Service Leaders: Rev. Leisa Huyck, Jen Collins
Music by: Sadie Sonntag and the Choir, Tessa McClary
Share the Basket: Santa Rosa Quilt Guild

The goal of world community, with peace, liberty, and justice for all may seem like an impossible dream right now, and we may think we are naïve to even dream it. But are we, really? What does UU theology have to say about this, and how can our theology support our action?

Rev. Dr. Leisa Huyck is a former ecologist, who became a minister because she is called to help our culture make the spiritual transformation we need in order to live on our beautiful planet sustainably, with love and justice for all. She is the founder of Viriditas Ministries, whose mission is "healing the heart, nourishing the spirit, and greening the world--with the power of love." You can find her online at viriditasministries.org.

Service Leaders: Millie Phillips, Joe Gabaeff
Music by: Roger Corman and the UUsual Suspects, Tessa McClary
Share the Basket: The Living Room

The interdependent web is one way to describe our inherent interconnectedness. There are many other ways. In this service, we are going to look at interconnectedness as if it were a river; all of us as drops who enter the stream from different locations and yet are flowing together on a journey seeking a common destination. Gravity guides the river. What guides us?

Service Leaders: Rev. Chris Bell, Millie Phillips, David Hope
Music by: Sadie Sonntag and the Choir, The UnUsual Suspects, Tessa McClary
Share the Basket: Breakfast for Our Neighbors

We’ll recap our survey of the Seven Principles by examining the essential thread that runs through them all, but which, incredibly, is not mentioned by name at all. In song it has been called a boomerang, a losing game, a battlefield, a drug, the tender trap, the reason, the message, the way, the answer, and all you need. It is like oxygen, like a fire, like a red, red, rose, and like… WO! All true. And it is the heart of our religion.

Service Leaders: Rev. John Buehrens, Susan Panttaja
Music by: Claire Beery & the UUsual Suspects, Tessa McClary
Share the Basket: Chrysalis Community Counseling 
Transcendentalism began in 1836 with Emerson’s first book, Nature. It led to a spiritual revival within Unitarianism – not just in rural Concord, but in urban Boston, leading to activism on race, gender, and social justice. It continues to offer lessons for us today.
Rev. John Buehrens was President of the UUA from 1993-2001. He is the author of Universalists and Unitarians in America: A People’s History [2011] and of a forthcoming book with the same title as this sermon. He retires this summer as Senior Minister of the First UU Society in San Francisco.

Service Leaders: Millie Phillips, Scott Miller
Music by: Alan Bell & The UUsual Suspects, Tessa McClary
Share the Basket: Positive Images
Without the sun's constant energizing light and warmth, there would be no life on Earth. Today, with the sun as our guide, we will explore the power and presence of generosity.

Service Leaders: Rev. Chris Bell, Millie Phillips, Veronica Jordan, Cathy Read
Music by: Sadie Sonntag and The Choir, Roger Corman
Share the Basket: Parkinson's Support Group
Let us celebrate the wonders of Life in its gorgeous, diverse splendor. Please bring a single flower (or more!) to share, as together we will create a huge beautiful bouquet for our annual Flower Communion ritual. At 9:15 our children will be in the whole service, and help present a story from Fabelia. At both services, The Choir will perform an original piece by UU Petaluma Music Director Jesus Contreras, husband to our own Sadie Sonntag.

Service Leaders: Rev. Chris Bell, Eric Fischer, Millie Phillips
Music by: Sadie Sonntag and the Choir, Tessa McClary
Share the Basket: Sonoma County Habitat for Humanity
Neither a 13-year experiment in prohibiting the manufacture and sale of alcohol in the 20s, nor the so-called War on Drugs in the modern age, failed to eliminate the American appetite for altered states of mind. That is because those enforcement tactics address the symptoms, not the causes, of our discontent. Far more than merely not becoming intoxicated (as sensible as that is), temperance is the quality of self-restraint, and it is a highly useful virtue. Just like mom said.

Service Leaders: Rev. Chris Bell, Sharon McCarty, Millie Phillips
Music by: Robert Howseman & The UUsual Suspects, Tessa McClary
Share the Basket: Community Action Partnership / Harold’s Home
Ah, dear Prudence. Such an old-fashioned term! Is there a place anymore in our ever-changing, ultra-modern world for caution and careful forethought? Is there a place in our progressive UU tradition for conservative instincts? Today we’ll consider the wisdom of putting on the brakes.

