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Sermons

This is a full list of sermons presented at UUCCSM since mid-1999. Links to sermon texts are included when made available by their authors. Audio recordings are also available for most sermons presented after September, 2007 by our staff ministers and others directly affiliated with our church (just click the speaker icon next to each sermon where it's available*). Audio from guest speakers is posted only when we have their permission to share it.

Hard copies of sermons by Rev. Jeremiah Kalendae are available in the church office. Contact office assistant Sibylla Nash at office@uusm.org if you have a request.

"Leaving Room for Hope: Sermons for Uncertain Times," a book of Minister Emerita Judith Meyer's sermons, is available here.

**Please Note: Video recordings are available for sermons with a small TV icon showing at the bottom of the sermon listing. Just click the icon to watch the service.**

Ingathering and Water Communion
Monthly Theme: Ambiguity
Rev. Jeremiah Kalendae
 
Join us for our annual homecoming service when we commune with water and offer libations with our hopes and dreams for the new church year. You may bring water from your summer travels or sacred spaces to share in this annual ceremony. Let us find life and refreshment together in this special service of ingathering and the inauguration of a new church year
Our Democracy and Bylaws
Monthly Theme: Ambiguity
Rev. Jeremiah Kalendae
 
Our congregation is a democratic institution, and how we practice democracy as a beloved community is defined by our bylaws, covenants, and liberal religious values. Our Bylaws Refresh Task Force worked diligently to draft proposed bylaws for consideration at the next Special Meeting of the Congregation. Come learn more about this important developmental ministry work and our liberal religious commitment to democracy.
Truth Tellers and Pot Stirrers
Monthly Theme: Ambiguity
Rev. Kikanza Nuri-Robins
 
 
When you think you have to choose between telling the truth and being kind, what do you do? Is lying ever acceptable behavior or preferred to telling the truth? This Sunday we will explore many of the ambiguities around telling the truth.
 
Feet on the Ground
Monthly Theme: Ambiguity
Rev. Kikanza Nuri-Robins
How do you put your UU values into practice? How can you use what you believe to make decisions about what you should and should not do? Voting. Problem Solving. Parenting. Relationships. Today we will talk about personal ethics — aligning values with behavior.
I Owe God a Death
Monthly Theme: Quest
Rev. Tom Owen-Towle
Our American culture remains death-defying and our UU movement failed, a decade ago, to embrace mortality during our re-envisioning process of our purposes and principles. We have work to do. If we earthlings wish to live more robustly and caringly, we must consent to die. As naturalist Wallace Stegner put it, “I owe God a death.”
 
The Rev. Dr. Tom Owen-Towle is entering his 56th year of ordained ministry and is the author of two dozen books on personal relationships, social justice challenges, and spiritual growth. Tom and his life-partner, the Rev. Dr. Carolyn Sheets Owen-Towle, are the active parents of four children, seven grand-children, and one great-grandchild.
 
Tom is a guitarist and parlor magician who, in “refirement,” sings with seniors, mentors youth, and volunteers with San Diego’s homeless. He also lectures and conducts workshops on the core themes of conscious aging and mindful dying. He is honored to be returning to the pulpit of our Santa Monica congregation and preaching on “I Owe God a Death!”
Let All That You Do Be Done in Love
Monthly Theme: Quest
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels
“In our social justice work, UUs say we “Side with Love.” Isn’t it interesting that “love” never appears in our Seven Principles? The title comes from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, which is also included as a reading in our hymnal, #713, 1 Corinthians, 16: 13-14. Keep alert, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.
 
The Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels, a Unitarian Universalist minister working in the Los Angeles area, grew up in Santa Monica. He received a Masters of Divinity from the Claremont School of Theology in 1998 and was ordained and fellowshipped with the Unitarian Universalist Association later that year. During his 24 years in the ministry, he has served UU congregations in La Crescenta, Santa Clarita, Los Angeles, and Long Beach. Currently, he serves the UU Fellowship of Kern County in Bakersfield, CA. He lives with his husband in downtown Los Angeles.
At the Center of All Beauty
Monthly Theme: Quest
Rev. Hannah Petrie
This is a service based on the book by Fenton Johnson on the lessons of solitude and the creative life.
 
