Hope rises. It rises from the heart of life, here and now, beating with joy and sorrow. Hope longs. It longs for good to be affirmed, for justice and love to prevail, for suffering to be alleviated, and for life to flourish in peace. Hope remembers. It remembers the dreams of those who have gone...

Jesus had no political power. He lived his whole life in the shadow of the Roman empire, and that empire killed him. Yet Jesus healed the sick, he listened, he moved among the ordinary people, in the lowly places.

Spirit of life and love, We gather together in different ways this morning, From computer screens, from telephones, from car radios, We gather, reaching out across the wires, waving from a safe distance, To come together in religious community....

I’m confident in our human ability to together muscle our way into renewing our world.

Here I am, God, here I am. Here I am with the dishes in the sink, the dust on the shelves, the skin on my hands which is drying out and starting to crack. My appetite has gone, without any other bodies to remind my body of itself. I can pray for salvation but my bones know this is all there is....

We light this flame For the art of sacred unknowing. Humbled by all that we cannot fathom in this time, We come into the presence of what we do know, Perhaps the only thing we can ever know: That Love is now and forever The only answer to everything And everyone In every moment.

In a time of uncertainty, when everything around us is changing constantly— each day new developments, rising numbers, changing guidelines; when the world we live in suddenly seems upside-down and topsy-turvy: We light our chalice to remind ourselves of our grounding in our faith....

We're grateful to Linda Hirschhorn for sharing her song, created in March 2020 and inspired a Bertolt Brecht quote: "In the dark times will there also be singing? Yes, there will also be singing about the dark times.” Linda invites your feedback...

For the new year, just days old, beginning today, always beginning: We light our chalice, symbol of faith, perseverance, and hope, in astonished thanksgiving and irrepressible praise. For beginnings that emerge out of endings, appear amidst continuity, become visible in hindsight: We light our...

We are never numbers to be tallied for turnout. We are more than a sum. Together, we are the hope and courage.

Thresholds. We cross them every day. From room to room, from outside to inside, and back again, from here to there, from anywhere to everywhere, from age to age. Each threshold offers an opportunity for change, for renewal, for transformation, from what we were and what we are to what we can be....

Reader 1: Flaming chalice, symbol of our living tradition, we kindle you for light Reader 2: Light in this darkest season of the year Light to reveal the sources of greed and hate among us Light to guide our way forward together Reader 1: Chalice Flame, we kindle you for love Reader 2: Love to ke...

This is the beauty and sparkle of spiritual communities: needs arise and beloveds appear to ask, “How can I help?” There’s no fixed timeline, just the spiritual practices of generosity and stewardship.

What I do know for sure is that hope matters. One of the best things we can do is to hold hope for someone when that person cannot hold it for themselves.

May we find love in this place: love in our hearts, love for the broken-down, love for the lonely, love for those yet to feel whole, love for those in-between, love for those out of our reach. May we find love, add love, and be love in this world. Amen.

As we light the chalice may our souls become its hearth. We join our hearts to the one great flame of bright compassion, Beloved Community, and fervent justice. May we become lanterns to the world, lighting the way for all.

The wellspring of decency is loving this life in which people die, people suffer, there are limits, and we make mistakes. The wellspring, then, of moral action is not utopia, not a counterfactual vision, not a declaration that the world could and should be otherwise....

We don’t always know what comes next, but that cannot dissuade us.

This recipe has been tweaked over time, so adjust as necessary. Sometimes it yields more servings than anticipated. Sometimes it needs a bit more of this ingredient or that. It comes from generations who have gone before me, and I've added my own flavor along the way. A Recipe for Resilience…

We light this chalice—symbol of our faith alive in this world— naming our vision of collective liberation, and daring to re-member each other into beloved community.