Your body is welcome here, all of it. Yes, even that part. And that part. And yes, even that part. The parts you love, and the parts you don’t. For in this place we come with all that we are All that we have been, And all that we are going to be. Our bodies are constantly changing, cells die and...

Mother's Day is complicated. Joyful for many, yes, but complicated. It's right there on the calendar, even if your mother has died....

Today is Father's Day, a day in which we honor and offer gratitude for our fathers, in whatever form or fashion they come into our lives—biological fathers, stepfathers, adoptive and foster fathers, grandfathers, spiritual fathers, and all of the uncles, brothers, and friends who, whether they...

We meet on holy ground, Brought into being as life encounters life, As personal histories merge into the communal story, As we take on the pride and pain of our companions, As separate selves become community. How desperate is our need for one another: Our silent beckoning to our neighbors, Our...

Bring who you are as you enter our church this morning. Bring your best self and your struggling self; bring your mistakes and your triumphs; bring your shortcomings and your recommitment to good....

It is said that ministers are here to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. I say, we are all afflicted, and we are all comfortable. May our time together this morning be a comfort and a confrontation. May we here find peace in times of tumult; May we here invite tumult into lives of...

The diversity of the human species is astounding. The fact that we can gather together for common experience is nothing short of a miracle. Today, let us celebrate some of those differences....

Committed to respond to the call of a wounded world… We join together this day with loving hearts, hands and minds. Embracing the interconnected web of water, air and earth… We light a fire of sustaining hope, ever bright with love and justice. May we bring forth this day new wisdom, strength...

For millennia People have gathered together to hear stories, To root for the underdog, To jeer the evil and the unkind. We see in our stories Mirrors to our own lives Where we hope good things will happen to good people And that evil will be vanquished....

Listen. Listen to silence. Listen to the wind. Listen to the stars. Hear trees. Dance. Dance to the beat of your neighbor’s heart. Dance to the rhythm of your childhood dreams. Sing. Sing and hum a wordless song to the tune of your rushing blood. And Pray. Pray with a fever that makes you sweat...

From beyond the playful summer clouds, beyond the earth's thin blue line, from beyond the bright moon and meteor showers, we hear the call to look and listen carefully, to turn away from a world that buys and sells happiness, to fully experience the luring whisper of your heart's truth. Why not...

To love life is to notice the wonders that abound And To notice the wonders that abound Is to be grounded here and now And To be grounded here and now Is the beginning of finding love for this life today. Let us ground ourselves in this instant in the worship of all things good and right.

Today we walk toward the dayspring breaking through, the Easter day of joy.

I like congregational meetings. More than any other facet of church life, more than the worship or music or potlucks, these exercises in democratic decision-making go to the heart of our religious heritage....

We gather here as individual people:young and old; male and female; temporarily able and disabled; gay, lesbian, bisexual and straight people, all the colors of the human race; theist, atheist, agnostic; Christian, Buddhist, feminist, humanist. We gather here as a community of people...

With thankful hearts we have come together this morning to celebrate the bounty of the day, to bask in the warmth of this community, to share with friends the tides of our lives, to entertain, perennially, our hopes for a better future....

Come, come to this place, whoever you are: Wanderer, worshipper, lover of learning, All seekers after what is true, All who seek a community of compassion & diversity Come, come to this place, whoever you are: Though you’ve broken your vows a thousand times And you’re too busy and you don’t...

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...

To “invoke” is to “call forth” and is traditionally associated with calling upon God. You can also think of it as invoking the spirit of your community—its vision of justice, its playful energy, or its familial feeling. Invocations can also serve to introduce the theme that you’ll be...

The Persian poet Rumi challenges us: "Come, come, whoever you are: wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving: Ours is no caravan of despair, come, yet again come." And we come, from rich heritages of liturgy and pomp; We come, from burning legacies of angry gods and threats of hell-fire....

Let us reach the place of self, the place that is not alien to truth. Let us wash over with peace and serenity, with fierce longing for light and heart; with living strength flowing in our veins, bringing ourselves into fearlessness and into trust.

Spirit of life and love, we have gathered here in search of answers to hard questions. We have come in search of understanding, in search of community. We have come in search of hope and healing.Let this be a place not only of searching, but of discovery. Let this be a place of learning, but of...

Spirit of life and hope, we turn our minds and hearts again toward thee. Awaken us again to the mysteries that humble us, the realities that orient us, the truths that judge and guide us, the beauty that informs and ravishes us, the love that nurtures us, the fellowship that sustains us, the...

Out of the earth Rises light, Rises life, Rises spring. May we join with the miracle that is springtime, and enter into life with lightness and joy. Out of the spirit Rises faith, Rises hope, Rises love. May we join with the miracle that is Easter time, and enter into life with hope and love....

One of the old ones stood up into the morning light and spoke to those who had come back to the river: "Now we have come again to this place; it is a good thing. My life apart from you is not as strong. "Yes, I have danced and I have told the stories at my own fire and I have sung to all the six...

