This podcast begins with a reflectin offered by worship associate Peggy Lin.
The story of the Maccabean revolt is the inspiration for the Jewish festival of lights, Hannukah. The miracle at the heart of the story is simple: lamp oil that appeared to only be enough for a night lasted for eight days. But even in simplicity, the story holds meaning for what it means to live sustainably, hopefully, and what it means to rededicate ourselves to a cause.
At the start of the Christmas story, Mary and Joseph are internally displaced refugees, traveling from their home in Nazareth to be counted in a census for a far-away imperial capital. By the end of the story, they are fleeing their homes as refugees, looking to start a new life in Egypt, away from political violence and oppression. In 2024 in St. Paul Minnesota, where do we locate ourselves in this story? Are we the innkeeper, telling the young family there is no room? Or are we the shepherds, called from the fields to witness and provide what help they can?
"Hanging of the Greens"
Sunday, December 15, 2024
Join us for the annual Hanging of the Greens Service. This all-ages service has us begin together in the sanctuary and then move around the church, decorating garlands and wreaths and making pomanders, learning a winter song, and coming together at the end in that age-old ritual in pre-Christian Europe of bringing evergreens into the winter halls, a reminder that life continues through winter into spring. Come join the fun!
Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister; Rev. Laura Shennum, Minister of Congregational Life; Eli Boshears, Worship Participant; Oriana Moren, Worship Participant; Calder Law, Worship Participant; Reiko Oda Lane, organist; UUSF Choir; Mark Sumner, director; Wm. GarcΓa Ganz, pianist
Shulee Ong, Camera Operator; Jonathan Silk, Communications Director; Thomas Brown, Jose Matias Pineda, and Francisco Castellanos, Sextons; Linda Messner, Head Usher
"How Do We Lead?"
Sunday, December 8, 2024
Church has always been a place (and houses of worship in general) where the definition and understanding of how leadership shows up among us is broader and fuller than the world sometimes defines it. It's not so much that we loosen the definition but that we see so clearly how it takes so many different skills and gifts to make the whole of what we want to do together possible. This Sunday we will ask three leaders, in different tenures of leadership, to reflect on what calls them into the work and what they have learned and reflect on our own notion of and call to lead. The service is created and led with our Nominating Committee -- the group charged at UUSF not just of identifying leaders but equipping and developing and celebrating their leadership.
Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister; Courtney Young-Law; Ruth Grace Wong; John Meliska; Linda Enger; Gino Fortunato, Emma Wakeling, Membership; Reiko Oda Lane, organist; UUSF Choir; Mark Sumner, director
Shulee Ong; Eric Shackelford, Camera Operators; Jonathan Silk, Communications Director; Thomas Brown, Jose Matias Pineda, and Francisco Castellanos, Sextons; Amy Kelly, Flowers; Linda Messner, Head Usher
This sermon podcast begins with a reflection offered by worship associate Sara Ford.
In the Christian calendar, Advent is a time of waiting and preparation for the coming of the Christ child. The story from first century Palestine tells us that with the birth of Jesus comes hope, love, the undoing of the status quo: a new reign of peace on earth. In times of fear and uncertainty, where is hope to be found in these ancient stories? In our own stories?
βMy Soul Magnifies the Lord,β Mary tells the Angel Gabriel in the gospel of Luke. The song she sings next is a vision of a world that might be, one where the mighty are thrown down, the hungry are fed, and the beloved community arrives. What lessons do her words hold for us, 2000 years later? β
"Seeing Nature and Presence Through the Eyes of Robin Wall Kimmerer"
Sunday, December 1, 2024, 10:50 am
This sleepy Sunday of the Thanksgiving holiday weekendβone of the quietest times I know anymore (assuming you don't dive into Black Friday's melee)βis a great time to walk and wander with scientist, professor, mother, and member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Robin Wall Kimmerer.
Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister; Richard Davis-Lowell, Worship Associate; Rami Bar-Niv, pianist; AkanΓ© Ota, songleader; Wm. GarcΓa Ganz, pianist
Eric Shackelford, Camera Operator; Jonathan Silk, Communications Director; Thomas Brown, Jose Matias Pineda, Sextons; Amy Kelly, Flowers; Linda Messner, Head Usher
How do we build hope from the gifts and wounds we carry with us, while also navigating the fear of change?β
"Breaking Bread"
Sunday, November 24, 2024
As we prepare to gather at the tables to mark next week's day of gratitude, let's tell stories of what shows up on our tables, who and how we gather, and the practices that begin here. Bring a bread or baked good to share at our social hour afterwards, if you are baking or have the opportunity to do so!
Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister; Daniel Jackoway, Worship Associate; Linda Harris, UUSC; UUSF Bell Choir led by Reiko Oda Lane, organist; UUSF Choir; Mark Sumner, director; Wm. GarcΓa Ganz, pianist
Shulee Ong; Eric Shackelford; Francisco Castellanos; Eli Boshears, Camera Operators; Jonathan Silk, Communications Director; Thomas Brown, Jose Matias Pineda, and Francisco Castellanos, Sextons; Carrie Steere-Salazar, Flowers; Linda Messner, Head Usher
On this Thanksgiving weekend, we consider the traditions from around the world and at our own tables of offering words of gratitude. How do these rituals provide opportunities for deepening and growing in our spiritual and personal relationships. What is grace? How can we give and receive it in our lives and the larger world?
"Forgiveness & Repair: A Ritual"
Sunday, November 17, 2024
We will gather in our annual ritual to examine where in our lives repair and forgiveness might happen. How can we heal ourselves and each other from harms we have done?
Rev. Laura Shennum, Minister of Congregational Life; Carmen Barsody, Worship Associate; Lucy Smith, Secretary, Board of Trustees; Reiko Oda Lane, organist; UUSF Choir; Mark Sumner, director; Maggie McGrann; Lila Bailey, soloists; Wm. GarcΓa Ganz, pianist
Eric Shackelford; Eli Boshears, Camera Operators; Jonathan Silk, Communications Director; Thomas Brown, Jose Matias Pineda, and Francisco Castellanos, Sextons; Carrie Steere-Salazar, Flowers; Linda Messner, Head Usher
Vaclav Havel, the Czech statesman and literary figure, wrote that hope ββ¦is an orientation of the spirit, an orientation of the heart; it transcends the world that is immediately experienced, and is anchored somewhere beyond its horizons.β How do we anchor ourselves to hope, even when it exists beyond our vision, on the other side of the horizon?
"The State of the Union and the Soul of the Nation"
Sunday, November 10, 2024
No matter what happens in our election, as I write this, it is playing out in voting booths and polling places across the country. We will have work to do together. The divide is too big, the rhetoric too scary and angry, for us to think that we can just declare victory or defeat and bunker back down on our side of the issues or arguments. As a nation, we need to reconnect to each other, to what is exacerbating any legitimate differences, heal some old wounds, and perhaps get good at declaring what we will not, the majority of us, agree to descend into. In addition, we need some articulated notion of the common good wrestled into national consciousness to anchor us against the storms of climate change and international anti-democratic movements and all else we need to face off, creatively, against instead of using up our energy to fight one another. This Sunday we gather ourselves, as we are, to begin to attend to what we have just been through and are facing as the emerging state of our union.
Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister; Rev. Laura Shennum, Minister of Congregational Life; Dennis Adams, Worship Associate; Galen Workman, Moderator, Board of Trustees; Larry Chinn, jazz pianist; Mark Sumner, songleader; Ben Rudiak-Gould, songleader
Shulee Ong; Eric Shackelford; Eli Boshears, Camera, Camera Operators; Jonathan Silk, Communications Director; Thomas Brown, Jose Matias Pineda, and Francisco Castellanos, Sextons; Athena Papadakos, Flowers; Linda Messner, Head Usher
"Uncertainty"
Sunday, November 3, 2024
Among the hardest emotions to tolerate is uncertainty. And yet it is both so much a part of our lives, inevitably, part of the entire mortal condition, and part of a life that takes risks and reaches for the stars. It is also the river we wade into this election season. How do we live in the face of and dance with uncertainty?
Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister; Santana McBride, Worship Associate; Reiko Oda Lane, organist; UUSF Choir; Mark Sumner, director; Andrew Kessler, baritone; Wm. GarcΓa Ganz, pianist
Jonathan Silk, Communications Director; Thomas Brown, Jose Matias Pineda, and Francisco Castellanos, Sextons; Athena Papadakos, Flowers; Linda Messner, Head Usher
This sermon podcast begins with a reflection by worship associate Anna Newton.
What can we say, in the aftermath of an election? How have the churchβs commitments changed, or have they? How do we balance the uncertainty of this moment with the certainty of faith?
βWell, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?β βA republic, if you can keep it.β Benjaminβs Franklinβs words at the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention in September 1787 have obvious relevance in 2024. The first Unitarians and Universalists in the United States came from the first generation after the American Revolution, and from that first generation, our tradition has been actively involved in the democratic process. How does that legacy speak to us today?
"Listening to Our Ancestors"
Sunday, October 27, 2024
On this day, we honor and celebrate the time of year held sacred in so many traditions to recognize our continued connection to our ancestors. Although it is not lined up with Samhain, All Saints and Souls Day, and DΓa de Los Muertos, we will hold that legacy and step into that sacredness of time. In the spirit of this time and sacred season, you are invited to bring a copy of a photo, a memento, or a favorite food of someone you lost to worship and be prepared to speak their name. The foods you bring will be shared during social hour. The service will be participatory.
Rev. Laura Shennum, Minister of Congregational Life; Mari Magaloni Ramos, Worship Associate; Reiko Oda Lane, organist; AkanΓ© Ota, songleader; William Klingelhoffer, french horn; Marilyn Thompson, pianist
Shulee Ong, Eli Boshears, Camera Operators; Jonathan Silk, Communications Director; Thomas Brown, Jose Matias Pineda, and Francisco Castellanos, Sextons; Judy Payne, Flowers; Linda Messner, Head Usher
We have heard it said, the only constant is change, and that there is no growth, no growing forward without letting something go and embracing change. Sometimes a door must close in order for a window to open, but how do we navigate this kind of loss, these decisions about what and when to let go in order to be open to new possibilities? Anatole France wrote, βAll changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves. We must die to one life before we can enter another.β But, this doesnβt mean we throw everything out the window and start from scratch over and over! So, what can we hold onto that is solid and true, what can we trust as a constant in our lives when the ground shifts and change happens?
This sermon podcast begins with a reflection by worship associate Betsy Hearn.
Dan Hotchkiss writes, βCongregations create sanctuaries where people can nurture and inspire each other β with results no one can predict. The stability of a religious institution is a necessary precondition to the instability religious transformation brings.β How do we balance the tradition and change in our lives together? How do we embrace the future we imagine while holding onto the traditions that define us?
"Skilling up for Love"
Sunday, October 20, 2024
Being human is not just something we are born into; it is something we practice. Being human in a person who loves deeply and loves well is the same. And nothing is more crucial to a strong and loving relationship than deep listeningβthe kind that is seductive, gorgeously affirming, and brings us extraordinarily deep connectionβthe kind, I think, we dream of.
Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister; Rev. Laura Shennum, Minister of Congregational Life; Carmen Barsody, Worship Associate; UUSF Bell Choir led by Reiko Oda Lane, Organist; UUSF Choir led by Mark Sumner, Music Director; Wm. GarcΓa Ganz, pianist
Shulee Ong, Camera Operator; Jonathan Silk, Communications Director; Judy Payne, Flowers; Linda Messner, Head Usher
"Listening Deeply to Hear if We Got the Story Right"
Sunday, October 13, 2024
Storytelling is powerful. Maybe the most powerful tool we have to move human hearts and willsβa nation, a family, peopleβall of us tell and live into a lot of stories and their truths. Which means stories also need to be interrogated, and we only do that by listening deeply, getting curious, and being willing, if need be, to change something as sacred as the stories we tell... and live by.
Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister; Rev. Laura Shennum, Minister of Congregational Life; Kate Steinberg, Ministerial Intern; Mari Magaloni Ramos, Worship Associate; UUSF Choir led by Mark Sumner, Music Director; Nancy Munn, AkanΓ© Ota, Ben Rudiak-Gould, Andy Kessler, soloists; Wm. GarcΓa Ganz, pianist
Jonathan Silk, Communications Director; Amy Kelly, Flowers; Linda Messner, Head Usher
Join us for Celebration Sunday, as we gather to celebrate Unity Church and commit to a joyful year together. Unitarian Universalist congregations depend on the support of their members for everything from religious education and kitchen volunteers to legacy giving and ongoing financial support. How do we root our gifts to the church in our spiritual practices?
"Accountability to What We Hear Inside"
Sunday, October 6, 2024, 10:50 am
As we enter into the Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and as we launch into an examination of the theme of Deep Listening, I find myself reflecting on how deep listening to ourselves, our inner voice and feelings, is foundational to our personal discernment. Perhaps the most foundational practice for it. What does it mean to listen deeply to ourselves and commit to doing so?
Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister; Rev. Laura Shennum, Minister of Congregational Life; Kate Steinberg, Ministerial Intern; Daniel Jackoway, Worship Associate; Galen Workman, Moderator; Reiko Oda Lane, organist; UUSF Choir led by Wm. GarcΓa Ganz, pianist
Jonathan Silk, Communications Director; Thomas Brown, Jose Matias Pineda, Francisco Castellanos, Sextons; Amy Kelly, Flowers; Linda Messner, Head Usher
LIVESTREAM
https://www.youtube.com/live/C1jEUJFw9PM
OOS:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HmnypDSSYeGP0fjikhcGRjwOKHKvrhTL/view?usp=sharing
PLAYLIST:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGWIRF9PinfxDBNxakeYBvxMCHJ7QtJTI
Pop culture is full of dystopian stories. In a time of climate change, war, and political uncertainty, dystopia feels near at hand. Even as they grapple with the consequences of the suffering and destruction, authors from Octavia Butler to Becky Chambers can help up to imagine a better world. What are the tools of storytelling that might help us imagine ourselves into a sustainable, joyful future?β
This sermon podcast begins with a reflection by Chris Russert, worship associate.
In 1348, a community of monks in Sienna opened the doors of their abbey to serve as a hospital during the plague. Seven hundred years later, the abbey exists as a picturesque ruin, popular with tourists and filmmakers. What are the risks of hospitality, and why do we do it anyway?
"The Turbulence of Invitation"
Sunday, September 29, 2024, 10:50 am
Invitation sounds so easy and lovely, but already this month we have unpacked some of both what it opens up for us and what it requires. What about the ways invitations throw the unexpected our way? In ways small and large, it requires courage and bent-knee flexibility and readiness as a posture. Let me tell you a small example from my recent experience narrow boating in England and a few other stories too as we look together at the turbulence that is part of living life alive to invitation.
Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister; Gregory Stephens, Worship Associate; Julia Wald, Trustee; Reiko Oda Lane, organist; Joanne Kong, pianist; Christoph Wagner, cellist; Nancy Munn, songleader; Mark Sumner, pianist
Jonathan Silk, Communications Director; Thomas Brown, Jose Matias Pineda, Francisco Castellanos, Sextons; Carrie Steere-Salazar, Flowers; Linda Messner, Head Usher
βFrom a Wave to a Welcome: Invitation as a Spiritual Practiceβ
Sunday, September 22, 2024
How do UUs embody the core value of liberating love? Perhaps we commit to βinvitationβ as a conscious practice, continually inviting new experiences and new ways of being to co-create a better world. This week weβll consider how an everyday welcome might transmute into a radical welcome.
