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To search for resources that support March's Soul Matter theme of Transformation, toggle the red arrow below and search for Spiritual Themes of: Transformation, Change, Endings, Beginnings, Searching.

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Displaying 1 - 50 of 215

  • Here we engage in a holy alchemy, finding beauty in the ordinary and life in the present.
    Opening | By Kim Mason | April 6, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Beauty, Community, Connections, Solidarity, Transformation, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • Pause here, and be renewed and restored.
    Opening | By Linda Hart | December 13, 2023 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Advent, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Journey, Self-Care, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • God, Your creation is not yet done creating you.
    Opening | By Gretchen Haley | July 24, 2023 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: God, Goddess, Imagination, Immanence, Playfulness
  • May we know ourselves as vessels of infinite possibility
    Opening | By Leah Ongiri | March 10, 2023 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Growth, Living Our Faith, Purpose, Spirituality, Unitarian Universalism, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • We need places where we can come and find our grounding once again.
    Opening | By Heather Rion Starr | January 6, 2023 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Balance, Contemplation, Presence, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • Darkness is as important as light.
    Opening | By Jo VonRue | December 27, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Advent, Direct Experience, Imagination, Nature, Winter, Winter Solstice / Yule, Wonder, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • We are learning to regroup and remember perfection was never the point.
    Opening | By Gretchen Haley | June 27, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Acceptance, Grace, Growth, Healing, Progress, Relationships, Self-Respect, Vulnerability, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • It is in gathering that we find our hope.
    Opening | By Pat Uribe-Lichty | March 24, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Community, Hope, Interdependence, Solidarity, Unity
  • Whether you have made promises, broken promises, or are renewing your promises, you are beloved and you are welcome here.
    Opening | By Joan Javier-Duval | March 2, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Abundance, Acceptance, Community, Hospitality, Inclusion, Love, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • Without consent, our ability to create becomes not a blessing, but a burden and an imposition.
    Opening | By Elizabeth Mount | February 10, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Choice, Sexuality, Unitarian Universalism, WorshipWeb, Reproductive Justice, Worship
  • Light the fire of the Future
    Opening | By Kiakiali Bordner | January 14, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Community, Freedom, Hope, Hospitality, Inclusion, Love, Purpose
  • Let us marvel at the miracle of being here, right now.
    Opening | By Tania Márquez | November 30, 2021 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Community, Friendship, Gratitude, Joy, Unitarian Universalism, Unity, Wonder, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • We gather together....
    Opening | By Michelle LaGrave | November 18, 2021 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Acceptance, Community, Inclusion, Interdependence, Unity, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • Watershed moments are turning points, moments that permanently alter an understanding.
    Opening | By Martina Thompson | August 5, 2021 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Earth-Centered, Nature, Unitarian Universalism, Water Communion, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • Set your compass to point towards hope and begin your journey home.
    Opening | By Lindasusan Ulrich | June 2, 2021 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Acceptance, Brokenness, Community, Healing, Wholeness
  • We cannot begin to find ourselves without love.
    Opening | By Elizabeth Mount | April 12, 2021 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Body, Children, Connections, Father's Day, Humanism, Interdependence, Love, Mother's Day, Parents, Relationships, Secular, Trust, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • Easter is a holiday of miracles.
    Opening | By Peggy Clarke | March 31, 2021 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Belief, Christianity, Easter, Hope, Love, Nature, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • It's okay to be feel weary of resiliency and wholeness and learning and growth.
    Opening | By Sharon Wylie | November 16, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: #COVID19, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • It is now, when we are called to act on our values, not to hide, not to fear, but to be bold and loud.
    Opening | By Tania Márquez | October 19, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), Activism, Character, Courage, Direct Experience, Humanism, Justice, Living Our Faith, Responsibility, Secular, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • We are held by the great Book of Life, in which it is written that we will inevitably face deprivation and discomfort. Each among us must contemplate our own place in it all.
    Opening | By Leah Ongiri | September 15, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Judaism, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • 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....
    Opening | By Jeff May | August 11, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: #COVID19, Community, Relationships
  • music arises from depths unknown often without words but never without meaning and spirit rises from deep within me seducing my body to join the song first a tremor in the soul, then tapping of toes breath aligns with breath, heart beats in syncopation and a stuttering buzz in my throat becomes a...
    Opening | By Arlen Goff | May 4, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Arts & Music, Body, Community, Direct Experience, Joy, Music Sunday, Secular, Wonder
  • Give up the fight For some other moment Some other life Than here, and now Give up the longing for some other world The wishing for other choices to make other songs to sing other bodies, other ages, other countries, other stakes Purge the past; forgive the future— for each come too soon.
    Opening | By Gretchen Haley | April 8, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Acceptance, Body, Choice, Direct Experience, Forgiveness, Mindfulness, Peace, Presence
  • Spirit of life and love, We gather together in different ways this morning, From computer screens, from telephones, from car radios, We gather, reaching out across the wires, waving from a safe distance, To come together in religious community....
