They say a story can carry a truth far greater than the literal truth. We Unitarians* know the value of stories. We know they carry truth. We know they carry more truth than just the plain truth ever can. Maybe we can’t believe a virgin gave birth to the son of God: but we can believe that all...

A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more. ~ Matthew 2:18 I read those words aloud from the pulpit once a year, on Christmas Eve: a night when we celebrate the birth of hope and possibility and...

Here we are: children at the Big Party, having our moment in the sun, our piece of the action, till our bodies give way and we are called home. We’re one big, not-always-happy family, given life and breath by an eternal parent we dearly long to know....

Each moment of our living brings us closer to our dying. Young or old, the knowledge of life’s end is with us, growing more real, more familiar through the experiences of time and of loss. Yet what is to keep us from frittering away what time is left to us, Making it almost a matter of...

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.

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...

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...

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...

Loving God, We gather today in humility, Awed by the stone rolled back; And the surprise of the empty tomb. We gather in defiance Of the pain and the injustice that came before; And of the pain and injustice that will likely come again. We gather in hope That life can begin anew; That our...

In this time of anticipated spring let us allow ourselves to extend the anticipation—to value the time of budding before blooming, of seeding before sprouting. This is a time of revelation: the revealing of that which is eternal, which we see every year, but still need to be reminded to see it in...