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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 243

  • May we view each other as partners, comrades, friends on the journey
    Prayer | By Christin Green | August 1, 2023 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Business Meetings, Community, Living Our Faith, Purpose, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • 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 shall all be free.
    Chalice Lighting | By Adam Slate | March 9, 2023 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), Freedom, Living Our Faith, Purpose, Vision, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • You have given us a day unique from any other.
    Prayer | By Adam Slate | March 9, 2023 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Calling, Challenge, Character, God, Growth, Living Our Faith, Purpose, Unitarian Universalism, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • We can use our inner lights to kindle new sparks throughout our lives and in the world.
    Chalice Extinguishing | By Amanda Alice Uluhan | February 24, 2023 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Purpose, Unitarian Universalism, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • We come together in one faith.
    Chalice Lighting | By Pat Uribe-Lichty | October 18, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Faith, Hope, Living Our Faith, Purpose, Unitarian Universalism
  • Our common work is the creation of Beloved Community.
    Chalice Lighting | By Pat Uribe-Lichty | October 18, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Commitment, Living Our Faith, Purpose, Service, Unitarian Universalism
  • The work of radical inclusion; of collective liberation.
    Closing | By Emily Richards | October 18, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Business Meetings, Living Our Faith, Purpose
  • We gather to honor our covenant and engage in congregational life.
    Chalice Lighting | By Emily Richards | October 18, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Business Meetings, Character, Democracy, Leadership, Purpose, Work
  • Can we find space for lifting our heads in wonder—that we’re still striving, still trying together
    Chalice Lighting | By Li Kynvi | August 10, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Business Meetings, Commitment, Community, Faith, Hope, Identity, Living Our Faith, Purpose, Unitarian Universalism, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • We have a holy obligation to bring about paradise on this earth; each generation helps us do that.
    Reflection | By Nathan Ryan | June 15, 2022 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Children, Father's Day, Fathers, Generations, Hope, Mothers, Parents, Purpose, Secular, Unitarian Universalism, Worship
  • Discomfort /in the name of holy wholeness / Bring all of ourselves / in the name of holy, of wholeness
    Poetry | By Kiakiali Bordner | May 23, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), Activism, Anti-Oppression, Direct Experience, Justice, Leadership, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Purpose, Race/Ethnicity, Solidarity, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • You can crush Love down, bury it, cover it over, but it will rise.
    Reflection | By Molly Housh Gordon | April 6, 2022 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Christianity, Community, Easter, Love, Mystery, Purpose, Worship
  • May we tend our Soul Fire through these challenging and trying times
    Chalice Lighting | By anastasi birosh | March 31, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: #8thPrinciple, Acceptance, Challenge, Hope, Hospitality, Inclusion, Purpose, Unitarian Universalism, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • We tend the spark of imagination and hope for the world to come.
    Chalice Lighting | By Rachael Hayes | February 25, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Business Meetings, Discernment, Generations, Humanism, Leadership, Purpose, Stewardship, Unitarian Universalism, WorshipWeb, 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
  • We are mourning the dead and fighting for the living. We're singing for joy and striving for meaning.
    Prayer | By Erika Hewitt | December 14, 2021 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Awe, Mystery, Purpose, Wonder, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • Though we experience discomfort, we are excited to give birth to a new, just world.
    Chalice Extinguishing | By Melissa Jeter | November 22, 2021 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Challenge, Choice, Contemplation, Imagination, Purpose, Unitarian Universalism
  • We already have everything we need within us to meet the life that is before us.
    Reflection | By DanaLee Simon | November 10, 2021 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Animals, Character, Earth-Centered, Growth, Limitations, Nature, Purpose, Worship
  • I want to be shaped in a way that lets me serve the eternal.
    Reflection | By Jake Morrill | September 22, 2021 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Contemplation, God, Meaning, Presence, Purpose, Transcendence, Worship
  • Here we gather to celebrate hope, and the infinite possibilities of love.
    Chalice Lighting | By Tom Goldsmith | April 28, 2021 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Freedom, Hope, Love, Purpose, Unitarian Universalism, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • This year, the Advent season seems particularly seized by a spirit of the expected, the longing.
    Reflection | By Robin Tanner | December 2, 2020 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: #COVID19, Advent, Children, Christianity, Hope, Living Our Faith, Parents, Purpose, Worship
  • To be a Unitarian Universalist means we’ll never be done with the work.
