Sermons-First Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco

"How Do We Lead?" Sunday, December 8, 2024 Church has always been a place (and houses of worship in general) where the definition and understanding of how leadership shows up among us is broader and fuller than the world sometimes defines it. It's not so much that we loosen the definition but that we see so clearly how it takes so many different skills and gifts to make the whole of what we want t...

"Seeing Nature and Presence Through the Eyes of Robin Wall Kimmerer" Sunday, December 1, 2024, 10:50 am This sleepy Sunday of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend—one of the quietest times I know anymore (assuming you don't dive into Black Friday's melee)—is a great time to walk and wander with scientist, professor, mother, and member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Robin Wall Kimmerer.  Rev. Vaness...

"Breaking Bread" Sunday, November 24, 2024 As we prepare to gather at the tables to mark next week's day of gratitude, let's tell stories of what shows up on our tables, who and how we gather, and the practices that begin here. Bring a bread or baked good to share at our social hour afterwards, if you are baking or have the opportunity to do so! Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister; Daniel...

"Forgiveness & Repair: A Ritual" Sunday, November 17, 2024 We will gather in our annual ritual to examine where in our lives repair and forgiveness might happen. How can we heal ourselves and each other from harms we have done? Rev. Laura Shennum, Minister of Congregational Life; Carmen Barsody, Worship Associate; Lucy Smith, Secretary, Board of Trustees; Reiko Oda Lane, organist; UUSF Choir; Mark...

"The State of the Union and the Soul of the Nation" Sunday, November 10, 2024 No matter what happens in our election, as I write this, it is playing out in voting booths and polling places across the country. We will have work to do together. The divide is too big, the rhetoric too scary and angry, for us to think that we can just declare victory or defeat and bunker back down on our side of the i...

"Uncertainty" Sunday, November 3, 2024 Among the hardest emotions to tolerate is uncertainty. And yet it is both so much a part of our lives, inevitably, part of the entire mortal condition, and part of a life that takes risks and reaches for the stars. It is also the river we wade into this election season. How do we live in the face of and dance with uncertainty?  Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Sen...

"Listening to Our Ancestors" Sunday, October 27, 2024 On this day, we honor and celebrate the time of year held sacred in so many traditions to recognize our continued connection to our ancestors. Although it is not lined up with Samhain, All Saints and Souls Day, and Día de Los Muertos, we will hold that legacy and step into that sacredness of time. In the spirit of this time and sacred season, y...

"Skilling up for Love" Sunday, October 20, 2024 Being human is not just something we are born into; it is something we practice. Being human in a person who loves deeply and loves well is the same. And nothing is more crucial to a strong and loving relationship than deep listening—the kind that is seductive, gorgeously affirming, and brings us extraordinarily deep connection—the kind, I think, we...

"Listening Deeply to Hear if We Got the Story Right" Sunday, October 13, 2024 Storytelling is powerful. Maybe the most powerful tool we have to move human hearts and wills—a nation, a family, people—all of us tell and live into a lot of stories and their truths. Which means stories also need to be interrogated, and we only do that by listening deeply, getting curious, and being willing, if need be...

"Accountability to What We Hear Inside" Sunday, October 6, 2024, 10:50 am As we enter into the Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and as we launch into an examination of the theme of Deep Listening, I find myself reflecting on how deep listening to ourselves, our inner voice and feelings, is foundational to our personal discernment. Perhaps the most foundational practice for it. What does i...

"The Turbulence of Invitation" Sunday, September 29, 2024, 10:50 am Invitation sounds so easy and lovely, but already this month we have unpacked some of both what it opens up for us and what it requires. What about the ways invitations throw the unexpected our way? In ways small and large, it requires courage and bent-knee flexibility and readiness as a posture. Let me tell you a small example fr...

“From a Wave to a Welcome: Invitation as a Spiritual Practice” Sunday, September 22, 2024 How do UUs embody the core value of liberating love? Perhaps we commit to “invitation” as a conscious practice, continually inviting new experiences and new ways of being to co-create a better world. This week we’ll consider how an everyday welcome might transmute into a radical welcome. Kate Steinberg, Minis...

"Invitation to Participate in the Democratic Process" Sunday, September 15, 2024, 10:50 am How do we as UUs live into our values as we engage the democratic process? How is this a spiritual practice? As we sort through all the chatter, let us find ways to ground ourselves in what we believe to participate in the democratic process intentionally. Rev. Laura Shennum, Minister of Congregational Life;...

