Sermons-First Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco

"Religious Experience and the Ascent of Mount Ventoux" (January 12, 2020)

Fourteenth Century poet and scholar, Frencesco Petrarca, more commonly known as Petrarch was part of the early Italian Renaissance. He was also Catholic and is widely considered one of the first humanists. At 32, he and his brother and two servants ascended Mount Ventoux.

The journey up (and down) would be a turning point in his life. And the story raises the question, what is “religious experience”? Moreover is it important and if so, how, and so what?

Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister

Sam King, Worship Associate

Reiko Oda Lane, organ

Roy Zimmerman, guitar/vocalist

Ben Rudiak-Gould, song leader

Linda Harris, UUSC

Scott Benbow, Trustee

Gino Fortunato, Auction

Vanessa Vanderlaan, Camera Operator

Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Podcasting, Video Edits

Angels Among Us (December 24, 2019)

Please join us for a retelling of the story of Christmas, for carols and candlelight and an invitation for the spirit of the season to take hold of us! This year there will be no pageant, but plenty of story telling, candles, gorgeous music of all kinds, and magic.

Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister

Rev. Alyson Jacks, Associate Minister;

Sharon Weld, Ministerial Intern

Richard Davis Lowell, Worship Associate

Dr. Mark Sumner, Music Director

Reiko Oda Lane, organ and bell choir director

Nancy Cooke Munn, soloist

Laurel Sprigg, soloist

Brielle Nelson, soloist

Asher Davison, soloist

Ellen McEntire Cowan, soloist

Eric Shackelford, Camera

Don Shearer, lights

Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Podcasting, Video Edits

The Big Question (January 5, 2020)

Is there a difference between believing that God exists and believing in God?

Rev. Dr. David Usher, Guest Minister

Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister

Lisanicole Sarkisian, Worship Associate

Reiko Oda Lane, organ

Eric Hamilton, guitar

Shanon Warto, song leader

Reece Heart, Trustee

Joe Chapot, Camera Operator

Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Podcasting, Video Edits

A Pearl of Great Price (December 1, 2019)

This service is about the value in finding the "work of one’s life”…  despite the challenges / obstacles … finding that thing that lights up one’s eyes and life. … mostly an optimistic intention that also acknowledges what is hard.

Sharon Weld, Ministerial Intern

Don Wiepert, Worship Associate

Mark Sumner, piano

Andrés Vera, cello

My-Hoa Steger, piano

Shannon Warto, song leader

Amy Kelly, Trustee

Eric Shackelford, camera

Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Podcasting, Video Edits

Honesty and Legacy (October 13, 2019)

This Monday will be Columbus Day or, as we better know it now, Indigenous People's Day. That change is a call, part of a movement to tell a whole history, a full and honest history of our nation. It is a call to talk about, not just the ideals, or the retold stories of lore, but of the moments that are not heroic but that are also stamped indelibly on our history and legacy.

It is a question many of us face in our own families-of-origin, to tell truths, not just cleaned-up ones. Why do that? And what happens (or can) when we do?

Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister

Rev. Alyson Jacks, Associate Minister

Richard Davis-Lowell, Worship Associate

Reiko Oda Lane, organ

Dr. Mark Sumner, Music Director

Liz Patterson, solo

Judy Payne, Board Secretary

Don Shearer, video camera

Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Podcasting, Video Edits

The Cost of Turning (October 6, 2019)

Yom Kippur and the Days of Awe that precede it ask us turn back to God, or whatever we know and name as holy or as the desired to ground of our being. What does it take to make that turning in our lives? What does it cost us? And what does it make room for?

Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister

Lisanicole Sarkisian, Worship Associate

Sharon Weld, Ministerial Intern

Reiko Oda Lane, organ

William Klingelhoffer, shofar

Jill Brindel, cello

Matthew Arnerich, piano

Diane Frank, poem

Ben Rudiak Gould, song leader

Scott Benbow, Trustee

Shullee Ong, video camera

Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Podcasting, Video Edits

A Caring Community (September 29, 2019)

Each week we remind ourselves of our covenant to “dwell together in peace, to seek the truth in freedom, and to help one another.” This Sunday we explore the various pastoral ministries of the community, designed to facilitate mutual helping and care. What are some of the ways each of us might be involved in these ministries? How do they contribute to congregational life?

Rev. Pamela Gehrke, Assistant Minister

Daniel Jackoway, Worship Associate

Mark Sumner, piano

Reiko Oda Lane, organ

Eric Hamilton, guitar

Asher Davison, song leader

Lori Lai, Board Treasurer

Shullee Ong, video camera

Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Podcasting, Video Edits

What Books Changed Your Life? (September 22, 2019)

We talk about the "larger library of human wisdom" from which we draw as Unitarian Universalists. That includes, of course, poetry, history, psychology, biography -- all the places learning and insights about life and the living of it surfaces for us.

What about books, then, fiction, non-fiction, have most changed us. What is our own personal scripture; what verse, so to speak, changed the course of our life in some significant way. On Sunday we will reflect a little together on books that changed our lives -- mine and a few other folks too.

Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister

Gayle Reynolds, Partner Church

Carrie Steere-Salazar, Partner Church

Sam King, Worship Associate

Kat Liu, Worship Associate

Mark Sumner, music director

Reiko Oda Lane, organ

Amy Kelly, Trustee

Don Shearer, video camera

Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Podcasting, Video Edits

What Holds Us? (September 15, 2019)

On this day when special music honors a beloved member, Vera Lee, we begin a year of small group ministry and remember that what holds us, grounds us, that where the deepest wisdom and insights so often come is from one another.

In family (the one we are born into or choose and make), at work (when it is healthy and good) and in the circles of friends or fellow travels that we simply show up for, we find and make the connections that hold and deepen us.

Rev. Margot Campbell Gross, Minister Emerita

Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister

Judith Stoddard, Small Group Ministry

Ralph Fenn, Small Group Ministry

Bobbi Kovac, Small Group Ministry

Laurel Sprigg, soprano

Bill Ganz, piano

Mark Sumner, music director

Reiko Oda Lane, organ

Judy Payne, Board Secretary

Don Shearer, video camera

Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Podcasting, Video Edits

Come on our Opening Sunday. We will bless our students and teachers who are beginning their year of religious education together, and launch our own year of life. Drawing from Cherríe Moraga’s book on her mother, entitled “Native Country of the Heart” we will look at how the cuentista, the story teller, shapes us, and why that is relevant to our lives in community together.

Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister

Rev. Alyson Jacks, Associate Minister

Rev. Pam Gehrke, Assistant Minister

Dennis Adams, Worship Associate

UUSF Chorus

Rachel Spund, soprano

Bill Ganz, piano

Mark Sumner, music director

Reiko Oda Lane, organ

Lori Lai, board treasurer

Judy Payne, board secretary

Carrie Steere-Salazar, board moderator

Margaret Pearce, Anne Dillon Award Winner

Shulee Ong, video camera

Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Podcasting, Video Edits