Complete Service-first Unitarian Universalist Society Of San Francisco

Happiness is.... (November 17, 2019) Ancient philosophers have talked about happiness. Religions have weighed in on what it means for us and how to find it. And ever since the launching of the field of positive psychology, the study (rigorous, measurable, double-blind and controlled studies) of what makes us happy has confirmed some of what we always knew, but also dismantled some of what we thought we knew would make us happy. Where does knowing all this leave us? Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister Alyson Jacks, Associate Minister Daniel Jackoway, Worship Associate Reiko Oda Lane, organ Dr. Mark Sumner, Music Director Judy Payne, Board Secretary Shulee Ong, video camera Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Podcasting, Video Edits

Authenticity and the Price of Being Most Fully Human and Yourself (November 10, 2019) Later this month on November 20th it will be Transgender Day of Remembrance, a day to remember all those whose lives were lost in anti-transgender violence. It raises the larger question of why? And the struggles of transgender folks, a high number of whom take their own lives too. At heart, though, the struggle is so familiar, isn't it? Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister Lisanicole Sarkisian, Worship Associate Rev. Claire Bohman, Worship Associate Reiko Oda Lane, organ Dr. Mark Sumner, Music Director Eli Wise, guitar & vocals Asher Davison, vocals Carrie Steere-Salazar, Moderator Don Shearer, video camera Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Podcasting, Video Edits, drums

Imagine That! (October 20, 2019) I think of church as an Imaginarium, a place devoted to the exploration of the imagination. In the Imaginarium we learn to see and experience things from different angles and discover new perspectives. We open ourselves to new (and sometimes old!) ideas, widen our vision, and gain deeper understanding. Growing our imaginations takes practice, courage, and faith, which, after all, is what church is all about. Just imagine, won’t you? Rev. Alyson Jacks, Associate Minister Sharon Weld, Ministerial Intern Dr. Mark Sumner, Music Director VanNessa Hulme, soprano Brielle Nelson, mezzo soprano Eric, Hamilton, classical guitar Aaron Kierbel, percussion Carrie Steere-Salazar, Moderator Vanessa Vanderlaan, video camera Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Podcasting, Video Edits

Honoring the Ancestors (November 3, 2019) This weekend is the confluence of the celebrations of the Day of the Dead in Mexican and Mexican-American communities and in Catholicism the All Saints and All Souls Days. All of them are about honoring those who have gone before, loved, gone. And so we spend a little time honoring and thinking about what it means to honor our ancestors. Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister Carmen Barsody, Worship Associate Sharon Weld, Ministerial Intern Anjalisa Aitken, vocals (The Harmony People) Gary Garrett, guitar & vocals (The Harmony People) My-Hoa Steger, piano Asher Davison, song leader Reece Hart, Board Trustee Max Benbow, Young Adults Don Shearer, video camera Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Podcasting, Video Edits

Honesty and Legacy (October 13, 2019) This Monday will be Columbus Day or, as we better know it now, Indigenous People's Day. That change is a call, part of a movement to tell a whole history, a full and honest history of our nation. It is a call to talk about, not just the ideals, or the retold stories of lore, but of the moments that are not heroic but that are also stamped indelibly on our history and legacy. It is a question many of us face in our own families-of-origin, to tell truths, not just cleaned-up ones. Why do that? And what happens (or can) when we do? Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister Rev. Alyson Jacks, Associate Minister Richard Davis-Lowell, Worship Associate Reiko Oda Lane, organ Dr. Mark Sumner, Music Director Liz Patterson, solo Judy Payne, Board Secretary Don Shearer, video camera Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Podcasting, Video Edits

The Cost of Turning (October 6, 2019) Yom Kippur and the Days of Awe that precede it ask us turn back to God, or whatever we know and name as holy or as the desired to ground of our being. What does it take to make that turning in our lives? What does it cost us? And what does it make room for? Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister Lisanicole Sarkisian, Worship Associate Sharon Weld, Ministerial Intern Reiko Oda Lane, organ William Klingelhoffer, shofar Jill Brindel, cello Matthew Arnerich, piano Diane Frank, poem Ben Rudiak Gould, song leader Scott Benbow, Trustee Shullee Ong, video camera Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Podcasting, Video Edits

