God is not a distant force, far away. God is in the beating of our hearts and the backbeat of a funky baseline. God is in a four-on-the-floor drum fill, and in the achy joints and sore muscles the day after.

Set up for this ritual: It's especially meaningful to have a congregant bake bread for communion. (If that’s not possible, store bought bread will do.) Cut the bread into cubes and place in baskets lined with napkins. Have a basket of gluten-free crackers available as well. To hold the juice, one...

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...

What had to die was my shame: my belief that I was not worthy of such love. I discovered a greater love within myself as a creation of God, worthy of these gifts.

First Sunday of Advent Minister: Unitarian Universalism is a faith with roots in Christianity. Some UUs today identify as Christians, others don’t; yet during the season of Advent we all have something we can find illuminating, comforting, challenging, or fulfilling by reinterpreting old...

We could see the main path to the swimming hole ahead, but we had to pick our way through sand spurs to get there. Behind us were rattlesnakes. What did the youth do? They started playing.

My beloved people, I cannot pretend, And so I will not tell you, That everything is okay right now. That there is no reason to be angry, That you must be optimistic Or at peace. I cannot pretend these things, And so I won't tell them to you. But now our chalice is lit, And so all I ask in this...

Let us be a faith that gathers, reaching for one another through the walls of hate others build, through the cages of ignorance and arrogance, and through the fear that burns city streets....

Note: The Minister or Director of Education narrates this pageant with help from two youth leaders and three “guest stars.” The entire congregation participates as prompted. Congregants remain in their seats but there are three opportunities for children to join the leaders on the chancel. No...

Did you notice that in the story of Christmas there are lots of journeys? Mary and Joseph have to go on a journey. The shepherds have to go on a journey. And those angels must have gone on a journey to find the shepherds....

Emotional tempests aren’t always easy to weather — pain, grief, disappointment, even love — but the flatness of life without such currents is the slow silence of drowning.

It has been a difficult week in the news, and as always, we have silent personal struggles in the midst of everything else. And so I invite you into a spirit of prayer....

I trusted the woman at the pharmacy to be capable of hearing hard truth. Bless her wounded heart with its internalized misogyny. She just wants women to love and support each other. Thank you. Me too.

On my worst days, it is gravity I am most grateful for: the way the earth pulls at me from her core, yearns for me, keeps me pressed tightly against her surface. When my own core is hollowed out, when I have no more mass than a leaf dead on the branch, still this is enough for the earth to find me.

Our family prays at mealtime to practice gratitude in our lives. I love that my children are taking it as their own, finding their own meaning.

We ignite this flame, symbol of our faith, to beckon us into community, warm our hearts with love, and give us a light to follow as we carry our faith into action.

We light this chalice to honor our work, to celebrate our community, and to bring hope and determination to our mission in the wider world....

As we go forward into this frightening, exhilarating, confusing, miraculous world, may we offer our comfort to the afflicted our love to those who are lonely and our wish for all to be safe.

It is not by chance that you arrived here today. You have been looking for something larger than yourself. Inside of you there is a yearning, a calling, a hope for more, A desire for a place of belonging and caring. Through your struggles, someone nurtured you into being, Instilling a belief in a...

Happy new year! Happy new year for our beloved community. Happy new school year....