Sermon Topic: Changes, Challenges, and Consciousness

When sudden life changes and challenges come, do we best tackle them head on or try to go over, under, or around instead? Another option: go “above and beyond.”

Worship Leader: Rev. Peter Farriday

Worship Associate: Jan Rosin

Special Music: Martin Manley, jazz ... read more.

Sermon Topic: ’A Chosen Faith’ Part 2 (of 2)

A Chosen Faith: An Introduction to Unitarian Universalism is a classic book by prominent UU ministers John Buehrens and the late Forrest Church that examines aspects of UU history, theology, congregational community, social action, and more. On Feb. ... read more.

Sermon Topic: A Home for Our Hearts

Worship Leader: Rev. Peter Farriday

Worship Associate: Steven Mashin

Special Music: Veronika Agranov-Dafoe, piano

Follow along in the order of service, bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20260308.

Worship Leader: Rev. Johnnie Bloom-Ramirez

Worship Associate: Barbara Saxton

Special Music: Paul Kosta group, instrumental

Follow along in the order of service, bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20260301.

A Chosen Faith: An Introduction to Unitarian Universalism is a classic book by prominent UU ministers John Buehrens and the late Forrest Church that examines aspects of UU history, theology, congregational community, social action, and more. This Sunday Rev. Peter shares aspects of the first half, ... read more.

Rev. Peter Farriday continues the ongoing series of reflections that explore the soul and society. Expanding on the Introduction, this Sunday continues last week’s survey of the historical emergence of materialism’s limited worldview, and some of its harmful psycho-spiritual consequences.

Worship leader: Rev. Peter Farriday

Special music: ... read more.

Rev. Peter Farriday continues his ongoing exploration of the soul and society.

Worship leader: Rev. Peter Farriday

Special Music: 4 Shillings Short

If you prefer to join the community of those attending online, there are two options. One, join the service via Zoom bit.ly/uucpa_service_1030am_v3. To get the passcode, ... read more.

Worship leader: Rev. Ranwa Hammamy

Special music: Barbary Grant, Harp

You can follow along in the order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20260125.

Rev. Peter Farriday continues his ongoing exploration of the soul and society.

Worship leader: Rev. Peter Farriday

Special music: David Chen, guitar

If you prefer to join the community of those attending online, there are two options. One, join the service via Zoom bit.ly/uucpa_service_1030am_v3. To get the passcode, ... read more.

Rev. Peter Farriday continues his ongoing exploration of soul and society.

Worship leader: Rev. Peter Farriday

Special music: Veronika Agranov-Dafoe, piano

If you prefer to join the community of those attending online, there are two options. One, join the service via Zoom bit.ly/uucpa_service_1030am_v3. To get the passcode, email ... read more.

Rev. Peter Farriday begins an ongoing series of reflections that explore the soul and society.

Worship leader: Rev. Peter Farriday

Special music: Season of Us (Bill Stanfield, Guitar)

If you prefer to join the community of those attending online, there are two options. One, join the service ... read more.

Friendship is vitally important to all of us. There has been a lot of research on friendship in recent decades. In this service we will talk about both the science and the power of friendship in our lives.

Worship leader: Richard Heydt

Special Music: Steven Chanan, piano

If ... read more.

Throughout ancient cultures, light returning from darkness in nature led to symbolic tales of the same “miracle” occurring in human lives and communities. Today’s intergenerational service tells three of these as we mark the winter solstice, share the story of Hanukkah, and together bring to life ... read more.

While we don’t get snow flurries in the South Bay, the flurry of the winter holidays can sometimes be more stressful than joyful. But mindfulness practices are a potent remedy—and a gift you can benefit from all year long.

Worship leader: Rev. Peter Farriday

Special Music: Margaret ... read more.

Hope has many faces; some fanciful and escapist, others grounded and empowering. Today we explore the difference, and how to apply hope’s nourishing aspects to our lives and our world.

If you prefer to join ... read more.

This Thanksgiving-weekend service explores ideas and practices that help us live with constant gratitude—an attitude that benefits mind, body, spirit, and others.

Worship leader: Rev. Peter Farriday

Worship associate: Jane Correia

Special Music: Arhan Dutta, piano

If you prefer to join the community of those attending online, there are ... read more.

In the face of what is crumbling, what is our ethical response to what falls apart? What do we do if there is no “exit” or “restart” for situations, organizations, or a world we are uncertain about how to heal, or harm we are uncertain ... read more.

The Dalai Lama teaches that being happy is good for both oneself and others. So it’s helpful to know some proven avenues to happiness—and which bring the deepest satisfactions.

Worship Leader: Rev. Peter Farriday

Special Music: Thomas Shoebotham, piano

If you prefer to join the community of those ... read more.

Author Anais Nin said “I do not see the world as it is. I see it as I am.” This Sunday we explore how deeply one’s state of awareness, or stage of consciousness, affects how we see and act in the world.

Worship Leader: Rev. Peter ... read more.

Spiritual traditions worldwide speak of people’s nonmaterial essence continuing beyond physical death. So in this season of Day of the Dead (native to Mexico) and the pagan holy day Samhain (now aka All Hallows Eve or Halloween), this service explores what may lie beyond this ... read more.

Join us for a joyful, all-ages Halloween service exploring the masks we wear and the truths beneath them. Together we’ll celebrate the courage to be authentic, and the magic of becoming our truest selves. We’ll have a fun skit and a hands-on activity where everyone ... read more.

A part playful, part serious look at spiritual teacher/author Thomas Moore’s imaginary “DSM-1 of Spirituality Disorders” – and the degree to which UUism is susceptible to some of them.

Worship leader: Rev. Peter Farriday

Special music: Aaron Lington, saxophone

If you prefer to join the community of those ... read more.

How can we show up for each other’s mental health, and what does that mean for our spiritual lives? Rev. Barbara Meyers shares real stories—both what works and what doesn’t—from her ministry and her book HELD, offering practical guidance for congregations who want to care more ... read more.

On the first Sunday of this autumn change of season, and in this time of transitional exploration at UUCPA, our service looks at some challenges and opportunities of change.

Worship leader: Rev. Peter Farriday

Special music: Martin Manley, jazz pianist

If you prefer to join the community of ... read more.

Following on our 9/14 and 9/21 topics, this service explores some deeper implications of what people believe. Based on hymnal Reading #657.

Worship leader: Rev. Peter Farriday

Worship associate: Ed Haertel

Special music: Veronika Agranov-Dafoe

If you prefer to join the community of those attending online, there are two ... read more.

Courageous, compassionate characters people Unitarian Universalism’s inception and development. This service explores one early figure who helped make UUism a tradition of inclusiveness and free choice.

Worship leader: Rev. Peter Farriday

Special music: Gaelic Muses, Celtic trio

If you prefer to join the community of those attending online, ... read more.

This service looks at some important ways that Unitarian Universalism differs from most faith traditions.

Worship leader: Rev. Peter Farriday

Worship associate: Barbara Saxton

Special music: Teresa Orozco, flute

If you prefer to join the community of those attending online, there are two options. One, join the service via ... read more.

In a letter to a friend, Emily Dickinson wrote “I am out with lanterns, looking for myself”. In addition to being a wonderful image and wonderfully poetic line, the idea of looking for oneself can be central to who we are.

Worship leader: Richard Heydt

Worship associate: ... read more.

There has been much talk in the past year, both pre- and post-election, about the soul of our nation, pointing to “soul” as the seat of sacred identity. What does it mean for nations or churches to have souls?  The soul of a church lies in its purpose or ... read more.

Each year at this time, we celebrate the ways we are all connected to each other and every other living thing. For our intergenerational Water Communion service, please bring a little water to pour into the communal bowl. We will give thanks for water and ... read more.

“A good book would take me out of myself and then stuff me back in, outsized, now, and uneasy with the fit.” – David Sedaris Censorship of written materials can be traced to the earliest documents in civilizations across the globe. Repeated waves of book ... read more.

Barb came out as transgender 30 years ago. Join him as he reflects on what was and is like to be transgender in these times, as well as how Unitarian Universalism has saved, supported, and challenged his life for these past 3 decades.

Worship leader: Rev. ... read more.

We come from diverse backgrounds with our own stories about how we arrived at Unitarian Universalism. Join Rev. Cat for a service that celebrates our faith and shares her personal path to Unitarian Universalism and UUCPA.

Worship leader: Rev. Catherine Boyle (she/her/hers)

Worship Associate: Jane Correia

If you ... read more.

Burmese Buddhism is an intricate blend of Theravada teachings and Myanmar’s older animist traditions. Pagodas often hold space for both Buddhas—sometimes illuminated with LED halos—and nats, the ancestral spirits still honored across the country. As a half-Burmese Unitarian Universalist, Thida Cornes (she/her) reflects on the ... read more.

Black residents are disappearing from Silicon Valley at an alarming rate, a trend driven by persistent disparities in housing, employment, and opportunity. As we examine the data and the lived experiences behind these numbers, it becomes clear—it’s no wonder these outcomes exist. Yet, amid these ... read more.

How do we say goodbye to a minister after 22 years? Come find out!

Worship led by: Revs. Cat Boyle, Lucy Bunch, Melissa Thomson, and Jen Dillinger along with Jane Chronis, Matt Rosin, and Mayo Tsuzuki

Special music: Veronika Agranov-Dafoe

If you prefer to join the community of ... read more.

Psychiatrist D. W. Winnicott writes that we often go about our lives with an attitude of compliance, as though the world is something to be fitted in with, demanding adaptation. The attitude of compliance tells us to put our dreams away in the back of ... read more.

When the minister of the Unitarian Church in Prague, Czechoslovakia, the Rev. Norbert Čapek, introduced the Flower Celebration in 1923, he asked the people of the congregation to bring flowers, and after they gathered them into one beautiful display and blessed them, each took away ... read more.

Everyone has one: yes, really. What’s the uncommon gift that has been granted to you? What will you do with it? Remember, “with great power comes great responsibility.”

If you’re not sure of what your superpower is, this service will help you discover it. And if ... read more.

On July 6, Rev. Schriner presented “A Gospel of Ignorance,” in which he suggested that admitting ignorance can be enlightening, enlivening, and empowering. Today Chris will explore this theme further, focusing on why people often think they know more than they do. Although investigators generate ... read more.

Thomas Edison once said, “We don’t know a millionth of one percent about anything.” Many UUs would agree, bringing a skeptical attitude to the supposed certainties of religion, psychology, and politics. We love to learn, and sometimes it seems as if the more we know, ... read more.

Can IQ be used as a measure of competence and intent? Does higher wealth correlate with higher IQs? Is an expert in math and business more or less intelligent than a drummer or an athlete? Are awareness and kindness measures of intelligence? Let’s unpack all ... read more.

Join us as we celebrate 20 years of dancing the maypole at UUCPA. May Day is a holiday celebrating the vibrancy and creativity of spring, as well as a day of worker recognition and protest. In this service we will seek joy and purpose in ... read more.

They’re unexpected, they’re awkward, they’re a spark of connection in an ordinary situation, they’re something that can make your day, they’re all of the above. They can be the smallest of small talk, or they can be the deepest interaction we’ll have all week. What ... read more.

What does Collective Liberation mean for us as Unitarian Universalists? Scripture tells us “You were born for such a time as this.” Join Rev Kev as we explore the foundational values of Unitarian Universalism as expressed through Justice and Equity with Love at the center. ... read more.

Passover begins the night before. What lessons can we draw from the ancient story of confronting Pharaoh?

Worship leader: Rev. Dr. John Buehrens

Worship Associate: Jane Chronis

Special music: Four Shillings Short, Celtic music

Follow along in the order of service, bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20250413.

If you prefer to join the ... read more.

Join Rev. Greve as he brings us to the bedside of his work as a hospice chaplain, inviting us to witness the ordinary and extraordinary that can occur as we near the end of our lives.

Worship leader: Rev. Mr. Barb Greve

Follow along in the order ... read more.

Our relationships can thrive if we are guided by four phrases: Please forgive me. I forgive you. Thank you. I love you. This quartet has roots in Hawai’ian culture. Dr. Ira Byock, who worked in palliative care for many years, observed that they were what ... read more.

Or should that be happy rebEARTH Day? We celebrate Earth Day and Easter this week. Just as the joyful resurrection of Easter morning follows the gloom and despair of Good Friday, a new generation of environmentalists are wisely inspiring us to rejoice in the abundance ... read more.

Does religious education end when you outgrow Sunday School? Think again! Join us as we explore how lifelong learning is at the heart of Unitarian Universalism. In an ever-evolving, complex, and connected world, religious education isn’t just for kids—it’s for everyone, at every age across ... read more.

In times of crisis, having concrete practices for grounding ourselves in our values and our relationships becomes ever more important. UUCPA member Matthew S. Rosin will show us how spiritual practices of gratitude can reveal our belonging, our connectedness, and our irreplaceability in the world, ... read more.

This concludes our series of services exploring the benediction we say together each week. What does it mean to seek to honor all beings? What might a spiritual practice of honoring others look like, and what effect could it have on our daily lives? ... read more.

We all agree: in our love as in other things, what we do is as important as what we say. Actions may often be misunderstood, however, as anyone knows whose “love language” differs from a partner’s or friend’s. How can we ourselves ensure that our ... read more.

Beauty: such an overused term. It’s a section in every women’s magazine (men’s magazines tend to avoid the word, calling it “Grooming,” and what is that all about?) and our culture is obsessed with beautiful people, which, it claims, excludes most of us. Amy believes ... read more.

“The Nude” as a subject in Western art has followed the same basic rules for centuries. What impact do they have on all of us? Rev. Gadon shares insights from more than a year drawing and painting and breaking rules.

Our guest preacher, Rev. Barbara Gadon, ... read more.

Worship leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Follow along in the order of service bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20250209.

If you prefer to attend online, there are two options. One, join the service via Zoom bit.ly/uucpa_service_1015am_v3. To get the passcode, email sundayservice@uucpa.org or call UUCPA’s ... read more.

In our annual, intergenerational Chalice Sunday service, we learn about the origin of our flaming chalice, and some of the traditions that are celebrated on this day, such as Candlemas, St. Brigid’s Day, and Imbolc. On this Chalice Sunday, we’ll be asking ourselves: what is ... read more.

