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Soul Matters Archive: 2024-25
June 2025: Freedom
“Freedom From” or “Freedom To”
Adapted from Soul Matters Small Group Introduction
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There is a big difference between “freedom from” and “freedom to.”
Our Unitarian Universalist faith gets this. At its best, it never simply asks us, “What do you need to get away from?” No, it pushes us to ask the deeper question of “What is it that you want to run toward?” Mature freedom is never about the absence of all constraints; it’s about being able to commit yourself to the things that have your heart. Or to put it another way, true freedom is about constraints of our own choosing.
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So what is it for you, friends? Where in your life are you feeling forced to say “No” when your heart really wants to say “Yes”? What is it that you want to use your freedom for? It’s not the bars of a prison that make us want to escape; it’s suddenly noticing what’s on the other side of those bars that makes us want to get out.
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This month, don’t take your eyes off of it. Keep that longing clearly in view. And if you do, you’ll be surprised how easy it is to bend open those bars… and simply walk out.
By Robert Lavett Smith
Lightning Bugs and Lengthened Light
In June we feel the siren call of freedom
Foretold by lightning bugs and lengthened light—
The endless evenings very soon to come
Will swell our dreams with incandescent night.
This isn’t just the freedom we once knew
When schoolyards emptied into ecstasy;
So late in life, we recognize as true
A fundamental yearning to be free.
It manifests in each nocturnal flower,
In the omniscient crows that rise from wires:
A liberty of uncontested power
Bidding us summon summer’s secret fires,
A wanderlust it’s pointless to deny
The vagrant stars that stumble through the sky.
June Sessions
20s & 30s Spiritual Discussion Group
Tuesday, June 10 and 24 from 7:00-8:30 pm - On Zoom​
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Join the 20s & 30s Spiritual Discussion Group for a time of spiritual reflection while connecting with peers. These sessions are open to all aged 18-39, whether you are brand new to Unitarian Universalism or a longtime friend at UUSF.
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These sessions will follow the monthly Soul Matters theme, with each session exploring different content, questions, and layers of the overarching theme. We use a range of sources, including literature, music, poetry, and art, to enrich and inform our discussions.
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In June , we are exploring ‘The Practice of Freedom’ on the following dates on Zoom:
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- Tuesday, June 10, 7:00-8:30 pm
- Tuesday, June 24, 7:00-8:30 pm
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Register below, and Emma will contact you a day or so before the session with a reminder and the Zoom link.
Email Emma Wakeling with questions about the program or issues with the registration form: ewakeling@uusf.org.
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Led by Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern
Minister's Book Group
​​Wednesday, June 25, 6:30-8:00 pm (Zoom)
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Severance by Ling Ma
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Led by Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern
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When the theme for the month is “Freedom,” what is better than a book with a vision of apocalypse, wild and surprising? Ling Ma is a novelist and assistant professor of practice in the arts at the University of Chicago, and she takes us on a wild ride. How does her writing of labor exploitation and bodily autonomy in the workplace inspire us to fight for freedom?
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May 2025: Imagination
The Practice of Imagination…What does it mean to practice imagination? We use our imaginations all the time, whether we recognize it or not. We imagine what our day might hold, or imagine what that person may be thinking about us, or imagine a trip we are about to take. We need our collective imagination right now, more than ever! We need to be able to imagine ourselves in a world where love stamps out hate.
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Adrienne Rich reminds us, “But nothing less than the most radical imagination will carry us beyond this place, beyond the mere struggle for survival, to that lucid recognition of our possibilities which will keep us impatient and unresigned to mere survival.”
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We need to imagine we are the answers to help create the world we want to live in. Walter Brueggemann writes, “The task of prophetic ministry is to nurture, nourish, and evoke a consciousness and perception alternative to the consciousness and perception of the dominant culture around us… Our culture is competent to implement almost anything and to imagine almost nothing… because imagination is a danger. Thus every totalitarian regime is frightened of the artist. It is the vocation of the prophet to keep alive the ministry of imagination, to keep on conjuring and proposing future alternatives to the single one the king wants to urge as the only thinkable one.”
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Join us this month as we lean into the practice of imagination and our prophetic place in imagining the world anew.
