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Displaying 1 - 50 of 86

  • Harm of one is harm of all.
    Reflection | By Karen G. Johnston | May 1, 2024 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Character, Compassion, Connections, Direct Experience, Empathy, Ethics, Humanism, Interdependence, Poverty, Privilege, Responsibility, Secular, Suffering, Worship
  • In a patchwork quilt, each piece of fabric contains a story in itself—where, when, and how it was made; what other garment or fabric it once was part of; who created and touched the fabric. Sewn together, the quilt collectively tells other stories…
    Quote | By Sheri Prud’homme | April 25, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: #UUAGA, Community, Interdependence, UUA Bylaws, Vision for UUism
  • Crows found ways to adapt to our concrete forests but we have not yet found ways to make sure we are in balance with the rest of creation.
    Reflection | By Christine Slocum | April 17, 2024 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Animals, Earth, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Interdependence, Nature, Worship
  • Disturbance opens the terrain for transformative encounters… Humanists, not used to thinking with disturbance, connect the term with damage. But disturbance, as used by ecologists, is not always bad—and not always human.
    Reading | By Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing | April 10, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Change, Environment, Interdependence, Nature
  • All organisms make ecological living places, altering earth, air, and water... In the process, each organism changes everyone’s world.
    Reading | By Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing | April 10, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Animals, Connections, Environment, Interdependence, Nature, Science, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • Appreciation and deep witness are beautiful gateways for returning to our most authentic selves.
    Reflection | By Jami Yandle | March 6, 2024 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Compassion, Friendship, Humanism, Interdependence, Listening, Love, Vulnerability, Worship
  • “[Democracy] is not merely majority rule based on the fact that the majority has the physical force to prevail…"
    Quote | By W.E.B. Du Bois | February 20, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 5th Principle (Conscience & Democracy), America, Covenant, Democracy, Governance, Interdependence, Leadership, Politics, Rights, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • It takes courage to bring our trust forward and invite another person to meet us there. This sometimes sure, often shaky, surrender is an opportunity to discover something deeper than the confines of our individual experience.
    Reading | By Adaku Utah | January 21, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Compassion, Earth, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Freedom, Growth, Interdependence, Nature, Relationships, Trust, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • I believe that we are all "life drummers" just waiting to join in the rhythm.
    Reflection | By Christin Green | October 25, 2023 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Acceptance, Body, Community, Direct Experience, Interdependence, Self-Respect, Worship
  • All that we are, together and individually, is part of the abundance of the universe.
    Responsive Reading | By Julián Jamaica Soto | November 11, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Abundance, Canvass/Pledge, Connections, Earth, Earth-Centered, Gratitude, Interdependence, Stewardship, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • You are loved beyond your wildest imaginings by the spirit of creation.
    Reading | By Kate Landis | October 18, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Acceptance, Awe, Connections, Direct Experience, Earth-Centered, God, Interdependence, Love, Mental Health, Mystery, Wonder
  • We don’t need to understand why someone sets a boundary to respect it.
    Reflection | By Shaya French | September 21, 2022 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Friendship, Interdependence, Limitations, Relationships, Stewardship, Worship
  • In a world of scarcity, interconnection and mutual aid become critical for survival.
    Reading | By Robin Wall Kimmerer | May 19, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Abundance, Caring, Earth, Earth-Centered, Interdependence, Nature
  • Cultures of gratitude must also be cultures of reciprocity.
    Reading | By Robin Wall Kimmerer | May 19, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 6th Principle (World Community), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Indigenous American, Interdependence, Relationships, Responsibility, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • Respect one another, support one another, bring your gift to the world and receive the gifts of others, and there will be enough for all.
    Reading | By Robin Wall Kimmerer | May 17, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Abundance, Earth, Earth-Centered, Indigenous American, Interdependence, Nature, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • When covenant / breaks, we need to come home / to trust.
    Reading | By Frances Koziar | March 9, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Covenant, Doubt, Humanism, Interdependence, Living Our Faith, Relationships, Unitarian Universalism, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • We are living today with time to do good for ourselves and for each other.
    Poetry | By Charles Thomas | January 28, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), 6th Principle (World Community), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Earth, Earth-Centered, Humanism, Imagination, Interdependence, Nature, Science, Secular, Stewardship, Wonder, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • Love calls me to rest when I feel disconnected
    Affirmation | By Melissa Jeter | November 24, 2021 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Christianity, Interdependence, Love, Self-Care, Self-Respect, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • It’s through our shared interdependence that we are sheltered and saved.
