Sermons-First Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco

"The Stories We Tell" Sunday, January 5, 2025, 10:50 am Humans are storytellers, and stories have the power to influence us, for better or worse. Our affiliated community minister, Rev. Mille Phillips, will address what stories we tell ourselves or others. Do they empower us or hold us back? Which do we need to rewrite or retell? What stories do we need in 2025? Rev. Millie Phillips, Affiliated Community Minister; Santana Gonzalez-Gomez, Worship Associate; Stephen Cox, pianist; Jon Silk, drummer; Akané Ota, songleader Shulee Ong; Eric Shackelford; Francisco Castellanos; Eli Boshears, Camera Operators; Jonathan Silk, Communications Director; Thomas Brown, Jose Matias Pineda, and Francisco Castellanos, Sextons; Athena Papadakos, Flowers; Linda Messner, Head Usher

"Hanging of the Greens" Sunday, December 15, 2024 Join us for the annual Hanging of the Greens Service. This all-ages service has us begin together in the sanctuary and then move around the church, decorating garlands and wreaths and making pomanders, learning a winter song, and coming together at the end in that age-old ritual in pre-Christian Europe of bringing evergreens into the winter halls, a reminder that life continues through winter into spring. Come join the fun! Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister; Rev. Laura Shennum, Minister of Congregational Life; Eli Boshears, Worship Participant; Oriana Moren, Worship Participant; Calder Law, Worship Participant; Reiko Oda Lane, organist; UUSF Choir; Mark Sumner, director; Wm. García Ganz, pianist Shulee Ong, Camera Operator; Jonathan Silk, Communications Director; Thomas Brown, Jose Matias Pineda, and Francisco Castellanos, Sextons; Linda Messner, Head Usher

"How Do We Lead?" Sunday, December 8, 2024 Church has always been a place (and houses of worship in general) where the definition and understanding of how leadership shows up among us is broader and fuller than the world sometimes defines it. It's not so much that we loosen the definition but that we see so clearly how it takes so many different skills and gifts to make the whole of what we want to do together possible. This Sunday we will ask three leaders, in different tenures of leadership, to reflect on what calls them into the work and what they have learned and reflect on our own notion of and call to lead. The service is created and led with our Nominating Committee -- the group charged at UUSF not just of identifying leaders but equipping and developing and celebrating their leadership. Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister; Courtney Young-Law; Ruth Grace Wong; John Meliska; Linda Enger; Gino Fortunato, Emma Wakeling, Membership; Reiko Oda Lane, organist; UUSF Choir; Mark Sumner, director Shulee Ong; Eric Shackelford, Camera Operators; Jonathan Silk, Communications Director; Thomas Brown, Jose Matias Pineda, and Francisco Castellanos, Sextons; Amy Kelly, Flowers; Linda Messner, Head Usher

"Seeing Nature and Presence Through the Eyes of Robin Wall Kimmerer" Sunday, December 1, 2024, 10:50 am This sleepy Sunday of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend—one of the quietest times I know anymore (assuming you don't dive into Black Friday's melee)—is a great time to walk and wander with scientist, professor, mother, and member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Robin Wall Kimmerer.  Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister; Richard Davis-Lowell, Worship Associate; Rami Bar-Niv, pianist; Akané Ota, songleader; Wm. García Ganz, pianist Eric Shackelford, Camera Operator; Jonathan Silk, Communications Director; Thomas Brown, Jose Matias Pineda, Sextons; Amy Kelly, Flowers; Linda Messner, Head Usher