"Love is the spirit of this church... " Our beautiful Spoken Affirmation, one we recite at every service of worship and celebration, answers the question that the title of this homily poses.

But is it the right answer? Does it give us the whole picture? Sunday we'll explore candidly what contributes to our corporate spirit as a redemptive community of radical inclusion, and we'll name what distracts from or confuses our understanding of what it means to be the Church right now, today.

Joining me on the pulpit will be Intern Minister Joel Gilbertson-White, Worship Associates Claire Weber and Maeve Dellert, and Trustee Laura Gilmore. The choir will perform a musical setting of our Spoken Affirmation, set by the late Unitarian Universalist composer Thomas Yeakle.

Please bring someone to church with you this Sunday who might benefit from the spirited worship and warm hospitality that characterizes our Sunday morning worship experience.

Paul Larudee, one of the organizers of the Free Gaza movement, will address the Forum on "Why Israel is not South Africa — No Bantustans, Please".

Paul will discuss of the ongoing Palestine/Israel conflict originating from the Balfour Declaration which virtually gave credence to taking away the Palestinian homeland in the aftermath of WW II.

The free program will start at 9:45. Come at 9:30 for conversation, coffee, and (for a slight charge) a light breakfast.

Do you ever wish you could do more than just mumble the hymns at Sunday services?

Join special guest music teacher, Evelie Posch, as she leads a motley group of singers (and "non-singers"!) of all ages. Together they'll belt out some of the most rousing songs in Unitarian Univeralist-dom and learn a variety of numbers from our hymnal and other musical sources.

The program is free, and you are invited to drop in without reservation.

Each month the Unitarian Universalist Bible study class examines the stories of the Bible from a decidedly UU bent.

Feel free to drop-in and take part in this month's session! The fee is $5/class, and scholarships are available. Sunday's class will be held from 1-2:30pm.

The gavel goes up for annual Great Green Auction Sunday in the Starr King Room. The gavel comes down with a loud "Sold!" next Sunday (March 14) after the services.

Place your early bids Sunday to preempt your competitors. Then keep checking until bidding closes for tickets, dinners, and other donations from your fellow Unitarian Universalists.

Help raise funds while having fun.

Sunday the Board will hold elections to elect the Society's representatives for two events: the District Assembly of Pacific Central District and the General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association.

If you cannot attend Sunday, please take a moment to cast an absentee ballot. The ballots are located in the Board Secretary's box in the church office. The Secretary's box also contains brief biographies of the candidates and instructions for completing a ballot.

The candidate statement of Brendan O'Brine was omitted from the March FirstNews through a clerical error. It is printed below.

Brendan is a Hinckley scholar studying employment and disability law at UCSF's Hastings College of the Law. Since joining our Society he's been helping revise our welcome ceremonies and outreach literature.

He's also worked with the UUYAN, CPMC Task Force, and the UUSF No on 8/Repeal Prop 8 campaign. He was a General Assembly delegate in '08 and '09.

"My learning experiences as a UU were amazing last year. I brought back new spiritual and leadership insight from GA, from my 'other' congregation (FUSS – Salem, MA), and from being a worship associate and on the membership committee. I'd be honored to share these with UUSF by speaking for the church at DA," says Brendan.

Photographer Sonnie Willis captured scenes from the luncheon (including the photo at right).