Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto Sermons and Reflections

After almost 22 years as UUCPA’s Parish Minister, Amy gives her last sermon today, about something our society desperately needs nowadays. This something is a proven cure for isolation, apathy, anti-intellectualism, and the undermining of our democracy. What it provides is missing from most of ... read more .

Psychiatrist D. W. Winnicott writes that we often go about our lives with an attitude of compliance, as though the world is something to be fitted in with, demanding adaptation. The attitude of compliance tells us to put our dreams away in the back of ... read more .

When the minister of the Unitarian Church in Prague, Czechoslovakia, the Rev. Norbert Čapek, introduced the Flower Celebration in 1923, he asked the people of the congregation to bring flowers, and after they gathered them into one beautiful display and blessed them, each took away ... read more .

Everyone has one: yes, really. What’s the uncommon gift that has been granted to you? What will you do with it? Remember, “with great power comes great responsibility.” If you’re not sure of what your superpower is, this service will help you discover it. And if ... read more .

On July 6, Rev. Schriner presented “A Gospel of Ignorance,” in which he suggested that admitting ignorance can be enlightening, enlivening, and empowering. Today Chris will explore this theme further, focusing on why people often think they know more than they do. Although investigators generate ... read more .

Thomas Edison once said, “We don’t know a millionth of one percent about anything.” Many UUs would agree, bringing a skeptical attitude to the supposed certainties of religion, psychology, and politics. We love to learn, and sometimes it seems as if the more we know, ... read more .

Can IQ be used as a measure of competence and intent? Does higher wealth correlate with higher IQs? Is an expert in math and business more or less intelligent than a drummer or an athlete? Are awareness and kindness measures of intelligence? Let’s unpack all ... read more .

Join us as we celebrate 20 years of dancing the maypole at UUCPA. May Day is a holiday celebrating the vibrancy and creativity of spring, as well as a day of worker recognition and protest. In this service we will seek joy and purpose in ... read more .

They’re unexpected, they’re awkward, they’re a spark of connection in an ordinary situation, they’re something that can make your day, they’re all of the above. They can be the smallest of small talk, or they can be the deepest interaction we’ll have all week. What ... read more .

What does Collective Liberation mean for us as Unitarian Universalists? Scripture tells us “You were born for such a time as this.” Join Rev Kev as we explore the foundational values of Unitarian Universalism as expressed through Justice and Equity with Love at the center. ... read more .

Passover begins the night before. What lessons can we draw from the ancient story of confronting Pharaoh? Worship leader: Rev. Dr. John Buehrens Worship Associate: Jane Chronis Special music: Four Shillings Short, Celtic music Follow along in the order of service, bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20250413 . If you prefer to join the ... read more .

Join Rev. Greve as he brings us to the bedside of his work as a hospice chaplain, inviting us to witness the ordinary and extraordinary that can occur as we near the end of our lives. Worship leader: Rev. Mr. Barb Greve Follow along in the order ... read more .

Our relationships can thrive if we are guided by four phrases: Please forgive me. I forgive you. Thank you. I love you. This quartet has roots in Hawai’ian culture. Dr. Ira Byock, who worked in palliative care for many years, observed that they were what ... read more .

Or should that be happy rebEARTH Day? We celebrate Earth Day and Easter this week. Just as the joyful resurrection of Easter morning follows the gloom and despair of Good Friday, a new generation of environmentalists are wisely inspiring us to rejoice in the abundance ... read more .

Does religious education end when you outgrow Sunday School? Think again! Join us as we explore how lifelong learning is at the heart of Unitarian Universalism. In an ever-evolving, complex, and connected world, religious education isn’t just for kids—it’s for everyone, at every age across ... read more .

In times of crisis, having concrete practices for grounding ourselves in our values and our relationships becomes ever more important. UUCPA member Matthew S. Rosin will show us how spiritual practices of gratitude can reveal our belonging, our connectedness, and our irreplaceability in the world, ... read more .

This concludes our series of services exploring the benediction we say together each week. What does it mean to seek to honor all beings? What might a spiritual practice of honoring others look like, and what effect could it have on our daily lives? ... read more .

We all agree: in our love as in other things, what we do is as important as what we say. Actions may often be misunderstood, however, as anyone knows whose “love language” differs from a partner’s or friend’s. How can we ourselves ensure that our ... read more .

Beauty: such an overused term. It’s a section in every women’s magazine (men’s magazines tend to avoid the word, calling it “Grooming,” and what is that all about?) and our culture is obsessed with beautiful people, which, it claims, excludes most of us. Amy believes ... read more .

“The Nude” as a subject in Western art has followed the same basic rules for centuries. What impact do they have on all of us? Rev. Gadon shares insights from more than a year drawing and painting and breaking rules. Our guest preacher, Rev. Barbara Gadon, ... read more .

Worship leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern Follow along in the order of service bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20250209 . If you prefer to attend online, there are two options. One, join the service via Zoom  bit.ly/uucpa_service_1015am_v3 . To get the passcode, email  sundayservice@uucpa.org  or call UUCPA’s ... read more .

In our annual, intergenerational Chalice Sunday service, we learn about the origin of our flaming chalice, and some of the traditions that are celebrated on this day, such as Candlemas, St. Brigid’s Day, and Imbolc. On this Chalice Sunday, we’ll be asking ourselves: what is ... read more .

Newborns are an exception. With everyone else, when we meet them, we arrive in the middle of their story, and they arrive in the middle of ours. We may travel alongside together for a while, learning about each other’s pasts as well as getting to ... read more .

How apt that we come to this line of our benediction on the day before the presidential inauguration, because protecting the weak from the strong–whoever those might be at any given moment–is one of the principal purposes of government. Yet the way we achieve that ... read more .

We continue to explore our unison benediction line by line. Today’s line, “strengthen the faint-hearted,” returns us to the theme of courage: bolstering each other’s when it grows faint. How do we do that? It might help to consider where courage even comes from. Worship leader: ... read more .