Wanderer in the Sea of Fog by Caspar David Friedrich
Art, Poetry, and Programming
By Robert Lavett Smith
So Generous A Sky
May’s like a melody by the Temptations,
Whose wistful yearning permeates the air
Warning about imagination’s snare,
The heady perils of infatuation.
The honeybees are masters of evasion;
The scent of roses settles everywhere;
Sweet eucalyptus trees are well aware
Summer’s sequestered, deep in preparation.
In early May, it’s easy to believe
What we imagine will endure forever;
The weather wears its kindness on its sleeve.
We’re sure so generous a sky would never
Deny our fantasies the space to breathe;
Even the cautious crows aren’t half so clever.
20s & 30s Community
Mindful Drawing Session
Sunday, May 11, 1:00 pm-2:30 pm, Chapel​
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In honor of this month’s theme, ‘The Practice of Imagination,’ young adults are invited to a mindful drawing session to relax our minds and let our creativity flow. We will learn about and practice a relaxing and fun drawing technique called Zentangles. This practice creates beautiful art pieces that are made with simple and relaxing patterns. Art supplies and snacks will be provided.
Register Here​
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Led by Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern
Minister's Book Group
​​Wednesday, April 23, 6:30-8:00 pm (Zoom)
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​Authentic Selves: Celebrating Trans and Nonbinary People and Their Families by Peggy Gillespie (editor)
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Led by Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern
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This book is the Unitarian Universalist Association’s chosen UUA Common Read for 2024-25. Told not through the lens of their struggles and challenges, including their political battles for legal rights, but the joy and richness of the lives of those interviewed and reflected in its stories, Authentic Selves is a beautiful compilation of life stories, photos, and reflections of trans and nonbinary people, as well as their partners, parents, children, siblings, and chosen family members. It reminds us of a lot, including the power and beauty (and courage) of living with authenticity. We will read it together with UU’s across the country!
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April 2025: Joy
Joy is a funny thing—no pun intended—you can resolve to have more joy in your life (I’ve done that a few times in the last few years), but that isn’t how joy works, by working at it. It is often the thing that happens to you. Sometimes it happens when it is very appropriate, like laughing at a particularly awkward or sad moment. When it does happen, it feels like it adds years to your life, better than vitamins and exercise together. Maybe too, though you cannot make it happen, and working at it almost makes it harder to find, you and I can put ourselves in the way of it. We can pay attention to when we feel it, who we feel it when we are around, what we have to let go of to open up to it—and do more of all of that. Maybe too, these days, like so many days, when the world is falling apart, we can also just give ourselves permission to feel joy. The world isn’t more virtuous or more compassionate because we don’t feel joy. In fact, joy can be the engine and the fuel to keep us leaning into the storms and engaged in the muck and mud of the world. Maybe laughter is the sound you hear when the world is being knit back together, and joy (along with love, courage, and stubbornness) is what is threaded through all the fraying and hurt places to make it gorgeous and whole again. Maybe. What gives you joy?
These images are from the Museum of Black Joy. If you want to see more photos, go to https://www.museumofblackjoy.com/.
Art, Poetry, and Programming
By Robert Lavett Smith
Pure Joy, Infectious
April is often wrongfully maligned
By accusations claiming cruelty;
The sun is warm, precipitation kind,
The smale fowles maken melodye.
Pure joy, infectious, spreads from tree to tree,
As birds of every feather join the choir,
Sharing without restraint, quite candidly,
Their simple songs of satisfied desire.
New foliage, a green and healing fire,
Ignites its verdant chalice in our hearts;
The human spirit rarely rises higher
Than it does now, as celebration starts.
Perhaps we’re destined for exuberance
And joy may save us, given half a chance.
Visio Divina
To engage in ancient practice of meditating on an image as a spiritual practice.
​​For written instructions go here.
Watch this video recording and have us guide you through the process, go here.
Led by Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern
Minister's Book Group
​​Wednesday, April 23, 6:30-8:00 pm (Zoom)
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Led by Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern
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Vanessa is not happy with the book. Email her here if you haven't already registered to get the update!
