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 look forward to welcoming you! Be our guest in our fully wheelchair accessible home: 1700 Santa Clara Ave., Alameda (in the Christ Episcopal Church building at the corner of Santa Clara and Grand).

Join us in the sanctuary for worship and music on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of each month (January through December). And meet with us in the Guild Room on 2nd Sundays of the month for "Soul Talk", our drop-in monthly adult discussion group. And we offer other occasional educational or recreational activities, too.s

Children and youth join the adults for the first 15 minutes of each worship service, which includes music and a story for all ages. Children and their teachers then head to their classrooms. Several times a year, the children stay and participate with the adults in a multi-generational service. Children are, of course, always welcome to stay with a parent in the service. And, of course, parents are always welcome to go into the classroom with their child(ren).

Accessibility is important to us. The spaces we use on Sundays (sanctuary, guild room, parish hall, kitchen, bathrooms, and courtyard) are all wheelchair accessible. We also offer assisted listening devices for use in the sanctuary and large-print Orders of Service (programs). Please let the greeter (just inside the front doors) know if any of these will be helpful to you. And please do tell us if you have other needs we might be able to accommodate.

Supper and more: Many friends and members stay after our worship services for conversation and a fellowship meal. Everyone is invited to stay to get to know us and to break bread together. We hope you, too, will join us.

For more details, please contact info@uuliveoak.org.

This Sunday -- January 12, 4:00 p.m.
Soul Talk: An Adult Religious Exploration Series

Led by Richard Stromer, this series offers an opportunity for participants to collectively explore a range of spiritual topics through both shared readings and thought-provoking discussion. Meetings last approximately an hour and a quarter, with ample time afterward for snacks (provided) and conversation. Come join us as we seek to grow both individually and as a community of faith!

Our topic for January 12: Impermanence

If you look deeply into impermanence, you will do your best to make her happy right now. Aware of impermanence, you become positive, loving and wise. Impermanence is good news. Without impermanence, nothing would be possible. With impermanence, every door is open for change. Impermanence is an instrument for our liberation. ~ Thich Nhat Hahn

As both the Buddhist Tradition and the laws of physics remind us, change is the only constant in life. Embracing that reality not only has the power to free us to live life fully in this moment, but also to avoid the inevitable suffering we cause ourselves when we become attached to anything perishable. Join us for the exploration of both the nature of Impermanence and how to more fully embrace it in our lives.

You are welcome to join us at 4:00 p.m. on the second Sunday of each month in the Guild Room at Christ Episcopal Church, (1700 Santa Clara Avenue, Alameda). (The Guild Room is in the building immediately behind the sanctuary.)

And Our Next Worship Service: Sunday, January 19, 4:00 p.m.

Worship: Sunday, January 19, 4:00 p.m.
Worship led by Darlene Pagano and others
Why We Can't Wait

As soon as we made a martyr of Martin Luther King, we recast him, like those pictures of the blond Jesus with little lambs, into “Saint Martin”-the-peaceable. We should remember that in his day, King was considered a dangerous troublemaker. He was harassed by the FBI and vilified in the media. In his 1963 “Letter from Birmingham Jail” King directly speaks to the intention to create in the community “a situation so crisis packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation.” Not violence -- but trouble, and plenty of it.

Imprisoned in the Birmingham City Jail, King was writing in response to “A Call for Unity,” a letter published in the local paper by eight relatively liberal white Alabama clergy cautioning against King and his methods. Held in solitary confinement and initially denied writing materials, King wrote the first part of the letter in the margins of a newspaper, and scraps of paper given him by a trustee. He was eventually able to finish the letter on a pad of paper his lawyers were allowed to give him.

“Letter from Birmingham Jail” is a clarion call to Justice and non-violent action. Join us as we read from this stirring document and celebrate the life and trouble-making legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King.

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