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The flame is extinguished, but not our hope for the future, our courage in the face of crisis, or the love we share in all the world.Closing | By Robin F. Gray | March 25, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Sacred
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By the light of this chalice we prepare for the future. We prepare ourselves for the times of triumph and times of trial that might come. We prepare ourselves to be present to one another with loving hearts even in the most difficult of times....Chalice Lighting | By Robin F. Gray | March 25, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Caring
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We call for this blessing on all sheltered here whether in body or in spirit... May the flame of our community ignite a love bold enough to share. And, in return May we all be embraced by a love that remains constant in times of sorrow and in days of great gladness.Closing | By Robin F. Gray | March 25, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Community, Justice, Peace
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(Can be preceded by singing the first verse of "Bright Morning Stars," Hymn 357 in Singing the Living Tradition) Day breaks on our gratitude for family and friends, For the freedom to find our own truth, For the company of those who gather here, And the promises we offer one another....Chalice Lighting | By Robin F. Gray | March 25, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Covenant, Faith, Family, Freedom, Friendship, Grace, Gratitude, Hope, Journey, Truth -
As we prepare to depart, we give voice to these hopes: May we know ourselves bound in community, even while we are apart. May a passion for justice burn in our lives. May we carry the light of compassion in our hearts and in our every interaction....Closing | By Robin F. Gray | March 25, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Community, Justice, Peace, WorshipWeb
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This chalice burns with twin flames. The first flame burns for those who seek and defend the right to a free and responsible search for truth and meaning so that each person may live according to conscience in a democratically elected society. The second flame burns for the defenders of freedom,...Chalice Lighting | By Tracy Bleakney | March 25, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), 5th Principle (Conscience & Democracy), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Activism, America, Anti-Oppression, Commitment, Democracy, Freedom, July 4th, Justice Sunday, Memorial Day, Oppression, Power, Responsibility, Rights, Secular, Unitarian Universalism, WorshipWeb -
Wind that whispers through the willow trees Sun that sustains us Water that washes over willing earth and weathered stones A smile shared and savored A child’s squeal of delight as she dances in the daisies and daffodils The quiet joy of gathered community This, this is the spirit of life and lov...Invocation | By Seth Carrier-Ladd | March 25, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Beauty, Children, Community, Direct Experience, Earth, Earth-Centered, Humanism, Joy, Nature, Paganism, Sacred, Unitarian Universalism, WorshipWeb -
Each week as we gather we light a common chalice. We sing and celebrate, we pray and think. Then we each gather strength from the flame and go out from here, taking the light with us.Closing | By Heather Christensen | March 25, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Community, Direct Experience, Humanism, Interdependence, Spirituality, Unitarian Universalism, WorshipWeb
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Over the years your staples have slipped and pages loosened. Here a faded purple crescent of ancient wine, there a smudge from bricks of date paste. But when you speak I swoon....Poetry | By Rabbi Rachel Barenblat | March 24, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Courage, Freedom, God, History, Judaism, Reverence, Sacred, Tradition
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The day after the seder, reality shoves back in like a football player with lowered shoulder. Dishes to wash: the browned kugel pan, chopping knives, the eggbeater that whipped the whites for Eppie’s matzah balls, the gravy boats that held haroset, the glass bowls encrusted with salt. All day...Poetry | By Rabbi Rachel Barenblat | March 24, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Food, Judaism, Passover (Pesach), Prophetic Words & Deeds, Spiritual Practice, Tradition -
"So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls wrapped in their cloaks upon their shoulders." —Exodus 12:34 You’ll need to travel light. Take what you can carry: a book, a poem, a battered tin cup, your child strapped to your chest, clutching your necklace in one...Poetry | By Rabbi Rachel Barenblat | March 24, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Courage, Fear, Freedom, Judaism, Letting Go, Passover (Pesach), Tradition, Transformation -
Breakfast on kosher macaroons and Diet Pepsi in the car on the way to Price Chopper for lamb. Peel five pounds of onions and let the Cuisinart shred them while you push them down and weep....Poetry | By Rabbi Rachel Barenblat | March 24, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Direct Experience, Food, Freedom, Generations, Judaism, Passover (Pesach), Prophetic Words & Deeds, Spirituality, Tradition
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Unitarian Universalism is a grand vision of a world filled with peace and justice, love and joy. That vision is embodied in a few large congregations, numerous mid-sized congregations, and many, many small congregations....Offering | By Heather Christensen | March 24, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 6th Principle (World Community), Interdependence, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Stewardship, Unitarian Universalism, Vision, WorshipWeb
