Live Oak Unitarian Universalist Fellowship - Home - Unitarian Universalism in the San Francisco Bay Area

Welcome!

We create loving community
through worship and service to others

Live Oak is a progressive spiritual community in the heart of Alameda. We walk diverse paths to find meaning and purpose but are united by our belief in the worth and dignity of all, and the obligation to express our faith through acts of justice and compassion. Join us as we create a diverse, spirit-growing, justice-seeking community.

We have returned to live in-person services at our longtime home at Christ Episcopal Church in Alameda starting at 4 p.m. on the first and third Sundays of each month for those who are vaccinated. We also continue to broadcast our live services on Zoom for those who wish to watch at home or are unvaccinated.

If you regularly receive emails from Live Oak UU Fellowship about upcoming worship services (and other activities), you will receive an email with access information for the next worship service on Zoom. Please contact us at info@uuliveoak.org if you would like the codes.

For more details, please contact info@uuliveoak.org

Beyond Disappointment--Returning to Faith and Hope

Please welcome Guest Speaker Kai Marks live or on Zoom for our upcoming service Sunday, Oct. 3 at 4 p.m.

Kai's homily is titled: "Beyond Disappointment -- Returning to Faith and Hope."

Sadly, disappointment is a universal part of human experience that visits us all at one time or another--whether we are a very young child or an experienced adult.

From small inconveniences to great betrayals, to the loss of dreams or to the loss of someone we love, disappointments separate us from hope and from the world as we understood it to be--and we are asked to change and to continue on a path we might never have chosen for ourselves. Perhaps nothing challenges our faith more than soul-crushing disappointment.

And, yet, there is hope.

While a disappointment can cause us to lose our faith, it is also paradoxically the very thing that serves as a catalyst for us to find a new kind of faith and a strength we did not know we had.

Resilience, revelation, and restoration await on on the other side of a difficult experience.

Please join Kai Marks and Worship Leader Jay Roller as we explore what lies Beyond Disappointment: Returning to Faith and Hope.

Kai Marks returns to speak at Live Oak

Kai Marks is a frequent speaker at Live Oak.

She is a writer, teacher, and spiritual director who is a member of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Redwood City.

Kai is a graduate of the Caroline Myss Education Institute programs both in archetypes and in mysticism, and she's also a graduate of the Disney Institute program for Excellence in Leadership.

She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of San Francisco, and currently serves as the Head of School for Fusion Academy, Palo Alto.

Please Give To Doctors Without Borders -Afghanistan

This week's Live Oak donation will go to Doctors without Borders - Afghanistan.

This organization is continuing to work in Afghanistan even after the change in government.

It operates five medical treatment centers around the country and the need is great.

The country's Covid numbers are decreasing presently, but war injuries caused a spike in

Emergency Room admissions.

Doctors Without Borders continue to work with tuberculosis patients and take care of all serious medical conditions as staff and resources permit.

You can give online.

Be Sure to Wear a Mask at the Service:
Here are the Rules

For our first services together, please follow these rules which have been developed by Live Oak and Christ Episcopal Church. The rules may change for future services, so check back.

We would prefer all visitors to our services to be vaccinated. If you are not vaccinated, please watch at home on Zoom
All congregants -- other than the Worship Leaders and musical soloists -- must be masked during the entire service, even while singing.
Worship Leaders will be unmasked while in the pulpit and musical soloists will be singing unmasked miked from the front of the sanctuary.
Please practice social distancing in the sanctuary.

They wear a mask...and so should you!

YES! We Will Have a Potluck After The Service

From its earliest days, Live Oak has hosted a potluck after its afternoon services. For now, the potluck will be held outside, in the courtyard. Bring a sweater, evenings in Alameda can be cold. When you are outside, you don't need to wear a mask. You can use the church kitchen at Christ Episcopal to keep your food items cold or to warm them up. For now, we are using compostable dishes and utensils.

YES! We Will Have The Service on Zoom

Not ready to return to live services? Can't find your Sunday best? Traveling to the South of France? We broadcast the live service on Zoom at 4 p.m. We put the codes in the newsletter. Send us an e-mail at info@liveoak.org and we'll make sure you will receive the newsletter with the codes.

Miss the service? We usually put a recording up on the website by Monday evening.

We want everyone to be well and stay safe. We will continue to stay in touch with members and friends and to update this site with any news. Until then, please take care of yourselves, your friends, and your loved ones. We are thinking of you and will stay connected in other ways. Be well. ~ from both your Live Oak UU Worship Team and the Live Oak UU Board of Trustees.