Newborns are an exception. With everyone else, when we meet them, we arrive in the middle of their story, and they arrive in the middle of ours. We may travel alongside together for a while, learning about each other’s pasts as well as getting to ... read more.

How apt that we come to this line of our benediction on the day before the presidential inauguration, because protecting the weak from the strong–whoever those might be at any given moment–is one of the principal purposes of government. Yet the way we achieve that ... read more.

We continue to explore our unison benediction line by line. Today’s line, “strengthen the faint-hearted,” returns us to the theme of courage: bolstering each other’s when it grows faint. How do we do that? It might help to consider where courage even comes from.

Worship leader: ... read more.

Worship Leader: Rev. Kevin Mann

Worship Associate: Steven Mashin

Follow along in the order of service: https://bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20241229.

If you prefer to attend online, there are two options. One, join the service via Zoom bit.ly/uucpa_service_1015am_v3. To get the passcode, email sundayservice@uucpa.org or call ... read more.

Accompaniment is the radical act of being with someone even when it is hard and you don’t know how things will turn out. With the increase in fascism across our country, our society often tells us to isolate, take care of our own first, and ... read more.

The words of our benediction continue to guide us in how to fight fascism. To hold fast to what is good when there are so many forces that threaten to erode it, we have to first know: what is good? What, in ourselves and ... read more.

The choir, along with a seven-person band, is here to make our pageant a musical! Well, almost. They’ll sing several pieces to help make the story of Jesus’s birth come to life, along with whoever wishes to take a non speaking role in the play ... read more.

In the service two weeks ago, we heard about a method of conversation that helps people to change their minds. The down side probably occurred to you: “Can’t anyone use this to make anyone change their minds to any idea–including really bad ones?” Well, ... read more.

Thanksgiving is a purely an American holiday, celebrating the union of two very different peoples – the Natives and the Pilgrims, and their survival of a brutal winter. We will delve into the history of what actually happened that fateful week, and how we can ... read more.

So we say to each other at the end of every service. (This is the first in a series of sermons based on our benediction.) The words are both a blessing–may you experience peace–and an exhortation–may you bring peace into the world. In a country ... read more.

Many religious teachers agree with this sentiment from our benediction. Jesus said, “When someone strikes you on one cheek, offer him the other.” The Buddha said “Only love dispels hate.” Muhammad offered kindness to a woman who abused him daily. But we ordinary people, faced ... read more.

Where to next? We have endured so much uncertainty. Uncertainty itself is so painful that often, we cope better with bad news than with waiting for what might be bad news. Looking at history, though, we can take hope from just how uncertain and unpredictable ... read more.

Today is our annual Remembrance Service, when we particularly call to mind all that we have loved and lost: people, animals, friendships, hopes, abilities. Whether the losses occurred long ago or recently, loom large or are comparatively small, we honor them, because that is how ... read more.

Love is the power that holds us together and is at the center of our shared values. We are accountable to one another for doing the work of living our shared values through the spiritual discipline of Love.

–Article II (Purposes and Covenant) of the ... read more.

In recent years two letters and a plus sign have been added to LGBTQ making the complete designation LGBTQIA+. Our speaker learned earlier this year that one of those letters probably applies to him. In a talk that ties in with Amy’s series on men’s ... read more.

Generosity. We cultivate a spirit of gratitude and hope.

We covenant to freely and compassionately share our faith, presence, and resources. Our generosity connects us to one another in relationships of interdependence and mutuality.

–Article II (Purposes and Covenant) of the Unitarian Universalist Association Bylaws

Generosity is ... read more.

It’s our first animal blessing since 2020! In the spirit of St. Francis, patron saint of non-human animals, whose day is this Friday, we give thanks to all the animals who bring their incredible variety, beauty, weirdness and wildness to our world. Please bring any ... read more.

Justice. We work to be diverse multicultural Beloved Communities where all thrive.

We covenant to dismantle racism and all forms of systemic oppression. We support the use of inclusive democratic processes to make decisions within our congregations, our Association, and society at large.

—Article II (Purposes ... read more.

We are called into community, in love and by one another. Ministry is always a relationship, and when entered into with seriousness and intention, it affirms the congregation’s commitment to its mission.

Starting soon, UUCPA will reflect on ministry and our calling to faith ... read more.

Pluralism. We celebrate that we are all sacred beings, diverse in culture, experience, and theology.

We covenant to learn from one another in our free and responsible search for truth and meaning. We embrace our differences and commonalities with Love, curiosity, and respect.

—Article II (Purposes ... read more.

Transformation. We adapt to the changing world.

We covenant to collectively transform and grow spiritually and ethically. Openness to change is fundamental to our Unitarian and Universalist heritages, never complete and never perfect.

—Article II (Purposes and Covenant), Unitarian Universalist Association Bylaws

As we explore ... read more.

Video preview of this Sunday’s service–with mystery guest!

Equity. We declare that every person is inherently worthy and has the right to flourish with dignity, love, and compassion. We covenant to use our time, wisdom, attention, and money to build and sustain fully accessible and ... read more.

Our guest preacher, Rev. Steve Edington, writes:

The sermon title draws on one of the chapters in my work in progress book The Gospel According to Jack: Tracking Kerouac in My Life. 

When Jack Kerouac passed away in 1969, he was largely regarded as a literary flash-in-the-pan. ... read more.

Watch Amy’s video message about today’s events.

In the movie Bull Durham, the catcher Crash Davis advises his fastball-pitching protege: “Strikeouts are fascist. Throw some ground balls. It’s more democratic.” Even back then (1988), the term “fascism” was overused, hurled at anyone who ... read more.

We’ll consider home this morning: a concept with deep spiritual meanings, as well as a justice issue as we seek to ensure that everyone has a safe place to call home.

Millie Phillips is a Unitarian Universalist minister and faith-rooted organizer with the East Bay ... read more.

Each year at this time, we celebrate the ways we are all connected to each other and every other living thing. For our intergenerational Water Communion service, please bring a little water to pour into the communal bowl. We will give thanks for water and ... read more.

The service’s message about friendship is more than a warm affirmation of its importance. It can be joyful and spontaneous, or edgy and slow-growing.

Friendship is found in the relationship of two well-known political opposites who demonstrate their mutual caring even as they adamantly disagree on ... read more.

Images hold power. They shape and inform how we perceive the world. They also influence how we treat people around equity, accessibility and inclusion. Join us as we learn to break down societal barriers in order to break through, break open and break free into ... read more.

In this sermon, we will explore democracy not just as a political structure, but as a profound ethical duty. Drawing inspiration from Timothy Snyder’s insightful work, “On Tyranny,” we will reflect on the pressing moral obligation to uphold democratic principles in our modern era.In a ... read more.

What does the example of Jesus have to teach us about disability, solidarity, and accessibility? How can we apply these ideas in our modern context to create a truly just, equitable, and inclusive society for all? We’ll look at the Gospel of Luke for insights.

Pastor ... read more.

For a long time, Unitarians and Universalists stuck with Christianity, trying to improve its bad theology by reforming it from within.  Then many of them just gave up the effort and stopped calling themselves Christians.  Now here we are in 2024, putting “Love at ... read more.

Experiences vary, but there’s no question that on the whole, it’s hard to be a man. Despite having the highest income and wealth of any gender, and more of their healthcare needs covered by their insurance, men’s life expectancy is considerably lower than the national ... read more.

When you arrive at today’s service, think about a song in either Singing the Living Tradition (the gray hymnal) or Singing the Journey (the teal hymnal) that you’d love us all to sing, and add it to the flip chart or Zoom chat. We’ll sing ... read more.

The novelist Barbara Kingsolver says, “Memory is a complicated thing, a relative to truth, but not its twin.” On this weekend nominally dedicated to remembrance, we reflect: what do we choose to remember? What do we choose to forget? And how can we use memorial ... read more.

Unitarian Universalism was forged in crisis. Is it up to the crises we face now?

To answer this question, today’s service calls upon the California state lichen, Louis Armstrong, a living thing that was already 7000 years old when the oldest redwoods were little sprouts, and ... read more.

UUCPA is a community of learners. We seek always to discover more–to understand the world and ourselves more deeply–to learn from each other, from books, from the accumulated knowledge of centuries of thinkers and scientists and activists–to become wiser. Almost all of the children, and ... read more.

Bring a flower, or a bunch! In this tradition, practiced by Unitarian Universalists for 101 years, we celebrate the beautiful variety among us and gratefully receive a flower that someone else has brought. We will look closely at the flowers as a mindfulness practice we ... read more.

Transcript of the sermon

Video preview: Diatoms are going to help save our souls

One way or another, whenever the “cancel culture” conversation arises, it seems as if we’re being asked to see other people in black and white. Resisting this tendency ... read more.

Most of us individually do the little things like recycling, composting, reducing car usage, and eating less meat to address climate change. But the very large sources of greenhouse gasses come from businesses. Convincing businesses to switch to pricier climate alternatives can be challenging. Orhan ... read more.

We like to turn away from a scarcity mentality toward one of abundance–at least, we Unitarian Universalist ministers do. But does that set us up for further exploitation of the Earth, whose resources are not limitlessly abundant? Robert Neff was the winning bidder on “You ... read more.

Prashant and Aarav will be exploring “kindness and awareness” along these prompts: 

– what could kindness and awareness, practically, do to you?

– what blocks them or comes in the way?

– what could you tell yourself or what could you ... read more.

And, possibly, your answers questioned! Today’s service is the approximately-annual Question Box service, when in the time usually allotted to the sermon, Amy will answer as many of your questions as she can. The meaning of life? How we find the spiritual practice that’s right ... read more.

How appropriate that Easter and the Transgender Day of Visibility coincide this year! The trans and nonbinary people shown with their families in the photo-text exhibit that opens today at UUCPA exemplify the joyful rebirth one can experience by being authentically ... read more.

We watch reports of the attack on Israeli civilians on October 7, and the devastation in Gaza since then, with grief and often a sense of impotence. Long before last fall, the issue of Israel and Palestine has been particularly hard for Unitarian Universalists even ... read more.

Barbie didn’t win Best Picture at the Oscars, but that’s okay–it’s still in the running for Most Unitarian Universalist Movie. Not because director and co-writer Greta Gerwig grew up UU in Sacramento, but because her movie tackles many of life’s big issues in a fun ... read more.

“Opening Our Doors and Enriching Our Community”

–Theme of UUCPA’s one-week pledge campaign

We live in a society that measures worth largely by money. This can be so exhausting, confusing, and soul-killing that we desperately need an alternative: a place where “enriching our community” isn’t about ... read more.

There are over 2,000 Unitarian Universalists in the Philippines in over 24 congregations. Most of the churches are located in remote rural farming and fishing villages. What can UUs from the Philippines teach us about their unique expression of our shared global liberal religious faith? ... read more.

Our annual intergenerational service in which we ask and answer questions such as: What is the origin of the flaming chalice symbol? What does the chalice mean to you? What happens when we put all those meanings together into one community? Why do we have ... read more.

What is a genius? Someone rare, we know that. Someone with extraordinary gifts that few of us can hope to have. Figures such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Nikola Tesla, Marie Curie, Ella Fitzgerald, Michael Jordan. Or, descending slightly from the stratosphere, someone with an IQ ... read more.

Habits go straight to the heart. When we’re trying to break an unwanted habit and failing, we often feel as if there’s something wrong with us. The same thing happens when we’re having trouble creating a better habit. It’s true that our habits say a ... read more.

An intergenerational service celebrating the life and message of Martin Luther King, Jr., and how his ministry continues on through folks who are fearless in the face of oppression and aggression. Our minister of religious education, Cat Boyle, leads us in a liberating service ... read more.

When we embrace mystery, we never know just what we’re going to discover. In this service, we won’t even know what order things are going to happen. A pile of wrapped gifts will be on the altar, and as each is opened by a volunteer ... read more.

Intergenerational Thanksgiving service. Today’s service considers ideas and practices that help us live with constant gratitude—an attitude that benefits mind, body, spirit… and others.

Worship Leaders: Rev. Peter Farriday, Rev. Cat Boyle

Worship Associate: Steven Mashin

Follow along in the order of service bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20231119.

Join ... read more.

In the “Season of Giving,” it is easy to give too much or to feel like we are not giving enough. Let us take a moment to relax and ensure that our own wells do not run dry, so that we may be fully present, ... read more.

In this intergenerational service, we rejoice in the everyday miracles of the season, marking the winter solstice, telling the story of Hanukah, and inviting all who wish to play a part to help make the story of Jesus’s birth come to life. Our annual tradition ... read more.

With our annual intergenerational Water Communion service, we affirm our interdependence with one another and the whole planet. Bring a little water to pour into the communal bowl, and we will bless and be blessed by the waters. (If you forget your water, there will ... read more.

Renowned mythologist Joseph Campbell writes, “You have to strive every minute to get rid of the life you have planned in order to have the life that’s waiting for you,” while thirteenth/fourteenth-century mystic and theologian Meister Eckhart said, “The soul grows by subtraction.” Using these ... read more.

Increasingly, we argue that, in the face of harm, impact is all that matters; bringing up intent is, at best, irrelevant and, at worse, usually just an excuse for bad behavior. But why then do we still care so much about intent, motive, or causation ... read more.

Why is *listening* the first step in movements for social change? Who does the listening, who gets listened to, and what do we do with what we hear? What’s the point? Why not plunge directly into problem-solving, advocating, rallying, and arguing/shouting/writing/showing up for the changes we know we need if we are to create a world of justice, equity, and compassion? Join us ... read more.

Language has incredible power to harm or heal, to oppress or liberate. Using words with care is a vital practice for people of faith and conscience—it’s even a key spiritual practice in many traditions. But it’s not always easy. What do we do when some ... read more.

Rev. Alex da Silva Souto [they+Brown+Latinx] has been a person of the “in-between space” since birth and childhood in Brazil. They are currently the minister of Sierra Foothills UUs in Auburn, where they remain a devoted social justice advocate, liturgical artist, and partner in the ... read more.

“Let us measure success by how many of us can say: I am living a life I don’t regret. A life that will resonate with my ancestors” -adrienne maree brown

Join us for a reflection of heavy suitcases, surprise turning points, and attending to the complexity ... read more.