March 2025: Trust
In her poem "Trust the People," adrienne maree brown emphasizes the importance of trust in building connections and fostering community. She encourages us to trust those who feel like home, allow us to rest, and inspire us with their capabilities. Trust deepens through shared experiences, even in the face of breaches, and is essential for personal growth and emotional expression. This month, the theme "The Practice of Trust" invites us to engage in various activities that explore trust, including discussions, worship services, and creative expression. By leaning into trust, we can overcome fear and anxiety, enriching our lives and relationships. Participants are encouraged to reflect on their own experiences with trust and find ways to engage with the theme both individually and collectively.​
By Robert Lavett Smith
SOMETHING CONSTANT DRAWING NEAR
March is a mentor we must learn to trust—
The greening threshold of the ancient year
When soil revives and skies abruptly clear,
Seeds struggle into sunlight, as they must.
We feel within ourselves that upward thrust,
That sense of something constant drawing near,
Something whose steadiness allays our fear,
Its gifts ubiquitous but not discussed.
How confidently spring makes promises
The Steller’s jays seem certain it will keep;
This season means exactly what it says.
Our eyes turn skyward yet our roots go deep;
What lies ahead is anybody’s guess,
But, for the moment, we are done with sleep.
Led by Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern
Minister's Book Group
The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World by Robin Wall Kimmerer
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​Wednesday, March 26, 6:30-8:00 pm (Zoom)
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Led by Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern
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In this month when we kick off our annual giving pledge drive and talk and think more about generosity, wealth, and how the world of resources comes to us and what it does to and for us, how it is a blessing and an invitation, and how we even pervert our understanding of resources, wealth, and our own well-being, we have Robin Wall Kimmerer and the noble serviceberry to reground us. Her newest book is small; the themes are familiar to those who have read Braiding Sweetgrass, and it is medicine for the soul.
Facilitated by Debbie Wu
Craft the Theme
Sunday, March 16, 1:00 pm, Art Room
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Join Debbie as she leads you through a craft while thinking about the theme of this month—the practice of trust. To make sure she has enough supplies, please register here.
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Tuesday, 11 and Tuesday, 18 March, 7:00-8:30PM, Online
20s & 30s Spiritual Discussion Group: March Sessions
Join the 20s & 30s Spiritual Discussion Group for a time of spiritual reflection while connecting with peers. These sessions are open to all aged 18-39, whether you are brand new to Unitarian Universalism or a longtime friend at UUSF.
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These sessions will follow the monthly Soul Matters theme, with each session exploring different content, questions, and layers of the overarching theme. We will use a range of sources, including literature, music, poetry, and art, to enrich and inform our discussions.
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In March, we are exploring ‘The Practice of Trust' on:
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Tuesday, March 11, 7PM - 8:30PM, on Zoom.
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Tuesday, March 18, 7PM - 8:30PM, on Zoom.
Join us for the chance to share and learn from each other.
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Note: From March, we are trying out a later start time of 7PM, based on your feedback. We hope this later time will be more convenient for folks! Also this month the second session will be on the third Tuesday of the month rather than the fourth.
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Email Emma Wakeling, Membership and Young Adult Manager, with any questions: ewakeling@uusf.org.
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February 2025: Inclusion
Our theme for the month of February is the practice of inclusion. In a time when it feels like the safe place to be is curled up in bed with the curtains drawn, it can be difficult to know that challenging ourselves to be in community and welcoming others are the best places for us to find safety right now. Inclusion calls us to move beyond just belonging or tolerating. It calls us to live into our values and put love at the center of all we do. Inclusion invites us to examine ourselves and determine what we are not recognizing in ourselves that prevents us from being whole. The practice of inclusion reminds us we have to actively participate in our lives and in our communities to constantly become aware of how to make more room in our hearts and in our congregation. This is especially important when so many are pulling back policies and practices of expanding their communities. Let us enter into this month with curiosity about how we can be more inclusive of pieces of ourselves and inclusive of others in our congregation and community.
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​--Soul Matters (www.soulmatterssharingcircle.com)
The Women’s Building San Francisco. The Women’s Building is the most notable in the whole of San Francisco. The incredible MaestraPeace came from top muralists; Juana Alicia, Miranda Bergman, Edythe Boone, Susan Kelk Cervantes, Meera Desai, Yvonne Littleton and Irene Perez. It spans the entire face of the beautiful four-story building acting as a true testament to the power and creativity of diverse women. More Info Here.
To engage in ancient practice of meditating on an image as a spiritual practice. Written instructions can be found here. Watch the Visio Divina portion of our August 4th service here. Watch this video recording where we guide you through the process (click here).
