Complete Service-first Unitarian Universalist Society Of San Francisco

Miracles (April 21, 2019) Part of the Easter story is the most horrific cruelty and loss that precedes it, and then the most magnificent miracle that wakes us Easter morning. How do we rational, scientific folks make sense of miracle stories, and of this one in particular? Let's re-frame Easter for our ears and lose none of the beauty of it in so doing! Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister Rev. Mary McKinnon Ganz, Assistant Minister Shari Halliday-Quan, Ministerial Intern Lisanicole Sarkisian, Worship Associate Reiko Oda Lane, organ and bell choir director Dr. Mark Sumner, Music Director Asher Davison, soloist Kate Offer, solist Eric Shackleford, welcome Joe Chapot, video camera Jonathan Silk, Podcasting, OOS, Livestream, Videos

Stepping Stones: Rites of Passage Class (April 14, 2019) We have four bright, young thinkers in this year’s class, each has posed their Big Life Question, now it's time for the ministers to answer! Rites of Passage Class 2019 (Zoe, Erik, Calder, Oriana) Rev. Alyson Jacks, Associate Minister Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister Rev. Mary McKinnon Ganz, Assistant Minister Shari Halliday-Quan, Ministerial Intern Marigold Birch and Stepping Stones Teaching Team Alex Darr, Worship Associate Dr. Mark Sumner, Music Director Asher Davison, soloist Kate Offer, intro offertory Bill Ganz, piano Linda Robertshaw, drums Donald Shearer, video camera Jonathan Silk, Podcasting, OOS, Livestream, Videos

The Way - The Fools Way (April 7, 2019) "The Camino is Life!" Along the Camino de Santiago, these words are often heard, called by one pilgrim to another, or seen, scribbled on a wall or a rock -- words that challenge and inspire, adding the energy necessary for the climb up another hill. How was life on the Camino similar to life walking in the Tenderloin as a Faithful Fool? What energy and focus can we find by asking together, "What are we walking toward?" Carmen Barsody, OSF, Faithful Fools Street Ministry Rev. Mary McKinnon Ganz, Assistant Minister Sam Dennison, Faithful Fool Mark Sumner, piano and song leader Laurel Sprigg, soprano Ariel Andrew, mezzo soprano Richard Fey, baritone Asher Davison, baritone David Jones, piano Jim Rebhan, accordion Judy Payne, Board Secretary Donald Shearer, video camera Jonathan Silk, Podcasting, OOS, Livestream, Videos

Threshold Living (March 31, 2019) Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister Shari Halliday-Quan, Ministerial Intern Trudy Lionel, Reflection: Why I Give Daniel Jackoway, Worship Associate Jordan Kersten, soprano Reiko Oda Lane, organ Dr. Mark Sumner, piano Ariel Andrew, song leader Gayle Reynolds, Trustee Kelli Murray, AOF Co-Chair Donald Shearer, video camera Jonathan Silk, Podcasting, OOS, Livestream, Videos

Time of the Month (March 24, 2019) Women's History Month invites us to explore the ways extraordinary women and everyday communities have cast off the oppressive limitations placed on them by wider society based on their gender. This liberation work takes many forms today as we collectively pursue gender justice, and this week we explore how grounding ourselves in historical celebrations of transcendence can help us get our bodies and spirits more free.   Shari Halliday-Quan, Ministerial Intern Rev. Alyson Jacks, Associate Minister Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister Gino Fortunato, Reflection: Why I Give Sam King, Worship Associate Reiko Oda Lane, organ Ariel Andrew, soprano Dr. Mark Sumner, Music Director Carrie Steere-Salazar, welcome Laurence Pulgram, AOF Co-Chair Natalie Shuttleworth, video camera Jonathan Silk, Podcasting, OOS, Livestream, Videos

An Understanding Mind (March 17, 2019) In the famous wisdom tales of King Solomon, it’s said that God appeared to him in a dream saying, “Tell me what I should give you?  Solomon asks for an understanding mind in order to serve his people. Some scholars interpret an understanding mind to mean a hearing heart. Wisdom – the gathering of knowledge, understanding, insight and perception – is an exercise in listening with both heart and mind. We live in a world crowded with smart alecks and experts; let’s explore the wisdom of the hearing heart together. Rev. Alyson Jacks, Associate Minister Shari Halliday-Quan, Ministerial Intern Courtney Young-Law and Chris Law, Why I Give Radim Zenkl, Multi Instrumentalist Wm. García Ganz, piano   Ariel Andrew, song leader Hanna Hart, welcome Kelli Murray, AOF Co-Chair Eric Shackelford, camera Scott Miller, Livestream Technical Support Jonathan Silk, Podcasting, OOS, Livestream, Videos