So many of us are familiar with the story of David vs Goliath.  It is a story deeply rooted in the way we tell ourselves that we can face and overcome whatever stands between us and our desired outcomes.  

This week we will look at this ... read more.

As Artificial Intelligence grows, there is much wondering about whether the line between truth and fiction will be ever harder to know. Today, we look back, both in the short term and the arc of history, to discover deeper truths, together.

Rev DL Helfer (they/them) is ... read more.

Poetry is perfect for lovers of words, lovers of sounds and lovers of ideas. And it’s there for anyone willing to take the plunge. Richard Heydt and a few UUCPA friends will read some of our favorite poems and talk about the place of poetry ... read more.

Our guest preacher writes: In a world that seems to have taken some disastrously wrong turns, I find myself struggling to maintain balance and a positive outlook. By word of mouth, TV, and print, I’m aware that others are having some of the same difficulties. ... read more.

From “Don’t Say Gay” bills to the swath of laws criminalizing gender-affirming and abortion-related care, attacks on bodily autonomy in the US are escalating at an alarming pace. And, this nation has always targeted certain kinds of bodies as less worthy of protection and freedom ... read more.

The Beloved Community is one of deep justice and moral beauty. But the ugly and misleading ways in which we talk about justice in today’s society blind us to its deeper meaning — justice that will truly “roll down like waters.” Let’s refresh and re-establish ... read more.

You may have seen service dogs around, especially Thida’s service dog. All you may know is you’re not allowed to touch him and the dog looks serious. Yet dogs are emotional and don’t do anything unless it’s rewarding. How can a service dog find their ... read more.

Two attitudes, two ways to journey through the world. As Amy departs for the explorations made possible by a six-month sabbatical, she shares her thoughts on the doors each one opens or closes. What happens when we meet one another, meet ideas, meet the world, ... read more.

Exactly 100 years ago, on June 4, 1923, the minister of the Unitarian Church in Prague, Czechoslovakia, the Rev. Norbert Čapek, introduced the Flower Celebration. He asked the people of the congregation to bring flowers, and after they gathered them into one beautiful display and ... read more.

“Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don’t be afraid,” says Frederick Buechner. Here we are, plunked down in a life that encompasses devastating tragedies and transcendent joys. What shall we do?

In addition to giving the sermon, Amy sings music by three ... read more.

Today we are celebrating Earth Day a little late (April was packed) and reconsidering one species that we often regard as having no useful role in our ecosystem. What it contributes to the global community seems to be far outweighed by what it takes. Of ... read more.

Achieving real social and economic justice will require more than just charity and generosity. We will also need to re-envision and re-interpret some of our system’s basic economic concepts. One approach is to rethink the meaning of property, following a path that Thomas Paine (inspired ... read more.

Life in Silicon Valley is phenomenally stressful. There are as many different ways to try to cope with its pressures as there are personalities, and understanding how our personality intersects with the stress can help us to be less vulnerable to the complete exhaustion known ... read more.

Is the UUCPA group Dismantling White Supremacy, which first convened in late 2019, an education program, a justice project, a support-oriented small group, a spiritual growth group . . . ?

Yes!

Today, by speaking about what they’ve learned, what they’re doing, and the kinds ... read more.

“Tolerance” has become a bit of a dirty word as those pushed to the margins rightly press for more than simply being tolerated. For example, LGBTQIA folks don’t want their religious community just to tolerate them, but to celebrate them. Intermarried couples don’t want to ... read more.

On Easter, Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. All of us reflect on what rebirth might mean in this one wild and precious life. Are the cycles of nature really a good parallel for human rebirth and resurrection? And bunnies and chocolate eggs are supposed ... read more.

In Genesis, one man slew his brother, and when asked where that brother was, asked of his god, “I know not. Am I my brother’s keeper?”

This question has been taken as many ways as there are storytellers under the sun: keeper of health? keeper ... read more.

Author, stay-at-home dad, and UUCPA member Matthew Rosin reflects on the religious resources and practices, within and near Unitarian Universalism, that have helped him learn to become the healthy and connected man his kids need him to ... read more.

The Rev. Jane Dwinell’s husband, Sky Yardley, was diagnosed with “probable early stage Alzheimer’s” in 2016. Together, they contemplated the meaning of memory, what it is and how it is important. She will share her thoughts and those of her late husband that come from ... read more.

The messages we get about sexuality have a huge impact on our well-being–not just in the bedroom but in our whole lives, which is also the name of the sexuality education program at UUCPA. Today: why sex is an ... read more.

You’re the new kid in town . . . Your friend moved away and now you don’t have anyone to play with . . . You go to an activity you like, hoping to meet new friends, but everyone there seems to know everyone else ... read more.

We celebrate Black History Month with this intergenerational service lifting up the role of children and teenagers in the movements for civil rights for Asian Americans and African Americans. Their leadership was essential in winning “silver rights” and helping the United States live up to ... read more.

Seventy-five years ago, our spiritual family members envisioned the future and built it a home here on Charleston Road. Now it is our turn. We have shared our vision: that we are a people tending a beautiful, healthy Earth; a loving community of free thinkers ... read more.

Our annual Chalice Sunday celebration takes place today, at the cross-quarter festival of Imbolc. We’ll hear about why we light a chalice at the beginning of our gatherings. In an embrace of our Pagan roots, we’ll call the directions and seek inspiration from Brigid, the ... read more.

Writer Alice Hoffman muses that they might be “the only true magic,” William Styron says they are the secret to “living several lives” (all at once!), and actor Emma Thompson says they “are like people, in the sense that they’ll turn up in your life ... read more.

In nature, there is holiness. There is the divine. This is the way of the gods.*

The choir sings Hymn to the Earth, a composition arranged by our own former music director Alva Henderson, in this service steeped in the Shinto wisdom Rev. Cat learned from ... read more.

When accused of “extremism,” Martin Luther King, Jr., reflected from his jail cell in Birmingham and “decided that perhaps [he] would like to think of [him]self as an extremist — in the light of the spirit which made Jesus an extremist for love.” If someone ... read more.

It’s time to get good at the pivot. We know enough to have lived through the idea that “God is change,” as it says in Octavia Butler’s great novel Parable of the Sower. But Butler has more to say about what comes next. Let’s get curious ... read more.

A popular Christian song of yesteryear sang “They will know we are Christians by our love.” In this intergenerational service, we’ll ask: How do people know what our most cherished values are? What’s the “tell”?

Worship leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Worship Associate: Joe Bailey

Follow along in ... read more.

Please note that both services will be held indoors (with patio seating always an option) due to the chilly temperatures expected.

The service time changes on December 25! Beginning on that day, we will hold a single Sunday service at 10:15.

The concept of childhood, it has ... read more.

Please note that both services will be held indoors (with patio seating always an option) due to the chilly temperatures expected.

Shakespeare said “Love is blind,” and called it a liability. But love’s blindness to boundaries, rules, conventions, and barriers can also be a strength that ... read more.

We’ll hear stories and sing songs about gratitude, fall and family in ... read more.

Clocks go back at 2 a.m. today! Don’t forget, or you will arrive at the service very early! (Not the end of the world. We’ll give you a cup of coffee and you’ll have lots of time to chat and relax.)

Justice doesn’t just happen when ... read more.

Liberation is linked to events. Freedom is woven of the many choices made thereafter. Today we explore the Jewish celebration of Sukkhot, the Festival of Booths, and consider how it might inform our own movements toward freedom.

Worship leader: Rev. Stefanie Etzbach-Dale. ... read more.

Tuesday is National Coming Out Day, and we’re going to welcome God out of the closet.

The way people have thought about human beings has always influenced us to imagine a certain kind of god. For example, if we think humans are the most important beings ... read more.

Friday was the 100th anniversary of the birth of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. He was a veteran of World War II, a chemist, and the honorary ... read more.

Out beyond the land and into the sea, whales sing. Join Rev. Cat in an exploration of the symphony of whales and what their music can teach us about resilience in the face of climate change.

Worship leader: Rev. Catherine Boyle

Special music: Larry Chinn, jazz piano

Follow ... read more.

Ancient peoples had a strange ritual for coping with their own wrongdoing and starting over: the scapegoat, which was literally a goat that was symbolically burdened with the sins of the people and then sent into the wilderness. What do we do when burdened with ... read more.

Frederick Buechner, who died in August after a full and fulfilled life, described what we are each called to do as “the place where your deep gladness meets the world’s deep hunger.” Until we do find that place, we often feel like something important is ... read more.

A new trend is roiling the business world: “quiet quitting,” defined as fulfilling only one’s job description and nothing more. There are obvious justice implications of expecting employees to do more than they are paid for, but this service is not about those. Instead, we’ll ... read more.

The Water Communion is an annual intergenerational ritual, celebrated in most Unitarian Universalist congregations at this time, in which we pour waters together to symbolize the unity of life and our coming together as a community. COVID has been such a long dry season that ... read more.

Pace of life has increased a lot over the last decade. In the meantime, our bodies and brains have not evolved at all. Often, there are feelings of being overwhelmed and dissatisfied. However, there are ways to not only survive but thrive at this pace. ... read more.

From before the Revolutionary War to after January 6, 2021, we have struggled to establish a country that would be ruled by peaceful means and the conscience of the people. Always, this principle has been countered by another–“might makes right”–and Unitarian Universalists have joined others ... read more.

The lyrics of this song written by Florence Reece have lived on for 90 years, fueling movements for labor justice and beyond. How do we, as Unitarian Universalists who believe in the inherent worth and dignity of every person, answer this question in today’s fractured ... read more.

Today’s service offers a way to nurture our spiritual paths through an examination of the world’s historic religions, new avenues of emerging spiritual thought, and a rapidly developing global culture. Do you consider yourself spiritual? Do you not, but try to live a life of integrity and ... read more.

Living while dying? We’re all doing that. Except, sometimes it takes letting go of our deep-seated fear of death to free us up to fully live. Bear and Brian are here to help illuminate a scary topic in a playful way.

Bear Capron and his parents ... read more.

Our guest speaker says: “I have suffered with chronic bodily and mental pain for more than two decades. Knowing about how the pain appears and what makes it continue on opened me up to the world inside me. Just knowing more and opening up to ... read more.

Why would you want to forgive someone who wronged you?  Even if you wanted to forgive them, how would you go about doing so?  During this service, we’ll consider what forgiveness is (and isn’t), why we might want to forgive (ourselves and others), and how ... read more.

Since the devastation in Newtown, Connecticut, almost ten years ago, the gun lobby has gone all out to convince us that the way to curtail gun violence is to have plenty of “good guys with guns.” Amy’s family knows from bitter experience that this is ... read more.

As we celebrate both Father’s Day and Freedom, we turn our attention to the gifts that those of us who parent and share in the lives of parents, hardly ever cease to enjoy: the children we help to nurture. While all of us, no doubt, ... read more.

Our blessings and our burdens are not only closely intertwined, they often come from exactly the same source. Farewells and greetings occur at the same moment, on the same threshold. The experiences that wounded us most yielded the insights that enable us to live more ... read more.

When we’re driving, new drivers may be alongside us at any time–people who don’t even have a license yet. They’re just learning, so they’re not the safest cars with which to interact. Maybe it would be better if they weren’t on the road. But how ... read more.

That’s a misleading shorthand that people often use to describe Unitarian Universalism–a religion where we can believe anything we want. It’s understandable that these words come to mind, because in contrast to many religions, it’s true that Unitarian Universalism isn’t defined by a set of ... read more.

The leaked news that the Supreme Court will almost certainly overturn Roe v. Wade after 50 years has landed with a sickening, world-shaking crash in our lives. While many rejoice, the vast majority of US Americans want abortion to remain available. But we have been ... read more.

In this annual intergenerational service, we each bring a flower (or several), fill vases and baskets with them, and after blessing the flowers and each other, we each choose a flower that someone else brought and bring it home. If you’re attending online, have your ... read more.

The Golden Rule is a central part of many religious traditions. But buried in it is an assumption: the people who you are “doing unto” share your values and expectations. How can we transform the Rule to work with people whose values differ from ours? ... read more.

For this Earth Day service, we celebrate the gains we have made at UUCPA when we have united for environmental action. We all know the challenges facing our beautiful planet, and can get quite overwhelmed by them. But fear and despair sap the will to ... read more.

They weren’t among Jesus’s twelve apostles. They received so little respect that they couldn’t even be witnesses in a court of law. But they witnessed the miracle of Easter, because they persisted. Come to this intergenerational service to hear their story and receive new life ... read more.

During the service, we wrote our “lifted moments” in these balloons, now displayed on the walls besides rooms 4, 5, and 6 (the block with the yellow doors). Enjoy, and come add your own!

UUCPA turns 75 on April 6! We celebrate today by looking at ... read more.

I’ve got some good news, some bad news, and some more good news for you.

The good news is that we belong to a tradition that keeps changing to incorporate new understanding. The bad news is that that means we have to keep changing, too. The ... read more.

We can’t live forever. We’re pretty sure of that. And maybe we don’t want to live forever, especially when the body ages and we “get weary and sick of trying,” as the song “Ol’ Man River” says. But what if we’re also “scared of dying”? ... read more.

Daylight Savings Time begins today–set your clocks forward!

“But you do believe in God . . . don’t you?” I get asked this question from time to time by people who don’t know much about us. But we UUs stumble all over ourselves trying to avoid ... read more.

It has been almost 24 months since the novel coronavirus–no longer so novel–took our lives around a sudden bend. And then another, and another. We’ll reflect on some things we’ve learned and decide on some to carry forward into the new normal.

Worship leader: Rev. Amy ... read more.

The physical space that houses our congregation–its buildings, its gardens and patios, and even its parking lot–is a kind of silent partner to all we do here. A cathedral evokes a longing for a God high above; a Puritan meetinghouse conveyed its inhabitants’ philosophical commitment ... read more.

We are inheritors of a long history of Unitarians and Universalists acting on our convictions in the social, political, and environmental realms. More than that, UUCPA has added its own chapters to this heritage. Continuing the anniversary theme running through this winter and spring’s Adult ... read more.

Diana and Shay followed very different paths to Unitarian Universalist ministry, beginning with the fact that Shay was raised Catholic and Diana was raised UU. They’ll share their journey, and explore what this means about the stories each of us brings to our Unitarian Universalist ... read more.

