Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto Sermons and Reflections

In this sermon, we will explore democracy not just as a political structure, but as a profound ethical duty. Drawing inspiration from Timothy Snyder’s insightful work, “On Tyranny,” we will reflect on the pressing moral obligation to uphold democratic principles in our modern era. In a ... read more .

What does the example of Jesus have to teach us about disability, solidarity, and accessibility? How can we apply these ideas in our modern context to create a truly just, equitable, and inclusive society for all? We’ll look at the Gospel of Luke for insights. Pastor ... read more .

For a long time, Unitarians and Universalists stuck with Christianity, trying to improve its bad theology by reforming it from within.  Then many of them just gave up the effort and stopped calling themselves Christians.  Now here we are in 2024, putting “Love at ... read more .

Experiences vary, but there’s no question that on the whole, it’s hard to be a man. Despite having the highest income and wealth of any gender, and more of their healthcare needs covered by their insurance, men’s life expectancy is considerably lower than the national ... read more .

When you arrive at today’s service, think about a song in either Singing the Living Tradition (the gray hymnal) or Singing the Journey (the teal hymnal) that you’d love us all to sing, and add it to the flip chart or Zoom chat. We’ll sing ... read more .

The novelist Barbara Kingsolver says, “Memory is a complicated thing, a relative to truth, but not its twin.” On this weekend nominally dedicated to remembrance, we reflect: what do we choose to remember? What do we choose to forget? And how can we use memorial ... read more .

Unitarian Universalism was forged in crisis. Is it up to the crises we face now? To answer this question, today’s service calls upon the California state lichen, Louis Armstrong, a living thing that was already 7000 years old when the oldest redwoods were little sprouts, and ... read more .

UUCPA is a community of learners. We seek always to discover more–to understand the world and ourselves more deeply–to learn from each other, from books, from the accumulated knowledge of centuries of thinkers and scientists and activists–to become wiser. Almost all of the children, and ... read more .

Bring a flower, or a bunch! In this tradition, practiced by Unitarian Universalists for 101 years, we celebrate the beautiful variety among us and gratefully receive a flower that someone else has brought. We will look closely at the flowers as a mindfulness practice we ... read more .

Transcript of the sermon Video preview: Diatoms are going to help save our souls One way or another, whenever the “cancel culture” conversation arises, it seems as if we’re being asked to see other people in black and white. Resisting this tendency ... read more .

Most of us individually do the little things like recycling, composting, reducing car usage, and eating less meat to address climate change. But the very large sources of greenhouse gasses come from businesses. Convincing businesses to switch to pricier climate alternatives can be challenging. Orhan ... read more .

We like to turn away from a scarcity mentality toward one of abundance–at least, we Unitarian Universalist ministers do. But does that set us up for further exploitation of the Earth, whose resources are not limitlessly abundant? Robert Neff was the winning bidder on “You ... read more .

And How to Bring Them into Everyday Life Prashant and Aarav will be exploring “kindness and awareness” along these prompts:  – what could kindness and awareness, practically, do to you? – what blocks them or comes in the way? – what could you tell yourself or what could you ... read more .

And, possibly, your answers questioned! Today’s service is the approximately-annual Question Box service, when in the time usually allotted to the sermon, Amy will answer as many of your questions as she can. The meaning of life? How we find the spiritual practice that’s right ... read more .

How appropriate that Easter and the Transgender Day of Visibility coincide this year! The trans and nonbinary people shown with their families in the photo-text exhibit that opens today at UUCPA exemplify the joyful rebirth one can experience by being authentically ... read more .

We watch reports of the attack on Israeli civilians on October 7, and the devastation in Gaza since then, with grief and often a sense of impotence. Long before last fall, the issue of Israel and Palestine has been particularly hard for Unitarian Universalists even ... read more .

Barbie didn’t win Best Picture at the Oscars, but that’s okay–it’s still in the running for Most Unitarian Universalist Movie. Not because director and co-writer Greta Gerwig grew up UU in Sacramento, but because her movie tackles many of life’s big issues in a fun ... read more .

“Opening Our Doors and Enriching Our Community” –Theme of UUCPA’s one-week pledge campaign We live in a society that measures worth largely by money. This can be so exhausting, confusing, and soul-killing that we desperately need an alternative: a place where “enriching our community” isn’t about ... read more .

After months of input from people throughout the congregation, a team put UUCPA’s mission into these words: We gather, our different paths entwined, to deepen our spiritual lives: nourishing connection, learning from each other, caring for each other, tending to our world. In brief, plain language, it communicates great spiritual depth and helps us each to recall our own mission or purpose. What i...

There are over 2,000 Unitarian Universalists in the Philippines in over 24 congregations. Most of the churches are located in remote rural farming and fishing villages. What can UUs from the Philippines teach us about their unique expression of our shared global liberal religious faith? ... read more .

Our annual intergenerational service in which we ask and answer questions such as: What is the origin of the flaming chalice symbol? What does the chalice mean to you? What happens when we put all those meanings together into one community? Why do we have ... read more .

What is a genius? Someone rare, we know that. Someone with extraordinary gifts that few of us can hope to have. Figures such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Nikola Tesla, Marie Curie, Ella Fitzgerald, Michael Jordan. Or, descending slightly from the stratosphere, someone with an IQ ... read more .

Habits go straight to the heart. When we’re trying to break an unwanted habit and failing, we often feel as if there’s something wrong with us. The same thing happens when we’re having trouble creating a better habit. It’s true that our habits say a ... read more .

An intergenerational service celebrating the life and message of Martin Luther King, Jr., and how his ministry continues on through folks who are fearless in the face of oppression and aggression. Our minister of religious education, Cat Boyle, leads us in a liberating service ... read more .

When we embrace mystery, we never know just what we’re going to discover. In this service, we won’t even know what order things are going to happen. A pile of wrapped gifts will be on the altar, and as each is opened by a volunteer ... read more .