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In gatherings we are stirred like the leaves of the fall season rustling around sacred trees, tossed hither and yon until we come to rest together, quietly, softly . . . We come to gather strength from each other. We come to give strength to each other....Poetry | By Marta I. Valentín | March 23, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Acceptance, Community, Covenant, Direct Experience, Gratitude, Power, Strength, Unitarian Universalism, Wholeness -
I got off work at 7 pm and did the thing where you chase the bus a little bit but then realize you won’t make it and walk sheepishly back to the bus stop. I’m already an hour late to Sunday night singing at the Lucy Stone Cooperative, a UU affordable housing co-op in Boston. I’m still...Reading | By Elizabeth Nguyen | March 23, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Acceptance, Commitment, Community, Conflict, Direct Experience, Relationships, Unitarian Universalism, Vulnerability
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I’ve always had a tough time falling asleep. As a child, I was skeptical about the whole idea of sleep. I thought, “Who needs it anyway? Can’t we just be awake all the time? Isn’t that what life is all about?” So it is not surprising that, when my now mother-in-law asked me a few years ago...Reading | By Nic Cable | March 23, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Choice, Direct Experience, Growth, Identity, Unitarian Universalism, Vision, Youth/Teens
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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,...Poetry | By Mark D. Morrison-Reed | March 23, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Commitment, Death, Direct Experience, Fear, Living Our Faith, Playfulness
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We float on a sea hidden beneath dry surfaces covered by stones. Isn’t this why we drink and dive so deeply go down to the sea in ships risk drowning, again and again? Isn’t this why Moses parted the waters to begin his journey? Why Jesus crossed the waters to comfort and challenge us? We were...Poetry | By Stephen M. Shick | March 23, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Abundance, Awe, Nature, Reverence, Sacred
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I have been wondering what the morning glories know. Is it envy that compels these vines to strangle other flowers arising in their path? Or perhaps self-preservation, to climb these walls, forsaking humbler beings, winding greedy stems around the trellis in their hungry pursuit of light. Still,...Poetry | By Terri Pahucki | March 23, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Connections, Earth-Centered, Joy, Nature, Reverence
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Why did I listen to Your calling, O God? Why did I step out on faith, O Love? Why did I lift my feet, ignore my fear, and run toward the unknown? Now I am far from home. My heart aches for my familiar land, for people who greeted me with kisses. I can’t see the way back—it doesn’t exist. I...Poetry | By Angela Herrera | March 23, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Despair, Direct Experience, Fear, Home, Listening, Searching
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Fill me with anxiety, O Life! Electrify me, make me nervous Beyond any staid concern For those things which challenge Placid, flaccid ways, anachronisms of being. Keep me tense, a-tiptoe, Blinking at the novel, Reaching out for those things Just beyond my fingertips; So that I may make patterns,...Poetry | By Arthur Graham | March 23, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Awe, Change, Choice, Transformation, Wonder
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A good anger swallowed clots the blood to slime —Marge Piercy But what is to be done with it, this anger that dare not be swallowed? Should it be diluted with denial, cooled with indifference? Should it be sweetened with good intentions, softened with lies? Should it be spewed out red hot over...Poetry | By Stephen M. Shick | March 23, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Acceptance, Anger, Direct Experience, Salvation
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Walk the maze within your heart: guide your steps into its questioning curves. This labyrinth is a puzzle leading you deeper into your own truths. Listen in the twists and turns. Listen in the openness within all searching. Listen: a wisdom within you calls to a wisdom beyond you and in that...Poetry | By Leslie Takahashi | March 23, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Direct Experience, Listening, Searching, Truth, Unitarian Universalism, Wisdom
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“So...what do you want to do with your life???” There was a time when this question haunted me like an existential crisis. Some might call it being in my twenties, but I certainly didn’t feel that such pain was just “to be expected.” I remember pouring over inspirational books. I found few...Reading | By David Ruffin | March 23, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Challenge, Character, Direct Experience, Identity, Purpose, Searching, Unitarian Universalism, Youth/Teens
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Lay Leader: Our church family is constantly changing. People come and go. Babies are born. Children grow up. People commit themselves to one another. Loved ones and friend among us come to the end of their lives. Individuals move into our community and church life. Others leave us, moving away to...Ritual | By Chip Roush | March 19, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Community, Ending, Leadership, Letting Go, Ministerial Transition, Service, Unitarian Universalism
