Complete Service-first Unitarian Universalist Society Of San Francisco

"A Time of Transition, part II: The Place In Between" Sunday, May 15, 2022 10:50 am Livestream Worship Service William Bridges, when he wrote about transitions, didn't just talk about the Endings, though he did name that first stage and all it required. And he didn't talk about the New Beginnings though that also was tender and vital. He talked about this rarely named space in between those two. And all that happens in that space and how it feels and how to step thoughtfully into and through it. This is what we'll talk a little about this Sunday, and you might find the description familiar and relevant to a lot of life at this moment! Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister; Sam King, Worship Associate; Percussionists Allen Biggs & Tommy Kesecker; Mark Sumner, Music Director Eric Shackelford, Camera; Shulee Ong, Camera; Jonathan Silk, Communications Director; Joe Chapot, Live Chat Moderator; Dan Barnard, Facilities Manager; Amy Kelly, Flowers; Linda Messner, Head Usher; Ralph Fenn, Les James, T

"The Loving and the Letting Go" Sunday, May 8, 10:50 am, Worship Service Livestream What it means to parent a 17-year-old is what it means to parent at any age, just more obviously so. The piece about how love is always about letting go and trusting the universe. And all the other hard -- annoyingly wise but hard -- lessons we learn in journeys of love. Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister; Daniel Jackoway, Worship Associate; Reiko Oda Lane, Organist; UUSF Choir led by Mark Sumner, Music Director; Jon Silk, Drummer; Wm. García Ganz, Pianist; Richard Fey, Baritone Eric Shackelford, Camera; Jonathan Silk, Communications Director; Joe Chapot, Live Chat Moderator; Remigio Flood, Sexton; Judy Payne, Flowers; Linda Messner, Head Usher; Ralph Fenn, Les James, Tom Brookshire, Zoom Coffee Hour

"A Time of Transition" Sunday, May 1, 10:50 am, Worship Service Livestream This Sunday we will celebrate our children, youth, and teachers as we wrap up this year’s Sunday School program. We’ll have a special tribute to our incredible volunteers, and our amazing Lead Teachers, Sarah Beth Chionsini, Christine Patch-Lindsay, Marigold Birch, Hilary Buffum and Audrey McDougal. We are also beginning to say our good-byes to our Associate Minister, Rev. Alyson Jacks, who will retire at the end of this church year. We are in a time of change and transition, taking time to say good-bye and preparing for what comes next. Rev. Alyson Jacks, Associate Minister; Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister; Richard Davis-Lowell, Worship Associate; UUSF Choir led by Mark Sumner, Music Director; Wm. García Ganz, Accompanist; Elliott Etzkorn, Pianist; Jon Silk, Drummer Eric Shackelford, Camera; Jonathan Silk, Communications Director; Joe Chapot, Live Chat Moderator; Remigio Flood, Sexton; Amy Kelly, Flowers; Linda Messner

"Elephant Company: an Earth Day service" Sunday, April 24, 10:50 am, Worship Service Livestream On Earth Day I think our goal is always to connect to the miracle and the mystery and the awesome power and our love for the earth, in part so that we remember in our hearts that we are anchored to the commitment to save earth and care for Her. I have also been thinking of that phrase lately of how the more particular something is, the more universal it is. So rather than talk about the blue-green spinning planet and try and feel love and connection to that, I want to talk about one particular piece of life that’s part of this earth. Let’s talk about elephants. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard a sermon on the elephant. Maybe that alone will draw you to church to see how a minister is going to make something spiritual out of the big, plodding, odd looking creature that we know as the pachyderm. Or maybe you just need to be together and sing and sit in silence or light candles. Whatever it is, I’ll see you on S

“Never What You Imagined” Easter Sunday, April 17, 10:50 am, Worship Service Livestream Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister, preaching This year is one when Passover and Easter land in the same stretch of time and Spring also is claiming the stage. Holding these stories, the rituals of remembering, one thing that strikes me is the fullness of this moment in all the stories of the season. How in them all it is a time of loss and hope, both. How in it all there is this vital readiness that is asked of us, and a reminder that what lies ahead is almost always in the big stories, nothing like what we had imagined. Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister; Rev. Alyson Jacks, Associate Minister; Sam King, Worship Associate; Bell Choir led by Reiko Oda Lane, Organist; Laurel Sprigg, Soprano; UUSF Choir led by Mark Sumner, Music Director Shulee Ong, Camera; Jonathan Silk, Communications Director; Joe Chapot, Live Chat Moderator; Remigio Flood, Sexton; Kelvin Jones, Sexton; Amy Kelly, Flowers; Linda Me