This program, developed at Meadville Lombard Theological School, centers the spiritual needs of people of color, while operating from the deep conviction that racism and the cultural impact of white supremacy hurt everyone. Today we share some of the wisdom and joy of this experience, in time for you to register for the spring program if you wish.

Worship leaders: Sally Ahnger, Brooke Bishara, Linda Henigin, Kristi Iverson, Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern, and Karen Skold

Special music: Four Shillings Short

Follow along in the order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20220206.

Photo credit: Erik Karits on Unsplash

Worship leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Special music: Aaron Lington, jazz saxophone

Follow along in the order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20220130.

Worship leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Special music: Veronika Agranov-Dafoe, piano

Follow along in the order of service bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20220123.

Photo credit: Andrew Douglass, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Walden Pond shoreline in fall.

Worship leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Special music: Sarah Kirton, violin

Follow along in the order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20220109.

Photo Information: Gold weight in form of Sankofa bird (Akan), Brooklyn Museum, CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Worship leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Special music: Veronika Agranov-Dafoe, piano

Follow along in the order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20220102.

Photo by Ashim D’Silva on Unsplash

If you participate online — When the ministers call for the different characters, put on the correct costume, and turn on your video.

If you come in person — Bring your costumes, and be ready to put them on when the ministers call for them. And do dress warmly, especially at 9:30, as we will probably have several doors open for air circulation.

All children in grades K-8 were mailed a packet of do-it-yourself costumes for the pageant printed on cardstock. PDFs of the costume cut-outs are online here, with more here.

Worship leaders: Revs. Dan Harper and Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Special music: UUCPA Adult Choir; director: Bruce Olstad; accompanist: Veronika Agranov-Dafoe

Follow along in the order of service:

• 9:30 am order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20211219_930
• 11:00 am order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20211219

Worship leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Worship Associate: Jane Chronis

Follow along in the order of service:

• 9:30 am order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20211212_930
• 11:00 am order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20211212

Worship leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Worship Associate: Richard Heydt

Special music: Veronika Agranov-Dafoe

Follow along in the order of service:

• 9:30 am order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20211205_930
• 11:00 am order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20211205

Photo credit: Quino Al on Unsplash

There is one person each of us tends to dump on: we criticize them, withhold kindness and compassion because we don’t think they deserve them, and reach for the stick instead of the carrot so they’ll improve. That person is each of us. The research is clear: being compassionate and encouraging towards ourselves is not only a happier way to live, but also–if we want to change something about ourselves–it’s a much more effective way to make that change happen. Today we’ll hear why self-compassion is so important, practice it, and, with Thanksgiving on the horizon, practice thanking ourselves as well.

Worship leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Special music: Veronika Agranov-Dafoe, piano

Follow along in the order of service:

• 9:30 am order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20211114_930
• 11:00 am order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20211114

Photo by Fares Hamouche on Unsplash

Worship leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Special music: Yuri Liberzon, guitar

Follow along in the order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20211024

Photo by Omkar Jadhav on Unsplash

Worship leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Special music: Eric Leong, violin

Follow along in the order of service:

• 9:30 am service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20211017_930
• 11 am service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20211017

Photo by Diana Simumpande on Unsplash

@VonWong, used by permission. Benjamin Von Wong is an artist whose goal is to “amplify positive impact.” This piece used 168,000 discarded plastic straws that had been collected in beach cleanups. To see more of his environmentally-themed pieces, visit vonwong.com

Also today, composer, pianist and singer Ruth Huber helps us to mark National Coming-Out Day (October 11) with her music.

Worship leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Special music: Ruth Huber

Follow along in the order of service:

• 9:30 am order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20211010_930
• 11:00 am order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20211010

For our annual remembrance service, we will have an altar of mementos and photos of those we have loved and lost, at UUCPA in the past year and in our lives at any time. We will speak their names, and using our own wind phones, we will also have the opportunity to speak to those who have died.

For the in-person, 9:30 service, you are invited to bring photos and mementos. For the online, 11:00 service, you are invited to send digital photos to Amy by Friday noon so that she can create an online altar of photos, names, and mementos.

Worship leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Special music: Veronika Agranov-Dafoe, piano

Follow along in the order of service:

• 9:30 am order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20211031_930
• 11:00 am order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20211031

Photo credit: Ōtsuchi wind phone, Matthew Komatsu (https://longreads.com/2019/03/11/after-the-tsunami/),
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0

Please do not think your water has to have come from “someplace special.” It is special because it comes from you and from the planet. Do read this information for 9:30 and 11 a.m. attendees on how to prepare: https://www.uucpa.org/water-communion-is-october-3/

And if you forget to bring water, there will be a pitcher of water from the UUCPA kitchen, previously from Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, and before that from a raincloud, and before that from . . .

You’ll pour your water from there (if you’re there at 9:30) or Amy will pour it for you and share your words (if you’re there at 11).

Worship leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Special music: Veronika Agranov-Dafoe, piano

Follow along in the order of service:

• 9:30 am order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20211003_930
• 11 am order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20211003

Photo: Elijah Hiett on Unsplash

The pandemic has shaken the world of work. Many businesses are finding it impossible to bring back employees under their former conditions. In three months of this spring alone, 11.5 million U.S. workers quit their jobs, a wave called the Great Resignation that may still not have peaked. While some frustrated employers call them lazy, the reassessment that is taking place could lead us into a new (but long-hoped-for) way of working, if we accept the challenge.

Worship leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Worship Associate: Joe Bailey

Special music: The Season of Us: Bill Stanfield, guitar, and Stephanie Greivell, flute

Follow along in the order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20210905

Photo credit: Rosie’s Diner, Rockford. Photo by Amber Kipp on Unsplash

Worship leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Worship Associate: Thida Cornes

Special music: Martin Manley, jazz piano

Follow along in the order of service:

• 9:30 am order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20210919_930
• 11:00 am order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20210919

Photo by Jackie Zhao on Unsplash

Worship leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Worship Associates: Bear Capron, Jane Chronis, Jared Bernstein, Justine Burt, Richard Heydt, Sarah Kostka, Steven Mashin, Weijia Cheng, David Zucker

Special music: Veronika Agranov-Dafoe, piano

Follow along in the order of service:

• 9:30 am bit.ly/uucap_oos_20210912_930
• 11:00 am bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20210912

It’s said that you have to spend money to make money. We get that when it’s applied to, say, production in a factory, or to marketing. But does it apply to giving? Does giving money make money, like the magic penny that if you “lend it, spend it,” returns itself manyfold?

Let’s look at how it actually works in the real world–and what it has to do with spirituality.

Worship leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Special music: Veronika Agranov-Dafoe, piano

Follow along in the order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20210829.

Photo by Michael Longmire on Unsplash

Worship Associate: Sarah Kostka

Special music: Margaret Davis and Kristoph Klover

Order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20210822.

Sermon How to Fit It All In Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

There’s a kind of computer game I like to play. The object is to clear a road, or build a castle, and there are lots of other tasks you need to complete along the way: build a sawmill, build a quarry, expand your headquarters so you have more workers . . . There are bonuses to pick up and some are worth getting and some are a waste of your resources.

If you complete the tasks quickly and in just the right order, you can finish before computer night falls. For this reason, this type of game is called a “time management game.” The fact that I have spent hundreds, possibly more than a thousand, hours of my life at an endeavor called “time management” is an irony that is not lost on me.

For this and other reasons, I am nobody’s idea of a time management guru. I procrastinate. I write lists of “must do” tasks that then stare at me reproachfully while I do other, more enjoyable ones.

However, with my nose pressed up against the glass of that exhibit of People With Good Time Management Skills, I notice some things that might help you.

(And I’m not going to say don’t have fun, don’t do trivial things, don’t make yourself more efficient. As Sarah reminded us, doing “unimportant” things like entertainment is actually important, and we feel really good when we get things done efficiently. These are all great things to do.)

The big rocks idea is a helpful one. I don’t know if Stephen Covey was the first person to use this image, but I like his version. Many others have morals that miss the point and misuse the metaphor.

• They emphasize the idea that when you think you’ve filled your time, you can still squeeze something in. For example, they put in the big rocks, and ask, “Is it full?” When the audience says yes, they put in little gravel—“Now is it full?” Then they add sand, and it really looks full, but they can still add water. They seem to be telling us to cram as much into our days as possible, which I don’t think is really the message.
• Others suggest that if you just prioritize, “you can do anything.” In fact, that’s a direct quote from one such video.
• They don’t prioritize space: the need for time when we do nothing, when we lie fallow like a field that has produced abundantly and now needs to rest. That spacious time could be one of the big rocks, of course.
• And they are sometimes geared entirely toward making us more efficient workers.

Stephen Covey, on the other hand, is guided by spiritual and moral values, and he encourages us to include things like service, relationships, a spiritual life.

But even the version we saw presents some problems.

• It suggests that it will all fit if we just do it in the right order. All the rocks fit. Even all the tiny gravel fits.

Is this your experience?

And if we’re constantly told that if we just managed our time better, if we worked smarter, not harder, if we put the big rocks in first, then we’d be able to fit, at least all the big rocks, and a lot or all of the gravel—then we’re stuck on the hamster wheel. We’re convinced that we will catch up if we just do things right.

Everything about productivity culture will tell us that we can fit in everything important if we just arrange your time right. Even as our work days lengthen. Even as our school days lengthen. (They were six hours one generation ago. From my school day to my daughter’s, the day has lengthened by 80 minutes, a 22% increase.) Even as a living wage is out of reach for most people in the world, and many in this country, unless they are spending almost every daylight hour at toil. Even as the minimum wage falls, in real money, year after year and it takes decades of fighting over legislation just to restore it to what it was before we started.

But I told you I’d tell you how to fit it all in, so here’s the moment where the secret is revealed. Are you ready?

The secret is:

You can’t.

It doesn’t all fit. It doesn’t fit in the 24 hours of each day. It doesn’t fit in the 4000 weeks during which we draw breath, if we live to a typical US American age. To quote Oliver Burkeman, whose newest book is called that—Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals—”The day will never arrive when you finally have everything under control—when the flood of emails has been contained; when your to-do lists have stopped getting longer; when you’re meeting all your obligations at work and in your home life; when nobody’s angry with you for missing a deadline or dropping the ball; and when the fully optimized person you’ve become can turn, at long last, to the things life is really supposed to be about.”

Not only will we not fit in the small things, I doubt very much we can fit in all the big things. Maybe some people have a smaller pile of big things than I do. But let’s try this:

Reflect on a day that felt really good—a day that did not end with a nagging sensation of having failed to get the important things done. A day where you reached the end and felt good about how you had spent the time. {silence}

If you can’t think of one, that speaks for itself . . .

If you can, may I ask this?: did all of your big rocks fit into that day?

Here’s a recent example for me: just last Sunday. It was a lovely day. I took a long walk and got as much exercise as I need for a healthy body. I came to church and had a couple of hours with you all. I spent several happy hours with my family. I played the piano. I made some art. I read. I got enough sleep. No unimportant things cluttered up the day, and I ended it with no regrets.

But did everything fit? No. One of the relationship categories on my calendar is friends and family, but I didn’t talk to any friends or family that day except for my wife and daughter. Not my mom, dad, sister, or any friend. A member of my household noted the next day that I hadn’t done any of the dishes that were one of my responsibilities for the day. And another of the categories I put in my calendar as a reminder is “citizen,” and I didn’t do anything much as a citizen of a wider community that day. I didn’t write postcards to voters or call an official. For that matter, I didn’t even work that much—just a few hours, far short of the average daily number—which, let’s be honest, is why everything else fit.

“Did all your big rocks fit in one day” may be a bit of an unfair question. Maybe our most important priorities should be considered more like the nutrients in a balanced diet. It’s fine if you go a whole day without getting your US Recommended Daily Allowance of vitamin D. Just don’t let it go for too long.

But still, I question whether fitting it all in is realistic. Recently, given the time of year, I’ve had conversations with new college students who see that menu of possibilities called the course catalog—hundreds of courses! After recovering from the giddiness and maybe the overwhelm of all the wonderful things they would love to learn, they accept that they will have to choose just 30 to 40 of them. That’s all that will fit in four years.

Maybe you feel the same about careers. Is there a dream career about which you occasionally think, “If I had another lifetime, I’d do that”?—Because this is a thought that can occur to many of us who are living a dream career. We’ve already put that big rock in place, but others are left on the table. A very satisfied middle manager may think, “But it would also have been wonderful to be a child psychologist.” A teacher who has spent as much of her “spare time” outdoors as possible might think that, given another few decades, she would love to have a profession that took her into nature all day: marine biology, say, or working for a park service. Not to mention the majority of workers, who don’t have the luxury of choosing a job, but just do whatever is to hand that will let them survive.

No matter how much we prioritize, not everything worthwhile will fit.

So we have to do more than prioritize among the rocks we have assembled. We have to take time to reflect on what rocks we want to have on the table to begin with. What isn’t even there?

This is a little scary, because if we add a rock, we know something else is going to have to move aside or not go into the bucket at all. But we’re just experimenting, here. We aren’t committed to anything. We’re just considering. So consider with me:

If you had all the time you needed, what is one thing you would do that you’re not doing now, or not doing much? If the gut response, “I just can’t get around to that right now,” could be set aside: what would you most want to do, this year? This month? Tomorrow?

{silence}

If we don’t take the time to ask that question, and heed its answer, then we’re like me playing a time management game. We collect the right bonuses and leave the ones we don’t need, and we do the important things first, like building the sawmill and upgrading the quarry, and by working smarter, not harder, we get three stars for completing it all, and on time, and at the end, we’ve . . . played a video game.

The dominant conversation about time in our culture steers us in that direction. It’s about productivity, planning, efficiency, fitting things in like a carefully interlocked puzzle—and while those processes have their place and can be very helpful, they are so dominant that we hardly know another way of thinking about time. In the wide universe of ways of thinking about the time allotted to us as the lucky clusters of matter who have been granted life, these dominant ways have worn a rut. And it’s hard to get out of a rut.

Can we pause, realize that we’re being steered a certain way, and ask the question: what is really most important to us? Not the top priority of the options presented, but maybe another option altogether?

