Sermons-First Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco
Religion & Spirituality
About
First Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco Sunday worship service. Home of liberal spirituality for over 150 years, the Society welcomes people of all racial and religious backgrounds. Our Congregation includes gay, straight, transgendered, and questioning people. More information is available at www.uusf.org.
Episodes
- Igniting the Fire of Commitment
This episode discusses the enduring and tender aspects of the human heart, likening them to fire. It connects these qualities to nurturing, protecting, and building a better world, coinciding with the church's Annual Giving drive.
- The Excellence of a Horse: A Lunar New Year Celebration
This sermon explores the concept of excellence, using the Year of the Horse as a starting point to examine admired qualities like speed and endurance. It questions whether human excellence lies in abilities or character, ultimately suggest…
- The Case for Hope
This sermon addresses the dangers of creeping cynicism and "sophisticated resignation," examining the origins of these "soul sicknesses" and offering ways to inoculate oneself against them, ultimately making a case for hope.
- The Virtue and Pitfalls of Moral Purity
This sermon discusses the virtue and pitfalls of moral purity, addressing the tension between unwavering focus on injustices and the strategic need for nuance. It examines the gift and dangers of moral purity in our lives.
- don't despair
This Sunday service from February 1, 2026, at the First Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco, features Carmen Barsody, Sam Dennison, and Mari Magaloni Ramos preaching on the theme of not despairing. The message emphasizes resili…
- Echoes & Endurance: Notes from Minneapolis
“Echoes & Endurance: Notes from Minneapolis” Sunday, January 25, 2026 Come on Sunday as we reflect on what is unfolding in Minneapolis, the echoes through recent history, the danger of amnesia, and the power of stubbornness, courage, and l…
- Leadership From Where You Are
“Leadership From Where You Are” Sunday, January 18, 2026 How are we called to lead, what does leadership ask, how does it shape us, and what forms does it take? We will hear from three members who show up in the world powerfully and differ…
- The Parable of the Rainbow: Resisting Change
“The Parable of the Rainbow: Resisting Change” Sunday, January 11, 2026 What is our relationship to change, especially when we are in multi-generational spaces? We will explore the parable of the rainbow and the metaphors it provides to lo…
- Sustaining Love in the Struggle
“Sustaining Love in the Struggle” Sunday, January 4, 2026 “Resistance is a long, thin, soft noodle covered in pink sauce.” At least, according to a two-year-old, it is. Come explore the nourishing possibilities of resistance with Rev. Ranw…
- The Art of Waiting
“The Art of Waiting” Sunday, December 7, 2025 In Christian liturgy this is the season of waiting and preparation—of Advent. It is perfectly scheduled in the depths of winter, when so much feels like it is waiting, preparing, quietly under…
- Bread Communion, or Ate, and left no crumbs
“Bread Communion, or Ate, and left no crumbs” Sunday, November 30, 2025 In this moment of vanishing resources, let us practice collective restoration through the ancient ritual of gathering as a community and breaking bread. Who is welcome…
- The Spiritual Practice of Birding
“The Spiritual Practice of Birding” Sunday, November 23, 2025 Like so many things we love, we are drawn to them because of the worlds they open up to us—outside us and within. In a month when we discuss gratitude, let’s journey to how one…
- Roots and Wings of Hope: Emergent Wisdom from the Interdependent Web
“Roots and Wings of Hope: Emergent Wisdom from the Interdependent Web” Sunday, November 16, 2025 adrienne maree brown teaches, “We are part of a natural world that is constantly changing, and we need to learn to adapt together and stay in…
- Lists of Gratitude
“Lists of Gratitude” Sunday, November 9, 2025 To nurture gratitude, one has to find ways to be present to the world around them, take stock of what is in their life, and look at the journey they are on. We will actively contemplate these t…
- Presente!
