Service Leaders: Susan Panttaja, Joe McCarty, David Hope, Joe Gabaeff
Music by: Sadie Sonntag and the Choir
Share the Basket: Planned Parenthood So Co
As UUs, we strive for peace and understanding in our interactions, even in conflict. How far will we go “to meet injury with service and evil with good,” in the words of Unitarian pacifist John Haynes Holmes? Today we explore pacifism and nonviolence, and we hear from two members who chose to become conscientious objectors.
Summer schedule begins: one service only at 10:00am.
Service Leaders: Rev. Chris Bell, Eric Fischer
Music by: Paul Gilger and some of the UUsual Suspects
Share the Basket: The Living Room
As we begin June, a month devoted to the consideration of fighting and struggle, we ask “When is fighting ok?” Not just fighting with words and ideas, even, but actually fighting. Like with fists or guns. St. Augustine’s theories of “Just” wars will provide some guidance, or a foil, depending on how Rev. Chris interprets it. The Adrienne Swenson award is also presented today.
Service Leaders: Rev. Chris Bell, Sharon McCarty
Music by: Ben Ford & the UUsual Suspects, Tyler Johnson
Share the Basket: NAACP Sonoma County Chapter
“There are times when a human soul cries out in mourning, and there are times when a human soul sings forth in gratitude for the sheer joy of life,” writes Rev. Patrick O’Neil. Spontaneous expressions of our soul’s deep longing are the most familiar form of prayer (for theists and non-theists alike!), but what might come of making a daily practice of this form of mindful and intentional speech?
Service Leaders: Millie Phillips, John Ray
Music by: The Choir AND The UUsual Suspects!
Share the Basket: The Saturday Breakfast for our Neighbors
Jazz is often misconstrued as “every person for him/herself,” riffing like mad with the hope it all coheres in the end. Rather like “UU’s can believe anything, making it up as they go along and then talking about it on Sunday.” But underneath jazz’s reverence for free-form improvisation lies a deep structure and tradition of individual creativity lending itself to group cooperation. Hmmm…Join us, including a swingin’ group of UUsual Suspects players and singers and our Choir, for this musically rich and thought-provoking journey through a home-grown American art form and its interweave with liberal religion.
Service Leaders: Rev. Chris Bell, Andy Levine
Music by: Special Guest Bobby Jo Valentine, Tyler Johnson
Share the Basket: Council on Aging / Meals on Wheels
“Embodied spirituality views all human dimensions—body, vital, heart, mind, and consciousness—as equal partners in bringing self, community, and world into a fuller alignment with the Mystery out of which everything arises. Far from being an obstacle, this approach sees the engagement of the body and its vital/primary energies as crucial for not only a thorough spiritual transformation, but also the creative exploration of expanded forms of spiritual freedom.” — Jorge N. Ferrer
Service Leaders: Rev. Chris Bell, Deborah Mason
Music by: Sadie Sonntag and the Choir, Tyler Johnson
Share the Basket: Youth Group trip to New Orleans
The Fourth UU Principle calls us to engage in a “free and responsible search for truth and meaning,” and we greatly honor the process of life-long learning. Being religious does not mean giving up our minds or critical thinking! Today we’ll consider the process of education – in both its providing and receiving forms – as a spiritual practice. At the center of the 11:00 service is the Bridging Ceremony for our graduating senior high school youth, and their reflections on their journey.
Service Leaders: Rev. Chris Bell, David Hope
Music by: Robert Howseman and Roger Corman
Share the Basket: Sonoma County Vet Connect
We kick off a month looking at spiritual practices by considering one very close to many UUs: working for justice. And, Lord knows, there are plenty of opportunities to do so these days, with anti-LGBT statutes in North Carolina, global terrorism, hate-speech and demagoguery in our politics, climate change, and attacks on women’s rights. The good news is that the practice of working for social change also changes us, opening our hearts and minds.
Service Leaders: Rolland Carlson, Roger Corman
Music by: The Choir, and Robin Rogers
Share the Basket: Saturday Breakfast For Our Neighbors
John Muir and Ralph Waldo Emerson met in Yosemite and forged a close friendship while visiting the Giant Sequoias. Emerson’s Unitarian thinking had a significant influence on Muir and the campaign to preserve sacred wild places in National Parks, a uniquely American idea. We ponder this appropriate theme close to Earth Day and will include some Sequoia and Yosemite history, plus the story of an amazing man, Sequoia, whose name graces these magnificent species.
Service Leaders: Rev. Chris Bell, Cathy Read
Music by: Sadie Sonntag & The Choir
Share the Basket: Santa Rosa Quilt Guild
Grief is a burden of mental and emotional suffering that each of us is destined to carry in our lives, whether it comes from the loss of a loved one, the loss of our own capacities, the loss of polar bears, or the loss of our democracy. Since there is no avoiding it, learning how live through it, and turn it toward something good is the only way forward. Today we’ll look at what our UU faith has to offer us in this process.
Service Leaders: Rev. Chris Bell, Andrew Hidas
Music by: Paul Gilger and some of the UUsual Suspects
Share the Basket: Parkinson’s Disease Support Group
The Dalai Lama says the point of life is to be happy, and the nation of Bhutan uses a national happiness quotient to determine the success of its government. But just what is this often-elusive experience of happiness? And how can we justly generate more of it for everyone?
