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Displaying 1 - 50 of 409

  • We proclaim with Love on our side: Our bodies are sacred. Our minds are blessed. Our spirits are beloved.
    Chalice Lighting | By Karishma Gottfried | April 24, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), Body, Fat Liberation, Grace, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Love, Sacred, 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/Wiser
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Body, Children, Direct Experience, Gender, Generations, Imagination, Unitarian Universalism, Worship
  • This chalice is for the living, the changing, the becoming.
    Chalice Lighting | By Li Kynvi | March 15, 2023 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Growth, Identity, Living Our Faith, Transformation, Truth, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • I don’t know exactly when it happened, but something began to change.
    Reading | By Tess Baumberger | March 13, 2023 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Acceptance, Aging, Caring, Change, Coming-of-Age, Direct Experience, Generations, Humanism, Life Transition, Secular, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • Loving sometimes takes all that we have.
    Responsive Reading | By Patty Willis | March 8, 2023 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Courage, Forgiveness, Friendship, Love, Relationships, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • Queer joy is resistance.
    Reflection | By cristy cardinal | November 23, 2022 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged 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
  • Love is reaching through the generations with expectations that I live through challenging times.
    Reflection | By Melissa Jeter | November 2, 2022 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Direct Experience, Earth, Fall, Family, Generations, Healing, Love, Presence, Worship
  • I rise on the shoulders of ancestors whose names I can not know.
    Reflection | By Glen Thomas Rideout | September 14, 2022 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged 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
  • If you’re trying to build a worship service that's anti-racist and decenters whiteness, you start in one spot.
    Leader Resource | By JeKaren Olaoya, Erika Hewitt | September 2, 2022 | From WorshipLab
    Tagged as: #WidenTheCircle, 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), Anti-Oppression, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Leadership, Multiculturalism, Race/Ethnicity, Unitarian Universalism, Worship Tips
  • We hold in our hearts those who aspire to move from age-ing to sage-ing.
    Prayer | By Darcey Elizabeth Hegvik Laine, Mary Grigolia | September 1, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Acceptance, Aging, Body, Challenge, Change, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • There is no such thing as unskilled labor.
    Reflection | By Sarah Skochko | August 31, 2022 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), America, Compassion, Dignity, Human Rights, Humanism, Labor Day, Secular, Work, Worship
  • People of faith are experts in human kindness.
    Reading | By Barbara F. Meyers | July 27, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Addiction/Recovery, Caring, Community, Healing, Hope, Kindness, Mental Health
  • Mental illnesses are sometimes called “no-casserole diseases.” People don’t bring casseroles to homes where someone is hospitalized for mental problems.
    Reading | By Barbara F. Meyers | July 27, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), Caring, Compassion, Mental Health, 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
  • 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/Wiser
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), Acceptance, Anti-Oppression, Humanism, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Secular, Unitarian Universalism, Worship
  • There’s never been a time in the United States history when black rebellions did not spark existential fear among white people.
    Reading | By Michelle Alexander, Leslie Alexander | May 12, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), America, Black History / Whitney Young / James Reeb, Freedom, History, Juneteenth, Race/Ethnicity, Secular, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • The power to choose is the power of life in the midst of brokenness.
    Reading | By Rebecca Ann Parker | May 7, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged 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
  • 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
  • Happy kids are safer kids, because happy kids have adults they can ask for help.
    Reflection | By Quinn Gormley | March 2, 2022 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Acceptance, Anti-Oppression, Children, Coming Out, Direct Experience, Humanism, Identity, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Parents, Pride Sunday, Secular, Worship
  • May the rainbow of love enfold you; may your fluidity never be hindered.
    Blessing | By Cricket Hall | March 1, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), Acceptance, Anti-Oppression, Direct Experience, Identity, Inclusion, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Pride Sunday, 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
  • The moment of asking for help is a tender moment.
    Meditation | By Anonymous | February 4, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Acceptance, Addiction/Recovery, Humility, Personal Stories, Self-Care, Vulnerability
  • When you're shamed and ashamed, it takes a lot of positives to make up for even a few negatives.
    Homily | By Victoria Ingram | January 14, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Body, Direct Experience, Fat Liberation, Self-Respect
  • Spirit of Life who dwells before and between and beyond all words… we open ourselves to you.
    Reflection | By David Glasgow | November 17, 2021 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Anti-Oppression, Arts & Music, Coming Out, Courage, Direct Experience, Friendship, Identity, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Pride Sunday, Secular, Solidarity, Worship
  • May the beginnings and endings in our stories be held in unconditional love and acceptance.
    Litany | By Julia Hamilton | September 27, 2021 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), Anti-Oppression, Body, Choice, Direct Experience, Secular, Unitarian Universalism, WorshipWeb, Reproductive Justice, Worship
  • It’s so [easy] to see the one disabled person and say, She needs a cure so she can fit into our world.
    Quote | By Rebekah Taussig | September 27, 2021 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), Anti-Oppression, Body, Direct Experience, Disability, Justice, Oppression, Wholeness
  • When I was small and just learning how to do life in my body, I didn’t hesitate, didn’t hold back, didn’t worry how it would look, didn’t look for cues or ask for a line. My imagination ruled... I was entirely free to be, driven by the innovation my body inspired. This is the wild...
    Reading | By Rebekah Taussig | September 27, 2021 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), Anti-Oppression, Body, Dignity, Direct Experience, Freedom, Justice, Oppression, Wholeness
  • Shame seems to be a bestselling product pumped out of all these crushing systems.
