Let us be attendant now upon hope, faith, and love. Let us know ourselves to be in the presence of the Source and Ground of these things and everything, everything known and unknown, everything known and to-be-known, everything known and never-to-be-known. Here, in the conjunction of past and...

It’s a pilgrimage, like a trek around Mount Kailash, or perhaps Bodh Gaya, but it’s life itself, the whole thing, every moment. On the high passes of Mount Kailash, pilgrims hope for a kind of death, a rebirth of spirit, and it’s not a bad thing to go there, do that, if time and money allow.

It’s hard to believe it is finished. She was so full of life and fun until just before the end— keeping track of people, enjoying the outdoors, caring for family, all of it. Something came for her. She did not want to go. She denied the summons, fighting this final truth of her life. We did not...

In one church it was meals, prepared and frozen to be shared with those in need. Food was handed out at the door, or taken to where it was needed. In another church it was casseroles, brought to families whose strength was consumed by illness or disaster....

Like those shepherds who were on the hillsides with their flocks, like those wise ones in their observatories with their telescopes and astronomical charts, we find our daily work interrupted by these holidays. Like them, we can’t keep on working, we have to listen to singing angels, we have to...

We invite each of you to take a deep breath into the present moment, and, realizing that not everyone will have the functions to enter into all of these movements, but grateful for the skills that we do have, we invite you, as you are willing and able, to participate in this interactive meditation.

When my youngest daughter was about two years old she came across a tattered paperback on our bookshelves, Ten Thousand Baby Names, and for a little while this was her favorite book. Drawn by the shining face of the baby on the cover, she brought it to me over and over and demanded that I read...

Headlights, taillights, going, coming; it does not matter inside. Draw a curtain across the window, lock the door and break the key. Let the interior deepen and broaden until it exceeds this ­little room. You will go out when you are ready, when the tiny inner Self no longer fits. Awareness will...

They teach us to read in black and white. Truth is this—the rest false. You are whole—or broken. Who you love is acceptable—or not. Life tells its truth in many hues. We are taught to think in either/or. To believe the teachings of Jesus—OR Buddha. To believe in human potential—OR a power...

Be ­gentle with another— It is a cry from the lives of ­people battered By thoughtless words and brutal deeds; It comes from the lips of those who speak them, And the lives of those who do them. Who of us can look inside another and know what is there Of hope and hurt, or promise and pain? Who...

Let us enter into a time of meditation, contemplation, and prayer. Feel the earth beneath your feet as it supports you. Feel the love of this community as it surrounds and enfolds you. Feel your breath as it flows in and out of your body. Listen to your heartbeat. Listen to your heart . . ....

When I begin to bless this food and close my eyes I lose myself first just in green: how do leaves grow themselves this green and how do they grow at all to be so large and how do they make themselves from soil which in itself is only brown and sunlight helps and water but how is the end of this,...

What does deep spirituality feel like to you? Spirituality is impossible to define and difficult to describe. For me, it feels like connection—connection to myself, to others around me, to the earth and all of creation. Connection to myself feels like deep peace, awareness, calm, authenticity.

Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them out of that land to a good and broad land, a land...

When the escape from Egypt was certain, when the last furious wave had closed over their enemies' heads and the dangerous waters lay smooth again, when the Israelites could finally turn toward the future without fear that the past would snatch them back--what did they see before them? Not the...

They had no idea where they were going, when they left that night, in the dark, without lights, without shoes, without bread, their children smothered against them so they would make no noise....

I am one of those people who love to make New Year’s resolutions. Why not create a vital, remodeled persona, new and improved? Just write down all the things you want to accomplish, all the projects you want to complete, all the character improvements you want to make, and all the skills you want...

When my youngest child was a baby, the sweetest part of my day was putting David to sleep. At fifteen months he had a demanding schedule. There were toilet paper rolls to unravel, dressers to empty, bookshelves to clear, trash baskets to dump on the floor, papers to tear, pans to bang, books to...

My husband, the physics teacher, receives a weekly magazine called Science News. A recent cover story, in bold letters, riveted my attention and I snatched it: “Controlling Chaos.” Now, that’s a practical theology! My hopes soared. Here, in concise scientific prose, was the potential solution...

My theology understands humanity as simultaneously fragile and resilient, weak and strong, greedy and generous, mean and compassionate. I see the divine spark in the tension between those opposites....

My prayer today is that I learn to stay a war atheist— my prayer today for each of us, for everyone in this nation, in this world, is that we all learn to be war atheists. I don’t believe in war anymore. My prayer today is that I never again succumb to fear, fear which seduces me to believe that...

Gracious Mother Matrix of Creation Womb of Mystery We thank you on this day for the miracle of birth, For the holiness of sex, For the power of eros and passionate love To regenerate the world. Mother Nature, Earth Mother, We lift our hearts in song For all forms green and fragrant Glad with the...

Sometimes you can open your eyes and find that everything is new like you moved to a new town don't know where your grocery store is don't even know what lies at the end of your own street. You can open your eyes and everything is new like a shock like the call that delivers the message the...

Come into this room, weigh into this chair, breathe into this body, the very body that will be you, for better and for worse, in sickness and in health, till death do us part....

In our experience of letting go, may we be open to the possibility that we need not pick our worries back up.

In his avant-garde theatrical “The Last Supper At Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” New York choreographer/dancer Bill T. Jones includes a backwards broadcast of Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech: Last At Free Are We. Almighty God Thank! The jumbled juxtaposition of the great orator’s...

