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To give you an idea of what our previous services have looked like, here is the full list in reverse order: |
| December 30 "Looking Forward, Looking Back" Worship Associates: Diana Spaulding and David Dodd Amid the holiday bustle we pause to reflect on the end of 2007 and the beckoning New Year. Mother Winter will guide us as we gather our memories, consider the possibilities for our lives in the dawning year, and reflect on what will sustain us as we move forward. The service will be an introspective meditation leading to us each writing a letter to ourselves; these letters will be held and sent in a year for reading on New Year's 2009. |
| December 23 "Christmas Service" Minister: Rev. Ben Kocs-Meyers Worship Associate: Meredith Guest Come join us for this festive service to usher in the joy and spirit of Christmas.....a brass choir, familiar carols, angelic singing, and a message of hope and meaning....SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE! |
| December 16 "Solstice Drumming Celebration" Worship Associate: Tony Blake Many western religious observances are rooted in ancient earth-centered recognitions of seasonal events often marked with celebrations. Ancient cultures, especially those from Northern latitudes, were acutely attuned to seasonal changes related to the longest or shortest days of the year. Winter solstice is the shortest day of the year and has been recognized for thousands of years through ceremonies that typically involve welcoming the light back into our existence. Long, ago, the Vikings of Sweden held festivals to mark the first day of winter, the exact middle of winter, and the last day of winter. This ceremony later became known as Santa Lucia. Come join us just prior to the Winter Solstice in a participatory intergenerational service full of song, ceremony, and a UUP community drum circle to celebrate the light coming back into our lives. |
| December 9 "Sustainability--For the Holidays and For Ever " Worship Associate: Lara Abel Guest Speaker: Stuart Moody What are the hidden costs of over consumption? How can we reverse the trends of waste and pollution that threaten the earth? Stuart Moody of Green Sangha will explore with us the intimate relationship between spiritual growth and environmental action. Included will be a simple meditation for clarity, calm, and courage. |
| December 2 "Changing the Dream of the Modern World" Guest Speaker: Dave Ergo Worship Associate: Stacey Meinzen Change is an essential part of life and humanity has faced enormous changes over the last century. From the industrial and agricultural revolutions to the technological revolution currently underway, we have seen major upheaval in the human experience. Many of us already know that humanity is again facing enormous changes with the reality of climate change and environmental degradation. Between utter chaos and utopian order lies the path that humanity will follow; how positive that change will be depends upon how well we understand the nature of change, how well we understand the critical (as well as meaningful and hopeful) role we can play, and how each of us chooses to face the challenges ahead. |
| November 25 "The Grateful Heart: A Stone-Soup Service" Worship Associate: Diana Spaulding. In the folktale "Stone Soup" the soup is a gift that the once stingy villagers give to each other and to the travelers; creating the soup is at once an act of community and an act of hospitality. On this special Sunday we gather to cook our own communally-created "stone soup," and pause to consider what it takes to open our hearts to giving and receiving freely. How does it feel to be grateful? To be generous? How can we create the habits of generosity and gratitude within our own families and communities so they become cornerstones of our spiritual lives? The congregation's youth group will be cooking soup for us, and all ages will be with us during this warm and wonderful service. Please bring a small bag of chopped veggies, dry noodles, or other soup ingredient and plan to stay after the service for a light meal! In addition, please bring a can of nutritious food to give to our local food bank. |
| November 18 "Love is Not a Task" Guest speaker: Jan Ogren Worship Associate: Elisabeth Hathaway. Unitarian Universalists proclaim that "love is the doctrine of our church" but what does that mean and how do we practice it? Love has become an overused concept and an underused practice in our world. Come explore Love: definitions, myths, mis-beliefs and why it is important to revisit our views of love now. |
| November 11 "Now is the Time! Celebrating Unitarian Universalism and Growing our Faith" Minister: Rev. Ben Kocs-Meyers Worship Associate: Diana Spaulding. No man is an island...and no congregation stands alone. Our congregation is only one small strand of a larger interconnected web of Unitarian Universalist congregations. What does it mean to us personally to be part of a larger faith movement? What does it mean to our congregation to be part of the UUA? Today we begin to strengthen the bonds of our common purpose and combine our resources to make Unitarian Universalism a stronger voice for liberal religious values in our country. Please join in this service as we, along with all UU congregations across the continent, celebrate and support our Unitarian Universalist Association. All are welcome! |
