The California Poor People’s Campaign is organizing statewide to demand that our Senator’s Padilla and Schiff hear the voices of their constituents who are bearing the brunt of Public Law 119-21, the Big Brutal Budget that took effect on 10/1/2025. Three components, building power through telling our stories and survival projects will lead to meetings … Continue reading Make Them Hear Us
adrienne maree brown describes “emergence as the way complex systems and patterns arise out of a multiplicity of relatively simple interactions.” How can UUs learn from birds in synchronized flight, entangled oak tree roots and the structure of dandelions and fungi and apply these lessons in biomimicry to our collective organizing? Rev. Kevin Alan Mann … Continue reading Wings, Roots and Seeds: Emergent Wisdom from the Interdependent Web
Connecting the work of pollinators, especially bees, to our lives on earth. How we have benefited from the bees co-evolution with plants and how we can support that relationship. Bonnie Borucki (she/her) My fascination with bees began by inviting a beekeeper’s hives into my backyard around 2012. I also noticed the many types of bees … Continue reading Bees, Our Connection to the Cosmos
Humorous and sometimes serious stories from the history of BFUU. Is our redwood tree a Buddhist? Who was the activist who came in a pink leotard? Does history matter? Does it repeat itself? Are there moments of choice in the multiverse? Come reflect, sing, laugh, and ponder the universe. Jeffrey Melcher, M.Div started with BFUU … Continue reading Learning from the Past to Enliven the Present
Various Speakers Experience poetry from ancient days to now, from ancient writings to the writings of our current friends, from our congregants in person and our friends on Zoom. We meet in person at 1924 Cedar Street and on Zoom for Worship Services on Sundays at 10:30 AM. If you’d like to attend via Zoom, … Continue reading Hear the Poets Speak
For some of us, hope is in short supply. Current trends in politics and culture have made it hard to feel optimistic about our future as Americans, and it can be tempting to give in to helplessness and despair. Join us today for reflections about hope and strategies for resiliency and robust resistance. Rev. Dr. … Continue reading Finding Hope in Hopeless Times
When is Non-Violent Resistance justified? We’ll review core criteria to consider. What does Non-Violent Resistance look like and can it work? Examples from history and modern events can teach us. Let’s understand the One Million Rising strategy, to move from awareness and good intentions to action and non-cooperation. Gillian Fynn (she/her)Gillian has been an Activist … Continue reading Resistance
Sharing some backstage notes on the ideals and shortcomings of Public Art for Social Good. I will share stories from many projects from Oakland youth to San Francisco unhoused. Can art make a difference? Can communities broker old divides through creative engagement? Art as agency and reclamation may not be a fix but is still … Continue reading Changing the Picture, Lifting the Lyric, Moving Words
I talk about my experience as a young person building a career and a life at a time when it feels like everything could change in a few short years. Tyler Compton (he/him)I am a 29 year-old software engineer living in Oakland. I joined the First Unitarian Church of Oakland as a new UU a … Continue reading Building Atop Shifting Sand
Freedom begins when we stop judging who we are. What are the stories we tell ourselves about how we could or should be “better”? Have we rigorously examined how these strivings may paradoxically be holding us back from the most wondrous love we could experience? This talk is not about loving your neighbor. It’s about … Continue reading A Love Supreme
