- June 14, 2025
A Sweet Parting
Just a quick note to say I hope you will be able to be at tomorrow’s service, which is my last Sunday at UUCPA. (My last day is June 30, but on Sunday the 22nd I’ll be at General Assembly, and on Sunday the 29th I’ll be in the UU contingent in the ...
- May 24, 2025
UUCPA members have a big decision to make next week!
Dear UUCPA folks,
Well, here we are! The congregation has gathered in numerous small groups to talk about the future of our religious education (RE) ministry, the Discernment Committee has compiled a report of these conversations, and the Board has unanimously recommended that we call Rev. Cat ...
- May 17, 2025
. . . which makes this Sunday’s service extra-special.
https://youtu.be/leapdEjqWG0
- May 10, 2025
Dear UUCPA folks,
No False Borders. Photo by Rochelle Brown on Unsplash
Something we see if we stick around a congregation long enough is that groups like our small groups arise, struggle, thrive, and end in ways that are very natural and often–though not always–predictable. Two women perceive a need for a women’s group, promote an initial ...
- February 8, 2025
Dear ones, we’ve probably all had our fill of these over the past three months:
Tuning the news out entirely, or tuning in and then feeling completely overwhelmed
Getting together with a friend and both venting all our “Can you believe . . . ?”s, but not feeling any better afterwards
Being scared for people we care about, ...
- February 1, 2025
An important announcement
Dear beloved UUCPA folks,
With a heavy heart, but knowing that the time is right, I have decided to resign from my position at UUCPA, and move into semi-retirement, effective June 30. We will have served together for 22 years. What a lucky, blessed person I am to have had these years with you ...
- November 23, 2024
Dear UUCPA folks, As people have shared their concerns about the incoming administration, from the vigil on November 6 until now, one of the most common themes has been “We have to protect the most vulnerable people.” The incoming president has issued many threats, but who knows how many he’ll actually carry out. Two, however, ...
- November 9, 2024
Dear ones, it has been a hard week. And, not gonna lie, it’s going to be a hard four years just making sure that this week’s presidential election was not our last. I’ll be very brief and paraphrase a colleague in Texas: if you’re feeling alone, scared, or hopeless, come to UUCPA this Sunday. That ...
- October 5, 2024
Joy and I were so, so fortunate to live in a notably child-friendly culture when our child was a toddler. In Mexico, everyone seems comfortable with children and welcomes them in public spaces. In six months of her being restless, fussy, or downright loud in restaurants, on buses, in churches, we received not a single ...
- August 31, 2024
Dear UUCPA folks,
Can you believe Rev. Cat has only been at UUCPA for two years? The stories she brings to every service, the Game Nights and Parents’ Nights Out that build community, the family chapel services, and the kind, wise presence she brings to her interactions are so interwoven into our congregational life that it ...
- June 1, 2024
One of my favorite things to do is to discover hidden nooks and unexpected treasures. No matter how well I think I know a place (my home city, for example), surprises often lurk just out of casual sight, and reveal themselves as soon as I peer down an alley or pop into a store I’ve ...
- April 27, 2024
” . . . gather in sympathy now and then. Gather in hope, compassion and strength, gather to celebrate once again.”
This is what we do–we are a congregation, and we congregate for all these purposes and more. It is good to be together. Even we introverts like to know we’re not the only ones, ...
- March 23, 2024
Dear UUCPA folks,
Sometimes when I’m typing or writing the date and I get to that “2024,” I wonder, “How will this year go down in history?” It seems inevitable that for good or ill, 2024 will be one of those years to remember, like 1941, 1865, and 1776. How can it not be, when November’s ...
- February 24, 2024
What does it mean to be a member of UUCPA? What does it mean to belong?
In one sense–perhaps the most important one–simply being involved in the congregation is belonging. Sure, when you’re new to a congregation, as with any community, it usually takes a while to feel like you belong. At first, the names are ...