| November 4 "A Journey I'd Like to Share" Guest Speaker: Dick Allen Worship Associate: Elisabeth Hathaway. "A faithful friend is a sure shelter. Whoever finds one has a rare treasure." Ecclesiasticus. Join UUP Member Dick Allen as he shares significant aspects of his lifetime spiritual journey with us, including the importance of friendship, community, love, and his connections with Buddhism and Arnold Lobel's Frog and Toad are Friends. The Sunday service is the time we explore these themes together, between the greetings on the front porch and the after-service bagels and conversation. |
| October 28 "El Dia de Los Muertos" Worship Associate: Meredith Guest. Death is one of those topics about which we'd rather not think. It brings up life's hardest emotions: grief, fear and even anger. No wonder we avoid it. Yet death is part of life and on Dia de los Muertos we embrace--with both tears and laughter--its reality. For this intergenerational service, we invite you to bring a photo or some object to place on the special altar in memory of a loved one (human or otherwise) who has passed into The Mystery. |
| October 21 "Ethical Eating and the Seventh Principle" Guest Speaker: Grayson James Worship Associate: Stacey Meinzen. The food we eat may seem like a quotidian matter that does not merit theological debate. However, how we fill our bowls and our stomachs is a vital ingredient in our spiritual soup. Come hear Grayson James of Petaluma Bounty discuss our local food system, how he feeds the hungry, and how we can move from a culture of culinary profligacy to one of reverence and alimentary abundance for all. Local Food Brunch will be a part of the Service! |
| October 14 "Don't Shoot, I'm The Guitar Man" Guest Speaker: Buzzy Martin Worship Associate: Tony Blake. Come hear local troubadour and author Buzzy Martin speak about his life's work on bringing music to the inmates of San Quentin and juvenile offenders. Buzzy's work and pasion is a living example of how to honor the inherent worth and dignity of every person and to bring justice, equity and compassion in human relations. You'll be both moved and entertained by this service. |
| October 14 "The Cycle of Simchat Torah": Worship Associate: Michael Iritz Many outside of the Jewish faith know about some of the more popular Jewish holidays, but how many have heard of Simchat Torah? This holiday is known among observant Jews as the most celebratory - but the reasons for the "party" atmosphere apply to a number of UU Principles as well. Join us at UU Petaluma to celebrate and learn more about this lesser known Jewish Holiday. |
| September 30 "Fried Green Tomatoes: Dealing with Life's Incompletions" Guest Speaker: Alexandra McGee, ministerial student at Starr King School for the Ministry. Worship Associate: Lara Abel. As the fall equinox passes and the days grow shorter, we may have to let go of some of the summer goals that never got finished. How is this a metaphor for so many incompleted things in our lives? Where do we get the strength to move forward when we don't have everything in place the way we'd planned? Alexandra McGee is studying for her Masters of Divinity at Starr King School for the Ministry in Berkeley, with a focus on Sanskrit, yoga and cooperative ecological spirituality. |
| September 23 "Rumi: Whirling to Stillness" Guest speaker: Elisabeth Hathaway Rumi, the Persian Sufi poet, recognizes: "Today like every other day we wake up empty and scared." Writing 800 years ago, one of the most well-known voices of mystical Islam offers us his deeply personal yet profoundly universal visions of human experience, seeking and meeting the divine in our daily lives. He sees simply we can "let the beauty we love be what we do, there are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground." Join us in honoring the 800th anniversary of his birth. |
| September 16 Water and Stones Ingathering Our community regathers following our summertime adventures, whether at home in Petaluma or abroad. Bring water and a stone from your travels, to leave in the common vessels as a symbol of our coming back together for the start of a new church year. Worship Associate: Tony Blake |
| September 9 "Mindfulness and the Prayer of Jesus" Guest minister: Timothy Locke, PhD Worship Associate: Elisabeth Hathaway Today we will look together at an unfamiliar version of perhaps a familiar prayer, to have an experience of how a meditative way can support a deeply personal spiritual practice, leading us into the present moment and into the presence of Holy Mystery. |
| September 2 "Labor Day" Guest speaker: Meredith Guest On this Labor Day weekend, let's examine the complex and controversial issue of immigration, particularly illegal immigration and its impact on and implications for America's working class and ask ourselves: When compassion and concerns for social justice collide, how do we decide what to think, feel and do? |
