their connection to our Unitarian Universalist faith and this church community...

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, thousands have come to reflect on the disparities of wealth and power that become visible at street level. The Faithful Fools share some of what can be learned from placing one foot in front of the other. Rev....

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 composer and educator Undine Smith Moore. Last performed by the Oakland Symphony and Chorus in 1986 with the composer in attendance, the work reflects on the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. who will have passed 50 y...

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 most radical act there is, next to love -- is to dive deep into what happens just before the dawn breaks this morning. Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister Lisanicole Sarkisian, Worship Associate Dr. Mark...

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 just the Israelite's, long ago, who found themselves in bondage and needing to be free. Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister Richard Davis, Worship Associate Sharon Weld, Reflection Betsy Darr, EJWG Dr. Mar...

Every other year our 8th and 9th graders have their Coming of Age when they dare to state what they believe, as they will this year in April. And each time they do so it raises the question of why our adults are not asked to do the same -- to write and speak their "Credos". Today our worship associates will engage with their beliefs and inspire us to do the same. Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior...

Rev. Kay Jorgensen Memorial Service January 9, 1932 - January 15, 2018

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 Southern, Senior Minister Lucy Smith, Worship Associate Gino Fortunato, Smiling Dishwasher Coming of Age Class, Message for All Ages Reiko Oda Lane, organ and bell choir director Dr. Mark Sumner, music director Tim Salaver, te...

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 what does he mean and how is this relevant to our lives? Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister Marty Vanderlaan, AOF Chair Daniel Jackoway, Worship Associate Neighboring Faiths Class, Message for All Ages Re...

"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 our family, our faith, and our communities? Are we aware of all these? Let's find the gifts that connect us to each other. Rev. Emese Bodor, Guest Minister Sam King, Worship Associate Reiko Oda Lane, organ Dr. Mark...

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 doesn’t feel like an accident that what I loved about theater often resonates with what I love about worship — the two feel, at their best, very kindred to me. Places of wisdom, laughter, grappling with meaning....

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. And I did too, in a way. The lessons of improv are more than a form of entertainment, they are lessons for life. Say, “yes” to coming to church this week and be prepared to color outside the lines a little. Rev...

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 external ones-and some in between. Michael Eselun, guest preacher Sam King, Worship Associate Reiko Oda Lane, organ Dr. Mark Sumner, music director Gayle Reynolds, Vice Moderator Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Podcasting

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 different, and form us to be different people and different cultures with different agendas. Let's look at one or two and what they teach us about our dance with difference. Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Min...

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 stamped on our forehead in a way that separates us from one another? Or the idea of race, charted out with pseudo scientific semi-precision and then charted into law. Or gender differences, scripted at birth. To see i...

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, Senior Minister Rev. Alyson Jacks, Associate Minister Phil Marshall, Worship Associate Reiko Oda Lane, organ Asher Davison, song leader Giacomo Fiore, guitar Marc Theobald, welcome Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Podcasting

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 community and as individuals, the past year has contained both sorrowful and joyous milestones. And, though we live in times that occur to many of us as more troubled than usual, 2017 has pushed us toward growth, rev...

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 own, quirky and fun and lopsided. They get at the spirit of the season too. How? Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister Kat Liu, Worship Associate Dr. Mark Sumner, piano The Cello Street Quartet Asher Davis...

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, though there was only oil for one. Moses splitting the Sea of Reeds. Set aside the facts, what's the truth at the heart of the stories? That truth, after all, is why generations bother to retell them. Rev. Vanes...

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? Rev. Mary McKinnon Ganz, Assistant Minister Dennis Adams, Worship Associate Asher Davison, clarinet Wm. García Ganz, Guest Conductor and accompanist Gayle Reynolds, Trustee Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Podcasting

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 something fun like a vacation is a large part of the joy we get out of it. But it can also be the hardest part of life -- waiting to hear test results, watching and waiting for a loved one to let go and leave this li...