Bob and Addie Polk had moved into the neighborhood in 1970, when the little houses were relatively new, and through the years they had been friendly with the neighbors. After her husband died, Addie kept more to herself, increasingly limited by declining health in older age....

ALL: Today we honor the youth among us You who are stepping beyond and away and toward Today we share in your journey And encourage your discovery Young Adults (18-35): Today we welcome your energy And offer you a safe place to grow Today we celebrate your hopes and dreams Come live, breathe, thr...

Let us turn inward now Feel the rhythm of the breath. In and out, In and out, Find the peace of just being with the flow of the breath. Letting go of yesterday and tomorrow. Feel the restorative power of the peace of this moment....

Remembering that the universe is so much larger than our ability to comprehend, let us go forth from this time together with the resolve to stop trying to reduce the incomprehensible to our own petty expectations, so that wonder—that sense of what is sacred—can find space to open up our minds...

Let us sing the magic of imagination by which we know one another and learn the lives of eras gone by. Let us sing the magic of creation by which we build the world of our soul and teach its wisdom to others, young and old. Let us sing the magic of our lives together, holding and shaping by the...

Breathe with me You who feel sorrows calling across the oceans, calling across the room, echoing in the spacious cavern of your chest. Breathe with me You who wake with the sun carrying a restlessness to make justice and do mercy....

Holy One who has given us the breath of life, Today we remember To breathe deeply To rest To take in To pause before we act… And then to take in another deep breath poised on the edge And risk jumping in Risk taking action Risk speaking up Risk using the gifts we have been given So that at the en...

God of many names, you who have searched what is hidden within us and who knows us to our core: Our intentions, our wounds, our aspirations and our dreams. You who is familiar with all our ways, even before a word is on our tongue you know it completely. Where can we go from your Spirit?...

We ask to have clarity of Spirit come forth into our lives with the power of a mighty wind

Poem Try to Praise the Mutilated World , by Adam Zagajewski (translated from the Polish) Try to praise the mutilated world. Remember June's long days, and wild strawberries, drops of wine, the dew. The nettles that methodically overgrow the abandoned homesteads of exiles. You must praise the...

My friend Sue has a son with autism who is now 19 years old. When Adam was younger (8–13) and when they would go to the grocery store, he would inevitably make a scene because he would want his parents to buy something he couldn’t have. This would be no ordinary scene of power play and wielding...

Spirit of Love, we pray for all your people. For people who are blind and cannot see and for those who can see but are blind to people around them Spirit, in your mercy, help us touch each other....

What you risk telling your story: You will bore them. Your voice will break, your ink spill and stain your coat. No one will understand, their eyes become fences. You will park yourself forever on the outside, your differentness once and for all revealed, dangerous. The names you give to yourself...

In moonlit shadows, At the edge of night-darkened oak trees I see it. Across sunny pathways, In the buzzing of insects, amongst the flowering forest greenery, I hear it. From the touch of ones loved, The embraces of those gone before me, I feel it....

I’ve always had a fantasy about going to the airport with just the clothes on my back, my ID, a credit card and my toothbrush. I go through the revolving door, walk up to the counter and look up at the day’s flight schedule as if I were looking at the menu in a coffee shop. But instead of...