"An Especially Big and Important Music Service" Sunday, April 10, Worship Service Livestream This Sunday, April 10th - after a 25-month delay - and in a follow up to our tribute to Walt Whitman in early December, several choirs return in larger numbers to perform the Dona Nobis Pacem by Ralph Vaughan Williams. In addition to having the UC Alumni Chorus join our church choir, we welcome students from the UC Men’s and Women's Chorales at Berkeley as well as a 45 piece orchestra. The pieces are enhanced exponentially with orchestral forces. These combined choirs seek to honor the souls lost and displaced by the Ukraine invasion with their music. Dona Nobis Pacem was composed in response to the unsettling state of the world in 1936— Vaughan Williams compelled to cry out for peace featuring traditional texts as well as dramatic poetry by none other than Walt Whitman. Rev. Alyson Jacks, Associate Minister; “Wonder Dave” Crady, Worship Associate; Reiko Oda Lane, Organist; Nancy Munn, soprano; Rene Minneboo, bar

"Word After A Word After A Word Is Power" Sunday, April 3, 10:50 am, Worship Service Livestream Poetry has the ability to awaken the mind with a single word or to give a gulp of water to the heart one didn’t know was thirsty. It can boldly tell undeniable truths to ourselves, and to Kings and Queens. It can make a crowd stir as well as call a profound silence in a filled auditorium. It is simple and complex, like each living being. Poetry is the language of Faithful Fools. Carmen Barsody and poets from the Tenderloin Community will lead us in a fool- hearted, poetic service in celebration of poetry month and their high holy month as Faithful Fools. (https://www.faithfulfools.org/) Carmen Barsody, Sermonizer; Ed Bowers, Sermonizer; Kim Diamond, Sermonizer; Cheryl Shanks, Sermonizer; Joel Yates, Sermonizer; Poindexter (aka Dennis Adams), Worship Associate; Andrés Vera, Cellist; Matthew Linaman, Cellist; Ben Rudiak-Gould, Songleader; Jon Silk, Drummer; Mark Sumner, Pianist Eric Shackelford, Camera; Jonathan

"What's Going On?" Sunday, March 27, 10:50 am, Worship Service Livestream I want to talk about what I have been seeing and hearing the last week or two -- not about timeless and eternal questions but about what is going on around and within us all these days... at least my best guess, with a little input from my friends. It will be a time to sing, too light candles, to enjoy each other in coffee hour, to be still, to breathe. Just come, however, you are able to join in. Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister; Nancy Hardies, Annual Giving Fund Testimony; Sam King & Wonder Dave Crady, AOF Co-Chairs; Richard Davis, UU Seder 2022; Reiko Oda Lane, Organist; UUSF Choir led by Mark Sumner, Music Director; Wm. García Ganz, pianist Eric Shackelford, Camera; Jonathan Silk, Communications Director; Joe Chapot, Live Chat Moderator; Remigio Flood, Sexton; Amy Kelly, Flowers; Linda Messner, Head Usher; Ralph Fenn, Les James, Tom Brookshire, Zoom Coffee Hour

"The Question of Legacy" Sunday, March 20, 10:50 am, Worship Service Livestream I've been thinking a lot about legacy. Call it mid-life, call it an eternal itch we humans scratch and an eternal question with which we wrestle. It's a grounding question, a sobering one, sometimes an inspiring one, and maybe, maybe our answer changes as we go, as the path before us twists and opens. The question of legacy! Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister; "Wonder Dave" Crady, Worship Associate; Lori Lai, Annual Fund Testimonial; Dan Barnard, Facilities Manager; Linda Enger; Board of Trustees; Merle Easton; Robin Larsen, UUSF Women's Group; Reiko Oda Lane, Organist; Ben Rudiak-Gould, Songleader Eric Shackelford, Camera; Donald Shearer, Camera; Jonathan Silk, Communications Director; Joe Chapot, Live Chat Moderator; Remigio Flood, Sexton; Athena Papadakos, Flowers; Linda Messner, Head Usher; Ralph Fenn, Les James, Tom Brookshire, Zoom Coffee Hour

"Rites of Passage Service: Big Life Questions" Sunday, March 13, 10:50 am, Worship Service Livestream We are excited to welcome our 4th and 5th graders for this year's Rites of Passage Service. The service will include wonderful music, performed by our bell and church choir, we'll have special songs, and a few surprises. And of course, the Big Life Questions! Our eight young people have waited an extra year for this service so we want to make this one extra special. And wait till you hear their questions!  Join us for this special celebration. Rev. Alyson Jacks, Associate Minister; Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister; Marigold Birch, 4th-5th Grade Lead Teacher; Dennielle Kronenberg, Canvass Testimony; Reiko Oda Lane, Organist & Bell Choir Director; UUSF Choir; Mark Sumner, Music Director; Jon Silk, Drummer; Nancy Munn, Soloist; Wm. García Ganz, Pianist Eric Shackelford, Camera; Shulee Ong, Camera; Jonathan Silk, Communications Director; Joe Chapot, Live Chat Moderator; Remigio Flood, Sexton; A