| August 26 "Obligations of Enlightenment" Guest speaker: Eric Nelson Worship Associate: Lara Abel Are Unitarian Universalists obligated to get involved in social, political, and moral issues such as peacemaking, resistance to hate, and advancement of all people? Eric teaches college part time, and works full time as a peace officer. He lives in Davis with three adopted dogs. Eric regularly presents at a half dozen UU churches in the Pacific Central District. He is a member of the UU church in San Francisco. |
| August 19 "Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream" Guest speaker: Dave Ergo The "American Dream" has become manic and disconnected, leaving little time to connect with our loved ones and the natural world... and it has even brought us to the brink of environmental and social collapse. This dream of the modern world -- a dream of domination and separation -- has replaced an ancient dream of human integration with Nature and all of creation. But as the dream of the modern world draws to its inevitable close, we have the chance and the challenge to create a new dream that is sustainable, just, and fulfilling. |
| August 12 "Ripples of Reverence and Resiliency" Guest Speaker: Trathen Heckman Join us for Trathen's return to UUP to share his earth and experience based sense of spirituality, discussing the power of our daily actions: with our movement and breath we can hold the beauty and hurt in our lives and in our world, as we move with inspired action. Worshp Associate: Elisabeth Hathaway. |
| August 5 "Jewels in the Baggage" Guest Speakers: KC Greaney and Earl Cruser Earl Cruser and KC Greaney ("Faith of Our Fathers") will talk about their religious upbringing, how it has shaped their attitudes about religion and spirituality, and how Unitarian Universalism has informed their attitude towards other faith traditions and the people in those traditions. |
| July 29 "Staying In Touch With The Real Thing" (Second of a two-part series): Guest Speaker: Meredith Guest As members of a spiritual community, many, if not most of us believe in some sort of spiritual reality. How do we experience this, celebrate it, encounter and embrace it? Come prepared to listen and share. |
| July 22 "Staying In Touch With The Real Thing" (First of a two-part series): Guest Speaker: Meredith Guest As our lives become increasingly complex, our physical connection to reality diminishes. Our food comes mostly from stores. We are protected from the vagaries of nature. We travel in complex, metal machines. How do we get connected or reconnected to reality so we remember what's important and who we are. Come prepared to listen and participate. |
| July 15 "This I Believe: On the Road to Find Out" Two UUP members, Leslie Balestreri and Dennis Zerbo, will share the stories of their faith journey to Unitarian Universalism and how their values have been shaped. |
| July 8 "Spiritual Independence and Interdependence": Worship Associate: Tony Blake Independence Day, a distinctly American holiday, celebrates a time in our nation’s history, when we declared our independence from Great Britain. We will explore the ideas of freedom and liberty, and have the opportunity to share our spiritual independence with one another. |
July 1
"A UU Bard": Guest Poet: Dr. Ric MastenComposer and writer of the famous song, 'Let It Be A Dance,' Ric Masten is a Unitarian Universalist poet who has been delighting, challenging, and enlightening readers and listeners for decades. Please join us for this extraordinary and rare pleasure, of welcoming a UU legend into our midst. |
| June 24 "John Denver": Guest speaker: Stacey Meinzen Come join us to learn more about song-writer and humanitarian John Denver. Stacey Meinzen will talk about his life as it relates to our UUP principles and we will sing some of his songs with musicians Karen Mitchell and David Dodd. Worship Associate Lara Abel. |
| June 17 "'Ave, Salve, et Vale' (Hail, Hugs, and Farewell)": Leland Bond-Upson, regular guest minister With this service Leland's 5 years with UUP as our Regular Guest Minister comes to a close, at least in the way we’ve been doing it. Ward Tabler, Professor of Speech at Cal, and Starr King School’s long-time preacher-trainer, taught novices "don’t try to say it all in one sermon." He will keep that advice in mind as he takes this opportunity to sum up, and reflect on what’s important, and what it’s been like to arrive, be with UUP, and depart. |
| June 10 "Gay Pride": Guest speaker: Meredith Guest During Gay Pride Month, I want us to take a look at homophobia, to how prevalent, though hidden, it still is, at its real and intended victims (not the ones you might have thought) and at some signs of hope that it too might one day be thrown on the trash-heap of human folly along with racism. |
| June 3 "The Empty Chair": Guest: Rev. Chris Bell, minister at the UU Congregation of Santa Rosa The world is full of people who can make a transformative difference in their own and others lives if they are simply invited to do so. They need to be told that they are trustworthy, powerful and good, and offered partners in their work and companionship in their struggles. I'll use the symbol of an empty chair to explore how our UU faith calls us to offer and share this gift with others, because there's always room for one more! |
