Leader: We're not sure what happened. But, we know what it's like when someone appears whose message we feel offers hope, who inspires us with new ways of living....

Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson, is a novel that takes the form of a letter or journal that a dying, elderly Congregationalist minister in Gilead, Iowa, writes to his 7-year old son in 1956 – written so that one day the boy will know something about his father’s life and character. In this passage...

"The soul is made of love and must ever strive to return to love. Therefore, it can never find rest nor happiness in other things. It must lose itself in love. By its very nature, it must seek God, who is love." —Mechthild of Magdeburg, 13th century Germany For twelve years, Daisy has been the...

Blessed are the homeless and those who beg for spare change, for they will inherit the house of the Lord. Blessed are the black mothers who lament the deaths of their sons at the hands of the state, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex,...

O God, who moves among the stars of the cold clear sky, whose voice whispers in the silence of falling snow, whose silence stills our hearts and leaves us wondering and waiting. Lord, We are seeking Christmas, searching in this season for a hidden door to a forgotten room in the house of our very...

Tonight, everyone is displaced and homeless. Tonight, everyone searches for Bethlehem. On this night, when the darkness comes so close, We listen in the stillness for the songs of angels. Like shepherds, we aren't too sure of what is happening. We don't know why we are so expectant. We don't know...

In times like these, we may seek a new word. But perhaps, in times like these, more than new words, we need old words. We made the journey back to Bethlehem; to the old story of a young, unwed, pregnant girl and her fiancé, Joseph, a poor, young carpenter. The Roman emperor, Caesar Augustus,...

It was getting dark and the weary travelers needed a place to sleep. It’s almost 70 miles between Nazareth and Bethlehem, and Joseph and Mary were making the long journey that was required of them in order to pay taxes to the Roman Empire. It was a long journey for everyone, but Mary was feeling...

As December opens up before us, we welcome in the gift of reflection.

Spirit of life and love, we know you by many names or perhaps no name at all— yet together we know this is a holy night. We come from many different traditions or perhaps no tradition at all — We have celebrated decades of Christmases, or this might be only our first or second time at a...

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

This hymn text was written to accompany the tune St. Louis, commonly known as "O Little Town of Bethlehem" (#246 in Singing the Living Tradition). O Holy Darkness, loving Womb, who nurtures and creates, sustain us through the longest night with dreams of open gates....

Dearly beloved, the story is told that a man named Jesus dined nearly two thousand years ago among his disciples on the eve of his arrest and crucifixion. Some say that Jesus took bread, spoke of it as his body, broke it into pieces and passed it among them to eat....

You may be aware that Chief Arvol Looking Horse, spiritual leader of the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota Nations, invited clergy of all faiths from every nation to come to the Oceti Sakowin camp at Standing Rock on Sunday, December 4th, 2016. In his appeal, sent far and wide, he said, "We are asking...

“‘God did it’ isn’t an explanation,” said Joseph. He got no account for the baby’s chromosomes, No description of the mechanism that Transmuted the divine shadow into royal blood. “‘The devil made me do it’ would have sounded better to me,” said Joseph, Though it never did him...

This is the key to the mystery, The Word became flesh.

God has a fondness for what is fragile. This means us. Advent tells us that God came to us—and comes to us still—with complete vulnerability. Christ is to be found among what is fragile—including us, ourselves, when pain and loss have left us feeling less than whole. In coming to us as a...

We gather here today to share and give thanks, To tell stories and break bread and be together in holy communion. We light our chalice this morning in the spirit of thanksgiving, With love, hope, and generosity of spirit, Grateful for this blessed opportunity to be together.