Sermons-First Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco

"By Stander, Standing By" Sunday, October 15, 10:50 am, 2023 This weekend when we honor awareness about our Trans Beloveds, I want to talk about some stories I've heard from members lately. I want to talk about how we show up and invite others to do the same. I want to talk about the real danger of the bystander. Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister; Rev. Laura Shennum, Minister of Congrega...

"The Uses and Abuses of Scripture" Sunday, October 8, 10:50 am, 2023 On a Sunday when we mark Indigenous Peoples Day, we will enjoy music from a group of Native Hawai’ian musicians. Rev. Buehrens reflect on how scripture was abused in the spread of settler colonialism, even as he invites people, in his Monday evening adult RE course on the Hebrew Bible, to learn about how the scriptures can be und...

“Hello, Frank!” in honor of the feast of St Francis which is on Oct 4. Sunday, October 1, 10:50 am, 2023 Living in a city named for St. Francis, we find ourselves looking for the humanity behind the saint as we negotiate very difficult times: Ideals of loving the poor get confused with the complexity of addressing poverty and homelessness; and a reverence for all creation can leave us wondering wh...

"Healing and Hope: A sermon on forgiveness and beyond" Sunday, September 24, 10:50 am, 2023 Yom Kippur is a day for Jewish people to focus on forgiveness and determine how they will move forward in the next year. This morning, we will focus on our own relationship with forgiveness and participate in a ritual that allows us to find a sense of peace. If you are joining virtually, then please have a...

"We Are All the Same.... and Not: A service of celebration and reflection on being in community" Sunday, September 17, 10:50 am, 2023 September 15 to October 15 is National Hispanic American Heritage Month. Mari Magaloni Ramos, Santana Gonzalez Gomez and Vanessa Southern will explore some of what we celebrate this month and also larger reflections about being in community together. Rumor has it th...

"Good Job!" Sunday, September 3, 10:50 am, 2023 On Labor Day, we celebrate workers - that is, the vast majority of people - and the work they do. We honor the struggle of workers organizing to make work sufficient and bearable. We ask: What is a good job? Is it having decent pay and benefits? Is it doing work that feeds your soul? Dare we dream to have both? The Covid pandemic has challenged our c...

"Connection Through Sharing" Sunday, August 27, 10:50 am One of the ways we find connection at UUSF is through the Small Group Ministry program. Groups meet twice a month to reflect and to share about a topic. We will explore this type of connecting during the service. Rev. Laura Shennum, Minister of Congregational Life; Daniel Jackoway, Worship Associate; Linda Enger, Board of Trustees; Megan Leh...

"La Dolce Vita in Motion" (also known as "Reflections on My Life as a Dancer”) Sunday, August 20, 10:50 am In seminary we spent part of our first year in a class part of which entailed writing our "Spiritual Autobiography." We had to look back on everything as it related to our journey as a spiritual being or around our beliefs or experiences of religion and spirituality. It made me realize that y...

"Living Joyfully" Sunday, August 13, 10:50 am Couldn't we all use a little bit more joy in our lives from time to time? We're surrounded by supposed ways to get joy: buy this, do that, follow these three simple steps. But when we chase it, it can seem more elusive than ever. How can we keep our minds and hearts open to happiness? How might we live more joyfully? Sam King, Guest Preacher; Santana G...

"The Quick Fix: A conversation about what is lost when we attempt to rush reconciliation." Sunday, August 6, 10:50 am August is a month in which people around the world celebrate the ascension of the Virgin Mary and mourn the horror unleashed in Hiroshima. What can these two events tell us about our capacity for causing harm to vulnerable populations and to our own spiritual development when we at...

“Worth and Dignity” Sunday, July 30, 10:50 am Ever since the 1860’s, when led by our Minister, Thomas Starr King, this congregation has been notable for its commitment to Social Justice. We give scholarships to first generation students, we help feed people in need. We provide free after-school care for local children. We shelter those, who have none, during the winter months. We support ministrie...

"Lessons on Community from Nature" Sunday, July 23, 10:50 am What are the important lessons humans can learn about leadership, adaptation and cooperation? In this sermon, guest preacher, Aisha Hauser will share her favorite stories and lessons from nature about how we can better support each other in community. Aisha Hauser, Guest Preacher; Mari Magaloni Ramos, Worship Associate; Reiko Oda Lane, O...

