A centering practice for meetings, gatherings or worship in person or online.

We pause as the path of the sun reverses, seemingly holding its place for a moment of turning. Let us delve into the gifts of darkness at the winter solstice. We follow curiosity and contemplation down into the cold earth, taking a journey to the world below the surface....

In the unity of the spirit, in the sanctity of this gathering, let us quiet ourselves as we settle into a meditative moment, a time when we can each listen to that still, small voice within. All our souls speak to us, if we trust ourselves to hear them. What do they tell us this day, in this very...

On my worst days, it is gravity I am most grateful for: the way the earth pulls at me from her core, yearns for me, keeps me pressed tightly against her surface. When my own core is hollowed out, when I have no more mass than a leaf dead on the branch, still this is enough for the earth to find me.

Let this be a place of warm and gentle silence: the silence that soothes and comforts the wounded, the silence that yields insights into heart and soul, the silence that calms, the silence the listens, the silence that speaks, the silence that renews. Let this be a place of warm and gentle silence.

I invite you now into a time of meditation. You may wish to adjust your position: your feet flat on the ground, your body resting easily against the back of the chair, your hands gently open, palms up, resting on your thighs, your eyelids relaxed and half-closed, your breathing soft and easy.

The Congregational minister stopped me in the aisle of the supermarket a few months after I had unexpectedly recovered from a serious illness. With a gentle but slightly teasing smile he asked me, “How does a Unitarian deal with a miracle?” It was a good question, one which I thought about a...

For the setting sun from an airplane window; for the rising sun from a train window after riding all night; for the rising sun and setting sun in directions that feel foreign; for the sunlight even when we are lost. For the times the heart has longed to be alone. For the times the heart has ached...

“We want to give you an update on our progress,” the captain said over the PA. A silent groan went through the passengers: the word “update” meant the problem wasn’t fixed. I was on a plane sitting on the tarmac trying to get to the East coast where I was officiating at my nephew’s...

Early in the morning, before the children are awake and while the grass is still dewy, I like to walk in my garden. It’s “my” garden only because it shares the same small plot of land my family and I inhabit. The garden does not really belong to me; I belong to it—at least for the short time...

Once, many grey autumns ago, I came upon a tree. The tree, a poplar, had dropped all of its leaves but for one, just one. Exactly one leaf remained near the topmost part of the tree, fluttering in the breeze like a little reddish-brown flag....

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....

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...

The following meditation will begin and end with the sound of the mindfulness bell. breathing in i am aware of my pain. breathing out i am aware that i am not my pain. breathing in i am aware of my past. breathing out i am aware that i am not my past. breathing in i am aware of my anger....

O, send forth me, spirit, O Send Forth Me (form for corporate worship) O, send forth us, spirit, forth to do well our work, work of our lives, our living. May these our lives touch healingly, lovingly, those in need of love and healing....

Teach my heart healing words. Show me the words that help rather than harm. Instruct me in the verbs that bring energy, the nouns pointing to the real, the adjectives describing your subtleties....

Quiet yourself and listen to the rhythm of your breath, your heart . . .Listen to the silence . . .

I invite you now into a time of gratitude, reflection, renewal and hope. What an unearned blessing to delight in the calming peace of this space; to hear the robin's song again at daybreak; to feel the warmth in this room, and to enjoy the promise of summer almost upon us....

How does one address a mystery? Cautiously—let us go cautiously, then, to the end of our certainty, to the boundary of all we know, to the rim of uncertainty, to the perimeter of the unknown which surrounds us. Reverently—let us go with a sense of awe, a feeling of approaching the powerful holy...