This isn’t something that can be realigned in a few seconds of silence. We all need more time and space. So I hope the questions will stay with you. Most of all, I’d like to leave you with the questions Mary Oliver asks here, especially at the end of this poem for a summer day, “The Summer Day.”

(Here Amy closed by reading the poem, which in respect for Ms. Oliver’s copyright we will not reprint. You can complete the sermon by reading it in New and Selected Poems [Beacon Press, Boston, MA, 1992], or here.)

Worship Leader: Leika Lewis-Cornwell

Worship Associate: Jane Chronis

Follow along in the order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20210801

Worship leader: Sister Plush Lovebud of the Velveteen Vulva, from the San Francisco Order of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence

Worship Associate: Mary Grebenkemper

Special music: Teresa Orozco, flute, and Orlando Castro, voice/guitar

Follow along in the order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20210725.

Worship leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Special music: Veronika Agranov-Dafoe, piano

Follow along in the order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20210815

Featuring a special reading brought to us by Leonard Cohen, Neil Gaiman, and Amanda Palmer.

Worship leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Special music: Veronika Agranov-Dafoe, piano

The full order of service is at bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20210704.

Photo by Susan Holt Simpson on Unsplash

Worship leader: Steve Johnson

Worship Associate: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Special music: Veronika Agranov-Dafoe, piano

The full order of service is at bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20210620.

We’ll also hear briefly from Kelly Younger of our justice partner for June, Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity.

Worship leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Special music: Veronika Agranov-Dafoe, piano

The full order of service is at bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20210606.

Photo by Zac Ong on Unsplash

Worship leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

with: Vivie Kaplanov, Brooke Bishara, Linda Henigin, Sally Ahnger, Karen Skold, and Elsa Schafer

Special music: Kris Yenney, cello

The full order of service is at bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20210516.

Worship leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Special music: Melanie DeMore, singer

Follow along in the order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20210530

Join the service via Zoom: bit.ly/uucpa_service_1030. The password is available by emailing  sundayservice@uucpa.org or on UUCPA’s outgoing voicemail message, 650-494-0541.  It is also included in the weekly update emails. To watch services live on our Facebook page visit: www.facebook.com/uucpa/live_videos.

Barnaby comes to us today from the Champlain Valley Unitarian Universalist Society in Middlebury, VT, where he is the minister. A lifelong Unitarian Universalist, he was a New York Times business and technology reporter for more than 27 years before entering the ministry.

Worship leader: Rev. Barnaby Feder

Worship Associates: Jane Chronis & Mary Grebenkemper

Special music: Keith Saunders, piano

The full order of service is at bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20210502.

Worship leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Special music: Veronika Agranov-Dafoe, piano

Follow along in the order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20210425.

Photo by Drmarathe, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Worship leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Special music: Sarah Kirton, violin

The full order of service is at bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20210418

Photo by Pavel Neznanov on Unsplash

Stories Like Constellations

We are constantly making up stories about why things happen and what those events mean. A good story can help us through hard times. A good story can help us create a place for ourselves in the future. But stories can also keep us stuck within the limits of their tropes and formulas. Stories that are unconnected to reality are unreliable guides for life in the real world. How do we tell stories grounded in the real world, yet expansive enough to guide us into a rapidly changing future?

The Rev. Darcey Laine is minister of the UU Church of Athens and Sheshequin in Athens, PA. She has also served with congregations in Stockton, CA, Towanda, PA, and Cortland, NY. She was UUCPA’s Minister of Religious Education from 2000 to 2007, and we are delighted to welcome her back to the pulpit.

Worship leader: Rev. Darcey Laine

Special music: Veronika Agranov-Dafoe, piano

Photo of cicada’s wings (c) Roger Smith, used by permission

Worship leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Special Music: Karen Van Dyke, flute, and the Stanford Flute Ensemble

The full order of service is at bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20210404.

And we are honored to welcome the people of the Unitarian Free Church, Blaine, Washington, who are joining us this morning.

Worship leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Special music: Aaron Lington, saxophone, Victoria Lington, piano

The full order of service is at bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20210328.

Transcript:

Readings

Exodus 1:1-12

The last chapters of the book of Genesis told how the Israelite Joseph, one of the twelve sons of Jacob, became an advisor to the king of Egypt, the pharaoh, and, through his wise counsel, helped Egypt prepare for a long famine so that the country prospered. Our first reading picks up the story, with the first twelve verses of the book of Exodus.

These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each with his household: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. The total number of people born to Jacob was seventy. Joseph was already in Egypt. Then Joseph died, and all his brothers, and that whole generation. But the Israelites were fruitful and prolific; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them.

Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. He said to his people, ‘Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and more powerful than we. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase and, in the event of war, join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.’ Therefore they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labour. They built supply cities, Pithom and Rameses, for Pharaoh. But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread, so that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites.

From the memoir Redefining Realness, Janet Mock

“Living by other people’s definitions and perceptions shrinks us to shells of ourselves, rather than complex people embodying multiple identities.

“I can’t help but marvel at the resiliency of trans people who sacrifice so much to be seen and accepted as they are. Despite those sacrifices, trans people are still wrongly viewed as being confused. It takes determination and clear, thought-out conviction, not confusion, to give up many of the privileges that [we do] to be visibly [ourselves.]”

Sermon: Making the Invisible Visible

Passover, you probably know, is the festival of freedom. During this weeklong holiday, which began last night, Jews tell the story of the Exodus from Egypt: how their ancestors were enslaved there and how, through God’s miracles and Moses’s leadership, they gained their liberation.

Something else that runs through the story is a theme of invisibility and visibility. It’s a theme that arises in two other celebrations this week: Palm Sunday, which is today, and the International Transgender Day of Visibility, which is always on March 31. And this matter of visibility and invisibility has everything to do with freedom.

As the story of Exodus begins, the Israelites have become uncomfortably visible to the king of Egypt, the pharaoh. They have been in Egypt (we learn later) for many generations, several hundred years, and it seems they have been living under the radar for much of that time. But not any longer. Now he notices them: the way they are growing more numerous. And he responds by setting taskmasters over them to enslave them. Visibility, it seems, is a liability.

On the other hand, visibility is an asset. For a long time, the pharaohs respected the Israelites living among them because they remembered what Joseph had done for them. He and his brothers were the first Israelites to settle in Egypt, and all the Israelites who are now there are their descendants, benefiting from this family reputation. Now along comes a king who, in the words of the text, “knew not Joseph”—he didn’t know, or chose not to acknowledge, what this Israelite leader of generations before had done for the Egyptian people. He allowed Joseph’s memory to fade from his sight. And that invisibility was the beginning of the Israelites’ woes.

Which is it, then? Is it better to be seen or not to be seen?

Well . . . it depends. It depends on whether they are really seeing you . . . or seeing something else that they think is you.

Since we’re celebrating the Transgender Day of Visibility, it’s essential to note here, before I go on, that the point of such a celebration is not to compel trans people to be any more visible than they wish to be. No one has to reveal any part of their life story to anyone unless they want to. One of the great privileges of being cisgender, after all, is to have a match between the gender that others assume one to have and one’s internal sense of gender, and many trans people want nothing more than this. When they express the gender that they know to be theirs, they are claiming that same privilege for themselves: “I am a woman, full stop,” or “I am a man, end of story.” As Janet Mock also says, people often ask her “how it felt to be in the closet, to have been stealth.” She says,

These questions have always puzzled me. . . . I never hid my gender. Every day that I stepped out into the sunlight, unapologetically femme, I was a visible woman. People assume that I was in the closet because I didn’t disclose that I was assigned male at birth.

What people are really asking is “Why didn’t you correct people when they perceived you as a real woman?” Frankly, I’m not responsible for other people’s perceptions and what they consider real or fake.

Amen to that. She is a woman and she lives the woman’s life she wishes to live. In her memoir, Mock writes about how much she loved relocating to New York City, because unlike the people in the community where she grew up, no one there knew that she had once been assigned male. She could live free of the assumptions and projections that people tended to bring along with that knowledge.

Choosing what we do and do not share about our stories is not invisibility. We all have aspects of ourselves that we choose to share with very few people, or only one, or none. That’s just privacy; dignity; freedom.

What is invisibility is feeling that we do not really have a choice. The Transgender Day of Visibility celebrates trans people who are out and proud, yes—and it also celebrates being exactly as visible as one wishes to be, no more or less. So the foundation of freedom is safety, and cis people help provide that for trans and non-binary people by pledging to them that they can be themselves without the threat of violence, cruelty, or ostracism.

But freedom requires more than that. For trans people, choosing to share their story can, ironically, cause them to disappear behind a veil of other people’s assumptions, fears, beliefs, and prejudgments. The moment a person utters the sentence “I am trans,” if the people around them can only see that label, then the person, as they truly are, unique, complex, and irreducible, becomes, for all intents and purposes, invisible.

This phenomenon was described vividly, heartbreakingly, by someone who found himself to be invisible for another reason. The narrator of Ralph Ellison’s novel Invisible Man introduces himself this way:

I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allan Poe. Nor am I one of your Hollywood movie ectoplasms. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids, and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.

Do they pass right by and not even register that someone is there? No. Rather, he observes,

It is as though I have been surrounded by mirrors of hard, distorting glass. When they approach me they see only my surroundings, themselves or figments of their imagination, indeed, everything and anything except me.

Have you ever been deep in an emotionally charged conversation when suddenly you feel as if the person you’re talking to isn’t seeing you at all, but someone else? The assumptions they make are so off-base that they must be remembering past interactions with other people.

At these moments, we realize someone is seeing us in a way so completely shaped by their assumptions that they don’t really see us. What they see is what they expect to see. Everything we do and say is interpreted through that expectation, and because we have so little effect on that interpretation, what they are seeing, essentially, is themselves.

And we’ve all been on the other side . . . haven’t we? As we move through the world, seeing strangers around us, are we aware of who they really are? –their childhoods, their worries, their loves? Of course we aren’t. And yet we sometimes fill them in, making assumptions or at least guesses about what other people are like based on the tiniest snippets: the clothes they wear, a few moments of overheard conversation, even their resemblance to someone we used to know. In other words, we can’t possibly be seeing them. We’re looking in a distorting mirror.

That’s the experience of Ellison’s narrator, the invisible man. He is invisible because he is a black man in a land where racism makes it impossible for many people to see a black man as he is.

What about those other “strangers in a strange land,” the people of Israel living in Egypt? For a long time, they lived in the shelter of invisibility. One wonders whether it was a chosen invisibility—chosen, to be sure, under duress, as a survival skill, an adaptation to a vulnerable and frightening position: refugees living as a minority in a powerful country. Maybe they realized that if the king saw how powerful they were growing, they would be in danger.

As bell hooks says, “Sometimes people try to destroy you, precisely because they recognize your power—not because they don’t see it, but because they see it and they don’t want it to exist.”

Visibility, as the Israelites learned, can be dangerous. So one way to stay safe is to cloak oneself in the invisibility known as assimilation.

One midrash—a creative speculative story—about Exodus imagines that when Moses, guided by God, led the people out of Egypt, many Israelites chose not to leave—maybe as many as four out of five. They had created a quiet life for themselves there. They had blended in; they had assimilated.

But if they thought that that would preserve their freedom, they thought wrong. They were still the dreaded minority, the people who kept growing and multiplying, the people the Egyptians feared because they knew that no matter how much the Israelites blended in, they were not the same. And the Egyptians chose to be afraid of that difference: to coerce it into hiding, eradicate it through assimilation, deny it, anything but embrace it.

We’ve tried that over and over, we human beings: faced with difference, so often, we try to shut it out, like the U.S. government did with the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, or a later administration did with a proposed wall along the southern border. We try to force difference into hiding, as we’ve done by allowing discrimination against those who are openly transgender, discrimination in housing, jobs and healthcare. We try to ignore difference, as we’ve done by segregating ourselves politically so that we need not hear differing opinions–we know they’re out there somewhere, but we don’t want them near us. And we try to pressure those who are different to assimilate, as we do when we seek to control how others express themselves in spaces we consider “ours”: I will welcome anyone into “my” neighborhood as long as they make sure their houses and front yards look like mine; new people can be a part of “my” church as long as they don’t suggest changes in the music or have a different theology than I do.

By flexing our power in these ways, we humans seek to cast a spell of invisibility over anyone who is different. But there are always those of us who persist in our difference: who will not be shut out, who will not hide, who will not cease being ourselves. In those moments, we insist on being visible. And whenever we do that, we bring a precious gift, the gift that only we can bring: our authentic selves.

Assimilation is one response to being a minority within the dominant culture. (As we all are in one aspect or another.) To assimilate is to change oneself to fit into that culture. It is a deliberate invisibility: hiding, or erasing, one’s differences. We might be an oddball kid who hates pop culture, fitting in with the crowd by pretending to love the Avengers and swapping stories about television shows. We might be a first-generation American letting our parents’ language slip away from us so that we can be a “real American.”

Assimilation is incompatible with freedom; we have given up the freedom to be ourselves. It is a kind of belonging—but a belonging whose price is invisibility.

What if, instead of assimilation, we insisted on integration? On being fully visible as our true selves? Belonging does not come quite so readily then; it is hard won. But when won, it is true belonging.

Integration is adapting to the culture in some ways, allowing it to affect us, to change us; but it is also changing the culture by being ourselves. This is the concept of ubuntu that we heard in our centering words: we are people through other people. We change each other. If the change only goes one way, as in assimilation, then no one has the full benefit of transformation, of ubuntu, in which we become fully ourselves by being fully a part.

Integral means whole. In integration, everyone involved remains whole, and together they make a greater whole. Whereas to assimilate means “to make like, copy, imitate, assume the form of; feign, pretend.”

We heard the story of Palm Sunday from Dan. Why, oh why, we may wonder, did Jesus come riding into Jerusalem in that splashy way? Riding a donkey colt, the way the prophet said the Messiah would? Bringing all that attention on himself: the attention of the crowd, and the attention of the people in charge? Dan suggested that he was surprised by it, and probably he was. But he could have avoided any risk by just carrying on teaching quietly, to little groups of students here and there.

But his vision was greater than that. To live into his whole vision, to be his whole self, he couldn’t adapt to the fears of the religious authorities, the angry bigotry of the government. He couldn’t pretend to be other than he was. They might choose to willfully misunderstand him, but he wasn’t going to make it easier for them. He wasn’t going to assimilate.

