Established in 1876, the Unitarian Society of Santa Barbara is a free religious community, dedicated to the search for truth and the love of humankind. Although we have no creed or dogma, we support one another in the search for truth, knowing that there is no end to its revelation.
The Unitarian Society has two Sunday morning services at 9:30 and 11:30 AM every Sunday. Our worship theme for March is Sin.
Please come join us for a cup of coffee during the community social hour between the services.
Sunday, March 14
On Turning Away Rev. Aaron McEmrys
This month we will reflect on one of the most difficult themes of the year: sin. What a difficult, maddening, contrary, elusive word! It seems as if our world is saturated with the word, which is applied so often as a description of almost anything the speaker doesn’t like or as a cynical tool in a power monger’s arsenal. What, if anything, does sin have to do with us? Is it a betrayal of god? Of belief? Is it the breaking of a rule, an oath or a contract? Or is it something else altogether? And if any of these be sin – then what, pray tell, is salvation?
Sunday, March 21
The Sins of Our Fathers Rev. Aaron McEmrys
We do wrong, all of us, now and then. We hurt one another, we turn away from relationship, we put ourselves first at the expense of others. We all do these things. Naming and claiming this fact is hard enough – but what about the heavy weight of wrongdoing that we inherit? What about the sins of our fathers? The legacy of slavery, global warming, poverty, or (closer to home) the cascading effects of abuse or addiction that embitter the waters of so many family wells? We are not personally responsible for these sins, and yet they are ours to manage, to cope with and perhaps to heal. What are do we do with dark fruits like these? Please join us as we wrestle with all this and more.
Sunday, March 28
Social Justice Sunday Service Host: Ken Ralph
March 28th is UUSC Social Justice Sunday. Unitarian Universalist Congregations throughout the world take this opportunity to focus one Sunday service on a pressing social justice issue. We will be focusing on the economic injustice associated with current economic crisis. As always, when times are tough it's the workers who pay the price. Millions of people have seen their livelihoods disappear completely while others watch their working conditions steadily deteriorate. Many employers have opted for massive layoffs without severance, uncompensated overtime, cuts to benefits like health care, and increased informalization of employment contracts. The end is not in sight. What can we do?