Sermons-First Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco

Good Grace: Stories of Thanksgiving and Reconciliation

There is a good chance your Thanksgiving holiday will include some post-election reflection. Along with some side dishes, well come with our stories. In preparation, we will spend this Sunday with the Thanksgiving story, which will serve as our centerpiece, exploring the facts and the fiction, seeing what  it can teach us about reconciliation and grace. Our stories have power, they can bring us together or break us apart. As we prepare to gather at the common table, may our stories move us in a direction that leads to healing and hope.  

Rev. Alyson Jacks, Associate Minister

Lucy Smith, Worship Associate

Linda Harris, Chair of UUSC at UUSF

Dr. Mark Sumner, Music Director

Reiko Oda Lane, Organ

Jim Valent, Welcome

Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Worship Archives/Podcast

Reconciling Opposing Views

Novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald once said that “the test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.” This is true both in our relational lives – and in more profound forms of religious thought.  

Rev. John Buehrens, Senior Minister

Rev. Alyson Jacks, Associate Minister

Richard Davis, Worship Associate

Dr. Mark Sumner, Music Director

Reiko Oda Lane, Organ

Gayle Reynolds, Welcome

Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Worship Archives/Podcast

Winners, Losers, and Reconciliation: An Election Day Sermon

Winners hold parties; losers hold meetings. Only finite games divide the winners and losers. From a distance, life is more like an infinite game. The real goal then is to keep the play going. Which requires grace and reconciliation. Drawing on both the tradition of the Election Sermon and ideas of philosopher James Carse, John will try to put Election Day in spiritual perspective.  

Rev. John Buehrens, Senior Minister

Phil Marshall, Worship Associate

Dr. Mark Sumner, Music Director

Reiko Oda Lane, Organ

Jonah Berquist, Welcome

Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Worship Archives/Podcast

We have Come This Far By Faith

The Rev. Darrick Jackson is the Director of Contextual Ministry at Meadville Lombard Theological School. Darrick is involved denominationally as Treasurer of DRUUMM (the UU ministry for people of color) and as co-chair of the UU Ministers Association CENTER Committee and Institute for Ministerial Excellence. He is also the treasurer and Workshop Leader for Healing Moments (a ministry for caregivers of people with Alzheimer's). In his free time, Darrick likes to knit and to be involved in theater. He is married to James Olson, a United Church of Christ minister and lives with their two cats, Merlin and Morgana.

Rev. Darrick Jackson, Guest Preacher

Rev. John Buehrens, Senior Minister

Rev. Alyson Jacks, Associate Minister

Kat Liu, Worship Associate

Dr. Mark Sumner, Music Director

Reiko Oda Lane, Organ

Asher Davison, solo

HyeJin Yu, solo

Jim Valent, Welcom

Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Worship Archives/Podcast

Authoritarians, Then and Now  

On the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the United Nations here in the City of St. Francis, some reflections on why, despite the growing strength of the international human rights movement, authoritarian tendencies are again growing ñ and what people of faith should remember in facing them.

Rev. John Buehrens, Senior Minister

Alex Darr, Worship Associate

Dr. Mark Sumner, piano

Andres David Vera , cello

Randy Adams, piano

Kate Offer, solo

Christopher Rodriguez, Trustee

Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Worship Archives/Podcast

Fine Tuning Your Moral Compass

What is the source of your authority to act--in word or deed--in the world? What external influences and what innate origins are there to one's personal sense of right and wrong and for mustering the courage to live by (or close as one can to) one's moral compass? What are the micro-corrections we might make?

Rev. JD Benson, Assistant Minister

Rev. Alyson Jacks, Associate Minister

Dennis Adams, Worship Associate

Reiko Oda Lane, Organ

Wm. GarcÌa Ganz, pianist

Tim Salaver, solo

Kate Offer, solo

Peter Gross, Trustee

Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Worship Archives/Podcast

Power, Authority, and Spirituality

When I was UUA President, I co-led a couple of retreats for Unitarian Universalist CEOs under this title.  To use what power we have (which is often greater than we care to acknowledge) for the common good; to exercise authority with moral responsibility; these are signs of authentic spirituality – at work, at home, and in our common life.

Rev. John Buehrens, Senior Minister

Susan Anthony, Worship Associate

Dr. Mark Sumner, Music Director

Reiko Oda Lane, Organ and Bell Choir Director

Kathleen Quenneville, Moderator

Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Worship Archives/Podcast

Faith: The Verb

We welcome to our pulpit the newly-called Co-Minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley. Christian shares the ministry there with his wife, the Rev. Kirstin Schmidt. They are the parents of two boys, ages 4 and 18 months. John Buehren s supervised Christian as an Intern Minister at First Parish in Needham, MA. He was a journalist and UU lay leader in Texas before entering ministry studies.

Rev. Christian Schmidt, Guest Minister

Rev. John Buehrens,Senior Minister

Lucy Smith, Worship Associate

Dr. Mark Sumner, song leader

Bill Klingelhoffer, french horn

Jennifer Peringer, piano

Tammy Hall, piano

Kathleen Quenneville, Moderator

Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Worship Archives/Podcast

Faith of the Free

We gather for a new church year of learning, caring, and serving at UUSF on the 15th anniversary of September 11, 2001. The following months and years were the best of times and the worst of times. Free people gathered to help one another. Free people also became manipulated by fear-mongering. Developments over the past summer have mirrored that tension. We are all clearly afraid and anxious. What shall we do with all our fears? Where do we dare to invest our finite faith, our hope, our love? Could we ever trust one another enough, in the here and now, to sort out what is worthy of our faith?

Rev. John Buehrens,Senior Minister

Rev. Alyson Jacks, Associate Minister

Rev. JD Benson, Assistant Minister

Dr. Mark Sumner, music director

Reiko Oda Lane, organ

Christopher Rodriguez, trustee

Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Worship Archives/Podcast

Friendship, Why Bother?

A collaborative service of voices from Small Group Ministry, reflecting ways in which we can deepen our relationships; and learn from our differences.

Rev. Margot Campbell Gross, Minister Emerita

Alessandro Gagliardi, Small Group Ministry Co-ordinator

Judith Stoddard, Small Group Ministry  

Megan Lehmer, Small Group Ministry

Tristan Hembree, Small Group Ministry

Stanley Hartzell, Small Group Ministry

Julia Wald, Small Group Ministry

Jiun-Chyi Yew, soprano

Dr. Mark Sumner, piano & song leading

Larry Chinn, jazz pianist

Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Worship Archives/Podcast