"WEAV: What is it?" Sunday, July 16, 10:50 am This past Spring, UUSF piloted a new program from Starr King School of the Ministry, WEAV. What is this program and how does it help with our 8th principle work? Rev. Laura Shennum, Minister of Congregational Life; Sam King, Worship Associate; Jayanti Chapot, Reflection; Rochelle Fortier Nwadibia, Reflection; Reiko Oda Lane, organist; Michael Mandrell,...

"Setting Boundaries" Sunday, July 9, 10:50 am I had a therapist years ago who said each day do one thing that makes you more of a self. What she meant was one thing that honored your needs, wants and/or named in a grounded way your expectations. As a country that flaunts human behavior without boundaries OR boundaries enforced to extreme (the right to shoot folks who wander on our property, for ex...

"Big Music Sunday" Sunday, June 25, 10:50 am Today we feature the Areté Singers, performing the live concert premiere of a new work called Mass for the Eighth Day with its award-winning composer, Luke Mayernik, sharing a reflection on it, as well as accompanying the work on organ. Several other choral gems will surround the musical centerpiece of the service. Some of the finest singers in the Bay...

"Our Authentic Selves" Sunday, June 18, 10:50 am To parent (officially or unofficially) we have to be our best selves, but also increasingly I realize the gift of being our authentic self -- as parents, more so perhaps than in any other role. That gift is not an easy one to offer, but we find ways to do it. And the world splits gorgeously open when we do. Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Ministe...

"Life is Pure Jazz" Sunday, June 11, 10:50 am There are so many metaphors for life: a journey, an unfolding (like a flower), a cycle (like the cycle of the seasons), a drama ("Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player/That struts and frets his hour upon the stage"). And there are just as many metaphors about how to approach life so you weather it with grace, find some joy, meaning and come out on...

"Extravaganza!" Sunday, June 4, 10:50 am Join us for this multigenerational celebration of the end of our year together. Bring a flower to be part of our celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Flower Communion introduced by Unitarian minister Norbert Čapek of Prague, Czechoslovaki and hear the story of Čapek and the ritual. Let's sing, hear the bells, enjoy the choir and tell stories. Service...

"Nap Ministry" Sunday, May 21, 10:50 am Tricia Hersey, ordained and tired, got drawn to the idea of a ministry around rest, nap-in-happenings but also the larger idea of rest as revolution. Tied deeply to undoing some of the patterns of a culture that has made models of extraction more than colonial models abroad, Hersey unpacks what virtue around rest and work and justice embodied ask of us. It i...

"A Sacred Choice: Reproductive Justice" Sunday, May 14, 10:50 am On this day honoring mothers, what does it mean to truly support the choice to become a mother or not? What does the upcoming resolution call us as a congregation to do to support this choice? Rev. Laura Shennum, Minister of Congregational Life; Bree Shennum, Worship Associate; Reiko Oda Lane, Organist; UUSF Choir led by Mark Sumner,...

"Little Did I Know" Sunday, May 7, 10:50 am An anthology on caring for young people, a grief (or preparation project) around the Empty Nest Chapter that was on the horizon. That's how the book project began, but it took me places that were so different than I expected... as our journey loving and caring for the young people in our lives, I guess, always does. Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Min...

"A May Day Convergence" Sunday, April 30, 10:50 am On May 1st, it would appear that everything is converging at the same moment, whether it be the international worker's holiday, the Beltane festival, or a desperate call for help. Rev. Millie Phillips, Affiliated Community Minister; Mari Magaloni Ramos, Worship Associate; Reiko Oda Lane, Organist; UUSF Choir led by Mark Sumner, Music Director Shul...

"The Problem with God" Sunday, April 23, 10:50 am For a lot of people it's the notion of "God" that gets in the way of coming into a religious community. So I want to explore some of what the "problem with God" is and some ways folks have reframed that word -- or reclaimed it -- so that we can see what possibilities there are for God (and where we hit some limits). Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Seni...

"Heartbeats" Sunday, April 16, 10:50 am I was 29 years old when I served as assistant minister to Diane Miller back in 79/80. 18 years in Hayward, then 17 in Columbus, 7 years retired. And bam! Just like that, I am 73 and have heart problems. I’m afforded good care through Ohiohealth, Medicare and supplemental insurance, gratefully. But there is no obvious Medicare of the spirit to help me, and mo...

"What Prepares us for Sunrise?" Easter Sunday, April 9, 10:50 am Easter morning with its tradition of Sunrise Services is about the good news of life resurrected. You can hear that as the story of Jesus as told and passed down, as a reminder of the natural cycle of seasons, or as a metaphor for so much of life that moves from loss to new beginnings and to loss and new beginnings again and again. B...