Join us Sundays in Person or Online as we celebrate and worship as a community.
We as Unitarian Universalists look forward to being with you in person or in spirit on Sunday mornings. We continue to develop our new hybrid spiritual practice of co-creating beloved community together in person and online in the midst of a global pandemic. Here’s further details. We’re finding ways to spiritually prepare and fortify ourselves and to support others in uncertain times. If you need help getting to the online services, please contact board member Eileen McCormack for assistance.
Come to the Sanctuary or join our live online worship service broadcast on the church’s Facebook or YouTube pages on Sunday mornings and be part of the conversation. You can also watch the service live on the UUSM website on the main page (uusm.org). You don’t need to have a Facebook or YouTube account or be logged in to watch on any of the websites. You do have to be logged in to comment and chat with other members of the congregation. The video will also be archived on our YouTube channel and website after the end of the service, so tune in anytime to catch up and worship with your community.
Please join us for a Zoom Coffee Hour Check-In and Conversation after the service, from 11:30 am-12:30 pm. Email zoomcoffee@uusm.org for the Zoom link or find it in our private UU Santa Monica Facebook Group. Ask to join.
After careful consideration of the UUA’s most recent guidance and the practices of our neighboring congregations, our COVID Steering Committee decided to reopen our historic sanctuary to vaccinated members and friends. Vaccinations, well-fitting masks, and social distancing are still required, but at this time reservations are not.
This month our theme is Celebrating Blessings, and we’ll explore it in worship, small group discussion, and personal reflection. Is a blessing as simple as what you say after a sneeze? There are blessings at the dinner table, counting your blessings, and “you are a blessing.” Many see life’s gifts as blessings from God. Our faith uses the idea of blessing to refer to something good, something that feels like a gift. Celebrating blessings means remembering with gratitude all the good things in our lives. The Rev. Dr. Rebekah Savage notes, “Gone are the days when rest was forbidden, as a delicacy reserved for only when we are bone dry. We follow the path of perpetual renewal and spiritual growth. Gone are the days when we felt as if we are not enough. We follow the path of grace.” The Rev. Robin Tanner writes, “Blessed are they who fall in the mud, who jump with gusto and rip the pants, who skin the elbows, and bruise the ego, for they shall know the sweetness of risk… Blessed are they who refuse to listen to the naysayers, for their hearts will be houses for hope… Blessed are they who wildly, boldly abandon winning, for they shall know the path of justice.”
Sunday, June 5, 2022
Queer Blessings: I Had a Bad Dream!
Rev. Jeremiah Kalendae, preaching
Robbert Schalekamp, Worship Associate
ONE SERVICE AT 10:30 am
Our liberal congregations were among the first to fight for LGBTIAQ+ rights and they were in instrumental in securing those rights after decades of activism and community-building. Join us for our annual service honoring Pride Month. We will offer “I Had a Bad Dream!” by the late kweer scholartivist Ibrahim Farajajé. We will also commission our newly reformed Pastoral Associates — and the 
Annual Meeting will follow our worship service. We hope you will join us in the Pride March next week as well!
⇒ We’ll re-gather today in the Sanctuary at 12:00 pm for our 95th Annual Congregational Meeting!
Sunday, June 12, 2022
Counting Blessings
The Rev. Kikanza Nuri-Robins, preaching
Cassie Winters, Worship Associate
ONE SERVICE AT 10:30 am
I know a number of people who respond to queries about their well-being by saying, “I’m Blessed.” My response is to affirm the obvious and then ask, “Yes, and are you being a blessing?” It is important to acknowledge all of the good things in one’s life. It is also important TO BE one of the good things in the lives of others.
Sunday, June 19, 2022
Finding Your Place
The Rev. Kikanza Nuri-Robins, preaching
Cassie Winters, Worship Associate
ONE SERVICE AT 10:30 am
We teach about the uniqueness of all people, and though we know that we have gifts differing from one another, we focus on our flaws and short comings. We apologize for who we are and how we are. We strive to be better, but we never acknowledge that we started out as good. If you believe in the inherent dignity and worth of every person, then you must find your place. Find the way and the place in the world, where you can be your best self. #yourbestself #thisisme #prideinself
Sunday, June 26, 2022
UUA General Assembly Worship Service
ONE SERVICE livestreamed at 9:30 am
Unite with us for the largest annual gathering of UUs in worship, a service that is a highlight of the General Assembly (GA) of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). The Office of the UUA President, the Rev. Susan Frederick Gray, is pleased to announce that the Rev. Gretchen Haley, Senior Minister of Foothills UU Church in Fort Collins, CO, will lead the Sunday Service at GA in Portland, OR. Additional worship team members include the Rev. Sean Neil-Barron and the Rev. Shari Halliday-Quan. The GA Choir, a talented group of singers rehearsing daily during the conference, will enhance the impact of the service. This powerful, communal worship experience will stream live, so we can gather in spirit with UUs across the continent — with Rev. Jeremiah in our Sanctuary or while staying home* — at this special time, 9:30 am.
*For those who wish to view the online UUA General Assembly service at home or elsewhere, instead together in our Sanctuary, please note that we will NOT be streaming it on our UUSM Facebook or YouTube pages. Instead, you will be able to view it at 9:30 a.m. on the UUA’s own page at https://www.uua.org/ga/off-site/2022/sunday-worship OR on the UUA’s YouTube page at https://youtu.be/66NdjDRPvhU.
June Generous Congregation Recipient
Our practice here at UUSM is to dedicate half of our non-pledge Sunday Offering to organizations doing work in the world that advances our Unitarian Universalist principles; the other 50% of the offering is used to support the life of our church. This month, half of our Sunday Offering will go to the Transgender Law Center (TLC), a group that helps change law, policy, and attitudes so that all people can live safely, authentically, and free from discrimination regardless of their gender identity or expression. TLC is the largest national trans-led organization advocating for a world in which all people are free to define themselves and their futures. Founded in 2002, grounded in legal expertise, and committed to racial justice, TLC employs a variety of community-driven strategies to keep transgender and gender nonconforming people alive, thriving, and fighting for liberation.
Thank you for your generous support of our beloved community and of the Transgender Law Center. 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/make-a-donation.
Our service in the world continues.
