Upcoming Worship Services

November/December Worship Theme: Interim Tasks: Developing Leadership:

November 5, 2023, "Community First"
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels
As I begin my 26th year of ordained ministry, I am convinced that the primary work of our faith is to help people make, join, and thrive, in community. Healthy community is the salvation we offer. A leader's responsibility, whether minister or lay leader, is to align the task at hand with that ultimate goal.

November 12, 2023, "Leading from the Middle"
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels
Picture a leader and perhaps you see a figure standing at the front of a group. The leader leads, the followers, follow, right? But a leader, too far ahead, can lose touch. And behind the group, the leader could be overlooked. The proper place for the leader is in the midst of the group, drawing in the outliers, listening, encouraging, working together, and looking very much like every other member of the team.  We will welcome new members during today's service.

Wednesday, November 15 at 7pm at Temple Beth Hillel
Special Interfaith Thanksigiving Worship Service supporting the North Hollywood Interfaith Food Panty.

November 19, 2023, "Poetry That Moves Us"
Lay-Led
On November 19, we’ll have a lay-led service that focuses on POETRY. It will be called “Poetry That Moves Us.”  We need your active participation in this service.  Please bring to church those poems that move you. In particular, look for poems that are

·      Soothing, reflective, about Nature

·      Challenging, tickling or jabbing the intellect

·      Inspirational, religious, discomforting, otherworldly

You’ll share the poems in a small group. Then the group will select one poem to share with the congregation. Please begin looking for your favorite poem. For more information, contact Chris Kirchner.

November 26, 2023, Bread Communion
Lay-Led

December 3, 2023, "A Leader Models"
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels
Unitarian Universalists see the usefulness of Jesus not in a divine sacrifice, but in a human life that we can model. Buddhists, too, revere a human spiritual leader. On the holiday celebrating Buddha's enlightenment (Bodhi Day, December 8), we recognize not what the Buddha achieved for us, but the way great leaders show the greatness we can achieve for ourselves. 

December 10, 2023, "A Leader Inspires"
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels
To know the good we can do, the joy we can bring, the beauty we can make, and so on is only the beginning. Unless our knowledge connects to our will, our dreams will remain unrealized and our lives and the world will never change. To move from vision to action requires the "kindling power" of passion that great leaders can light within us.

December 17, 2023, "A Leader Serves"
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels
The power that comes with a position of leadership in an institution like a church belongs to the position, not the leader. That official power (from the "office") must be used to serve the needs of the institution, not the leader, and the collective needs of all the constituents that care about and support the institution not any individual member.

December 24, 2023 (10am worship service)
Lay-Led

December 24, 2023, Christmas Eve Service, 5pm, "Jesus as Leader"
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels

Winter Worship Theme: Interim Tasks: Mission and Vision:

December 31, 2023
Lay-Led

January 7, 2024
Lay-Led

January 14, 2024, "Who's Calling?"
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels
Mission, whether a personal mission or the mission of an institution like a church, lies at the intersection of self-identity and social need. Sometimes the call to express our inner self is the stronger drive and our impulse to act comes from within. Other times the need of the world outside ourselves is the louder call and demands our response. The life and work of Martin Luther King, Jr. models both the inner and outer call.

January 21, 2024, "The Work of a Church is Not to Do but to Be"
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels
Because a congregation is a voluntary association of free individuals, with different needs and passions, living in diverse contexts, with varied skills and resources, the mission of a church must be broad. Our core mission, then is not to do any one particular thing, but rather to be an institution equipped to do many things for many people.  

January 28, 2024, "This Quiet Hour"
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels
When we think of the mission of the church, what comes to mind first is work we do (or ought to be doing) outside the church.  But the work we do inside the church is just as worthy, if not more so.  It is in worship that we connect with that ground that supports every other expression of our faith.

February 4, 2024
Lay-Led

February 11, 2024, "The Unending Quest"
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels
Because our Unitarian Universalist faith is “reality-based” and reality is constantly changing, there will always be something new, and something more requested of us. Our work of religious education is not merely to prepare our children for adulthood, but to equip all of us, at every age, to take the next step on a continually unfolding journey.

February 18, 2024, "Let it be a Dance"
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels
Life is tough. Life is challenging. The world around us feels uncertain. Our church asks much of us. In the midst of this anxiety, to experience spiritual qualities such as peace, serenity, or joy, is not to wait for a change in our outward circumstances but to claim a response now within ourselves. The world will be what it will always be, but it can be a world of joy, if we let it. Our Stewardship Campaign begins today.

February 25, 2024, "What Wondrous Love"
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels
We are a church, a congregation, a spiritual community. We strive to be a beloved community. Sometimes we describe our church as a community of “like-minded” people. Wouldn’t it be better, and more true to our pluralistic faith if we strove to become and maintain a caring community of “like-hearted” people?

