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Displaying 1 - 50 of 209
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When someone lists Unitarians or Universalists, they usually name white men. Never anyone Black like me.Reflection | By Connie Simon | February 28, 2024 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: #8thPrinciple, #BlackHistoryMonth, #BlackLivesMatter, 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Generations, History, Identity, Race/Ethnicity, Self-Respect, Truth, Unitarian Universalism, Unitarianism, Universalism, Worship -
If you’re seeking sacred Black “text” in our tradition, you have to examine the way our Black ancestors lived.Reflection | By Takiyah Nur Amin | February 7, 2024 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: #8thPrinciple, #BlackHistoryMonth, #BlackLivesMatter, 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Anti-Oppression, Covenant, Generations, History, Identity, Living Our Faith, Race/Ethnicity, Unitarian Universalism, Unitarianism, Universalism, Worship -
Building relationships requires the risk of being open and curious.Reflection | By Melissa Jeter | November 22, 2023 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: Community, Compassion, Connections, Healing, Humanism, Love, Mental Health, Relationships, Secular, Trauma, Unitarian Universalism, Worship -
You can’t be a Unitarian Universalist and believe anything you want.Reading | By Alex Jensen | September 20, 2023 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Character, Identity, Integrity, Unitarian Universalism, WorshipWeb, Worship -
May we be active participants in the liberatory potential of democracy.Reflection | By Shaya French | June 21, 2023 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: 5th Principle (Conscience & Democracy), Choice, Conflict, Conscience, Democracy, Unitarian Universalism, Young Adults, Worship -
Is a calling a feeling of joy, of completeness in your work?Reading | By Megan Foley | May 22, 2023 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Calling, Direct Experience, Leadership, Ordinations, Unitarian Universalism, WorshipWeb, Worship -
We are the hands and feet of love. And sometimes its fingernails, too.Reflection | By Joanna Fontaine Crawford | May 10, 2023 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Body, Children, Direct Experience, Gender, Generations, Imagination, Unitarian Universalism, Worship -
If we believe in the promise of our faith, we must continue pushing forward.Reading | By Elandria Williams | January 25, 2023 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Challenge, Change, Identity, Living Our Faith, Transformation, Unitarian Universalism -
As sacred beings, we hold the wisdom to know what is best for our own selves.Reflection | By Deborah Weiner | January 11, 2023 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: Activism, Body, Choice, Self-Care, Solidarity, Unitarian Universalism, Unitarianism, Women, Reproductive Justice, Worship -
Queer joy is resistance.Reflection | By cristy cardinal | November 23, 2022 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: #LoveResists, #Pride, 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), Activism, Anti-Oppression, Community, Direct Experience, Humanism, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Pride Sunday, Solidarity, Unitarian Universalism, Worship -
Of all the things "faith" can mean, to me it means believing in us.Reflection | By Erika Hewitt | November 9, 2022 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: Choice, Democracy, Living Our Faith, Power, Unitarian Universalism, Worship -
How much notice would I want ahead of time before I die?Reflection | By Karen G. Johnston | October 26, 2022 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Choice, Death, Ending, Psychology, Secular, Spiritual Practice, Unitarian Universalism, Worship -
I didn’t know the human heart could hold so much love before I met this congregation.Reading | By Kate Landis | October 18, 2022 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Community, Love, Salvation, Spiritual Practice, Unitarian Universalism, Unity -
I choose to believe in the God who makes me kinder.Reading | By Kate Landis | October 18, 2022 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Compassion, Depression, Direct Experience, God, Imagination, Mental Health, Unitarian Universalism
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I rise on the shoulders of ancestors whose names I can not know.Reflection | By Glen Thomas Rideout | September 14, 2022 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: #8thPrinciple, #BlackHistoryMonth, #BlackLivesMatter, 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), America, Anti-Oppression, Black History / Whitney Young / James Reeb, Direct Experience, Family, Generations, History, Oppression, Race/Ethnicity, Secular, Self-Respect, Unitarian Universalism, Worship -
We have to keep finding ways to widen the circle of care and concern.Reflection | By JeKaren Olaoya | June 22, 2022 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: Acceptance, Anti-Oppression, Hospitality, Identity, Multiculturalism, Race/Ethnicity, Unitarian Universalism, Worship -
We have a holy obligation to bring about paradise on this earth; each generation helps us do that.Reflection | By Nathan Ryan | June 15, 2022 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: Children, Father's Day, Fathers, Generations, Hope, Mothers, Parents, Purpose, Secular, Unitarian Universalism, Worship -
To be queer is to know the ways of holding all that shimmers to the light.Reflection | By Laura Solomon | June 8, 2022 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), Acceptance, Anti-Oppression, Humanism, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Secular, Unitarian Universalism, Worship -
We are an angry and beautiful people.Reflection | By Laura Solomon | June 1, 2022 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: Brokenness, Connections, Direct Experience, Disaster or Crisis, Fear, Humanism, Love, Suffering, Unitarian Universalism, Worship -
The power to choose is the power of life in the midst of brokenness.Reading | By Rebecca Ann Parker | May 7, 2022 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Activism, Body, Brokenness, Choice, Direct Experience, Humanism, Integrity, Self-Respect, Unitarian Universalism, WorshipWeb, Reproductive Justice, Worship -
