As we are confronted by chaos, May we have the wisdom to believe in peace. Surrounded by voices of disagreement, May we have the audacity to speak for peace. Lured by the seduction of despair, May we have the courage to maintain a vision of possibility and peace.

Worship Associate: This is the message of our faith Congregation (left): To act with passion in the face of injustice. Congregation (right): To love with courage in the midst of life’s pain. Worship Associate: This is the meaning of our chalice flame. All: May it empower our hearts until we are...

Life is neither a playground nor a game. The folded lies are real. With our voices, we can and will undo them.

Open your hearts, my friends, And let yourself feel the reality of absence. Open your hearts, and acknowledge That we gather in the presence of death. Open your hearts. Make room For the healing balm of connection, the release of forgiveness. No matter what pain dwells within your spirit, Or how...

Believe that further shore
 Is reachable from here. 
Believe in miracle 
And cures and healing wells. —Seamus Heaney, “The Cure at Troy” With a name like mine, it’s easy to guess I’m Irish. My forebears were among the millions who struggled to escape Ireland’s disastrous Potato...

This prayer is for all. For all who are fearful about the economy; about the fate of our country; health care for yourself or your children. For all whose heart aches at the injustices being done to others in our name. For all who fear for the survival of the planet. For all who fear whether they...

With whom do you believe your lot is cast? From where does your strength come? —Adrienne Rich Ethical question (although this really happened): You are in a local grocery store. An elderly, poorly-dressed white lady is pushing a cart, moving with obvious difficulty as she adds to her hoard first...

No matter how weak or how frightened we may feel, we each have gifts that can make a difference in the world. In this coming week, may you do at least one thing to support the broken; to welcome the stranger; to celebrate what is worthy; to do the work of justice and love. Be strong. Be connected.

May we give thanks always, believing that, even in the world’s bleakest moments, the dance of life is always underway.

Welcome, you who come in need of healing, you who are confused, or have been betrayed. Welcome, with your problems and your pain. Welcome, too, your joys and your wonderings, welcome your need to hope, your longing for assurance. Instead of answers, here may you find safety for your questions.

We extinguish this chalice flame, daring to carry forward the vision of this free faith, that freedom, reason and justice will one day prevail in this nation and across the earth.

October 12, 2016 "Blessed are the faithful, for they shall be called dogs." —Rev. Gary Kowalski He was, I am told, just a dog. But who was it that, fresh from the litter, climbed onto my chest, licked my face, and rubbed his pink baby nose against my cheek? Who chewed the edges of my only antique...

For the blessing of animal companions we give thanks. For the beautiful ones, those whose fur is silky and whose tails are long; whose feathers are brilliant or whose voices are splendid... we give thanks. For the frantic ones, the runts and the hungry, who run for a food bowl or a pat as though...

The poet Langston Hughes has written: "Hold fast to dreams for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly." May this chalice flame challenge each of us to cherish to our dreams, for all things worth doing begin in the courage and inspiration of a dream.

Each person (mostly children but some adults will have brought their backpacks too) comes forward with their backpack and stands in a group. The prayer follows, then worship associates give each person a “luggage tag” bearing a flaming chalice logo. Spirit of Life and Hope and Love, for many of...

Spirit of Life and Love, I come before you black and brown and red and yellow and alabaster, I come longing for the simpler days that truly never were our lot. And I am an American. Hear these voices, as in the complexity of our days, I am Humanist and Christian, Muslim and Jew, Pagan and Atheist...

[Names], as you step forward into your next chapter, we send with you our fondest hopes and blessings. May life bring enough challenge to fuel your dreams, enough affirmation to honor your gifts and enough nurture to give your spirit peace. Believe in your vision. Follow your dreams....

This piece can be read as a meditation, or used as a litany, in which the congregation responds to each line (in unison), "We ask a blessing on this day." In one way or another, each of you was born of a mother. Because we are human, it's likely that your relationship with that mother is, was, or...

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....

Let us tell the stories of mothers… stories that could be true. Let us tell of warm mothers, soft and round, likely to be found with flour on their nose, and always ready to pour you a glass of milk to go with the cookies on your plate. These mothers are increasingly rare. Let us tell of mothers...