September’s Ministry Theme is Invitation
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.
COVID Update May 2023: The congregation’s Pandemic Policies and Protocols were adopted specifically in response to the pandemic. Given that the state of emergency has been lifted, they are no longer in effect. Masks are optional, but always acceptable and welcome. If you or someone in your household is not feeling well or have 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, mediate, and sing along.
Sunday Worship: Shamed by Illness
Sanctuary 1260 18th Street, Santa Monica, CA, United StatesChaplain Bronwen Jones, preaching; Chela Metzger, Worship Associate. When you get sick, do you blame yourself for it? Do you feel you somehow deserve it or feel ashamed? Do you have a close friend or family member suffering from a serious illness who feels ashamed to be so sick? Today Bronwen will share her perspective on the deep culture of shame that surrounds those who are seriously ill. She has worked as the lead oncology chaplain at Cedars Sinai Cancer for 10 years. Join us for worship in-person and online.
Sunday Worship: Ingathering and Water Communion
Sanctuary 1260 18th Street, Santa Monica, CA, United StatesRev. Jeremiah Lal Shahbaz Kalendae, preaching; Dr. Susan Hendricks, Worship Associate. We regather in our historic sanctuary after a summer of spaciousness and restoration to celebrate our annual Water Communion Ceremony. We will pour libations with our hopes and prayers for this new congregational year. If you have water from your travels this summer or a local sacred space, please bring a small container of it with you this morning for this multigenerational service. Join us for worship in-person and online.
Sunday Worship: Love at the Center
Sanctuary 1260 18th Street, Santa Monica, CA, United StatesRev. Jeremiah Kalendae, preaching; Rev. Dr. Kikanza Nuri Robins, Worship Associate. Love is the heart of our faith. Our newly adopted Unitarian Universalist Values put Love into action. Join us as we explore ancient and contemporary wisdom on love in religious life and on the spiritual quest. Rabbi Shira Freidlin will join us in worship with some of the members of the Santa Monica Synagogue congregation. (This weekend is also our retreat at Camp de Benneville Pines.) Join us for worship in-person and online.
Sunday Worship: How Warm Is Your Welcome?
Sanctuary 1260 18th Street, Santa Monica, CA, United StatesRev. Dr. Kikanza Nuri-Robins, preaching; Cassie WInters, worship associate. It is considered good manners, in countries where more than one language is spoken, to greet your guests in their native language. The literal translation for Welcome in many languages is Good Coming. As we return from our summer sojourns, what are some ways that you might say Good Coming to our friends, new roommates, and our visitors? Join us for worship in-person and online.
Sunday Worship: Reimagining Together: UU Climate Justice Revival!
Sanctuary 1260 18th Street, Santa Monica, CA, United StatesJessica Place, Interim Director of Religious Education, preaching; Chela Metzger and Allison Kendall, Worship Associates. We join with congregations across the nation to reimagine together from an age of extraction to a new era. Rev. Abhi Janamanchi writes in the national invitation: “The Revival is an opportunity to renew our Unitarian Universalist commitment to the planet... Our faith calls on us to act for love; and the revival is a way we can come together for a unified planet-loving purpose so we can make a difference for ourselves, our community, and even, perhaps, those policy makers.” Join us for worship in-person and online.
September Generous Congregation Recipient: Camp de Benneville Pines
Our practice here at UUSM is to dedicate half of our non-pledge Sunday offering to support the life of our church and the other 50% to organizations doing work in the world that advances our Unitarian Universalist values. This month, half of our Sunday Offering will go to Camp de Benneville Pines.
Established in 1961 with the funds and hard work of congregations in Southern California and Arizona, part of the new of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), Due to this commitment to the non-profit organization, generations of UUs have been nurtured by Camp. In turn, campers have built up a well-maintained and well-loved resource to commune with nature and find the solitude of a mountain glen. Camp welcomes a year-round community of campers of all ages for three- to seven-day camp and retreat sessions.
Do you long for the warmth of a welcoming community of peers? Maybe you want to participate in art, music, yoga, theater, or games and other activities in a mountain top setting? Camp, with its forest of towering pines, cedars, and oaks, is your place! It’s just 100 miles from Santa Monica in the San Bernardino National Forest. Bunks are still available for our UUSM weekend retreat, Sept. 13-15.
Thank you for your generous support of our beloved community and the Camp de Benneville Pines. 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.
September 2024 Theme: Invitation
Our theme this month invites us to consider our world, our communities, and our lives in the light of Invitation.
On Inviting Love into the Center:
Fear’s pronoun is singular: I’ve got to watch out for me and mine. Love’s pronoun is plural: we’re in this together, and together we can grow things that will blossom even in a time of drought. ~ Rev. Kathleen McTigue
On the Invitation to Change:
In mathematics, the Greek letter delta ( Δ ) is the standard symbol used to represent a change in some quantity.
Δ Change is not a threat to your life, but an invitation to live. ~ Adrienne Rich
Δ Human beings are works in progress that mistakenly think they’re finished. ~ Dan Gilbert
On a Faith that Invites Change:
Δ Universalists are often asked to tell where they stand. The only true answer to give to this question is that we do not stand at all, we move. ~ Lewis Fisher
Δ Nothing is complete and thus nothing is exempt from criticism. ~ Rev. James Luther Adams
Δ “New UU Statement of Values Passes after Momentous General Assembly” UU World Article June 23, 2024
On Life’s Invitation to a New Day:
Δ In the shared quiet, an invitation arises like a white dove lifting from a limb and taking flight. Come and live in truth… Draw aside the veil you thought would always separate your heart from love… ~ excerpt from Danna Faulds’ poem “White Dove”
Δ The role of spiritual practice is basically to exhaust the seeker. If the practice does what it’s supposed to do, it exhausts our energy for seeking, and then reality has a chance to present itself. ~ Adyashanti
Our service in the world continues.