| May 27 "Realism and Hope" Guest Speaker: Earl Cruser As we look at many trends in our communities and world today, there are many reasons to be pessimistic about the future. Are there reasons to hope for a better world for future generations? Without belief in an omnipotent god, is there any reason to hope? Kurt Vonnegut, Michael Lerner, Barak Obama and Victor Frankl will be peeked out to see where we might look. This is also an introduction to Rabbi Lerner's book: "The Left Hand of God" that we hope to use in an adult RE group in June, July and August |
| May 20 "Taize Prayer Service": Guest: Ministerial Student Matt Alspaugh For millennia, various traditions and cultures have used repetitive singing forms--chants, mantras, niguns, and rounds--to help people center themselves and transcend the ordinary experience of their daily lives. This service will explore one of these traditions as practiced today by the Taize Christian community in France. How can we adapt this -- or any tradition or practice -- into our community? And we will sing! |
| May 13 "M.O.M. -- My Own Mother" Regular Guest Minister: Leland Bond-Upson On Mother’s Day, we will honor mothers and motherhood, we will imagine all that goes into it, and recall our own, specific mothers. Furthermore, we will evoke the mother within each of us, our own mothers in a different, forward-looking sense. |
| May 6 "Doing Worship Together": Worship Associate: Elisabeth Hathaway Unitarian Universalism is a tradition without dogma, without identified divinities, yet our principles include encouragement to spiritual growth, and a free and responsible search for truth and meaning. Our Living Tradition, first and foremost affirms our "direct experience of that transcendent mystery and wonder affirmed in all cultures, which moves us to a renewal of the spirit and an openness to all the forces that create and uphold life." As we gather in the touchstone of our community, this community, in our ritual gathering place and time, we will worship. Together. Today's service includes Music, Silence, Spiritual Inspiration, Participation and an Ingathering for new members. |
| April 29 "The Sound of Music" Worship Associate: Stacey Meinzen with Director of Religious Education, Marlene Abel Come join us for an intergenerational service celebrating the power and joy of music. Religious Education Director Marlene Abel will be helping to lead the service which will include performances by the kids of UUP. |
| April 22 "Flower Communion": Worship Associate: Lara Abel Join us for a moving ritual, begun in Czechoslovakia during the Nazi occupation as a defiant show of loving passive resistance and as an affirmation of religious diversity, and celebrated worldwide by Unitarian Universalists in memory of Norbert Capek, the Unitarian minister of Prague who began the tradition, and who lost his life in the service of his beliefs. Please bring a flower, or two, if you have some to share! |
| April 15 "Money: a Spiritual Currency" Guest speaker: Jan Ogren WARNING: attending this service may lead to a change in beliefs and attitudes towards money. This service contains explicit content concerning money. Not only will money be discussed frankly but frequent references to God will be made. This sermon won the 2007 PCD (Pacific Central District) sermon award in the Connection to our Larger Movement category. Presenter: Jan Ogren, MFT is a life long UU, a writer, and a psychotherapist with a private practice in Santa Rosa. She has preached at many local UU congregations including UUP. |
| April 8 "Reborn, With a Derelict As My Midwife" Regular Guest Minister: Leland Bond-Upson Rebirth can come in many forms and sometimes from unlikely sources. As Mother Nature refreshes the Earth on her reliable schedule, let us consider the less predictable and often messier ways in which we ourselves experience emergence, new beginnings, and transformation. |
| April 1 "Generosity: Three Stories and a Poem" Guest speaker: Pacific Central District Executive Director, Cilla Raughley. Worship Associate: Diana Spaulding This time the G-word stands for Generosity, and some other Great words such as Gifts, Gratitude...maybe even Grace. This will be a simple reflection of why my partner and I have chosen to Give at the level we do, and what we have Gained as a result. This will be a Guilt-free, Gentle time together, and you'll be Glad you came. Following the service, we will have a light lunch and our annual Pledge Drive Kick-Off: "For the Love that Sustains This Religious Community: No Foolin!!" Please plan to stay until about 1 p.m. |
| March 25 "One Woman's History" Guest speaker: Maxine Levaren During Women's History Month, it's only natural to reflect on the changes that women have made in their lives over the past 50 years. It's not only the history we read about in books and moments in great movements that we think about, it's also about how these events have shaped women's lives. And, our personal histories as 21st century women, is a great place to start. Maxine Levaren is a writer, personal success coach, relative newcomer to UU and a lifelong feminist. Although she hates to admit it, she remembers the 60s well, looks back on it with nostalgia, and views herself as an unrepentant hippie. |
