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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 - 31 of 31

  • 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
  • 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
  • Change is part of who we are.
    Story | By Caitlin Cotter Coillberg | May 19, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Change, Earth-Centered, Letting Go, Transformation, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • Emergence, becoming, is inherent in each of us.
    Reflection | By Kimberlee Anne Tomczak Carlson | June 30, 2021 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Change, Direct Experience, Earth-Centered, Growth, Nature, Patience, Transformation, Worship
  • One: To become is a life long process. Nothing is constant, not even the self. We evolve in the midst of narratives meant only for some and ways of being made narrow by fear and power. We must, then, have the courage to listen to the truth of our own lives, to the wisdom that comes from within—...
    Litany | By enfleshed | January 21, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Change, Connections, Direct Experience, Growth, Humanism, Interdependence, Love, Relationships, Sacred, Transformation, Valentine's Day
  • In every person we meet, especially those who cause us discomfort, we find an opportunity for us to grow, to learn, to go further along the path of transformation that is our purpose in life. Every single one is our teacher. May the next week bring you many such moments of meeting that help you...
    Benediction | By Amy Zucker Morgenstern | January 2, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Challenge, Change, Growth, Humanism, Humility, Listening, Searching, Secular, Transformation
  • 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
  • Sometimes grief sends notice ahead of time; sometimes, it shows up as an unwelcome, uninvited guest.
    Reflection | By Monica Dobbins | October 30, 2019 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Acceptance, Bridging Ceremony, Change, Children, Direct Experience, Grief, Growth, Humanism, Letting Go, Mother's Day, Parents, Secular, Transformation
  • We are grateful to mark time with seasons, to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries, or to gather as family to remember our loved ones. In all these seasons, may we give thanks for the breath of life, ever mindful of the fragile nature of existence. May we live fully in each moment....
    Affirmation | By Mary Frances Comer | July 20, 2019 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 6th Principle (World Community), Birth, Change, Death, Direct Experience, Generations, Gratitude, Love, Mystery, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Spirituality, Unitarian Universalism
  • When we can gently hold things steady, change comes from within; that’s where the real growth happens.
    Reflection | By Alix Klingenberg | May 15, 2019 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Change, Community, Direct Experience, Growth, Humanism, Integrity, Leadership, Secular, Trust
  • "We can change. People say we can’t, but we do when the stakes or the pain is high enough. And when we do, life can change."...
    Quote | October 30, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Beginnings, Change, Contemplation, Direct Experience, Growth, Letting Go, Pain, Searching, Transformation, Vulnerability, Wisdom
  • You do not have to wear the dress. You do not have to have a party. You do not have to dance the waltz con tu papa. You do not have to accept the gift of your last doll. You can break those traditions. You have right of passage into adulthood simply for being you. We are thankful that you...
    Blessing | By Raquel V. Reyes | July 16, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Acceptance, Change, Children, Coming-of-Age, Community, Family, Identity, Integrity, International, Quinceañera, Transformation, Youth/Teens
  • Mystery of the Universe – Ground of our very Being, Truly it is said that you make the sun rise, and the life giving rains fall, on both the just and the unjust And in that way, yours is an abounding grace, and we give our thanks. But it is also true that none of us are ever really spared –...
    Prayer | By Kyle Johnson | June 18, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Buddhism, Challenge, Change, Character, Patience, Presence
  • Spirit of Life, ever adapting and renewing, we come together this morning with yearnings that do not match: We yearn for stability, for even one moment of feeling like we know what is going on, for the ability to predict and prepare for what is coming next. Yet we also yearn for change....
    Prayer | By Lyn Cox | June 5, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Challenge, Change, Connections, Courage, Transformation, Unitarian Universalism
  • Open up the doors Push on looming wooden arches embroidered with ironwork Brace shoulders against the weight of history unmoved Slough off the musty smell of unused joy and stored up sorrow Knock rust off the hinges if you have to And let your breath precede you inside Open the doors more Make ro...
    Opening | By Lindasusan Ulrich | September 27, 2017 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Change, Connections, Direct Experience, Hospitality, Interdependence, Living Our Faith, Searching
  • How many times do I need to make mistakes before I’m ready to admit that I’m not any better at this than the bigoted and willfully ignorant?
    Reflection | By DeReau K. Farrar | September 12, 2017 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Acceptance, Challenge, Change, Direct Experience, Humanism, Integrity, Living Our Faith, Secular, Self-Respect, Transformation, Unitarian Universalism
  • For the setting sun from an airplane window; for the rising sun from a train window after riding all night; for the rising sun and setting sun in directions that feel foreign; for the sunlight even when we are lost. For the times the heart has longed to be alone. For the times the heart has ached...
    Meditation | By David Breeden | August 11, 2017 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Agnosticism, Beauty, Change, Contemplation, Direct Experience, Ending, Home, Mindfulness, Nature, Secular
  • This Releasing of Covenant was created to end the final worship service of a settled ministry. Minister: For [number] years you have offered me your free pulpit and the freedom of creativity in worship, gifts for which I’m grateful. I hereby return the ministry of worship to your able hands. Use...
    Ritual | By Tess Baumberger, Erika Hewitt | August 5, 2017 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Change, Ending, Forgiveness, Leadership, Letting Go, Ministerial Transition, Unitarian Universalism
  • Christmas doesn’t wimp out when times are hard – it comes anyway, even if there are hardly any presents.
