Scorekeeping is about who hurts whom more. In the long-term, no one wins.

May the words that I speak remind others that they are beloved.

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.

May this flag inspire us to live with pride, to embrace our truths, and to unite in the face of adversity.

Let us remember that we are not alone until we light this flame next time.

Building relationships requires the risk of being open and curious.

We need to summon the courage to cross the bridge...

Holy Reconciler, help us make peace with each other.

Carl the golden retriever learns about the limitations of the Golden Rule.

I have struggled forgiving myself for not knowing how to create appropriate boundaries.

May we remember to slow down when we find ourselves having difficult conversations.

Every relationship is an ongoing story that unfolds between people.

Loving sometimes takes all that we have.

12-Step recovery has provided me with perspective, forgiveness, and freedom from shame.

Speaking from the heart can turn an ordinary meeting into a rewarding one.

What happens when you don’t agree?

We give thanks to the Sacred, woven in and among us, for the teachers, youth advisors, youth mentors, and parents in our community.

Preparation: acquire a wooden block tower building game (similar to Jenga ©). If possible, consider getting a jumbo version of game because its size lends itself to more visibility for the congregation and more space for more kids to participate. Other supplies: signs or name tags that state...

We don’t need to understand why someone sets a boundary to respect it.

I offer my "Ouch" with hope and trust.

We must choose each other again and again, though conflict and through plenty.

We are learning to regroup and remember perfection was never the point.

Your minister is not, cannot be, your friend.

Cultures of gratitude must also be cultures of reciprocity.

Love cannot fix everything, but it can keep us company.

When covenant / breaks, we need to come home / to trust.

We are stronger together because we are different, and because we are one.

Every time someone showed up for me, I learned that love is greater than skin deep.

I learned that love and support can be expressed in many different ways by different people.

Conflict resolution is in fact one of the greatest things that you can accomplish in your life and in your relationship. [W]hen I view people as not bringing conflict up, I think it’s being unfaithful to the relationship. I think it’s an abdication of your role in the relationship, and you are...

It’s through our shared interdependence that we are sheltered and saved.

Start by telling the story of your mistake. Keep practicing! This is a tool you can use in many different situations.

We cannot begin to find ourselves without love.

May I have the wisdom to be curious when I find myself grumbling about “them.”

This reflection was part of Side With Love Sunday 2021.

We are one, a diverse group of proudly kindred spirits, here not by coincidence but because we choose to journey together.

We gather because we need community to do all of this holy work.

Can you imagine what it was like to be inside of that house, afraid that it might fall all apart from the destructive force of the wind and the rain, from the whole storm?

This is a "love saves" story.

May this chalice light guide us toward the courageous and openhearted apology, toward repair of relationships in our lives.

It’s important to honor the footprint others leave on our heart.

The harder things are to say, the more necessary they are to say.

Over the years, I’ve built up an impressive array of tools for meetings: I-statements, being assertive, and all of that stuff. What I could improve on, though, is knowing when to switch tools.

Come. Gather. Not into a common space— sharing a physical closeness we long for, precluded by wise choice. But come, gather into this common time and a common space. We need to be together. We yearn for connection....

Deep in the shadow of night, down near the crossroads and cemetery gates, with bitter liquor and cigar smoke wafting, I greet you. Clad in white, upon the floor before shrines, following the names of the Ancestors being uttered, I greet you. You are the sacred and righteous rage of my people.

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.

Of course there are people behaving badly during this pandemic, using it as an excuse to practice prejudice, to hoard, to blame; using it to divide and weaken us, cashing in on surface tensions for their own terrible benefit. The news daily shows these heavy things....

Once upon a time there was a tiny, little, itty bitty, very small, tiny little god named Tiny. She lived her life hearing stories of all the big gods and, well, let’s face it, she was jealous. She knew she needed to think of some kind of special spark of an idea that would make her existence...

Years ago, I did one of those mud run obstacle races. There were eight physical obstacles on the course, but my biggest learning was that we all had a ninth obstacle.

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.