And the people who left Egypt instead of slipping back into invisibility—they asserted the whole of themselves, insisted on freedom. The freedom to worship their god, who was invisible. This greatly confused the king of Egypt. This invisible god could not be reduced to anyone’s assumptions. This was the god who, when Moses asked it its name, said, “I AM.” Jesus, too, riding into Jerusalem, was asserting, “I AM.” The people hurriedly gathering up a few things in the night, carrying their unrisen bread, and escaping across the Red Sea to freedom, each of them was uttering an implacable “I AM.” Transgender and genderqueer and nonbinary people living the way they wish, persevering in following their own vision for their lives, each of them is saying, “I AM.” When we live this “I AM”—this refusal to feign or pretend to be something we are not, this stubborn insistence on integrating, being whole, instead of assimilating—we bring a gift to everyone we encounter. Instead of showing them a distorted mirror in which they will see only a confounded version of themselves, learning nothing, we bring ourselves, which will help them to become themselves.

And when someone else offers us the gift of their true selves, and we do not shun their difference or pressure them to erase their difference, but accept the gift as it is, as they are, then we, too, become more free.

So may it be. So may we do.

Worship leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Worship Associate: Steven Mashin

Special music: Veronika Agranov-Dafoe, piano, Dan Schatz, guitar

Follow along in the order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20210314

Follow along in the order of service, bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20210307.

Worship leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Worship Associate: Barbara Schonborn

Special music: Season of Us

Worship leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Special music: Veronika Agranov-Dafoe, piano

Follow along in the order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20210228

Worship leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Special music: Veronika Agranov-Dafoe

Follow along in the order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20210214

Worship leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Special music: Dawn and Mark Walker, flute and cello

Follow along in the order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20210207

You heard the reflection, now hear the sermon: on how disability rights activists in this country both influenced and inherited the movement for African-American civil rights, and led themselves and everyone to greater liberation. Amy was unable to be at the January 17 service and so continues this thrilling story today. If you missed it too, take it in before this morning’s service (Thida Cornes’s reflection begins at 20:48): https://youtu.be/e7D_Ry_xC3k?t=1248

The music and other elements, like the sermon, will be new.

Follow along in the order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20210131

Worship leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Special music: Veronika Agranov-Dafoe, piano

By highly unofficial survey, of the seven principles that we affirm and promote as a member congregation of the Unitarian Universalist Association, number four, “A free and responsible search for truth and meaning,” is the favorite. Today we delve into what this freedom and responsibility mean, at a particularly acute moment for our country.

Worship leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Special music: Ihang Lin, piano

Photo by Brandon Mowinkel on Unsplash

Follow along in the order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20210124

Sermon:

Do you know the song that’s in our hymnal that goes: (sings) “I wish I knew how it would feel to be free. I wish I could break all these chains holding me,” and then this great, enigmatic line,

“I wish I could say all the things I could say.” It raises so many questions. What are these things that I could say? And why can’t I say them?

What is keeping us from saying the things that we could say if we were free? Sometimes it’s an actual danger. Sometimes we are at no physical risk, yet there’s something else making us feel as if we can’t speak what is in our hearts . . . Or maybe we don’t even know yet what we want to say, and we won’t be able to say it until we do know it.

And to turn the question around: what would help us to say what we could say? What would make us safer, braver, wiser . . . more free?

One thing we do to help ourselves along is come here: to explore, to discover what we think, to discover what we believe is true and to what we want to commit ourselves.

Compelled by longing, we come here we seek out practices and people that will help us to be free and to say what is in our hearts.

When I gave a version of this sermon several years ago, I was thinking mostly of internal congregational practices. But last week, as I searched for a sermon that would bear repeating, this one caught my eye because its theme also resonates with our country’s struggles. All year, during the pandemic; and for many years, as our political and economic systems have shifted; and really, for the entire history of this country, we have posed the question: how does it feel to be free? What does freedom mean?

You may know that Unitarian Universalist congregations promise each other that they will affirm and promote seven principles. In an extremely informal survey of Unitarian Universalists, the favorite of these principles is the fourth. The middle one. I’m tempted to say, therefore, the hub around which all the others revolve, although honestly, one could make that argument for any of the seven . . . In any case, we like it. It is “a free and responsible search for truth and meaning.”

If we were in our Main Hall, I’d urge you to take a wallet card of the principles from our pamphlet rack. Instead, I’ve put them at the end of the order of service so you can print them out if you want to keep them handy. I know somebody who keeps a little stack of them by the front door so that when somebody comes and tries to give her their religious literature, such as the Watchtower, she agrees to take theirs if they’ll take hers. I guess we’re not seeing a lot of door-to-door proselytizing at the moment.

In this fourth principle, there are at least four words of such richness that we could ponder them together for a long time: truth; meaning; free; responsible. Today I’m talking just about those last two, because the interaction between them is so interesting.

Those who drafted the principles and the General Assembly that approved them, some 35 years ago, clearly believed that our quest needed to involve both freedom and responsibility.

Responsibility without freedom sounds like a kind of imprisonment. Servitude without reward. Our religious ancestors, and many of us personally, left behind doctrines and dogmas that bound us to “shalts” and “shalt nots” without giving us the freedom that we sought in return. To give up that hard-won freedom would be a betrayal of the human spirit’s longing to explore, just as to give up the freedoms on which our country was founded would be to once again put ourselves under the rule of a king. Without the freedom to search for the truth, how would we make the discoveries by which we create meaningful lives?

And freedom without responsibility would be mere license. That might seem more tempting. But Howard Thurman, one of the great preachers and spiritual leaders of the 20th century, warned against it. He wrote, “There is a medley of confusion as to the meaning of personal freedom. For some it means to function without limitations at any point, to be able to do what one wants to do, and without hindrance. This is the fantasy of many minds, particularly those that are young. For others, personal freedom is to be let alone; to be protected against any force that may move into the life with a swift and decisive imperative. For still others, it means to be limited in one’s  power over others only by one’s own strength, energy, and perseverance.

“The meaning of personal freedom,” he continues, “is found in none of these. They lack precious ingredients: a core of discipline and inner structure, without which personal freedom is a delusion.”

Freedom and responsibility, it seems, are partners. Freedom and what Thurman refers to as “discipline”—which was actually the word in an earlier statement of our principles, the first one after the Unitarians and Universalists merged. When the new UUs wrote up their commitments, one was “To strengthen one another in a free and disciplined search for truth.”

A great spiritual and philosophical movement arose in the crucible of Unitarianism of the early 19th century: Transcendentalism. Some of you have been learning about it from the Reverend John Buehrens, and it’s possible that he has a very different take on some of the things I’m about to say, which would be great. Part of what I’m talking about is exactly that kind of give and take.

If you aren’t taking the class and aren’t familiar with the term “Transcendentalism,” cast your mind back to your high school English class. If you read anything by Ralph Waldo Emerson or Henry David Thoreau, you were learning about this early Unitarian school of thought.

The Transcendentalists promoted the conviction that each individual spirit could access the deepest truth and meaning of life. They, like Unitarians in general, like many of us today, were rebelling against traditions that held them down in dogmatism and conformity. To declare the    doctrine, “Obey thyself” (Emerson: Divinity School Address), was to declare an ultimate independence from religious authorities, governmental authorities, the guidance of tradition, and anything else if it conflicted with the murmurings of conscience. And that was a very important move forward for freedom.

And of course, it is epitomized in Emerson’s possibly most famous essay, “Self-Reliance,” which includes statements like this.

“I must be myself. I cannot break myself any longer for you, or you”;

“Nothing can bring you peace but yourself”; and even,

“We must go alone.”

His friend Thoreau wrote, in Walden, “I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.”

And yet, this was not the whole picture of freedom for the Transcendentalists. They nurtured various practices to aid the search for truth and meaning, some of which were quite solitary, such as journal keeping or simply being alone with one’s thoughts. But other Transcendentalist practices to help us discover meaning and truth were, and are, the opposite of solitary. One of the most important of these is conversation.

The Transcendentalist who perhaps demonstrated most energetically the importance of conversation in the search for meaning and truth was somebody whose works you probably didn’t read in your high school English class: Margaret Fuller. Fuller was born in 1810 and lived only 40 years before she and her family died in a shipwreck just off the coast of New York, within sight of Fire Island. But in that brief lifetime, she accomplished a tremendous amount to shape both Transcendentalism and the life of the mind in our country.

She was editor of The Dial, the Transcendentalist journal that put forth many of these thinkers’ ideas. She wrote the book Woman in the Nineteenth Century, which had a significant effect on the movement for women’s rights. She was a journalist, a book reviewer, a revolutionary, and all around, one of the foremost public intellectuals of her time. And she developed salons that she called simply “Conversations”: forums for discussing literature, art, philosophy, history, social problems with seriousness and purpose.

Now there was an explicitly feminist project to this. She wanted to provide an opportunity for women, and she specifically invited women into these conversations. Many were for women only. Most women of the time were flat-out denied formal and higher education. Most of the men in her circle went to Harvard College, which would not begin admitting women for another hundred years; the great women’s colleges were only just beginning to be founded; and most families that valued formal education for their young men saw no reason for young women to receive the same opportunities. To make up for this lack, Fuller could have created a lecture series. She could have compiled a list of great books that they ought to absorb, or arranged for tutors to catch them up with the Harvard-educated men. But she didn’t create those solitary forms of exploration. She created conversations.

To this day, that’s a major purpose of our religious communities, a reason to form a congregation: to nurture opportunities to carry out our search via conversation. Adult Religious Education, Children and Youth Religious Education, women’s and men’s groups, the Forum, Brown Bag Books, the patio after services—any place that a few people gather to converse: these don’t just meet our needs for social or emotional or intellectual connection, though they do all of that. They are ways that we help each other along the paths that lead to truth and meaning.

The pandemic has posed a particular challenge to gathering, and so we’ve worked hard to help groups move to online forums and create other ones, such as Dan’s Wednesday evening conversations about a wide range of religious issues, the Sacred Text Reading Group, and after each Sunday service, the main “room” where those who wish to dig into the topic of the service can do that together.

Whether or not you regularly participate in one of these small groups, being a part of this community is to be in conversation. The salon is open. And to anyone looking for meaning and truth, ethical guidance or deep thought, I recommend choosing one of these gatherings, or two or three. Conversation is fun and interesting, yes, but more than that: it demonstrates why we need both freedom and responsibility; it gives us both freedom and responsibility; and it just might be the saving of the soul of our nation.

I’m such a big promoter of small groups because of my own experience within them. So I’d like to give you a little peek into one I’ve belonged to for many years. This one is called Women’s R&R, it meets monthly, and it is made up of Unitarian Universalist clergy who identify as female. I think the initials initially stood for reading and reflection, or maybe rest and relaxation; another thing one of those r’s could stand for would be responsibility, for three reasons:

We make a commitment to each other.

We proclaim a responsibility to ourselves.

And we take seriously our accountability to the truth.

In the commitment to each other, we promise that we’ll make participation a priority, we’ll do our preparation of reading and thinking, and we’ll share the time for talking so that everyone has time to speak and to listen reflectively. And we promise to proactively invite in every female UU minister who moves into the area; the last line of our covenant is “The more the merrier!”

These aren’t always easy responsibilities. There are months that that Monday rolls around and I just don’t feel like I have the time. But I promised. And it’s important for me to be there for myself and others, so I have rarely missed a session.

The responsibility to ourselves comes into play in our promise to be honest and vulnerable and risk being our whole and real selves with each other. Anyone can show up and talk and listen for two hours and barely let the conversation touch her soul. But if we accept the responsibly to engage with that honesty, vulnerability, and authenticity, then we will be transformed.

And being our real selves means accepting that we have a responsibility to the truth. To think hard. To question our discoveries and dig deeper. To find the words to express what we learn, and be willing to change our minds because of what others say, when what they say seems to us to be more true than what we believed before.

Those are the responsibilities.

And there is tremendous freedom in this group as well. Because of these monthly gatherings, each of us goes places we could never have gone alone. Each of us makes discoveries that we did not make until the sparkling light of that conversation illuminated something new.

Now, you can see how responsibility is important in the search for truth. When you have to articulate your ideas to somebody else, when you have to show that they have some reason behind them, well, that helps you to clarify your own thoughts. That’s a kind of responsibility and accountability that a group helps us to muster.

There’s also accountability in the search for meaning that takes a gentler form: the form of support. For example, one of the functions of such a group is that its members can bring troubles and sorrows to the circle. When you are trying to find meaning in the midst of a loss, the circle of community helps by listening and caring, and–by example, more than by words–reminding you that grief is not the final word. That too is a kind of responsibility to which a group holds its members, and therefore they are able to hold one another when meaning is hard to find.

So freedom and responsibility balance each other. Yes.

But as you may already be beginning to hear in these examples, there’s something still more complex, more intertwined, about these two values, and that is that there is no true freedom without responsibility. That’s not because of anyone’s rules. It’s just how freedom works.

Let me give you a couple of examples.

Ihang (Lin, today’s guest musician) and I are equally free to play Chopin. Nobody is stopping us either one of us. And while one of us may have more innate talent than the other, I’m sure either of us could become competent at it.

But only the one who has put in the discipline, as Howard Thurman said–who has taken responsibility–is actually free to play that glorious music. It’s not enough to be free; only the one who has also been responsible can make good on that desire. (It’s not me.)

Another example:

In the resources I give to people planning a wedding are various phrases to say as they exchange rings. One is “With this ring I consecrate myself to you, and you to me, to be bound and freed by our love.” Why bound and freed? Bound because the love between people restricts and restrains them. When you are in a relationship with someone, whether it’s a marriage or a friendship or a book group, you are accepting certain responsibilities. You can’t just say whatever comes into your head. you have committed to be kind and honest. You can’t just do whatever you feel like doing. When you’re married, you’re bound by a promise to consider your partner’s needs in deciding where to live, what jobs to pursue, even what to do that evening. Decisions that you used to make without consulting anybody but yourself, are now decisions that include someone else. Marriage binds us. All relationships do.

