Let us open all our senses and let our synapses spark one connection after another.

You are loved beyond your wildest imaginings by the spirit of creation.

In my chapel, redwing blackbird unravels her liquid song in the cattails.

People move places for jobs, relations, opportunities, escape, hindering our ability to put down new roots. And yet, we carry a constancy: the still, quiet voice within.

Among other wonders of our lives, we are alive with one another, we live here in the light of this unlikely world that isn’t ours for long. May we spend generously the time we are given. May we enact our responsibilities as thoroughly as we enjoy our pleasures....

This was written for Christmas Eve, or other occasions when people are each holding a candle. The spirit of the holy dwells in each of us. The spirit of love dwells in each of us. May the flames in our hands remind us that Eternal Love dwells in our hearts....

Your first Christmas, your last Christmas, this Christmas, and the redemption of the whole world are all happening right now, forever.

This is the key to the mystery, The Word became flesh.

Come, come, whoever you are. Do you hear that voice calling you, calling us? That voice which calls us together here today in this room made holy by our presence and by the sacred breath we share in our singing and speaking and silence....

What makes us human beings so uniquely wonderful in this puzzling universe is that we never give up on love. Against all odds, with no guarantee of being loved in return, out of the hate and hurt so often handed us, in the face of the sad suffering history has let us see, we go on loving....

The word desire comes from the Latin desiderare: “to long for,” but the Latin desiderare comes from de sidere: “from the stars.” From the stars. I find this extraordinary: to think that somehow our desire, our longing, is connected to the very stars in the sky. The stars, which share their...

One of the potential spiritual lessons of sports comes in its ability to connect people—to each other as well as to a team of strangers. Not too long ago, I was in a workshop in which we were discussing “peak experiences,” those mystical, transcendent experiences of what Abraham Maslow would...

Holy grandparents of the Universe...energies of creation...endless mysteries of life: You are the music that sounded before our world was born, sound and silence woven throughout the ages, far beyond the most profound wisdom humanity has been able to touch....

As we kindle this flame, May it spark in each of us Connection and commitment To this living tradition And to each other.

For the wonder and inspiration We seek from sun and stars And all the lights of the heavens We light this chalice.

What is the history of any thing? This apple, let's say, that my grandson just picked as he sits on my shoulders, feet dangling like parentheses around my heart?...

Chalice Lighting #434 in Singing the Living Tradition: May we be reminded here of our highest aspirations, and inspired to bring our gifts of love and service to the altar of humanity....

This quote, from Peter Mayer's hymn "Blue Boat Home" (Singing the Journey #1064) was created for use & sharing on social media.

Barukh atah, Emeth! Blest are you, o Truth. Like the fabled Moses, I too can never claim to have seen you “face to face.” Too often, I’ve hung my own face on you and pretended that I know something I do not. Indeed, my most honest heart confesses that at most, I have only caught the briefest...

with a bow to Ysaye Barnwell and Stephanie Kaza Spirit within all, mysterious force giving shape to life, miraculous source and river of being, help us to know who we are, to see our place in the history of the earth and in the ­family of things; help us to see that we are part of all that ever...

Listen carefully… Can you still hear the song? The one sung for you when you were born. The song sung by a cosmos in motion rejoicing at your life.

There is a living web that runs through us To all the universe Linking us each with each and through all life On to the distant stars. Each knows a ­little corner of the world, and lives As if this were his all. We no more see the farther reaches of the threads Than we see of the future, yet...

We never know who we are (this is strange, isn’t it?) or what vows we made or who we knew or what we hoped for or where we were when the world’s dreams were seeded. Until the day just one of us sighs a ­gentle longing and we all feel the change one of us calls a name and we all know to be there...

(May be read responsively) We are not alone. We are this flame, ancient as the stars, new as the vulnerable spark. We are not alone. We are this chalice, rimmed by the spiral dance of searching. We are not alone. We are the light soaring, the shadow deepening, the dance between them. We are not...

Now is the moment of magic, when the whole, round earth turns again toward the sun....

How does one address a mystery? Cautiously—let us go cautiously, then, to the end of our certainty, to the boundary of all we know, to the rim of uncertainty, to the perimeter of the unknown which surrounds us. Reverently—let us go with a sense of awe, a feeling of approaching the powerful holy...

We gather together in this space to honor and understand our lives. We bring our pasts and would share them, our dreams and would express them. We use words, song, silence, and gesture....