When my mind is still and alone with the beating of my heart, I remember many things too easily forgotten: the purity of early love; the maturity of unselfish love that seeks nothing but another's good; the idealism that has persisted through all the tempest of life.

When I was a child, the day after Thanksgiving was steeped in ritual. Every year my family would travel to Chicago for the holiday festivities. Our tour was always the same: We'd tromp up and down Michigan Ave., admiring store windows with animated mechanical dolls that served as actors for the...

O Deep Mystery of our lives -- voice in our hearts and light in our minds -- in the joyful freedom of our fellowship, we are here together as adventurers called forth in spirit, men and women moving, yearning, questing, pushing the limits of our lives outwards to what is more loving and just, mor...

A Haitian prayer book, entitled God Is No Stranger, includes the following words: “Father, I have learned that one strong in calculation is called a ‘mathematician.’ You are the greatest mathematician because You can count all the people yet still see each one of us.” Those words find new...

‘Tis the Season . . . of advertisers run amok and ambitions amplified beyond belief . . . of Martha Stewart moments mixed with desert island dreams . . . when even the most dedicated holiday-hopper admits perfection isn’t possible and “good enough” is how the season ought to be. ‘Tis the...

Once more the year's turned round. We've come full circle on this small planet, Spinning down the grooves of change, Another revolution completed around the sun. Another year older ... Another set of rings on the tree ... As seasons parade in endless procession The people's troubles and prayers...

Would you please join me in the spirit of prayer and meditation? Dear Gods and Goddesses, Spirit of Life & Love, Bless us on this beautiful southern California winter day as we celebrate and honor the darkness of the season as a time for us to reflect, look inward, and nourish and replenish our...

Please join me in the spirit of prayer followed by a full minute of meditative silence Gods and Goddesses of darkness and light, Spirit of life and love: We come together on this sacred night to awaken ourselves to the joy of Christmas To the miracles of life The birth of a baby The rise of the s...

Here in this space, we are gathered, called by our sense of urgency, or duty, or the longing for community, called to be together on this day...Here, in this space, we are gathered...called to hold ourselves accountable to our values...to remind ourselves of those hopes and dreams and possibiliti...

To be shared after the flowers have been distributed... Within our hands we hold the resurrection of the world. Transient and imperfect, these blossoms are still gifts of infinite value. Like ourselves. Too often we seek permanence and perfection. Resisting change, blind to our shortcomings, We...

Do you seek eternal life? Would you accept it if you knew it was already yours? None of us knows what the future may bring. None of us knows the hour of our passing. But this we may know— Eternal life is ours, here and now. Look within this moment. Its span of time may be the briefest of instants.

Let us enter into a time of meditation, contemplation, and prayer. Feel the earth beneath your feet as it supports you. Feel the love of this community as it surrounds and enfolds you. Feel your breath as it flows in and out of your body. Listen to your heartbeat. Listen to your heart......

Over our heads, the great wheel of stars shifts, the autumnal (or spring) equinox manifests itself, and for one precious instant darkness and light exist in balanced proportion to one another. Within our minds the great web of neurons shifts, new consciousness arises, and for one precious instant...

Let us enter into a time of meditation, contemplation, and prayer. Feel the earth beneath your feet as it supports you. Feel the love of this community as it surrounds and enfolds you. Feel your breath as it flows in and out of your body. Listen to your heartbeat. Listen to your heart....

Let us pause, and breathe, and be in touch with the sacred presence that permeates all, including this room, now. Web of All... of life, death, and renewal: We open our hearts to those who suffer as a result of the wildfires.

Holy spirit, We feel you moving among us here. Bless us with your presence. For we are in need… …in need of strength and courage. Our road is filled with rocks, with boulders strewn, boulders so high we sometimes wonder whether we can climb them, We are in need… …in need of comfort and...

Spirit of life and love, In this season of beginning Some of us are hurried and harried. Some of us feel sorrowful and afraid. Some of us are not yet ready to step forward into the future. May we minister to one another with wisdom, Meeting our friends with open ears, open eyes, and open hearts....

We pray for the children, For the voiceless, for the innocent, for the vulnerable, for the least powerful among us, and those most in need of our protection....