Sermons-First Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco

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 tell./ In the bleak mid-winter, in this world of pain,/ Where our hearts are open, love is born again.” Kat Liu will serve as Worship Associate and offer a reflection. Trumpeter Tom Dambly and soprano Kate Offer...

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 with the same title as his sermon. In the face of life’s inevitable changes, disappointments, and losses, how do we revive a sense of wonder? His text will come from a question the disciples of John posed to Jesus:...

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 the organ keyboard. Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Worship Archives/Podcast Bring your music loving friends! Our “Big Music Sunday” this year features works by J.S. Bach, centered on Cantata 79, his “Reformation Cantata” --a fitt...

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 complacency of the ‘50s. That “rebirth of wonder” is what we most need in our own souls to keep our spirits alive and just grateful for life – and a good theme for the season of Advent, as we approach the wonder of t...

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 use very personal stories to illustrate how we can retell the story of our lives in ways that reconcile us to the past and allow us to face whatever may come with grace and courage. Michael Eselun, Guest...

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 with our stories. In preparation, we will spend this Sunday with the Thanksgiving story, which will serve as our centerpiece, exploring the facts and the fiction, seeing what  it can teach us about recon...

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 retain the ability to function.” This is true both in our relational lives – and in more profound forms of religious thought.   Rev. John Buehrens, Senior Minister Rev. Alyson Jacks, Associate Minister Ri...

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 an infinite game. The real goal then is to keep the play going. Which requires grace and reconciliation. Drawing on both the tradition of the Election Sermon and ideas of philosopher James Carse, John will try to...

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 DRUUMM (the UU ministry for people of color) and as co-chair of the UU Ministers Association CENTER Committee and Institute for Ministerial Excellence. He is also the treasurer and Workshop Leader for Healing Mo...

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 international human rights movement, authoritarian tendencies are again growing ñ and what people of faith should remember in facing them. Rev. John Buehrens, Senior Minister Alex Darr, Worship Associate...

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 sense of right and wrong and for mustering the courage to live by (or close as one can to) one's moral compass? What are the micro-corrections we might make? Rev. JD Benson, Assistant Minister Rev. Alyson Jacks, Asso...

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 Buber, who took traditional religion to have only limited authority, said that the purpose of tradition is to teach us “to hallow this life” – to make of its moments days of awe and holy. Rev. John Buehrens, Senior...

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 greater than we care to acknowledge) for the common good; to exercise authority with moral responsibility; these are signs of authentic spirituality – at work, at home, and in our common life. Rev. John Bue...

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 Schmidt. They are the parents of two boys, ages 4 and 18 months. John Buehren s supervised Christian as an Intern Minister at First Parish in Needham, MA. He was a journalist and UU lay leader in Texas before ent...

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, the key word for faith is enumah – meaning trust, or loyalty. The other type he saw typified in the Christian emphasis on what is called in Greek pistis, as in the word epistle, or letter, which leads to literal,...

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 times and the worst of times. Free people gathered to help one another. Free people also became manipulated by fear-mongering. Developments over the past summer have mirrored that tension. We are all clearly afraid...

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 living wages, can the fight for justice on the job be source of spiritual strength, as it was for many of our ancestors? Our preacher will be our own Millie Phillips, a long-time labor activist, member of UUSF, rece...

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. Rev. Margot Campbell Gross, Minister Emerita Alessandro Gagliardi, Small Group Ministry Co-ordinator Judith Stoddard, Small Group Ministry   Megan Lehmer, Small Group Ministry Tristan Hembree, Small Group Ministry S...

Be Friend Friendship is difficult to describe, but that hasn’t stopped us from trying. Take Aristotle. He believed that friendship – philia – is a great good, one of the greatest goods. And to be a good friend, you must be a good person; only good people can be friends. Like Aristotle, I believe friendship is a great good, both for the individual and society as a whole. The world could do with few...

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 for the positive and deny the negative? What will be our UU position on evil in our next phase? Rev. Russ Menk, Guest Minister Kat Liu, Worship Associate Nancy Munn, soprano David Jones, piano Gayle Reynolds, Welco...

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. What do Unitarian Universalists have to say about these creatures? How might liberal religion understand them? What do stories about demons have to say about the roles of good, evil, and temptation in our...

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 orange. When her son remained silent, she looked at him and asked, ìWhat do you say to the nice man?î The child mulled it over, handed the orange back to the man and said, ìPeel it.î OUCH. He sure missed the gratitude...

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 more truly artistic than to love people.” When we encounter difficulties in our relationships it can be easy to entrench into a position of disappointment or frustration. How do we reframe our worldview, as van Gogh does in thi...

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 been blessed to experience really good parenting, this service will seek to lead us all toward more creative forms of generativity – not so much biological as social. This will be Rev. John’s last Sunday in the p...

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 moment, all around the world, democracy seems to be in trouble. Creative demagogues threaten to dominate. What kind of leadership is needed to cut through the babel and to clarify the common good? Rev. John Buehrens,Senior...