    Opening | By Cynthia Landrum | April 7, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: #COVID19, Beginnings, Community, Hope, Love, Nourishing the Spirit, Personal Inspiration
  • In ancient times, they said Dayenu It would have been enough to have been spared after the plagues. It would have been enough to have been freed of slavery, It would have been enough to have had food in the desert, Now we question, when will it be enough again? Dayenu Will it be enough to stay home?
    Opening | By Elizabeth Mount | April 6, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: #COVID19, Generations, History, Judaism, Passover (Pesach), Tradition
  • We who gather here In this tender and anxious and confusing time We have been awash in a sea of information And misinformation and disinformation and this information that we seek is simply so that we May make wise decisions about how we respond And learn how we hold one another when we can’t hol...
    Opening | By Rod Richards | March 19, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: #COVID19, Community, Interdependence, Seven Principles
  • These opening words are formatted for two readers, as indicated below....
    Opening | By Shari Woodbury | January 16, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Direct Experience, Home, Humanism, Listening, Secular, Self-Respect, Unitarian Universalism
  • [Written for two voices, here set for Worship Association (WA) and Minister (M)] WA: Perhaps some here have outgrown mystery. Maybe you have doubts about Santa, Or have forgotten the magic of a newborn child. M: One might easily lose touch with awe, In the struggle to do it all, Or simply to...
    Opening | By Shari Woodbury | January 8, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Advent, Awe, Children, Christianity, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Mystery, Tradition, Unitarian Universalism, Winter Solstice / Yule, Wonder
  • This opening was written for two voices, as indicated below. 1: Welcome, who come in friendship who long for genuine community... 2: May you be graciously received here as your authentic self. 1: Welcome, who come in curiosity, full of questions or simply open... 2: May you embrace wonder and...
    Opening | By Shari Woodbury | January 5, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Abundance, Beauty, Caring, Direct Experience, Hospitality, Humanism, Joy, Secular, Self-Care, Unitarian Universalism
  • Thresholds. We cross them every day. From room to room, from outside to inside, and back again, from here to there, from anywhere to everywhere, from age to age. Each threshold offers an opportunity for change, for renewal, for transformation, from what we were and what we are to what we can be....
    Opening | By Arlen Goff | January 2, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Beginnings, Change, Community, Direct Experience, Ending, Hope, Humanism, Progress, Secular, Transformation
  • Let us be thankful and full of praise to be in the company of those who came before.
    Opening | By Karen G. Johnston | October 22, 2019 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Community, Connections, Direct Experience, Generations, Gratitude, History, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Vision
  • We gather together this morning tenderly—like drops of dew on a leaf of grass hopefully—like gathered raindrops in a cloud gleefully—like water rushing in a stream to the sea deeply—like groundwater pulled up from a well We gather from every direction, for another year of growth and depth,...
    Opening | By Molly Housh Gordon | September 4, 2019 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Beginnings, Community, Earth, Earth-Centered, Homecoming / Ingathering, Interdependence, Nature, Water Communion
  • On a holy night In 1969, In an Inn, also known as a bar, Called the Stonewall Inn, A basement— which had no running running water, Nor safe fire exits— Queer people, of many colors and kinds, Danced together, For it was the only place Where they were allowed to dance, At least, permitted to, by...
    Opening | By Otto O’Connor | June 11, 2019 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), Activism, America, Anti-Oppression, Coming Out, History, Identity, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, National Coming Out Day, Pride Sunday, Prophetic Words & Deeds
  • We speak so often of brokenness in religious life, Let us speak today of wholeness....
    Opening | By Sharon Wylie | May 28, 2019 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), Acceptance, Anti-Oppression, Beauty, Coming Out, Gender, Humanism, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, National Coming Out Day, Pride Sunday, Secular, Self-Respect, Wholeness
  • [for 2-3 voices, alternating] On this eve of mystery and magic, let us enter into the Christmas story as if we were there on the holy night. What part will we play this year? Are you the mother, trusting your body to know what to do when the time of birth comes?...
    Opening | By Shari Woodbury | January 21, 2019 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Awe, Birth, Christianity, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Compassion, Dignity, Faith, Family, Hope, Hospitality, Journey, Love
  • What is it That calls you here That calls you onward That calls you inward That leads you homeward? What is it That gives you the power To make that change To ask that question To take that journey?...
    Opening | By Monica Jacobson-Tennessen | January 20, 2019 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), 6th Principle (World Community), Authority, Contemplation, Covenant, Journey, Living Our Faith, Relationships, Unitarian Universalism
  • Voice 1: You are beloved and you are welcome here Voice 2: Whether tears have fallen from your eyes this past week or gleeful laughter has spilled out of your smiling mouth Voice 1: You are beloved and you are welcome here Voice 2: Whether you are feeling brave or broken-hearted; defiant or...
