Sermons given at UUCB, the Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley

Like most of our kind now and through history, we live our lives in the shadow of empire. Dislocation—the process of becoming separated from traditional cultural practices and connection to a specific place and people—casts long shadows. Injustice compounds dislocation, deepening shadows across lives already deprived of access to safety, dignity, and belonging. As we honor Martin Luther King Jr.’s life and legacy, let us recommit to the multi-generational work of building a society that values integrity, joy, and service.

Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley January 11, 2026 LETTING IN THE LIGHT AS IT COMESRev. Marcus Liefert“This living is a guesthouse,” wrote Mevlana Rumi, inviting us to welcome the whole wild array of our human experiences as guests. The light arrives in our guesthouse through many windows: sometimes glaring, sometime illuminating, sometimes distorting, always sourced in the sacred. In this worship series, we turn to exploring interior states with the slanting light of the midwinter sun to show the way.

Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley January 4, 2026 FLOWERS AND GARBAGELiesl Dees, Intern Minister,Service Leader

Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley December 28, 2025 From the BedsideRev. Mr. Barb GreveJoin Rev. Greve as he brings us to the bedside of his work as a hospice chaplain, inviting us to witness the ordinary and extraordinary that can occur as we near the end of our lives.

THE LONGEST NIGHT AND THE IRRESISTIBLE DAWNRev. Marcus Liefert We know the longest night will end. We know there will be a new day to come. So why are we so anxious all along the way?

Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley December 14, 2025 MIRACLES AMIDST THE RUBBLERev. Marcus LiefertWhat if the true miracle is not that the oil lasted eight nights but that there is oil to burn at all? Perhaps you know more than you might think about living in the plundered, descrated remains of the temple. Perhaps even a miracle happened, even here.

How are we supposed to hold all the desperation of our times and all the wonder of the season all at once? The journey to Bethlehem beckons, promising a mess of politics, poverty, unplanned pregenancy, braying animals, and a hope powerful enough to change the world.

Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley November 30, 2025 Emotional AccountingRev. Amy Zucker MorgensternGiving: transferring something from one person's possession to another's. But which of the many possible ways, with their markedly different feelings and meanings, do we give? Giving can be joyful, or done out of duty, or inspired by fear, or motivated in any number of other ways--and while the effects look the same in our bank accounts, they are very different in our emotional and spiritual accounts.

Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley November 23, 2025 Rev. Bryan PludeHope is ComplicatedHow do we maintain hope with a world on fire and democracy in meltdown? Is hope even an appropriate or a useful feeling in these times? What important roles do courage and love play?

Your Daily BookThe poet Ross Gay undertook to write daily for a year about a delight he had observed that day, and published a collection of these writings as The Book of Delights. If you wrote down the things you observe about your day each evening as it ends, what would the resulting volume be about? Worry? Gratitude? Complaints? Nature? Happiness? Plans? . . . And what shape does this focus give the rest of your life?