“Presente!” Sunday, November 2, 2025 It has been a fall of memorial services for me, and fall has only just begun. That means a lot of things, as you might imagine: loss, wrestling with legacy, telling stories, making sense, paying attenti…
- Sacred Guardians of This
“Sacred Guardians of This” Sunday, October 26, 2025, 10:50 am Through history a lot has changed. The building we have met in has changed a few times, how we have explained our theology has changed, how we have worship has changed a bit, wh…
- Faith In Times of Crisis
“Faith In Times of Crisis” Sunday, October 19, 2025 Our forebears in liberal religion here in San Francisco endured crises long before the present one we now face. As we continue to celebrate the 175th Anniversary of UUSF, our former Senio…
- The Rest of The Story
“The Rest of The Story” Sunday, October 12, 2025, 10:50 am We begin the celebration of our 175th anniversary as a congregation with a return visit from the very first woman minister in our history. Diane Miller served UUSF for several year…
- Begrudging Journey to Compassion: Confessions of a Recalcitrant Pastor
“Begrudging Journey to Compassion: Confessions of a Recalcitrant Pastor” Sunday, October 5, 2025, 10:50 am I knew directly after the election when some folks were talking about building bridges and understanding the other side that strateg…
- Clearing the Pathway to Belonging
“Clearing the Pathway to Belonging” Sunday, September 28, 2025 As we approach roadblocks, stop signs, detours, and potholes on the path to belonging, what spiritual technology can we employ to continue along the path? Who or what stands in…
- Revisiting Stories: The Prodigal Son and Belonging
“Revisiting Stories: The Prodigal Son and Belonging” Sunday, September 14, 2025 We talk about the importance of sacred stories. They come in many forms. The gentle ones whose wisdom goes down sweet and easy and the ones that require a lot…
- Raindrops, Rivers, Oceans: An Annual In Gathering to Community
“Raindrops, Rivers, Oceans: An Annual In Gathering to Community” Sunday, September 7, 2025 We will be regathered into community for another year in our annual Water Communion Service this Sunday. Separateness is an illusion. We were meant…
- The Power and Draw of Wonder
“The Power and Draw of Wonder” Sunday, August 24, 2025 Dacher Keltner, Professor of Psychology and expert in the study of emotion, has been focusing on the human experience of wonder. What is its power? Where and how do we find it? Why is…
- Crossing the Threshold
“Crossing the Threshold: A service on death and dying... and a life informed by both.” Sunday, August 17, 2025 Our musicians this Sunday have a ministry companioning those through death and dying. So we will sit with what it means to be wi…
- Love at the Center Part 2
“Love at the Center Part 2” Sunday, August 10, 2025 We will pick up our conversation from July and explore the remaining themes from the book, “Love at the Center.” Participants from the class will share their reflections on what they lear…
- All for One & One for All
“All for One & One for All” Sunday, August 3, 2025 Matt has led music and worship for hundreds of services in congregations all over the U.S. and Canada. Matt has a degree in hand drumming from Berklee College of Music and has studied abro…
- Poetry in Times of Reverie
“Poetry in Times of Reverie” Sunday, July 27, 2025 Poetry is a moment distilled. Sometimes it is life pressed into the pages of a book or, more vividly, as Robert Frost said, it is a way of “taking life by the throat.” And Alice Walker sai…
- Spirituality and Inner Freedom
“Spirituality and Inner Freedom” Sunday, June 22, 2025 These days, as basic human rights and freedoms are under constant attack, the battle for our attention is relentless. What if the real locus of our freedom is within each of us? What i…
- Lessons from our Fathers
“Lessons from our Fathers” Sunday, June 15, 2025, 10:50 am We learn from their words and their actions, from how they succeeded and where and how they stumbled. What are some of the lessons from our fathers that carry us forward with grace…
- Celebrate! Our Annual Flower Communion Sunday
“Celebrate! Our Annual Flower Communion Sunday” Sunday, June 8, 2025 I had a coach once who said when you are going up the mountain, you have to take time to go to the overlooks, take in how far you have come, celebrate and enjoy the view,…
- Show Tunes and Tee-Shirts
“Show Tunes and Tee-Shirts” Sunday, June 1, 2025 A story (maybe two) of life on its own terms, bold, joyful, and that left the world better than they found it. Come, and be ready to smile and sing. Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minist…
- Imagine a World Without War
“Imagine a World Without War” Sunday, May 25, 2025 On this Memorial Day weekend, let us imagine a world without war. War is the act most antithetical to our values. Right now, it may be hard to imagine a positive future at all, but without…
- Minds Wide Open
“Minds Wide Open” Sunday, May 18, 2025 I’ve been reading more about things like “flow” and right brain/left brain functioning. Anne Lamott speaks of the power of imagination and what it opens up, as opposed to the gifts and limits of ratio…
- Holding Open Possibilities for Each Other
“Holding Open Possibilities for Each Other” Sunday, May 11, 2025 In this month when we look at the power of imagination, it is interesting to explore how we do that for one another in our personal relationships. How do parents use imaginat…
- Oh the Possibilities! Annual Youth Worship Service
“Oh the Possibilities! Annual Youth Worship Service” Sunday, May 4, 2025 Join our youth this Sunday to hear what they imagine as possible futures. We will be recognizing our High School Seniors as well. Rev. Laura Shennum, Minister of Cong…
- Fair Earth!
