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Growing connects me to ancestors who had their hands in the dirt because it was keeping them alive.Reflection | By Melissa Jeter | May 25, 2022 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: Abundance, Earth, Earth-Centered, Family, Food, Food Justice, Generations, Growth, Humanism, Nature, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Secular, Spiritual Practice, Worship -
Discomfort /in the name of holy wholeness / Bring all of ourselves / in the name of holy, of wholenessPoetry | By Kiakiali Bordner | May 23, 2022 | From WorshipWebTagged 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 -
I was often being a stern taskmaster over my mind. I yearned for more openness and joy.Reflection | By Lynette Yetter | February 9, 2022 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: Beginnings, Buddhism, Creativity, Direct Experience, Mindfulness, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Spiritual Practice, Worship -
Witness pairs grief and rage with remembrance. Pride pairs joy with a determination to be visible.Reading | By Eli Clare | January 24, 2022 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Anti-Oppression, Disability, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Prophetic Words & Deeds, WorshipWeb, Worship -
I am no longer a victim of change: I am shaping the world that is to come.Reflection | By Martha Durkee-Neuman | April 28, 2021 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: Beginnings, Change, Direct Experience, Ending, God, Patience, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Worship -
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 WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), Gender, Inclusion, Prophetic Words & Deeds, WorshipWeb, 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/WiserTagged 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 -
Black Queens saved our democracy. We owe them a great deal.Reflection | By Carol Thomas Cissel | January 20, 2021 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: America, Democracy, Humanism, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Race/Ethnicity, Women, Work, Worship -
Can you imagine what it was like to be inside of that house, afraid that it might fall all apart from the destructive force of the wind and the rain, from the whole storm?Time for All Ages | By Karen G. Johnston | January 7, 2021 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Community, Interdependence, Justice, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Race/Ethnicity, Relationships, WorshipWeb, Worship -
I experience the creative impulse as living just under the surface of the daily grind: tugging; imploring, When do we all get to sing together again?Reflection | By Erin J. Walter | January 6, 2021 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: #COVID19, Arts & Music, Creativity, Direct Experience, Humanism, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Self-Care, Worship -
The soul of America has yet to be born.Reading | By Peggy Clarke | November 16, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 5th Principle (Conscience & Democracy), America, Democracy, Generations, History, Humanism, Indigenous Peoples Day, July 4th, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Secular -
I do not believe the acts of oppressors are my people's shame.Quote | By Imani Perry | October 27, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), Culture, Direct Experience, Generations, History, Humanism, Identity, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Race/Ethnicity, Secular, Self-Respect -
I was born nine years after four little girls were killed in Birmingham, Alabama, and two other boys later the same day.Reading | By Imani Perry | October 27, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, America, Anti-Oppression, Direct Experience, History, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Race/Ethnicity, WorshipWeb, Worship -
The harder things are to say, the more necessary they are to say.Quote | By Adrienne Maree Brown | September 29, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Conflict, Direct Experience, Discernment, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Relationships, Respect, Responsibility, Trust, Truth, WorshipWeb, Worship
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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/WiserTagged 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/WiserTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), Freedom, Gender, God, Identity, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Pride Sunday, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Sacred, Sexuality -
"I believe firmly that to practice love is to disrupt the status quo which is masquerading as peace." —posted on Austin Channing Brown's Instagram, June 17, 2020...Quote | By Austin Channing Brown | June 27, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, Activism, Direct Experience, Justice, Living Our Faith, Love, Power, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Solidarity, Transformation -
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/WiserTagged 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 -
Jesus had no political power. He lived his whole life in the shadow of the Roman empire, and that empire killed him. Yet Jesus healed the sick, he listened, he moved among the ordinary people, in the lowly places.Reflection | By Myke Johnson | April 8, 2020 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: #COVID19, 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Calling, Caring, Christianity, Democracy, Easter, Evil, Good Friday, Healing, Hope, Power, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Responsibility -
So much held in a heart in a lifetime. So much held in a heart in a day, an hour, a moment. We are utterly open with no one, in the end—not mother and father, not wife or husband, not lover, not child, not friend. We open windows to each but we live alone in the house of the heart. Perhaps we...Quote | By Brian Doyle | March 4, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Brokenness, Healing, Love, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Relationships, Vulnerability -
Pleasure reminds us to enjoy being alive and on purpose... Pleasure—embodied, connected pleasure—is one of the way we know when we are free. That we are always free. That we always have the power to co-create the world. Pleasure helps us move through the times that are unfair, through grief and...Quote | By Adrienne Maree Brown | February 15, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Beauty, Body, Direct Experience, Humanism, Joy, Love, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Secular, Self-Care, Self-Respect, Sexuality, Spiritual Practice, Wholeness -
A lot of us feel like our lives should have come with instructions. Or maybe they did, but we lost the only copy a long time ago.Reflection | By Elea Kemler | February 12, 2020 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: Brokenness, Caring, Change, Direct Experience, Friendship, Humanism, Interdependence, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Relationships, Trust, Vulnerability -
I come from a long line of strong Black women. My grandmother used to share stories about how she caused “trouble” in town when a white man hired her to put up the displays in his store window. At that time, all the Black women in town worked as domestics in the homes of white ladies, or in the...Reflection | By Rayla D. Mattson | February 5, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), Anti-Oppression, Direct Experience, Friendship, Generations, Integrity, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Race/Ethnicity, Truth, Women -
Surround yourself with skillful teachers. Let them teach you, but don't let them do it for you. That learning is yours to do.Reflection | By Karen G. Johnston | January 22, 2020 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Acceptance, Arts & Music, Beauty, Brokenness, Creativity, Direct Experience, Growth, Humanism, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Secular -
Ironically, Americans who self-identify as not racist—whether they're conservatives, moderates, liberals, radicals, progressives—they don't realize… that we are connecting ourselves to a history of slave traders who self-identified as not racist (although they didn't use that term). We're...Reading | By Ibram X Kendi | January 16, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), America, Anti-Oppression, Direct Experience, History, Identity, Juneteenth, Martin Luther King, Jr. Sunday, Oppression, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Race/Ethnicity -
As my body begins to loose its hold On this life, this earth, this entirety, May I lay my past to rest And face the unknowable With courage and curiosity. May those to whom I am connected gather. May they recall me as I am and have been....Prayer | By Tess Baumberger | January 16, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Death, Direct Experience, Gratitude, Grief, Humanism, Meaning, Memorial Services, Mystery, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Remembrance Day, Secular -
When you’re the only black man in a sea of whiteness, purses still get clutched, and people still cross the street, and hellos still get lost in the void.Reflection | By Adrian L. H. Graham | January 15, 2020 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Anti-Oppression, Direct Experience, Fear, Identity, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Race/Ethnicity, Relationships -
The first time I was told that I was too queer to be a congregation's minister, they asked, "What will the neighbors think?,” as if it were the most natural question in the world. It was then that I understood how grace works: it’s costly. It requires us to be uncomfortable, to get outside...Reading | By Chris Rothbauer | January 9, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Anti-Oppression, Coming Out, Direct Experience, Diversity, Identity, Inclusion, Integrity, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Living Our Faith, National Coming Out Day, Oppression, Pride Sunday, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Relationships, Solidarity -
Many: This morning* and all mornings, we are called to pay attention. One. We are called to pay attention to our individual lives, to our delights and pains. We are called to understand and cherish ourselves, to take good care of ourselves, to know ourselves as loving and worthy of love....Responsive Reading | By Amanda Udis-Kessler | January 2, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 6th Principle (World Community), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Caring, Compassion, Direct Experience, Earth-Centered, Interdependence, Justice, Mindfulness, Presence, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Relationships, Respect, Unitarian Universalism -
With a single generous gesture from my older child, her sister's belief in Santa stayed intact that year.Reflection | By Karen G. Johnston | December 4, 2019 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: Christmas Eve / Christmas, Direct Experience, Family, Generations, Generosity, Parents, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Tradition -
I once saw a little sign, carved in wood, that read, “There is only the hard way.” Many of us have been harmed by theology that told us that suffering was a sacrifice that would bring us closer to God. Many of us were told that our suffering would redeem us, even when we knew that actual...Reading | By Elizabeth Nguyen | November 14, 2019 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Activism, Anti-Oppression, Direct Experience, Humanism, Integrity, Interdependence, Justice, Living Our Faith, Privilege, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Redemption, Sacrifice, Secular, Seven Principles, Solidarity, Unitarian Universalism -
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 WorshipWebTagged 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 WorshipWebTagged 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 WorshipWebTagged as: Calling, Commitment, Direct Experience, Generations, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Purpose, Service, Solidarity -
Voice 1 Welcome, you who approach this time as a journey toward the horizon, the beginning of the next chapter, seeking all of the insights and opportunities the new day offers....Invocation | By Lyn Cox | October 25, 2019 | From WorshipWebTagged as: All Saints Day, All Souls Day, Generations, History, Paganism, Prophetic Words & Deeds -
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 WorshipWebTagged as: Community, Connections, Direct Experience, Generations, Gratitude, History, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Vision -
