Book Club: The First Advent in Palestine
2025-11-30 09:00 - 10:15, 2025-12-07 09:00 - 10:15 (America/Los_Angeles)
As we prepare to enter the Advent season—a season of waiting for God to appear in a world marked by troubled times—let’s journey back to that first advent in the land of Palestine. As we do, I think we’ll find a deeper understanding of what that first advent was like, as well as resonances with the troubled times of today. The world of the first advent was marked by injustice, fear, and resistance. Kelley Nicondeha brings that world to life in her book, The First Advent in Palestine: Reversals, Resistance, and the Ongoing Complexity of Hope. Join us for a Sunday morning class as we read through the book together, engage in practices to connect us to that complex and audacious hope, and find God in the midst of our own advent season.
The group will meet on the following Sundays…
11/9, 11/16, 11/23, 11/30, 12/7

Sunday, November 9th: Roots of Resistance
Week 1: Chapters 1 & 2
Sunday, November 16th: Pregnant with Promise
Week 2: Chapters 3 & 4
Sunday, November 23rd: Living in Troubled Times
Week 3: Chapters 5 & 6
Sunday, November 30th: Paying Attention on the Peripheries
Week 4: Chapters 7 & 8
Sunday, December 7th: Hope Continued
Week 5: Chapter 9 & 10 & Epilogue

Annual Church Meeting
2025-12-02 18:00 - 19:00
Everyone is welcome to be here at NHUnited Church on Tuesday, for our Annual Church Meeting. This conference will recap this year’s events and ministries, celebrate our candidates for ministry, review next year’s budget in progress and approve staff salaries. This is an open meeting in the Social Hall and all are welcome!

Songwriter Sanctuary - Holiday Show!
2025-12-05 18:30
On Friday, December 5, Songwriter Sanctuary celebrates the holiday season and our last show of the year! Hosted by the iconic Jeff Berkley in collaboration with Normal Heights United!

Blue Christmas Service
2025-12-07 18:00
Some of us are entering the Christmas season and though we are surrounded by holiday cheer, we’re not feeling particularly cheerful. Whether you’ve lost someone this year and it’ll be your first Christmas without them, or you’re grieving the state of the world right now, this service is for you. Join us for a time of lament, contemplation, and comfort, as we gather to weather this season together.

The Cross and the Olive Tree, a Conversation
2025-12-10 18:30 - 20:00
The Cross and the Olive Tree is a brand new collection of essays centering the voices of Palestinian Christians. ​​From the lived theology of grandmothers to traditions of scholarship, from ancient liturgies to contemporary resistance, eight Palestinian Christian theologians offer a crucial and vibrant perspective on liberation, reconciliation, and divine imagination. Written within the heart of suffering, the cross and the olive tree interpret each other in an unwavering hope, symbols of faith and homeland.
John Munayer, one of the editors, and Azmera Hammouri-Davis, one of the contributing authors, will be joining liberation theologian and Assistant Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of San Diego, Dr. Matthew Vega, and Reverend Molly Lorden, Pastor at Normal Heights United Church and member of the San Diego Faith Leaders for Palestine, for a conversation about the book, hosted in the sanctuary at Normal Heights United Church. Join us for an unforgettable (and free!) evening!

Christmas Lunch Social & Dessert Auction
2025-12-14 12:00
Join us for our annual Christmas Social! Right after church you can head over to the Social Hall where we’ll play festive holiday music, eat a free chili lunch together, and then bid on delicious desserts in a fun and often hilarious charity auction and raffle!
All proceeds will go toward building up our Community Fund! This fund is available for those who find themselves in need of a bit of help to get by, is available to the broader community, and is fully supported by your donations.

Youth Group Holiday Party
2025-12-18 18:00 - 20:00
Come in your cozy winter best and bring a cheap (or free!) white elephant gift wrapped for our goofy present exchange. We’ll have Christmas-themed games, a peppermint hot chocolate station, and far too many homemade goodies.

Unrehearsed Christmas Eve Pageant & Worship Service
2025-12-24 17:00
Filled with music and scripture readings of the Christmas story. This service involves children (and teens, if they want to!) as they are invited to pick a costume and join the nativity story where everyone has a role! There is so much joy and beauty in this service – one that features kids, but really is for everyone!

Christmas Eve Candlelight Service
2025-12-24 19:00 - 20:00
Join us under the twinkle lights for a beautiful and reflective worship service featuring readings of the Christmas story, all the Christmas music you know and love, Communion, and our annual candle-lighting tradition.

