Minister's Sermons

This is a small selection of sermons by Rev. Grace Simons. We also have a small collection of Guest Sermons. You may also read the current version of Grace Notes, a column Rev. Grace contributes to the newsletter. It is less formal than her sermons. Finally, we have a welcome and biography.

Margaret Fuller: A Life Too Soon Ended
Margaret Fuller was part of the group of New England intellectual lights we call the Transcendentalists. She was an ardent feminist as well as a linguist, teacher, social critic, author and editor. This Sunday marks her 200th birthday. What can she offer us today?
(May 23, 2010).

Have We Grown Up?
That's the title of Mike Durall's latest book. Durall says that developing spiritual maturity is the underlying purpose of our congregations. What do you suppose that means? How can we encourage spiritual growth if we accept each other the way we are? Do we ever grow up completely? Should our congregations adopt that old Army slogan - "Be all that you can be!" - as spiritual advice?
(March 7, 2010)

It's Basic
A recent opinion column in the New York Times says that our basic human pleasures are food, sex and giving. Maybe that last is a surprise to you. But when you look more closely, we all want to be generous people - people who share the gifts of life in their many forms. I suspect it's actually about love - which we only get when we give it away.
(February 28, 2010)

A Time for War, A Time for Peace
President Obama invoked the "Just War" tradition when he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize last month. There's no small irony in receiving the prize while in the midst of fighting two wars. What is Just War theory? How does it relate to peacemaking? Are they opposites? Why is it so hard for people to live in peace? Can we do anything to encourage an outbreak of peace?
(January 24, 2010)

Spreading the Word
How can we spread the word of Unitarian Universalism without being pushy? Without coming off as a zealot? Surely there's ground between secrecy and proselytizing! Let's find that! Do you remember when we talked about 'elevator speeches'? Maybe it's time to polish them up. When you say you're a Unitarian Universalist and get a blank stare in return, what can you say about us? What should you say?
(January 10, 2010)

Truth and Fiction: Slanting Our Stories
You’ve often heard me say that Thanksgiving is about my favorite holiday. Yet my visit to Plymouth Plantation this summer set me to wondering about how far from reality the common Thanksgiving story has wandered. Why do we seem so reluctant to admit the misdeeds of our ancestors? And do the real stories get in the way of our ability to be thankful?
(November 22, 2009)

From Braided Roots
It’s no secret that Unitarian Universalism is quite a bit different from most Western faiths. Perhaps some the reasons can be found in the lived experience of our early European ancestors. Parts of Hungary, Transylvania and the more liberal of the Ottomans enjoyed a multi-religious culture that shaped Unitarian history. It offers lessons for us today.
(November 8, 2009)

Each One Unique
On the Day of the Dead - "El Dia de los Muertos" Rev. Grace talks about the place of death in our society; how we honor those we love who have died and how to recognize our own mortality. Each life is unique. So is each death.
(November 1, 2009)

Our Chosen Faith
Our religious community is very much formed by our choices. This morning's title is borrowed from a book of personal essays about the reasons behind the essayist's choice to be a UU. What about us? Why are we here? What are our hopes for this chosen faith and for this congregation?
(September 20, 2009)

Choosing Fatherhood
We celebrated Father's Day by taking a look at the choices that go into being a great Dad. Each man has to make them for himself, and does it in his own way. Sometimes others understand, and sometimes not. Recently I read the claim, "Every father has a dream for his family." How do these dreams guide the choices of fathering?
(June 21, 2009)

Deep Security
Drawing from two recent books, a little theology and our UU Principles, Rev. Grace looks at the idea of security in increasingly complex and unpredictable world. How can we be secure when 'the unthinkable' seems to happen so often? What can help us to meet challenges? To learn and change because of them?
(May 31, 2009)

This is Your Brain on War
The war in Iraq has continued for six long years now, and hostilities in Afghanistan even longer. What's the cost - besides dollars and lives - in lingering mental/psychological effects? And how are we shaped by the seeming inevitability of warfare? How do we unknowingly contribute to it?
(March 22, 2009)

