October 27, 2024: All Hallows Eve, Día de Muertos, All Souls, and All Saints days invite us each autumn to remember our ancestors and our beloveds who have died. These tender days on the way to winter even open a window to working on our relationships with those who have gone before us. In a service steeped in ritual and music, we will remember with honesty, gratitude, and hope. […]
October 20, 2024: What does it mean to be spiritual? As Unitarian Universalists this is for each of us to define for ourselves. We can listen to wisdom from other cultures, from the natural world, to an internal voice, and to each other. Jenny Dewey has completed “sermon school” with Rev. Kevin and is stepping up courageously to share her sermon with us. We will accompany her on a spiritual journey that began when she was a child and continues to this day. […]
October 13, 2024: Artist and scholar Jordan Reznick interrogates historic photos for what they reveal and conceal about history and cultures. In recent work, he has brought his insightful and skillful eye to Malakoff Diggins, in conversation with members of the Nisenan tribe. On this day before Indigenous People’s Day, […]
October 6, 2024: There is no more powerful, challenging, or rewarding spiritual practice than deep listening,” writes the Rev. Cat Cox. We name this truth and its importance and place in our tradition in our UUCM orientation sessions. With this service, we encourage our deep listening, for the sake of our community, our nation, our world, our close-in circles, and our own selves. […]
September 29, 2024: Unitarian Universalist congregations from across the nation are joining in a two-day Climate Justice Revival this weekend. In solidarity, we too turn our attention to climate justice, and to finding our way in an age of climate change, through the beauty and the hope of the struggle. […]
September 22, 2024: How might we soften to listen more deeply in a culture that devalues contemplation? How might we explore different levels of consciousness and dissolve limiting boundaries? Deep Listening, as developed by Pauline Oliveros, explores the difference between the involuntary nature of hearing and the conscious nature of listening. This practice involves going below the surface of what is heard, expanding to the whole field of sound while finding focus. […]
September 15, 2024: Why come together on a Sunday morning (whether on site or on Zoom) when so many other possibilities abound? And what should we do once we do gather? Though we can get a little set in our ways sometimes, this is a perpetual and unfolding question for members of a community such as this. What is your response these days to such invitations? […]
September 8, 2024: With this month’s theme of invitation, the voices of the UUCM choir, and the magic of guest Mei Lin Heirendt’s amazing musical artistry, we consider our own sense of “home” our willingness to extend that sense of home, belonging, and welcome to others. […]
September 1, 2024: In the midst of Labor Day weekend vacations, we’ll turn our attention to vocations, and the ways that life has called to us, or is even now calling to us. As Parker J. Palmer puts it: “Vocation at its deepest level is, ‘This is something I can’t not do, for reasons I’m unable to explain to anyone else and don’t fully understand myself but that are nonetheless compelling.'” […]
August 25, 2024: These days we seem to be living the words of our hymn “it may be hard we know, and the road will be muddy and rough, but we’ll get there.” What options do we have to nurture hope as the maelstrom of this political season heats up? What tools are available for us to make a difference? Do we all have to be on the front lines? Is there room for us to be our authentic selves? This service explored a range of ways we can actively feed our spirits while being strong defenders of democracy. […]