"The Ecology of Generosity" Sunday, March 6, 10:50 am, Worship Service Livestream Our preacher this week, The Rev. Vail Weller, has served congregations as parish minister in West Virginia, Michigan, and most recently San Mateo, California, where she still resides. She is also the Congregational Giving Director at the Unitarian Universalist Association and we are so grateful to have her with us on this Sunday when we kick off our 2022-23 annual giving/pledge drive for this community. This week's sermon "The Ecology of Generosity" draws deeply on the thoughts of Robin Wall Kimmerer and her book “Braiding Sweetgrass” and explores the cycles of nature and the cycles of generosity. Rev. Vail Weller, Guest Minister; Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister; Sam King & “Wonder Dave” Crady, Canvass Co-Chairs; Reiko Oda Lane, Organist; UUSF Choir led by Mark Sumner, Music Director Eric Shackelford, Camera; Shulee Ong, Camera; Donald Shearer, Camera; Jonathan Silk, Communications Director; Joe Chapot, Live C

"To Change the World, with Love" Sunday, February 27, 10:50 am, Worship Service In her book "Pleasure Activism" author adrienne maree brown questions whether activism needs to look like suffering and opens up the invitation for this piece of what we do to be not just more sustainable but life-giving, pleasurable!! What does she mean by "pleasure activism" and how can it change more than just our social justice work but our lives? Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister; Carmen Barsody, Worship Associate; Reiko Oda Lane, Organist & Bell Choir Director; Richard Fey, Baritone; Brielle Marina Neilson, Songleader; Ben Rudiak-Gould, Songleader; Michele Kennedy, Soprano; Allen Biggs, Percussionist; Mark Sumner, Pianist & Music Director Eric Shackelford, Camera; Shulee Ong, Camera; Jonathan Silk, Communications Director; Joe Chapot, Live Chat Moderator; Remigio Flood, Sexton; Judy Payne, Flowers; Alex Darr, Les James, Tom Brookshire, Zoom Coffee Hour

"To Sondheim, with Love" Sunday, February 20, 2022 Livestream Worship Service This morning we celebrate the great composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim who recently passed away at the age of 91. His cool cleverness and skeptical, often ironic, intellectual character have long been commented on. It is not hard to find articles with titles like "The Case for Sondheim as Existentialist," or an obituary describing him as a "philosopher of music." A number of philosophers have taken it hard over the loss of so marvelous and so philosophical an artist. Cornel West: "His genius shall live forever! He was profound in content, subversive in form and always beautifully lyrical." To honor his passing, and too feast on what he has "served up," we have chosen a couple of his beloved, familiar songs and, for some, adding a few more new favorites to cement and enlarge his fanbase. No matter how many times you listen to Sondheim, you find yourself taken to new places emotionally. Because of his singular command of m

"To Relationships, with Love" Sunday, February 13, 2022 10:50 am, Worship Service Over the years, we can learn a few things about what it means to be in relationship well. How to love well? How to get over the rough spots and increase the joy and depth of connection. What are some of the lessons of love? Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister; Dennis Adams, Worship Associate; Reiko Oda Lane, Organist; UUSF Choir led by Mark Sumner, Music Director; Wm. Garcia Ganz, Accompanist Eric Shackelford, Camera; Shulee Ong, Camera; Jonathan Silk, Communications Director; Joe Chapot, Live Chat Moderator; Remigio Flood, Sexton; Kelvin Jones, Sexton; Athena Papadakos, Flowers; Alex Darr, Les James, Tom Brookshire, Zoom Coffee Hour

"Weaving Waters: Regional Assembly Worship" Sunday, February 6, 2022 10:50 am, Worship Service This worship is an embodied, engaging, multi-gen service focusing on unity and interdependence. It is a testimony, boldly embracing the reality of Regionalization - combining resources and congregations to better and more equitably serve a vast geography from Western Nebraska through and to Alaska (and beyond). At its core, this worship is told as a parable in four voices, telling the story of a tetrad of rivers cascading together, while maintaining their individual sources, and yet also combining to bring nutrients, gifts, and life giving flow to something much larger than themselves. It is a “both / and” story of interweaving, while keeping one’s essence and culture. It is a story central to Unitarian Universalism, a movement founded on two magnificent things combining, with a new wonderful entity emerging as a result. Sunday Service Coordinator: Matthew Clayton Davis; Rev Summer Albayati; Rev Justin Almeida;

