It's Homecoming Sunday, a time for many of us to return to our family of faith after a brief season of rest and re-creation.

How do we unearth meaning for our lives as the spontaneity of summer gives way to the routine of autumn? How do we keep life fresh?

According to Dennis Covington -- a professor, prophet, and pig hunter(!) -- we must reenter the home we never truly leave. Today we'll do so together.

Participants in the service will include Acting Director of Religious Education Betty Skwarek, Pastoral Care Minister Rev. Fred Rabidoux, Affiliated Community Minister Rev. Kay Jorgensen,Ministerial Intern Jeremy Nickel, and Worship Associate Nicolette Toussaint.

The offertory benefits the work of Up On Top, one of this Congregation's vital and vibrant urban ministries. Up On Top provides a formative after-school tutoring program for children who reside in the Tenderloin and Western Addition districts of San Francisco.

Children, parents, and volunteers are invited to the annual Religious Education kick-off breakfast at 9:30 in the King Rooms.

Chef Uvonne Jones-Most will prepare Belgian waffles with your choice of strawberries and whipped cream or syrup, fruit salad, meat or vegetarian sausage, and a selection of beverages.

The breakfast costs no money, but it is not free! Price for admission is a completed children's religious education registration form and volunteer form.

Food will be served until 10:15 -- or until the last waffle is gone! Families and children will then go to the chapel to sing along with Carolyn Jayne and the Folk Orchestra. At 10:50 the group will join the worship service in the Sanctuary.

Children's Religious Education begins its classroom schedule next week (September 16). The Fall Class Schedule will be:

If you have questions please contact Betty Skwarek at 776-4580 ext. 16. or by email.

The Bay Area publicity campaign kicks off next Monday (September 10) with spots on radio station KQED. Additional media announcements will be phased in during the following days and weeks as Unitarian Universalists place ads in BART stations, newspapers, TV, radio, online sites, and other high-visibility locations.

If you have a visible yard (or know people who do) and are willing to post yard signs about Unitarian Universalism for a few weeks, please email Linda and give her your name and address.

The signs will say:

Ministry groups for the church year are forming, and registrations will be accepted through September 16th. Information on the ministries is available online, and Committee Chair Carol Ruley would like to personally answer questions you have about the program or the application process. She can be reached at (415) 846-3986 or by email.

"We listen to what is happening in participants' day-to-day lives and in the larger world that affects each one of us," explains Carol. "That helps us to live more authentically and fully as individuals and as a community."

Small Group Ministries is a favorite way for many in the community to form close bonds with a small group of people in the midst of our large urban congregation.

The afternoon features "big organ, choir, solo, and Rev. Greg Stewart", says Judy. She and other family members invite the entire community to the celebration and reception which will follow in the King Rooms.

Congratulations to David Jones and Don Williams on their move to their new home. We're looking forward to seeing more of them, too, now that they're just a couple blocks away from church!

Tickets for Up on Top's Wesla Whitfield benefit concert are now available online in addition to being sold at coffee hour on Sunday. Proceeds from the September 22nd cabaret will help fund the afterschool program which was started as a Social Justice project of this Society.

Up On Top Afterschool Program and Summer Camp provides a safe, educational, and fun afterschool and summer care for children from low-income families living primarily in the Tenderloin and Western Addition neighborhoods.

Six staff offer 60 children individual attention, tutoring, and instruction in a nurturing, supportive environment that includes the whole family.

Wesla is a noted cabaret singer who lives in the Bay Area and has appeared on stages around the world. Wesla was a student of Rev. Alex Post, and she performed at the church when Rev. Post was Minister of Music.

During the building shutdown for major projects last week, Jonathan Silk cleaned and repaired our assisted listening devises.

Pat Boese and Cathy Lyon shared some history of the Sanctuary sound system, explaining that its unusual frequency was necessary to avoid conflicting transmissions with the ILWU Building across the street from us, and thus our listening devices are unique.

We thank Pat for maintaining the devices, and all the volunteers who hand them out. If you would like to help, please talk to Pat or Cathy.

There is also a new audio system in the Fireside Room, thanks to a donation from the Society for Community Work and the excellent work of Donald Johnson, Jonathan, and sextons, who did the installation this last week.

The Bay Area Organizing Council (BOAC) community action 6:30 Wednesday (September 12) at St. Mary's Cathedral (Gough and Geary) will call city officials to act on health care and living wages. Confirmed guests include Mayor Gavin Newsom, Director of Public Health Dr. Mitch Katz, and San Francisco Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier.

Health care has been called the epicenter of economic insecurity for Americas families, and with San Francisco's high housing costs factored in, the strain of monthly fees and co-payments loom even larger for anyone who is already struggling to make ends meet.

Before San Francisco loses any more of its families to less expensive areas, BAOC is asking city officials to enact a master health care plan.

If adopted by the Board of Supervisors, the plan will take a hard look at matching up resources with the areas of greatest need citywide, including a California Pacific Medical Center proposal to build a huge hospital across the street from our church.

The Society's Social Justice Council participates in this organization of faith congregations, labor unions, and civic groups.

Photographs by Sonnie Willis and others show scenes from the service and from the courtyard BBQ.