March 3, 2024
Lay-Led

March 10, 2024, "Where Justice Rolls Down"
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels
The mission of our faith has both a personal and a public dimension. We look to both refashion ourselves as just persons and transform the world as agents of justice. But in our outward directed work, we must remember that we seek to help people who have their own inner work to do. The question becomes, “from where does justice come?”

March 17, 2024, "All Her People One"
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels
Because we love this faith, which has done such good for us, we wish to share our faith with others.  We wish to grow our own church membership, of course, but the motivation for growth must be deeper than simply wanting a bigger congregation.  If we truly think our faith is the means toward better lives and a better world, is it wrong to hope that the whole world would be UU?

Spring Theme: Interim Tasks: Making Connections for Support Beyond the Congregation:

March 24, 2024
Lay-Led

March 31, 2024, "Eight Blessings"
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels
Unitarian Universalists revere a Jesus who serves as a mentor and model, not a supernatural savior.  His saving act is not death and resurrection, but a helpful, hopeful message summed up in a list.  Like the Jewish Ten Commandments, or the Unitarian Universalist Seven Principles, Jesus gave us Eight Blessings, called the Beatitudes, as a guide to living.

April 7, 2024, Fourth Principle: Free Speech
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels

April 14, 2024, Second Principle: Housing for All,
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels

April 21, 2024 Seventh Principle: Addressing Climate Change
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels

April 28, 2024
Lay-Led

May 5, 2024, Fifth Principle: Defending Democracy
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels

May 12, 2024, Third Principle: Bringing in and Bringing Along
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels

May 19, 2024
Lay-Led

May 26, 2024, Sixth Principle: Confronting Totalitarian Aggression
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels

June 2, 2024, First Principle: Welcoming Congregation (Pride Sunday)
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels
Flower Communion

June 9, 2024 Music Sunday

June 16, 2024 RE Sunday

Summer Theme: Letting Go and Beginning Again

June 23, 2024 Release (End of Church Year) Summer Solstice
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels

June 30, 2024, Vacating
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels

July 7, 2024
Lay-Led

July 14, 2024
Lay-Led

July 21 2024
Lay-Led

July 28, 2024, Dream
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels

August 4, 2024 Plan
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels

August 11, 2024
Lay-Led

August 18, 2024, Prepare
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels

August 25, 2024, Energize
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels

September 1, 2024
Lay-Led

Fall Theme: Unitarian Universalism in Mind, Body, and Spirit: Mind

September 8, 2024, Ingathering/Values Based
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels

September 15, 2024, One God (at most)
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels

September 22, 2024, Human Power
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels

September 29, 2024
Lay-Led

October 6, 2024, Multipath
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels

October 13, 2024, Sin and Evil
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels

October 20, 2024
Lay-Led

October 27, 2024, Immortality
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels

November 3, 2024, Democracy
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels

November 10, 2024, Reason and Limits of Reason
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels

November 17, 2024
Lay-Led

November 24, 2024, Prayer
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels

December 1, 2024, Enlightenment
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels

December 8, 2024
Lay-Led

December 15, 2024, Miracles
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels

December 22, 2024, Divinity
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels

December 24, 2024 Christmas Eve Service, 5pm
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels

December 29, 2024
Lay-Led

January 5, 2025
Lay-Led

Winter Theme: Unitarian Universalism in Mind, Body, and Spirit: Body

January 12, 2025, Action/Work "hands and feet"
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels

January 19, 2025, Food/Excercise/Health
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels

January 26, 2025, Pain
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels

February 2, 2025
Lay-Led

February 9, 2025, Environment/Physical Location
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels

February 16, 2025, Eros/Demands of the Body
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels

February 23, 2025, Limits of the Body
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels

March 2, 2025
Lay-Led

March 9, 2025, Materialism (mind/Body)
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels

March 16, 2025, Image/Identity
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels

March 23, 2025
Lay-Led

March 30, 2025, Danger and Risk
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels

April 6, 2025 Acceptance
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels

April 13, 2025
Lay-Led

April 20, 2025 Physical Death/Joy (Easter)
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels

Spring Theme: Unitarian Universalism in Mind, Body, and Spirit: Spirit

April 27, 2025
Candidate Minister

May 4, 2025,
Candidate Minister

May 11, 2025, Hope/Creativity
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels

May 18, 2025, Power/Courage
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels

May 25, 2025, Mastery
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels

June 1, 2025, Music Sunday

June 8, 2025 RE Sunday

June 15, 2025, Pride
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels

June 22, 2025, Ecstasy/Celebration
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels

June 29, 2025, Satisfaction
Rev. Rick Hoyt-McDaniels