"Nap Ministry" Sunday, May 21, 10:50 am Tricia Hersey, ordained and tired, got drawn to the idea of a ministry around rest, nap-in-happenings but also the larger idea of rest as revolution. Tied deeply to undoing some of the patterns of a culture that has made models of extraction more than colonial models abroad, Hersey unpacks what virtue around rest and work and justice embodied ask of us. It is all very fun and deeply powerful to consider. Note: This Sunday is the Sunday of the Bay to Breakers run so if you come to church in person (please do, if you are inclined!) just check your route ag ..read more

"A Sacred Choice: Reproductive Justice" Sunday, May 14, 10:50 am On this day honoring mothers, what does it mean to truly support the choice to become a mother or not? What does the upcoming resolution call us as a congregation to do to support this choice? Rev. Laura Shennum, Minister of Congregational Life; Bree Shennum, Worship Associate; Reiko Oda Lane, Organist; UUSF Choir led by Mark Sumner, Music Director; Peg Lisi, Soloist Shulee Ong, Camera; Jonathan Silk, Communications Director; Amy Kelly, Flowers; Linda Messner, Head Usher ..read more

"Little Did I Know" Sunday, May 7, 10:50 am An anthology on caring for young people, a grief (or preparation project) around the Empty Nest Chapter that was on the horizon. That's how the book project began, but it took me places that were so different than I expected... as our journey loving and caring for the young people in our lives, I guess, always does. Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister; Rev. Laura Shennum, Minister of Congregational Life; Carmen Barsody, Worship Associate; Reiko Oda Lane, Organist; UUSF Choir led by Mark Sumner, Music Director; Wm. García Ganz, Pianist Shulee ..read more

"A May Day Convergence" Sunday, April 30, 10:50 am On May 1st, it would appear that everything is converging at the same moment, whether it be the international worker's holiday, the Beltane festival, or a desperate call for help. Rev. Millie Phillips, Affiliated Community Minister; Mari Magaloni Ramos, Worship Associate; Reiko Oda Lane, Organist; UUSF Choir led by Mark Sumner, Music Director Shulee Ong, Camera; Eric Shackelford, Camera; Jonathan Silk, Communications Director; Santana Gonzalez-Gomez, Chat Moderator; Thomas Brown, Sexton; Athena Papsadakos, Flowers; Linda Messner, Head Usher ..read more

"The Problem with God" Sunday, April 23, 10:50 am For a lot of people it's the notion of "God" that gets in the way of coming into a religious community. So I want to explore some of what the "problem with God" is and some ways folks have reframed that word -- or reclaimed it -- so that we can see what possibilities there are for God (and where we hit some limits). Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister; Rev. Laura Shennum, Minister of Congregational Life; Dennis Adams, Worship Associate; Rheinber Award Committee; Jennifer Peringer, piano; Mark Sumner, piano; Ben Rudiak-Gould, songleader ..read more

"Heartbeats" Sunday, April 16, 10:50 am I was 29 years old when I served as assistant minister to Diane Miller back in 79/80. 18 years in Hayward, then 17 in Columbus, 7 years retired. And bam! Just like that, I am 73 and have heart problems. I’m afforded good care through Ohiohealth, Medicare and supplemental insurance, gratefully. But there is no obvious Medicare of the spirit to help me, and most everyone I know, through these present difficult times of tumult, hurt, anger, fear and escalating injustice in the US and the rest of the world. I know my own metaphoric heart hurts more and more ..read more

"What Prepares us for Sunrise?" Easter Sunday, April 9, 10:50 am Easter morning with its tradition of Sunrise Services is about the good news of life resurrected. You can hear that as the story of Jesus as told and passed down, as a reminder of the natural cycle of seasons, or as a metaphor for so much of life that moves from loss to new beginnings and to loss and new beginnings again and again. But like cheap grace, Easter without the days and nights before it, resurrection without loss doesn't make sense. What happens in the in between of all that that we need to remind ourselves of and then ..read more

"You Are Loved" Sunday, April 2, 10:50 am If folks from theologians to psychologists to wise elders are correct, love comes first. For all of us to be fulfilled, healthily liberated to be our full selves, we have to know and believe we are loved, for ourselves, as we are. How does it inform how we live, to take that necessity seriously? Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister; Rev. Laura Shennum, Minister of Congregational Life; Daniel Jackoway, Worship Associate; Allen Biggs, Percussionist; Tommy Kesecker, Percussionist; T. Mychael Rambo, Soloist; Mark Sumner, Songleader; Bill Ganz, Piani ..read more

"What Need One?" Sunday, March 26, 10:50 am Shakespeare’s King Lear asked the perennial question, "What need one?" I remember it from high school AP English class. Mrs. Laster, who was a force of nature — and put the class at 8 am to discourage the lazy, the dilettantes, the weak — drove it home. The question, that is, not the answer. Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister; Rev. Laura Shennum, Minister of Congregational Life; Daniel Jackoway, Worship Associate; Jordan Ong, Canvass Testimony; Reiko Oda Lane, Organist; UUSF Choir led by Mark Sumner, Music Director; Bill Ganz, Pianist Shulee ..read more

"From Special Creation to Kin: How Scientific and Indigenous Understandings Call Us to a New Relationship with Nature" Sunday, March 19, 10:50 am For much of Western history, the dominant creation story has placed humans at the apex of the natural order. This Sunday we will look at how the scientific creation story calls us to a different relationship with life, one which is consonant with many indigenous understandings and with Unitarian Universalism as well. Rev. Jamie Hinson-Rieger, Guest Minister; Rev. Laura Shennum, Minister of Congregational Life; Sam King, Worship Associate; Sara Ferree ..read more