| March 18 "Risking Joy: Finding Wholeness" Guest speakers: ministerial students Wendy Bartel and Lynn Kelly. Worship Associate: Elisabeth Hathaway In a world filled with injustice, environmental degradation, war, poverty, and our own personal struggles, how do we connect to what is beautiful and precious? How might we dare, as individuals and in community, to be part of the transformation from brokenness to wholeness? Come risk joy with us through music, meditation, ritual, and spoken word. |
| March 11 "In Praise of Sweet Darkness" Guest speaker: Shepherd Bliss "In Praise of Sweet Darkness" titles Shepherd Bliss’ guest presentation March 11. He will be accompanied throughout the talk by musicians from the Kokopelli Players, including award-winning art teacher and CD recording artist Larry Stefl on guitar and an indigenous flute called the huaca and by Peter Herbert of the UU Congregation in Marin on drums and other percussion. Shepherd will focus on the benevolent aspects of darkness, such as chocolate. Rumi, Lao Tzu, Unitarian Ralph Waldo Emerson, Wendell Berry, David Whyte, Rilke and T.S. Eliot will be among the poets quoted. Mystics quoted will include St. Francis of Assisi, St. Thomas of Aquinas, Meister Eckhard, and St. John of the Cross’ classic "Dark Night of the Soul." Psychologist Carl Jung’s concept of the shadow will also be employed. Shepherd will refer to his work at Kokopelli Farm south of Sebastopol. |
| March 4 "Stewardship Of Your Environment" Worship Associate: Michael Iritz We understand the many ways in which our actions alter our natural environment. But what about our spiritual environment? Or the environment we shape within our religious community? Join us in discovery and discussion about the trust and responsibility of stewardship we each take on in a myriad of ways - from our personal lives to the care of our families and on to our larger family of community around us. |
| February 25 "Charting the Course" Speaker: Meredith Guest; Worship Associate Stacey Meinzen As UUP charts its course into the future, it is potentially important and useful to consider what others who are similar to us have done and how they have avoided the pitfalls common to the progressive religious movement. Come and consider how another progressive spiritual community, now some fifty years old, has made its way and what that might mean for us. |
| February 18 "The New Atheism" Regular Guest Minister: Leland Bond-Upson As I foreshadowed last month in my criticism of the Catholic Church and its pedophilia problem, and my condemnation of fundamentalism in Christianity and Islam, maybe we shouldn't let bad religion get the polite pass any more. What does the new atheism teach? Is more to be gained than lost by its adoption? Is it possible to reject religious nonsense but retain a reverent sensibility, to be a religious atheist? Many in the new atheism movement are saying 'No'! 'Zat right? |
| February 11 "Ruined For Life" Speaker: Alexandra McGee Starr King Ministerial student Alexandra McGee addresses the question: Is Unitarian Universalism pertinent today? We are a denomination that welcomes personal discernment and diversity. But what roots us during storms and gives us light during dark nights of the soul? |
| February 4 "This I Believe" Part of an ongoing series in which two members of our community share their spiritual journey that led them to UUP. Roxanna Rutter and Devan Nielsen will speak. New member ingathering! |
| January 28 "Work Spirit: The Journey to Work You Love" Sherrie Connelly, Ministerial Student. Work Spirit is the spark and vitality people express when they love their work. Our spiritual journey is enhanced by honoring our talents and contributing them to others and the world. Sherrie Connelly has researched the spiritual dimension of work, and will invite us to explore our "Work Spirit." Sherrie has been an organization development consultant and career coach for 35 years, and is a third-year Master of Divinity student at Starr King School for the Ministry. |
| January 21 "Problems in Islam and Christianity" Regular Guest Minister Leland Bond-Upson In a way mostly absent at the time of Desert Storm 15 years ago, we are learning we need to understand more about Islam. Although not an expert, I hope to articulate some of the impressions, questions, prejudices, perceptions and misconceptions about the worlds’ two most popular religions, and about the Arab/Persian/Islamic and Western/Christian/secular cultures. Is there common ground to be found in any of this? |
| January 14 "Choice in Doing Worship" Worship Associate: Elisabeth Hathaway If we are uncertain, ambivalent or downright disbelieving of divinity, what relevance and form does worship have in our lives? Is this a personal choice? A community creation? What is it we UUs DO on Sunday anyway. Worship Associate Elisabeth Hathaway explores what is worship, and how can we choose and create it. As we begin a new year, come and consider how we can embrace and create new traditions together. |
| January 7 "Saluting Five Years of UUP! Hurray!" Several of UUP's founding members look back at why they believe our congregation is important, and how their vision has remained the same or changed since the beginning days of January 2002. |
UUP's services from 2006 are also available. (Find earlier years by scrolling to the bottom of each year's listing, all the way back to 2002!)
A list of sermons is available, delivered by some of UUP's guests.