And we are also freed by our relationships. Will you take a moment right now to reflect on a relationship that makes you happy? . . . . There is something that you have learned only because of this relationship. Or a memory that makes you laugh that came about only through this relationship. No wonder that, as you think about this relationship, your heart soars. It’s like the lines in that hymn: “I wish I could be like a bird in the sky / How sweet it would be if I found I could fly.”

Here’s the thing: that freedom comes not in spite of being bound to each other, not in spite of this relationship’s asking so much of you, but because of those responsibilities.

It is the commitment we make to others–to a baby, to a spouse, to a circle of friends, to a group of people at the church, to anyone to whom we have promised: yes, I will be there, and for whom we keep that promise–it is that commitment that makes it possible to discover aspects of ourselves and vistas of life that were formerly hidden.

Reverend Howard Thurman was right again: “There can be no personal freedom where there is not an initial personal surrender.”

“There can be no personal freedom where there is not an initial personal surrender.”

Sustaining any relationship entails a certain amount of surrender. Sometimes a lot, sometimes a little. But that surrender is invaluable, because there is so much about ourselves, about life, that we learn through our relationships, and only through our relationships. The relationships open up a greater landscape to explore. What’s more, we often learn the most from the relationships that bind us the closest–that ask the greatest commitment of us. They are not prisons or traps; they are grounded in mutual respect and care; but that respect and that care require a lot from us. When we give them, we gain greater freedom.

That is why those who insist that the freest country is the one that asks the least of us have it all wrong. We have obligations to one another: in the way we act, in the sacrifices we agree to make, in the rules by which we impose restraints and responsibilities on ourselves, from the country’s constitution on down to the Board of Education by-laws. The Congress is only the people’s house if we respect it; if we acknowledge our responsibility toward it. Without those, it isn’t anyone’s house. It’s a ruin. There isn’t much freedom in living in a ruin, nor even in ruling over one.

That is why we say in the covenant of this congregation, our mutual promises: that we commit to making it everything that we want it to be. That is a serious responsibility. The more we fulfill that commitment, the broader and deeper and wilder and richer and more complex will be the environment we create here, and our freedom will grow.

I hope that our national conversation, our congregational conversations, all of our relationships and the interchange we find there, call us all into responsibility and free us to fly to heights we did not even know were possible. So may it be.

Disability rights activists in this country are both precursors to and inheritors of the movement for African-American civil rights. In casting off the restraints of pity and protectiveness, people with disabilities have led themselves and others to greater liberation. We’ll hear a small piece of this history today.

Follow along in the order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20210117

Worship leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Worship Associate: Thida Cornes

Special music: Veronika Agranov-Dafoe, piano

Video of the entire service with copyrighted and private information redacted:

Our limitations don’t usually feel like a gift. But today we’ll hear some stories about surprising things that have happened in situations of difficult and unwanted constraints. Our guest preacher, Rev. Darcy Baxter, is in her seventh year of serving as the minister at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Stanislaus County, in the Central Valley. She is a third generation Unitarian Universalist, a reproductive justice activist, and a committed novice dancer. She also parents 3 year old Sammy, serves on the UUA Panel for Theological Education and serves on the Board of California’s Essential Access Health.

Follow along in the order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20210110.

Worship leader: Rev. Darcy Baxter

Worship Associate: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Join the service via Zoom: zoom.us/j/485021387. The password is available on UUCPA’s outgoing voicemail message, 650-494-0541 and is included in the weekly update emails. To watch services live on our Facebook page visit: facebook.com/uucpa/live.

Such a wonderful invention: the opportunity to undo something we have done and suddenly regret. What’s past may be prologue to the future, but we still have the power to rewrite. What would you like to do a little differently in your own life? What shall we do differently as a country and community?

The YouTube player below plays the video of the entire service with copyrighted and private information redacted.

Follow along in the order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20210103

The audio player above plays the audio podcast of the sermon only. The YouTube player below plays the video of the entire service with copyrighted and private information redacted.

Follow along in the order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20201227

We know that we Unitarian Universalists are a church of many beliefs. But we are also a church of many cultures and sensibilities. We may feel magnanimous in accepting those who believe differently–can we do likewise for those who do their hair differently, or eat differently, or beautify differently? Unitarian Universalism is already thriving in cultures beyond the United States, and we welcome one of its international leaders back to our pulpit this morning.

Worship leader: Rev. Tet Gallardo, President and Executive Minister, Unitarian Universalist Church of the Philippines

Worship Associate: Brian Weller

Special music: Margaret Davis and Kristoph Klover, harp and acoustic guitar

The audio player above plays the audio podcast of the sermon only. The YouTube player below plays the video of the entire service with copyrighted and private information redacted.

Follow along in the order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20201213.

Holidays are a time for traditions, and by nature, we humans are tradition creators and sustainers. But what if we can’t practice our usual traditions this year? What if a loss has made once-happy traditions feel sad? What if no one handed any traditions down to us? Examples abound of how people have dealt with those challenges, so we’ll see how we can enrich our own connection to the past, other people, and the sources of meaning through repeated and treasured practices. You’re especially encouraged to have your own chalice or candle on hand for us to light together. And we resume a much-missed congregational tradition: the choir sings three new pieces!

Worship leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Special music: The UUCPA Adult Choir and Veronika Agranov-Dafoe, piano

photo by Christopher Myers, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The audio player above plays the audio podcast of the sermon only. The YouTube player below plays the video of the entire service with copyrighted and private information redacted.

We welcome Christmas, live-streamed from our beloved sanctuary, with stories, carols and special music, and candles. Come sing the familiar songs that are always powerful, and experience the magic of candlelight in the darkness, as we receive the message of a love without limits or conditions.

Follow along in the order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20201224.

Christmas carol words and music: bit.ly/uucpa_xmas_carols

Please have a candle at the ready! Note to members that candles and other items are available for pickup in advance.

Worship leaders: Revs. Amy Zucker Morgenstern & Dan Harper

Special music: Elizabeth Russ, soprano

Veronika Agranov-Dafoe, piano

The UUCPA Adult Choir

Jane Chronis, Florence Haas, Richard Heydt, Robert Neff, and Mayo Tsuzuki

Reader: Steven Mashin

The order of service is at: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20201206

Whether we call ourselves believers or not, most of us have a god we don't believe in--what others believe (or we think they believe) that shapes our own attitudes. That can be quite restrictive, because in the abundance of gods we have imagined, we have addressed many different human needs. So today, we'll hear about different kinds of gods. Maybe some other god-ideas are knocking at the door of our hearts, offering a new way of seeing the world. Since it's Posadas season, maybe someone else will knock at the door as well.

Worship leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Special music: Eric Leong, violin, and Dmitriy Cogan, piano

Vocal quartet: Matt Rosin, Melissa Thomson, Bruce Olstad, and Amy Morgenstern

Special appearance: Beth Nord and Steve Ludington

Once a year, the high-school-age members of UUCPA lead a service and always have great insights into the world around us. Today they offer leadership on ways to manage during trying times.

Follow along in the order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20201129.

Worship leaders: Sarah, Emma, Aarav, Vivi, and other members and advisors of the Senior High Youth Group

Special music: Dawn Reyen, piano

Follow along in the order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20201122.

Our intergenerational Thanksgiving service comes at a tough time. The story The Table Where Rich People Sit, by Byrd Baylor and Peter Parnall, offers a way to think about our lives when we don't have everything we want. With that story and a special performance from Greg Becker and Kris Geering, plus more adventures of Possum and friends and lots of beautiful music, we'll literally count up our blessings and see how we're doing.

Worship leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Special music: Veronika Agranov-Dafoe, piano

There is no morning Sunday school today. Families should attend the online Family check-in gathering at 9:45. am

Not only individuals, but families and communities, carry secrets within themselves. The secrets are protected by silence, and shame guards them like a fierce dog. But there are ways to pass safely into the vault and release the secrets, if we want to be free of them.

Worship leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Special music: Jim Stevens, folk singer

Follow along in the order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20201115

How do we move forward together as such a divided nation? How do we proceed "with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right," in Abraham Lincoln's words, while also striving for unity? The Braver Angels organization, which spins its name from another of Lincoln's phrases, urges us to imagine and create a nation that does not let its deep differences tear it apart. Our own Healing the Divide group strives for the same, using some of Braver Angels' resources. And yet there are voices within our own Unitarian Universalist communities that question whether unity is even compatible with the freedom, equality and justice we faithfully seek.

In advance of the service, Amy invites you to consider carefully the "With Malice Toward None" pledge proposed by Braver Angels, and sign it if your conscience calls you to do so.

Worship leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Worship Associate: Mary Grebenkemper

Special music: Veronika Agranov-Dafoe, piano

Follow along in the order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20201108

Photo by Joshua Ness on Unsplash

Chalice Lighting                    by the Rev. Christian Schmidt                

This is a call to worship for the joyful, the brokenhearted, the fearful, the exhausted.

For whatever you are feeling right now, may this be a place for you to find what you need. You are welcome here, in this gathering where we come to feed our souls, heal our hurts, and just be together.

For too long now, we have experienced the things that divide us: poverty and oppression, unjust laws and policies, violence and imprisonment.

We cannot fix these in a day, or even a year, but we can fix them and we must. Because we know that despite divisions, despite the triumphs or defeats of candidates and parties, our destinies, all of them, remain deeply intertwined.

Liberation must be for all people if it is truly liberation. As long as one soul suffers needlessly, we cannot rest. As long as our planet screams out in pain, so will all who live on her.

So for all the feelings, the emotions, the pains and hurts, the joy and celebration, you have in your heart and body and mind today, you are welcome here.

Here may you find rest and renewal, partners for the journey, time to contemplate and energy for action.

Let us worship.

Centering Words                        by the Rev. Sue Phillips          

Creating beloved community is messy, gritty, fearsome, and hard.

This is the time we have been practicing for.

The only faithful response to this moment of extraordinary division is to show ourselves and our communities that another way is possible. The antidote to polarizing fear is love.  The antidote to alienating isolation is connection.

My friends, we were made for this work. And now we have to actually do it.

Reading                    by Bruce Olstad       

My father and I had a difficult relationship from the time I was a child through his passing in 2011. I don’t think either of us ever understood the other. I do know we loved each other, each in the way that was possible for us. But for a time in my adulthood, and for a good number of the years since he passed, I was content to remember only the difficult things about him…. 

But now, looking back, I find that there were many truths about life and about living he tried to show me along our way, for better or worse. And I find myself wanting to hold a more integrated version of him.…

This has been a difficult time in our nation. Many of us (myself included) have been, are, too willing to not see the things about ‘the other side’ that are true, and positive, and connected to our common humanity….This coping mechanism is understandable. . … But there will come another time soon, when we will have to pick up the threads of a more nuanced view and move forward.

There are things that will not be forgivable. Nor should they be. Returning to my father, for instance, I can not even say '....he never voted against my rights.' He absolutely did vote against my rights. And I doubt very much I will ever come to forgiveness on that point. But—and this is very important—I have come to a place of understanding and acceptance about it. I think this is the most we can expect of ourselves. An expectation, yes, but also an obligation—an obligation we have to each other, as individuals and as a nation….

…May we see it through together.

Reflection                  by Mary Grebenkemper

New York Times columnist David Brooks recently said, “We should be humble about generalizing across groups of people, especially people we’ve never met.”  Syndicated columnist Mark Shields quipped, “You can’t make generalizations about people you do know; you have to make generalizations about people you don’t know.”

Most of us do make generalizations about people, unless we catch ourselves.

With the heated polarization going on in our country, it’s easy for the amygdala part of our brains to get engaged for fighting, especially when we feel threatened.  Then we go into our separate tribes, demonizing other groups of people who don’t think, feel, or have the same goals as we.

I’m a member of our church’s Healing-the-Divide group. Yet, I found myself so frustrated by the continued ugliness between our polarized sides and events that trigger my anger that I almost quit several times.  Our group also has one big problem.  We are in a bubble with only our side of the divide represented.

Member Michael Abramson sent our group an email with a link to Braver Angels in the spring of 2020.  Several of us checked out online Zoom events through the Silicon Valley Alliance and the parent organization.  Recently our group gathered with Braver Angels from the opposing side in a Living Room Conversation, which was very productive.

I joined Braver Angels in June 2020 and made a personal commitment to stay with them even though I continue to struggle with frustration and anger triggers. I stay with them because Braver Angels is truly a group where Republican-leaning voters and Democratic-leaning voters come together and speak to one another respectfully, maintaining the dignity of the other person.  There is no agenda, no trying to change the other’s mind.

After the divisive 2016 election, co-founders David Blankenhorn, Bill Doherty, and David Lapp gathered Trump and Clinton supporters in South Lebanon, Ohio to see if Americans could disagree respectfully, and, perhaps, find common ground.  These co-leaders modeled and taught skills of Marriage and Family Counselors so participants could listen, hear, and understand without preparing retorts and to ask questions to learn without going for gotchas.  The workshop went so well that people from opposite sides became close friends even when they still disagreed with each other.  This group decided to take these workshops across the country, to depolarize our divided country, so they formed Better Angels, later changed to Braver Angels.

Braver Angels was inspired by the words of Abraham Lincoln who called on Americans to summon the “better angels” of our nature and find the courage to pursue a more perfect union “with malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right.”  Their programs include red/blue workshops, skills training classes, debates, and media promotion. 

Knowing that the 2020 election would be difficult for our country, Braver Angels planned a national event called “WITH MALICE TOWARD NONE,” calling on religious congregations and civic groups to take this to their communities.  It’s so easy to slip into gloating when one’s candidate has won an election, or to feel despondent or rage and seek revenge when one’s candidate has lost. “WITH MALICE TOWARD NONE” is designed to anticipate and ward off these reactions.  It is designed to comfort one another and to heal.  

To learn more about Braver Angels, go to https://braverangels.org/.

Sermon           With Malice Toward None        Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Weeks before the election, a member of the congregation made a request I could not refuse: that I look at the website of Braver Angels, the organization Mary just told us about, and consider their suggestions. These were to take their pledge and to dedicate the first service to the process of reaching out to those who wanted a different outcome from the presidential election.

In congregations more evenly divided than ours, this means having these conversations among their members. Things are harder for them and easier for them. Harder because they had to go into their sacred spaces this weekend knowing that they were giving thanks for the outcome among beloveds who were grieving it, or that they were bringing their grief and despair to their spiritual community as others were singing “hallelujah” for the same events. Easier because they must face bravely a conflict that more homogenous congregations can pretend is not there. More homogenous congregations can say that’s a problem for another time, another place—one’s neighborhood or family gatherings or the op ed pages—but church should be a comfortable place.

