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 Rev. Sheri as she re-tells “I Am Enough” a … Continue reading “Both And, People, Places & Experiences” Sunday, September 23, 2018 at 10:20
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.” Please join Pastor Jacqueline, Rev. Sheri, Board of Trustees, Crescendo … Continue reading Water Communion
Please join Pastor Jacqueline in her last service prior to her sabbatical. She will be joined by local musician Michelle Jacques to celebrate the 6th day of Kwanzaa, Kuumba (koo-OOM-bah) Creativity. This is a time to celebrate and raise the energy around cultures of African descent heritages. Members, friends and allies, invite your friends and family and let us come together to dance and sway, clap and stomp our feet to the creative power of music and recognize the holiness in our sacred circle of Be-ings. This is a Multigenerational Service.
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.
With a spark of imagination and the willing participation of many children and youth, right before our eyes we will bring to life the Christmas Story as told in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Come and let this ancient story warm your heart.
This is a Multigenerational Service.
“Holy Lessons from OUR Mysterious Skies” Yes there is a divine mysterious nature to our shared cosmos.The holy appears in the humblest of places. Do you feel the “holy” in our cosmos? Do you see the “holy” everywhere? Please join Pastor Jacqueline, Worship Associates Kem Tetlow and Alessandro Gagliardi and Rev Sheri, as we grapple … Continue reading “Holy Lessons from OUR Mysterious Skies”, Worship at 9:20 and 11:20
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.
Is money the only determinant of prosperity? Please join Pastor Jacqueline and musical trio of Susan Keiter, Joci Kelleher and Sarah Watts, along with Joyful Noise & pianist Geoff Ullerich, as we explore what faith traditions and spiritual paths have to offer us about living a prosperous life. During worship there will be an activity for all ages, especially our children and youth to reflect on stewardship. Stewardship testimonials will be offered by Jane and Gary Facente. Please join us at 9:20 & 11:20. It is good, just and sacred to be together.