    Reflection | By Karen G. Johnston | May 10, 2021 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Compassion, Connections, Fear, Interdependence, Relationships, Service, Worship
  • We gather because we need community to do all of this holy work.
    Affirmation | By Nicole McKay | January 23, 2021 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Community, Grief, Interdependence, Memorial Day, Memorial Services, Relationships, Remembrance Day, Seven Principles, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • Arm's length: What was once a defensive or suspicious expression has now become a gesture of care, an indication of love and protection.
    Reflection | By Karen G. Johnston | October 14, 2020 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Animals, Caring, Direct Experience, Environment, Humanism, Interdependence, Nature, Climate Justice, Worship
  • I feel disoriented when I’m in a new place or situation and can’t figure out whether the rules are real or imaginary.
    Reflection | By Erika Hewitt | October 7, 2020 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Community, Direct Experience, Interdependence, Limitations, Living Our Faith, Secular, Self-Respect, 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/Wiser
    Tagged 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
  • A new disease, without any cure, is pushing us apart. And, yet, we cannot escape one another. We need one another. Whether I acknowledge it or not, the guarantee of safety does not exist.
    Reflection | By Manish Mishra-Marzetti | April 15, 2020 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: #COVID19, 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Body, Coming Out, Direct Experience, Fear, Humanism, Illness, Interdependence, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Relationships, Secular, Shame, Vulnerability
  • I’m confident in our human ability to together muscle our way into renewing our world.
    Reflection | By Aram Mitchell | April 1, 2020 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: #COVID19, 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Community, Direct Experience, Doubt, Fear, Hope, Humanism, Interdependence, Searching, Secular
  • In this community, we hold hope close. We don’t always know what comes next, but that cannot dissuade us. We don’t always know just what to do, but that will not mean that we are lost in the wilderness. We rely on the certainty beneath, the foundation of our values and ethics. —Rev. Theresa I.
    Reflection | By Erika Hewitt | March 11, 2020 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: #COVID19, 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Caring, Community, Direct Experience, Disaster or Crisis, Fear, Humanism, Interdependence, Leadership, Relationships, Responsibility, Secular
  • A lot of us feel like our lives should have come with instructions. Or maybe they did, but we lost the only copy a long time ago.
    Reflection | By Elea Kemler | February 12, 2020 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Brokenness, Caring, Change, Direct Experience, Friendship, Humanism, Interdependence, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Relationships, Trust, Vulnerability
  • 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 WorshipWeb
    Tagged 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
  • 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
  • In my chapel, redwing blackbird unravels her liquid song in the cattails.
    Poetry | By Jennifer Pratt-Walter | January 2, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Animals, Connections, Earth, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Environment, Imagination, Interdependence, Nature, Spirituality, Wonder
  • 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 WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Acceptance, Community, Direct Experience, Diversity, Interdependence, Journey, Leadership, Responsibility, Unitarian Universalism
  • It was disruptive and strange to know that someone had died to bring this hope, and to wonder how the donor’s family mourned at the same time we rejoiced.
    Reflection | By Elizabeth Bukey Saunter | December 11, 2019 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Body, Direct Experience, Family, Fear, Interdependence, Mystery, Relationships, Vulnerability
  • 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 WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Beauty, Direct Experience, Earth-Centered, Interdependence, Love, Mystery, Sacred, Transcendence, Winter Solstice / Yule
  • 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 WorshipWeb
    Tagged 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
  • Knit six purl six sets of two rows four rows six rows up to twelve, patterns, repeating, steady, soothingly same. This is not what life is like. Life is like picking up a tousled hunk of yarn pulled out of the basket by an impatient child looking for a string too many times. You find an end. You...
    Poetry | By Dawn Star Sarahs-Borchelt | October 16, 2019 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Acceptance, Brokenness, Connections, Direct Experience, Grief, Humanism, Interdependence, Life Transition, Pain, Secular, Stress
  • 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/Wiser
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Balance, Direct Experience, Discernment, Hope, Humanism, Interdependence, Purpose, Responsibility, Secular, Stewardship, Unitarian Universalism
  • Although the German word Giftschrank sounds like a quirky holiday tradition, the term is really a combination of the words poison and cabinet....