Our Fellowship Heritage
UUFSC has its own history. It intersects with the history of the Fellowship Movement of the American Unitarian Association - which established new groups, the Fellowships, across the US but especially outside New England and the Mid-Atlantic. This effort lasted about 20 years and started this congregation, along with the ones in Fresno, Livermore, Lubbock, Honolulu - and Cape Cod. In some ways we are unique, in others, typical. Now all of us are deciding what parts of that heritage we want to embrace and which ones are better suited to that earlier day.
(February 22, 2009)

We Are Building A New Way; An Inauguration Sermon
The song "We Are Building A New Way" invites us to look toward a time and place where our ideals are realized. For some, this inauguration is a large milestone on the way. But we aren't entirely there yet. What would it be like to move into new relationships, new structures and systems? How can we gain the strength, leave hate, greed and jealousy behind, and plant the seeds of love and justice that the song mentions? And what does hope have to do with all this?
(January 25, 2009)

So What is a Convenantal Religion?
You have often heard me say that we covenant to walk our religious journeys together. What does it mean to be in covenant? What does it ask of us? How do we connect to other UU congregations? As always, history plays a part. We’ll look at the ways all this comes together.
(January 11, 2009)

Gratitude and UU?
We all celebrate Thanksgiving - Christian, Jew, UU. Rev. Grace looks at gratitude, the underlying theme of Thanksgiving.
(November 23, 2008)

Where Do We Come From?
A quick, not-too-dirty tracing of our tradition. Our story goes back centuries, maybe millennia depending on what you include. This Sunday is closest to Frances David's birthday and is celebrated by Unitarians in Transylvania, whose church he founded. It seems like a good time to look at our roots - both American and Trans-Atlantic.
(November 16, 2008)

A Green Thing - and More
Rev. Grace discusses our seventh Principle, "Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part." This is the third of three sermons that look at our UU Principles. The other two are That's Quite a Combination! and Every Person - Like 'Em or Not. Rev. Grace gave this sermon in October 2007, but we posted it April 2008. Our Web master is human, and subject to error.

UU Myths and Sacred Cows
Does "anything go" with UUs? Do we have limits or boundaries? Does our breadth of theology mean we're completely different from other churches? Do we overdo our individualism? Maybe. Maybe not!
(April 6, 2008)

Out of Slavery
A new book, entitled "Slave No More" prints recently discovered journals of two men who escaped from slavery about the time of the Civil War. Their accounts are remarkable tales of determination, perseverance and courage. Even the finding of their accounts are remarkable tales.
(February 3, 2008)

That's Quite a Combination!
This is the second in a series of three sermons looking closer at our UU Principles. Third and Fourth in our set of Principles, we find words encouraging us to accept each other and encourage spiritual growth and to search for truth both freely and responsibly. In some ways, those things seem contradictory. What's going on here? Can we make sense of it?
(September 23, 2007)

Every Person - Like 'Em or Not
This is the first in a series of three sermons looking closer at our UU Principles and what they mean in our lives. We often cite our first Principle - affirming "the inherent worth and dignity of ever person" - but how well do we understand and apply it? What about those who are strangers, really difficult, untrustworthy or violent? We consider that question and also look at the other Principles that grow out of the first one.
(September 16, 2007)

Call to Selma
On March 8, 1965, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. put out a message. "The people of Selma will struggle on for the soul of the nation but it is fitting that all Americans help to bear the burden. I call therefore on clergy of all faiths to join me in Selma." Many UU ministers responded. This is a sermon about those fateful days.
(15 January 2006)

We are a liberal church and the only UU congregation in Stanislaus county. We serve Ceres, Denair, Escalon, Hickman, Hughson, Keyes, Manteca, Modesto, Oakdale, Patterson, Ripon, Riverbank, Salida, Turlock and Waterford. We welcome people, be they Agnostic, Atheist, Buddhist, Christian, Deist, Free-thinker, Humanist, Jew, Pagan, Theist, Wiccan, or those who seek their own spiritual path. We welcome people without regard to race, physical ability, ethnicity or sexual orientation.