The Love at the Center Can’t Be from Hallmark
Our Unitarian Universalist values are centered around Love. But what does “love” mean here? We’ll explore what a life based on grounded, fierce love might look like, and how we might teach ourselves to live such a life.
“So?!”
Someone once told our guest speaker that “So?!” may be “the greatest affirmation of all.” Come and find out why, and why it’s needed today more than ever.
Spiritual Dead Ends
There are spiritual dead ends we need to look out for. If we spend all our precious energy on these, it leads to suffering and a wasted life. We can identify these as the 5 delusory ‘p’s. Possessions, Power, Prestige, Profit and Pleasure. These are all good things in their place but a bad bet to bet your life on.
The Freestyle Rapper’s Guide to Spirituality
The Freestyle Rapper’s Guide to Spirituality is the first sermon in a three-part series exploring faith, ambition, loss, and the evolving meaning of a well-lived life. In this personal and often humorous opening chapter, Gary Frazier traces his unlikely spiritual journey from a loud, stuttering child who dreamed of becoming a rapper, to an aspiring preacher, and ultimately to a broader understanding of spirituality beyond the boundaries of organized religion. Drawing on hip-hop music, family, ambition, disappointment, and personal transformation,…
YOLO (You Only Live Once)
Grab the brass ring; dream big and live it. If not you, who? If not now, when? Free your mind and the rest will follow. Joy is yours for the taking!
Where You are Held
In this sermon, I explore how early emotional absence—especially around safe male affection and belonging—can shape a life long after childhood. I talk about part of my healing journey, platonic intimacy between men, and the profound human need to be held, accepted, and told: “You belong.”
God Bless America
Why do we ask God to bless America? What is the history of that song, what is its meaning and why is it still so popular today on this special 250th Fourth of July weekend?
Service As Practice
If we turn to Buddhist literature, service is vital to the spiritual goal of Mahayana Buddhism. After twenty years of community service the three aspects of Buddhism wisdom… Impermanence, Suffering and Interconnectedness have been validated. Listen to our weekly sermons anytime, anywhere on your favorite podcast platform – Apple Podcasts and Amazon Music. Just search for OCUUC and hit “Follow” to stay up to date. If you enjoy the sermons, please take a moment to give us a rating or…
Juneteenth: Celebrating Our Shared Freedom
Juneteenth commemorates the day enslaved people in Texas finally learned of their freedom, but its meaning extends far beyond a single moment in history. In this sermon, Gary explores how the struggle for Black freedom helped expand liberty, citizenship, and civil rights for ALL Americans. Drawing on history, personal family stories, and themes from his recently published book, Civil: The War That Never Ended, he invites us to see Juneteenth not only as a celebration of emancipation, but as a…
Wheels On My Suitcase
We all carry around our own unique burdens – “our baggage,” if you will. UCLA Oncology Chaplain and popular guest speaker, Michael Eselun, will look at what might be “the wheels” on that suitcase that we drag around. What are the ways we can make it all a little easier to maneuver and manage – particularly in these uncertain and challenging times.
The Buddha Meets AI
What can the Buddha’s teaching about reality and the working of the mind tell us about this emerging technology?
The Gifts of Unitarian Universalism
In a country aching with loneliness and weary of dogma, Unitarian Universalism has something rare to offer: a spiritual home where you don’t have to check your mind at the door, where love is the center of everything, and where your questions are welcome. This Sunday, as we close our “Gifts of” series, we’ll celebrate the gifts of our own tradition.