I preach three Sundays a month at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Studio City. We worship every Sunday at 10am. Look here for my preaching dates and sermon information through June, 2025.

All hymns and readings are from Singing the Living Tradition, the 1993 hymnal published by the Unitarian Universalist Association except hymns noted “STJ” are from Singing the Journey (pub. 2005) and readings noted “LOV” are from Lifting our Voices (pub. 2015).

This year’s worship theme: Final Thoughts. As I approach retirement and the end of my career in ministry, a year of contemplating the foundational issues of spirituality and some personal conclusions.

April 6, 2025, OFF

April 13, 2025, “Let Me Flower, Help Me Flower”
Passover
The story of Passover endures because it speaks to one of the fundamental aims of religion: liberation. We seek to be released from all that holds back individuals and groups from the full expression of our potential. The spiritual journey is the journey from oppression by others and by our own doubts and fears to the freedom of lives we make for ourselves.
Call to Worship: 632, “Passover Remembered” by Alla Renee Bozarth
Opening Hymn: 352, “Find a Stillness”
Closing Hymn: 220, “Bring Out the Festal Bread”
Benediction: 453, Passover Haggadah

April 20, 2025, “Something Always, Always Sings”
Easter
For Unitarians, who hold a conception of a strictly human Jesus, a physical resurrection is not possible. No human can die and later live again as that same person. But what if we think of Easter not as something that happens to individuals but as a lesson about life itself? Easter could celebrate an eternally existing spirit of life passed through communities, taking shape in collections of individual for a time, and then taking new shapes in later times.
Call to Worship: 529, “The Stream of Life” by Rabindranath Tagore
Opening Hymn: 344, “A Promise through the Ages Rings”
Reading: 504 e.e. cummings
Closing Hymn: 266, “Now the Green Blade Riseth”
Benediction: 510, “O Spirit of Life and Renewal” Jane Rzepka

April 27, 2025 OFF

May 4, 2025 OFF

May 11, 2025, “Continuous Creation”
Mother’s Day
The old story tells us that God finished the work of creation in six days and rested on the seventh. So what happened on the eighth day? Clearly creation wasn’t finished because the universe has been continuously unfolding for fourteen billion years and will be new yet again tomorrow. On Mother’s Day we celebrate the spiritual truth that all creatures are also partners in further creation.
Call to Worship: 420 Annie Dillard
Opening Hymn: 207, “Earth Was Given as a Garden”
Reading: 438, “Morning” Clinton Lee Scott
Closing Hymn: 79, “No Number Tallies Nature Up”
Benediction: 84 (LOV), Gary Kowalski

May 18, 2025, “Loyalty: a Delicate Virtue”
To perceive that something is valuable, to connect ourselves to that thing, and then to stick with it when times get tough, is the virtue of loyalty. The value in being a friend, a member of a union or spiritual community, a citizen of a nation, derives in part from our agreement of loyalty. But when the object of our faithfulness betrays our values how do we balance the virtue of loyalty with the principle of right of conscience?
Call to Worship: 466, “Religion” Vincent B. Silliman
Opening Hymn: 20, “Be Thou My Vision”
Closing Hymn: 300, “With Heart and Mind”
Benediction: 160 (LOV), Debra Faulk

May 25, 2025, “The Eternal Rememberer”
Memorial Day
“We remember them” we say, in one of the litanies from our hymnal. But if honoring the dead depends on memory, then what happens when memory fails? And does the value of a life die with the death of the last person who remembers? I can’t respect such a contingent valuation. Something greater than human memory is necessary to give lasting honor to those precious but forgotten lives that came before.
Call to Worship: 528, “I’ve Known Rivers” by Langston Hughes
Opening Hymn: 358, “Rank by Rank Again We Stand”
Closing Hymn: 281, “O God, Our Help in Ages Past”
Benediction: 128 (LOV), William Schulz

June 1, 2025,
RE Sunday
Our annual culmination and celebration of the church’s religious education and exploration program

June 8, 2025,
Music and Tech Sunday
Our annual culmination and celebration of the church’s music and tech programs.

June 15, 2025 OFF

June 22, 2025, “We Give Thanks”
Volunteer Recognition, Flower Communion (earth element)
We close the church’s program year with a day to recognize and thank the many volunteers who contributed throughout the year.  And we ritually celebrate our community with the Unitarian Universalist ritual of flower communion.  Please bring a flower to church today that represents your unique spirit and help us create a beautiful, communal bouquet.
Call to Worship: 434, Anonymous
Opening Hymn: 1010 (STJ), “We Give Thanks”
Closing Hymn: 128, “For All That Is Our Life”
Benediction: 181 (LOV), Judith Meyer

June 29, 2025, “The Last Word”
Today I conclude my ministry career.  Although my ordination is for life and I’ll likely find small ways to serve as a minister in the future, today is the last Sunday I expect to preach from a pulpit of my own.  I’ll offer an extended benediction, some “good words”, both for you at the close of this interim ministry, and for me, as our paths diverge.
Call to Worship: 70 (LOV), Susan Manker-Seale
Opening Hymn: 10, “Immortal Love”
Closing Hymn: 204, “Come, O Sabbath Day”
Benediction: 414, “As We Leave This Friendly Place”