Boldness! (March 10, 2019) This Sunday our Annual Operating Fund Campaign begins! Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister Rev. Alyson Jacks, Associate Minister Shari Halliday-Quan, Ministerial Intern Kelli Murray and Laurence Pulgram, AOF 2019 Dr. Mark Sumner, Choir Director Reiko Oda Lane, organ and bell choir director Millie Phillips, soprano Diane Allen, Vision/Mission, Chair Eric Shackelford, camera Shulee Ong, camera Scott Miller, Livestream Technical Support and camera Jonathan Silk, Podcasting, OOS, Livestream, Videos

Gift Culture: the Gift Experiment (March 3, 2019) What does it mean not to think of life as ownership? Other people have had this idea. How does it change us? We will kick off this experiment on Sunday. Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister Rev. Alyson Jacks, Associate Minister Dennis Adams, Worship Associate Dr. Mark Sumner, Choir Director Reiko Oda Lane, Organist Bill Lowell, Membership Kensington UU Choir Kate Offer,soloist Ariel Andrew,soloist Hsuanwei Fan,soloist Asher Davison,soloist Wm. Garcia Ganz, piano Gayle Reynolds, Trustee Eric Shackelford, Livestream Camera Operator Scott Miller, Livestream Technical Support Jonathan Silk, Podcasting, OOS, Livestream, Videos

Seeing Whiteness? (February 24, 2019) Our Board said an overarching goal at this summer’s Board Retreat — to seek and serve “wholeness” among us. It is a particularly important goal to keep in mind as we look, in our just-beginning strategic planning process, at the future of who we wish to be and what it will mean to get there. Part of that work has meant for many of us to begin to unpack what is hard to see and name — the water we swim in, the culture that forms us and we reinforce unless we are careful, the power and privilege and protected class of whiteness. Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister Rev. Alyson Jacks, Associate Minister Sam King, Worship Associate Dr. Mark Sumner, Choir Director Reiko Oda Lane, Organist Alan Alpert, tenor Wm. Garcia Ganz, piano Gayle Reynolds, Trustee Jonathan Silk, Podcasting, OOS

Exploring Our Humanist Source: A Living Faith in Human Connection (February 17, 2019) Let's explore our fifth source: "Humanist teachings which counsel us to heed the guidance of reason and the results of science, and warn us against idolatries of the mind and spirit." What does it mean to live faithfully without reliance on the supernatural, to place our deepest trust in the abilities of our own imperfect humanity?" Millie Phillips, Guest Preacher Jim Barnett, Humanists & Non-Theists Lucy Smith, Worship Associate Dr. Mark Sumner, Choir Director Reiko Oda Lane, Organist Bill Ganz, piano Rochelle Fortier Nwadibia, Vice Moderator Jonathan Silk, Podcasting, OOS Antwann Horace, sound

Come Home! (February 10, 2019) This month we begin our 31st year of providing home for 70 men in our city who otherwise would sleep on the streets. With others we will provide breakfast and dinners and shelter from the elements. We will also reflect on our connection to the planet we call home, all of which raises the notion of what is “home” and what is our relationship to this place (or is it an idea) and how does our experience of home shape us, and what does it require of us? Come home! Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister Rev. Alyson Jacks, Associate Minister Daniel Jackoway, Worship Associate Dr. Mark Sumner, Choir Director Reiko Oda Lane, Organist Bill Ganz, piano Shannon Warto, soprano Betsy Darr, EJWG Amy Kelly, Trustee Jonathan Silk, Podcasting, OOS, Sound

Unafraid of the Dark (February 3, 2019) Who’s afraid of the dark? English-speaking, American culture is riddled with links between darkness and fear, but what else is there to discover in the darkness. Rich, fertile possibilities await us when we stretch ourselves just a little bit and expand our metaphorical and moral imagination. Shari Halliday-Quan, Ministerial Intern Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister Richard Davis-Lowell, Worship Associate Jennifer Peringer, piano Ariel Andrew, song leader Carrie Steere-Salazar, Moderator Jonathan Silk, Podcasting, OOS, Sound

Wrestling with Time (January 27, 2019) One of our UU Saints, Charles Darwin, wrote: "A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.” We are all destined to wrestle with time, it's passage, its limits, what it can be and what it can devolves into, and the refrain of the modernity since it began: how to be in a world of "speeded up.” Let's look this morning at at what it means to be forever engaged in wrestling with time, and how to thrive in the midst of it. Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister Rev. Alyson Jacks, Associate Minister Daniel Jackoway, Worship Associate Dr. Mark Sumner, Music Director Reiko Oda Lane, organ Eric Shackelford, Trustee Jonathan Silk, Podcasting, OOS, Sound, drums