    Chalice Lighting | By Erika Hewitt | November 9, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Anti-Oppression, Community, Covenant, Identity, Living Our Faith, Purpose, Seven Principles, Transformation, Unitarian Universalism, Universalism
  • As Unitarian Universalists, our journey is to transform the big and the small, to transform ourselves, and to transform the world.
    Responsive Reading | By Elizabeth Nguyen | November 9, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Anti-Oppression, Calling, Freedom, Justice, Living Our Faith, Purpose, Seven Principles, Transformation, Unitarian Universalism, Universalism, Wholeness, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • When we feel overwhelmed, we gather to find a path, to find new ways forward.
    Responsive Reading | By David Breeden | September 19, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Community, Disaster or Crisis, Grief, Humanism, Memorial Services, Purpose, Searching, Secular, Strength, Stress, Unitarian Universalism, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • May the invitation of prayer and meditation embrace this holy house and each precious person, moving each and all to connect with a sense of affirmation— sound, movement, or silence— in whatever way your body knows to be true. [chime] Spirit of Life and Love, our hearts are overflowing with...
    Prayer | By Karen G. Johnston | May 5, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Community, Courage, Justice, Meaning, Pain, Politics, Purpose, Unitarian Universalism, Vision
  • Note: Rev. Margaret Weis invites you to replace "church" with "congregation" or "Fellowship" if that feels most appropriate for your community. The church is not a place; it is a people. The church is not only a steeple above the treeline, streets, and cars....
    Affirmation | By Margaret Weis | March 23, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: #COVID19, Community, Direct Experience, Identity, Living Our Faith, Purpose
  • If God’s name is love, then God compels us to resist the fall to sinful violence by pushing back with muscular resolve against the social structures that confine our capacity to care. A universalist God for a tragic era is not a gauzy, hymn-singing force of personal devotion that draws us...
    Quote | By Nancy McDonald Ladd | February 29, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), Anti-Oppression, Commitment, God, Living Our Faith, Purpose, Responsibility, Universalism
  • As we light this chalice [this evening], may it serve to give us clarity of purpose and illumine our way as we set about doing the work of this congregation, in commitment, in cooperation, and in love.
    Chalice Lighting | By Viola Abbitt | January 7, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 5th Principle (Conscience & Democracy), Business Meetings, Commitment, Community, Governance, Humanism, Leadership, Love, Purpose, Secular, Teamwork, Unitarian Universalism, Work
  • The word liturgy is a fancy word meaning the formulation of a religious service. Its etymology tells us that it means “the work of the people.” In many Unitarian Universalist contexts, the verb worship is intransitive. We do not worship something or someone. We claim the act of worship as...
    Leader Resource | By Karen G. Johnston | January 5, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Grace, Leadership, Living Our Faith, Playfulness, Purpose, Teamwork, Unitarian Universalism
  • One of my most treasured New Year’s traditions is coming up with a word for the year: a single word that I want to be the theme for my entire year. When I’m questioning what’s the right thing to do, I will look to my word of the year for guidance.
    Reflection | By Tim Atkins | January 1, 2020 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Beginnings, Direct Experience, Integrity, Letting Go, New Year, Purpose, Spiritual Practice, Vision
  • Reader 1: Flaming chalice, symbol of our living tradition, we kindle you for light Reader 2: Light in this darkest season of the year Light to reveal the sources of greed and hate among us Light to guide our way forward together Reader 1: Chalice Flame, we kindle you for love Reader 2: Love to ke...
    Chalice Lighting | By Ariel Hunt-Brondwin | November 13, 2019 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Hope, Love, Purpose, Unitarian Universalism, Winter, Winter Solstice / Yule
  • Our chalice reminds us that the fire within ourselves is the same fire that illuminates the Universe. It is our reminder that all is connected even though the space of the void is vast, and our experience here is but a blip in the cosmic timeline....
    Chalice Lighting | By Shawn Trapp | November 11, 2019 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Agnosticism, Atheism, Awe, Humanism, Meaning, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Purpose, Reason, Science, Secular, Wonder
  • In the Bible, there’s a pretty well-known story about David and Goliath. Goliath, a huge warrior from the side of the Philistines, challenged someone from the side of the Israelites to battle. David was chosen and he knew that even with all of the armor in the world, he would not be able to win...
    Sermon | By Karishma Gottfried | November 7, 2019 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: History, Identity, Living Our Faith, Meaning, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Purpose, Revelation, Salvation, Seven Principles, Unitarian Universalism, Unitarianism, Universalism
  • In the weaving of our story to the web of life, we must remember that we must not cut the strings, for there are others coming after us.
