Urban Sanctuary San Jose

08/30/2026

08/30/2026

Our Weekly Service

08/24/2026

For you—for us—this day. This blessing was inspired by the women we meet in the opening chapters of the Book of Exodus. The choices they make amid the currents of death, fear, and hatred call me to ask—What am I being called to be fierce about in this world?

FIERCE BLESSING

Believe me when I say
there is nothing
this blessing would not do
to protect you,
to save you,
to encompass you.

This blessing
would stand between you
and every danger,
every evil,
every harm
and hurt.

This blessing
would dare
to wade with you
into the waters that come
offering life.

It would make
a way for you
through the waters that come
threatening death.

I cannot explain
how fierce
this blessing feels
about you,
but I can tell you
it has more than pledged
itself to you;
it would lay down
its life for you
and not once
look back in regret
nor go in sorrow
for what it has chosen
to give.

And you—
so deeply blessed,
so utterly encompassed—
what will you save
in turn?

Not because
it is owed,
but because
you cannot imagine
failing to pass along
this grace
that casts its circle
so wide,
this love
that flows
so deep
through this perilous
and precious life.

—Jan Richardson
from The Cure for Sorrow: A Book of Blessings for Times of Grief
janrichardson.com/books

Image: "Streams of Mercy"
© Jan Richardson
janrichardsonimages.com

08/10/2026

That's a wrap on another Soulful Sunday! Thanks to all who attended and to all who donated! Multi-cam footage will be up on youtube as soon as editing is completed - see you next time!

08/08/2026

From time to time I find myself wondering—Amid all the losses and letting go that life requires of us, is there anything we get to keep? Is there anything that returns to us, not in the same form by which we once knew it, but in a way that reminds us that through all the changes and impermanence, there is something that endures, that has the capacity to stay with us? Something that comes as the opposite of loss, or as its antidote; something that repairs a seam of our heart with its unexpected return.

If you wonder this, too, this is a blessing for you.

SOMETIMES WHAT GOES FROM US

Perhaps it will come
as the lightest thing
imaginable,
a gentleness
you had thought
impossible
nesting in the hollow
of your hand—

the blessed
gift of it
nothing you would
have dreamed
but for how it now
appears,
come to tell you

sometimes
what goes from us,
remains;

sometimes
what flies from us,
returns.

—Jan Richardson
from How the Stars Get in Your Bones: A Book of Blessings
janrichardson.com/books

Image: “What We Get to Keep”
© Jan Richardson
janrichardsonimages.com

08/08/2026

This week, UCC joined our voices with partners at the United Nations to remember Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and advocate for nuclear disarmament and justice for communities impacted by nuclear testing.

🚨 You can join the call too: https://ow.ly/ZZiE50ZxI3l

"On August 6 and 9, we remember Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We also honor my homeland, the Marshall Islands, where 67 U.S. nuclear tests contaminated our atolls, and the wounds still linger. We remember every community, every land, and every people — known and unknown — scarred by nuclear testing and the mining that enabled these weapons. Their stories are written on the earth and held in God's heart.

I stand with the United Church of Christ in prayer and action because peace is not passive. It demands truth, justice, and the courage to declare never again—for those who suffered and for future generations. God's creation is not meant for destruction. Together, let us turn swords into plowshares and walk the path of peace."

- Benetick Kabua Maddison
Executive Director, Marshallese Educational Initiative

Photo: World Council of Churches, 2024. L-R: Benetick Kabua Maddison, Rev. Dr. Karen Georgia Thompson, and Senator David Anitok at the 2024 "Nuclear Resilience for Peace and Prosperity" event in Geneva.

with: United Church of Christ Washington D.C. Office