Art, Poetry, and Programming
Led by Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern
Minister's Book Group
Stress Less, Accomplish More by Emily Fletcher
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Wednesday, February 19, 6:30-8:00 pm (Zoom)
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Led by Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern
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I think I have never picked a self-help book for this group, but this month I am picking one. It is an easy read, and you may notice the pattern of too many chapters telling you how everything in your life will change before the one chapter that tells you the very simple thing she is asking you to do for 15 minutes twice a day. AND, and, and I think we will all need anchoring practices that quiet our nervous system. I’ve been adding her formula for meditation (and even her voice in the recordings you can access) to my morning and afternoon practices, and it is helping, so let me toss this easy read into our invitations to read and discuss together.
Facilitated by Debbie Wu
Craft the Theme—with Air Clay!
Sunday, February 16, 1:00 pm, Art Room
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Join Debbie as she leads you through a craft while thinking about the theme of this month—the practice of inclusion. To make sure she has enough supplies, please register here.
By Robert Lavett Smith
IMPLICIT IN THE LIGHT
In February, month of indecision,
A strained inclusion permeates the air—
Squabbling sparrows shower with derision
Spring’s timid green, apparent everywhere;
In colder climates, there might still be snow,
Yet ripeness is implicit in the light
That sifts through foliage to lawns below,
Turning the withered grasses golden white.
This skittish moment when two seasons meet
Seems to encompass all the lumbering year:
Spring’s frigid drizzle and late autumn heat,
Petulant fogs that never really clear.
May we, too long indoors, resolve to be
Open to nature’s inclusivity.
January 2025: Story
Story is our theme for January. We human beings are so many things: tool makers (though not the only tool-making species); language users (though not the only species to communicate in sounds); and also one of the only story-telling species we know—at least so far. Stories are how we make sense of the world. They can tell the hero's journey, teach moral lessons, make us laugh, hold a mirror up to some piece of our world so we can see it clearly, and even show us the shadow side of the human spirit. History is just journalism, Joseph Campbell once said, and not very reliable. “Myth is much more important and true than history.” Myth and story, at their best, capture something deep and powerful, ground us in a narrative, and invite us to throw our life up against or through that narrative. Nothing is more powerful than learning to tell a story about the world that makes sense, a new story to lead the world forward to a new way of being. Come reflect with us on story and what stories are most important to you.​
​--Soul Matters (www.soulmatterssharingcircle.com)
Landscape with the Fall of Icarus by Pieter Bruegel the Elder c.1560
To engage in ancient practice of meditating on an image as a spiritual practice. Written instructions can be found here. Watch the Visio Divina portion of our August 4th service here. Watch this video recording where we guide you through the process (click here).
Art, Poetry, and Programming
Zoom Event
Poetry and Lunch with Robert Lavett Smith
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Tuesday, January 14, 2025, noon to 12:30 pm
This is a Zoom gathering to reflect on our monthly theme poem for January with its author, our own member and friend, Robert Lavett Smith. If you haven't had a chance to reflect in a group, this is your chance. For others of you who have read it in your small groups, heard it as part of worship, or spent time with it on your own, here is a chance to bounce your mind, heart, and spirit through and up against it again and see how things change.
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Here is the poem, in case you haven't had a chance to sit with it! Join us on January 14th at Noon. No advance participation necessary.
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Led by Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern
Minister's Book Group
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes and Other Lessons from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty
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Wednesday, January 22, 2025, 6:30-8:00 pm (Zoom)
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Led by Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern
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In January we will be reading Smoke Gets in Your Eyes and Other Lessons from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty.​ Caitlin Doughty has a degree in medieval history and a flair for the macabre. She also worked at a crematory where she cared for bodies and became “an intrepid explorer in the world of the dead.” This best-selling memoir is full of vivid characters, wit, and a woman’s coming of age in the face of the death we all avoid. “ According to the SF Chronicle review, "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" reveals how the fear of dying warps our society and will make you reconsider how our culture treats the dead.
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Facilitated by Julia Wald & Ben Gale
End of Life Series: Wills & Trusts
Sunday, January 19 from 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm, TSK Room
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Refreshments will be offered.