We thank you God for potlucks Where a multitude can cook With ingredients and spices That aren’t from just one book. From casseroles and dumplings, Hors d’oeurves and canapés, Puddings, sauces, pastas, To sensational flambés. How boring when there’s just one dish Or flavor to fit all. How...

Spirit of Life and Love, we are here because we believe what we do matters. We are here because we believe how we live our life matters. That with every act of kindness or meanness, courage or fear, love or hate, we are weaving the fabric of the universe that holds us all. We are here because we...

Creator and Creation, We are here and We know paradise is beyond our reach yet at our finger tips. Here the sacred is revealed, And we hope for peace, And restoration of the soul. We acknowledge we are not in charge, And relinquish control. Let the realm of humanity be transcended by all that is...

Our time is short here on the earth. Around us swirl immensities of time and space, A universe infinite in all directions. How small our hopes and cares seem Amid the panorama of creation....

We thank you sky for your blue, Also, breeze, for what you do: Everything simple, Undivided, And too ordinary to be tried as true. The sound of rain when we’re warm inside, Purple shadows on the mountainside, Help us to notice, Open our eyes, Give us grateful hearts, And unclinging minds. That we...

Maybe prayer doesn’t mean talking to God at all. May it means just listening. Unplugging the TV, turning off the computer, Quieting the mental chatter and distractions. Maybe it means listening to the birds And the insects, the wind in the leaves, the creaking and groaning of the trees, noticing...

We gather on this beautiful morning, the anniversary of a day painful to remember but impossible to forget ... We remember all the heroes and heroines of that day, the firefighters and emergency responders who demonstrated such courage in the midst of crisis....

Children widen the circle of our being in ways that are limitless. Every baby that’s born connects us to our history, our own parents, grandparents and unknown forbears who brought new life to the world in each successive generation. Every baby that’s born links us to the future, to a world yet...

We give thanks for love, Agape and Eros, Chocolates and pillow talk, And all of cupid’s arrows. For unrequited yearning And the grand passion burning, For quiet appreciation And platonic contemplation. For lovers, too, we offer thanks: Those gay and straight, near and dear, Gender metamorphic or...

If God is your strength and companion and prayer the means of centering your thoughts, There is room for you here. If the teachings of the Buddha give you clarity and calm in the midst of human striving, There is room for you here If Gaia’s seasonal rhythms lead you best through the myriad steps...

Here we are gathered, Humanist, and Christian, Non-theist, Buddhist, and Jew, Pagan, and Seeker—a Unitarian Universalist congregation. Let us confess what we know to be true.We are quick to proclaim our faith, but slow to live the teachings of that faith as it has been handed down to us, across...

The storm outside echoes the storm raging within my soul. So many people in need… so much pain, so much grief. Too many causes and campaigns fill my mailboxes, sap my energy, beg for my money. Three things I must do...only three things? You've got to be kidding—which three do I choose? Books and...

Spirit of Life and Love, We have gathered again out of our separateness to know that we are not alone. In our fears, we are not alone. In our grasping for peace, finding it in fleeting moments, and losing it again to some turmoil of the mind and heart, we are not alone....

Great Spirit of Life, be with us now as we honor these, our young adults. By laying our hands on you, we infuse you with the power of our love. The many generations of families who have participated in the life of this congregation have left for you the legacy of their love and commitment. Those...

Great Spirit of Life, be with us now as we witness these, our youth. By laying our hands on you, we infuse you with the power of our love. The many generations of families who have participated in the life of this congregation have left for you the legacy of their love and commitment....

Every day we experience hunger and yearning: for food, for approval, for respect, for love, for meaningful work, for any and enough work, for home, for family, for friends, for health, for healing, for hope, for the departed, for the newly arrived, for the green trees, for the cool clean waters, ...

Let us join hands and hearts in gratitude on this wondrous day, where we have the abundance of our lives before us. We remember, on this day of bounty, all those who do not have enough, who are afraid, who are lonely, and who suffer....

Let us seek the quiet and the calm Let us lay aside our loud calling Let us lay aside our struggle Speak softly: let us listen to the melodies that recall other proportions Our moments tarry not with us Let us then seek the dimension that endures beyond all nowness and hereness beyond all...

Dear God, Dear Love, hold the people of Uganda in your heart. May you grant courage and safety to our gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender siblings who are in danger this day, In Kampala and Entebbe, along the shores of Lake Victoria and Lake Kyoga, among the kingdoms of Toro, Ankole, Busoga,...

O Creative Spirit of Life, in which we live and move and have our being:We give thanks for all of nature's bounties.We give thanks for caring friends and compassionate neighbors.We give thanks for the communion of those who seek to serve others.Each of us carries our private griefs and burdens.

How shall we address thee who art the One of a thousand names yet ever nameless? O Vishnu, Maya, Kali, Ishtar, Athene, Isis...Great Mother of Creation, womb of the universe, The Feminine Divine….Blessed art thou who hast given life to all And receiveth us at the end, forever thine... Jupiter,...

We are whole, even in the broken places, even where it hurts. We are whole, even in the broken places, the places where fear impedes our full engagement with life; where self-doubt corrupts our self-love; where shame makes our faces hot and our souls cold. We are whole, even in those places where...

Please join me in a spirit of prayer or meditation as you are moved. Blessed and holy night, silent night, full of truths too awesome to bend into words, we sit in the glow of ages, wound round stories that teach us some of what it means to be human, and some of what it means to see God. The...

While most of us have heard the term, Winter Solstice, we don't necessarily know what it means. Many years ago, when I first started celebrating the solstice, a scientist explained it to me in a way that made sense. Learning from him, I wrote a reflection on the solstice that gives his scientific...