    Reading | By Erika Hewitt, Becky Brooks | September 25, 2019 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 5th Principle (Conscience & Democracy), Direct Experience, Freedom, Humanism, Interdependence, Limitations, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Relationships, Responsibility, Secular
  • 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 WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Connections, Humanism, Interdependence, Relationships, Secular, Unitarian Universalism
  • 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 WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Covenant, History, Identity, Installations, Interdependence, Seven Principles, Unitarian Universalism, Unitarianism
  • 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 WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Awe, Connections, Direct Experience, Earth, Interdependence, Nature, Secular, Unitarian Universalism, Water Communion
  • If justice is to be realized, our voices must speak loudly—even boisterously—of love.
    Reflection | By Lindasusan Ulrich | June 5, 2019 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), America, Animals, Community, Direct Experience, Earth-Centered, Globalism, Humanism, Interdependence, July 4th, Justice, Love, Nature, Purpose, Relationships, Secular
  • What images comes to mind when I say, “Labor Day”? Chances are you think of the holiday weekend and celebrations with your loved ones, the Federal Holiday, Unions and the cause of a working wage and benefits, maybe the history of the struggle of working people to have a fair share of the profits...
    Reading | By Jennifer Willet | February 5, 2019 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Aging, Caring, Community, Compassion, Dignity, Disability, Economy, Education, Generations, Interdependence, Labor Day
  • Surrender is the last thing, often the only thing, available. And so we give ourselves to it. We fear it is our end. Sometimes—with grace or luck—we find it is our liberation.
    Reflection | By Karen G. Johnston | January 23, 2019 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Animals, Direct Experience, Earth-Centered, Fear, Freedom, Imagination, Interdependence, Ministry, Nature, Salvation
  • Water unites us. All water is one water, shape-shifting as it goes on and on in its unending cycle. The stream we gather by unites us with all the waters of the world, for all of life depends on water. That's why this common, everyday element on which our very lives depend is sacred. In our...
    Affirmation | By Mel Hoover, Rose Edington | August 21, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 6th Principle (World Community), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Body, Direct Experience, Earth, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Gratitude, Interdependence, Nature, Responsibility, Stewardship, Unitarian Universalism, Water Communion, Climate Justice
  • I choose to believe in community. I choose to believe in the difficult, slow work of building a common life.
    Reflection | By Elea Kemler | May 16, 2018 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Challenge, Community, Conflict, Democracy, Direct Experience, Humanism, Interdependence, Relationships, Secular, Seven Principles, Unitarian Universalism
  • 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....
    Poetry | By John Daniel | April 5, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Awe, Connections, Direct Experience, Earth, Earth-Centered, Gratitude, Interdependence, Joy, Relationships, Responsibility, Secular, Transcendence, Wonder
  • It would be a quieter holiday, no fireworks or loud parades, no speeches, no salutes to any flag, a day of staying home instead of crowding away, a day we celebrate nothing gained in war but what we’re given — how the sun’s warmth is democratic, touching everyone, and the rain is democratic...
    Poetry | By John Daniel | April 5, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Awe, Earth, Earth Day, Humanism, Imagination, Interdependence, July 4th, Nature, Secular, Wonder
  • "Rarely, if ever, are any of us healed in isolation. Healing is an act of communion." from https://www.betterworldbooks.com/product/detail/All-about-Love--New-Vis… about Love, p. 215.
    Quote | By bell hooks | March 13, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Community, Connections, Healing, Interdependence, Love, Relationships, Wholeness
  • Our communities of memory and promise are founded upon covenants because we all need a defense against the impulse of immediate feelings that challenge our best intentions. It is necessary to be reminded from time to time of what you said you were going to do, and what you really want, over and...
    Reading | By Kendyl L. R. Gibbons | February 21, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Building/Space Dedication, Business Meetings, Commitment, Community, Connections, Covenant, Homecoming / Ingathering, Installations, Integrity, Interdependence, Living Our Faith, Ordinations, Relationships, Unitarian Universalism, Unity
  • “We are all broken by something. We have all hurt someone and have been hurt. We all share the condition of brokenness even if our brokenness is not equivalent. The ways in which I have been hurt—and have hurt others—are different from the ways [others have] suffered and caused suffering. But...
    Quote | By Bryan Stevenson | February 8, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Brokenness, Connections, Direct Experience, Healing, Humanism, Interdependence, Secular, Unity

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Conceived in 1999, WorshipWeb was implemented in late 2000 and 2001 through funding from the Unitarian Universalist Association's successful 1997 "Handing on the Future" capital fund campaign.

We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association and its members in the development of WorshipWeb.