Sermons given at UUCB, the Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley

Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley April 12, 2026

What You Can Depend On

Rev. Marcus Liefert

Our culture's economic system and mechanistic worldview teach us to understand relationality as fundamentally transactional. But at our roots we live in a complex interdependence, which requires relating to our inevitable disappointments and frustrations not with the fix-it attitude of a manager, but a reorientation toward mutuality.

Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley April 5, 2026

Alleluia Anyway

Rev. Marcus Liefert

Like each of our lives and the times we live in, the stories of Easter and Passover are rife with joy and struggle intertwined. With all that would bury us in the tomb, how do we rise up and sing alleluia anyway?

Sustaining Fire

Rev. Marcus Liefert

To keep a flame burning, we watch and feed it so it does not go out. But fire can also be sustaining: offering warmth, light, and a place for people to gather. Our spiritual lives are rarely simple, and the work of love is complicated. We live within complexity—tending the fire of love and searching for clarity in its warmth.

Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley March 22, 2026

Claimed by Ash

Rev. Marcus Liefert

Before it can be transformed, loss must be witnessed. What can we learn from communities that have been shrouded in ash but refused to grieve alone?

Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley March 15, 2026

Smoke and Memory

Rev. Marcus Liefert

We are the inheritors of a tradition that believes in the sovereign self — the individual who chooses, who transforms, who transcends. But what do we do with the inheritance we never chose? How might we be led by Sankofa, the Akan symbol of the courage to turn and face what you’re already carrying?

Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley March 8, 2026

Raging and Refining

Rev. Marcus Liefert

The prophet Malachi promises a refiner’s fire — patient, purposeful, transforming. But some fires don’t refine. They just rage.

Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley March 1, 2026

The Good News

Rev. Kathryn Jay

Unitarian Universalism can be hard to explain and we are often uncomfortable testifyng about the power of our faith. But what if we tried? We could be the spark of love that helps transform the world.

Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley March 1, 2026

The Good News

Rev. Kathryn Jay

Unitarian Universalism can be hard to explain and we are often uncomfortable testifyng about the power of our faith. But what if we tried? We could be the spark of love that helps transform the world.

Technological innovations have led to a more and more "frictionless" society. But what if friction is just what we need to grow our spirits and warm our souls?

Rev. Marcus Liefert

No one window holds all the light; no one angle tells the whole truth. In a world shaped by dislocation, spiritual community can be a place where light is held in common, shadows are named without shame, and every room is trusted to be illumined by the same enduring source.