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.**

The Mother of All Mothers
The Rev. Silvio Nardoni, speaker

One man's story of the attempt to come into contact with the Goddess, and his living to tell the tale. Another title for this sermon could be, "Can a Man Be a Feminist and Not Be a Wimp?"

The Obligations of Justice
The Rev. Ernie Pipes, speaker

The Institute for Global Ethics has been interviewing people all over the world, asking them what they think are the most important values to hand on to the next generation. They found that, wherever you go, people will talk to you about five things caring, fairness, responsibility, trustworthiness and respect. But, just below the surface, a sixth universal value emerged citizenship -- contributing to the work and welfare of a community.

Lessons From the Choir Loft
The Rev. Silvio Nardoni, speaker

Becoming a member of our choir has been the source of much joy, many challenges, and the occasion for deeper understanding of being part of a religious community.

Hard-Wired for God
The Rev. Silvio Nardoni, speaker

Human beings are endowed with an innate capacity for religious experience. How we use or ignore that part of our humanity has important consequences for our personal lives, institutional programs and global prospects.

Primal Humanism An Encounter With the Holy
The Rev. Silvio Nardoni, speaker

Somewhere along the line humanism became equated or confused with atheism, or worse, a purely secular view of the world. The deeper meaning of humanism has strong religious sentiments as its foundation.

A Deeper Faith, A Wider Hope
The Rev. Silvio Nardoni, speaker

This is "Bring A Friend Sunday," and this sermon is frankly autobiographical. I will explore the improbable string of circumstances that led me into Unitarian Universalism, and more importantly, why I continue to stay.

The First Resurrection
The Rev. Silvio Nardoni, speaker

While Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus, the Gospels tell of an earlier event which contains helpful images for religious liberals.

The Bare Necessities
The Rev. Silvio Nardoni, speaker

The story of the exodus from Egypt is one of the primal paradigms of the spiritual journey. We will explore what are the essential items to bring along (and leave behind) as we set out on our own journeys.

Life's Compromises, Great and Small
The Rev. Judith Meyer, speaker

Sometimes a good, artfully created compromise offers a better resolution than anything we might have argued or imagined in the beginning. Why is that? Does it have spiritual implications?

The Man Born Blind
The Rev. John Fanestil, guest speaker

Our guest speaker will be reflecting on a story from the gospel of John about a man born blind, and sharing a personal story from his time serving a poor, bilingual church on the U.S.-Mexico border. How difficult it is for us to "see" people for who they really are. The Rev. John Fanestil is the Senior Pastor at Anaheim United Methodist Church. He has also served churches in West Los Angeles and Calexico, California.