Our annual Labor Day service features the Rev. Jim Conn, urban strategist for the United Methodists, former Mayor of Santa Monica, and a good friend of our congregation.
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.**
Labor in the Pulpit
The Rev. Jim Conn, guest speaker
"Ratatouille" - The Guiding Spirit of an Artist
Silvio Nardoni, guest speaker
This animated movie uses the current popularity of gastronomical adventure to address issues of creativity and the standards for judging excellence. A great artist draws upon powers available to all of us, yet we are not all great artists. Why is this so?
"Pan's Labyrinth" - Where Myth Meets History
Silvio Nardoni, guest speaker
Joseph Campbell once said, Myth is the way things really are. What, then, of historical fact? This intense and wonderful film (with images of violence that make it unsuitable for some children) explores the boundary and intersection of myth and history. It reveals both the power of myth and the seemingly inexorable forces that shape the world we live in.
The Third Way
Jim Grant, guest speaker
This will be a sermon about nonviolence, which Parker Palmer calls The Third Way. We can do better than relying on our reptilian brain, which knows only fight or flight. The third way is beginning to receive consideration.
Interconnections
Zayn Kassam, guest speaker
Zayn Kassam is a professor of religious studies at Pomona College, Claremont, CA. She has lectured widely on gender issues, is the author of a reference guide on Islam, and offers courses on religion and the environment, Islamic philosophy and mysticism, and women in Islam. She has twice won Pomona College?s Wig Award for Distinguished Teaching and the American Academy of Religion?s national award for Excellence in Teaching.
She Who Refused to Leave Reflections from Putuoshan Island
Max Johnson, guest speaker
On a recent trip to a famous Chinese island, Max Johnson discovered the irrepressible nature of the religious impulse in even the most godless of the communist countries. His experience sparked a few thoughts.
Where Theology Meets the Road
Michael Eselun, guest speaker
We think we know what we believe and what we hold to be true, but when it comes to a crisis of illness or death, often all bets are off. Church member Michael Eselun, a chaplain at UCLA Medical Center, will share an exploration of the different ways patients' theologies intersect with such crises, and the common themes that seem to surface from the atheist or fundamentalist alike. Chalice Lighting Remarks by Peter Van Den Beemt
An Introduction to Vedanta
Swami Sarvadevananda, guest speaker
Our guest, a monk with the Vedanta Society of Los Angeles, will explain the origins of Vedanta – a Hindu faith tradition that Unitarians helped to establish in the West.
From Goodness to Greatness When Love is Not Enough, But God Is
Shikana Temille Porter, guest speaker
Our guest speaker, Shikana Temille Porter, is a psychologist and Director, Whitter College Student Counseling Services. She is also an expert on Pan African cultural infusion, spirituality, and health.
Plan B 2.0: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble
Join the Rev. Ernie Pipes, Ned Wright, Rebecca Crawford, Joe Engleman, Leslie Reuter, Diane Fletcher-Hoppe, and Sandra Trutt as they offer reflections on this urgent topic, drawing on the book by Lester Brown.