Oh Spirit of Life and Love, fortify us with the wisdom and tenacity of our ancestors to continue toward the promise in the founding documents of our nation: a nation where all of us are created as equals and are endowed with the inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Our faith also gives us hope. A faith that knows that transformation is a holy and sacred task, that affirms that the democratic process is a faithful act, that brings a generous heart and a lens of justice and liberation to all that we do, that values equality and equity and is centered in love.

As we set down this work for the day, may we release with it all that has wounded us, keeping close only what has fed and enlivened our spirit... When we bless the world with our love, we are blessed in return.

In these times of fragmentation... to canvass is to choose the deeper assurance of interconnectedness and to heed the call of radical, all-embracing love.

Let our hearts be welcoming of multiple truths, not holding hard or fast to closed mindedness or judgmental thinking. What can we learn from each other in the richness of our differences?

The offering we take each Sunday is an opportunity to recommit to this place, and to these people. It is as much a ritual as singing together, lighting our Chalice, or reciting our Unison Affirmation.

May we continue to strive to know one another in community.

On this Sunday before Labor Day, we light this flame to honor all work. Not only the work we do for pay with our hands, our backs, and our minds, that is important, yes. But also the work we do for love!

We light our chalice as a symbol of the Light within us and the life that flows through the world around us.

Today, we honor a journey that some of our youth have been on to mindfully enter the next phase of their lives… this is ultimately a time when we have invited them to think specifically about their own path.

Bless you, for who you are, right now, right here. Bless you in your queerness, your genderfabulousness, your questioning, wondering, exploring, declaring. Bless you in the words you create and evolve and claim for yourself.

The flames did not show the whole path, but by their light we saw each other and knew we did not travel alone.

Three Minnesota UU congregations came together to raise money, and sponsor and host three Ukrainian families that are now forging their own paths.

More than 3,400 Unitarian Universalists came together to explore the faith’s underpinnings, take consequential votes, and be in community with one another.

May everyone feel safe and free to love as they choose.

Last January, the UUA offered empty commercial space at its headquarters to the state as a free temporary overnight shelter. Roderick, Angela, and their young child are among those granted haven there.

BLUU Executive Director Lena K Gardner shares insight on the effort, which broke ground in May, and explains how this affordable housing approach reflects UU values.

May we be kind in our speaking, thoughtful in our deliberating, and never stray from the love that binds us together.

This ritual is written for a congregation to bless a Black Lives Matter banner and raise it on their church building. It could easily be adapted for rededication of a banner, or for other banners that a congregation might display on their building to declare their values.