On August 25, 1619, the ship the White Lion arrived at Point Comfort, now known as Fort Monroe National Monument in Hampton, Virginia. The ship contained enslaved Africans. This is the first recorded arrival of Africans in America....Affirmation | By Kristen L. Harper | October 10, 2019 | From WorshipWebTagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), America, Black History / Whitney Young / James Reeb, Direct Experience, History, Juneteenth, Oppression, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Race/Ethnicity -
Although the German word Giftschrank sounds like a quirky holiday tradition, the term is really a combination of the words poison and cabinet....Reading | By Erika Hewitt, Becky Brooks | September 25, 2019 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 5th Principle (Conscience & Democracy), Direct Experience, Freedom, Humanism, Interdependence, Limitations, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Relationships, Responsibility, Secular -
In her 1975 theological treatise Suffering, German liberation theologian Dorothee Söelle* examines the ways that suffering can knit humans beings closer together, and can draw us more fully into the process of loving. She uses the term apatheia, “the inability to suffer,” to describe the...Reading | By Erika Hewitt | September 9, 2019 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Brokenness, Community, Connections, Individualism, Politics, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Relationships, Self-Care, Self-Respect -
Spirit of Life, I have witnessed a loud love, an out-loud love, that challenges me. I did not recognize it at first— the rumble of an ocean I had long been under. But here it is right now and it looks just like the whole world could be. It doesn’t play nice; why should it when nice has only ever...Prayer | By Becky Brooks | September 9, 2019 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Direct Experience, God, Love, Power, Prophetic Words & Deeds -
This was written as a blessing for pouring out the Water Communion waters onto a memorial garden. Like water that swells rivers and fills the ocean, the memories of those we have loved rush through us. Sometimes they are quiet, almost as if we have forgotten—and then suddenly, they flood our...Ritual | By Amy Zucker Morgenstern | September 4, 2019 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Direct Experience, Generations, Grief, Humanism, Imagination, Interdependence, Nature, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Remembrance Day, Secular, Water Communion -
A common "issue" in anti-racism work is the use of the term culture of white supremacy or white supremacy culture, which many people view as charged, controversial, or even deeply offensive. Sometimes there are even challenges/dismissals from people in positions of power/authority about it....Reading | By Carolina Krawarik-Graham | August 15, 2019 | From WorshipWebTagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), Anti-Oppression, Direct Experience, Humanism, Identity, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Race/Ethnicity, Secular -
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 WorshipWebTagged 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 -
It is time to throw out our exceptional identity and humble ourselves... We have always done good in the world—it is in our DNA. The question is, are we ready to do better for our own people? Because the world includes every person in our faith—many of whom have been micro-aggressioned right out...Reading | By Marta I. Valentín | June 25, 2019 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Anti-Oppression, Direct Experience, Humility, Identity, Inclusion, Living Our Faith, Multiculturalism, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Race/Ethnicity, Seven Principles, Unitarian Universalism -
Shirley Chisholm was asked why she, a Black woman, was running for president: "You don't have a chance. Why are you doing that?" And she said, "Because I am in love with the America that does not yet exist," and that's how Unitarian Universalism is also....Quote | By Natalie Maxwell Fenimore | June 25, 2019 | From WorshipWebTagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, Anti-Oppression, Change, Commitment, Direct Experience, Generations, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Race/Ethnicity -
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 WorshipWebTagged 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 light our chalice flame For those who lived their lives in closets of shame; For those who furtively visited the bars, where nobody knew your name; For the Stonewall riot—and the fierce transwomen who fought; For the plague, which still takes far too many, too young, too soon. So many gone. So...Chalice Lighting | By Lori Gorgas Hlaban | June 6, 2019 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), Anti-Oppression, Coming Out, Direct Experience, Generations, History, Humanism, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, National Coming Out Day, Pride Sunday, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Secular -
Blessed are the wanderers, Seeking affirmation. Blessed are the worshipers, Praying from closets, Pulpits, pews, and hardship. Blessed are the lovers of leaving – Leaving family and familiarity, Leaving tables Where love is not being served. Blessed are those who stay....Blessing | By HP Rivers | May 28, 2019 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Acceptance, Anti-Oppression, Coming Out, Compassion, Diversity, Family, Gender, Humanism, Justice, Justice Sunday, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Love, National Coming Out Day, Pride Sunday, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Secular, Sexuality -
"Compassion is love's response to pain." from https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/500901.How_to_Be_an_Adult_in_Relati… To Be an Adult in Relationships: The Five Keys to Mindful Living, p. 36.Quote | By David Richo | March 5, 2019 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), Compassion, Direct Experience, Humanism, Love, Pain, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Secular -
Who are the angry birds in my life? What are the sticks I carry in my heart so as not to be hurt again?Reflection | By Yuri Yamamoto | September 12, 2018 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), America, Animals, Anti-Oppression, Community, Direct Experience, Earth, Earth-Centered, Fear, Inclusion, Nature, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Race/Ethnicity, Self-Respect