"Spiritual Practices and Climate Justice" Sunday, July 7, 10:50 am, 2024 "We can never return to innocence, but we can move forward with integrity." - Rev. Dr. Howard Thurman The 20th-century spiritual leader, Rev. Dr. Howard Thurman, loved San Francisco. A mentor to Martin Luther King, Jr., and Pauli Murray, Thurman found in this city a special dynamism, a variety of people, and chance interactio...

"Radical Rethinking of God: God is Queer" Sunday, June 30, 10:50 am, 2024 On this Pride Weekend, we will dive into Queer Theology: What does it have to say about the nature of God and of the holy? Why is that important for all of us?  Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister; Rev. Laura Shennum, Minister of Congregational Life; Carmen Barsody, Worship Associate; Reiko Oda Lane, Organist; Lamber...

"Harmony Unveiled: The Secret Music of the Renaissance" Sunday, June 23, 10:50 am, 2024 "Bigger" Music Sunday is thrilled to present "Harmony Unveiled: The Secret Music of the Renaissance," a mesmerizing service full of vocal and instrumental masterpieces sung by Areté Singers, an East Bay ensemble renowned for their innovative vocal performances. They will team up with RammDance, which features L...

“What They Taught Us?” Sunday, June 16, 10:50 am, 2024 What does it mean to be a man? What did we learn, from whom, and how? What do we want to pass on? Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister; Sam King, Worship Associate; Trio: Akané Ota, Kei Uchida, Tetsuya Taura, singers; Yuki Ota and Haruka Ota, cellists; Mark Sumner, pianist Jonathan Silk, Communications Director; Amy Kelly, Flowers; Lind...

"A Look Back" Sunday, June 2, 10:50 am, 2024 Let's look back on our year together. Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister; Rev. Laura Shennum, Minister of Congregational Life; Mari Magaloni Ramos, Worship Associate; Galen Workman, Trustee; Reiko Oda Lane, Organist; UUSF Choir led by Mark Sumner, Music Director; Andrew Kessler, Guest Director; Wm. García Ganz, Pianist Shulee Ong, Camera; Franc...

"Metaphors for Us" Sunday, June 9, 10:50 am, 2024 Bring your flowers this week as we engage in the ritual of the end of our year, where we make visible the life we have made tangible among us. Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister; Rev. Laura Shennum, Minister of Congregational Life; Dennis Adams, Worship Associate; Liz Strand, Secretary, Board of Trustees; UUSF Bell Choir led by Reiko Oda L...

"Meditations on the Transformative Power of Street Ministry" Sunday, May 26, 10:50 am, 2024 Join Rev. Charlotte as she reflects on her experiences as a street minister in Marin, the transformative power of connecting with our unhoused neighbors (and how it changed her life), and her new project helping communities create spaces of belonging for all people. Rev. Charlotte Maitreya Cramer, Guest Min...

"The Fight to be Authentic, and Loved" Sunday, May 19, 10:50 am, 2024 It is so central to want to be seen and loved for who we are, understood, if we can be so lucky. It is also the source of so much pain (and power) to make that journey in a world, in a family, at a time that won't easily make a place for you in the family of things, to paraphrase poet Mary Oliver. Drawing from Lamya H's "Hijab B...

"A Polymath Nun and Why She Matters on this Mothers' Day" Sunday, May 12, 10:50 am, 2024 Reflections on Hildegard von Bingen: The Patron Saint of Late Bloomers. She founded her own abbey, created her own language, and wrote one of the first musical plays. She was a wonderful composer who set her own lushly poetic texts. Hildegard was 42 before she started writing anything down, and she was also so...

"Treasures from the Journey" Sunday, May 5, 10:50 am, 2024 Our high school seniors will be sharing the stories, relationships, and learnings from their time growing up in a UU church and answering what they treasure from their journey. Rev. Laura Shennum, Minister of Congregational Life; Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister; Claire Cover, Bree Shennum, Charlie Zwibelman; Galen Workman, Trus...

"When Legacy Propels Boldness" Sunday, April 28, 10:50 am, 2024 The word "legacy" always draws for me images of things past: heavy, anchoring, a little dusty, and old. But in reality, they are just as often more like a sail for covering fast oceans or a ballast for weathering storms than a heavy anchor somewhere fixed and forgotten. This Sunday, I will talk about some of the legacy of the UU Servi...

"Understanding Autism, Each Other, and Ourselves" Sunday, April 21, 10:50 am, 2024 For many people, when they learn they're on the Autism spectrum, they gain a rich and empowering understanding of themselves. Let's learn about these identities so we can support each other's unique spiritual journeys and be a more accessible and compassionate congregation! Sam King, Guest Preacher; Rev. Millie Phil...