    Opening | By Joan Javier-Duval | January 16, 2019 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), Acceptance, Brokenness, Caring, Community, Compassion, Diversity, Inclusion, Love, Unitarian Universalism, Wholeness, Worth, Worship
  • We feel the season turning. The early sunset glancing through the red-tinged leaves. The newspaper arriving in the cool morning air. The flock of migrating swallows. A feeling of being on the edge of something new. These are the Days of Awe. A time to welcome a new year and a time to make the old...
    Opening | By Ben Soule | January 7, 2019 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Awe, Conscience, Contemplation, Judaism, Mindfulness, Peace, Reconciliation, Rosh Hashanah, Sacred, Wonder, Yom Kippur, Worship
  • Let us be a faith that gathers, reaching for one another through the walls of hate others build, through the cages of ignorance and arrogance, and through the fear that burns city streets....
    Opening | By Heide Cottam | October 8, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 6th Principle (World Community), Anti-Oppression, Faith, Inclusion, Purpose, Service, Unitarian Universalism
  • It is not by chance that you arrived here today. You have been looking for something larger than yourself. Inside of you there is a yearning, a calling, a hope for more, A desire for a place of belonging and caring. Through your struggles, someone nurtured you into being, Instilling a belief in a...
    Opening | By Kimberlee Anne Tomczak Carlson | September 14, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Abundance, Acceptance, Caring, Coming Out, Commitment, Community, Flower Communion, Home, Homecoming / Ingathering, New Member Ceremony, Unitarian Universalism, Water Communion
  • Happy new year! Happy new year for our beloved community. Happy new school year....
    Opening | By Debra Haffner | September 14, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Beginnings, Community, Homecoming / Ingathering, Inclusion, Judaism, Rosh Hashanah, Unitarian Universalism, Vision, Water Communion
  • Calling all who cannot wait any longer for joy, for hope and some good news (even a little). The time has come, the waiting is over....
    Opening | By Gretchen Haley | September 4, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Christianity, Christmas Eve / Christmas
  • Be it real or metaphor, whatever is in your backpack, or your briefcase, or your purse that you’ve brought into this sanctuary that is weighing you down: leave it behind. Whatever you are carrying that is keeping you distracted, or caught up in shame, or guilt, or hopelessness: leave it behind....
    Opening | By Nathan Ryan | August 28, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Backpack Blessing, Community, Hope, Humanism, Integrity, Letting Go, Presence, Purpose, Secular, Unitarian Universalism
  • Welcome. Bienvenidos. Today we celebrate in community an important rite of passage for a Latina(x) child. We are honored and grateful to share in their dance from childhood into adulthood. ¡Feliz Quinceañera!
    Opening | By Raquel V. Reyes | July 16, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Quinceañera, Transformation, Young Adults
  • We seekers are on a quest: A quest to discover truth and meaning. Sometimes we think we’ve found it— Wrapped up, glimmering with newness Straight off the intellectual assembly line. All the answers right here for us And others, if they’d only listen. But truth has a way of coming in disguise,...
    Opening | By Jason Cook | June 18, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Character, Children's / Religious Education Sunday, Direct Experience, Growth, Humanism, Leadership, Meaning, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Revelation, Searching, Secular, Teacher Dedication, Teacher Recognition, Transformation, Truth, Wisdom
  • This morning, we gather together to worship as a community of all ages. Let us take a moment to look around at those of us sharing this sacred space. Let us recognize the hearts of our whole community – from our elders to our youngest and all the ages in between. Let us embody the beauty of this...
    Opening | By Jules Jaramillo | June 18, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Children, Children's / Religious Education Sunday, Generations
  • Leader 1: At this time of balance, at this time of awakening,we celebrate Ostara, the Spring Equinox. Leader 2: We honor the fertile Earth. We honor the warming breezes. Leader 1: We Honor the waxing light. We honor the nurturing rains....
    Opening | By David Ensley | June 18, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Earth, Earth-Centered, Nature, Spring, Vernal Equinox
  • People sometimes ask: Is Pride a protest Or a party? And the answer is Of course Yes. And why not? Why not Rejoice as we resist Dance as we demand change Celebrate as we create community that delights in All of who we are? So bring all of that With you this morning....
    Opening | By Hannah Roberts Villnave | June 12, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), Activism, Anti-Oppression, Community, Humanism, Joy, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Pride Sunday, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Secular, Solidarity, Strength, Unitarian Universalism
  • Hallelujah! As the spring sun coaxes lilies and bluebonnets from the soil, Let us celebrate that even after murderous betrayal, After days and nights suspended in torture, When all the world has gone dark and we cried out, “Why have You forsaken me?”—even then, there is a sunrise. Even then,...
    Opening | By Elena Westbrook | May 31, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Challenge, Christianity, Easter, Hope, Humanism, Joy, Spring, Unitarian Universalism
  • We come this day, called by war By the suffering we inflict and endure When minds across borders fail to reason and compromise. We come this day, called by loss, The deaths of those who serve in our name, Those whose lives end before their natural course In service to a cause greater than their own.
    Opening | By Heather K Janules | May 29, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: America, Grief, Humanism, Memorial Day, Military, Peace, Secular, Violence

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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.