Sunday, November 17, 2019 by Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister

Ancient philosophers have talked about happiness. Religions have weighed in on what it means for us and how to find it. And ever since the launching of the field of positive psychology, the study (rigorous, measurable, double-blind and controlled studies) of what makes us happy has confirmed some of what we always knew, but also dismantled some of what we thought we knew would make us happy. Where does knowing all this leave us? 

Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister
Alyson Jacks, Associate Minister
Daniel Jackoway, Worship Associate 
Reiko Oda Lane, organ
Dr. Mark Sumner, Music Director
Judy Payne, Board Secretary
Shulee Ong, video camera
Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Podcasting, Video Edits

Sunday, November 10, 2019 by Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister

Later this month on November 20th it will be Transgender Day of Remembrance, a day to remember all those whose lives were lost in anti-transgender violence.

It raises the larger question of why? And the struggles of transgender folks, a high number of whom take their own lives too. At heart, though, the struggle is so familiar, isn't it? 

Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister
Lisanicole Sarkisian, Worship Associate 
Rev. Claire Bohman, Worship Associate
Reiko Oda Lane, organ
Dr. Mark Sumner, Music Director
Eli Wise, guitar & vocals
Bill Ganz, piano
Asher Davison, vocals
Carrie Steere-Salazar, Moderator
Don Shearer, video camera
Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Podcasting, Video Edits, drums

Sunday, November 3, 2019 by Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister

This weekend is the confluence of the celebrations of the Day of the Dead in Mexican and Mexican-American communities and in Catholicism the All Saints and All Souls Days.

All of them are about honoring those who have gone before, loved, gone. And so we spend a little time honoring and thinking about what it means to honor our ancestors.

Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister
Carmen Barsody, Worship Associate
Sharon Weld, Ministerial Intern
Anjalisa Aitken, vocals (The Harmony People)
Gary Garrett, guitar & vocals (The Harmony People)
My-Hoa Steger, piano
Asher Davison, song leader
Reece Hart, Board Trustee
Max Benbow, Young Adults
Don Shearer, video camera
Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Podcasting, Video Edits

Sunday, October 27, 2019 by Rev. Elod Szabó, Balázs Scholar

The fiddler on the roof is a well-known symbol for the desire to find joy and happiness in very uncertain times such as we are now experiencing. Likewise, a preacher on the housetop is a person who always remembers who sent them and remembers the message to their people. How do Transylvanian Unitarians try to take the challenge and speak out?

Rev. Elod Szabó, Balázs Scholar
Sam King, Worship Associate
Fulton Manogin, Sexton
Dr. Mark Sumner, Music Director
Reiko Oda Lane, Organ
Amy Kelly, Board Trustee
Jonathan Silk, Podcasting

Sunday, October 20, 2019 by Rev. Alyson Jacks, Associate Minister

I think of church as an Imaginarium, a place devoted to the exploration of the imagination. In the Imaginarium we learn to see and experience things from different angles and discover new perspectives.

We open ourselves to new (and sometimes old!) ideas, widen our vision, and gain deeper understanding. Growing our imaginations takes practice, courage, and faith, which, after all, is what church is all about. Just imagine, won’t you?

Rev. Alyson Jacks, Associate Minister
Sharon Weld, Ministerial Intern
Dr. Mark Sumner, Music Director
VanNessa Hulme, soprano
Brielle Nelson, mezzo soprano
Eric, Hamilton, classical guitar
Aaron Kierbel, percussion
Carrie Steere-Salazar, Moderator
Vanessa Vanderlaan, video camera
Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Podcasting, Video Edits

Sunday, October 13, 2019 by Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister

Monday, October 14 will be Columbus Day or, as we better know it now, Indigenous People's Day. That change is a call, part of a movement to tell a whole history, a full and honest history of our nation. It is a call to talk about, not just the ideals, or the retold stories of lore, but of the moments that are not heroic but that are also stamped indelibly on our history and legacy.

It is a question many of us face in our own families-of-origin, to tell truths, not just cleaned-up ones. Why do that? And what happens (or can) when we do? 

Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister
Rev. Alyson Jacks, Associate Minister
Richard Davis-Lowell, Worship Associate
Reiko Oda Lane, organ
Dr. Mark Sumner, Music Director
Liz Patterson, solo
Judy Payne, Board Secretary
Don Shearer, video camera
Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Podcasting, Video Edits

Sunday, October 6, 2019 by Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister

Yom Kippur and the Days of Awe that precede it ask us turn back to God, or whatever we know and name as holy or as the desired to ground of our being. What does it take to make that turning in our lives? What does it cost us? And what does it make room for?

Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister
Lisanicole Sarkisian, Worship Associate
Sharon Weld, Ministerial Intern
Reiko Oda Lane, organ
William Klingelhoffer, shofar
Jill Brindel, cello
Matthew Arnerich, piano
Diane Frank, poem
Ben Rudiak Gould, song leader
Scott Benbow, Trustee
Shullee Ong, video camera
Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Podcasting, Video Edits

Sunday, September 29, 2019 by Rev. Pamela Gehrke, Assistant Minister

Each week we remind ourselves of our covenant to “dwell together in peace, to seek the truth in freedom, and to help one another.” This Sunday we explore the various pastoral ministries of the community, designed to facilitate mutual helping and care. What are some of the ways each of us might be involved in these ministries? How do they contribute to congregational life?

Rev. Pamela Gehrke, Assistant Minister
Daniel Jackoway, Worship Associate
Mark Sumner, piano
Reiko Oda Lane, organ
Eric Hamilton, guitar
Asher Davison, song leader
Lori Lai, Board Treasurer
Shullee Ong, video camera
Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Podcasting, Video Edits

Sunday, September 22, 2019 by Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister

We talk about the "larger library of human wisdom" from which we draw as Unitarian Universalists. That includes, of course, poetry, history, psychology, biography -- all the places learning and insights about life and the living of it surfaces for us. 

What about books, then, fiction, non-fiction, have most changed us. What is our own personal scripture; what verse, so to speak, changed the course of our life in some significant way. On Sunday we will reflect a little together on books that changed our lives -- mine and a few other folks too. (Order of Service Here)

Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister
Gayle Reynolds, Partner Church
Carrie Steere-Salazar, Partner Church
Sam King, Worship Associate
Kat Liu, Worship Associate
Mark Sumner, music director
Reiko Oda Lane, organ
Amy Kelly, Trustee
Don Shearer, video camera
Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Podcasting, Video Edits

Sunday, September 15, 2019 by Rev. Margot Campbell Gross, Minister Emerita

On this day when special music honors a beloved member, Vera Lee, we begin a year of small group ministry and remember that what holds us, grounds us, that where the deepest wisdom and insights so often come is from one another.

In family (the one we are born into or choose and make), at work (when it is healthy and good) and in the circles of friends or fellow travels that we simply show up for, we find and make the connections that hold and deepen us.

Rev. Margot Campbell Gross, Minister Emerita
Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister
Judith Stoddard, Small Group Ministry
Ralph Fenn, Small Group Ministry
Bobbi Kovac, Small Group Ministry
Laurel Sprigg, soprano
Bill Ganz, piano
Mark Sumner, music director
Reiko Oda Lane, organ
Asher Davison, song leader
Judy Payne, Board Secretary
Don Shearer, video camera
Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Podcasting, Video Edits

Sunday, September 8, 2019 by Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister

Come on our Opening Sunday. We will bless our students and teachers who are beginning their year of religious education together, and launch our own year of life. Drawing from Cherríe Moraga’s book on her mother, entitled “Native Country of the Heart” we will look at how the cuentista, the story teller, shapes us, and why that is relevant to our lives in community together.

Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister
Rev. Alyson Jacks, Associate Minister
Rev. Pam Gehrke, Assistant Minister
Dennis Adams, Worship Associate
UUSF Chorus
Rachel Spund, soprano
Bill Ganz, piano
Mark Sumner, music director
Reiko Oda Lane, organ
Lori Lai, board treasurer
Judy Payne, board secretary
Carrie Steere-Salazar, board moderator
Margaret Pearce, Anne Dillon Award Winner
Shulee Ong, video camera
Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Podcasting, Video Edits

Sunday, September 1, 2019 by Millie Phillips, Guest Preacher

In keeping with the music theme, the sermon will address hopeful signs for economic justice, such as new successful union organizing, new approaches by labor such as bargaining for the common good, the Poor Peoples Campaign, the increasing engagement of youth and young adults in economic justice-related work, and the role of faith communities in supporting economic justice.

Millie Phillips, Guest Preacher
Sam King, Worship Associate
The Labor Heritage/Rockin’ Solidarity Chorus
Pat Wynne director
Mark Sumner, piano
Asher Davison, song leader
Anish Johnson, Worship Associate
Don Shearer, video camera
Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Podcasting, Video Edits

Sunday, August 25, 2019 by Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister

Edward O. Wilson introduced the idea that we humans had the urge to connect with other forms of life in his 1984 book, "Biophilia". What happens when we have that connection, though, is just as important, how it changes us and our relationship to the world; that love may be what saves us!

Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister
Christine Patch-Lindsay, Worship Associate
Laurel Sprigg, soprano
My-Hoa Steger née Lê, piano
Shannon Warto, song leader
Eric Shackelford, Welcome
Dan Wiffen, video camera
Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Podcasting, Video Edits

Sunday, August 18, 2019 by The Young Adult Community

Young adulthood is a phase of discovery of one's voice, perspective, morals, values, and more. It's a time when all of one's hopes and dreams seem possible, even as the forces seek to stop them. There is simply no proper way to navigate its trials and tribulations.

Joe Chapot, Young Adult Coordinator

Alan Alpert, Worship Associate and Song Leader
Jamie Docherty, Worship Associate
Greg Jean-Baptiste, Worship Associate
Alfie Jiang, Worship Associate
Anish Johnson, Worship Associate
Sabrina Kaschmitter, Worship Associate
Sam King, Worship Associate
Chelsea Wiffen, Worship Associate
Radim Zenkl, multi instrumentalist
My-Hoa Steger née Lê, piano
Eric Shackelford, video camera
Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Podcasting, Video Edits

Sunday, August 11, 2019 by Rev. Alyson Jacks, Associate Minister

Author Robert Macfarlane writes about the intersections of human and natural realms.  In Underland:  A Deep Time Journey he writes, " To think in deep time can be a means of not escaping our troubled present, but rather of re-imagining it; countermanding its quick greeds and furies with older, slower stories of making and remaking. Set down your smart devices, turn off your ipads, power down your computers and join us for a time traveling service where we'll explore deep time and our relationship to it. 

Rev. Alyson Jacks, Associate Minister
Dennis Adams, Worship Associate
Reiko Oda Lane, organ
Shannon Warto, song leader
Richard Fey, baritone
Elektra Schmidt, piano
Rochelle A.Fortier Nwadibia , Vice Moderator
Don Shearer, video camera
Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Podcasting, Sound Meditation

View the Complete Service Here

Sunday, August 4, 2019 by Rev. Mary McKinnon Ganz, Assistant Minister

According to the Sufi poet Rumi, "there are a thousand ways to kneel and kiss the ground." but even in the 13th Century, that was a conservative number. In her last sermon as Assistant Minister at UUSF, Rev. Mary Ganz reprises a theme from one of her first here as an intern minister 15 years ago, considering the meaning of "prayer" for Unitarian Universalists.

Rev. Mary McKinnon Ganz, Assistant Minister
Lisanicole Sarkisian, Worship Associate
Mark Sumner, piano
Shannon Warto, song leader
Dan Frechette, guitar & vocals
Laurel Thomsen, violin & vocals
Carrie Steere-Salazar, Moderator
Eric Shackelford, video camera
Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Podcasting

Sunday, July 28, 2019 by Rev. Mary McKinnon Ganz, Assistant Minister

They say there is wisdom to be found as we get older. How do we make our way to it, through thickets of diminishing memory or physical strength? 

Rev. Mary McKinnon Ganz, Assistant Minister
Carmen Barsody, Worship Associate
Reiko Oda Lane, organ
Mark Sumner, piano
Mark Kapner, piano
Jiun-Chyi Yew, soprano
Asher Davison, song leader
Reece Hart, Welcome
Carrie Steere-Salazar, Moderator
Nathan Gandrud, Staff
Eric Shackelford, video camera
Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Podcasting

Sunday, July 21, 2019 by Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister

Years ago when the losses of US soldiers reached over 1000, a member of the church I served set up a meeting to say how horrified and saddened she was that we ceased to notice the losses -- all happening in our names. So, we witnessed to it one week soon after, and then in one ritual for every week that followed until the war was officially declared over. We vowed not to forget what was being done, lost, harmed, sacrificed each week "in our name." 

This week, under different circumstances, we are calling ourselves to do the same. Come join us for a service, hard but honest, witnessing to in our hour together of worship (a word whose root means "meaning making") and through collective public witness outside on our steps after service, to what is happening in our world, in our name -- To loss, cruelty, death, starvation, human-beings'-inhumanity-to-one-another. This week's response may also be part of evolving rituals and actions that will not let us go, that cannot let us go, until the end to another kind of war is declared.  And to that end, we gather. 

Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister
Sharon Weld, Worship Associate
Reiko Oda Lane, organ
Asher Davison, bass-baritone
My-Hoa Steger, piano
Shannon Warto, song leader
Mark Sumner, song leader
Carrie Steere-Salazar, Welcome
Shulle Ong, video camera
Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Podcasting

Sunday, July 14, 2019 by Rev. Mary McKinnon Ganz, Assistant Minister

On this warming piece of rock that is our home, what can we hang our hopes on? Can we find a path between denial and despair?