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Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them out of that land to a good and broad land, a land...Meditation | By John Nichols | March 19, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Freedom, God, Integrity, Judaism, Passover (Pesach)
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When the escape from Egypt was certain, when the last furious wave had closed over their enemies' heads and the dangerous waters lay smooth again, when the Israelites could finally turn toward the future without fear that the past would snatch them back--what did they see before them? Not the...Meditation | By Kathleen McTigue | March 19, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Fear, Judaism, Passover (Pesach), Searching, Tradition, Transformation
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They had no idea where they were going, when they left that night, in the dark, without lights, without shoes, without bread, their children smothered against them so they would make no noise....Meditation | By Victoria Safford | March 19, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Courage, Faith, Freedom, Identity, Journey, Judaism, Passover (Pesach), Purpose, Searching, Tradition
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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...Opening | By Lynn Harrison | March 18, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Earth, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Home, Nature, Responsibility, Unitarian Universalism, Climate Justice -
During the hot Nebraska summers of my childhood, I spent hours, high in my treehouse, devouring the books I found in the small collection my parents had acquired from the estates of various relatives. One of my favorites was A Wonder Book, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s retelling of classical myths. My...Reading | By Barbara Rohde | March 17, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Commitment, Earth, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Interdependence, Nature, Responsibility, Unitarian Universalism, Climate Justice
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Of course truth is hard. It is a rock. Yet I do not think it will fall upon me And crush me. I do not think they can hammer it to bits And stone me. Help me place the rock in the strong current Of these rushing waters. I must climb upon it. I must know how truth feels....Poetry | By Barbara Rohde | March 17, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Earth, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Nature, Strength, Truth, Water Communion, Climate Justice -
Nature provides ready metaphors for peace and justice. Jesus' peaceful kingdom is described as a mustard seed that grows into a large bush, providing shelter to all. the Hebrew prophet Amos cried for justice to roll down like water, and we sing, "I've got peace like a river" and "strength like a...Reading | By Stephen M. Shick | March 17, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Earth, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Justice, Nature, Peace, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Vision, Climate Justice
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The road of history is long, full of both hope and disappointment. In times past, there have been wars and rumors of wars, violence and exploitation, hunger and homelessness, and destruction of this earth, your creation....Prayer | By Marjorie Bowens-Wheatley, Clyde Grubbs | March 17, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Courage, Generations, Justice, Leadership, Progress, Climate Justice -
I understand history as possibility...that could also stop being a possibility. —Paulo Freire The winds of extinction sing a mournful song in the rustling grass, where the bobwhite drums and the meadowlark's melody is vanishing. The winds of extinction sing a mournful song in the dark forest...Poetry | By Stephen M. Shick | March 17, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Animals, Despair, Earth, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Interdependence, Nature, Unitarian Universalism, Climate Justice
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Spirit of Life, God of Love, who are we to know how you moved over the waters when all was new? We were not there when you parted them and formed dry land. We didn't hear you cry with joy when earth gave birth to life, or when love began to grow in the human heart....Prayer | By Stephen M. Shick | March 17, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Earth, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Humility, Nature, Responsibility, Stewardship, Climate Justice
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Suppose you scrub your ethical skin until it shines, but inside there is no music, then what? —Kabir Suppose you cried a thousand years for a child who died when she drank bad water. Suppose you organized a great movement to clean the water. Suppose you carried the first filled glass to the...Poetry | By Stephen M. Shick | March 17, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Earth, Earth Day, Interdependence, International, Relationships, Service, Unitarian Universalism, Water Communion, Climate Justice
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(Ahmedabad, India, 2001) Mother Earth is shouting but we do not hear. She is filled with anguish, for all we understand is death. And in her agony she suffers too over the fact that she must kill her own to get our attentionn...Poetry | By Marta I. Valentín | March 17, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Death, Disaster, Earth, Earth-Centered, Nature, Unitarian Universalism, Climate Justice
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The earth. One planet. Round, global, so that when you trace its shape with your finger, you end up where you started. It's one. It's whole. All the dotted lines we draw on our maps of this globe are just that, dotted lines. They smear easily. Oceans can be crossed. Even the desert can be crossed.Poetry | By Mark Belletini | March 17, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Earth, Earth Day, Interdependence, International, Nature, Wholeness, Climate Justice