When covenant / breaks, we need to come home / to trust.Reading | By Frances Koziar | March 9, 2022 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Covenant, Doubt, Humanism, Interdependence, Living Our Faith, Relationships, Unitarian Universalism, WorshipWeb, Worship -
To be content to live in Mystery is central to the liberal religious tradition.Affirmation | By Paul Stephan Dodenhoff | November 17, 2021 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Doubt, Freedom, Mystery, Unitarian Universalism
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Every day offers us, yet again, the chance to experience our own Divinity and spiritual Transformation.Affirmation | By Paul Stephan Dodenhoff | November 17, 2021 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Easter, Good Friday, Unitarian Universalism
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In order to be welcoming, the systems of power and privilege in our spaces need to be actively dismantled.Reflection | By Shannon Lang | September 29, 2021 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: #8thPrinciple, #BlackLivesMatter, Anti-Oppression, Direct Experience, Diversity, Equity, Hospitality, Humanism, Race/Ethnicity, Secular, Unitarian Universalism, Worship -
May the beginnings and endings in our stories be held in unconditional love and acceptance.Litany | By Julia Hamilton | September 27, 2021 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), Anti-Oppression, Body, Choice, Direct Experience, Secular, Unitarian Universalism, WorshipWeb, Reproductive Justice, Worship -
The 8th Principle is about actively dismantling racism.Reading | By Shannon Lang | August 23, 2021 | From WorshipWebTagged as: #8thPrinciple, Anti-Oppression, Direct Experience, Humanism, Integrity, Race/Ethnicity, Unitarian Universalism, WorshipWeb, Worship -
Do we who are UUs really believe in the values of our faith enough to enact to them in bold, clear, and unequivocal ways?Reflection | By Takiyah Nur Amin | June 23, 2021 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: #8thPrinciple, #BlackLivesMatter, 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), America, Anti-Oppression, Conflict, Direct Experience, Division, Equity, Justice, Living Our Faith, Race/Ethnicity, Unitarian Universalism, Worship -
A reflection from the Side With Love Sunday worship service.Reflection | By Laura Conkle | March 10, 2021 | From WorshipWebTagged as: #30DaysOfLove, #SideWithLove, Direct Experience, Healing, Humanism, Inclusion, Justice, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Living Our Faith, Poverty, Secular, Unitarian Universalism -
As Unitarian Universalists, our journey is to transform the big and the small, to transform ourselves, and to transform the world.Responsive Reading | By Elizabeth Nguyen | November 9, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Anti-Oppression, Calling, Freedom, Justice, Living Our Faith, Purpose, Seven Principles, Transformation, Unitarian Universalism, Universalism, Wholeness, WorshipWeb, Worship -
None of us would be here were it not for those who lived and won a fight that they were not meant to survive.Reflection | By Daniel Gregoire | September 23, 2020 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, Direct Experience, Family, Generations, History, Humanism, Justice, Living Our Faith, Race/Ethnicity, Unitarian Universalism, Worship -
When we feel overwhelmed, we gather to find a path, to find new ways forward.Responsive Reading | By David Breeden | September 19, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Community, Disaster or Crisis, Grief, Humanism, Memorial Services, Purpose, Searching, Secular, Strength, Stress, Unitarian Universalism, WorshipWeb, Worship -
Part of being in community is noticing what's needed. Part of being in community is doing what is necessary but unclaimed.Reflection | By Christine Slocum | September 16, 2020 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Animals, Caring, Community, Conscience, Generosity, Humanism, Interdependence, Nature, Responsibility, Secular, Unitarian Universalism, Worship -
I miss the way things were, and I know they’ll never really be the same.Reflection | By Erica Rose Long | June 24, 2020 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: #COVID19, 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), Caring, Connections, Direct Experience, Friendship, Humanism, Ministry, Secular, Service, Unitarian Universalism -
Our conversations about the history of our country—the actions of our ancestors—can be made new and relevant and understandable. We can and must have these conversations.Reflection | By Heather Rion Starr | June 17, 2020 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), Activism, America, Children, Direct Experience, Generations, History, Humanism, Parents, Race/Ethnicity, Responsibility, Secular, Unitarian Universalism -
May we all remember how inextricably we are linked in this fight for justice and freedom.Reflection | By Otto O’Connor | June 10, 2020 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), Direct Experience, Generations, History, Justice, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Pride Sunday, Race/Ethnicity, Responsibility, Secular, Solidarity, Unitarian Universalism -
There is a Universal Love that has never broken faith with us and never will.Affirmation | By Rebecca Ann Parker | April 21, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Acceptance, Compassion, Love, Peace, Presence, Unitarian Universalism -
Hope rises. It rises from the heart of life, here and now, beating with joy and sorrow. Hope longs. It longs for good to be affirmed, for justice and love to prevail, for suffering to be alleviated, and for life to flourish in peace. Hope remembers. It remembers the dreams of those who have gone...Responsive Reading | By John A. Buehrens, Rebecca Ann Parker | April 8, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Connections, Faith, Generations, Healing, Hope, Humanism, Love, Secular, Unitarian Universalism
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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 WorshipWebTagged 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 -