A Caring Community (September 29, 2019) Each week we remind ourselves of our covenant to “dwell together in peace, to seek the truth in freedom, and to help one another.” This Sunday we explore the various pastoral ministries of the community, designed to facilitate mutual helping and care. What are some of the ways each of us might be involved in these ministries? How do they contribute to congregational life? Rev. Pamela Gehrke, Assistant Minister Daniel Jackoway, Worship Associate Mark Sumner, piano Reiko Oda Lane, organ Eric Hamilton, guitar Asher Davison, song leader Lori Lai, Board Treasurer Shullee Ong, video camera Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Podcasting, Video Edits

What Books Changed Your Life? (September 22, 2019) We talk about the "larger library of human wisdom" from which we draw as Unitarian Universalists. That includes, of course, poetry, history, psychology, biography -- all the places learning and insights about life and the living of it surfaces for us. What about books, then, fiction, non-fiction, have most changed us. What is our own personal scripture; what verse, so to speak, changed the course of our life in some significant way. On Sunday we will reflect a little together on books that changed our lives -- mine and a few other folks too. Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister Gayle Reynolds, Partner Church Carrie Steere-Salazar, Partner Church Sam King, Worship Associate Kat Liu, Worship Associate Mark Sumner, music director Reiko Oda Lane, organ Amy Kelly, Trustee Don Shearer, video camera Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Podcasting, Video Edits

Connections that Hold Us (September 15, 2019) On this day when special music honors a beloved member, Vera Lee, we begin a year of small group ministry and remember that what holds us, grounds us, that where the deepest wisdom and insights so often come is from one another. In family (the one we are born into or choose and make), at work (when it is healthy and good) and in the circles of friends or fellow travels that we simply show up for, we find and make the connections that hold and deepen us. Rev. Margot Campbell Gross, Minister Emerita Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister Judith Stoddard, Small Group Ministry Ralph Fenn, Small Group Ministry Bobbi Kovac, Small Group Ministry Laurel Sprigg, soprano Bill Ganz, piano Mark Sumner, music director Reiko Oda Lane, organ Judy Payne, Board Secretary Don Shearer, video camera Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Podcasting, Video Edits

Cuentista: Who tells us who we are? (September 8, 2019) Come on our Opening Sunday. We will bless our students and teachers who are beginning their year of religious education together, and launch our own year of life. Drawing from Cherríe Moraga’s book on her mother, entitled “Native Country of the Heart” we will look at how the cuentista, the story teller, shapes us, and why that is relevant to our lives in community together. Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister Rev. Alyson Jacks, Associate Minister Rev. Pam Gehrke, Assistant Minister Dennis Adams, Worship Associate UUSF Chorus Rachel Spund, soprano Bill Ganz, piano Mark Sumner, music director Reiko Oda Lane, organ Lori Lai, board treasurer Judy Payne, board secretary Carrie Steere-Salazar, board moderator Margaret Pearce, Anne Dillon Award Winner Shulee Ong, video camera Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Podcasting, Video Edits

Alive with Hope, Despite It All (September 1, 2019) In keeping with the music theme, the sermon will address hopeful signs for economic justice, such as new successful union organizing, new approaches by labor such as bargaining for the common good, the Poor Peoples Campaign, the increasing engagement of youth and young adults in economic justice-related work, and the role of faith communities in supporting economic justice. Millie Phillips, Guest Preacher Sam King, Worship Associate The Labor Heritage/Rockin’ Solidarity Chorus Pat Wynne, director Mark Sumner, piano Asher Davison, song leader Anish Johnson, Worship Associate Don Shearer, video camera Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Podcasting, Video Edits

Biophilia, the Urge to Connect with Life (August 25, 2019) Edward O. Wilson introduced the idea that we humans had the urge to connect with other forms of life in his 1984 book, "Biophilia". What happens when we have that connection, though, is just as important, how it changes us and our relationship to the world; that love may be what saves us! Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister Christine Patch-Lindsay, Worship Associate Laurel Sprigg, soprano My-Hoa Steger née Lê, piano Shannon Warto, song leader Eric Shackelford, Welcome Dan Wiffen, video camera Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Podcasting, Video Edits

Finding Your Voice (August 18, 2019) Young adulthood is a phase of discovery of one's voice, perspective, morals, values, and more. It's a time when all of one's hopes and dreams seem possible, even as the forces seek to stop them. There is simply no proper way to navigate its trials and tribulations. Alan Alpert, Worship Associate and Song Leader Joe Chapot, Young Adult Coordinator Jamie Docherty, Worship Associate Greg Jean-Baptiste, Worship Associate Alfie Jiang, Worship Associate Anish Johnson, Worship Associate Sabrina Kaschmitter, Worship Associate (not in final mix) Sam King, Worship Associate Chelsea Wiffen, Worship Associate Radim Zenkl, multi instrumentalist My-Hoa Steger née Lê, piano Eric Shackelford, video camera Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Podcasting, Video Edits