Well, as you’ve heard before from this pulpit, church isn’t supposed to be comfortable. We celebrate together here, yes, we hold each other’s sorrows here, we comfort each other, but we also, with love and respect, challenge each other. And maybe one day after the outcome of the election is too soon for you to accept a challenge. Maybe right now you need to simply be with your response to this election and not engage with others whose response is diametrically different. If so, please just tuck my thoughts away for another time when feelings are not running so high.

The pledge, taken from Lincoln’s Inaugural, is called “With Malice Toward None.” That in itself seems like a pretty low bar. I mean . . . malice. Malice is “the desire to cause pain, injury, or distress; the intent to cause harm without legal justification or excuse.” Okay. I think we can manage that. Or, on the principle that feelings are amoral and it’s only our actions that we must govern, we may even feel a rush of desire to cause our political opposites distress, as long as we don’t act on it.

I note that even Lincoln was not such an angel in his powerful Second Inaugural Address (which I encourage you to read—it is only six paragraphs long, a masterpiece of writing and statesmanship). For the most part, his speech is a call for healing, even as the war rages on. But there’s one line that is a tour de force of passive-aggression.

Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes his aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces; but let us judge not, that we be not judged.

I believe my Generation Z child would say at this moment: “Burn!”

So let us strive to set aside our snark. And ask, in all sincerity, the question: How do we move forward together as a country? I think we can agree that we have not done so very effectively in the last four divided years. Can we do better?

And what does moving forward together even mean? Here are some things it does not mean, in my book:

It does not mean: Agreeing on everything. Dissent and disagreement are part of any serious political conversation, and no country can keep progressing without them.

It does not mean: Compromising on everything. Politics is the art of compromise, but each of us may have (I hope we do have) some non-negotiable items.

It does not mean: Ceasing the struggle for justice. We keep working for what we believe to be right

It does not mean: Refraining from opposing our neighbors’ wishes. Following our consciences means that we may be working toward different aims. That is good and proper.

It does not mean: Accommodating our opponents so much that we cause harm to the oppressed, nor pressuring the oppressed to tolerate yet more harm from a country that has devalued them for so long.

It does not mean: Denying the harm that has been done.

We must acknowledge that the decisions that lie before us are life or death. People on different parts of the political spectrum would say, life and death:

So, if the stakes are so high and moving together does not mean setting aside these life-and-death concerns, what does it mean? What is the aim of Braver Angels? In my own words, I would say:

It means listening.

It means asking genuine questions rather than assuming what people believe or lecturing them on what they must believe.

It means treating one another with dignity and respect—and please note that respect, here, is an action, not a feeling. We need not respect someone’s beliefs in order to treat the person respectfully.

It means speaking for ourselves, not for anyone else,

And it means asking our conversation partners to speak for themselves, and not concluding that they speak for “all evangelicals,” “all black people,” “all Trump voters,” etc.

It means unbundling the convictions that we imagine are all one package, and acknowledging that they might not always go together. Bible-believing Christian does not equal narrow-minded does not equal anti-gay does not equal authoritarian parent does not equal disregarder of facts does not equal Republican. Atheist does not equal narrow-minded does not equal permissive parent does not equal anti-abortion does not equal rule-breaker does not equal disregarder of facts does not equal Democrat.

It’s a tightrope walk, all right. As David Blankenhorn, one of the founders of Braver Angels, wrote on Election Day,

Most voters in both parties believe that America is seriously threatened by bad actors. Most of us even view this risk as close to existential: If the wrong side wins the election, “America will not recover.”

In such dire circumstances, should I compromise with what I view as an ultimate danger? Should I seek to reach understandings and split differences with those who would cripple, perhaps permanently, the America I know and love? Surely a plausible and morally defensible answer to these questions is “no.”

In fact, we see this “no” all around us today.  A progressive friend tells me that, as an African American, he has no interest in seeking common ground with people whose views threaten his life. 

A conservative friend tells me that it’s worse than pointless to seek accommodations with people who would take away basic American freedoms. . . .

In one of Samuel Beckett’s [works], the character says, “I can’t go on, I will go on.” Can both things even be possible? 

(“Whether Biden or Trump wins, Americans will face hard work to unite after the election,” published 11/3/20, accessed 11/8/20)

--Blankenhorn asks. I don’t know how we do it either. But I know why we must.

We can narrow our circle of friends to those we agree with. We can subtly or not-so-subtly let opponents know that they don’t belong in our congregations. We can refuse to talk to Uncle Harold. We can even talk about seceding, or urging other states to.

But where does this all lead, in the end? We are here, together. We share a country, and if we no longer shared a country, we would share a planet.

Look at the countries that have chosen division and see how that has worked out. Maybe for some it has, but others have ended up as the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, each sunk in its bunker, firing at the other. Or as India and Pakistan. Or as Israel and the Palestinian territories. Our opponents don’t go away just because we stop trying to talk to them.

And where do radical solutions leave the minority? My sister in New Orleans says Louisiana needs states like California helping to push the country in another direction, so please, California, don’t leave. No doubt many conservative Californians would make the same argument against the former Confederate states: please, Louisiana, stay!

Our fates are intertwined. And against all odds, we decided to form one nation, one government. After a civil war ripped it apart, we knitted it back together, sloppily and without sufficient regard for justice or peace. We’re still working on doing it better.

As Blankenhorn says, “Democracy is government by talk. The goal is to keep the conversation going, even when doing so seems pointless, too painful to bear or likely to produce outcomes that many view as intolerable. Alternatives to government by talk do exist, but none are democratic alternatives.”

Can we hold that, just that, as the goal?: to keep the conversation going? Not to convince each other, not even to understand each other, but simply, in the words of the pledge, “to seek to understand” others’ “concerns and aspirations”? For that, we must be in conversation: speaking honestly and listening openheartedly.

I have spoken before of my deeply conservative friend A. I am sorry to say she really is the only one—the only good friend I have who has a radically different political view to mine. I think this is a failing on my part. But there it is, and we start where we are. I knew that signing this pledge and writing this sermon were not the hard part, for me. The hard part is the conversation. The conversation I was afraid to have was with A.

So I wrote to her, sharing the Braver Angels guide to one-to-one Red/Blue conversations, and proposing that we have them. By e-mail, phone, or Zoom, as she chooses, since we live many hundreds of miles apart. They are quite structured, which may seem stilted for people who have known each other for years, but they guide the participants through a difficult conversation. After all, none of our political conversations have shed much light on each other’s concerns and aspirations in all those years. They’ve generated a lot of heat, but not much light. So we could use the guidance.

Braver Angels sets up these conversations between strangers, and that would be fascinating too, but I wanted to start with my friend. For us to ask each other questions such as these, and listen without cross-talk to the answers:

• What life experiences have influenced your values and beliefs about politics and public policy? 
• Why do you think your side’s values and policies are good for the country? 
• What are your reservations or concerns about your own side?
• What did you learn about the other person’s political perspective, and did you see anything in common? (“1-1 Red-Blue Conversations Guide,” accessed 11/8/20)

This is the Braver Angels pledge. “Regardless of how the election turns out, I will not hold hate, disdain, or ridicule for those who voted differently from me. Whether I am pleased or upset about the outcome, I will seek to understand the concerns and aspirations of those who voted differently and will look for opportunities to work with people with whom I disagree.” I urge you to consider this pledge, wrestle with it, and whether or not you can sign on to every word in it, to seek out those opportunities.

Let me leave you with one little example of how.

When Mary and I went to the With Malice Toward None orientation, I was multitasking. As I watched the Zoom orientation, I had my cellphone in my hand, and I was sending texts to voters in voter-suppression states. I was working as hard as I could for the victory of the candidate I thought was right for our country. It felt like just the right balance that Lincoln urged upon us. On the one hand, to carry on our struggle for justice, “With firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right”—to act upon our convictions as we are guided by conscience. And at the same time, precisely the same time, to seek to engage with those whose consciences pit them against us. To passionately strive for the right as we see it, while staying in the conversation with those who see it otherwise, treating them as people with dignity and worth.

We can’t go on. We’ll go on.

So may we do.

Chalice Extinguishing                      by Marianne Williamson     

"In every community, there is work to be done. In every nation, there are wounds to heal. In every heart, there is the power to do it." 

Follow along in the order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20201101

Rev. Millie Phillips, Worship leader

Jane Chronis, Worship Associate

Special music: Four Shillings Short

Worship Leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Special music: Veronika Agranov-Dafoe, piano.

Follow along in the order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20201025

Join via Zoom video: zoom.us/j/485021387 (password required) or instead, watch the service live on our Facebook page: facebook.com/uucpa.

Worship Leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Special music: Kris Yenney, cello

Follow along in the order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20201018

Follow along in the order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20201011

Three key moments from the service: Rev. Ranwa Hammamy's reflection begins at 15:30; Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray's homily begins at 27:00; and the video about four women who have helped us all to UU the vote at UUCPA begins at 42:35.

Worship Leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Special music by Ruth Huber, singer / pianist.

Follow along in the order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20201004

Text of Amy's Homily:

Worship Leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Special Music: Veronika Agranov-Dafoe, piano

Follow along in the order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20200927.

Worship Leader: Zr. Alex Kapitan

Worship Associate: Matt Rosin

Special Music: Karen Van Dyke, flute

Follow along in the order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20200920

The Justice Partner for September 2020, as chosen by the congregation at the annual meeting, is Hotel de Zink.  On Sunday, the entire offering collection will be donated to them.

Zr. Alex Kapitan is a lay community minister, a trans and queer lifelong UU, co-leader of the Transforming Hearts Collective, and founder of the project Radical Copyeditor. Alex worked for many years at the UUA’s national office supporting Welcoming Congregation, anti-racism, and social justice projects, and now does interfaith LGBTQ work and supports congregations in becoming places of radical welcome for all. Ze lives in western Massachusetts with a menagerie of furry and feathered friends.

Matt Rosin, who formerly served three years as a Worship Associate, returns to that role today. He is one of the Welcoming Congregation team that is bringing the Trans Experience and Spirituality seminar, and the Transgender Inclusion in Congregations course created by Alex and Rev. Mykal O'Neal Slack, to UUCPA later this month.

Photo by Belinda Fewings on Unsplash

Worship Leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Special music: Veronika Agranov-Dafoe

Follow along in the order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20200913

Join via Zoom video: zoom.us/j/485021387 (password required) or instead, watch the service live on our Facebook page: facebook.com/uucpa.

Worship Leader: Prashant Billore

Worship Associate: Aarav Billore

Follow along in the order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20200906

Photo by Benjamin Balázs on Unsplash

During the ritual in the August 30 service, waters and words that were shared earlier will be poured into the communal bowl. Please also have a glass of water on hand when the service begins in order to join in another part of the ceremony.

Follow along in the order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20200830

And now, a question for you. What is something you were taught at a very early age that you still live by and value? Our answers will send our children to school with wisdom and love.

Worship leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Special music: Larry Chinn, jazz piano

Follow along in the order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20200823

Worship leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Special music: Veronika Agranov-Dafoe

The Justice Partner for August is Abilities United, which has merged with Gatepath and is now called Ability Path.  The offering today will be donated to this justice partner. 

Follow along in the order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20200816

Worship leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Special music: Veronika Agranov-Dafoe, piano

Follow along in the order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20200802

Photo by Ilya Mirnyy on Unsplash (firefighter)

Photo by Benjamin Suter on Unsplash (thank you)

Photo by Creators Collective on Unsplash (giving blood)

Worship leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Special Music: The Aurora Singers

Follow along in the order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20200726

A note about this week's special music: Special music this week is performed virtually by the Aurora Chorus led by Dawn Reyen their choral director.  Aurora has been rehearsing at UUCPA Tuesday evenings for many years,  given many concerts in our Main Hall.  and several UUCPA members have sung regularly with them. In gratitude for being able to hold rehearsals at UUCPA, the Aurora Chorus annually performs special music at one of our July church services.  As they are not able to perform in person, they have put together 3 video selections sung by their choir members.  We are grateful for their generous contribution of time and music.

Worship leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Special music: Michael Peterson and Laura Rubinstein-Salze, Harpsichord and violin

Follow along in the order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20200809

Photo by Jeremy Manoto on Unsplash

Rev. Kimberley Debus is a community minister based in upstate New York, inspiring an artful and art-filled faith. She consults with congregations and religious professionals and provides sabbatical ministry support throughout the denomination. She has previously served at the Church of the Larger Fellowship as well as congregations on Long Island and Key West.

Worship leader: Rev. Kimberley Debus

Special music: The Season of Us, jazz flute/guitar duo

Follow along in the order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20200719

Worship Leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Special music: Veronika Agranov-Dafoe, piano

Today's offering will be donated to the justice partner for July: California Clean Money Campaign. Nancy Neff will be the speaker.

Follow along in the order of service: https://bit.ly/3014pYs

Worship Leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Music: Margaret Davis, harp, and Kristoph Klover, acoustic guitar

Follow along in the order of service here: https://bit.ly/3isSkUl

Worship Leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Special music: Veronika Agranov-Dafoe, piano

The order of service is here: bit.ly/2NymtDt

The Flower Communion is an annual service in which we each bring a flower, create an altar full of bouquets, and end by each taking away a flower that another person brought. Founded in 1923 by Czech Unitarian minister Norbert Capek, this ritual was spread all over the United States through the leadership of his wife Maja, and is celebrated in most Unitarian Universalist congregations to this day.

We may not be able to smell and hold the flowers, but we will still have a service full of blooms on June 21: dozens upon dozens of photos of flowers we have seen in our gardens, neighborhoods, vases, parks, and shared with one another.

Worship Leaders: Revs. Amy Zucker Morgenstern and Dan Harper

Special Music: Yuri Liberzon, Classical Guitar

The order of service is here: https://bit.ly/2NdwbuT

Worship leader: Rev. Stefanie Etzbach-Dale

Worship Associate: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Special music: Veronika Agranov-Dafoe, piano

The order of service is here: https://bit.ly/2MU9ko2