    Reflection | By Kendyl L. R. Gibbons | November 22, 2016 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), 6th Principle (World Community), Activism, Advent, Anti-Oppression, Change, Christianity, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Creativity, Direct Experience, Hope, Tradition
  • Blessed is this ground on which we stand. Holy is this place. Holy are the places of memory, the places which have formed us, where we store the icons of success and shattered dreams and gather threads and pieces of what we would become. . . Holy are the places of memory....
    Meditation | By Maureen Killoran | June 3, 2016 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 6th Principle (World Community), Change, Direct Experience, Faith, Gratitude, Home, Journey, Purpose, Spirituality, Trust, Unitarian Universalism, Unity, Wholeness, WorshipWeb
  • One day, your church was born. Maybe it was a gathering of saints, called together for the common worship of a wrathful god, ceaselessly praying between bouts of decrying the evil of Christmas or dancing. Or maybe a few brave souls answered a notice in the newspaper, curiosity piqued by the...
    Reading | By Sean Neil-Barron | February 26, 2016 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 5th Principle (Conscience & Democracy), Building/Space Dedication, Business Meetings, Change, Child Dedication, Community, Creativity, Direct Experience, Generations, Installations, Leadership, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Purpose, Religion, Sacred, Unitarian Universalism, WorshipWeb
  • For nothing is fixed, forever and forever and forever; the earth is always shifting
    Responsive Reading | By James Baldwin | August 19, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Caring, Change, Community, Connections, Direct Experience, Earth-Centered, Faith, Generations, Growth, Humanism, Relationships
  • #‎BlackLivesMatter Let the only burning be the fire of commitment in our hearts, minds, hands, spirits in our community of faith. Live solidarity. Use your voice. Demand justice... better, live it into being. Cry out for others to join you. Name hate as hate—without shrinking back without...
    Poetry | By Jeannie Shero | August 11, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 6th Principle (World Community), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Anti-Oppression, Black History / Whitney Young / James Reeb, Change, Direct Experience, Honesty, Humanism, Martin Luther King, Jr. Sunday, Oppression, Power, Privilege, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Race/Ethnicity, Solidarity, Unitarian Universalism
  • Leader: Today we mark the turning of a season. We mark it with the ritual exchange of flowers. We mark it with the election of new leaders and our annual business meeting. And right now, in this moment, we mark it with celebration of outgoing leaders. [Invite outgoing leaders forward] There is a...
    Litany | By Cathy Rion Starr | June 19, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Change, Commitment, Ending, Gratitude, Leadership, Letting Go, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Teamwork, Unitarian Universalism
  • In between, liminal, that space where we wait. Between moments; events, results, action, no action. To stand on the threshold, waiting for something to end, And something new to arrive, a pause in the rumble of time. Awareness claims us, alert, a shadow of something different....
    Meditation | By Kate R. Walker | May 29, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Agnosticism, Bridging Ceremony, Change, Coming of Age, Humanism, Letting Go, New Year, Revelation, Summer Solstice, Transformation, Winter Solstice / Yule, WorshipWeb
  • I’m going to talk about something really powerful today: HOPE. And first, I have a question. Have you ever hoped for something? … and did the thing you hoped for happen? [Take responses.] I think that hope is kinda like these: [Pass around basket of acorns and invite children to take one to hold...
    Time for All Ages | By Martha Dallas | May 12, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Autumnal Equinox, Caring, Change, Direct Experience, Earth-Centered, Growth, Hope, Lammas, Self-Care, Summer Solstice, Transformation, Vernal Equinox, WorshipWeb
  • Who here has to go through their clothes sometimes, say every year or so? Maybe it’s something your parents make you do…. [ask for a show of hands] So I’m wondering: How do you decide what to keep and what to get rid of? [Take responses. If needed, suggest ones such as: Does it fit? Is it all...
    Time for All Ages | By Martha Dallas | May 12, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Change, Generations, Growth, Searching, Truth, WorshipWeb
  • In a worship service, the congregation presented farewell gifts to the outgoing Director of Religious Education/Exploration (DRE) before the following: MINISTER: In (season, year), this congregation and NAME entered into a formal/unspoken covenant with one another. NAME agreed to step out of her...
    Ritual | By Tess Baumberger | March 11, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Change, Children, Gratitude, Leadership, Letting Go, Power, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Service, Teacher Recognition, Unitarian Universalism
  • Once upon a time I was Now I am Some day I will become Once there was And now there is Soon there will be And some day there surely shall be Once upon a time we were Now we are And some day (Hallelujah!) we shall surely become Amen Amen...
    Poetry | By Margaret Williams Braxton | March 9, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Change, Character, Direct Experience, Growth, Reverence
  • The question is not, “What happens when we die?” Nobody really knows. The real question is, “What happens when we stop living?” The stoicism we face on a daily basis is a symptom of a larger illness called a dually-dulled life. Our lives can be hypnotized by the monotonous commutes,...
    Reading | By Nathan C. Walker | February 24, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), 5th Principle (Conscience & Democracy), Belief, Calling, Challenge, Change, Character, Direct Experience, Easter, Gratitude, Homecoming / Ingathering, Martin Luther King, Jr. Sunday, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Respect, Trust, Unitarian Universalism, Worth, Yom Kippur
  • If you are who you were, and if the person next to you is who he or she was, if none of us has changed since the day we came in here— we have failed. The purpose of this community— of any church, temple, zendo, mosque— is to help its people grow. We do this through encounters with the...
    Closing | By Erik Walker Wikstrom | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Acceptance, Change, Character, Growth, Integrity, Living Our Faith, Purpose, Transformation

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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.