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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.**

Embarking on the Journey - Meeting Our New Developmental Minister
Monthly Theme: Expectation
Rev. Jeremiah Kalendae
We are beginning to take our first steps together on a spiritual journey. Developmental ministry invites us into a period of adventure, challenge, contemplation, and discovery. It will require all of us to stretch our imaginations, open our hearts even wider, and do the deep work of creating beloved community together. This Sunday, I hope to share some of my story and my hopes for the exciting path we have embarked upon.
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Earlier, the Rev. Jeremiah Kalendae wrote to us:
             
"I am so excited to begin developmental ministry with you. The compelling ministry before us will touch upon the very heart of congregational life. We will explore mission, vision, and the covenants that bind us to each other and to the larger world. We will learn to deepen our relationships, explore matters of the heart and emotional intelligence, practice good communication and setting appropriate boundaries in congregational life, and create spaciousness for an affirmation and celebration of the diversity inherent to our pluralistic spiritual life. We will also work to examine systems and structures of the congregation and continue the important work towards increased financial vitality and sustainability. We will be in deep conversation around these goals and others in the coming months. This is truly a time for a holistic reflection on the essence of beloved community and what is required of each of us to be transformed by liberal religious community.
 
My most recent ministries have been serving congregations in the San Francisco Bay Area and teaching multireligious philosophy and theology at Starr King School for the Ministry – our Unitarian Universalist seminary at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. At Starr King, I also served for many years recruiting and preparing our next generation of Unitarian Universalist ministers and progressive religious leaders. In addition to being a UU minister, I am a practicing Sufi in the lineage of Ibrahim Abdurrahman Farajajé and Moinuddin Chishti. In the larger community, I’ve been especially invested in the Black Lives Matter, Standing Rock, Climate Justice, Disability, Refugee and Aslyee, Transgender/Queer and Feminist Liberation movements. Before entering the ministry, I was a social justice activist, educator, nonprofit professional, and community leader.
 We will have a lot of time to learn more from each other and I look forward to ministering with each of you!
 
 With love and gratitude,
 Jeremiah"

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The Labor of Love
Monthly Theme: Expectation
Rev. Rae Chen Huang

In a world where hate too often defines our politics and society, love must be the guiding force that leads us back to humanity and integrity. What can the labor movement teach the faith community about love?

Note: No audio recording is available for this service.

Boomer One
Monthly Theme: Risk
Alison Kendall, Natalie Kahn, Aubrey Sassoon
Retirees, Boomers, Millennials, Kids--How Can We Communicate? Each stage of life has its unique challenges and tasks, and we find it easier to relate to others at the same stage.  What can we learn by listening to those at another stage, and how do we connect when we are seemingly on different channels?  Natalie Kahn, Alison Kendall and Aubrey Sassoon will discuss their efforts to relate to those at different life stages and our children will weigh in with ideas of their own.  Let's explore the generation gap and how we might learn from each other.
Pose
Monthly Theme: Risk
Kikanza Nuri-Robins

Where can you tell your whole Truth?  Is there any place that is safe enough to share all of who you are?  If telling the truth is a virtue, why do we spend so much time wearing masks?  What are the masks that you  wear?  Who knows what is behind your mask?

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The Poetry of Mary Oliver
Monthly Theme: Risk
Rima Snyder

Poet Mary Oliver lived a long and rich life, much of it in Provincetown, Massachusetts, where she wrote about the beauty of the natural world and her beloved Cape Cod. This morning we will learn about her early life, her philosophy and spiritual outlook. Some of her lesser known work will give us insight into Oliver's private and magical world.

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When We Gather as a Faith
Monthly Theme: Risk
Abby Arnold
The theme of this year's UUA General Assembly is "The Power of We". Members who attended GA in June will share the most inspiring experiences in this annual gathering of 3,000 Unitarian Universalists from across the nation.

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Liberation Through Surrender
Monthly Theme: Liberation
Rev. Stefanie Etzbach-Dale
While perseverance (not giving up on ourselves and each other) is clearly the call of these times, knowing when and what to surrender in the process can make all the difference in our individual and collective liberation.
 
The Rev. Stefanie Etzbach-Dale returns to this pulpit, where she was ordained in 2005, as affiliated UU Church of Palo Alto Community Minister. After serving various congregations in the Pacific Southwest District and Pacific Central District, she is currently building a private and small group practice (TendingSpirit.com) as a Spiritual Director: fostering Spiritual Courage in a Disruptive World. She believes this involves deep reverence for the complexity of the human experience and the imperative of personal and societal transformation. As an artist and student of esoteric studies, Rev. Stefanie strives to weave holy curiosity, expressive arts, humor, reverence, magic, and inspiration into all that she does.

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Woke Up with My Mind Staying on Freedom
Monthly Theme: Liberation
Abby Arnold

Black churches in the segregated South were the safe, community-owned cradles of the civil rights movement. I’ll talk about my recent pilgrimage with 50 other people, mostly Unitarian Universalists, to some of these churches, and the veterans of the movement we met along the way.

Our former Newsletter Editor and now a member of our Board of Directors, Abby Arnold works as a grant writer and policy consultant for nonprofit organizations.

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The Center of the Universe
Monthly Theme: Liberation
James Witker

Many of us have come to Unitarian Universalism seeking elusive truth and meaning in a tumultuous, troubled world. We may find that there is a New Story of the world emerging from incredible scientific discoveries, one that challenges traditional understandings and shakes some religious foundations. But rather than appearing bleak and meaningless, the human place in the universe that we can now see actually has profound spiritual meaning and implications for humanity’s greatest challenges.

A leader of our Faith In Action and AAHS groups and a board member of the UU Humanist Association, James Witker works as a producer and editor in film, TV, and documentaries.

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The Journey to Community Starts From Within
Monthly Theme: Liberation
Leonard Cachola

Each and every one of us has a story to tell about how we became Unitarian Universalists. While our spiritual journeys may be different, the end result is we are here at UUSM.

Choir member and former Board member Leonard Cachola, author of the memoir Cancer, Death, God, and Love, will talk about how telling the stories of our individual pasts can help move us to a future together in beloved community.

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