Lunch Social
2026-01-04 12:00, 2026-02-01 12:00
Join us for a pop-up lunch social at Blind Lady Ale House this Sunday! Right after church, we’ll walk two blocks over to enjoy some great food & beverages while spending time together. At Blind Lady, they let people seat themselves at long picnic tables, so don’t worry about who you’re sitting with or reservations.
They have a kid-friendly environment and great pizza, salads, frites, sodas, and ales. They support many local charities year-round, which makes their food taste even better! We hope you can join us after worship this Sunday!

Queer Small Group
2026-01-15 19:00 - 21:00, 2026-02-19 19:00 - 21:00, 2026-03-19 19:00 - 21:00
This care group brings together LGBTQ+ folks of all genders and journeys for twice-monthly gatherings (1st & 3rd Thurs) centered on friendship, spiritual reflection, and community care. Reach out to Cameron Byrd to learn more Cameron@CameronByrd.me

Sign Up For #WeAllCount2026!
2026-01-29 04:00 - 08:00
Volunteer to Quantify the Needs of Our Unhoused Community, While Sharing Gift Cards & Supplies
Each year we take part in volunteering as a group for the county’s “We All Count” survey. On the morning of January 29th, throughout the entire county 1,700 volunteers will count every person in our unhoused community and wherever possible – ask them a short survey of questions. This allows the RTFH (Regional Task Force for Homelessness) to better quantify what is needed to help those in need and understand how to meet those needs better.
The data collected in this one day is also key for so many charities and agencies that provide support to receive funding by being quantifying these needs to government agencies and donors.

Youth Group Night
2026-01-29 18:00 - 20:00 | Normal Heights United, 4650 Mansfield Street, San Diego, CA, 92116, United States
Right out the gate, we’re starting off the year with a 5th Thursday?! Fifth Thursdays are a less structured and more social time, keeping us connected between 2nd & 4th Thurs. This time get ready for a neighborhood scavenger hunt!
We’d love for the teens in your life to be a part of this community dedicated to seeking justice, loving God and neighbor, and having fun! If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to the SDUnited Executive Director Melissa Tucker, at Melissa@SDUnited.org
Check out the SDUnited website for more information.

Belong Membership Class Starts
2026-02-01 08:30 - 10:15
Have you been thinking about learning more about NHUnited?
Or have you been wondering about progressive theology?
Or maybe you’ve been wondering about how the history of the church, the Bible and faith all have contributed to this time we are living in?
Or are you just looking to get more connected here at church?
If you answered yes to any of these, BELONG may be for you! BELONG is our annual 8-session program (plus a one-day retreat!) designed to help people connect more with the church, each other, the neighborhood, God, and their call to ministry. During the program you will learn about NHUnited Church, the history of Christianity, theology, grounding spiritual practices, interpreting Scripture and how all of these come together in a community and spiritual life!
The next BELONG cohort begins on February 1, 2026, meeting on Sunday mornings from 8:30 – 10:15. It meets for a total of 8 weeks (with a break week built in) and then finishes with a one-day retreat on March 28th (more info to come, including cost and scholarships). Each class builds upon the ones before it so we ask that you do your best to be at all of the classes. If you know you need to miss one, we understand, but ask that if you know you’re going to miss more than one you wait for the next class. If you have any questions, feel free to email Pastor Molly at Molly@NHUnited.org.
Sundays:
2/1, 2/8, 2/22, 3/1, 3/8, 3/15…
…and concluding in a retreat on Saturday 3/22

Young Adult Group
2026-02-04 18:30 - 20:00, 2026-03-04 18:30 - 20:00
Our Young Adult group is a dedicated space for those in their 20s and 30s to connect, learn together, and have fun! The group meets regularly on the first Wednesday of the month, and the third Sunday of the month. They also have a monthly social or volunteer opportunity! If you have any questions or want to join, please email group leaders Shannon (shan.herrmann@gmail.com), Ian (ian.bush96@gmail.com), or Jacob (jacobwilson858@gmail.com).

Tomato Seed Sunday
2026-02-08 12:00 - 14:00
Our local veteran farmer Angelie and resident tomato geek Mike invite you to our second annual crash course in growing your own tomatoes. This will get you ready for spring gardening, complete with sowing your own seeds to take home. Choose from Mike’s collection of over 200 varieties of tomato seeds to suit all skill levels of gardeners, even 8 inch tall micro-dwarf varieties you can grow on a window sill!

You can come blissfully unprepared 😊, we’ll have soil, cups, labels and seeds. Please donate $1 per planting to cover expenses, any extra left over will go toward the Normal Heights Community Fridge. If you don’t like getting your hands dirty, bring a pair of gloves. Also, if you want to grow a micro-dwarf indoors – you may want to bring your small pot to skip having to transplant your little friend later.