Kate Steinberg, Ministerial Intern; Rev. Laura Shennum, Minister of Congregational Life; Richard Davis - Lowell, Worship Associate; Mari Magaloni Ramos, Worship Associate; Linda Enger, Trustee; Reiko Oda Lane, Organist; UUSF Choir led by Mark Sumner, Music Director; Jon Silk, Drummer; Wm. GarcΓa Ganz, Pianist
Shulee Ong; Eric Shackelford, Camera Operators; Jonathan Silk, Communications Director; Carrie Steere-Salazar, Flowers; Linda Messner, Head Usher
This sermon podcast begins with a reflection by worship associate Meg Arnosti.
The ancient question, βWho am I?β inevitably leads to a deeper one: βWhose am I?β because there is not identity outside of relationship. You cannot be a person by yourself. To ask, βWhose am I?β is to extend the question far beyond the little self-absorbed self, and wonder: Who needs you? Who loves you? To whom are you accountable? To whom do you answer? Whose life is altered by your choices? With whose life, whose lives is your own all bound up, inextricably, in obvious or invisible ways?
"Invitation to Participate in the Democratic Process"
Sunday, September 15, 2024, 10:50 am
How do we as UUs live into our values as we engage the democratic process? How is this a spiritual practice? As we sort through all the chatter, let us find ways to ground ourselves in what we believe to participate in the democratic process intentionally.
Rev. Laura Shennum, Minister of Congregational Life; Kate Steinberg, Ministerial Intern; Mari Magaloni Ramos, Worship Associate; Cal Ball, UU the Vote; Lucy Smith, Board Secretary; Reiko Oda Lane, Organist; UUSF Choir led by Mark Sumner, Music Director; Wm. GarcΓa Ganz, Pianist
Shulee Ong; Eric Shackelford; Francisco Castellanos, Camera, Camera Operators; Jonathan Silk, Communications Director; Athena Papadakos, Flowers; Linda Messner, Head Usher
This sermon podcast begins with a reflection by worship associate Anna Newton.
Unitarian Universalists are rightly proud of width and breadth of our institutional welcome. But who decide who is welcomed? Who belongs? What are the systems that we can either critique or build to deepen our understanding of welcome?
Rev. Sinclair offers a reflection on belonging, and how we are drawn to faithful life in community, sometimes in spite of ourselves.
Is making a meal or baking or creating art or music an expression of your love? Let us lift up the many labors that go unsung, the under appreciated and maybe uncompensated work of people for others that enrich our lives in priceless ways.
This podcast begins with a reflection by worship associate Lorelee Wederstrom.
Weβll explore the depth of tradition and the benefits of renovation through a journey at sea.
In the uncertainties of our times, our mistrust β of the future, of ourselves and one another β might be justified. But we are called, as people of faith in a liberating love, to cultivate greater trust. Letβs explore how to become more trusting and more trustworthy in the face of change.
Rev. Karen Hering
The life of the spirit is all about triage: attending to this thing and then that thing, each in its time, with care. But the planet spins beneath our feet, sometimes careening wildly, and our days are disjointed and dizzying. When the known world flies apart, what holds you in place? Join us for pancake brunch after the service.
There were some audio issues with this recording. The audio gets better at the 30 seconds mark.
We are all familiar with the story of Henry David Thoreau and his two-year experiment on a plot of land owned by his teacher, Ralph Waldo Emerson. We are less familiar with the story of Harriet Jacobs, Thoreauβs contemporary, who also, alone, entered a space that cut her off from society, and who also wrote a book about that experience. A look at these two experiences and the national appetite for one story, to be told in one, specific way in every school in the country for almost 200 years, and for the other not to be told at all gives us insights into the dangers of a single story, dangers that contort our history and uphold power in the same hands. Over, and over, and over again.
