What comes with the arrival of spring in California depends on how much rain we've had during the winter. This Easter Sunday we'll look at our own experience of renewal through the cycles of the seasons and of life.
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.**
March 23, 2008 - 5:00pm
After the Rain
The Rev. Judith Meyer, speaker
March 16, 2008 - 5:00pm
Journey to the End
The Rev. Judith Meyer, speaker
Palm Sunday recalls a journey that was joyful and pensive at the same time. That makes it similar to all journeys as travelers try to live in the moment yet count the days to the end. (Remarks by Rev. Ernie Pipes)
March 9, 2008 - 5:00pm
Guiding the World Toward Change
YRUU Service
This is a big year for change. The elections hold the promise of big changes ahead for our country and the world. YRUU will focus their thoughts and feelings on issues that affect our nation and other countries around the world. Among these issues are separation of church and state, global warming, conservative and liberal views. This service promises to be thought provoking and an insight into the views of today’s teens.
March 2, 2008 - 4:00pm
Youth, Time and Aging
The Rev. Dr. John Alexie Crane, guest speaker
In the mass media - in magazines, books, movies, television, etc. - we endlessly celebrate youth in our society. On the other hand, the poet Marge Piercy observes, My idea of hell is to be young again. What on earth did she have in mind? Lex is Minister Emeritus at the Unitarian Society of Santa Barbara, where he earlier served for 19 years. Among other ministries, he also once served our church as Interim Minister.
February 24, 2008 - 4:00pm
How Can UUs Welcome the Sacred? (9 am) & Living with Fear, Responding with Hope (11 am)
Rev. John Millspaugh (9 am) & Rev. Sarah Millspaugh (11 am)
9 a.m. service
The Rev. John Millspaugh
“How Can UUs Welcome the Sacred?”
Regardless of our spiritual beliefs, or lack thereof, all of us have encountered the depth of existence that reminds us that life is full of hope and dynamic possibility. Do deeply meaningful moments arise randomly, or is there something we can do to invite them into our lives? Come hear an unexpected perspective on “the Sacred” and what it has to do with pottery
and poetry, love and lower back pain.
The Rev. John Millspaugh is minister of Tapestry, a Unitarian Universalist congregation in Mission Viejo, CA.
11 a.m. service
The Rev. Sarah Millspaugh
“Living with Fear, Responding with Hope”
At a time when fear seems to pervade our political, civic, commercial, and religious institutions, how can we respond with hope? What are some spiritual resources we can draw on as Unitarian Universalists to counter cynicism and despair and embrace life in its fullness? Come explore these questions and reflect on living between fear and hope.
The Rev. Sarah Gibb Millspaugh is the UUA’s adult programs director and affiliated community minister ofTapestry.
February 17, 2008 - 4:00pm
Womanspirit Now
The Rev. Judith Meyer, speaker
Unitarian Universalism once nurtured a strong feminist component, which changed the lives of men and women in our movement. Or did it? (Remarks by Deborah Fuller
February 10, 2008 - 4:00pm
Everyone Is Lovable
The Rev. Judith Meyer, speaker
There is one path to love and everyone can take it. It asks only that we allow ourselves to know and be known. (Thoughts by Laura Carlson-Weiner, Larry Weiner and Jake Weiner A congregational meeting on the building program follows the service at 1230 p.m.
February 3, 2008 - 4:00pm
A Scandalous Gospel
The Rev. Judith Meyer, speaker
Jesus preached a message that offended people and upset the status quo. Harvard minister Peter J. Gomes has written a lively book, The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus, to remind us what the good news really was. (Remarks by Victor Narro A Faith in Action town hall meeting follows the service at 1230 p.m.
January 27, 2008 - 4:00pm
A Good Life
The Rev. Ricky Hoyt, guest speaker
At the end of life, or in the midst of it when we have other reasons to be self-reflective, how do we judge our successful achievement of the spiritual task of living? If we knew what would help us reach a happy end we could start working on it now. Ricky is minister to the Unitarian Universalists of the Santa Clarita Valley and a former member of our congregation.
January 20, 2008 - 4:00pm
What Would Martin Say?
The Rev. Judith Meyer, speaker
What words of encouragement would the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. have for us in these times? I won?t match his eloquence, but I will attempt to bring you his message. (Remarks by Rick Rhoads)