Good Morning! Welcome to this liberal religious congregation [or name of congregation]. My name is [name, role]. Some of us are bringing our best selves to this space, and some of us are bringing our struggling selves, including pieces we might be ashamed of....

These banners, based on welcoming signs by Maryah Converse, are designed for use on Facebook, Twitter, and GooglePlus. The banners' designer, Ellen Rockett, incorporated background designs from 19th century drawings of mosque art released by the New York Public Library's Digital Collection.

Tonight in this community, we have shared stories, sung carols, opened our hearts to the beauty of music. Tonight we have turned to one another, lighting each other’s candles in the dark. Tonight we have dared to hear a message of hope spoken once again against the challenge of the world. It is...

I want to say to all those who would close the door, who would be guided by fear instead of hope, who would clutch in scarcity rather than live in generosity, who would say “No, you can’t come here”— I want to say: How dare you. For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, . .

In eighth grade, we were assigned a project: to make a poster about some part of our ancestry. I made mine about the story of the 1930 migration, from Germany to the United States, of my great-grandmother, her husband, and their three children. My great-grandmother, Emma Johanna Jacoba Kranenburg...

For many reasons, people depart. They leave home—or the places given to them, in place of home that might’ve been lost to war—and seek refuge from a thousand dangers and uncertainties. For many reasons—many of them inconceivable to us, who live in relative peace and prosperity—people...

Spirit of Hope, God of Many Names, Source of Love, We gather, hearts heavy with grief for our neighbors in Paris, in Beirut, in Baghdad; all cities victimized by terrorists. We pray for the victims, for the families, for the communities marred by chaos and hatred. May they have the resources they...

Spirit of Life, Spirit of Love, Spirit of Generosity, As we draw near to that quiet essential side of ourselves, may we open enough to consider the sacred choices we make each minute, each hour, each day that add up to a lifetime. Let us become aware that here is the place to be forgiven, and to...

Why is this blank page staring back at me, mocking, like an affliction, and fraught with dread? How can it hold such sway, this simple emptiness? Might it instead be a gift left on my doorstep overnight, waiting to be broken open with the dawn?...

In our reckless yearning to be safe, we turn again and again away from the blessed security of having nowhere left to hide. Give us the courage to lay ourselves bare. Amen.

Joy and celebration are worthy of the time we spend on them. The small moment of the candle being lit while singing ‘Silent Night’ is that important.

Are we a people of holding on or of letting go?...

Unconditional love is not so much about how we receive and endure each other, as it is about the deep vow to never, under any condition, stop bringing the flawed truth of who we are to each other.

Leader: Let us enter into the circle of energy and love; Response: All are welcome here. We are an inclusive community of faith and kindness, memory and hope; All are welcome here. We are a community with a deep and abiding trust in the promise of goodness in every human heart and soul. All are...

We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.

Welcome to this place of peace; May we find some moments of quiet contemplation. Welcome to this place of celebration; May our hearts soar with gratitude for the gift of life. Welcome to this place of sacred love; May we gently hold all that is broken here. Welcome to this place of inquiry; Here,...