    Affirmation | By Tania Márquez | November 6, 2019 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Calling, Commitment, Direct Experience, Generations, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Purpose, Service, Solidarity
  • 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
  • The wellspring of decency is loving this life in which people die, people suffer, there are limits, and we make mistakes. The wellspring, then, of moral action is not utopia, not a counterfactual vision, not a declaration that the world could and should be otherwise....
    Reading | By Sharon D. Welch | August 31, 2019 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Activism, Balance, Character, Commitment, Direct Experience, Ethics, Gratitude, Hope, Integrity, Justice, Purpose, Seven Principles
  • We don’t always know what comes next, but that cannot dissuade us.
    Meditation | By Julián Jamaica Soto | June 17, 2019 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Community, Covenant, Home, Hope, Interdependence, Purpose, Relationships, Unitarian Universalism
  • 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
  • People of color—and other marginalized people—can’t just want things to be different. It has to be everyone wanting things to be different for everyone.
    Reflection | By Rayla D. Mattson | May 29, 2019 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), 6th Principle (World Community), Activism, Anti-Oppression, Commitment, Direct Experience, Humanism, Purpose, Secular
  • Today I’m going to tell a story about a girl who was searching for a porpoise. Now, as you probably know, a porpoise is a sea mammal in the dolphin family. Porpoises are smaller and shyer than dolphins. They are more difficult to find, but porpoises are very important. Minister (or other Worship...
    Time for All Ages | By Chrissy Bushyager | May 6, 2019 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Beginnings, Caring, Commitment, Discernment, Environment, Identity, Living Our Faith, Meaning, Purpose, Responsibility
  • You are welcome here no matter who you are, no matter where you come from, no matter what your background. You are welcome here to join us as we proclaim worth in our spiritual journeys. You are welcome to join us as we sing songs that uplift our very beings....
    Welcome | By Dan Lambert | April 25, 2019 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Community, Humanism, Purpose, Secular, Unitarian Universalism
  • One: On Labor Day we honor our work, physical and mental, paid and unpaid, joyous and heartbreaking. Many: We give thanks for work’s gifts, suffer its difficulties, and strive to make labor just and joyous for all. One: Our work can build our society, provide for our material needs, and give our...
    Responsive Reading | By Amanda Udis-Kessler | December 7, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Character, Direct Experience, Gratitude, Integrity, Labor Day, Living Our Faith, Meaning, Purpose, Service, Unitarian Universalism, Work
  • Love leads us to observe in a much deeper way than any other emotion.
    Reading | By Adrienne Maree Brown | November 1, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Love, Purpose, Relationships
  • Spirit of Life, love which holds us, We gather in reverence and thanks for You. We are grateful for the gift of another breath, and for each moment of connection, beauty, and truth. Cry with us in our pain for our world. Remind us that we are loved, just as we are. Remind us that we are connected...
    Prayer | By Elizabeth Bukey Saunter | October 21, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Christianity, Gratitude, Journey, Purpose, Reverence, Service, Spiritual Practice, Spirituality, Unitarian Universalism
  • 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
  • We light this chalice to honor our work, to celebrate our community, and to bring hope and determination to our mission in the wider world....
    Chalice Lighting | By Chrystal Hogan | September 14, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Leadership, Ministerial Transition, Ministry, Purpose, Service, Teamwork, Vision, Work
  • 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
  • Come, let us enter this space of hope and community. Come, let us enter this space with our sorrows, our joys, our passion and compassion. Come. let us enter this space with the stories of our ancestors, for their strength and wisdom beats in our hearts....
    Opening | By Katie Romano Griffin | March 15, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Community, Community Ministry Sunday, Connections, Generations, History, Homecoming / Ingathering, Humanism, Interdependence, New Member Ceremony, Purpose, Scout Sunday, Tradition, Unitarian Universalism, Unity, Vision, Water Communion
  • Come into this place, bringing all you hold with you. though your heart be heavily burdened, whether you be on the brink of tears or burn with unquenchable rage this community can hold you and your strongest emotions, yes, even the messy ones are welcome here. Come in if you sing just a bit too...
    Invocation | By Elizabeth Mount | December 13, 2017 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Connections, Creativity, Direct Experience, Diversity, Faith, Humanism, Inclusion, Living Our Faith, Purpose, Sacred, Unitarian Universalism, Wholeness

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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.