The Myth of Inevitability (January 20, 2019) Sometimes in the telling of history backwards, everything looks as if it was leading to the place we arrived at -- a kind of foreordained destiny. But it is rarely so in people's lived experience. On this MLK Sunday we will look back at some of the stories and chapters of the American Civil Right's struggle and this myth of inevitability, as we prepare ourselves to live into the next chapter of it. Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister Rev. Alyson Jacks, Associate Minister Rochelle Fortier Nwadibia, Worship Associate Dr. Mark Sumner, Music Director Reiko Oda Lane, organ Eric Shackelford, soloist Wm. García Ganz, piano Judy Payne, Trustee Gary Lorentzen, auction Jonathan Silk, Podcasting, OOS, Sound, drums

Healthy Lives, Healthy Institutions: Love and the Limits of Kindness (January 13, 2019) I have been reading and thinking a lot about “kindness” as a virtue — when it is the thing that knits the world back together and how it is a balm for all the storms of daily life, and where it’s benefits stop. Where love and health require a tougher way of being to serve the good. Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister Rev. Alyson Jacks, Associate Minister Sam King, Worship Associate Dr. Mark Sumner, Music Director Reiko Oda Lane, organ David Jones, tenor Peter Gross, Trustee Susan Anthony & Julia Wald, auction Jonathan Silk, Podcasting, OOS, Sound

In An Ideal World (January 6, 2019) Let's be real, living up to our ideals isn't easy, sometimes it's downright dangerous. When we think of the ideal, often, we picture perfection, the ultimate, the unattainable. Why bother? But in today's reality, particularly political reality, we harken for something better - something more ideal. Are there examples of the ideal that are attainable, inspiring, useful for us mere mortals? ?Ideals that might guide us out of the mess we are in? Is there an ideal story that can show us a way forward? Today's service we will explore some of the central ideas about ideals (Plato anyone?) and why they matter, now more than ever. Rev. Alyson Jacks, Associate Minister Phil Marshall, Worship Associate Asher Davison, song leader Larry Chinn, piano Scott Benbow, Treasurer Linda Harris, UUSC Jonathan Silk, Podcasting, OOS, Sound

Saved from Perfection (December 30, 2018) You are enough. I am enough. I could do a little better. We can do a little better together. Our American Unitarian fore-bearers split from our Puritan roots over a number of theological differences, including the controversial idea that human beings have the power to both do good and do better. Along with this doggedly hopeful belief about our ability to improve ourselves comes the freedom to no longer need to prove that we are already good, already perfect. Our liberal tradition teaches that we are already saved from perfection. Let's start there. Shari Halliday-Quan, Ministerial Intern Lisanicole Sarkasian, Worship Associate David Jones, song leader Andrés Vera, cello My-Hoa Steger, piano Rochelle Fortier Nwadibia, Vice Moderator Jonathan Silk, Podcasting, OOS, Sound

Holy Families (December 23, 2018) We'll gather the day after this to tell the ancient story of love made real in a particular infant, and yet as Unitarian religious educator Sophia Lyon Fahs taught, "Each night a child is born is a holy night." We might even say that every child, every person, every family is a miracle. In this multi-generational Sunday morning service, we celebrate families of many types, each statistically unlikely collections of stardust, DNA, histories and former strangers that miraculously came to be. Shari Halliday-Quan, Ministerial Intern Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister Rev. Alyson Jacks, Associate Minister Reiko Oda Lane, organ Dr. Mark Sumner, Music Director Lori Lai, Story Shulee Ong, Story DJ Quinn, Story Shannon Warto, soprano Alan Alpert, tenor Eric Shackelford, Trustee Jonathan Silk, Podcasting, OOS, Sound, drums

Joy! (December 16, 2018) You know, of all the spiritual practices, there is fasting and study and prayer, why not joy? What does it look like to put joy at the center? Fun to try! Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister Lucy Smith, Worship Associate Shari Halliday-Quan, Ministerial Intern Reiko Oda Lane, organ Wm. García Ganz, guest conductor   Asher Davidson, soloist Alan Alpert, soloist Ariel Andrew, soloist Gayle Reynolds, Trustee Jonathan Silk, Podcasting, OOS, Sound, Percussion

The Gaudy Curtain (December 9, 2018) Just as we string lights against the darkness at Solstice time, we construct of our lives a "gaudy curtain" that covers over the Abyss, toward which we all inexorably travel. If we cultivate an honest awareness of our inevitable death, what gifts might we find for our living? Rev. Mary McKinnon Ganz, Assistant Minister Sam King, Worship Associate Reiko Oda Lane, organ Mark Kapner, piano, guitar and vocals Carrie Steere-Salazar, Moderator Jonathan Silk, Podcasting, OOS, Sound