"The Many Faces of Leadership" Sunday, January 30, 2022 10:50 am, Worship Service Two days from now the Lunar New Year celebrations will begin and the Year of the Tiger will begin with it. And although being born under one of the Chinese Zodiac signs or another is supposed to have some influence on your character or disposition, perhaps each sign can also be an invitation to all of us to explore some way we can also choose to be present in the world. The Tiger is in part about leadership. And there are stories from traditional texts around the world about the different faces of leadership. Could one be yours? Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister; Lori Lai, Board Treasurer; Wonder Dave, Worship Associate; Andrés Vera and Elijah Lacin, Cellists; Ben Rudiak-Gould, Songleader; Mark Sumner, Pianist Shulee Ong, Camera; Donald Shearer, Camera; Jonathan Silk, Communications Director; Joe Chapot, Live Chat Moderator; Remigio Flood, Sexton; Amy Kelly, Flowers; Alex Darr, Les James, Tom Brookshire, Zoom Coffe

"Some Joy Please" Sunday, January 23, 10:50 am, Worship Service Livestream This Sunday let's take a break from lockdown woes and worries and turn our attention to how we bring joy and pleasure into our lives. Is it a song, a favorite recipe, a good book? Hard times make us think that joy isn't possible. But we think joy and pleasures, and staying in touch with both, is the secret sauce that will get us through. Join Revs Southern and Jacks for a service with wonderful music by our Organist Reiko Oda Lane, Choir Director Mark Sumner and soloists Richard Fey, Leandra Ramm, Brielle Marina Nielson, Ben Rudiak-Gould, and Nancy Munn. A morning to ground our reflection on what gives us joy, what are our secret pleasures, what gets us through these days. More joy? Yes, please. Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister; Rev. Alyson Jacks, Associate Minister; Reiko Oda Lane, Organist; Richard Fey, Leandra Ramm, Brielle Marina Nielson, Ben Rudiak-Gould, and Nancy Munn, Songleaders; Mark Sumner, Pianist Eric Shac

"History is not History" Sunday, January 16, 10:50 am, Worship Service Livestream On this Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend when we could focus on the history of the Civil Rights Movement, let's focus on the present realities. From the old deed to an old house to a new staff member's request for a simple lanyard, to modern civil rights leaders asking we celebrate MLK Day only one way this year, what does our bending of the moral arc of our nation today say about where history is not history, but right in front of us. Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister; Carmen Barsody, Worship Associate; Mari Magaloni Ramos, Worship Associate; Reiko Oda Lane, Organist; Nancy Munn, soprano; Brielle Marina Neilson, alto; Ben Rudiak-Gould, tenor; Richard Fey, bass; Mark Sumner, Music Director

"'God' is not God's name" Sunday, January 9, 10:50 am, Worship Service Livestream As a theist, a liberal theist, in a pluralistic religious movement, and a congregation with a significant humanist/atheist/non-theist members, I don't talk much about God. Today, I will, and what that word, that-which-it-points-toward, means for me, and has for other progressive theists too. And whether it is useful to us, even those of us, who don't think we are theists. Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister; Dennis Adams, Worship Associate; Reiko Oda Lane, Organist; Jill Rachuy Brindel, Cellist; Brielle Marina Neilson, Songleader Eric Shackelford, Camera; Reiko Oda Lane, Camera; Jonathan Silk, Communications Director; Joe Chapot, Live Chat Moderator; Remigio Flood, Sexton; Kelvin Jones, Sexton; Carrie Steere-Salazar, Flowers; Alex Darr, Les James, Tom Brookshire, Zoom Coffee Hour

"Right Belief or Right Living" Sunday, January 2, 2022, Worship Service Livestream On Sunday, January 2nd, the Rev. David Usher will be preaching “ right belief or right living“. David was the hula hoop champion Manchester before going on to write one of the greatest books of knock knock jokes and it’s probably most famous for his art exhibition at the Guggenheim of cotton candy sculptures. We hope you’ll join us for this wonderful Sunday with the Reverend David Usher. Rev. Dr. David Usher, Guest Minister; Rev. Dr. John A. Buehrens; Reiko Oda Lane, Organist; Elliott Etzkorn, Classical Pianist; Ben Rudiak-Gould, tenor Eric Shackelford, Camera; Shulee Ong, Camera; Donald Shearer, Camera; Jonathan Silk, Communications Director; Joe Chapot, Live Chat Moderator; Remigio Flood, Sexton; Carrie Steere-Salazar, Flowers; Alex Darr, Les James, Tom Brookshire, Zoom Coffee Hour