Sermons-First Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco

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, Come, Whoever You Are,” in English, Spanish and Chinese. We will thank the facilitators of Small Group Ministry. The Bell Choir will perform. Bike to Worship Sunday! Rev. John Buehrens, Senior Minister Rev. Alyson Jac...

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 an outstanding lay preacher. Dennis Adams will serve as Worship Associate. Andres Vera, cello, and Randy Adams, piano, will provide music. Meanwhile, our ministers will be with 100+ members & friends at the annua...

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 diverse fellowship, to bear witness to suffering and joy, and to work for peace and justice in our world.” Rev. John Buehrens, Senior Minister Phil Marshall, Worship Associate Jiun-Chyi Yew & Maria Solis, sopranos D...

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 Worship Associate and offer a reflection. The Choir will sing. Reiko will play. And after the service, in the Chapel, there will be an Invitation to Membership for those newcomers who have met with one of the minist...

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 them leads us to a fuller, deeper, richer experience of life. Our guest preacher is the Regional Lead for the Pacific Western Region of the UUA. The service will make the end of our church school year, with appre...

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 leadership of the ROP Teaching Team:  Alex Darr, Jeff Cookston, Simmy Cover and Chandra Egan, our 3rd and 4th graders spent the year exploring who they are,  what they value, and what it means to be...

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 Message for All Ages will be a “Blessing of the Bins,” recommitting us all to recycling. Kat Liu, the chair of the working group, will serve as Worship Associate and offer a reflection. Soprano Shannon Warto and pi...

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 Reiko and the choir was accompanied by trumpeter Tom Dambly in a joyous, audacious celebration of Easter. The offering went to resurrect a UU ministry to the poor in Oklahoma that was destroyed in a recent fire. Re...

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 recent book is "Christ for Unitarian Universalists: A New Dialogue with Christianity" --which is the Minister’s Book Club Selection for April, to be discussed on Monday evening, April 17. Rev. Scotty McLennan, Gu...

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 ending conflict, how about if we learned to wage them well in conversations? Conversations are the best places to wage conflict. Conversations are the currency of organizations. Our faith says revelation is unsea...

Heartwood Our beautiful sanctuary is, among other things, adorned with redwood beams and ceilings, oak plank floors, and carved chancel furniture that goes back to the ministry of Thomas Starr King. John has long felt that under the surface of every liberal church there lies a framework of covenantal heartwood, left to us as a gift and a present guide in challenging times. Rev. John Buehrens, Seni...

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 be present and welcoming to each day, and to welcome every sign of sacred presence in people as well as in the natural world. Rev. John Buehrens, Senior Minister Rev. Alyson Jacks, Associate Minister Richard Davis...

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. That said, we can train our hearts to prepare them room, and, in so doing, we also prepare ourselves for other unseen guests. These are the many people who would benefit from our tradition but have not yet discov...

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 church and its work for these challenging times. The theme for the month is “Presence.” The Message for All Ages will come from our 5th and 6th grade church school class. Rev. John Buehrens, Senior Minister Lucy Smit...

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 which we stand. The Rev. Diane Miller, who was ordained by this congregation 40 years ago, was Assistant Minister, Interim Senior Minister, and Associate Minister during her five years with the congregation. She was...

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 effectively counter the barrage of hate mongers, we need creative and committed love makers engaged in efforts that bring hope, vision and transformation. Let’s explore ways to be faithful and imaginative love practitione...

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, rather than feared, the future, perhaps we might be better at doing this. John Buehrens will preach. The service will include the dedication of Iris Floyd, child of Emily Hurstak and Ryan Floyd. Rev. John Buehren...

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 implementing the demands of justice, & justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.” Rev. John Buehrens, Senior Minister Rev. Alyson Jacks, Associate Minister Lucy Smith, Worship Associate Phil Ma...

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 religious communities to bring about transformation for the common good of humanity. Really is this what we are called to?  If so, how might the arts support us in the divine project of becoming fully human...

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,” from the Lerner/ Bernstein musical, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. It includes the line, “but hope isn’t easy to see.” John’s sermon will be based on his own experience, as President of the UUA (1993-2001) of false news,...

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 Rights Working Group. The Choir plans an anthem by contemporary composer Debra Scoggins based on the Emily Dickinson poem, Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the wo...

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 humanist Vaclav Havel put it. To operate in the realm between faith and love is also to learn to practice non-attachment to the fruits of right action. We’ll sing, with the help of the choir, a hymn that speaks of “h...

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 burned in the courtyard following the service. We will also write new hopes on cards – to be taken home, reflected upon, revised, and held. Alex Darr will serve as Worship Associate. Music will be provided by singer E...

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 Associate Dennis Adams (a.k.a. Poindexter the Clown) will help us greet one another with surprise and wonder. Our guest musicians will be Ted Rust and Viva Knight on oboe and piano. And we will sing some beloved carols. R...

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 tell./ In the bleak mid-winter, in this world of pain,/ Where our hearts are open, love is born again.”