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Displaying 1 - 50 of 78

  • If you have come here tonight on Rosh Hashanah and feel that there is nothing to examine, no wound in your life to heal, no relationship to repair—then I hope you will listen especially closely to the shofar.
    Quote | By Angela Buchdahl | April 4, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Brokenness, Grief, Healing, Judaism, Reconciliation, Rosh Hashanah, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • A person is not entitled to forgiveness if they haven’t done the work of repair.
    Reading | By Danya Ruttenberg | November 20, 2023 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Forgiveness, Judaism, Reconciliation, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • Atonement is, in the framework of my tradition, something that happens in connection with the divine.
    Reading | By Danya Ruttenberg | November 15, 2023 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Forgiveness, Judaism, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • We need to summon the courage to cross the bridge...
    Reading | By Danya Ruttenberg | November 15, 2023 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Blame, Courage, Forgiveness, Judaism, Personal Stories, Relationships, Responsibility, Trust, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • Thoughtful commentary and context for how to light a menorah responsibly and respectfully.
    Video | By Joanna Lubkin | October 10, 2023 | From WorshipLab
    Tagged as: Hanukkah, Judaism, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • We all want to feel at home, somewhere, somehow....
    Reading | By Christian Schmidt | October 18, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Home, Judaism, Searching, Sukkot
  • Breathe in us, with us, and through us as we gather—one in community.
    Invocation | By Kristin Grassel Schmidt | September 22, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Awe, Earth-Centered, Judaism, Nature, Rosh Hashanah, Unity, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • We could have assimilated but instead / we rededicate
    Affirmation | By Leah Ongiri | March 1, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Hanukkah, Identity, Judaism, Strength, Tradition, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • We must be willing and prepared to dance with joy when liberation arrives.
    Poetry | By Mandie McGlynn | January 12, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Generations, Judaism, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • May this chalice light guide us toward the courageous and openhearted apology, toward repair of relationships in our lives.
    Chalice Lighting | By Joanna Lubkin | October 1, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Forgiveness, Judaism, Relationships, Sacred, Yom Kippur, 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
  • 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
  • What if you thought of it as the Jews consider the Sabbath— the most sacred of times? Cease from travel. Cease from buying and selling. Give up, just for now, on trying to make the world different than it is. Sing. Pray. Touch only those to whom you commit your life. Center down. And when your...
    Poetry | By Lynn Ungar | March 17, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: #COVID19, Body, Contemplation, Direct Experience, Healing, Judaism, Sacred, Wisdom
  • We honor the great mystery of the universe, the source of all, which deems everything sacred by its power to unite us...
    Blessing | By Lorenzo Bassman | January 8, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Hanukkah, Judaism, Unitarian Universalism
  • Spirit of Life, Source of Love, you who know our struggles and failures as well as we know them ourselves, be with us as we enter into this time of reflection. Give us the courage to travel through a moral inventory of our lives, to notice the places where we have missed opportunities to live our...
    Prayer | By Lyn Cox | October 16, 2019 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Community, Conscience, Ethics, Failure, Judaism, Reconciliation, Responsibility, Rosh Hashanah, Transformation, Yom Kippur
  • 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
  • The innkeeper isn’t part of most Nativity sets. No one sings carols about innkeepers. There don’t seem to be any paintings that include them. But we can imagine the scene: Bethlehem is crowded with people coming home for the census. It’s late at night when the innkeeper responds to a knock on...
    Reading | By Anne Dilenschneider | January 2, 2019 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), Abundance, Anti-Oppression, Christianity, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Compassion, Discernment, Empathy, Hospitality, Inclusion, Judaism, Kindness, Living Our Faith, Responsibility, WorshipWeb
  • I invite you now to join me in the spirit of meditation and imagination. Find a comfortable position in your seat and close your eyes. Take a deep breath and try to find the restorative power of air and water in the breath. We must breathe to live, but our bodies also need water to survive. Our...