Rev. Mary McKinnon Ganz, Assistant Minister
Richard Davis-Lowell, Worship Associate
Martha Rodriguez-Salazar, flute and vocals
Sharon Wayne, vocals and guitar
David Jones, piano
Mark Sumner, song leader
Amy Kelly, Welcome
Ben Welte, video camera
Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Podcasting

Sunday, July 7, 2019 by Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister

Following on the theme of spaciousness and invitations to sit with life and go deep, we will spend a Sunday hour sitting with the wisdom source and texts of a few arresting, delightful works of poetry.

Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister
Sam King, Worship Associate
Reiko Oda Lane, organ
Christine Tulis, harp and vocals
Asher Davison, song leader
Eric Shackelford, video camera
Jonathan Silk, OOS, Sound, Podcasting

Sunday, June 30, 2019 by Rev. Alyson Jacks, Associate Minister

It’s Pride Sunday, our city is throwing a party to celebrate Queer culture in all its many marvelous manifestations. Before heading to the parade, join us for worship. We’ll explore the idea of culture care, how to create generative environments that help communities and individuals thrive and grow, openly, honestly and with boundless joy.

Rev. Alyson Jacks, Associate Minister
Daniel Jackoway, Worship Associate
Larry Chinn, jazz piano
Chie Sugiyama, vocalist
Shannon Warto, song leader
Kat Liu, welcome
Joe Chapot, OOS
Sharon Weld, video camera
Jonathan Silk, Sound, Podcasting

Sunday, June 16, 2019 by Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister

Sidney Poitier, the great actor and director once said, "I decided in my life that I would do nothing that did not reflect positively on my father's life." The influence of our fathers (their presence or absence) shapes us. Reflecting on their lives, their influence, their legacy is a big piece of what it means to wrestle with our own lives. We reflect on some stories of fathers and a little bit of how making sense of their lives might help us clarify how to make sense of our own.

Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister
Carmen Barsody, Worship Associate
Reiko Oda Lane, organ 
Julie Grower, country singer/guitar
Anish Johnson, welcome
Donald Shearer, Live Sound
Joe Chapot, OOS
Jonathan Silk, Podcasting

Sunday, June 9, 2019 by Rev. John Buehrens, Guest Minister

The first challenge to a child’s emotional development, said Erik Erikson, is trust vs. mistrust. James Baldwin said that what he learned in church is “do our first works over.” In a society and time that has come to distrust information, institutions, and almost all else, let’s talk about trust. On a Sunday when Rev. Southern will be in New York for the ordination of our intern minister, Shari Halliday-Quan, our former senior minister steps. The Choir will sing for the last time before summer services begin. Worship will be followed by the Annual Meeting of the Society. 

Rev. John Buehrens, Guest Minister
Richard Davis-Lowell, Worship Associate
Dr. Mark Sumner, Music Director
Reiko Oda Lane, organ 
Kate Offer, soprano 
Bill Ganz, piano
Asher Davison, soloist
Shannon Warto, soloist
Kevin Smith, soloist
Gayle Reynolds, welcome
Joe Chapot, Video Camera
Jonathan Silk, Sound, Podcasting, OOS, Livestream, Videos, drums

Sunday, June 2, 2019 by Shari Halliday-Quan, Ministerial Intern

Here at First Unitarian Universalist SF, we try as best as possible to draw the circle ever wider and be an inclusive and loving community. We all have limited time and energy, of course, and so both individually and collectively, we often fail to achieve this goal perfectly. No surprise there since perfection is impossible, but perhaps we can inch just a little closer to loving well. Shari Halliday-Quan, our ministerial intern this year, will preach about who and what is at the center of our circle of love.?

Shari Halliday-Quan, Ministerial Intern
Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister
Daniel Jackoway, Worship Associate
Dr. Mark Sumner, Music Director
Reiko Oda Lane, organ and Bell Choir Director
Bill Ganz, piano
Alan Alpert, tenor
Marie Kazan-Komarek, Mary Jane Mikuriya, Richard Davis, Intern Committee
Rev. Eloise Mayo and her children Beth and David
Diane Alen, Vision/Mission
Christopher Rodriguez, welcome
Shulee Ong, Video Camera
Jonathan Silk, Sound, Podcasting, OOS, Livestream, Videos

Sunday, May 26, 2019 by Matthew Waterman, Guest Preacher

What does it mean to live on borrowed time? What do we do when our loved ones have run out of borrowed time? Matthew Waterman, Starr King Seminarian, speaks with us about losing those that we love and the grieving process, especially in a fast-paced culture that pushes us to 'get over it' quickly and move on.