Deep Time (August 11, 2019) Author Robert Macfarlane writes about the intersections of human and natural realms.  In Underland:  A Deep Time Journey he writes, " To think in deep time can be a means of not escaping our troubled present, but rather of re-imagining it; countermanding its quick greeds and furies with older, slower stories of making and remaking. Set down your smart devices, turn off your ipads, power down your computers and join us for a time traveling service where we'll explore deep time and our relationship to it. Rev. Alyson Jacks, Associate Minister Dennis Adams, Worship Associate Reiko Oda Lane, organ Shannon Warto, song leader Richard Fey, baritone Elektra Schmidt, piano Rochelle A.Fortier Nwadibia , Vice Moderator Don Shearer, video camera Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Podcasting, Sound Meditation

At Least a Thousand More (August 4, 2019) According to the Sufi poet Rumi, "there are a thousand ways to kneel and kiss the ground." but even in the 13th Century, that was a conservative number. In her last sermon as Assistant Minister at UUSF, Rev. Mary Ganz reprises a theme from one of her first here as an intern minister 15 years ago, considering the meaning of "prayer" for Unitarian Universalists. Rev. Mary McKinnon Ganz, Assistant Minister (final service) Lisanicole Sarkisian, Worship Associate Mark Sumner, piano Shannon Warto, song leader Dan Frechette, guitar & vocals Laurel Thomsen, violin & vocals Carrie Steere-Salazar, Moderator Eric Shackelford, video camera Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Podcasting

No Going Back (July 28, 2019) They say there is wisdom to be found as we get older. How do we make our way to it, through thickets of diminishing memory or physical strength? Rev. Mary McKinnon Ganz, Assistant Minister Carmen Barsody, Worship Associate Reiko Oda Lane, organ Mark Sumner, piano Mark Kapner, piano Jiun-Chyi Yew, soprano Asher Davison, song leader Reece Hart, Welcome Carrie Steere-Salazar, Moderator Nathan Gandrud, Staff Eric Shackelford, video camera Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Podcasting

In Memoriam (July 21, 2019) Years ago when the losses of US soldiers reached over 1000, a member of the church I served set up a meeting to say how horrified and saddened she was that we ceased to notice the losses -- all happening in our names. So, we witnessed to it one week soon after, and then in one ritual for every week that followed until the war was officially declared over. We vowed not to forget what was being done, lost, harmed, sacrificed each week "in our name." This week, under different circumstances, we are calling ourselves to do the same. Come join us for a service, hard but honest, witnessing to in our hour together of worship (a word whose root means "meaning making") and through collective public witness outside on our steps after service, to what is happening in our world, in our name -- To loss, cruelty, death, starvation, human-beings'-inhumanity-to-one-another. This week's response may also be part of evolving rituals and actions that will not let us go, that cannot let us go, unti

Hope in an Age of Climate Despair (July 14, 2019) On this warming piece of rock that is our home, what can we hang our hopes on? Can we find a path between denial and despair? Rev. Mary McKinnon Ganz, Assistant Minister Richard Davis-Lowell, Worship Associate Martha Rodriguez-Salazar, flute and vocals Sharon Wayne, vocals and guitar David Jones, piano Mark Sumner, song leader Amy Kelly, Welcome Ben Welte, video camera Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Podcasting

Poetry and Life Distilled (July 7, 2019) Following on the theme of spaciousness and invitations to sit with life and go deep, we will spend a Sunday hour sitting with the wisdom source and texts of a few arresting, delightful works of poetry. Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister Sam King, Worship Associate Reiko Oda Lane, organ Christine Tulis, harp and vocals Asher Davison, song leader Eric Shackelford, video camera Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Podcasting

Inside/Out (June 30, 2019) It’s Pride Sunday, our city is throwing a party to celebrate Queer culture in all its many marvelous manifestations. Before heading to the parade, join us for worship. We’ll explore the idea of culture care, how to create generative environments that help communities and individuals thrive and grow, openly, honestly and with boundless joy. Rev. Alyson Jacks, Associate Minister Daniel Jackoway, Worship Associate Larry Chinn, jazz piano Chie Sugiyama, vocalist Asher Davison, song leader Kat Liu, welcome Joe Chapot, OOS Sharon Weld, video camera Jonathan Silk, Sound, Podcasting