We welcome back to our pulpit the Rev. Hannah Petrie who in her 18-year career has served several full-time parish ministries including Neighborhood Church in Pasadena and UU Church of Studio City. She serves on the board of Pasadenans Organizing for Progress (POP), as Secretary, and on the Altadena Town Council where she resides.
Exodus Moments
Monthly Theme: Quest
Rev. Liz Murphy

In a season of immense change, we’ll be turning to one of the classic stories of transition: Exodus. It’s a story of freedom, of fear, of an upside-down world… sound familiar? This Sunday we’ll re-examine this story — which is one of our 6 UU sources — to glean wisdom, hope, and strength. These days are full of “Exodus Moments.” How might we respond to these thresholds with connection to community, with compassionate love, with a conviction for justice?

 
Rev. Liz Murphy (she/her) is a Chaplain Resident at the VA Hospital in Loma Linda, CA. She is also the affiliated community minister at Orange Coast Unitarian Universalist Church. She previously served as the Interfaith Programs Assistant at the University of Southern California’s Office of Religious and Spiritual Life, as well as a chaplain intern at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Liz graduated from the Claremont School of Theology with a Master of Divinity in 2020. Originally from Pittsburgh, she lives in Los Angeles with her wife, Hilary.
Wandering in the Wilderness
Monthly Theme: Quest
Rev. Michael Walker
Wandering in the Wilderness is about journeys and quests. About the journey not the destination. Not all who wander are lost.
 
The Rev. Michael Walker, who was ordained into the Unitarian Universalist ministry at the First UU Society of San Francisco in 2010, after completing studies at the Pacific School of Religion and in internship at the First UU Church of San Diego. For the next 11 years, he provided interim ministry services in Massachusetts, Washington, Pennsylvania, California and Illinois – in that order… Many cross-country moves! He has taken a hiatus from parish ministry to complete requirements for his PhD studies, and currently lives in Los Angeles.
 
Through his adult life, Mike has been a nurse, Navy veteran, ordained minister, and now a PhD Candidate in Clinical Psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute, after completing studies and currently working on a dissertation about trauma experienced in religious settings. He has therapeutic experience working with groups, adult and adolescent individuals, and adult couples, in secular and religious settings, including the military, LGBTQ+ and HIV communities, and in private psychological practices. He maintains his connection to the UU movement as a Community Minister.
 
UUA General Assembly Worship Service
Monthly Theme: Celebrating Blessings
Rev. Gretchen Haley
ONE SERVICE livestreamed at 9:30 am 
 
Unite with us for the largest annual gathering of UUs in worship, a service that is a highlight of the General Assembly (GA) of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). The Office of the UUA President, the Rev. Susan Frederick Gray, is pleased to announce that the Rev. Gretchen Haley, Senior Minister of Foothills UU Church in Fort Collins, CO, will lead the Sunday Service at GA in Portland, OR. Additional worship team members include the Rev. Sean Neil-Barron and the Rev. Shari Halliday-Quan. The GA Choir, a talented group of singers rehearsing daily during the conference, will enhance the impact of the service. This powerful, communal worship experience will stream live, so we can gather in spirit with UUs across the continent — with Rev. Jeremiah in our Sanctuary or while staying home* — at this special time, 9:30 am.
 
 
*UPDATE:  For those who wish to view the UUA General Assembly service online, instead of live in our Sanctuary, please note that we will NOT be streaming it on our UUSM Facebook or YouTube pages. Instead, you will be able to view it at 9:30 a.m. on the UUA's own pages at https://www.uua.org/ga/off-site/2022/sunday-worship  OR https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66NdjDRPvhU