Changing a filter will refresh results (and remaining options) immediately.

Displaying 201 - 250 of 338

  • Litany Response: “A Day!” Do we really apprehend what a day is? Do we feel its importance? Do we know its capacity? A day! It has risen upon us from the great depth of eternity, girt round with wonder; emerging from the womb of darkness; a new creation of Life and Light spoken into being by the...
    Reading | By Naomi King | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Awe, Purpose, Transcendence
  • Somos una gente del arco iris. We are a rainbow people. The rainbow is an arc of light brilliantly displaying all the colors of the visible spectrum, all the colors that combine to make the astounding beauty of our world, all the colors that combine to reflect the astounding diversity of human...
    Reading | By Naomi King | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Beauty, Diversity, Unitarian Universalism, Unity
  • We know there is great abundance in our world: a great abundance of suffering—of people homeless, hungry, frightened, lonely, in danger, sick, exhausted, and wondering when this abundant suffering shall cease. We know there is great abundance in our world: a great abundance of love—of people...
    Reading | By Naomi King | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Abundance, Change, Transformation
  • When we introduce ourselves to another person, we usually extend our hand and summarize ourselves with one word, usually our name. "Hello, my name is Naomi…" These are the kinds of face-to-face greetings that initiate relationships, that open our hearts and act as a bridge of connection from one...
    Reading | By Naomi King | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Dignity, Direct Experience, Humanism, Identity, Secular, Self-Care, Self-Respect, Unitarian Universalism, Worth
  • When the world’s violence shatters the joy of a moment We pause and reach out for the hands that remain We open our hearts with love. When despair rises as a monster from the deep and drags down one of our own, our answer is that We open our hearts with love....
    Reading | By Naomi King | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Compassion, Healing, Love, Suffering
  • "When we seek wisdom," says one Native American spiritual leader, "we go up on the hill and talk to the Great Spirit, Wakan Tanka. Four days and four nights, without food and water. And we listen. And God speaks." Roy Phillips, minister of the Unitarian Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, writes about...
    Reading | By John A. Buehrens | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Christianity, Contemplation, Searching, Solitude
  • How to discuss the truth that some men love men, and some women, women, and some, both, with the children in the church school and church home? Nonchalantly. Without drum-rolls. Without tip-toe preparations. Without calculating and predicting to the nth degree. With candor. With open ears. With...
    Reading | By Mark Belletini | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Anti-Oppression, Gender, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Love, Pride Sunday
  • Regardless of our differences, there are a host of affirmations that we embrace as the basis for our faith. Whatever we think the holy may be, Creation itself is holy. We make no distinctions between the natural and the supernatural, the secular and the sacred. We simply cherish the earth and all...
    Reading | By William F. Schulz | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Awe, Earth, Environment
  • Unitarian Universalists are proud of themselves for doing nothing to seek converts to their faith. A person’s religion is a private inward thing, it is said, and we should in no way seek to influence another person to choose our way in religion. The underlying principle here is respect for the...
    Reading | By Roy Phillips | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Commitment, Identity, Unitarian Universalism
  • How can we begin to understand what hope and healing mean in the face of a deadly illness with no known cure? We have many sources of hope and healing in our lives—singing, praying, thinking, communicating, acting, giving, and remembering. Dr. Richard Cabot tells the story of a young theological...
    Reading | By Jay E Abernathy, Jr | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Body, Healing, Illness, Suffering
  • We pause this hour to honor the spirit and to accept ourselves as fragile humans, equally full of nobility and strength. We gather, weary of life’s trials, yet cheered by infinite possibilities for love’s grace. We meet with smiles and glad voices for old friends and new—every stranger a gift...
    Reading | By Bruce Southworth | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Grace, Gratitude
  • We believe there is a place at God’s table for each and every child of earth Hey, ain’t that good news! We believe the giver of life has been given many names and loves the givers of all of them Hey, ain’t that good news! We are more interested in getting heaven into people now than getting...
    Reading | By John Corrado | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Belief, Good, Identity, Revelation, Unitarian Universalism
  • I am a man and I am a woman; I am a boy and I am a girl. And I am a Unitarian Universalist I am young and I am old and I am middle-aged. And I am a Unitarian Universalist...