    Meditation | By Israel Buffardi | December 7, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 6th Principle (World Community), Beginnings, Body, Commitment, Courage, Creativity, Generations, History, Judaism, New Year, Power, Rosh Hashanah, Searching, Spiritual Practice
  • We light this chalice to remember the miracle of the oil that burned for eight days.
    Chalice Lighting | By DC Fortune | December 5, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Earth-Centered, Hanukkah, Hope, Judaism, Mystery, Winter, Winter Solstice / Yule, Wonder
  • We pray for the three Jewish congregations who meet at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, PA. We hold those taken too soon in our prayers even before we know all of their names – 11 people so far....
    Prayer | By Alison Miller | October 27, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Disaster, Disaster or Crisis, Judaism
  • 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
  • God of our hearts, God of our understandings, God who gives us hope and inspires us to commitment, God who commands us to remember: We come together today with hearts contrite and broken; We come together with minds awake, comprehension striving against incomprehension; We come together in hope...
    Prayer | By Paul Oakley | August 3, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Death, God, Holocaust Remembrance / Yom Ha'Shoah, Judaism, Solidarity, Suffering
  • Let us listen deeply to what is on our hearts, Let us listen to what our fears are; Let us listen to the young children, Let us listen to the teens, Let us listen to the elders. Let us listen when the world is sick. Let us listen....
    Meditation | By Laura Evonne Steinman | August 11, 2017 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Children, Direct Experience, Generations, Humanism, Judaism, Listening, Presence, Secular
  • We are on a journey. We didn’t plan it. We didn’t have time for the bread to rise. We may find ourselves in the wilderness, hungry, thirsty, Doubting that we should have ever come. But look around: We are not alone. It is our journey together: A journey to our better selves, A journey to a...
    Closing | By Debra Haffner | July 4, 2017 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Beginnings, Community, Connections, Courage, Doubt, Journey, Judaism, Passover (Pesach)
  • We light the Hanukkah candles in wonder, joy, and gratitude, each candle a miracle. When the Holy Temple was rededicated at the time of the Maccabean liberation battle, only one day’s worth of oil remained, yet it burned for eight days so we light candles in remembrance....
    Responsive Reading | By Amanda Udis-Kessler | January 18, 2017 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Anti-Oppression, Awe, Freedom, Hanukkah, Judaism, Trust, Wonder
  • We offer blessings for life and the end of life. Blessings for the dying. Blessings for the caregiver, holding love and carrying burden. Blessed is the Body. Youth claimed by death. Elder claimed by death. Blessed is all creation moving toward one ending in order to begin again. Let us Bless the...
    Blessing | By Natalie Maxwell Fenimore | January 1, 2017 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Acceptance, All Souls Day, Animal Memorial, Caring, Change, Death, Direct Experience, Empathy, Grief, Journey, Judaism, Letting Go, Love, Memorial Services, Remembrance Day, Secular, Transformation, Unitarian Universalism
  • As December opens up before us, we welcome in the gift of reflection.
    Affirmation | By Gwen Matthews | December 20, 2016 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Advent, Christianity, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Earth-Centered, Hanukkah, Hope, IllUUmination, Judaism, Love, Mystery, Paganism, Reverence, Tradition, Winter, Winter Solstice / Yule
  • Those of us with some privilege in this empire may be tempted to seek refuge in it, as if privilege was ever going to save us. But who’s to say whether you’ve come to this place and position for a time such as this?
    Reflection | By Jake Morrill | November 9, 2016 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), 5th Principle (Conscience & Democracy), America, Brokenness, Commitment, Despair, Direct Experience, Humanism, Integrity, Judaism, Politics, Secular
  • All that we have been separately and all that we will become together is stretched out before and behind us like stars scattered across a canvas of sky. We stand at the precipice, arms locked together like tandem skydivers working up the courage to jump. Tell me, friends: What have we got to lose?
