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
This presentation invites us to remember that our Unitarian Universalist lineage is steeped in revolt — the Jesus movement defying empire, the desert mothers and fathers renouncing wealth, the Radical Reformers risking all for freedom, the Transcendentalists expanding minds, and the liberal theological pioneers of the early 20th century. Today that same spirit demands we … Continue reading Radical Histories, Radical Futures
This is a sermon about endurance love—the kind that doesn’t rely on spark, but sacrifice. Perfect for both marriages and faith, it honors the quiet strength that holds us together when emotions fade. Prince Muraguri (he/him) is a development economist who recently returned to his home country Kenya after working at UC Berkeley. Passionate about … Continue reading Love in the Long Days
Multiple BFUU members were inspired by reading Rutger Bregman’s book Moral Ambition and quickly organized an MA group. Today we will each describe to you our personal Moral Ambitions, and we’ll explain how Moral Ambition aligns perfectly with other progressive, social activist beliefs like Unitarianism, Liberation Theology, and Mahayana Buddhism. BFUU “Morally Ambitious” members who … Continue reading A Call for Moral Ambition
Practice Random Kindness and Senseless Acts of Beauty. Remember when that quote inspired a generation and became a movement in the mid-80’s? Now seems a good time to revive this sentiment. When the news is filled with senseless acts of cruelty, we may feel powerless to stop it in that moment. But we can be bastions of hope, … Continue reading Cultivating Delight
A Time for Everything. That’s what it says in Ecclesiastes… “a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak.” There are times in life, and times in America, when we are called to make “good trouble” in the words of the late Congressman, John Lewis. … Continue reading Good Trouble
Does it feel like we’ve been in this timeline before? 2025 is a pivotal year astrologically since all of the outer planets have entered new signs for the next 8+ years. By looking back at the past we can better understand our present and maybe get an idea of what to expect in the future. … Continue reading It’s Written in the Stars
A call to find inner spirituality in the great outdoors, drawing from the Transcendentalist words of Walt Whitman. Theo Kocs-Meyers (he/him) is the child of two UU ministers. He recently completed a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology in Portland, Oregon, and is honored to return to BFUU, the site of his religious education.