- February 24, 2024
Dear UUCPA folks,
Rev. Cat and I have been making plans that are still a little too nebulous to have a spot on this site’s calendar, but that we want you to know about.—————–
On March 25, the Sunday service will be about Israel and Palestine, the heartbreaking war in Gaza, and how we can talk about ...
- January 26, 2024
“How shall we live? Be welcoming to all.”
Mechthild of Magdeburg
I learned today that the original meaning of the word “welcome” is “desirable guest.” What an interesting reversal!: that the reason we offer welcome to someone is because they are a desirable person to have as our guest. It’s not a favor that we the hosts ...
- January 13, 2024
Dear UUCPA folks,
Thank you so much for the wonderful welcome back on Sunday! It had felt quite odd to have the 20th anniversary of my arrival at UUCPA (August 15) slip past while I was on sabbatical, but before I left, Brooke and I had promised that we’d mark it properly when I got back. ...
- June 10, 2023
Weaving the Web: Please note this significant change in Caring & Sharing
Dear UUCPA folks,
As I’ve reviewed the next several months in my mind, I’ve noted some processes that have become more complex because, well, when they’re all in one person’s head, they can get that way. Handing them off, as I’ve been doing in preparation ...
- June 10, 2023
Dear UUCPA folks,
The sabbatical is here! Tomorrow is my last day until next January. I hope I’ll get to see you at the service and chat over lunch, and wish you well in person.
A sabbatical is supposedly for the minister’s development. I know I’ll learn a lot, grow from what I read and make and ...
- May 20, 2023
Dear UUCPA folks,
It’s really great to see the return to community by the numbers. Looking at our Sunday participation, the number of folks going to services, Sunday School, and Forum has risen dramatically between 2022 and 2023. (We compute average weekly attendance for a month, then compare that month to the same month in the ...
- April 29, 2023
Part I: Welcome to Dismantling White Supremacy
Dear UUCPA folks,
When I brought the idea of a “White Folks Dismantling White Supremacy” group to UUCPA, it was exactly that: a group for white folks to address themselves to a stubborn problem: US society has systems in place, constructed over centuries and never entirely dismantled, that favor white ...
- April 22, 2023
Dear UUCPA folks,
What a beautiful day on this beautiful planet. I hope you have some time in the company of other creatures of Earth today, in the sun and the breeze.
We usually have an appropriately-themed service sometime in April, but April was packed with other hard-to-schedule services this year, and anyway, Earth Day is every ...
- March 25, 2023
Dear UUCPA folks,
I’ve had an exciting week here.
Several people joined the congregation, and several more asked for membership packets. We’ll be formally welcoming these new members on April 9, Easter. That service was already shaping up to be full of wonderful stories and music (I just love planning services with Rev. Cat), and now this!
The ...
- March 11, 2023
Sayings about the past and the future are all over the map. Some exhort us not to dwell on the past (“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future”–John F. Kennedy) while others remind us that there is wisdom to be ...
- February 18, 2023
Dear UUCPA folks,
You may have heard that I have a sabbatical coming up, so I want to make sure you know the details. First, it’s a ways off! I’ll be away from UUCPA from June 12, 2023. through January 1, 2024.
Many UU congregations fill in the minister’s role only with volunteers and guest speakers, but ...
- February 11, 2023
Dear UUCPA folks,
Can I be real a second?: I hate asking for money. I hate asking people for anything, really. What I love is real conversations with people who are being real–talking about things that matter to them, and inviting me to do the same.
That’s why I love being a Steward and visiting as many UUCPA folks ...
- January 14, 2023
Dear UUCPA folks,
A few weeks back, I put out an email inviting people to participate in some of the ways we make spiritual connections at UUCPA. I noted that while “many people want to meet with others specifically in order to ask spiritual questions together, or undertake practices that are explicitly spiritual in nature,” it ...
