Holding people accountable for the impact of their behavior is not revenge; it’s what makes change and growth possible, and no real healing in community can come without it.

May this chalice light guide us toward the courageous and openhearted apology, toward repair of relationships in our lives.

Under the weight of destruction, / we will need the strong shelter / of forgiveness and the deeper wells / that give the sweet water of welcome

Give up the fight For some other moment Some other life Than here, and now Give up the longing for some other world The wishing for other choices to make other songs to sing other bodies, other ages, other countries, other stakes Purge the past; forgive the future— for each come too soon.

Love cannot be bought or sold; it does not make a profit. Love does not hide from truth. Love dives deep. Love takes on flesh. Love is queer. Love is platonic. Love is erotic. Love is asexual. Love confronts evil. Love delights in pleasure. Love touches and weeps and flirts and feeds and creates.

Every year, I tell the congregation not to worry about mistakes because there aren’t any; there is only us, telling an old story about love getting born into this aching world.

The work of forgiveness is so challenging—the actual work of it. The naming, grieving, empathizing, releasing. It’s like a death. A death of what we wanted, what we expected, what we’d hoped for, what we deserved and didn’t receive….We don’t get to control other people or outcomes. I am...

We pray to you, Mother Earth, with gratitude For your holding and sustaining love For the air, water, and soil that feed us For the mountains and rivers and oceans that calm our spirits For loving and supporting all beings and all creation. We pray to you, Mother Earth, with humility Help us to...

This group blessing is designed to be shared by many voices or read by just one. Alex suggests creating an altar with a chalice and testing supplies (which are then distributed to students as they need them). Speaker 1: We have come to the end of the quarter/semester/year. An end to these classes.

As Unitarian Universalists, our journey is to transform the big and the small, to transform ourselves, and to transform the world.

Spirit of Life I find you In those humble places. The quiet, still spaces where I am held in A love greater than myself. You are the wind in my breath; The fire in my soul; The subtle Heartbeat of creation all around me....

Spirit of Life and Love, Justice and Peace, The spectacle of foolish pride is ever before us in these times. Indeed, pride has seldom looked so foolish in our lifetimes. So many people in positions of public trust and responsibility have lost their authority and our confidence spectacularly. And...

When I internalize cultural messages about the definitions of success or failure—or anything, really—I undermine my own sense of self-worth.

Mission and covenant are an antidote to individualism. They remind us of the responsibilities that come with an affirmation of interdependence.

My soul nudged me from a hiding place to confess and to seek forgiveness, and only through the grace of the Great Mystery of Life unfolding around us did I receive the blessing of journeying with a beloved, grieving friend.

If a friend were in my situation, I would have seen their failings as human. So why hold someone to an unforgiving standard just because that someone is me?

It is my only memory of a lesson from Kindergarten Sunday School class. Maybe it’s the only one that counts.

In the days ahead, many of us will gather with family and friends, people with whom we may have long and complicated relationships. It helps to prepare. Let us enter into the spirit of prayer or meditation. Dear Spirit, Great Mystery that has blessed us with Life, help us to feel grateful....

Putting holes in things that used to be solid is hard. Some days, there is broken glass everywhere. And not all of us are skilled with the metaphorical power tools.

Spirit of Compassion, remind us that our task as humans is not perfection, but faithfulness.