Leader: Whether you have come here with heart full or heart empty, with spirits high or low, rested or tired, hopeful or despairing, Congregation: Whether we have come here out of habit, conviction, loneliness, or curiosity, Leader: You belong here because you are here, and all that you have and ...

It is a good morning to be together! When winter's darkness spreads across the land, and cold seeps through our thickest coats, we hurry here, drawn by the warmth of faces familiar and new, to the welcoming walls of this house. Here, for this hour, we open ourselves to new understanding,...

What life have we, if we have not life together? There is no life not lived in community, and no community not lived in celebration and praise! Adapted from lines from T. S. Eliot's "The Rock."...

Let us give thanks, for we are blessed with heads that we may think clearly. We give thanks. Let us be grateful, for we are blessed with hearts of loyalty. We are grateful. Let us give thanks, for we are blessed with hands with the potential for great service. We give thanks....

Spirit of Life, known by many names yet by no name fully known—we gather today with hopes and dreams and also with fears and wounds... [briefly name some of the things lifted up during the candles of joy and sorrow]. May we be reminded that all things come and go; that today’s joys and today’s...

Let us join our hearts and minds in the quiet of meditation and prayer. How shall we pray? First, let us be open to the silence. Let us hear the sounds in this room, the noises outside, and the comfortable murmur from the children downstairs. Let us begin to hear the soft beating of our hearts....

"We gather together": familiar words to many of us. "We"—called here not by name, not by special invitation—but we who are here, who, walking by the door, come in; who come anonymously, burdened and borne by our visions, yearnings, despairs, solitudes. "Gather"—called here not by law, not by...

We gather in community to rest from our labors, to greet our neighbors, and to open our being to insight and intuition of that greater reality of which we are a part. May we find in our time together inspiration and renewal....

We come to this hour knowing that it is but an hour. Yet out of all the hours in the week this is one that is set apart: an hour that is saved, an hour that is savored. It is a time for us to recognize what gives life meaning. It is a time to honor what we value. It is a time to celebrate our lives.

We reach out, both backward into history and forward into the future, to link together the generations in this imperfect, but blessed, community of memory and hope.

We are people of all ages who enter this space bringing our joys and our concerns. We come together in hope. We greet each other warmly with our voices and our smiles. We come together in peace. We light the chalice to symbolize our interdependence and our unity. We come together in harmony. We...

To this house we come bringing our boldest dreams—seeking here the inspiration and strength to make them be! To this house we come hoping to bury broken dreams, to be sustained through their pain and to discover new ones amidst their tears. We come here lonely, isolated from meaningful human...

Come into this house of worship. Come in bringing all of who you are. Rest and quiet your week-worn spirit, for you are here to touch again eternal springs of hope and renewal. Calm your hurried pace. For this hour let the cares, the fretfulness and worry be set aside. Forgive yourself—you are so...

Come down off the ladder. Wash out that paintbrush. Shake the sand out of your shoes. Get up off your muddy knees, and give the garden a morning off. Fold up the newspaper. Turn off the coffeepot. Close up your calendar, already filled with dates, and times, and people, and places that claim you.

Loving Spirit, Be our guest, Dine with us, Share our bread, That our table Might be blessed And our souls be fed.