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We declare that there are many paths to the sacred. We hold fast to the notion that one religion does not hold all the truth for all time, not even Unitarian Universalism. We maintain that a free, open, and respectful dialogue is one of the primary ways our theological perspectives evolve and grow.Quote | By Sheri Prud’homme | April 25, 2024 | From WorshipWebTagged as: #UUAGA, Pluralism, Sacred, Truth, UUA Bylaws, Vision for UUism -
Today, we are charged to remember. To know that as we live together in community, we are also in community with the silently singing lives in the vast congregation of the earth as well... Let us remember, and then act.Reading | By Irene Glasse, Rebekah Savage | April 24, 2024 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Animals, Connections, Earth, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Environment, Nature, Sacred, WorshipWeb, Worship -
There in the deep sack of night, a tiny Hope was born.Poetry | By Jennifer Pratt-Walter | March 29, 2024 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Awe, Beginnings, Birth, Earth-Centered, Hope, Joy, Love, Peace, Sacred, Winter Solstice / Yule, WorshipWeb, Worship -
Advent encourages us to be present in each moment of waiting.Reflection | By Megan Lloyd Joiner | December 7, 2022 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: Advent, Christianity, Contemplation, Patience, Presence, Sacred, Worship -
The drag show was heaven broken open, given to us for the evening. Everything for a little while was perfect—and I saw the face of my God.Reflection | By Jami Yandle | July 1, 2020 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), Freedom, Gender, God, Identity, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Pride Sunday, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Sacred, Sexuality -
What if you thought of it as the Jews consider the Sabbath— the most sacred of times? Cease from travel. Cease from buying and selling. Give up, just for now, on trying to make the world different than it is. Sing. Pray. Touch only those to whom you commit your life. Center down. And when your...Poetry | By Lynn Ungar | March 17, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: #COVID19, Body, Contemplation, Direct Experience, Healing, Judaism, Sacred, Wisdom -
Before I birthed my baby, he was a possibility, a kick against my insides. With that first cry, first breath, he became a person in the world.Reflection | By Caitlin Cotter Coillberg | February 26, 2020 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Beginnings, Birth, Body, Children, Death, Direct Experience, Family, Grief, Mothers, Sacred -
One: To become is a life long process. Nothing is constant, not even the self. We evolve in the midst of narratives meant only for some and ways of being made narrow by fear and power. We must, then, have the courage to listen to the truth of our own lives, to the wisdom that comes from within—...Litany | By enfleshed | January 21, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Change, Connections, Direct Experience, Growth, Humanism, Interdependence, Love, Relationships, Sacred, Transformation, Valentine's Day -
Perhaps for a moment the typewriters will stop clicking, the wheels stop rolling the computers desist from computing, and a hush will fall over the city....Poetry | By Rebecca Ann Parker | November 21, 2019 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Beauty, Direct Experience, Earth-Centered, Interdependence, Love, Mystery, Sacred, Transcendence, Winter Solstice / Yule -
Last summer at General Assembly, I walked out of the sanctuary we had made from the convention center space. As tired as I was, I returned more and more to my deeply introverted default of self, and I passed a woman who had to stop to talk with me....Reflection | By Glen Thomas Rideout | May 10, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Anti-Oppression, Arts & Music, Direct Experience, History, Humanism, Love, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Race/Ethnicity, Respect, Responsibility, Sacred, Unitarian Universalism -
Late in his life, the philosopher Richard Rorty — a well-known atheist — was asked by an interviewer if he could define holy. Perhaps the interlocutor thought the aging and dying Rorty would be stumped by the question or would fall into some traditional language of reverence. But Rorty was not...Reading | By David Breeden | April 20, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 6th Principle (World Community), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Dignity, Hope, Humanism, Sacred, Unitarian Universalism -
Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson, is a novel that takes the form of a letter or journal that a dying, elderly Congregationalist minister in Gilead, Iowa, writes to his 7-year old son in 1956 – written so that one day the boy will know something about his father’s life and character. In this passage...Reading | By Marilynne Robinson | March 10, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), Animal Blessing, Animals, Awe, Calling, Christianity, Faith, Leadership, Ministry, Ordinations, Power, Sacred, Unitarian Universalism, Wonder -
"The soul is made of love and must ever strive to return to love. Therefore, it can never find rest nor happiness in other things. It must lose itself in love. By its very nature, it must seek God, who is love." —Mechthild of Magdeburg, 13th century Germany For twelve years, Daisy has been the...Reflection | By Jake Morrill | March 8, 2017 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Animals, Christianity, Direct Experience, Earth-Centered, God, Imagination, Lent, Love, Nature, Presence, Sacred, Searching, Unitarian Universalism -
Kristin Kany wrote this multi-voice poem in 2016 to be read by a group of "diverse moms." I am mother Mother 1: I am Mother Mother 2: I am Mother Mother(s) 3: I am Mother Mother 4: I am Mother Mother(s) 5: I am Mother Mother 6: I am Mother I am Mama, I am Mommy, I am Chinese, Jewish, African,...Affirmation | By Kristin Kany | March 7, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Body, Children, Direct Experience, Family, Generations, Growth, Humanism, Love, Mother's Day, Mothers, Relationships, Sacred, Secular -
This is the key to the mystery, The Word became flesh.Poetry | By Rebecca Ann Parker | December 1, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Advent, Awe, Body, Christianity, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Connections, God, Immanence, Sacred, Unitarian Universalism, Wonder -
Desire and sexuality are not held in high regard by many of the world’s religious traditions today. And sex? Don’t even go there! As extremism rises, desires are seen as objects of suppression while bodies become things to control. The Greeks first articulated this idea of separation of the...Reading | By Robin Tanner | March 2, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Body, Christianity, Direct Experience, Intimacy, Islam, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Sacred, Secular, Sexuality -
One day, your church was born. Maybe it was a gathering of saints, called together for the common worship of a wrathful god, ceaselessly praying between bouts of decrying the evil of Christmas or dancing. Or maybe a few brave souls answered a notice in the newspaper, curiosity piqued by the...Reading | By Sean Neil-Barron | February 26, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 5th Principle (Conscience & Democracy), Building/Space Dedication, Business Meetings, Change, Child Dedication, Community, Creativity, Direct Experience, Generations, Installations, Leadership, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Purpose, Religion, Sacred, Unitarian Universalism, WorshipWeb -
The sacred is present and available to us wherever we look or are willing to find it. If we remain open and expectant—watching out of the corners of our eyes, keeping our ears cocked, putting away all preconceived ideas—our lives will emanate the sacred.Quote | By Abhi Prakash Janamanchi | April 27, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Listening, Revelation, Sacred -
In what form did the spirit appear to you today, the blossom of a flower, the tug of a child’s hand, the silent twinkling stars, an old woman smiling at the bus stop, a lover’s gentle hug, a presence so close to your soul you could almost touch it, words of truth formed unbidden in your...Poetry | By Jean M. Olson | April 27, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Direct Experience, God, Immanence, Mystery, Sacred
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Of course I want the truth, but here’s the rub: Truth doesn’t sit around still as a rock, it breathes and flows and turns inside out. Ever seen a lion in a cage? He paces and glowers. That must be how God feels locked in our little religions. Look how big the sky is, the deep distances between...Poetry | By Janet Hutchinson | April 27, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Awe, God, Mystery, Revelation, Sacred, Truth, Wonder