In the Unitarian Universalist tradition you are "the decider" about your own beliefs.

You sort through the best information you have, test it against your experiences, talk about it with people you trust and respect, and decide what it means. But we also have available to us the experience and insights of past Unitarians and Universalists.

In this sermon Rev. Gibson will talk especially about some insights available to us from the Universalist side of our heritage, a side that is sometimes overlooked and is generally too little known.

Rev. Gibson knows whereof he speaks because he discovered the personal papers of America's first published feminist author, the Universalist Judith Sargent Murray, and for eight years Rev. Gibson was minister of a Universalist-origin congregation near Ellisville, Mississippi.

The photograph of Judith Sargent Murray is from the Unitarian Universalist Historical Society.

Small Group Ministries has opened up registration for the fall's groups. These ministries will offer members and friends an opportunity to gather in an intentionally limited-size community.

Each Small Group Ministry has about ten people. The groups meet twice monthly and invite participants to share important parts of their lives within a safe community.

The Society's ongoing program to help individuals deepen their connections to each other, grow spiritually, and strengthen the San Francisco Unitarian Universalist Congregation as a whole burst forth onto the Internet just this week.

The Small Group Ministry leadership tells all and exposes all the details on their hot new website.

A participatory DVD produced by one of the most thriving, radically hospitable Unitarian Universalist congregations in the country will be screened this Sunday at a community luncheon in the Thomas Starr King Room.

Members, friends, and visitors are invited to learn what has worked for Jefferson Unitarian Church in Golden, Colorado, participate in a discussion on how our Society can practice hospitality going forward, and enjoy the company of others interested in the quality of the Congregation's community life.

A simple lunch will be available. The suggested donation is $4, but everyone will be welcomed at the lunch, conversation, and fellowship.

The Rheiner Award recognizes and celebrates exceptional actions by members of this Society who are meaningfully engaged in the greater community. The award increases our Congregation's awareness of Society members who, by living their Unitarian Universalist values, create necessary change, thereby improving the lives of others.

Members are invited to nominate a candidate for the 2007 Rheiner Community Service Award by picking up a form from the church office and mailing or delivering it back to the office. Or download the nomination form and send it to the office or email it to Leslie Bader.

Worship Associate Stephen Schwichow draws his personal tolerance line between his kitchen and okra, he told us in a reflection during last week's worship service.

But, tolerance is an interesting concept.

from Dr. Mark Sumner, Music Director

Thirty travelers from the Bay Area have just returned from a two week trip to Transylvania, visiting Unitarian pilgrimage sites and performing concerts from Budapest to Bucharest.

From July 9th through the 24th, members of our Society, the church choir, and choir members from the UC Berkeley Alumni Chorus gathered forces to make a 'composite' pilgrimage and choir tour. The choir was prepared and led by Dr. Mark Sumner, and the church pilgrims were gathered by Mary Castiglia. Project Harvest Hope was the organizer, and the inspiration for this tour came from last year's intern minister, Rev. Dr. Judit Gellerd.

The star of the trip was our resident organist, Reiko Lane (pictured above in a photograph by Janine Reed at Esztergom Basilica in Northern Hungary overlooking the Danube and across the border into Slovakia. The basilica itself is the largest church and the tallest building in Hungary.) Along with the choir, Reiko was featured in concert playing the great pipe organs of Hungary and Transylvania.