As hostile laws are adopted across the county, queer families and individuals are making their way to states like Minnesota. We will paint a picture of what is happening, how Unitarian Universalists are connected, and supporting the effort to find safety and sanctuary for those who are migrating to Minnesota.
This service begins with a reflection by Sara Ford followed by Kevin Ward and Jess Goff.
What happens when a book changes your life? You buy copies for your friends? Or maybe you talk about it in a summer service. In 2016, the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu wrote The Book of Joy. Some of their ideas are weird and unattainable (like β Can you really train your mind to have mental immunity? Can you really have empathy for your enemies?), but then again maybe joy can happen. Jess Goff and Kevin Ward will share their favorite passages and meditate aloud how this book has transformed them.
This sermon podcast begins with a reflection by worship associate Chris Russert.
In a consumer society focused on limited resources and rugged individualism, many are left feeling estranged from one another and numb. How might we move from a culture of scarcity towards abundance, understanding the power of sharing, and embracing our human vulnerability as a strength? Each of us can help and be helped, and through our empathy can find and build bridges of resilience, community, and hope.
"Spiritual Practices and Climate Justice"
Sunday, July 7, 10:50 am, 2024
"We can never return to innocence, but we can move forward with integrity."
- Rev. Dr. Howard Thurman
The 20th-century spiritual leader, Rev. Dr. Howard Thurman, loved San Francisco. A mentor to Martin Luther King, Jr., and Pauli Murray, Thurman found in this city a special dynamism, a variety of people, and chance interactions that could be a gateway to transformation, individually and collectively, to resist racism, classism, and hardness of heart. In a time of climate crisis, what is love asking us to do? Spirituality and activism are not oppositesβThurman would often say they are complements. To sustain long-term work for changeβwhether challenging air pollution health risks, adapting to rising sea levels, cultivating food forests and community gardens, securing safe, affordable housing, or preparing renewable energiesβrequires vision, community, and time to "center down." Let's explore how personal spiritual practices may help inform our work for climate justice.
Rev. Daniel Lawlor, Guest Minister; Mari Magaloni Ramos, Worship Associate; Galen Workman, Moderator, Board of Trustees; Jessie Nucho, flautist; Nancy Munn, songleader; Wm. GarcΓa Ganz, pianist
Eric Shackelford; Francisco Castellanos, Camera, Camera Operators; Jonathan Silk, Communications Director; Amy Kelly, Flowers; Linda Messner, Head Usher
What does it mean to have a conversation or an encounter with another human that invites the divine into relationship? When we talk about βgoing deep quicklyβ and knowing each other βin all our fullness,β what do we mean? Why are these things important? And what do Herr Buber and Mr. Douglass have to teach us about all this?
"Radical Rethinking of God: God is Queer"
Sunday, June 30, 10:50 am, 2024
On this Pride Weekend, we will dive into Queer Theology: What does it have to say about the nature of God and of the holy? Why is that important for all of us?
Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister; Rev. Laura Shennum, Minister of Congregational Life; Carmen Barsody, Worship Associate; Reiko Oda Lane, Organist; Lambert Moss, singer; Andy Kessler, Songleader
Jonathan Silk, Communications Director; Thomas Brown, Jose Matias Pineda, Francisco Castellanos, Sextons; Amy Kelly, Flowers; Linda Messner, Head Usher
This sermon podcast begins with a reflection by worship associate Caswell Burr.
There is a great, interconnected web of existence, a great and entrancing mystery, and we are starting to see more of the effects of our neglect for that interdependence. How can our UU faith and principles help guide us through the growing imperative to change our relationship with the natural world?
This Sunday reflects on the milestone events since Rev. Kathleenβs arrival at Unity Church in September 2022: successes, missed opportunities and work that is still in the making.