“Fair Earth!” Sunday, April 27, 2025 Ecophilia, Pagan rituals and roots carried forward, hiking, eating—all that ties us to our love and relationship and responsibility to earth. We root ourselves in this (reground ourselves in it) to stay…
- What Does Resurrection Look Like?
“What Does Resurrection Look Like?” Sunday, April 20, 2025 Easter is upon us, the Sunday we talk about resurrection—of hope, of life, against all odds. In our Good Friday world, especially these days, how about some stories about resurrect…
- Joy in the In Between
“Joy in the In Between” Sunday, April 13, 2025 It’s the week when we begin the celebration of Passover in the Jewish tradition and Holy Week in Christianity—hard stories with important and ultimately triumphant endings. And this is a month…
- Attempted Poetry and Other Misdemeanors, Oh Joy!
“Attempted Poetry and Other Misdemeanors, Oh Joy!” Sunday, April 6, 2025, 10:50 am Joy is a little word with an expansive definition. There is Joy in the hard work of trudging towards Justice. And there is the pure joy of celebration. With…
- Trust in the Wild
“Trust in the Wild” Sunday, March 30, 2025 Robin Wall Kimmerer, who writes about the natural world, writes about a world undergirded by trust, reciprocity, and generosity. But this is the same natural world that also has predators and prey…
- Trusting In Community
“Trusting In Community” Sunday, March 23, 2025 Join us for this All-Ages Worship to hear a sweet story about how a cat helped calm a scary storm and brought a community together. Interactive opportunities to build trust in our community, b…
- Trust the Body
“Trust the Body” Sunday, March 16, 2025, 10:50 am What does it mean to live an embodied life, to treat the body as a shrine and as a source of wisdom? What happens when we don’t? Maybe trust isn’t just between two people or out in the worl…
- Leaning In
“Safe Harbors in Stormy Times” Sunday, March 2, 2025 Someone teaches you about the ocean. Someone shows you how to swim for the joy of it, or maybe so you can be safe. Each of us will face storms, and what someone taught us about the water…
- Safe Harbors in Stormy Times
“Safe Harbors in Stormy Times” Sunday, March 2, 2025 Someone teaches you about the ocean. Someone shows you how to swim for the joy of it, or maybe so you can be safe. Each of us will face storms, and what someone taught us about the water…
- Inclusion
“Inclusion” Sunday, February 2, 2025 Who’s in? Who’s out? Belonging? Exclusion? Making room? Accommodations. Drawing the circle wider. Stretching beyond what we know, what and who is familiar. What does inclusion mean, and what does it ask…
- Story: Wine, Weddings, and a Coming Out
“Story: Wine, Weddings, and a Coming Out” Sunday, January 26, 2025 The theme of January is “Story.” One of the things I love about a tradition—religious, cultural, or literary—is that the community starts to repeat and value certain storie…
- MLK
“MLK” Sunday, January 19, 2025 Jonathan Eig won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography in 2024 for his biography King: A Life. People who previously refused to be interviewed told their stories, government documents that were newly released, and…
- Build Strength Through Our Stories
“The Stories We Tell” Sunday, January 5, 2025, 10:50 am Humans are storytellers, and stories have the power to influence us, for better or worse. Our affiliated community minister, Rev. Mille Phillips, will address what stories we tell our…
- The Stories We Tell
“The Stories We Tell” Sunday, January 5, 2025, 10:50 am Humans are storytellers, and stories have the power to influence us, for better or worse. Our affiliated community minister, Rev. Mille Phillips, will address what stories we tell our…
- Hanging of the Greens
“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 makin…