    Reading | By Rebekah Taussig | September 27, 2021 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), Anti-Oppression, Brokenness, Direct Experience, Disability, Identity, Justice, Oppression
  • The following is an excerpt from the Theological Statement that opens the May 2018 Report of the UUMA Ableism Task Force. The members of that Task Force were Rev. Josh Pawelek and Rev. Barbara F. Meyers, co-chairs; Rev. Mark Belletini; Rev. Erika Hewitt; Rev. Evan Keely; and Rev. Theresa I. Soto.
    Reading | August 17, 2021 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), Anti-Oppression, Body, Disability, Inclusion, Wholeness, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • Help me live in gratitude for the LGBTQ+ ancestors who paved this road we walk and roll on.
    Reflection | By Li Kynvi | June 9, 2021 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), Activism, Anti-Oppression, Direct Experience, Identity, Justice, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Pride Sunday, Worship
  • It can be a lonely time for those of us whose arms are empty.
    Meditation | By Amy Williams Clark | March 18, 2021 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Children, Direct Experience, Grief, Mother's Day, Mothers, Searching, Secular
  • Writing in a book—a hardback book! with pen!—goes against everything we’ve been taught, but now is the time to do it.
    Ritual | By Margy Levine Young | March 18, 2021 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), Gender, Inclusion, Prophetic Words & Deeds, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • Unitarian Universalism has a place for you. It is right here.
    Chalice Lighting | By Tara Humphries | March 3, 2021 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Acceptance, Community, Inclusion, Young Adults, Youth/Teens, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • Impermanence, mortality, ashes, dust: this is the truth of being human.
    Reflection | By Lora Brandis | February 17, 2021 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Christianity, Death, Discernment, Grief, Humility, Lent, Love, Spiritual Practice, Worship
  • I've adopted the practice of spiritual reconnection with my ancestors to heal intergenerational trauma.
    Reflection | By Jabari S. Jones | February 10, 2021 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), America, Anti-Oppression, Black History / Whitney Young / James Reeb, Direct Experience, Diversity, Generations, Healing, History, International, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Race/Ethnicity, Transformation, Trauma, Worship
  • Since I was a kid, I have had a penchant and passion for my touch on my body. This was sometimes shameful, sometimes wonderful, and deeply private from fairly early on, as I received messages from family and neighbors that it wasn’t “right.” It has only been as an adult, as i have witnessed...
    Reading | By Adrienne Maree Brown | January 30, 2021 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), Anti-Oppression, Beauty, Belief, Body, Direct Experience, Self-Care, Self-Respect, Sexuality, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • This is a "love saves" story.
    Reflection | By Paul S Sawyer | December 9, 2020 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), Advent, Anger, Children, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Compassion, Direct Experience, Humanism, Living Our Faith, Love, Psychology, Relationships, Respect, Responsibility, Self-Respect, Worship
  • The history of conquest is a scourge on the human condition. A lingering one.
    Quote | By Imani Perry | October 27, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), Anti-Oppression, Evil, Freedom, Greed, History, Humanism, Oppression, Poverty, Secular
  • I do not believe the acts of oppressors are my people's shame.
    Quote | By Imani Perry | October 27, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), Culture, Direct Experience, Generations, History, Humanism, Identity, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Race/Ethnicity, Secular, Self-Respect
  • We teach girls to be likeable, to be nice, to be false. And we do not teach boys the same. This is dangerous.
    Reading | By Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie | October 22, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), Beginnings, Character, Children, Coming-of-Age, Direct Experience, Education, Freedom, Gender, Generations, Humanism, Secular, Self-Respect, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • The chalice, as a symbol of Unitarian Universalism, arose as a beacon of hope in an atmosphere of tyranny. The chalice arose as a sign of promise that the marginalized would neither be forgotten nor ignored, because they are beloved and precious from the perspective of the Holy. This morning, we...
    Chalice Lighting | By Erika Hewitt | August 5, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), Anti-Oppression, Freedom, Generations, History, Hope, Oppression, Unitarian Universalism, Unitarianism, Wholeness
  • It often feels like we’re shouting into the void. It was a gift to be reminded that sometimes someone is listening.
    Reflection | By Jodi Cohen Hayashida | July 8, 2020 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), Activism, America, Belief, Democracy, Direct Experience, Imagination, Justice, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Race/Ethnicity, Solidarity, Truth
  • The drag show was heaven broken open, given to us for the evening. Everything for a little while was perfect—and I saw the face of my God.
    Reflection | By Jami Yandle | July 1, 2020 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), Freedom, Gender, God, Identity, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Pride Sunday, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Sacred, Sexuality
  • I learned the hard way that there is a deep difference between the Jesus that Black folks worship and the Jesus that white Christians worship.
    Reading | By Austin Channing Brown | June 27, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), Christianity, Direct Experience, History, Power, Race/Ethnicity, Religion
  • 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/Wiser
    Tagged 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/Wiser
    Tagged 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/Wiser
    Tagged 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
  • 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.
    Prayer | By Byron "Tyler" Coles | June 2, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Activism, Anger, Awe, Direct Experience, Generations, Indigenous American, Meaning, Power, Race/Ethnicity, Relationships, Secular, Wonder
  • I hope that this Great Silence, which has come alongside the suffering, holds the beginnings of our healing.
    Reflection | By Elea Kemler | May 6, 2020 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Balance, Beauty, Body, Direct Experience, Earth-Centered, Hope, Humanism, Imagination, Nature, Presence, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Secular, Spring
  • “Specialists without spirit, sensualists without heart; this nullity imagines that it has attained a level of civilization never before achieved.” ―Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism Raise your hand if you believe you’re not doing enough right now. Do you feel like...
    Reflection | By Jude Geiger | April 29, 2020 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: #COVID19, 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), 5th Principle (Conscience & Democracy), America, Anti-Oppression, Ethics, History, Humanism, Secular, Work, Worry

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