Join us in-person and online on Sundays at 10:30 am. All are welcome! We as Unitarian Universalists in Santa Monica look forward to being with you.
Masks are optional, but always acceptable and welcome. If you or someone in your household is not feeling well or has tested positive for COVID, please stay home; you can still join us via our Facebook or YouTube live-stream worship.
Parking at the UCLA parking structure at 1311 16th St. is available to people attending Sunday services. The entrance is from 16th St. between Santa Monica Blvd. and Arizona Ave., on the SE corner of Arizona and 16th; ask the attendant for a UUSM parking permit to place on your dashboard. For those with a handicap parking tag, several spaces are also available onsite, via the alley west of 18th St., as well as in the UCLA structure.
Worship Online: We livestream our service from the sanctuary. Join us by clicking the WATCH NOW button above where the video is live every week beginning at 10:20 am, or watch on YouTube or Facebook. You don’t need to have a YouTube or Facebook account, or be logged in, to watch the service. You do have to be logged in to comment and chat with other members of the congregation.
Explore past services on our Sermons page, available 24/7. Tune in anytime to catch up and worship with your community. We encourage you to light a chalice or candle at home, meditate, and sing along.
Summertime…
And some things are a bit different with our minister away from the pulpit, while some are the same:
- Spiritual Care is available to members of our community and can be requested by emailing pastoralcare@uusm.org or by calling the church office. If loving, non-judgmental, and confidential support would be helpful to you on a short-term basis, please reach out, and we’ll connect you with the appropriate trained spiritual caregiver.
- If you have a joy, sorrow, or milestone to share with the congregation in our Thursday Announcements and a Sunday service during “Joys and Sorrows,” please email joysandsorrows@uusm.org or call the church office.
- There is no monthly ministry theme until September, and the Choir is on vacation.
- We’re delighted to welcome a variety of voices to our pulpit in July and August, with each Sunday service hosted by a member of our Worship Associates Team. And there are special activities for children and youth.
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Sunday Worship: Being There
Sanctuary 1260 18th Street, Santa Monica, CA, United StatesWorship ServicesThe Rev. Sue Fisher, guest speaker; The Rev. Dr. Kikanza Nuri-Robins, worship associate. In life, the most beneficial thing we can do for each other can also be the most intimidating: being there for others in the joys and tragedies of life. We will explore the ministry of presence and discover how simply "being there" is a profound blessing. Maya Angelou wrote: “At the end of the day people won’t remember what you said or did, they will remember how you made them feel.” Join us in-person or online.
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Sunday Worship: Building a Peaceful World Together (Multigenerational)
Sanctuary 1260 18th Street, Santa Monica, CA, United StatesWorship ServicesJessica TenHave-Place, M.Div., Director of Multigenerational Religious Education; Karen Hsu Patterson, worship associate. Our Peace Campers will lead this multigenerational service as they share what they learned about peace from the traditions of Judaism, Christianity, Humanism, Bahai'i Faith, and Unitarian Universalism. Join us in-person or online at this kid-friendly service for all ages as we practice peace together by building bridges of understanding across difference!
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Sunday Worship: The Gospel According to Mark Twain
Sanctuary 1260 18th Street, Santa Monica, CA, United StatesWorship ServicesJames Witker, guest speaker; John Hart, worship associate. One of America’s most famous skeptics and satirists, Mark Twain’s commentaries on religion are humorous and razor sharp. In his time he befriended a number of Unitarians, his sensibilities often overlapping with their tradition of critical thought and social reform, and he remains well-loved in UU spaces. Today, many of Twain’s critiques apply to a world we find still beset by false piety, as well as greed and war. But there is also something deeper than cynicism in Twain’s writing, and in the odyssey of his most famous protagonist, that challenges skeptics and seekers alike, and resonates with the prophetic spirit of liberal religion. Join us in-person or online.
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Sunday Worship: Singing as a Spiritual Practice
Sanctuary 1260 18th Street, Santa Monica, CA, United StatesWorship ServicesRabbi Shira Freidlin, guest speaker; Rebecca Haggerty, worship associate. Come join Rabbi Shira Freidlin from the Santa Monica Synagogue as she shares with us the Jewish practice of chanting nigunim. A nigun is a wordless melody that is traditionally repeated over and over again in a desire to bring us into closer connection with our inner selves, each other, and the Divine. Please come with an open heart and a willingness to sing! Join us in-person or online.
July Generous Congregation Recipient: CARECEN
Our practice here at UUSM is to dedicate half of our non-pledge Sunday offerings to support the life of our church and the other 50% to organizations doing work in the world that advances our Unitarian Universalist principles. This month we’ll share our Sunday Offering with CARECEN.
CARECEN is the largest Central American immigrant rights organization in the country. It empowers Central Americans and all immigrants by defending human and civil rights, working for social and economic justice, and promoting cultural diversity. The group provides low-cost immigration legal services, policy advocacy in immigration, and works for the rights all of all immigrants. CARECEN’s vision is of Los Angeles becoming a place where Central Americans and all other communities live in peace and dignity, enjoying economic well-being, social justice, and political empowerment.
Since its founding in 1983, when thousands of Central Americans fled the brutality of civil war, the organization has been working to change an unjust immigration system, win legal status for immigrants, and foster community activism on issues such as education reform, workers’ and immigrants’ rights, economic justice and strengthening community.
With over 35 years of experience in legal services; 120+ individuals served daily at the Day Labor Center; and 25,000 people receive services each year, CARECEN makes a real impact fighting and changing unjust immigration policies.
Thank you for your generous support of our beloved community and CARECEN. To give $10 right now, text “$10 GCC” (or another amount) to 844-982-0209. (One-time-only credit card registration required.) Or visit uusm.org/donate.
Our service in the world continues.