Service Leaders: Millie Phillips, Joe Gabaeff, Deborah Mason
Music by: Sadie Sonntag & The Choir, Tessa McClary
Share the Basket: Breakfast for our Neighbors
(NEW MEMBER CEREMONY at 11:00.)
We will also welcome new members into our fellowship at the 11:00 service.
Justice - it's a concept we UUs correctly affirm and promote and try hard to practice - well, maybe even a little too hard. Sometimes, in our rush to do the right thing, do we forget to be just to each other, fellow activists, and people with whom we differ? What if we added more forgiveness, compassion, humility, and good humor to our social justice practices?

Service Leaders: Rev. Barbara Meyers, Cathy Read, Deborah Mason
Music by: Robin Rogers & The UUsual Suspects, Tessa McClary
Share the Basket: ACLU Foundation of Northern California
Faith can play a powerful role in getting well. Psychiatrist Mark Ragins has proposed that there are several identifiable stages in the recovery of one’s mental health, similar in concept to the stages of death and dying identified by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross. We will reflect on these concepts and how they might be helpful in your congregation, your faith and your life.

Rev. Barbara F. Meyers is a Unitarian Universalist Community Minister affiliated with the Mission Peak Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Fremont, California. Her ministry is focused on mental health issues and includes educational, healing, social justice and priestly functions. Barbara graduated from Starr King School for the Ministry in 2004.

Service Leaders: Rev. Chris Bell, Scott Miller, Deb Mason
Music by: Sadie Sonntag and the Choir, Roger Corman
Share the Basket: Adrienne Swenson Award

Yes, everyone gets old and gets sick and dies. Yes, our national politics are in the toilet. Yes, there is hateful violence throughout the world. [Add your own depressing thought here.] But there is still no reason for ultimate despair. Our Six Sources provide plenty of hope as we struggle towards our personal and collective transformation, even in the most difficult times. Trust me, the good guys really do win this one in the end!

Service Leaders: Millie Phillips, Rev. Chris Bell, Susan Panttaja, Deb Mason
Music by: Roger Corman & The UUsual Suspects, Tessa McClary
Share the Basket: The Living Room

Reception for Millie Phillips immediately after the service.

Our final service on the Seven Virtues will be jointly offered by Rev. Chris and our Intern Minister Millie Phillips, whose final day is today! We will celebrate her tenure among us, and consider the virtue of charity. Charity means making a legitimate contribution to the betterment of others, which is a shared goal of all members of UUCSR. Millie’s partner, jazz musician Richard Saunders, will be joining our UUsual Suspects to offer some special music.

Service Leaders: Rev. Sue Magidson, Eric Fischer, Deb Mason
Music by: Sadie Sonntag & The Choir, Tessa McClary
Share the Basket: Breakfast for our Neighbors

How can we care for our spirits during challenging times? Rev. Sue Magidson will offer some spiritual survival strategies that are grounded in Jewish and Buddhist practices, but require no particular belief system – you can embrace them even if the word “spiritual” makes you squirm. Some can be woven seamlessly into your day, requiring no additional time, while others encourage you to take a break.

Rev. Sue Magidson serves as Spiritual Care Coordinator and Chaplain at San Leandro Hospital where she ministers to patients, their loved ones, and staff members. She is a lifelong UU and longtime member, (and now affiliated community minister) of the UU Church of Berkeley. Rev. Sue earned an M.A. and Ph.D in Education from UC Berkeley, and a Master of Divinity from Starr King School for the Ministry.

Service Leaders: Rev. Chris Bell, Veronica Jordan, Deb Mason
Music by: Claire Beery & The UUsual Suspects, Tessa McClary
Share the Basket: Ceres Community Project

Rev. Chris will offer his report on General Assembly, the annual national gathering of UUs. This year, the controversy around hiring practices at the UUA, and racial diversity and justice (or lack thereof) within the movement as a whole, will surely dominate the business. Oh, and we’re electing our first female president!

