We say that we stand on the side of love. What values inform us as we decide on where to stand on the issues facing us today? The offering that is not pledged will go to the Unitarian Universalist Association for our Association Sunday collection.
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.**
October 19, 2008 - 5:00pm
The Values that Sustain Us
The Rev. Roberta Haskin, speaker
October 12, 2008 - 5:00pm
Playing the Hand You're Dealt
Arnold Pomerantz, speaker
Our guest speaker, Arnold Pomerantz, will trace his journey as a gay man from invisibility and shame to self-respect and social consciousness, touching on the cultural, political, psychological, and spiritual factors in the process. With humility, he has projected himself into the role of a tribal elder within the GLBT community which has nicknamed him Popi.
October 5, 2008 - 5:00pm
Attending to Transitions
The Rev. Roberta Haskin, speaker
Transition is more than simply change. What is a transition like? How do we pay attention to the transition time so it can be a rich and satisfying experience?
September 28, 2008 - 5:00pm
Hospitality
The Rev. Roberta Haskin, speaker
In the largest sense, we are all guests, guests of life. As all the traditional views of hospitality indicate, the stranger, the unknown element, is the most important. Yet, our ideas of hospitality often leave out the element of the stranger. What are the implications of considering hospitality as a holy endeavor?
September 21, 2008 - 5:00pm
Fitting In Is Overrated; A Survival Guide for Anyone Who Has Ever Felt Like an Outsider.
Len Felder, Ph.D., guest speaker
Len Felder, a psychologist in private practice in West L.A., speaks about the need to honor that which makes you different and unconventional, rather than trying to twist yourself into a pretzel to conform with the majority or the clique. He will discuss ways to make sure you thrive even when you're surrounded by people who disagree with you or who don't get who you are -- how to do this without having a chip on your shoulder and how to build allies and support for your unique gifts and perspectives.
September 14, 2008 - 5:00pm
Walking Together
The Rev. Roberta Haskin, speaker
Unitarian Universalist historians describe our congregational way of organizing as walking together. At this juncture in the life of the congregation, let us explore more deeply what it means to be a faith community in our tradition. How shall we be together during this year of transition?
September 7, 2008 - 5:00pm
Life by the Ocean
The Rev. Roberta Haskin, speaker
Ingathering of the new interim minister, the Rev Roberta Haskin, and the congregation. Bring along a small shell to give away.
August 31, 2008 - 5:00pm
Work, Poverty, and Justice in 2008 A Report from Los Angeles' Vast Underground Economy
Kevin Kish, speaker
Los Angeles and its residents play a unique role at the nexus of globalization, faltering economies, and migration. The Director of the Employment Rights Project at Bet Tzedek reflects on the staggering challenges faced by undocumented, immigrant , and low-wage workers in our fair city, and discusses some prospects for global economies of the future.
August 24, 2008 - 5:00pm
Away from Her
Silvio Nardoni, speaker
A brilliant work of screenwriting (from a novel by Alice Munro) and directing by 26-year-old Sarah Polley. In this film Julie Christie portrays a woman who begins to drift into dementia. How we part from those we love is, in many respects, the final test and summation of the relationship.
August 17, 2008 - 5:00pm
The Real Dirt on Farmer John
Silvio Nardoni, speaker
Although a documentary, this film does not lack for drama, humor, character or plot. It is a story of a real farmer, whose quest for meaning and fulfillment on the farmland where he grew up has much to tell us about our own spiritual quest and about living a rooted existence.