    Meditation | By Leslie Ahuvah Fails | October 6, 2016 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Beginnings, Body, Calling, Commitment, Courage, Homecoming / Ingathering, Installations, Interdependence, Judaism, Ordinations, Playfulness, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Relationships, Trust, Unitarian Universalism
  • For those we have hurt in any way, whether through words or deed or thoughts. Here is a place to forgive and to be forgiven. For the excuses we have made, just to be right. Here is a place to forgive and to be forgiven. For the blame we have placed on someone else, again and again....
    Litany | By Cathy Cartwright-Chow | September 29, 2016 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Acceptance, Community, Forgiveness, Grace, Healing, Judaism, Relationships, Responsibility, Rosh Hashanah, Self-Respect, Unitarian Universalism, Yom Kippur
  • May the next ten days be days of reflection, introspection, and peace.
    Closing | By Debra Haffner | September 29, 2016 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Beginnings, Connections, Judaism, Letting Go, Rosh Hashanah
  • Gracious God, From Isaiah we hear you say, “Do not fear. I have called you by name. You are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you. And when you walk through fire, you will not be burned, and the flames shall not consume...
    Prayer | By Susan Maginn | August 15, 2016 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Christianity, Courage, God, Intimacy, Judaism, Presence, Relationships, Spirituality, Transformation
  • A Free Retelling of the Shevirat haKeilim (from the Kabbalah) At the beginning of time, before anything else at all existed, Love was all there was, and it filled up everything in the whole universe. But Love got bored and lonely. There was no one to be in love with....
    Story | By Amy Petrie Shaw | August 1, 2016 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), Anti-Oppression, Choice, Good, Healing, Judaism, Justice, Meaning, Purpose, Transformation
  • Imagine this. On the days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, every fall, every year, the people make their peace with anyone they have wronged or slighted or injured or in any way neglected in the past twelve months....
    Meditation | By Victoria Safford | June 13, 2016 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Brokenness, Forgiveness, Healing, Judaism, Relationships, Wholeness, Yom Kippur
  • Beloved Children of the Oneness of many names, you who cover the land in numbers greater than the stars, I petition you, I pray to you, because you are the fruit of God’s promise to the World; because each of you holds a piece of the truth of all that is; because the vision of Beloved Community...
    Prayer | By Jan Taddeo | December 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 6th Principle (World Community), Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Justice, Justice Sunday, Multiculturalism, Peace, Reconciliation, Reverence, War, WorshipWeb
  • A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more. ~ Matthew 2:18 I read those words aloud from the pulpit once a year, on Christmas Eve: a night when we celebrate the birth of hope and possibility and...
    Meditation | By Lisa Doege | December 3, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), Advent, Birth, Brokenness, Children, Christianity, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Hope, Judaism, Parents, Peace, Violence
  • Sheet music (PDF). Kindle candles one by one; night by night, the light it grows. Lights of freedom miracle of faith! Shining out for all to see. We give thanks for miracles. Ancestors who fought for faith. They were brave beyond all hope! Strong, courageous Maccabees. Blessed is the Holy One who...
    Music | By Suzelle Lynch | November 27, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Courage, Freedom, Generations, Hanukkah, Judaism, Tradition
  • For all who die in war We lift up our hearts For all who live in suffering in the aftermath of violence We lift up our hearts For all who give their lives in smoke and flame We lift up our hearts For all who go on in honor of the dead We lift up our hearts For all who have served We lift up our...
    Prayer | By Amy Petrie Shaw | October 30, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 6th Principle (World Community), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), All Saints Day, All Souls Day, Brokenness, Buddhism, Christianity, Conflict, Direct Experience, Islam, Judaism, Memorial Day, Pain, Peace, Reconciliation, Religion, United Nations Day, Veterans Day, War, WorshipWeb
  • In Jewish tradition, the four chapters of the Book of Jonah are read aloud at Yom Kippur. Jonah is a minor prophet in the Hebrew Bible but he has a big message. Some of you may know his story. Jonah is sent by God to Nineveh to warn the people that if they do not change their ways they will be...
    Story | By Joanne Giannino | September 22, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Anger, Community, Compromise, Forgiveness, God, Good, Judaism, Transformation, Yom Kippur
  • Image | By AmyBeth Gibbs | September 17, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Awe, Beginnings, Forgiveness, God, Judaism, Love, Rosh Hashanah, Tradition, Wonder, Yom Kippur
  • This was created as a Message for All Ages for a service honoring Yom Ha’Shoah, the Jewish holiday for Holocaust Remembrance. In 2016, Yom Ha'Shoah begins on the evening of Wednesday, May 4th and ends on the evening of Thursday, May 5th. Once there was a place that was very bleak and dreary. All...
    Time for All Ages | By Martha Dallas | May 12, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Beauty, Connections, Direct Experience, Food, Generosity, History, Holocaust Remembrance / Yom Ha'Shoah, Hope, Judaism, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Secular, WorshipWeb
  • Creative spirit, source of life and love: We give thanks for the beauty of this day and for the company of those assembled here. Thank you for the breezes of change, clearing our heads and bringing fresh ideas. May they cleanse our minds of the oppressions and isms that divide us....
    Prayer | By Lyn Cox | May 7, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Anti-Oppression, Beauty, Change, Christianity, Creativity, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Gratitude, Judaism, May Day / Beltane, Nature, WorshipWeb
  • Today we light our candle of remembrance. On April 19, 1943 the Jewish community in the Warsaw ghetto rose up against their captors in a valiant effort to regain their freedom and return a common humanity to those intent on destroying their very existence....
    Reading | By Karen Mooney | April 27, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Anti-Oppression, Brokenness, Direct Experience, History, Holocaust Remembrance / Yom Ha'Shoah, Human Rights, Humanism, Identity, Judaism, Prayer Practices, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Race/Ethnicity, Solidarity
  • There once was a man named Daniel who was as gentle as a lamb. The King loved Daniel so much that he gave him power over the entire kingdom. But this made many men jealous of Daniel. One day, when the men happened to see him praying to God, they thought of a way to hurt Daniel....
    Story | By Christopher Buice | April 14, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Animals, History, Judaism, Peace, Power
  • Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Olympia who had a dream. She dreamed that one day she would grow up to be a minister. But during the 1800s, only men were ministers, so it didn’t seem likely that Olympia’s dream would come true. Olympia, however, continued to dream. Time passed,...
    Story | By Christopher Buice | April 14, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Commitment, History, Judaism, Purpose, Universalism, Women
  • Over the years your staples have slipped and pages loosened. Here a faded purple crescent of ancient wine, there a smudge from bricks of date paste. But when you speak I swoon....
    Poetry | By Rabbi Rachel Barenblat | March 24, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Courage, Freedom, God, History, Judaism, Reverence, Sacred, Tradition
  • The day after the seder, reality shoves back in like a football player with lowered shoulder. Dishes to wash: the browned kugel pan, chopping knives, the eggbeater that whipped the whites for Eppie’s matzah balls, the gravy boats that held haroset, the glass bowls encrusted with salt. All day...
    Poetry | By Rabbi Rachel Barenblat | March 24, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Food, Judaism, Passover (Pesach), Prophetic Words & Deeds, Spiritual Practice, Tradition
  • Wear God like a cloak / and stride forth with confidence.
    Poetry | By Rabbi Rachel Barenblat | March 24, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Courage, Fear, Freedom, Judaism, Letting Go, Passover (Pesach), Tradition, Transformation
  • Breakfast on kosher macaroons and Diet Pepsi in the car on the way to Price Chopper for lamb. Peel five pounds of onions and let the Cuisinart shred them while you push them down and weep....
    Poetry | By Rabbi Rachel Barenblat | March 24, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Direct Experience, Food, Freedom, Generations, Judaism, Passover (Pesach), Prophetic Words & Deeds, Spirituality, Tradition
  • Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them out of that land to a good and broad land, a land...
    Meditation | By John Nichols | March 19, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Freedom, God, Integrity, Judaism, Passover (Pesach)

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