Unitarian Universalist Society

This is the best church. Ive only been to one service but i felt really gay and it was supa nice.

As a fairly new youth member of this congregation, I have never felt more welcome or affirmed. The ministerial staff are warm, bright, and genuinely funny people who know how to lend fulfilling spiritual and emotional support. (Also, the soup on Soup Sunday is always fantastic. Just saying.)

I’m eighteen and I’ve been involved with UUSS and with California’s youth programming for Unitarian Universalists since I was about twelve. I have been to many UU congregations because of the youth conferences I attend so I think I have a good sense of how our congregation is relative to the rest of the religion.
Our ministers are very approachable and intelligent. Roger has an amazing ability to remember everyone’s names even if he hasn’t seen you in a year, and Lucy is warm and funny. They are both very sweet people with different but complementary spiritualities.
Our building just finished being rebuilt in the last year, and it looks really good. We have a weird number of hexagons everywhere which kind of makes the church seem like a beehive, but in a good way. We have a library, a community garden, a labyrinth, and all sorts of programs. Especially now that we’re back at our home facility since construction is over our community has been getting stronger with time. The congregation is disproportionately old, but not more so than at most churches I’ve been to, and I think it’s just because retirees have more free time to go to church.
We have good youth programs including childcare and a lot of brilliant kids. I’ve been impressed the whole time I’ve been here by how many adults choose to dedicate their time to helping with youth programming. Not only do we have Religious Education on Sundays, but sometimes we have a program called OWL which is the best sex education program you can get outside of college, although it’s a big time commitment because it is many weeks long. Public schools are terrible at sex ed and even if you feel like as a parent you can have good dialogue with your kids, I know my parents tried to teach me things about safe sex that I later found out to be wrong, so this is a good thing to send your middle school age kids to no matter what. Also, we have a program called Coming of Age which involves our congregation along with others in California. I never did this but it is supposed to be very good.
We have a number of volunteer and enrichment opportunities for adults as well. We have a cool theater program, choir, we volunteer at the food bank and are involved in local events like the MLK march, and our ministers and community members frequently hold classes. Just two weeks ago I went to a lecture on Islam put on by a member who is also a professor in religious studies, and I learned a lot. The thing about our congregation is that we often have around five hundred people show up on Sunday. That means if you go here, you more or less determine for yourself how involved in the community you are. Our ministers will likely greet you, but if you don’t go over to the table with all the activities and sign yourself up for something it’s easy to feel lost in the crowd. I think that’s how my dad feels when he comes to church because he only goes once every three or four months, so he doesn’t get to know very many people. However, as soon as you get to know people you find that UUs are kind, thoughtful, and dedicated.
If you don’t know what UUs are all about, our roots are Christian, but we are not. Rather we are a creedless church centered around a philosophy of acceptance, justice, and peace. We look to all sorts of faith traditions for our services, and I have found which religions most inform services to be highly variable from congregation to congregation. UUSS I think is most influenced by Judeo-​Christian and Wiccan traditions, although not necessarily beliefs. This lack of creed is not for everyone, but it is excellent for people whose beliefs do not align with other churches, or for people who feel unwelcome elsewhere. I have met UUs who also identify as Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Pagan and athiest. More than any of those I have met UUs whose beliefs are less defined, but who are still spiritual people who want the community of church. No matter who you are or what you believe, you are welcome here.

UUSS has been, and remains, a mess.
Starting just below the Board of Trustees, with the ministers, the Senior Minister and Assistant Minister possess little in the way of managerial ability. In practical terms, this puts UUSS’s operations in a constant state of mediocrity and disarray. Name most any program or even simple process on a typical Sunday at the UUSS facility and you’ll find confusion, lack of commitment, process breakdowns, and the list goes on.
Starting in the summer of 2015, a UUSS member has been picketing about UUSS in front of the UUSS facility on Sunday mornings before the service. Apparently, that not being sufficient, the picketer also places leaflets on vehicles during the service. Security around the UUSS facility is non-​existent: No viable fences, nobody paying any attention to who is coming and going from the enormous property, doors to classrooms left wide open at night while classes take place. One can feel like a sitting duck while those around you are oblivious.
The average age of UUSS attendees is probably around 60 years old. It looks and feels like a slowly dying organization. Attendees to the Sunday service seem attracted to the fact that one can attend a UUSS service and have very little in the way of any further commitment to, or involvement with, UUSS. This seems to be a draw for many people: Sunday «church» for an hour with no further involvement or thought for the next 6 days and 23 hours. For whatever reason (s), UUSS has a particularly strong draw for females generally and lesbians specifically. Nothing wrong with that, just mentioning it n case readers find that a reason to connect or not connect with UUSS.
UUSS seems like a very stale organization with a largely disengaged board and ministers that often seem uninvolved and overly obsessed with themselves and presiding over their perceived flock every Sunday. Every time we have visited UUSS, we get the sense that it is being run for the ego enrichment of the ministers. One gets the impression that the main concerns of the ministers are 1) getting as many seats in the sanctuary filled, 2) getting some dollars from each warm body, and 3) appearing as in charge and the stars of the show. This was not a conclusion that came quickly but rather just seemed to surface and strengthen over time.

Interesting springboard for thought, inclusive feel. More about your own spiritual journey than any particular path. Fun. Nice campus, active social justice work.