- December 10, 2022
Dear UUCPA folks,
Weaving the web of community can get messy. Sometimes it’s practically picture-perfect:
Cephas, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
That’s how we want our welcome to be on Sunday mornings. Our goal is to have everyone in place, welcoming each person with a smile and a head full of information about where to register ...
- November 5, 2022
Ten things to love about the UUCPA Auction:
10. Grooving to live music by The Outer Half
9. Fabulous finger food
8. That moment when the ticket number is called and the raffle winner
jumps up with a big, incredulous grin
7. Bringing home something beautiful that someone made with their own hands
6. Filling your social calendar for the ...
- October 29, 2022
Dear UUCPA folks,
Can I confess something? I think about 20% of my motivation in becoming a UU minister was to recreate a peak experience of my teenage years. Experiences, since it wasn’t one time but something that happened most Fridays during the school year. That’s when several of us would gather around a table in ...
- October 22, 2022
Two Town Halls have been held to gather people’s thoughts about switching to one Sunday service year round. About 20 people have weighed in, either by attending one of the Town Halls or by sending me an email, and the strong feeling is for one service (at some time earlier than 11). If you also ...
- October 1, 2022
It’s here! One part of UUCPA’s mission is to help you transform yourself by doing whatever gives you deep gladness. Another part is to help transform the world by feeding its deep hungers. The Volunteer Fair this Sunday, October 2, from 10:30 to 1, brings them together.
At the Volunteer Fair, you can:
Find out the ...
- September 10, 2022
Public comments on Juristac invited until September 26
Dear UUCPA folks, Our congregation UUCPA is a Green Sanctuary congregation, and we are also dedicated to reversing the effects of white supremacy. The proposed pit mine for Juristac (pronounced YUR-ih-stack), the Sargent Ranch Quarry, calls on us to act upon both of these commitments. We have ...
- August 6, 2022
Dear UUCPA folks,
The web of our communities has gotten a bit frayed in the past two and a half years, hasn’t it? Having had to adjust to isolation, we may have lost the habit of gathering together. And it is a habit: a matter of momentum. When we’re in the habit of meeting a friend ...
- June 11, 2022
Dear UUCPA folks,
It was such a pleasure last week to see Cat on our campus and how warmly she was greeted. In keeping with the theme of tomorrow’s service, joy and sorrow are intermixed. I’m excited to get to know this new colleague better and to help her develop what I know will soon be ...
- October 11, 2019
Midweek meditation: from fear to fulfillment
Thanks to the creativity and drive of UUCPA member Randy Helmonds, we will be hosting the Blood Donation Olympics on Saturday, October 26. I want to share my story with you.
In my family, donating blood has always been one of those no-brainer acts of
mercy, like giving clothes we didn’t ...
- January 15, 2019
I wrote about our then-new benediction on my blog about a month after we adopted it. This past Sunday, I alluded to the line about beauty, and promised to fill you in on the background. Here it is.
We began ending our services with a benediction in the fall of 2012. To be precise, we already ...
- November 10, 2017
I can’t wait to see the new Murder on the Orient Express. Some might find that surprising. I’ve seen the Sidney Lumet version with Albert Finney as Hercule Poirot at least once or twice, and I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve read the book. The twists hold no surprises for me, nor for ...
- September 28, 2017
Several months ago I was rehearsing with the choir, which generously welcomes sporadic participants like me, when we turned to a piece I knew I’d sung before. It turned out that the choir had sung it at my installation here, 13 years earlier, and then it came back to me: I had been a choir ...
- September 21, 2017
Midweek Meditation
- September 13, 2017
There are lots of hymns that express my religion. And there are lots of popular-genre songs that express my thoughts on various and sundry secular matters. But what’s rare is a song that sings like a pop song while also getting right to the heart of religious questions. Jessica Martin, with what she calls “an ...
- March 22, 2015
Where did our benediction come from? Dan and I were talking one day about different ways to end the service. For a long time it has ended with applause, which feels like a strange sound to have ringing in our ears as we leave—as if we have been to a performance. I wanted something that ...
