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Displaying 1 - 20 of 36

  • One person sitting in a wheelchair holds hands with a friend. Only their arms and laps are visible, making their gentle touch the focus of the photo.
    Death is a regular part of my job, which makes small talk weird for me at parties.
    Reflection | By Sarah Gillespie | January 17, 2024 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Death, Direct Experience, Friendship, Grief, Humanism, Ministry, Presence, Worship
  • A person sits on a medical examination table, wearing a medical exam gown. Their head isn't visible but their feet dangle off the end and their arms hold the table tensely.
    Sometimes we need someone to witness the pain in holy stillness.
    Reflection | By Jo VonRue | October 18, 2023 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Body, Compassion, Direct Experience, Gender, Ministry, Presence, Sexuality, Trauma, Worship
  • The fingertips of a black person holding a small glass hourglass, whose black sand grains are trickling through.
    Life doesn't have to be ever-upward in order to be well-lived.
    Reflection | By Christine Slocum | January 18, 2023 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Balance, Contemplation, Culture, Presence, Worship
  • A straw-filled manger in a stable, with the Christmas star in the window
    Advent encourages us to be present in each moment of waiting.
    Reflection | By Megan Lloyd Joiner | December 7, 2022 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Advent, Christianity, Contemplation, Patience, Presence, Sacred, Worship
  • A broad, green leaf held by a Black woman's hands. A small tattoo of a heart is on her wrist.
    Love is reaching through the generations with expectations that I live through challenging times.
    Reflection | By Melissa Jeter | November 2, 2022 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Direct Experience, Earth, Fall, Family, Generations, Healing, Love, Presence, Worship
  • Unitarian Universalist Association Chalice
    Once, during my ministerial internship, a woman I’ll call Clara came up to me during the hustle and bustle before the Sunday service. I knew that Clara struggled with anxiety; now, in great distress, she told me how anxious she was and that she didn’t know what to do. She was frantic, and I...
    Reading | By Barbara F. Meyers | July 27, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Acceptance, Caring, Listening, Mental Health, Presence
  • A person's hands shape a clay vessel on a potter's wheel.
    I want to be shaped in a way that lets me serve the eternal.
    Reflection | By Jake Morrill | September 22, 2021 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Contemplation, God, Meaning, Presence, Purpose, Transcendence, Worship
  • Sunbeams break through a layer of clouds over Rioja Alavesa, Laguardia, Spain, with rippling mountains stretching out.
    I believe in your grace and protection and cannot imagine them slipping through the cracks.
    Reading | By Vanessa Titang | September 15, 2021 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Contemplation, Mystery, Presence, Searching, Transcendence, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • At the edge of the woods, with bare trees, the back of someone's head as they hold binoculars up to their face.
    Maybe hope is fleeting. It leaves and returns again; there’s beauty in its impermanence.
    Reflection | By Jessica Clay | March 10, 2021 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Animals, Contemplation, Earth, Earth-Centered, Nature, Presence, Secular, Winter, Worship
  • Two hands cupping the flame at the top of a taper candle.
    Sometimes, there is no reprieve from the pain of this world. Sometimes, it is too big and too obvious to ignore.
    Reflection | By HP Rivers | October 21, 2020 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Caring, Christianity, Connections, Family, Generations, God, Goddess, Paganism, Presence, Sorrow, Spiritual Practice, Worship
  • the view from a plane's cockpit, with instruments lit up and a view of terrain and a rising sun through the cockpit window
    The most life-giving coping strategy—for me—is to attune to a voice calmer and wiser than mine, and allow that seeking to be its own expression of faith.
    Reflection | By Erika Hewitt | July 22, 2020 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Calling, Direct Experience, Discernment, Faith, Letting Go, Listening, Presence, Searching, Spiritual Practice
  • In a suburban neighborhood, a girl lies stomach down on a lawn, holding a camera up to her face.
    I hope that this Great Silence, which has come alongside the suffering, holds the beginnings of our healing.
    Reflection | By Elea Kemler | May 6, 2020 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Balance, Beauty, Body, Direct Experience, Earth-Centered, Hope, Humanism, Imagination, Nature, Presence, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Secular, Spring
  • a horizontal wisp of orange, yellow, green, and purple smoke
    There is a Universal Love that has never broken faith with us and never will.
    Affirmation | By Rebecca Ann Parker | April 21, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Acceptance, Compassion, Love, Peace, Presence, Unitarian Universalism
  • A hand holding a fork under a running kitchen tap.
    Here I am, God, here I am. Here I am with the dishes in the sink, the dust on the shelves, the skin on my hands which is drying out and starting to crack. My appetite has gone, without any other bodies to remind my body of itself. I can pray for salvation but my bones know this is all there is....
    Poetry | By Peregrine Morkal-Williams | March 31, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: #COVID19, Brokenness, Direct Experience, God, Hope, Presence
  • Two Latinx women from Mujeres Unidas y Activas shout to a crowd using a bullhorn.
    We are never numbers to be tallied for turnout. We are more than a sum. Together, we are the hope and courage.
    Reflection | By Robin Tanner | January 8, 2020 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), Activism, Commitment, Community, Hope, Justice, Presence, Solidarity
  • A close-up of a person wearing glasses, gazing into the distance.
    Many: This morning* and all mornings, we are called to pay attention. One. We are called to pay attention to our individual lives, to our delights and pains. We are called to understand and cherish ourselves, to take good care of ourselves, to know ourselves as loving and worthy of love....
    Responsive Reading | By Amanda Udis-Kessler | January 2, 2020 | 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), Caring, Compassion, Direct Experience, Earth-Centered, Interdependence, Justice, Mindfulness, Presence, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Relationships, Respect, Unitarian Universalism
  • The tile in the bottom of a Magic 8 ball says "You may rely on it."
    What I do know for sure is that hope matters. One of the best things we can do is to hold hope for someone when that person cannot hold it for themselves.
    Reflection | By Elea Kemler | October 2, 2019 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Hope, Listening, Ministry, Presence, Searching
  • A man sits, hands loosely clasped, with downturned face, with a busy city street behind him.
    "A little bit of meditation is better than no meditation. Two minutes is better than zero minutes. Consistency sends a signal to your whole system, to the divine, to the planet that you want to serve that you’re showing up, that your attention is there. Just give it two minutes on the days...
    Quote | By Danielle LaPorte | September 7, 2019 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Commitment, Direct Experience, Presence, Self-Care, Spiritual Practice
  • Clouds swirl against a blue and orange sky.
    As a hospital chaplain, I often listen to painful stories. We call it compassionate presence, but I may be crying inside. When words fail, I pray and sing.
    Reflection | By Yuri Yamamoto | June 12, 2019 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Arts & Music, Brokenness, Challenge, Despair, Direct Experience, Faith, Fear, God, Presence, Unitarian Universalism
  • A man with tattooed hands, from the shoulders up, covers his eyes with his hand as if wiping away tears.
    "Grief no more needs a solution than love needs a solution. We cannot 'triumph' over death, or loss, or grief. They are immovable elements of being alive. If we continue to come at them as though they are problems to be solved, we'll never get solace or comfort in our deepest pain."...
    Quote | By Megan Devine | February 4, 2019 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Death, Despair, Direct Experience, Grief, Humanism, Love, Pain, Presence, Secular