Sermons-First Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco

“New Habits of the Heart: Seeing for Real" (October 11, 2020) Worship Service

There is a Ted Talk by X called "The Dangers of the Single Story." Meg's mentioned it once already since she started as our Intern and then again this last week when the subject came up of how we fall into habits about the stories we tell.  And what gets lost in the telling of them.

Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister

Meg McGuire, Ministerial Intern

George Wiepert, Worship Associate

Reiko Oda Lane, organist

Mark Sumner, percussion/director

Sarah Davison, soprano

Brielle Marina Neilson, mezzo soprano

Ben Rudiak-Gould, tenor

Asher Davison, bass

Wm. García Ganz, pianist

Kramer Dhal, percussionist

Eric Shackelford, camera

Shulee Ong, camera

Joe Chapot, Social Media Chat Support

Alex Darr, Coffee Hour Zoom

Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, drums and conga

“Big Love" (October 4, 2020) Worship Service

This week is the 250th anniversary of Universalism and the day the congregation votes on its next settled ministry.  It is also a time of great upheaval.  What's the way forward and what anchors us as we go?

Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister

Meg McGuire, Ministerial Intern

George Wiepert, Worship Associate

Reiko Oda Lane, organist

Mark Sumner, singing/conducting

My-Hoa Steger, pianist

Michele Kennedy, soloist

Brielle Marina Neilson, soloist

Ben Rudiak-Gould, soloist

Asher Davison, soloist

Eric Shackelford, camera

Shulee Ong, camera

Joe Chapot, Social Media Chat Support

Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Drums

"I'm Sorry" (September 27, 2020) Worship Service

Never before has it been as important as it is now to take to heart the lessons at the heart of Yom Kippur and make it's annual practices, a part of our ongoing spiritual practices.  Humility and Atonement: The Great Turning.

Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister

Sam King, Worship Associate

Reiko Oda Lane, organist

Brielle Marina Neilson, mezzo-soprano

Bill Klingelhoffer, french horn

Wm. García Ganz, pianist

Eric Shackelford, camera

Shulee Ong, camera

Joe Chapot, Social Media Chat Support

Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound

"The Sum of Our Parts" (September 20, 2020) Worship Service

The central task of religious community, according to Rev. Mark Morrison Reed, is to uncover the bonds that bind us to one another. So, what holds us together? Without the brick and mortar, the face to face connection we’ve long relied upon, how do we stay rooted in this deeper relatedness? Meg McGuire, our new ministerial intern, will reflect on religious community and what’s possible when we come together.

Meg McGuire, Ministerial Intern

Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister

Dennis Adams, Worship Associate

Reiko Oda Lane, organist

VanNessa Hulme, soloist

Brielle Marina Neilson, soloist

Ben Rudiak-Gould, soloist

Asher Davison, soloist

Eric Shackelford, camera

Shullee Ong, camera

Joe Chapot, Social Media Chat Support

Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound

"Plow this Field... and other mantras to pull us through a wild and unfolding new year." (September 13, 2020)

This Sunday is the Sunday we always launch, officially, the new church year. Sunday School with our kids and youth kicks off, folks return from their summer places (geographically and/or mentally) and we live and learn and serve and witness and weather and delight in another year of life together.  We are doing that again, but in a wild kind of year.  And I have been thinking about how to hold myself steady through it and all the uncertainty of what will come.  I'll share with you what I have been thinking and I'd love to know what you are thinking too!

Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister

Rev. Alyson Jacks, Associate Minister

Meg McGuire, Ministerial Intern

Michael Bossier, performer

Jayanti Chapot, performer

Don Shearer, performer

Reiko Oda Lane, organist

Sarah Rose Cohen, soloist

Brielle Marina Neilson, soloist

Ben Rudiak-Gould, soloist

Asher Davison, soloist

Luis Maurer, pianist

Eric Shackelford, camera

SJ Ong, camera

Joe Chapot, Social Media Chat Support

Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, drums

"What Do We Do When We're Under Attack?" (September 6, 2020)

Rev. Millie Phillips, a member of this congregation, is currently serving the UU Community of Lake County. For this Labor Day service, she draws on her many years of experience as a union activist to celebrate worker resistance during these difficult times.

Rev. Millie Phillips, Guest Minister

Sam King, Worship Associate

Select members of The Rockin’ Solidarity Chorus

Pat Wynne, director

Asher Davison, song leader

Ben Rudiak-Gould, song leader

My-Hoa Steger, pianist

Eric Shackelford, camera

Joe Chapot, Social Media Chat Support

Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound

"Jonah and the Big Fish" (August 30, 2020)

I love stories and their power to teach or invite us to let them speak to us wherever we are.  And I love the story in the Hebrew Scriptures of Jonah and his journey with that Big Fish. And what layers we might find for ourselves in it about how to face life and what it might insist on from us.

Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister

Gregg Biggs, Worship Associate

Reiko Oda Lane, organist

Eric Hamilton, guitarist

Mark Sumner, pianist

Asher Davison, song leader

Eric Shackelford, camera

Joe Chapot, Social Media Chat Support

Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, drums

"Launching the Fledglings" (August 23, 2020)

It's an odd year to think about how to raise and launch adults (be they nieces, nephews, children, grandchildren).  It is also a process and one we are engaged in all along the way. It probably also has lessons about how we deal with some adults too!!!

Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister

Dennis Adams, Worship Associate

Reiko Oda Lane, organist

Asher Davison, clarinet and song leader

Wm. García Ganz, pianist

Ben Rudiak-Gould, song leader

Eric Shackelford, camera

Joe Chapot, Social Media Chat Support

Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, drums

"Turning Points" (August 16, 2020)

Our history is full of turning points. So are our individual lives. As we live through a time full of both danger and opportunity, let us reflect on some of the great turning points in our national history – such as women winning the right to vote in August, 1920, or same sex couples winning the right to marry just five years ago, – and how they came about.

John Buehrens is the past Senior Minister of UUSF, the past President of the Unitarian Universalist Association (1993-2001), a past honorary President of Religions for Peace, and was national co-chair of Freedom to Marry from 2002 t0 2012. He is the author of seven books, most recently, Conflagration: How the Transcendentalists Sparked the American Struggle for Racial, Gender, and Social Justice.

Rev. John Buehrens

Richard Davis-Lowell, Worship Associate

Jennifer Peringer, pianist

Martha Rodríguez Peringer, flutist

Jon Silk, drummer

Asher Davison, Songleader

Brielle Neilson, Songleader

Eric Shackelford, camera

Joe Chapot, Social Media Chat Support

Alex Darr, Zoom Remote Host

Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound

"Story Time" (August 9, 2020)

We are the stuff of stars. A collection of particles held together by the laws of physics and the forces of nature. We talk of free will but we move and act in accordance to evolution’s playbook. What sets us apart is our ability to reflect, to look back in time and imagine the future – to see ourselves as part of the unfolding story of time, and ask ourselves what does it mean to be human after all.

Rev. Alyson Jacks, Associate Minister

Don Wiepert, Worship Associate

Reiko Oda Lane, organist

Andrés Vera, cellist

My-Hoa Steger, pianist

Mark Sumner, Songleader

Brielle Nielson, Songleader

Eric Shackelford, camera

Joe Chapot, Social Media Chat Support

Alex Darr, Zoom Remote Host

Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound