As Seen on the VUU
Bob LaVallee, seminarian and Meadville Lombard talks about the value of “Bless All Who Serve“—the irreplaceable and affectionately named “little blue book”, published by Skinner House Books. Watch this excerpt (YouTube, queued to begin at the 40:25 thru 41:50), Watch—and participate—on the VUU (YouTube), a live talkshow broadcast each Thursday at 11 am Eastern produced by the Church of the Larger Fellowship. We invite a wide variety of guests to discuss religion, spirituality, Unitarian Universalism, multi-faith issues, social justice, and whatever else seems interesting!
Call for Submissions
Second Edition of Bless All Who Serve
A Unitarian Universalist Military Meditation Collection A Skinner House Books Project
We are pleased to announce a call for submissions for a second edition of Bless All Who Serve, a UU collection of meditations, prayers, reflections, and readings for military chaplains, service members, veterans, military families, and all who minister in military-connected communities.
The original collection has served as a meaningful resource for UU military chaplains and others seeking words of grounding, care, courage and hope in settings shaped by service, sacrifice, grief, resilience and community. The second edition will renew the collection for the present moment, lifting up a broader range of voices, identities, experiences and theological perspectives within Unitarian Universalism.
We invite submissions that speak to the lived realities of military life, service and ministry, including:
Deployment, separation, and homecoming
Courage, fear, and moral injury/complexity
Grief, loss, remembrance, and honoring the dead
Spiritual resilience and grounding in difficult times
Justice, peace, conscience, and the complexities of service
Blessings for ceremonies, rites of passage, and daily use
Prayers or meditations for pluralistic, interfaith, and secular settings
Submissions may include original prayers, meditations, blessings, chalice lightings, short reflections, poems, or ritual language. Pieces should generally be brief enough to use in worship, small groups, counseling, memorial services, military ceremonies, or personal spiritual practice.
Submission Guidelines:
Submissions should be 55 words or less for prose, or 54 lines or less for poetry, not counting the title and byline. The poetry line count does include blank lines.
Submissions of original work or accurately credited published work by others are both welcome.
Authors of published submissions will receive an honorarium of $100-$200.
Submissions due 9/1/26.
Questions may be directed to:
The editorial team: Rev. Bret Lortie, Rev. Dr. Rebekah A. Savage, and Mary Benard at blessall@uua.org
In this second edition, we hope to gather words that can accompany those who serve, those who wait, those who remember, those who grieve, and those who seek spiritual nourishment amid the demands of military life. We seek pieces that are honest, spacious, spiritually grounded, and deeply humane.
May this renewed collection bless all who serve, always.