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This is our earth. It falls through heaven like a pearl in a glass of plum wine. There are no other earths that I know of. There are no other skies that we have mapped. This is our earth. The Oneness who gave birth to it remains nameless. There was no midwife then to bring us word of the birth-cry.Poetry | By Mark Belletini | March 17, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Awe, Connections, Earth, Earth Day, Interdependence, Nature, Climate Justice, Worship -
Holy Unnamable One, Wholly Unknowable One, Again we have read the story. Again we have sung the tale. Again we wonder at our place in it. Is it ours to tell? How can it beours to live?...Prayer | By Lisa Doege | March 16, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Birth, Christianity, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Direct Experience, Hope, Listening, Mystery, Peace, Privilege
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This image was created by Ellen Rockett, a Unitarian Universalist (UU) young adult, to accompany the seven separate images/smartphone wallpapers also found on WorshipWeb....Image | By Ellen Rockett | March 13, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Acceptance, Caring, Democracy, Interdependence, Justice, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Seven Principles, Unitarian Universalism, Worth -
Spirit of Life, God of Love, grant me the courage to love boldly in the face of my greatest fears. Grow me in your wisdom and let my actions speak when silence threatens justice and indifference disturbs peace....Prayer | By Stephen M. Shick | March 12, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Courage, Fear, Humility, Justice, Love, Peace, Unitarian Universalism, Wisdom
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Into the dwelling place of togetherness, we come to collect remnants of hope.Responsive Reading | By Stephen M. Shick | March 12, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Hope, Justice, Peace, Solidarity, Strength, Unitarian Universalism, Vision -
Spirit of Life, God of Love, I am entwined in your delicate web of mutuality. The life energy that makes me reach for the sun also moves me to become wrapped, like the strong bittersweet vine and the delicate sweet pea, around those I meet and love. Here in the tangle of my daily life I feel your...Prayer | By Stephen M. Shick | March 12, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Acceptance, Beauty, Connections, Earth, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Interdependence, Intimacy, Love, Nature, Climate Justice
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Here, I will be discovered and lost: Here, I will, perhaps, be stone and silence. —Pablo Neruda Someday, out there, on a day like this in a place I will never see, where the clearing winds always come after the storm, I will arrive nameless on a distant memory carrying with me all the best I gave...Poetry | By Stephen M. Shick | March 12, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Identity, Love, Meaning, Purpose, Truth
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Spirit of my longing and lonely heart, help me travel through the barren borderlands that separate me from others. Teach me to willingly explore relationships with those who frighten or threaten me, grant me the courage to risk confidently my own comforts, that I might make others more comfortable.Prayer | By Stephen M. Shick | March 12, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Choice, Compassion, Connections, Courage, Empathy, Unitarian Universalism, Vulnerability
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In a worship service, the congregation presented farewell gifts to the outgoing Director of Religious Education/Exploration (DRE) before the following: MINISTER: In (season, year), this congregation and NAME entered into a formal/unspoken covenant with one another. NAME agreed to step out of her...Ritual | By Tess Baumberger | March 11, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Change, Children, Gratitude, Leadership, Letting Go, Power, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Service, Teacher Recognition, Unitarian Universalism
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I am one of those people who love to make New Year’s resolutions. Why not create a vital, remodeled persona, new and improved? Just write down all the things you want to accomplish, all the projects you want to complete, all the character improvements you want to make, and all the skills you want...Meditation | By Barbara Merritt | March 9, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Challenge, Change, Grace, Love, Progress, Transformation, Unitarian Universalism
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When my youngest child was a baby, the sweetest part of my day was putting David to sleep. At fifteen months he had a demanding schedule. There were toilet paper rolls to unravel, dressers to empty, bookshelves to clear, trash baskets to dump on the floor, papers to tear, pans to bang, books to...Meditation | By Barbara Merritt | March 9, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Buddhism, Children, Direct Experience, Love, Mothers, Peace, Self-Care, Trust, Unitarian Universalism, Weakness, Wisdom
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My husband, the physics teacher, receives a weekly magazine called Science News. A recent cover story, in bold letters, riveted my attention and I snatched it: “Controlling Chaos.” Now, that’s a practical theology! My hopes soared. Here, in concise scientific prose, was the potential solution...Meditation | By Barbara Merritt | March 9, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Change, Peace, Science, Stress, Unitarian Universalism, Work