Matthew Waterman, Guest Preacher
Lisanicole Sarkisian, Worship Associate
Giacomo Fiore, guitar
David Jones, piano
Ariel Andrew, song leader
Rochelle Nwadibia, Vice Moderator
Antwann Horace, sound

Sunday, May 19, 2019 by Rev. Dr. Colin Bossen, Guest Minister

Ralph Waldo Emerson told us, "Friendship demands a religious treatment.” In this sermon guest minister the Rev. Dr. Colin Bossen will offer of a spirituality of friendship that draws upon Unitarian Universalism Transcendentalist roots. Dr. Bossen currently serves as the interim senior minister of the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston. He is in San Francisco to give the second of his Minns lectures: “The Social Question: Unitarian Social Ethics in the Progressive Era.” His blog can be found at www.colinbossen.com.

Rev. Dr. Colin Bossen, Guest Minister
Shari Halliday-Quan, Ministerial Intern
Sam King, Worship Associate
Christine Tulis, harp and vocals
Wm. García Ganz, piano
Ariel Andrew, song leader
Carrie Steere Salazar, Moderator
Don Shearer, video camera
Jonathan Silk, Sound, Podcasting, OOS, Livestream, Videos

Sunday, May 12, 2019 by Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister

On this Mother’s Day, when we celebrate our mother’s let’s talk about cutting ourselves some slack. Perfection is overrated for one. But also, giving it up — illusion that it is — might just be the best gift we give our kids. Goodbye Paragons of Virtue. Hello Goddesses of Good Enough! 

Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister
Rev. Alyson Jacks, Associate Minister
Shari Halliday-Quan, Ministerial Intern
Richard Davis-Lowell, Worship Associate
Reiko Oda Lane, organ
Bill Ganz, piano
Ariel Andrew, soloist
Amy Kelly, welcome
Natlie Shuttleworth, video camera
Jonathan Silk, Podcasting, OOS, Livestream, Videos, drums

Sunday, May 5, 2019 by Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister

UU Minister A. Powell Davies, whose All Souls Church in Washington D.C. was a leader in challenging segregation in the nation’s capital during his ministry, once said that the purpose of life was, “to grow a soul.” There are so many ways we grow a soul. This Sunday we’ll honor a couple of those and just hold up the venture itself, remind ourselves of what it takes, mostly a village. 

Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister
Rev. Alyson Jacks, Associate Minister
Rev. Margot Campbell Gross, Minister Emerita

2019 Lifespan Religious Education
Small Group Ministry
Young Adult Group
All Church Retreat 
Dennis Adams, Worship Associate
Ben Bear, reflection
Reiko Oda Lane, organ
Bill Ganz, piano
Asher Davison, soloist and guest conductor
Ariel Andrew, soloist
Scott Benbow, welcome
Don Shearer, video camera
Jonathan Silk, Podcasting, OOS, Livestream, Videos, drums

Sunday, April 28, 2019 by Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister

“The goal,”Rabbi Irving Greenberg once wrote of Passover, “is to go back thousands of years and to experience, first, the crushing bitterness and despair of slavery and, next, the wild, exhilarating release of freedom.” And then to ask, what do I need to be liberated from; what liberating work is left to do, remembering what that work might look and feel like. Let's accept the Passover invitation to re-engage with the experience and call to liberation.

Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister
Rev. Alyson Jacks, Associate Minister
Daniel Jackoway, Worship Associate
Reiko Oda Lane, organ
Dr. Mark Sumner, piano
Asher Davison, song leader
The Harmony People, Anjalisa and Gary
Anjalisa Aitken, vocals 
Gary Garrett, guitar
Christopher Rodriguez, welcome
Gino Fortunato, All Church Retreat
Daniel Stuurop-Wiffen, video camera
Jonathan Silk, Podcasting, OOS, Livestream, Videos

Sunday, April 21, 2019 by Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister

Part of the Easter story is the most horrific cruelty and loss that precedes it, and then the most magnificent miracle that wakes us Easter morning. How do we rational, scientific folks make sense of miracle stories, and of this one in particular? Let's re-frame Easter for our ears and lose none of the beauty of it in so doing!

Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister
Rev. Mary McKinnon Ganz, Assistant Minister
Shari Halliday-Quan, Ministerial Intern
Lisanicole Sarkisian, Worship Associate
Reiko Oda Lane, organ and bell choir director
Dr. Mark Sumner, Music Director
Asher Davison, soloist
Kate Offer, solist
Eric Shackleford, welcome
Joe Chapot, video camera
Jonathan Silk, Podcasting, OOS, Livestream, Videos