Make sure, both at Christmastime and in other times, that you ask for that which you really want.

Once upon a time there was a family. Maybe this family had not quite enough to eat. Or maybe they had just about enough. Or … perhaps they had MORE than enough. You might not have been able to tell. THEY might not have been able to tell. Sometimes it’s hard to tell if you have enough or not.

The tree stood in the middle of the village. Its trunk was so large that it took six people holding hands to reach around it. The roots were strong and wide, and its branches spread out over the village square, offering shelter from the rain, or shade from the summer sun....

Let us imagine for a moment that our lives are like the baskets that our children will use after the service to collect colorful eggs and candy. And as we welcome that imaginative connection, let us pause for a moment to accept a blessing....

“There’s a hunger beyond food that’s expressed in food, and that’s why feeding is always a kind of miracle. It speaks to a bigger desire.” Note: one version of this quote, quasi-attributed, appears in Take This Bread (p. 23) by Sara Miles.

We light our chalice as a symbol of gratitude as we celebrate the abundance of our lives together. In this sanctuary we harvest bushels of strength for one another, and offer our crop with the hands of compassion and generosity....

To offer hospitality, we first have to identify ourselves — sometimes in inconvenient or uncomfortable ways — as helpers; as willing to offer kindness or connection to someone we might disagree with.

As we approach the time for our offering, give what you will: for the church that has meant so much to you, for the church that meant so much to those who came before you, and for the church that will mean so much to people you will never know. Give what you will, for you are a generous people.

Light We Seek, wherever I am on the journey toward wholeness for all of us—that is, toward racial equality—help me to forgive myself and others for missteps and missed opportunities, and guide my efforts to build up the relationships where love, justice, and understanding grow.

This ritual provides an opportunity for people to bless one another, look into other's eyes with respect and acknowledge the sacredness within. People may participate while seated or standing or may choose to sit in silent meditation or prayer instead. We travel together on a search for meaning,...

This script is intended to take place over the arc of a worship service or children's chapel. People Needed: Narrator (can be Worship Leader) and Five Villagers....

“Each morning we must hold out the chalice of our being to receive, to carry, and give back.”—Dag Hammarskjold Each morning we hold out our chalice of being To be filled with the graces of life that abound— Air to breathe, food to eat, companions to love, Beauty to behold, art to cherish,...

When we take fire from our chalice, it does not become less. It becomes more. And so we extinguish our chalice, but we take its light and warmth with us, multiplying their power by all of our lives, and sharing it with the world.

All that we need is here now. From the ages of the earth we have gathered energies in wood, coal, oil, and other remnants of life. And the air, it is here too, and it need not be pure. All is ready, here, in the dark. Will you strike yourself against life’s hard surfaces and let the flame out, or...

Once upon a time there was a teacher named Sophia. Sophia had been a teacher in the town where she lived for so long that the kids she first had in her class grew up and had kids of their own and sent them to her class too....

Once there was a little girl who worried about a very big problem—world hunger. She read in the newspaper about children all over the world who did not have enough to eat. She wanted to do something about it, but she was only a little girl and this was a giant problem. What could she possibly do...

"Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." — Hebrews 13:2 Hebrews is a book in the New (Greek) Testament; it's an epistle (or letter) written by an unknown author before 70 CE.

"If your brother becomes impoverished and his means falter in your proximity, you shall strengthen him—stranger or resident—so that he can live with you." Levtitcus is the third book of the Hebrew Bible (sometimes called the Old Testament) and the third of five books of the Torah (or...

Let us join hands and hearts in gratitude on this wondrous day, where we have the abundance of our lives before us. We remember, on this day of bounty, all those who do not have enough, who are afraid, who are lonely, and who suffer....

The purpose of the church is to encourage all who gather there to grow more generous in spirit and in action. This is the great end of all the world's faith traditions: to bring the human being closer to the divine by acts of creation and compassion. We now take an offering that allows us to...