Join Rev. Laurel Liefert and Director of Children and Family Ministry Jef Melcher for a family-friendly first Sunday to begin the season of Advent and our abundance of December services and events. We will warmly welcome and covenant with our newest members in an Ingathering Ceremony, which is an embodied demonstration of the connection between … Continue reading Sunday December 7, 2025: Hope, Purpose and Belonging
There is an ancient teaching, found in many cultures, of the two hungers. The lesser hunger is for the “stuff” that sustains daily life. The greater hunger is for expressing gratitude that life exists at all. Rev. Ben Myers reflects on how to feed the greater hunger in these times. Lo Erin Jackson, Susan Keiter … Continue reading Sunday November 30, 2025: Feeding the Great Hunger
The First Unitarian Church of Oakland has a longstanding tradition of having a multigenerational “bread communion” on the Sunday before Thanksgiving Day. The ceremony is an open invitation to connect with one another by taking turns offering a basket of bread to a fellow congregant. The service will be lead by Rev. Laurel Liefert and … Continue reading Sunday November 23, 2025: Breaking Bread Together: A Service of Thanksgiving
In our busy lives, we need moments of pause in which we are filled and replenished by the large and small wonders of this world. Nurturing gratitude for all that life is can be a practice that awakens us to what is precious. Come join Rev. Laurel Liefert and Worship Associate Nancy Henderson in exploring … Continue reading Sunday November 16, 2025: Gratitude for Cracks, Wax, Gold and Grout
While human rights and international aid are under attack, it’s easy to feel like change is impossible. The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee’s (UUSC) partners, however, know first-hand that justice doesn’t appear overnight. The movement for collective liberation requires ongoing, diligent tending and long-haul commitment. Please join Rev. Dr. Sheri Prud’homme to hear some of the … Continue reading Sunday November 9, 2025: Planting Seeds of Justice
Join in person or on Zoom. “The first Sunday of each month is a family-friendly Sunday. It starts with a breakfast gathering before the service, and then includes our children and families in the first twenty minutes of the service. This Sunday will continue with the staff appreciation we started last month. The theme for … Continue reading Nov. 2, 2025 – “Giving Thanks for Community” (Daylight Saving Time Ends)
Join in person or on Zoom. “We each wear different hats in our roles at church. Learn about the many hats that are worn by the worship team, (worship associates, ushers, greeters, musicians, slide creators and operators, tech staff) and how these roles enrich our lives and the life of our congregation as we hold … Continue reading Sunday October 26, 2025 – “Wearing a Different Hat”
Join in person or on Zoom. “In Buddhism, compassion (karuna) is the active, empathic desire for all beings to be free from suffering and its causes. Compassion rooted in wisdom, a deep understanding of the nature of suffering, and motivates altruistic action to alleviate it. Compassion is beyond warm feelings and tender thoughts, beyond holding … Continue reading Sunday October 19, 2025 – “Cultivating Compassion”
Join in person or on Zoom. “In a Unitarian Universalist community like this one with a diverse spectrum of beliefs and unbeliefs, of faith and doubts, what holds us together? Rev. Laurel Liefert and Worship Associate Corless Smith will present a check to our September half-plate recipient, the East Bay Sanctuary Covenant, and hear how … Continue reading Sunday Oct. 12, 2025 – What Holds Us Together?
Join in person or on Zoom. “This Sunday we will take time to recognize and thank all the staff members who serve the First Unitarian Church of Oakland. To keep the wheels of this small but mighty congregation turning, some of the staff’s dedicated work may be visible, AND so much goes on behind the … Continue reading Sunday Oct. 5, 2025 – Serving With Grace
