Our religious communities at their best are places where we grow our capacities to be with experience in all its complexity and paradox, to listen deeply to one another, to allow ourselves to be seen and held in love, and to respond creatively and collectively.

The religious responsibility of the faithful is to remove and dismantle the systems and structures that prevent the full flourishing of life and to enhance and side with the movement of creative and active love.

We declare that there are many paths to the sacred. We hold fast to the notion that one religion does not hold all the truth for all time, not even Unitarian Universalism. We maintain that a free, open, and respectful dialogue is one of the primary ways our theological perspectives evolve and grow.

… increasing religious plurality in our congregations has brought in perspectives and practices from earth-based religions of many kinds, amplifying an understanding of humankind as one part of a great interconnected web of all existence and deepening our humility and reverence for the web of life.

We affirm the power of Love to heal what is broken, to hold us together across pluralities of diverse religious practices and beliefs, to hold us when things fall apart, to grow our capacities, and to guide us as we return again and again in our families and communities to side with Love.

In a patchwork quilt, each piece of fabric contains a story in itself—where, when, and how it was made; what other garment or fabric it once was part of; who created and touched the fabric. Sewn together, the quilt collectively tells other stories…

We proclaim with Love on our side: Our bodies are sacred. Our minds are blessed. Our spirits are beloved.

Today, we are charged to remember. To know that as we live together in community, we are also in community with the silently singing lives in the vast congregation of the earth as well... Let us remember, and then act.

When I remember to orient myself within the bigger picture, it recalibrates my perspective.

Remembering the proposed Unitarian Universalist Association's Article 2 values is as easy as counting on your fingers!

When we are engaged in acts of love, we humans are at our best and most resilient… If the goal was to increase the love, rather than winning or dominating a constant opponent, I think we could actually imagine liberation from constant oppression.

Crows found ways to adapt to our concrete forests but we have not yet found ways to make sure we are in balance with the rest of creation.

Some geologists believe that gases from the earth caused the Delphic oracle’s fits of passion and her prophecies. But the scientific answer does not mean the Greeks were foolish to believe they had a relationship with Apollo; it does not erase the relationship they had with their gods.

Disturbance opens the terrain for transformative encounters… Humanists, not used to thinking with disturbance, connect the term with damage. But disturbance, as used by ecologists, is not always bad—and not always human.

All organisms make ecological living places, altering earth, air, and water... In the process, each organism changes everyone’s world.

Here we engage in a holy alchemy, finding beauty in the ordinary and life in the present.

A centering practice for meetings, gatherings or worship in person or online.

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.

We come from many places—along different paths, bringing different truths.

Prayers to be said on the four Sundays of Advent while lighting the Advent candle wreath.