We leave this gathered community, But we don’t leave our connection, Our concerns, our care for each other. Our service to each other, to the world, and to our faith continues. Until we are together again, friends, Be strong, be well, be true, be loving.

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....

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.

So much held in a heart in a lifetime. So much held in a heart in a day, an hour, a moment. We are utterly open with no one, in the end—not mother and father, not wife or husband, not lover, not child, not friend. We open windows to each but we live alone in the house of the heart. Perhaps we...

Pleasure reminds us to enjoy being alive and on purpose... Pleasure—embodied, connected pleasure—is one of the way we know when we are free. That we are always free. That we always have the power to co-create the world. