First Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco

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First Unitarian Universalist
Society of San Francisco

(415) 776-4580

1187 Franklin Street at Geary
San Francisco, CA 94109
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The Flame (homepage news) compiled and edited by
Galen Workman.

Archives of The Flame

Images of Mother (May 11, 2012)
Leap of Faith (May 4, 2012)
A Home for Love (April 27, 2012)
Climate Change? Personal Change? (April 20, 2012)
Contraception And Morality (April 13, 2012)
The True Resurrection (April 6, 2012)
Casa de Cambio (March 30, 2012)
Paying for Excellence (March 23, 2012)
On Friendship (March 16, 2012)
A Mission Born of Mystery: Why Unitarian Universalists Exist (March 9, 2012)
From Hopelessness to Hope (March 2, 2012)
Know Thy Self (February 24, 2012)
George Washington: The Che Guevara of Fairfax County, Virginia (February 17, 2012)
Charles Darwin and Contemporary Creation Myth (February 10, 2012)
Ecclesiological Update (February 3, 2012)
Four Paths, Four Yogas (January 27, 2012)
Breakthrough (January 20, 2012)
Our Eyes Have Seen the Glory (January 13, 2012)
Failing and Finding Your Way (January 6, 2012)
Don't Stop Building Your Theology (December 30, 2011)
Christmas Celebrations (December 23, 2011)
From Callithumpians to Pajama-Clad Tykes (December 15, 2011)
The Value of Ritual (December 9, 2011)
The Dream of the Diaspora (December 2, 2011)
Occupy Advent (November 25, 2011)
The Distrust, Breakthrough, Reconciliation, Gratitude: Thanksgiving In America (November 18, 2011)
Sources: A Unitarian Universalist Cantata (November 11, 2011)
Longings of the Heart -- Queries of the Mind (November 4, 2011)
An Intergenerational Day of the Dead Service (October 28, 2011)
The Goal of World Community with Peace, Liberty, and Justice For All (October 21, 2011)
Where the Theology Meets the Road (October 14, 2011)
Love is as Love Does (October 7, 2011)
Four Components of a Healthy Church (September 30, 2011)
What's So Funny? (September 23, 2011)
The Common Good: What's In It for Me? (September 16, 2011)
Homecoming (September 9, 2011)
Come and Grow Old With Me (September 2 ,2011)
Gain the World, Lose Your Soul? (August 26, 2011)
Overcoming Obstacles, Detours, and Set-backs on the Road to One's Dreams (August 19, 2011)
Covenant (August 12, 2011)
The Art & Practice of Ministry (August 5,2011)
Architecture of the Soul (July 29, 2011)
What is Eco-Theology? (July 22, 2011)
Blessing the World (July 15, 2011)
The Goddess (July 8, 2011)
Radical Reformation, Right Now in Our Time (July 1, 2011)
Enriching Our Lives With Ritual (June 24, 2011)
Drag Kings, Divas, and other Shamans: A San Francisco PRIDE Service (June 17, 2011)
Grace, Holiness, and Beauty (June 10, 2011)
Wrestling with Angels (June 3, 2011)
A Man as Divine as Myself (May 27, 2011)
Come to the Coming of Age Service (May 20, 2011)
If Life is like a Rollercoaster, Where Do I Buy My Ticket-or Not! (May 13, 2011)
Parting Glances (May 6, 2011)
Healing From the Heart (April 29, 2011)
Stirring To be Awakened (April 22, 2011)
A Light on the Hill (April 15, 2011)
The Gospel According to John (Lennon) (April 8, 2011)
Life on Resurrection Boulevard (April 1, 2011)
No Place Like Home (March 25, 2011)
Tough Questions from Third Grade Theologians (March 18, 2011)
Hidden Treasures: The Bible as Poetry (March 11, 2011)
Is That Really in the Bible? (March 4, 2011)
God and Dr. King: Agony Over the Power of the Holy (February 25, 2011)
Fathers Under Siege! (February 18, 2011)
Lover and Marriage (February 11, 2011)
In the Name of the Family (February 4, 2011)
Wrongology: Adventures in Getting it Right (January 28, 2011)
The Children Who Wake Up (January 21, 2011)
Bad Times For The Common Good? (January 14, 2011)
Transforming the World, Transforming Ourselves: Seeking Health Care Justice (January 7, 2011)
"Two or Three Things I Know for Sure" (December 31, 2010)
Candlelight Christmas Eve Service (December 24, 2010)
Does Jesus Save? (December 17, 2010)
How Moses Saved America (December 10, 2010)
Reconciliation and Right Relationships (December 3, 2010)
The Disabled God (November 26, 2010)
Let Us Break Bread Together! (November 19, 2010)
Premeditated Mercy (November 12, 2010)
The Soul of a Citizen (November 5, 2010)
Bringing Death Home (October 29, 2010)
The Ethical Aspects of a Climate Treaty (October 22, 2010)
Gathered Here (October 15, 2010)
What's the Message? We're the Message! (October 8, 2010)
The Angel of Death (October 1, 2010)
From a Tenderloin Church to the Lompoc Prison:
A Peacemaker Walks the Path of St. Francis (September 24, 2010)
Who Is My Neighbor? (September 17, 2010)
You're the Message! September 10, 2010)
The Kingdom of God is Within You (September 3, 2010)
Nathan McCall's Dilemma (August 27, 2010)
Mary Oliver's Conversion (August 20, 2010)
Ralph Waldo's Obsession (August 13, 2010)
Imagine This City As Heaven (August 6, 2010)
The People With Eyes On Our Feet (July 23, 2010)
Is God Keeping You From Going to Church? (July 16, 2010)
Staying Put (July 9, 2010)
Stewards of Freedom (July 2, 2010)
Special San Francisco PRIDE Service (June 25, 2010)
No Day But Today (June 18, 2010)
Fumbling in the Fog for a Light (June 11, 2010)
Singing the Journey! (June 4, 2010)
How to Pray Without Being Religious (May 28, 2010)
It's a Rhythm Thing (May 21, 2010)
The Priesthood of All People (May 14, 2010)
Noah's Ark and Animal Rights (May 7, 2010)
Requiem in D Minor, Opus 48 (April 30, 2010)
Noah's Ark and Animal Rights (April 23, 2010)
Living in the Now (April 16, 2010)
Dying to Live (April 9, 2010)
What Would Jesus Really Do? (April 2, 2010)
Heroic Ministry (March 26, 2010)
Stop Talking, I Can't Hear You (March 19, 2010)
Let's be a Church On Purpose (March 12, 2010)
What is the Spirit of This Church? (March 5, 2010)
The Art of Massage (February 26, 2010)
Climbing Out of Your Rut (February 19, 2010)
Is Change Really Possible? (February 12, 2010)
The Only Thing We Have to Fear (February 5, 2010)
A Volcanic Eruption of the Human Heart (January 29, 2010)
I've Decided to be Kinder (January 22, 2010)
A Resurrection in Our Time (January 15, 2010)
Hope and Illusion (January 8, 2010)
A Responsive Imaginarium (January 1, 2010)
Human Christianity (December 25, 2009)
An American Jesus (December 18, 2009)
In the Valley of the Shadow (December 11, 2009)
The Body As a Vehicle for Prayer (December 4, 2009)
Alive with Unreckonable Gratitude (November 27, 2009)
Bread and Music (November 20, 2009)
The War That Whispers (November 13, 2009)
A Prophet, But No Fool (November 6, 2009)
Out of Many, One (October 30, 2009)
Unitarian Universalist Clout in a Time of Change (October 23, 2009)
The New American Sloth (October 16, 2009)
What Did Starr King Really Believe? (October 9, 2009)
Forgiveness for the Rest of Us (September 18, 2009)
Is There Any Good News? (September 11, 2009)
Pete Seeger: A Musical Biography (September 4, 2009)
Turtles All the Way Down (August 28, 2009)
Ramadan Revisited (August 21, 2009)
Let's Go Public (August 14 2009)
Imagining the Impossible: Healing the World (August 7, 2009)
El Salvador and the Interdependent Web (July 31, 2009)
In the Beginning God Created Heaven and Earth (July 24, 2009)
Reaching Past the Snake Oil Salesman (July 17, 2009)
Sit There and Listen (July 10, 2009)
The New Americans (July 3, 2009)
What About our Principles? (June 25, 2009)
We Will Live Up to Our Own Expectations? (June 18, 2009)
Deadly Sins for Lively Liberals: Anger (June 11, 2009)
Rites of Passage (June 4, 2009)
Finding Your Path (May 28, 2009)
Something Out of Nothing (May 21, 2009)
Deadly Sins for Lively Liberals: Greed (May 14, 2009)
Coming of Age (May 7, 2009)
Be the Way (April 30, 2009)
Deadly Sins for Lively Liberals: Lust (April 23, 2009)
A Faithful Existence (April 16, 2009)
Enduring Betrayal (April 9, 2009)
The Prophetic Church in the 21st Century (April 2, 2009)
Is Your Spiritual Practice Working? (March 26, 2009)
Deadly Sins for Lively Liberals: Sloth (March 19, 2009)
Wanderlust Redux (March 12, 2009)
There's Something About Mary (March 5, 2009)
Total Love in Total War (February 26, 2009)
Losing Faith Religiously (February 19, 2009)
Are There Poor Unitarian Universalists (February 12, 2009)
Deadly Sins for Lively Liberals: Envy (February 5, 2009)
Love and Death (January 29, 2009)
On Whose Shoulders (January 22, 2009)
Fuzzy Logic for Fuzzy Answers (January 15, 2009)
A Question of Questions (January 8, 2009)
Beyond Fear (January 1, 2009)
There Comes A Yes: A Candlelight Festival of Lessons and Carols (December 24, 2008)
Countdown to Chaos (December 18, 2008)
Deadly Sins for Lively Liberals: Pride (December 11, 2008)
Lights in the Dark (December 4, 2008)
Righteous Ambiguity (November 26, 2008)
A Family Thanksgiving in Black and White (November 20, 2008)
Deadly Sins for Lively Liberals: Pride (November 13, 2008)
SCIENCE!!! Discovering the Spark of Life (November 6, 2008)
The Marriage of Rev. Gregory and Mr. Stillman Stewart (October 30, 2008)
Stretch Our Arms: We Are Our Brother's Keeper (October 23, 2008)
Deadly Sins for Lively Liberals (October 16, 2008)
Universalism: For Such a Time as This! (October 9, 2008)
Who's Right about Animal Rights? (October 2, 2008)
Shofar So Good (September 25, 2008)
Traveling Mercies (September 18, 2008)
Making Loss Matter (September 11, 2008)
Beyond Sunday (September 4, 2008)
Spirituality Con Carne (August 28, 2008)
Bernell: Something About Assumptions (August 21, 2008)
Hometown Prophet (August 14, 2008)
Going Out Dancing (August 7, 2008)
One Word Sermon (July 31, 2008)
T-Shirt Theology (July 24, 2008)
Don't Put Off Being Happy (July 17, 2008)
Hope Is Yours! (July 10, 2008)
Faith of the Larger Liberty: Do Unitarian Universalists need Liberty for their Faith? (July 3, 2008)
Meaning Chaser (June 26, 2008)
Risking Our Lives (June 19, 2008)
Shall We Be Instruments of Peace? (June 12, 2008)
What is Marriage For? (June 5 2008)
Where in the World is Hope? (May 29, 2008)
Thank You For Your Service (May 22, 2008)
Transitions (May 15, 2008)
Can God be Trusted? (May 8, 2008)
Hope is Fleeting (May 1, 2008)
Music is the Service (April 24, 2008)
Translating Vision into Reality (April 17, 2008)
Hope is Costly (April 10, 2008)
Handling Surprises (April 3, 2008)
The Power of Reflection (March 27, 2008)
Giving Up Religion for Lent (March 20, 2008)
If mouths were silent, the stones would shout out! (March 13, 2008)
Hope is Suffering (March 6, 2008)
You Say You Want a Revolution: U.S. Democracy and Nicaragua (February 28, 2008)
Will Our Children Have Faith? (February 21, 2008)
Colorblind or Colorbound? (February 14, 2008)
From Fear To Faith (February 7, 2008)
Hope is Power (January 31, 2008)
Towards the Stars (January 24, 2008)
Something to Believe In (January 17, 2008)
The Frenzy of the Activist (January 10, 2008)
A Sharp Vision (January 3, 2008)
The Great Turning (December 27, 2007)
Making Life Matter (December 20, 2007)
Loving What Is (December 13, 2007)
Lodestars of Hope, Healing, and Truth (December 6, 2007)
Hope is Risky (November 29, 2007)
Draw a Circle (November 21, 2007)
Breaking Bread, Breaking Through (November 15, 2007)
Hope is Chosen (November 8, 2007)
The Lightning that Preceded It (November 1, 2007)
The Good News of Prudence Alcott (October 25, 2007)
A Family Portrait in Black and White (October 18, 2007)
Standing on the Edge of Hope (October 11, 2007)
Bearing Witness (October 4, 2007)
The Irreverent Spiritual Quest of Generation X (September 27, 2007)
How to Be One with God (September 20, 2007)
I'm Not Religious But I Am Spiritual (September 13, 2007)
You Can Go Home Again (September 6, 2007)
Living a Liberating Gospel (August 30, 2007)
John Muir and the Manicheans (August 23, 2007)
Unstupidification (August 16, 2007)
You, U, and Especially U (August 9, 2007)
Beyond Tepid Tolerance (August 2, 2007)
Starr King: Activist and Ecologist (July 26, 2007)
Healing Israel/Palestine (July 19, 2007)
Job's Side of the Story (July 12, 2007)
Global Warming as a Moral Issue (July 5, 2007)
Sharing the Journey (June 28, 2007)
"Pride"— Is It For All of Us? (June 21, 2007)
Fathers, Take the Lead (June 14, 2007)
Don't Just Do Something, Sit There! (June 7, 2007)
I Can't Do It All On My Own: Spiritual Centering in a Disconnected World (May 31, 2007)
The Illusion Of Time: Clocking Out (May 24, 2007)
Credos of Youth: Finding Faith (May 17, 2007)
The Demise of Democracy: Naming Names and Mother's Day Proclamation for Peace (May 10, 2007)
The Marks of Growth: Living Proof (May 3, 2007)
To Live Until We Die (April 26, 2007)
Willing Affirmations of a Reluctant Believer (April 19, 2007)
Our Creed of Radical Inclusion (April 12, 2007)
Easter for Skeptics (April 5, 2007)
Playing the Fool (March 29, 2007)
The Real Saints Series: Béla Bartók (March 22, 2007)
The Generous Life (March 15, 2007)
Do You Really Believe That? (March 8, 2007)
Purim: If You Keep Silent (March 1, 2007)
To Wonder is to Worship (February 22,2007)
Proud To Be Humanist (February 15, 2007)
When Love Fails (February 8, 2007)
Blessings of the Community (February 1, 2007)
The End Is Near - So What? (January 25, 2007)
What Youth Want From Liberal Religion (January 18, 2007)
King of Kings (January 11, 2007)
T-Shirt and Sweatshirt Theology (January 4, 2007)
Enough! (December 28, 2006)
Let's Keep the X in Xmas (December 21, 2006)
Christmas: Self-Interest as a Spiritual Practice (December 14, 2006)
Hanukkah: Dedication As Spiritual Practice (December 7, 2006)
Holidays: Families as a Spiritual Practice (November 30, 2006)
Is this the World We Want? (November 22, 2006)
Mass in C Minor by W. A. Mozart (November 16,2006)
Justice or Just Us? (November 9, 2006)
Getting Beyond Belief (November 2, 2006)
Proud to be Pagan (October 26, 2006)
The gods Before God (October 19, 2006)
Time Marches On (October 12, 2006)
The Installation of Rev. Gregory L. Stewart (October 5, 2006)
Forgiveness, Forget It (September 28, 2006)
Driving as a Spiritual Practice (September 21, 2006)
Are You in the Right Place? (September 14, 2006)
I'm Not OK, You're Not OK, and That's OK (September 7, 2006)
The Bejeweled Net (August 31, 2006)
Is Life a Path, Cycle, or Neither? (August 24, 2006)
Can We Continue to Believe People are Good? (August 17, 2006)
Gathering at the Table (August 10, 2006)
On Listening (August 3, 2006)
Permeable Boundaries (July 27, 2006)
Riding Religiously (July 20, 2006)
Finding a Path with Heart (July 13, 2006)
The Myth of Independence (July 6, 2006)
In This Refulgent Summer (June 29, 2006)
Building Beloved Community (June 22, 2006)
The Perfect Father: Myth? Fiction? Fact? (June 15, 2006)
The Note Sounding When We Were Born (June 8, 2006)
To Open the Mind and Strengthen the Heart (June 1, 2006)
Sight and Insight (May 25, 2006)
Confession: I am a Christian Fundamentalist (May 18, 2006)
Your Mother is Looking for You. Call Home! (May 11, 2006)
Rite of Passage Sunday (May 4, 2006)
La Koro Sutro (April 27, 2006)
Expect the Unexpected (April 20, 2006)
Shaking Foundations (April 13, 2006)
Concerning Character (April 6, 2006)
Christina Baldwin Is Hearing Voices (March 30, 2006)
The Circle is Unbroken (March 23, 2006)
Feet of Clay (March 16, 2006)
My Grandfather's Well (March 9, 2006)
Show Us the Way (March 2, 2006)
How to Grow a Great Garden (February 23, 2006)
All Right Then, I'll Go to Hell (February 16, 2006)
On the Road (February 9, 2006)
I Wouldn't Be Wet (February 2, 2006)
By Whose Authority (January 26, 2006)
The Sacred in the Patriotic (January 19, 2006)
Essentials of Humanism (January 12, 2006)
Forgiving the S.O.B.'s (January 5, 2006)
I Have Been a Fool for Lesser Things (December 29, 2005)
Salvation: Present Tense (December 22,2005)
The Universality of Christmas (December 15, 2005)
Gloria and Ubi Caritas (December 8, 2005)
The Relativity of Christmas (December 1, 2005)
Not on a Map, Still a Country? (November 23, 2005)
The Thanksgiving Bread Service (November 17, 2005)
Our Social Contract with the Human Heart (November 10, 2005)
The Free Spirit (November 3, 2005)
Ghosts (October 27, 2005)
Haight Ashbury is Dead. Does Unitarian Universalism Have a Future? (October 20, 2005)
Celebrating 155 Years of the First Unitarian Universalist Society in San Francisco (October 13, 2005)
Is Western Culture Dead? (October 6, 2005)
Displaced (September 29, 2005)
Water (September 22, 2005)
The Canonization of Millard Fillmore (September 15, 2005)
Moving On (September 8, 2005)
A Place in the World (September 1, 2005)
Building Community, 10 People at a Time (August 25, 2005)
Birth to a Dancing Start (August 18, 2005)
We're All Feminists, Of Course (August 11, 2005)
The Danger of Believing "God Is Love" (August 4, 2005)
What Still Connects Us (July 28, 2005)
Friendship as a Spiritual Exercise (July 21, 2005)
Welcome to Selma (July 14, 2005)
Being Human Religiously (July 7, 2005)
Finding Meaning in the Mundane (June 30, 2005)
What Are The Queers Doing Down There? (June 23, 2005)
The United Nations at 60 (June 16, 2005)
The Delicious Subject of Sin (June 9, 2005)
The Importance of Dreams (June 2, 2005)
The Other Writing on the Wall (May 26, 2005)
The Whole Thing (May 19, 2005)
Coming of Age Sunday (May 12, 2005)
Reclaiming Patriotism (May 5, 2005)
A Stab of Dread (April 28, 2005)
Raising Good Kids (April 21, 2005)
Jacob and the Trickster (April 14, 2005)
Victor Frankl, Humanist (April 7, 2005)
Loving Mercy (March 31, 2005)
When the Bubble Bursts! (March 24, 2005)
Triumph (March 17, 2005)
A Hundred Ways (March 10, 2005)
It's All About You (March 3, 2005)
Ahab and the Whale (February 24, 2005)
The End of Time (February 17, 2005)
Crossing Borders to the Land of Love (February 10, 2005)
These Happy Few (February 3, 2005)
America's Real Religion (January 27, 2005)
The Book that Must be Kept Out of Children's Hands (January 20, 2005)
Freedom: Iron Walls, Iron Wills (January 13, 2005)
The Writing on the Wall (January 6, 3005)
Spiritual Center and Civic Circumference (December 30, 2004)
Holiday Services at the First Unitarian Universalist Society (December 23, 2004)
Christmas Whisper (December 16, 2004)
Have a Happy Subversive Christmas (December 9, 2004)
Mary's Secret and "Gloria" (December 2, 2004)
Entering the Conversation (November 24, 2004)
Small Boat -- Big Thanks (November 18, 2004)
The Gospel According to Bill Moyers (November 11, 2004)
When the Shouting is Over (November 4, 2004)
Boo! (October 28, 2004)
Looking for the Judge (October 21, 2004)
The Super in the Natural (October 14, 2004)
I'm Afraid Everything Is Going to Turn Out All Right (October 7, 2004)
The High Cost of Living (September 30, 2004)
The Liberal Church in a Fundamentalist Age (September 23, 2004)
You Are Invited... (September 17, 2004)
Grace that Works (September 16, 2004)
In the Interim (September 9, 2004)
"Faster and Faster!" Cried the Queen (September 2, 2004)
The Puritans and Us (August 26, 2004)
Reaching In and Digging Deep (August 19, 2004)
BOBOs in San Francisco (August 12, 2004)
Rev. John H. Robinson's First Sermon Sunday: "Mrs. B." (August 5, 2004)
The Cathars and Contemporary Unitarian Universalism (July 29, 2004)
My Next to Last Sermon (July 22, 2004)
Rough Going (July 15, 2004)
More Love - More Yoga (July 8, 2004)
Of Thee I Sing (July 1, 2004)
Wanderlust (June 23, 2004)
John and Margot's Good-bye Service (June 17,2004)
June 14, 2004 - Introduction to the new newsletter format