    Reading | By John Corrado | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Diversity, Humanism, Multiculturalism, Unitarian Universalism, Multiculturalism
  • Since the economy is in a kind of black hole, I was interested to read that researchers using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope have traced the building blocks of the universe back one more step and it leads to the massive black holes in space. We know that the Earth did not spring out of thin air...
    Reading | By Burton D. Carley | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Awe, Joy, Purpose
  • We come to this time and this place: To rediscover the wondrous gift of free religious community; To renew the faith in the holiness, goodness, and beauty of life; To reaffirm the way of the open mind and full heart; To rekindle the flame of memory and hope; and To rekindle the vision of an earth...
    Reading | By David C Pohl | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Beauty, Faith, Good, Hope, Vision
  • We are all dying, our lives always moving toward completion. We need to learn to live with death, and to understand that death is not the worst of all events. We need to fear not death, but life—empty lives, loveless lives lives that do not build upon the gifts that each of us has been given,...
    Reading | By Mark D. Morrison-Reed | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Death, Love, Meaning
  • Living your Unitarian Universalism (UUism) means... If a grieving neighbor needs some companionship, you brew the pot of coffee and sit down to listen. Living your UUism means......
    Reading | By Anonymous | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Identity, Integrity, Interdependence, Living Our Faith, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Unitarian Universalism
  • The womb of stars embraces us; remnants of their fiery furnaces pulse through our veins. We are of the stars, the dust of explosions cast across space. We are of the earth: we breathe and live in the breath of ancient plants and beasts....
    Reading | By Joy Atkinson | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Awe, Birth, Earth, Earth-Centered
  • Leader: It is a miracle that no one is ever empty-handed; there is enormous power in having no possessions but the self to give and to receive what can be and become.
    Reading | By Ma Theresa "Tet" Gustilo Gallardo | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Generosity, Humility, Simplicity, Unitarian Universalism
  • We mourn the lost lives—the eleven workers who died—and we know the heaviness that hangs over their families. We mourn the lost livelihoods. Many have had their lives changed: shrimpers, fishermen, those whose income depends on tourists, and those who work on oil rigs. They have been hit hard.
    Reading | By Becky Post | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Animals, Change, Disaster, Earth, Grief
  • We covenant together to share hope with each other and with the world.
    Reading | By Lucas Hergert | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Covenant, Hope, Justice, Love
  • If you're new to Unitarian Universalism, one of the things you will learn is that we are extremely proud of our history. In truth, our history is full of great things but it also has its share of shameful moments and embarrassing episodes....
    Reading | By Thom Belote | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), Activism, Caring, Commitment, Compassion, Courage, Justice, Living Our Faith, Love, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Unitarian Universalism
  • Please speak the response when you hear: "...this season brings forth many feelings" Response: We find comfort in naming these feelings; we find some peace in being together All around us are bright lights and merry messages Yet in our heart not all is joyful There is grief with the loss of...
    Reading | By Debra Faulk | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Christmas Eve / Christmas, Despair, Grief, Pain, Peace, Sorrow
  • Setting ourselves to the task of Greening our Congregation, together we promise these things: Most simply, we will each do our small part to care for the earth around us. We will start with one step forward toward the thriving world that we envision....
    Reading | By Molly Housh | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Climate Justice, Earth, Earth-Centered, Environment, Ethics, Purpose, Unitarian Universalism, Climate Change
  • Each week we take up an offering for the support of this congregation, and often, for the support of others who are working for a better world. To be honest, we need your support—especially in todays economy, when pledges are down and the future appears uncertain. But there is another truth here...
    Reading | By Thomas Rhodes | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Brokenness, Generosity, Privilege, Stewardship, Unitarian Universalism, Wholeness
  • About The Author: The author self-identifies as Afircan American and psychology professional. Frequently I am asked, ‘Why should the UUA [Unitarian Universalist Association] spend money, time, and resources on racial and cultural diversity?’ I sometimes feel burdened with the expectation that I...
    Reading | By Anonymous | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), All Saints Day, Anti-Oppression, Diversity, Identity, Justice Sunday, Multiculturalism, Race/Ethnicity, Responsibility, Unitarian Universalism, Wholeness, Multiculturalism
  • Somos una gente del arco iris. We are a rainbow people. The rainbow is an arc of light brilliantly displaying all the colors of the visible spectrum, all the colors that combine to make the astounding beauty of our world, all the colors that combine to reflect the astounding diversity of human...