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Join Julia & Ben as they discuss the importance of creating and updating wills and trusts. They will share their experiences and help you determine your next steps. If you have questions, contact Rev. Laura at lshennum@uusf.org.
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Facilitated by Rev. Laura Shennum
Creating Theology Together, Part 2
The event will take place on Thursdays from January 9 to January 30, running from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm in the Chapel
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In Part 2 of this series, we will focus on how systems beyond ourselves impact our theology. We will understand how our theology calls us to act in the world. This is a new take on the classic curriculum: Building Your Own Theology. For more information, contact Rev. Laura at lshennum@uusf.org. This class is only in-person, and you do not have to take part 1 to join for part 2.
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By Robert Lavett Smith
TALES WE TELL OURSELVES
In January, when the wind is shrill,
We contemplate its sad soliloquies.
As bitter weather bends us to its will,
Street trees embroider doubtful histories.
The spirit of the season faced both ways,
The future as uncertain as the past—
Both faces, so prevailing wisdom says,
Composing chronicles that will not last.
We shelter in the tales we tell ourselves,
Truths deeply rooted in the loam of time;
Our sense of narrative, if nothing else,
Inclines our common lives to the sublime.
And even if we never write a word,
Our stories rescue us from the absurd.
December 2024: Presence
Woody Allen famously once said, “80% of success in life is just showing up.” Showing up certainly matters. Studies of people who “are lucky” find that those folks who are out circulating in the world, making friends, and making connections “get more lucky.” Being there when opportunity arises matters. Friendships are formed, so often, by “time on task.” Presence—that quality of just being there, steadily, reliably—matters. And this month we want to invite you to pay attention also to the kinds of presence we can pay attention to, to how we can deepen our connection to self, to each other, to the miraculous, mysterious, and unknown, to purpose and calling. It won’t all happen in our services. You might find it in the poem of the month or a small group, a discussion of an issue in the world, a piece of music, or conversation over coffee some day in the courtyard. We invite you to be present to presence!
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​--Soul Matters (www.soulmatterssharingcircle.com)
Photo by James Wainscoat
Art, Poetry, and Programming
Zoom Event
Poetry and Lunch with Robert Lavett Smith
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Tuesday, December 10, noon to 12:30 pm
This is a Zoom gathering to reflect on our monthly theme poem for December with its author, our own member and friend, Robert Lavett Smith. If you haven't had a chance to reflect in a group, this is your chance. For others of you who have read it in your small groups, heard it as part of worship, or spent time with it on your own, here is a chance to bounce your mind, heart, and spirit through and up against it again and see how things change.
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Here is the poem, in case you haven't had a chance to sit with it! Join us on December 10th at Noon. No advance participation necessary.
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Led by Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern
Minister's Book Group
On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder
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Wednesday, December 11, 6:30-8 PM (Zoom)
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Led by Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern
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This short book is already being quoted widely in our post-election world. Written in 2017 by Snyder, who is a professor of history at Yale and faculty advisor for the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Snyder takes his scholarship of nationalism, Marxism, political movements, and European and World War II history and distills what shows up when Tyranny is slouching it’s way toward our corner of the world. A small book (Vanessa promises a quick read), this book offers one framework for how to step into the new year in our corner of the emerging world order.
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By Robert Lavett Smith
THE KIND ASSERTION
There is a certain presence to December,
Even in places where there is no snow—
The distant sun has dwindled to an ember,
but there is something holy in its glow.
The Druids knew its power long ago;
It promised passage through the longest night,
When cold enclosed the moonrise like a bow
And shadows shivered in the red firelight.
That promise lingers even now, despite
Pervasive smells of woodsmoke and wet clay;
The ground is brown here, but the sky is white,
The dogeared page of the diminished day.
The kind assertion that awaits us there
Disseminates its blessings everywhere.
November 2024:
The Practice of Repair
Repair. In a world of fast fashion and planned obsolescence, of consumer mindsets and quick fixes, there is a parallel world of people and practices that are about how to pull things broken, frayed, a little wonky, back into usable, mended states, and even broken things back into wholeness. Repair is that work. Many of you are familiar with the Japanese practice of "Kintsugi." It is literally that practice—"kin" ” meaning golden and “tsugi” meaning repair—where a broken piece of pottery is mended back together and visibly so, even thought more beautiful for the broken seams and wabi-sabi beauty of it. And in this parallel world bent on mending, there is the underlying assumption that we try not to treat the world and its things, but also its people and institutions, certainly not the earth, as dispensable, as incidental to our forward motion. We are in a world in need of a lot of repair. This month we think about some of the aspects of what it means to be menders.
