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Braver/Wiser

Worship

Life is full of hard edges and complicated choices. Braver/Wiser gives you weekly message of courage and compassion for life as it is. Every Wednesday we deliver an original written reflection by a contemporary religious leader, and brief prayer, grounded in Unitarian Universalism. Join the Braver/Wiser community and sign up today!

The Gift I've Already Been Given
The Gift I've Already Been Given

Almost every person I told about my family's near-accident told me that it was God intervening. But that’s not fair to us, and it’s not fair to God.
By Nathan Ryan | 6/13/2018
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Home, Again
Home, Again

People move places for jobs, relations, opportunities, escape, hindering our ability to put down new roots. And yet, we carry a constancy: the still, quiet voice within.
By Teresa Honey Youngblood | 6/6/2018
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Be a Blessing
Be a Blessing

I’d gotten in the habit of keeping my head down and hardly noticing where I was or who was around me. On this day, I decided to greet the world differently.
By S.J. Butler | 5/30/2018
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Playlists of the Spirit
Playlists of the Spirit

Music is my solace and my comfort, the one thing that’s always with me. I feel its vibration deep in my soul; it’s my spiritual practice. Music tells the story of my life.
By Connie Simon | 5/23/2018
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Building a Common Life
Building a Common Life

I choose to believe in community. I choose to believe in the difficult, slow work of building a common life.
By Elea Kemler | 5/16/2018
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The Story of My Birth
The Story of My Birth

Tell me the story of my birth, and help me understand how you were changed the day I entered the world. Help me know love, deep in my bones.
By Mandie McGlynn | 5/9/2018
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Blue Sky Returning
Blue Sky Returning

However imperfectly I may be living this life of mine, there’s no one better at it, and there’s no one else who can do it for me.
By Lindasusan Ulrich | 4/25/2018
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The Strength That Defines Us
The Strength That Defines Us

My heart broke the day my son stood in the bathroom crying. He handed me a pair of scissors and told me to just cut it . I told him how beautiful his hair was and how sad I would be to see him cut it.
By Rayla D. Mattson | 4/18/2018
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That They May Have Like-Mindedness
That They May Have Like-Mindedness

I want the spaces in which we meet to be encased by aspirations and forward loving, not affirmations and self-applause. I want to love the people I disagree with, knowing that we’re all just out to find a little more life.
By DeReau K. Farrar | 4/11/2018
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Putting the Pieces Together
Putting the Pieces Together

In real life, we can only place the pieces, one by one, and see what kind of picture we create. Sometimes we turn out to have chosen the wrong piece. Sometimes the picture is wildly unexpected.
By Amanda Poppei | 4/4/2018
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God and Guns
God and Guns

I know deep in my spirit that I am held by the Mystery; part of the Mystery and witness to it; an agent of stardust whose perception of the world might not be all that there is to see.
By Teresa Honey Youngblood | 3/28/2018
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Kindling the Spirit
Kindling the Spirit

What if we encouraged and celebrated each other for who we are? What if, instead of criticizing, we challenged with love, affirming the good we see in one another?
By Connie Simon | 3/21/2018
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Opportunities to Say Yes
Opportunities to Say Yes

Last year for Lent, I decided to say yes to any request. I made it all the way to Easter without having to honor my decision.
By Nathan Ryan | 3/14/2018
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Strangers at the Door
Strangers at the Door

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.
By Erika A. Hewitt | 3/7/2018
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Faithful
Faithful

Being faithful doesn’t mean endless work. It also means attention to the movement of spirit that can appear as an hour of sleep, the truth of a toddler, or a donut in the middle of the day.
By Robin Tanner | 2/28/2018
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Another, Truer Song
Another, Truer Song

I wanted so much to believe that God was watching over this boy, that God was tender and protective and fiercely on the side of life and that this boy would not slip away.
By Elea Kemler | 2/21/2018
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No Longer Claiming "Divorced"
No Longer Claiming "Divorced"

I spent time feeling embarrassed—that somehow I had failed—because I had filed for divorce. It’s been over nine years now, and I wake up every single day happy with my decision.
By Rayla D. Mattson | 2/14/2018
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Lean in to Life
Lean in to Life

“Now,” the yoga instructor said, “begin to chant GOD GOD GOD as you vigorously circle your arms.” Oh boy, I thought, Here we go. Of course it couldn’t just be arm circles.
By Tara Humphries | 2/7/2018
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Good Enough
Good Enough

Spirit of Compassion, remind us that our task as humans is not perfection, but faithfulness.
By Lindasusan Ulrich | 1/31/2018
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Telling a New Story
Telling a New Story

I’m not the same person who stood in that tattoo parlor eleven years ago. Still, I don’t for a minute regret being permanently marked with this snapshot in time, of my wounds and my hope.
By Mandie McGlynn | 1/20/2018
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