The wellspring of decency is loving this life in which people die, people suffer, there are limits, and we make mistakes. The wellspring, then, of moral action is not utopia, not a counterfactual vision, not a declaration that the world could and should be otherwise....

One: On Labor Day we honor our work, physical and mental, paid and unpaid, joyous and heartbreaking. Many: We give thanks for work’s gifts, suffer its difficulties, and strive to make labor just and joyous for all. One: Our work can build our society, provide for our material needs, and give our...

Spirit of Life, love which holds us, We gather in reverence and thanks for You. We are grateful for the gift of another breath, and for each moment of connection, beauty, and truth. Cry with us in our pain for our world. Remind us that we are loved, just as we are. Remind us that we are connected...

The offering that we take each Sunday isn't just a stale habit: it's an opportunity to recommit to this place, and to this people. Our offering is an affirmation—a “yes.” When we give, we say yes to something we value. With our gifts, freely given, may we say yes to the values of our faith.

"With our minds and our hearts and our hands, may we choose to bless the world." Sheet music available in 4-part harmony.

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....

I lean back in the chair and exhale a long breath of thick white cigar smoke into the night sky. It rises upward, swirls in a light breeze, and disappears. I think to myself, “Damn this is a good cigar, a good night, and a good place to be for these few moments.” Earlier today, I walked through...

Note: This ritual combines fresh water with water from the previous year that has been boiled and filtered. The combined water is poured over the hands into the common bowl. Minister: The ancient Greek philosopher Heracltus of Ephesus is famous for one belief. He taught his students that...

Every day we experience hunger and yearning: for food, for approval, for respect, for love, for meaningful work, for any and enough work, for home, for family, for friends, for health, for healing, for hope, for the departed, for the newly arrived, for the green trees, for the cool clean waters, ...

Each of the stars in the heavens is unique, an individual, yet together they form the night sky; Each of us here is unique, an individual, yet together we are a congregation; Each of our congregations is unique, an individual, yet together we are an Association....

Holy One, known by many names -- Creator, Sustainer, Redeemer -- you make your presence known to us in the sunshine of winter, in the dance of the flame, and in the lingering embrace of a trusted one. Fill us this day with your warmth, your power, your strength. Help us to see our lives with a...

Loving God, We pause in the stillness to rest for a moment, to quiet ourselves so that we can feel what stirs within us. Each breath draws us closer to the pulse of life and with each exhalation we make room for something new. May we find in this gathering the comfort of those who care. May we...

On this both joyous and solemn day we have reason to celebrate; we have reason to be grateful; we have reason to be proud. We gather in the shadow of a world unsure of itself, of plans for peace lost in the plague of ambition, of a planet under threat. And yet, we have cause to be hopeful. Our...

We receive fragments of holiness, glimpses of eternity, brief moments of insight. Let us gather them up for the precious gifts that they are, and, renewed by their grace, move boldly into the unknown.