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​--Soul Matters (www.soulmatterssharingcircle.com)
Art, Poetry, and Programming
Zoom Event
Mending & Repairing Online Workshop
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Thursday, November 14, 7-8:30 pm, On Zoom
Boro stitching, visible mending, and kintsugi are all practices of repairing and mending those items in our lives that have been ripped or broken. Instead of throwing out or donating the item, these practices embrace their imperfections and give them new life or meaning.
In this month of repair, let's gather online with items we would like to mend and repair. We will share stories about the items and what we have chosen to repair them with, and then work on those repairs as we talk. Register to receive the zoom link.
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Led by Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern
Minister's Book Group
Mayor of the Tenderloin by Alison Owings
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Wednesday, November 20, 6:30-8 PM (Zoom)
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This book, published by our own Unitarian Universalist Beacon Press, covers the life of Del Seymour, a figure in our own San Francisco Tenderloin neighborhood. The book covers Del’s life, his struggle from addiction to sobriety, and the Tenderloin Walking Tours and later the organization, Code Tenderloin, that he started an organization that sought to help unhoused folks, recovering addicts, sex workers, dealers, and others on the margins learn how to get and keep a job. The book is available at Green Apple Books, and a digital version is also available. Vanessa Southern and Sam Dennison of The Faithful Fools will co-host!
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Visio Divina
To engage in ancient practice of meditating on an image as a spiritual practice.
​​For written instructions go here.
Participate in our August 4th service and guided meditation go here.
Or watch this video recording and have us guide you through the process, go here.
By Robert Lavett Smith
LET US REBUILD
November is the season of repair,
Before the winter rains assert their claim,
When autumn is apparent everywhere,
The numb sun shrunken to a faded flame.
The brownest brittle leaves desert the trees
That never are entirely denuded;
Squirrels conduct their yearly inventories;
Songbirds depart, their business here concluded.
This is the moment to address the damage
We’ve carelessly inflicted through the year,
To speak of secret wounds with quiet courage,
The path before us difficult but clear.
Let us rebuild the ruins of the heart,
Drawing upon forbearance, faith, and art.
October 2024:
The Practice of Deep Listening
Listening helps us find our way. The listening of therapists allows us to navigate our way through life. We turn to prayer to hear God’s guidance. We listen to experts so we can get ahead. Like a flashlight that leads us through the darkness, listening helps us stay on course. And yet maybe there’s more to it than that. What if listening doesn’t just guide us through the world but also creates our world? That sacred space of being deeply listened to isn’t just calling us home; it is home. We don’t have conversations; we are our conversations. Listening literally constructs the world we live in. And whom we become. One wonders if this is why the poet Joyce Sutphen says, “Listen carefully. Your whole life might depend on what you hear.”​​
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-- Soul Matters (www.soulmatterssharingcircle.com)
Art, Poetry, and Programming
Led by Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern
Minister's Book Group
Touch the Future: A Manifesto in Essays by John Lee Clark
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Wednesday, October 16, 6:30-8 PM (Zoom)
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In this month when we are looking at the practice of Deep Listening, we join John Lee Clark and read his collection of essays on the DeafBlind experience. Clark was born Deaf into an ASL-speaking family and became blind by his teen years and found a way forward full of possibilities and that put him in the forefront of what is known as the Protactile movement. Some have called the book a “manifesto on the power and untapped potential of touch.” Reading it is an invitation into a new language and way of life.
Register Here
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Zoom Event
Poetry and Lunch with Robert Lavett Smith
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Tuesday, October 29, noon to 12:30 pm
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This is a Zoom gathering to reflect one last time on our monthly theme poem with its author, our own member and friend, Robert Lavett Smith. If you haven't had a chance to reflect in a group, this is your chance. For others of you who have read it in your small groups, heard it as part of worship, or spent time with it on your own, here is a chance to bounce your mind, heart, and spirit through and up against it again and see how things change.