    Reading | By Naomi King | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Acceptance, Diversity, Inclusion, Multiculturalism, Race/Ethnicity
  • includes quotations by bell hooks In conversations about the initiative for greater diversity, our Unitarian Universalist Association-wide commitment to become more inclusive, one of the questions that inevitably arose was, ‘What do we want diversity for? What is our motivation?’... Perhaps it...
    Reading | By Tracey Robinson-Harris | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 6th Principle (World Community), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Anti-Oppression, Diversity, Multiculturalism, Transcendence, Unitarian Universalism, Wholeness, Multiculturalism
  • The human race is a vast rainbow bursting into view of white and black, red, yellow and brown. Yet for all blood is red, the sky is blue, the earth brown, the night dark. In size and shape we are a varied pattern of tall and short, slim and stout, elegant and plain....
    Reading | By Richard S. Gilbert | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Body, Diversity, Inclusion, Multiculturalism, Race/Ethnicity, Unitarian Universalism, Wholeness
  • For religion to be significant, it has to provide more than the comforts of community. It also has to provide opportunities for deepening, for what I call spiritual growth, and for the casting down of false images and stereotypes, which hurt us all. A good religion has to open us to the real...
    Reading | By Mark Belletini | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 6th Principle (World Community), Diversity, Unitarian Universalism
  • Why should we intentionally work for diversity? The responses to this question vary widely. Of course, hard demographic realities suggest much. But for me, beyond any demographic or sociological justification, there is a theological imperative....
    Reading | By Marjorie Bowens-Wheatley | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 6th Principle (World Community), Anti-Oppression, Diversity, Growth, Hospitality, Multiculturalism, Race/Ethnicity, Unitarian Universalism, Wholeness, Multiculturalism
  • My father asked if I am gay I asked Does it matter? He said, No not really I said, Yes. He said get out of my life. I guess it mattered. My friend asked why I talk about race so much? I asked, Does it matter? He said, No not really I told him, Yes. He said, You need to get that chip off your...
    Reading | By Mark Hicks | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), Acceptance, Anti-Oppression, Coming Out, Direct Experience, Disability, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Pride Sunday, Vulnerability, Youth Sunday, Anti-Oppression
  • Frances, an African American woman: To be African-American in this country is to face racism throughout life, however subtle. The love of one’s family is paramount in reducing the damage of racism on one’s wholeness. Unitarian Universalism is splendid as an affirming church family. Its primary...
    Reading | By Mark Hicks | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 6th Principle (World Community), Anti-Oppression, Black History / Whitney Young / James Reeb, Diversity, Kwanzaa, Martin Luther King, Jr. Sunday, Multiculturalism, Race/Ethnicity, Unitarian Universalism, Multiculturalism
  • As years go by and passions cool, we make love in places that young lovers only dream about. We make love at the kitchen table, a Scrabble board the mattress and hints to help the other our passionate kisses. We make love in the car, thrilling to beautiful scenery or a rarely seen wild animal. We...
    Reading | By Ken Nye | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Aging, Love, Marriage, Sexuality
  • If I should die, (and I will some day), I won't be far away. You will see me. When the big golden retriever ambles in and lies down under the kitchen table, he's lying at my feet. I'm in the chair....
    Reading | By Ken Nye | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Death
  • "Christ is born! Alleluia!" "Only ten shopping days until Christmas!" We lament tying one to the other, but this is not naked materialism. There is religion in the ribbons. A wintry night. A tiny baby, a cattle stall, a bed in the hay, two thousand years ago. From hundreds of miles Kings come to...
    Reading | By Ken Nye | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Christmas Eve / Christmas
  • The tree is all set Packages piled at its base. Telephone calls from the kids confirming the times of dinner and church. Nothing much left to do. The Fed Ex guy just delivered the last late order. I'll wrap it, and then what? Time on my hands. Time to think. What is this all about? Christmas is...
    Reading | By Ken Nye | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Christmas Eve / Christmas
  • Someone told me once that Einstein thought time is a variable. That is to say that time is not a constant. Are you following this? I think Einstein was right. When I was a child, a year was a YEAR! Now a year is a week....