TYPES OF PLANTS
Red, orange, yellow, green, purple, striped, tie-dyed, metallic sheens, giant, saladette sized, cherry, sweet, smoky, tart, acidic – you name it, we’ve got it! We’ll have the following tomato seed varieties will be available…

Indeterminate Plants
(harder to care for)
Vines that can grow very long and require support, pruning and training of vines required (though that can be debated). Heirlooms are usually found in this category, more info on that at the below.

Determinate Plants
(less hard to care for)
Vines that grow to a determined length, but still require support.

Dwarf Plants (not necessarily dwarf fruits!)
(easier to care for)
Technically a determinate, but generally less than 5 feet tall and has a thicker trunk. Basically grows like a bush, needs minimal support and can also do well in planters. Many think dwarf tomatoes give small fruit, but they can easily grow tomatoes that are 1/2 a pound or greater!

Micro-dwarf
(easier to care for)

A dwarf tomato plant that is 2 feet tall or shorter, and can even be grown indoors. They still crave sunlight, regular watering and nutrients. Some varieties are only 8″ tall! Also, don’t expect them to give you anything larger than a cherry tomato.

“Do you have any heirlooms?”

Yes! But that might not mean what you think. Let’s clear up some misconceptions, but first remember this quick fact: tomato plants are self-fertile – they don’t need another tomato plant to pollinate them.
HEIRLOOM TOMATOES DEFINED
An heirloom tomato seed means that you can sow the seed from a fruit and the offspring will produce the same plant and fruit, and that this has been consistently done for over 50 years.
Size of fruit and size of plant aren’t a requirement for being an heirloom. However, many heirlooms are indeterminate vines (grow to an undetermined length, often 8+ feet). This is because that’s what mainly has been handed down, but that’s changed…
HYBRID TOMATOES DEFINED
Nope, these aren’t scary gene spliced seeds cooked up in a laboratory. They’re simply the specific cross-breeding between two different varieties of tomato. Think labradoodles, you know who the parents are and they came together to make something special and new. This is usually done to create a tomato that has special traits like disease resistance, desirable fruit taste or appearance, plant size or many other things.
If you had the patience, you could make your own Hybrid tomatoes by collecting pollen from one parent plant, then removing the pollen from the other parent’s self-fertile flower and adding the pollen in – boom you’ve just artificially inseminated a tomato.
Built-in copy protection: these hybrid plants will create specific fruit, but will not create specific seeds. If you plant the seeds from a hybrid fruit, it will produce random fruit and there is a very low likelihood that it will resemble its parent. You’ll see many hybrids sold at Home Depot for this reason. A company can find a great crossbreed tomato, keep the parents a secret and sell it over and over with a trademarked name. Sungold (a super sweet and delicious yellow/orange cherry tomato) and Earlygirl (a red tomato that gives fruit far earlier than most) are two popular examples.
NEW STABLE BREEDS (future heirlooms)
So say you took the extra time to take those hybrid offspring seeds and grew dozens (even hundreds) of tomato plants, then selected the offspring that most resembled its hybrid parent. Great, now do that over and over – year after year until you have a seed that can be grown and sewn forever and produce the same fruit. Yeah, that could take a while! There’s companies and hobbyists all over the world doing this right now and thanks to their work we have the most diversity in tomatoes in human history.
The Dwarf Tomato Project, for example, is an amazing collaboration between gardeners in America and Australia to crossbreed dwarf tomatoes with heirlooms and other exciting indeterminate tomatoes in half the time, because seeds would be sent between hemispheres as the other country’s spring was coming. This led to having more diversity in a compact plant that could be grown by those not rich in land. and free time, making gardening more equitable.
So heirlooms tomatoes are great, but they’ve just been around longer – that doesn’t necessarily make them better or more unique. Be sure to explore all the great varieties available!

Young Adult Group
2026-02-15 12:30 - 14:00, 2026-03-15 12:30 - 14:00 | Contact us for location

Ash Wednesday
2026-02-18 19:00 - 20:00
Ash Wednesday is an ancient church observance that, for centuries, has invited us to consider the inescapable reality of our mortality. It is a service that each year takes its name from the ritual where we place ashes on our foreheads and are reminded that “from dust we come and to dust we shall return.”
This year we invite you to a reflective service called “Conversations with Death,” an evening of meeting your mortality with sacred curiosity instead of fear or despair. This service will offer you tangible ways to enter that conversation, allowing mortality to be your teacher, and wondering what the reality of mortality changes for your faith today. This service is an introspective time, and we look forward to worshiping and reflecting with you.