May we come into this building hallowed by generations of thoughtful worship. May we come into the company of this congregation, enlightened by reason and moved by concern. May we come with open minds and warm hearts....

Let there be joy in our coming together this morning. Let there be truth heard in the words we speak and the songs we sing. Let there be help and healing for our disharmony and despair. Let there be silence for the voice within us and beyond us. Let there be joy in our coming together.

Leave aside the little thoughts that distract you from the depths of your soul, For this is a holy place, and now is a holy time. Join with the others in this room, this community of seekers, and together, let us find our Sabbath.

In this quiet hour may our spirits be renewed. In this gathering of friends may we be ready to extend ourselves to those in need, and with trust to receive the hand that is offered. In this community of ideals may we remember the principles that guide us and reflect upon those things that give...

Why Christmas? Especially to one who doubts? Are you not being hypocritical? Unitarian Universalists, with their penchant for secular humanism are fond of arguing the validity of Christmas: Is it a Christian holiday? A pagan holiday? A secular holiday?...

Leader: We are here to derive meaning in our actions All: When I change, the world changes Leader: We are here to win our power back over our areas of powerlessness All: When I change, the world changes Leader: We are here to deepen our understanding of ourselves in order to strengthen...

We come in a variety of colors, shapes, and sizes. Some of us grow in bunches. Some of us grow alone. Some of us are cupped inward, And some of us spread ourselves out wide. Some of us are old and dried and tougher than we appear. Some of us are still in bud....

We who are here assembled Have made a conscious choice: We live intentionally. May we keenly attend to the silent, pulsing needs Here present at this altar, Made sacred by the power of our communion.

Come into this circle of love and justice, Come into this community where we can dream and Believe in those dreams— Come into this holy space where we remember who we are And how we want to live. Come now, and let us worship together!

In this hour may we be open To a rededication of treasured friendships, a renewal of spirit; May we relinquish the worries and anxieties of the past week, if just for this hour, and regain our strength Through this community of faith.

We come together this morning because within us there is something that knows we need more than we can find in our aloneness. We know—instinctively, in the depths of ourselves—that we need others for this journey of life even though we also guard our independence and individuality quite...

As we enter this sacred, silent space, Let us renew both our commitment and our covenant: There are those among us who have endured a loss in the past week; May their hope be uplifted again in this community of faith. There are those among us who have struggled with hardship in the past week; May...

We unite in our differences in background and belief; We unite—with gratitude and hope: Hope for a world of differences; Hope for a world that honors difference; We unite in community With gratitude for difference. Source: Association Sunday 2009...

Welcome to this place. This is a home where no revealed truths are promoted and no scripture or human being accepted as infallible. This is a place for searching for truth. But we are believers....

Today we celebrate a dream awakening. Today we worship with renewed hope in our hearts. Today we act on an audacity of hopes and dreams for the future. Today we begin the hard work for justice, equity and compassion in all human relations, for today is a day like no other and it is ours to shape...

We arrive together here Travellers on life's journey Seekers of meaning, of love, of healing, of justice, of truth The journey is long, and joy and woe accompany us at every step None is born that does not die None feels pleasure that does not also feel pain....

Children of the earth and sky, we are nurtured, sustained, given warmth and light from above and below. Supported by earth's strong, firm crust, we build our homes, till the fields, plant our gardens and orchards....

Sometimes I feel like a motherless child... Here may you find a warm greeting a kind word a gentle touch Sometimes I feel like I have no friend... Here may you find a community of support a pulse of liberation a vision of hope Sometimes I feel I am almost gone......

Once more, the earth has turned toward the light of the sun. As we are bathed in the light of a new day, So may we greet the dawning of fresh possibility. Once more, we awaken from our slumber....

As frozen earth holds the determined seed, this sacred space holds our weariness, our worry, our laughter and our celebration. Let us bring seed and soul into the light of thought, the warmth of community, and the hope of love. Let us see together, hear together, love together. Let us worship.

As surely as we belong to the universe we belong together. We join here to transcend the isolated self, to reconnect, to know ourselves to be at home, here on earth, under the stars, linked with each other...

In gathering In the fall In the church In the quiet In the noise In thought In the spirit In anticipation In calm In the beginning In the end In transition In gratitude In hope In love In faith In unison Ingathering.

We are here today to recognize the completion of your program of study for this Coming of Age ceremony and to celebrate with you the faith you have come to accept through this year of questioning and investigating. Some of you were brought to a Unitarian Universalist church to be Dedicated and...

We seek life’s meaning in the wonder of morning In the freshness of springtime, And in each others hearts and minds. Yet still we hope for something more, A break in the ordinary, An infusion of the unexpected, An explosion of glory, A miracle, Revealing more than we hope to understand.

We bid you welcome on this first Sunday of the new year. Like Janus we gather with part of us looking backward and part of us looking forward. We gather on the edge of the new year saddened by our losses, cherishing our joys, aware of our failures, mindful of days gone by....