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What does it mean to be a “Welcoming Congregation” in these turbulent times? This week we will explore ways that we are called to care for one another as well as the immense responsibility of caring for our wider community and global village. What are ways that we live up to this call within and outside of these walls and how can we prepare ourselves to welcome the challenges that surely lay ahead?
11 a.m.
Welcoming strangers is championed in many traditions, but it can be tough to put into practice. This week in worship we will consider how we can welcome others more fully by moving past our class and cultural assumptions and putting the needs of others first.
11:00 a.m.
Last year the Youth-Adult team focused on the promise that we make to each other and the promise we make between generations within our community. Join us as we explore the promise of covenant with UUCB’s Youth Adult Team. Middle and high schoolers are invited to remain in the service while children in elementary school will have their regular classes. Come explore this vital aspect of community and service!
11:00 a.m.
158 years ago this week, in an attempt to arm slaves for revolt, John Brown led a raid on Harper’s Ferry. Of the six people who funded Brown’s raid, five were Unitarians. This week in worship we will seek wisdom and courage from our past as we consider today’s liberal and radical perspectives on how to build a better world. Middle and high schoolers are invited to stay for whole of worship while children in elementary school will join Rev. Christian in the Fireside Room for Children’s Chapel after the time for all ages.
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Some of us have spent a lifetime searching for a place to call home, a sanctuary of respite in difficult times. Others have been lucky enough to have sweet memories of a childhood home or have created their own places of spiritual and emotional renewal. How does home nourish your spirit? How can we as a church community help people feel at home? Can we find the courage to offer sanctuary to others?
11:00 a.m.
500 years after Martin Luther courageously instigated the Reformation, religion in our world has begun another process of transformation. This week in worship we will imagine how religion might change in the centuries to come and Reverends Christian and Kristin will offer “the next 95 theses.”
11 a.m.
This Sunday we honor and remember those we have loved and lost. Everyone is invited to bring a picture or other small item that represents someone you wish to remember for the remembrance table.
11 a.m.
What lets your soul take flight? For many, music does, and today will focus on music that lifts the heart and spirit. “Flight Song” by the young composer Kim Arnesen includes these words: “Songs of lives unfolding fly over head, moving like the rise and fall of wings, music’s fierce compassion flows…” And don’t forget to bring your food or financial donation to church because this Sunday is Food Drive Sunday!
11 a.m.
Join us for this service for all ages including a story, harvest hymns, a sermon, and sharing cornbread as we give thanks for all manner of abundance in our lives. Special musical guests: the Berkeley High School Jazz Ensemble.
11 a.m.
This week begins a season of waiting and hoping before the joy of the winter holidays. In this service we will consider hope from a Buddhist perspective, and what hope has to offer us not just in a foretold future, but here and now.
11 a.m.
Often, darkness is equated with despair, what is unwanted, what we want to rid ourselves of. But how is darkness transformed when we approach it from a place of respect, hope, and love? What lessons can we learn from our shadow side? How can we sit in and with our shadow?
11:00 a.m.
This New Year’s Eve morn, we will prepare for 2018 with a ritual of cleansing and letting go of those things that limit or burden us. This is a service for all ages. No religious education classes or childcare today.
It was 450 years ago, in a small kingdom in Eastern Europe, that something amazing happened. A Unitarian king, John Sigismund, was convinced by his minister and advisor, David Ferencz (often known as Francis David), to make a bold declaration: multiple religious traditions, not just that of the king, would be respected and protected in his kingdom. This is believed to be the first declaration of religious tolerance in the world. Today we honor this bold legacy with Unitarians around the world. (See Torda450 for more information.)
Whether it’s funds for education here in California or the entire national budget in countries like Greece and Spain, austerity shapes so much in our world today. But even when things are tight and none of the options ideal, there is another way. Join us this week as we consider how we as a congregation are called to worship, live, and serve in community by faith rather than fear. A congregational meeting with light lunch will follow the service. Childcare will be provided in the nursery.
When things get hard, what helps you persevere? This Community Ministry Sunday, UUCB’s Community Ministry Committee will reflect on resiliency in their lives and work, and encourage you to reflect on what’s in your resiliency toolkit.
From believing in ourselves to leaning on one another while working toward a common goal, life often asks us to persevere. Join us for this service for all ages about what it means to be a community of perseverance. Please stay for the Annual Meeting after worship! Childcare for children through kindergarten will be provided in the Nursery during the service while childcare for all ages will be provided for the Annual Meeting.
We’re told again and again to find balance: between work and play, activity and rest, ourselves and others. But there is no balance between justice and injustice. Our community supports justice-making with our efforts and our resources. On this Stewardship Sunday, hear how our contributions make a stronger community that makes justice in our world.
Our world is captivated with and composed of binaries. Masculine-Feminine, Rich-Poor, Conservative-Liberal. In fact, when we think about it, almost every aspect of social living is defined and categorized by some type of binary. If to be balanced is to have an even distribution of weight allowing us to remain upright and steady, how does our preoccupation with binaries prevent balance? How can we invite the fullness of life into our experience by embracing life off the binary? Melissa Rosales, Worship Associate.