Church Cleanup Day
2026-03-07 09:00 - 12:00
Let’s have a party, a cleaning party! We’ll be gathering from 9am – noon to do some cleaning and fixing up to the front of the church. Afterward we’ll be going over to Blind Lady Ale House for some food and drinks. Some of the things we’re planning include…

Painting
Power Washing
Planting / Plant Care
Community Fridge and Pantry Cleanup
Various Handy Work

We’ll provide tools and equipment, so don’t feel like you need to prepare to volunteer – but we are always open to any resources you have to offer. Please reach out to Brent@NHUnited.org to volunteer or have any questions or comments.

Immigrant Defense Resources Sunday
2026-03-15 12:00 - 14:00
Learn tangible ways you can take action to defend immigrants in our community from those making an impact locally, in this open forum.
Our staff and other members of the congregation have been attending
City Heights Defense Committee meetings and looking for opportunities to help and collaborate with their organization. With our large social hall available to help, we’re excited to be planning with CHDC this event where we can discuss how to protect immigrants and then break into interest groups to learn more on the area you’d like to get involved.

San Diego Seals play at Pechanga Arena
2026-03-21 19:00
For March the Young Adult group is planning on attending a San Diego Seals game on Saturday March 21st. Someone in the group has a connection and we can get tickets at $18 each for groups of 10+. If anyone is interested in attending they should let one of the group members know by Monday afternoon as we plan to purchase the tickets that evening.
Key details:
March 21st, game time is 7 pm
San Diego Seals play at Pechanga Arena
Tickets at $18
Reach out to any Young Adult leader if you have questions or to RSVP by Monday afternoon…
Shannon (shan.herrmann@gmail.com)
Ian (ian.bush96@gmail.com)
Jacob (jacobwilson858@gmail.com).

Songwriter Sanctuary
2026-03-27 19:00 - 21:00
Doors open at 6:30pm, show starts at 7pm
The last Friday of each month we host a concert with three local musicians that perform in our 100 year old acoustically blessed sanctuary. Each artist takes a turn performing their original song and a story to go with it, before passing the torch to the next musician. Some artists are old friends, others are meeting for the first time. With seating in the round, and musical stories about all the highs and lows of life – It’s a beautifully intimate night with all the feels.
To be candid, this is completely “secular music.” We don’t really subscribe to that terminology, and think all expressions of art are blessed and should be celebrated. Still, being hosted at a church there’s bound to be assumptions – and we want you to know there’s no clergy or even church staff involved in the selection of artists or content for the evening. All choices for the artist lineup are made by Lindsay White, a wonderful friend who isn’t a member of our church – who finds community and fellowship among local musicians. Whatever talent, stories and expression our musical guests have to share is theirs to put into the world – and that’s their sacred right. All that said… these are all ages shows, but please note that we do not censor the musicians.
We hope you come out and discover new talent and share in what many musicians have dubbed “the best sounding room in San Diego.” The suggested $10 donation at the door goes 100% to the musicians that are so vital to the culture and spirit of our city.
2026 Season Lineup remaining shows (lineups subject to change)
May 29
Tim Flannery
Jackson Wagner
Gayle Skidmore
June 26
Pride Edition – presented by Raspberry Management
The Dimes
Saint Misty
Daddy
July 31 (ASL provided!)
Disability Pride Edition
Sumn Trop
Jay Walkr
Claire King
Aug 28 – Ramona Edition! (No Show at Normal Heights!)
Nate Donnis
The Beard and The Bird
Haywire
​
September 25
Hispanic Heritage Month presented by Julia Sage
Stanton Street Duo
Nathan & Jessie
Juan Carlos Castellon
Oct 30
Samantha Franz
Ms. Connie
Deidre
Dec 4 – Holiday Extravaganza Writers Round Collab!
Isaac Cheong
Lilia Rose
KISUI
Calabio Twins
John and Eileen Schnarr
Ryan Sheker
Danielle Angeloni
Omar Musisko

Palm Sunday …and a cross is built.
2026-03-29 10:43 - 12:00

Icon Reflection & Response
2026-03-29 12:00 - 13:30
Please join us after church for a time to discuss, reflect, and collaboratively respond to our current icon prayer station.
We would love to process together the ways in which this artwork has complicated, enlivened, and/or deepened your worship and spiritual formation during this lenton season.
Bring your thoughts and questions!
The reflection and discussion will be led by Karah Lain and Heather Ross.
