In this time of long nights and short days, let us seek the light within … by contemplating, through our mind’s eye, the image of a candle flame. Notice how the soft, quiet, and gentle flame tamely rises from the wick. Yet, just by touching a dry twig, it has the power to become a raging bonfire...

The new year calls us forward, filled with mystery. As we turn toward that new year, we take a final glimpse of the past year, and reckon with all that it held for us. There are baskets moving through the aisles with pens and something called flash paper. It’s specially treated paper that...

Your first Christmas, your last Christmas, this Christmas, and the redemption of the whole world are all happening right now, forever.

Outside The flags fly Down the highway, hanging on to the back of large trucks or the chest of a man....

Christmas doesn’t wimp out when times are hard – it comes anyway, even if there are hardly any presents.

This is not a prayer that you may find hope For hope is a luxury that some cannot find and others cannot afford This is not a prayer that you find more love in the world Though I hope you continue to feel love and send love to those near and far I pray instead that you may find tools A hammer lyi...

Those of us with some privilege in this empire may be tempted to seek refuge in it, as if privilege was ever going to save us. But who’s to say whether you’ve come to this place and position for a time such as this?

Help us to live in peace together and serve one another and to see the holy light in everyone, even when those holy lights are especially hard to see.

October 26, 2016 "God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars." —attributed to Martin Luther I have begun to pray recently. This may sound odd coming from a minister, but as much as I adore leading prayer in front of a congregation, on...

Go slow if you can. Slower. More slowly still. Friendly dark or fearsome, this is no place to break your neck by rushing, by running, by crashing into what you cannot see....

It took me 37 years to recognize that I had been cloistered off from the beauty, the richness, and the heartbreaking complexity of other people’s experiences.

I’m going to preach to the choir here for a minute. We have excellent—truly, truly excellent—faith development models, curricula, and resources. The content is rich, fun, and edifying. The pedagogy is progressive and engaging. And the philosophy is grounded in the best of child development...

Note: this was written for a worship service with a Wizard of Oz theme. Come you accidental pilgrims, you who find yourself on a journey of surprise and wonder. Come you who emerge into this place as an act of liberation. Come you who seek a life of mindfulness and a place to test your thoughts.

Our whole life is a series of signs. Any slight action: a dim semaphore. Our redemption, if it happens, will mean somebody tried.

"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there." —Rumi ...

In his autobiography, Theodore Parker relates that as a child, four or five years old, living on a farm in Roxbury, he was walking through the fields one day absent-mindedly swinging a stick through the tall grass. This was many years ago, in the days before the Civil War. It was summertime. He...

[We suggest that the Worship Leader act out the relevant parts of this message: e.g clutch a bag tightly; let the contents spill; hold it like a "club" for bopping congregants over the head.] Babies don’t believe anything. Babies aren’t born Buddhists or Baptists or believers of any sort. But...

This sermon refers to, and includes, the emerging ritual of a "chocolate communion." If you're seeking to incorporate our Unitarian Universalist values into such a ritual, we recommend providing an organic fair-trade product like the one...

Each person (mostly children but some adults will have brought their backpacks too) comes forward with their backpack and stands in a group. The prayer follows, then worship associates give each person a “luggage tag” bearing a flaming chalice logo. Spirit of Life and Hope and Love, for many of...