    Reading | By Ken Nye | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Acceptance, Aging, Balance, Direct Experience, Humanism, Patience, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Wisdom
  • A knock at the door, late morning. The dog makes a racket, but the two stand their ground. They are on God's business. I know before I open the door what they have to say—that God is the answer. I pull the door open, try to be pleasant, (but, please, don't talk too long). Two women, earnest,...
    Reading | By Ken Nye | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Peace
  • My dad died 28 years ago. I still have some of his things: A red plaid Pendleton bath robe. (I look like Dad in that thing now.) An old Sears table saw bought used in 1950. I still use it, (but for rough cuts only). An old grinding wheel, noisy as sin, but sharpens mower blades in no time....
    Reading | By Ken Nye | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Children, Family, Father's Day, Fathers, Generations, History, Integrity, Parents
  • We’ve begun a new ritual around our dinner table in which each member of the family takes a minute or two to name what he or she has been grateful for. No matter how yucky our day has been, we try to offer our gratitude in the spirit of kindness and real thankfulness. Often, the ritual’s nicest...
    Reading | By Jane E Mauldin | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Forgiveness, Gratitude
  • Leader: Spring, the triumph of light over darkness, Response: Victory of newness and growth, and warmth vanquishing cold, Leader: We, too, know coldness and darkness within us, as it is in our world....
    Reading | By Charles F Flagg | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Vernal Equinox
  • Please join me now in a litany for the season. I invite you to respond with the words, “We remember. We forgive. We love.” For gifts we yearned for, but did not receive… For things we received, but never wanted… For those who offered us cheer when what we needed was comfort… For those who...
    Reading | By Peter Friedrichs | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Christmas Eve / Christmas
  • Listen! This is a noisy world. You may have heard of the story of a dispute in the student union of one university. It seems "the presence of a juke box...disrupted conversation. Conversationalists petitioned for removal of the offending machine....
    Reading | By Richard S. Gilbert | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Listening
  • Last Sunday morning I picked up the phone in the office at the Unitarian Church of Baton Rouge, LA. After I said, "Good morning, Unitarian Church," a woman's voice said, "Good morning! Can you tell me what the topic is this morning?" Uh-oh. I thought real fast and said, "The topic is, "COME TO...
    Reading | By Victoria Weinstein | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Acceptance, Commitment, Connections, Direct Experience, Faith, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Relationships
  • I grew up as the heavily-committed eldest child of an American Baptist minister in the 50's. Committed, that is, to self-preservation, staying out of trouble with our small town and my family, and having fun within safe parameters, namely, church activities. I never felt particularly committed to...
    Reading | By Elizabeth Ketcham | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Christianity, God, Playfulness, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Reason, Revelation, Reverence, Unitarian Universalism
  • I hate goodbyes. I hate everything about them. It bothers me that “goodbye” isn’t really what I think we most often want to say. When those I love leave me, or I leave them, goodbye isn’t what I want to say. I want to tell them that their warm hand on my cheek, which caught my desperate...
    Reading | By Kaaren Solveig Anderson | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Change, Ending, Letting Go
  • Ministry is a quality of relationship between and among human beings that beckons forth hidden possibilities; inviting people into deeper, more constant, more reverent relationship with the world and with one another; carrying forward a long heritage of hope and liberation that has dignified and...
    Reading | By Gordon B McKeeman | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Compassion, Healing, Installations, Leadership, Ordinations, Presence, Service, Teacher Dedication, Unitarian Universalism
  • Among the most accomplished and fabled tribes of Africa, no tribe was considered to have warriors more fearsome or more intelligent than the mighty Masai....
    Reading | By Patrick T O'Neill | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), Child Dedication, Children, Children's / Religious Education Sunday, Children's Sabbath, Commitment, Community, Family, Fathers, Generations, International, Mothers, New Child, Relationships
  • Speak, flowers, speak! Why do you say nothing? The flowers have the gift of language. In the meadow they speak of freedom, Creating patterns wild and free as no gardener could match. In the forest they nestle, snug carpets under the roof of Leaf and branch, making a rug of such softness....
    Reading | By Richard S. Gilbert | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Beauty, Earth, Fear, Flower Communion, Hope, Nature, Vernal Equinox