Service Leaders: Rev. Chris Bell, Andrew Hidas,
Deborah Mason Music by: Roger Corman
Share the Basket: Catholic Charities Immigration Services
On the occasion of Rev. Chris’s 50th birthday, which he won’t stop reminding everybody about, he and newly minted “senior citizen” Andrew Hidas will offer reflections on the challenges and blessings of aging and mortality through the image of getting up and over the hill.

Service Leaders: Roger Corman, Joe Gabaeff, Robert Howseman
Music by: Robert Howseman and the UUsual Suspects
Share the Basket:Center Point Drug Abuse with Alternative Care (DAAC)
Ever seem like you keep repeating the same day over and over? Do the patterns of your life help and,promote your life goals? Sometimes repetition is good, and sometimes it can make us feel trapped. The film and Broadway musical Groundhog Day explores themes which are universal: redemption, self-improvement, achieving true love. We’ll discuss how the film affected our lives and continues to be a source of inspiration.

Service Leaders: Scott Miller, Susan Panttaja, Paul Gilger, and the UUCSR Music Coordinators
Music by: The UUsual Suspects
Share the Basket: Breakfast For Our Neighbors
It's a nearly universal experience: At the darkest and most confusing times in our lives, there is a song that gets us through the night. A song that comforts. A song that helps us cry it out. A song that changes our perspective. A song that gets us out of a funk and into our dancing shoes again. Through words – and music – we will celebrate the songs that saved us.

Service Leaders: Joe Gabaeff, Isabel Fischer, Deborah Mason
Music by: Robin Rogers and the Uusual Supects
Share the Basket: NDGW Children's Foundation
Paul Simon shines as an American musical treasure. Over the last 50+ years, his diverse musical inspirations and poetic lyrics have enchanted young and old (and some young into old). Join us in celebrating Paul's music and messages through the lens of musicians that love his art and the children of his generation that grew up nurtured by his wise, artistic spirit.

Service Leaders: Andrew Hidas, Sharon McCarty
Music by: Roger Corman, Al Liner
Share the Basket: National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)
August Theme: "THIS PLACE OF POWER"
"There is a place where the sidewalk ends and before the street begins,” wrote Shel Silverstein. We’ll examine that in-between place of transition, with its upheaval, challenge, confusion and opportunity, in this service that draws on poetry, psychology and spirituality to explore the universal theme of transition zones that draw us ever forward.

Service Leaders: Frances Corman, Veronica Jordan
Music by: Roger Corman and the UUsual Suspects
Share the Basket: Women's Recovery Services
The Lullaby is as old as time and as relevant as ever. "Rockabye," a current world-wide Top Forty song, is a lullaby sung by a single mother to her son where she vows that she will do anything to protect him from harm. Yes, the world can be a scary place and the night is dark and long, but a lullaby can make you feel held and safe like nothing else. This service of special music will comfort you with lullabies sung to you, lullabies we sing to each other, and a lullaby you can sing to yourself.

Service Leaders: Rev. Chris Bell, Aphrodite Bellochio, Deb Mason
Music by: John Ray & The UUsual Suspects, Roger Corman
Share the Basket: Clean River Alliance

Salvation is not a word you hear spoken in our halls very often, since its spiritual meaning has become so limited by a particular interpretation that turns it into a kind of rescue operation from the world. Today we’ll reclaim salvation as the balm that makes the wounded whole.

Service Leaders: Rev. Chris Bell, Joe Gabaeff, Deb Mason
Music by: Susan Panttaja & The UUsual Suspects, Roger Corman
Share the Basket: Breakfast for our Neighbors

Over the last three years, the hunger for racial justice in America has been at a fever pitch, including within Unitarian Universalism. Yet even those who have awakened to the reality of white privilege and the systemic racism in our culture struggle to act for change. This Service Auction service will consider what white people, and a largely white congregation, can do to make a difference.

Service Leaders: Rev. Chris Bell, Izzy Fischer, Deb Mason
Music by: Alan Bell & The UUsual Suspects, Roger Corman
Share the Basket: The Living Room

“We are made immortal,” Emerson wrote, “by the contemplation of beauty.” In the midst of political strife and environmental degradation, awareness of beauty and its relationship to truth and goodness can be a powerful spiritual lodestone.

Back to two services! 9:15 and 11:00!
Our annual ritual of Ingathering returns us to two services, and the start of a new year of Children's Religious Education at 9:15. Join us!