In honor of the risk takers, those that hold the vision with clarity and charge forward with optimism even in the face of others doubts. You are our lamp lighters and our guides; may we never forget the courage it takes to lead the way forward. In honor of the cautious skeptics, those that gather...Affirmation | By Amanda Schuber | December 18, 2019 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Acceptance, Community, Direct Experience, Diversity, Interdependence, Journey, Leadership, Responsibility, Unitarian Universalism -
Every year, I tell the congregation not to worry about mistakes because there aren’t any; there is only us, telling an old story about love getting born into this aching world.Reflection | By Elea Kemler | December 18, 2019 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: Advent, Brokenness, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Community, Direct Experience, Forgiveness, Love, Playfulness, Tradition, Transcendence, Unitarian Universalism -
I once saw a little sign, carved in wood, that read, “There is only the hard way.” Many of us have been harmed by theology that told us that suffering was a sacrifice that would bring us closer to God. Many of us were told that our suffering would redeem us, even when we knew that actual...Reading | By Elizabeth Nguyen | November 14, 2019 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Activism, Anti-Oppression, Direct Experience, Humanism, Integrity, Interdependence, Justice, Living Our Faith, Privilege, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Redemption, Sacrifice, Secular, Seven Principles, Solidarity, Unitarian Universalism -
Can we strive to have the grace to back away when our presence doesn’t feel like safety?Reflection | By Misha Sanders | November 13, 2019 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Anti-Oppression, Direct Experience, Discernment, Humanism, Privilege, Race/Ethnicity, Secular, Unitarian Universalism -
This is the beauty and sparkle of spiritual communities: needs arise and beloveds appear to ask, “How can I help?” There’s no fixed timeline, just the spiritual practices of generosity and stewardship.Reflection | By Rebekah Savage | October 16, 2019 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Balance, Direct Experience, Discernment, Hope, Humanism, Interdependence, Purpose, Responsibility, Secular, Stewardship, Unitarian Universalism -
The road not taken is not a fork. That’s too simple a thought, flipping some coin. Either/or. Nope. It’s not this or that. No or yes. It’s nor/ neither and all of the above and more. The road taken goes every way at once. There. There. They. Them. Go. Now. Live.Affirmation | By David Breeden | October 6, 2019 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), Agnosticism, Coming Out, Dignity, Direct Experience, Gender, Humanism, Identity, Inclusion, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Pride Sunday, Secular, Self-Respect, Sexuality, Transgender Day of Remembrance, Unitarian Universalism -
This litany is intended to be read antiphonally (the congregation, split left and right, reading it to one another). Here I am, my sibling. Here I am. Can you hear me? Here I am. Saying you . . . You. Here. Now. We. We are. Here. Us. Together. Can you. Hear me here? I am calling to you....Litany | By David Breeden | August 12, 2019 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Connections, Humanism, Interdependence, Relationships, Secular, Unitarian Universalism
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Reader 1: In 1637, the white settlers in what was to become the town of Dedham, Massachusetts, wanted to start a church. What they longed for was sincere religious association based in love, and founded in freedom. Reader 2: The idea of a free church took shape among the people—a church whose...Affirmation | By Erika Hewitt | August 8, 2019 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Covenant, History, Identity, Installations, Interdependence, Seven Principles, Unitarian Universalism, Unitarianism
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We are grateful to mark time with seasons, to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries, or to gather as family to remember our loved ones. In all these seasons, may we give thanks for the breath of life, ever mindful of the fragile nature of existence. May we live fully in each moment....Affirmation | By Mary Frances Comer | July 20, 2019 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 6th Principle (World Community), Birth, Change, Death, Direct Experience, Generations, Gratitude, Love, Mystery, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Spirituality, Unitarian Universalism -
By no means are we [Unitarian Universalists] perfect; we often fail as much as we succeed. Yet even when "we have broken our vows a thousand times,"* we return to this essential work of justice and liberation for all. We do the work best when we remember what church is and what it is not....Affirmation | By Rosemary Bray McNatt | July 16, 2019 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Identity, Justice, Living Our Faith, Seven Principles, Unitarian Universalism -
In our water ritual, we bring water from the places we live or the places we may have visited and pour it in one container. All of the water mixes together, and every drop has some of the molecules of water from every place....Reading | By Myke Johnson | June 25, 2019 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Awe, Connections, Direct Experience, Earth, Interdependence, Nature, Secular, Unitarian Universalism, Water Communion -
It is time to throw out our exceptional identity and humble ourselves... We have always done good in the world—it is in our DNA. The question is, are we ready to do better for our own people? Because the world includes every person in our faith—many of whom have been micro-aggressioned right out...Reading | By Marta I. Valentín | June 25, 2019 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Anti-Oppression, Direct Experience, Humility, Identity, Inclusion, Living Our Faith, Multiculturalism, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Race/Ethnicity, Seven Principles, Unitarian Universalism