Sunday, September 23, 2018… “Both And, People, Places & Experiences”
Are we enough? Am I enough? To think that I am enough, is this arroganance? Is any person, any place, any experience enough? Perhaps it is BOTH AND…enough and there is room for more. Please join … read more.
Sun., Sept 9, Water Communion
Unitarian Universalist minister and activist Rev. Kathleen McTigue in her prose invites us “to resist the headlong tumble into the next moment, taking time to look into one another’s faces and see there communion: the reflection of our own eyes.” … read more.
There are many sacred stories about the spiritual nature of humanity that loom large in our souls during the month of December. Members, friends, and allies please bring your loved ones and join Pastor Jacqueline, Rev. Sheri and Sabbatical Minister Rev. Jeremiah Kalendae for an evening of story telling and sacred quiet. Let us be reminded of who we are as people of faith and fire our spirit for where we are going. On one of the most cherished nights of our lunar calendar, Crescendo Choir under the direction of Anna Lichtenberg will inspire us. Our choir will be joined by guest soprano Natalie John. Come and allow your being to be lifted and transformed by the magical warm glow of candlelight and community. All people and all faith traditions are welcomed. Please bring yummy treats to share during hospitality hour following the service.
We welcome this year’s Balazs Scholar Rev. Emese Bodor as our guest preacher. Rev. Bodor’s topic, The Path to Choose. A short journey from Jesus’s world and words through daily Transylvanian life and reality. How do we make our decisions and commitments? Let us come together and celebrate the roots of our Unitarian Universalist heritage and the arrival of Advent. Worship Associate Amanda Smith, Pastor Jacqueline and Crescendo Choir will help us usher in the beauty and sacredness of this season. Joyful Noise will provide acoustic praise and worship prelude to open our hearts to our spiritual journeys. Please join us! All are welcome! This is a Time For All Ages Service.
As we break bread together so too do our hearts break open to the painful realities and abundant blessings of life. Join us in our annual bread communion service as we give thanks for the fruit of the earth and the radical interconnectedness of all existence of which we are a part. This is a Multigenerational Service and Crescendo Choir will sing.
“Look -There Goes & Here Comes Generosity”. Let us welcome the Reverend Maria Cristina Vlassidis, the guest preacher for our stewardship celebration Sunday. Rev. Cristina serves the Starr King UU Church in Hayward, CA. She states, “Now more than ever, we need to celebrate community, to be united, to show generosity, and support the transformative work of the First Unitarian Church of Oakland. On Sunday, Nov 5, her sermon will call us to celebrate by being together and remembering those who came before us. To remember those who took risks to uphold our Unitarian Universalist values. Those whose generous contributions sustained our sanctuary so that it is open today. Open as a holy place to practice our values, to offer each other compassion, to conspire against hatred, to rekindle hope, and practice unconditional love. Please join Joyful Noise (acoustic praise & worship opening), Crescendo Choir, Pastor Jacqueline, Rev. Sheri and Worship Associate Kem Tetlow as we celebrate the bounty that is the First Unitarian Church of Oakland. During worship we will share in a ritual to receive our stewardship pledges.This is a Time For All Ages Service. Immediately following worship we will gather in community for a celebration brunch. All are welcomed to join us for brunch. Please RSVP on the church website.
Reverend María Cristina immigrated with her grandmother and her mother to the United States from Chile in the late 1970s. She holds a Law Degree from the City University of New York School of Law, where she specialized in Immigrants’ Rights. She holds a Master of Divinity and Doctoral degree in Theology from Harvard University.
Reverend María Cristina has more than three decades of work experience related to social justice, including working with mothers in prison, immigrants, survivors of domestic violence, people living with traumatic brain injury, and children with disabilities. Her volunteer work as advocate and community organizer includes working with the LGBTQ community.
She received her call to the ministry while working in an AIDS hospice as a legal advocate, was ordained to the Unitarian Universalist Ministry at at First Parish Unitarian Universalist church in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and now serves Starr King UU Church in Hayward as their Settled Minister. She lives with her mother, Lily and their two cats Tobias and Rafiki.
“Called to Love”, is our 2017 stewardship theme. Our Stewardship Kickoff Sunday coincides with a call out form Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism to organize a teach-in to further examine our relationships to white supremacy. Is there a spiritual connection between stewardship and white supremacy? If so, what is it? From a place of love and generosity are you ready to support our stewardship campaign? How does your love call you to engage the struggles that are bond together in the phrase “white supremacy”? Please show up for worship and join Pastor Jacqueline, Rev. Mary Foran, Worship Associate Isabel Call and members of our Journey Toward Wholeness Transformation Team, and members of our Stewardship Campaign Team as we kickoff our stewardship campaign and spiritually explore the relationships between stewardship and dismantling systems and practices of oppression. Inspirational music will be provided by Joyful Noise and Crescendo Choir. Whoever you are, where ever you come from, you are welcome to worship with us. See you Sunday.
“Border Crossing, Personal Reflections.” June of 2016 six young spiritual leaders from First Unitarian Church of Oakland participated in a Unitarian Universalist Justice Ministries Border trip to Tijuana. Please come and hear how Estelle Jefferies, Julianne Kelleher, Aria Killebrew Bruehl, Sophia Killebrew Bruehl, Lydia Macy … read more.
September 10, 2017, “The Deep Well of Welcome, Water Communion”. Members, friends, allies and guest of First Unitarian Church of Oakland welcome to the opening/ welcoming ritual of our 2017-2018 program church year. Each program church year begins with our annual Water Communion. The ritual … read more.
“Faith-Filled Faces of Mothering” Based on your personal understanding of faith, what impact did the faith, faiths or lack of faith (s) of those who Mothered you have on your spiritual journey?” Please join Rev. Jacqueline, Worship Associate Katrinca Ford, Crescendo Choir and Joyful Noise as we celebrate and honor those who have Mothered us and reverently explore how they shaped our spiritual being-ness. Please bring a picture of the person or persons who you identify as Mother and place it on our church altar. Come, let us worship together.There will be Children’s Chapel in the Starr King Room and then Spirit Art & Games.