For all of us, this is a chance to engage the poem with the poet in the room and hear some of Bob's own reflections on the writing of it and on the sonnet form he chose, too! Here is the poem, in case you haven't had a chance to sit with it! Join us on October 29 at Noon. Here is the Zoom link to join; no RSVP or preparation required!
Visio Divina
To engage in ancient practice of meditating on an image as a spiritual practice.
By Robert Lavett Smith
For Silences To Sing
October is devoted to deep listening,
A sober month when songbirds all fall still,
Though raucous ravens scold us as they will,
Wet light on their dark feathers glistening.
Now is the time for silences to sing.
The faintest scurrying can swell to fill
Complacent places, auguring a chill
We cannot yet foresee but fall is coming.
October is the moment when the Dead,
Amid the quiet splendor of decay,
Pledge to receive us in the years ahead.
No words accompany the things they say;
We learn to listen with our hearts instead
Of hearing what the dry leaves bear away.
September 2024:
The Practice of Invitation
What is in an invitation? It looks so simple—the envelope or virtual envelope we get with the invitation to join in some moment or adventure? A movie, a party? Or the hand extended from someone on bended knee and the larger invitation to join in a life together: Will you marry me? Seems so simple. Just an invitation. Want to join this church? Be my friend? Go climb a mountain? Get an ice cream? What is written and tucked in an invitation if it is real and with the potential to welcome the fullness of everyone invited to be in an authentic relationship? What does the practice of invitation, the spiritual practice of it, say about what we believe invitation requires of us?
Art, Poetry, and Programming
By Robert Lavett Smith
SEPTEMBER IS AN INVITATION
Think of September as an invitation.
Along the Northern California coast
Summer refuses to give up the ghost;
Abundant leaves go golden with persuasion.
The scrub pines have a sense of the occasion.
They knelt before hard turbulence, supposed
Tenacity could bear what wind imposed,
And now have hunkered down for the duration.
Golden October, waiting in the wings,
Reminds us of kind seasons in the East
That seemed to promise, oh, so many things.
We have the ravens’ word on this, at least—
September is a month for offerings,
That sees the year’s munificence increased.
Led by Michael Bossier & Mari Magaloni Ramos
The Invitation to Play
Saturday, September 14,
1:00-4:00 pm, TSK Room
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This one-time session offers a playful space to explore your voice, build community, and cultivate a deeper sense of self.
Through a variety of fun and engaging exercises, you'll learn to:
Embrace spontaneity: Let go of expectations and trust your instincts.
Listen deeply. Develop active listening skills to foster genuine connection.
Build community: Collaborate with others to create something truly unique.
Find your voice: Express yourself authentically.
With an emphasis on fun as a spiritual practice and using the guide posts of trust, cooperation, and support, we will explore how to build community.
All ages are welcome, and no prior experience is necessary.
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Led by Rev. Laura Shennum
Minister's Book Group
Faithful Practices by Erik Walker Wikstrom
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Wednesday, September 18, 6:30-8 PM (Zoom)
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Our monthly themes are anchored to the phrase "The Practice of...". We will start out this month by considering what kinds of practices are available to us. This book is an eclectic mix of contributors sharing their reflections about spiritual practices in their everyday lives. Each of the contributors in Faithful Practices describes their unique spiritual practice and the ways it opens them up to their hearts and souls. From chopping vegetables to creatively arranging action figures, from taking long walks to playing roller derby, these practices demonstrate the wide range of ways that we can be spiritual and provide models for those seeking a practice of their own.
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Lead by Debbie Wu
Craft the Theme Small Group
Sunday, September 22, 1:00-3:00 pm, Art Room
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Come engage in a small group process with craft materials and express what the theme means to you. This small group does not require a full year commitment. You are welcome to bring your own supplies, and supplies will be provided. If you have additional questions, then contact Debbie Wu at debbiestuff@icloud.com. To ensure we have enough supplies, please
Soul Matters Groups
Small Group Ministry
Register Here​
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One of the ways to build connections at UUSF is through our small group ministry program. This year, these groups will follow the monthly themes we will engage throughout the year. The groups meet twice a month and are led by a trained facilitator. If you are interested, then please follow the link below to learn more and register. If you have questions, then contact Rev. Laura Shennum at lshennum@uusf.org.
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Visio Divina
To engage in ancient practice of meditating on an image as a spiritual practice.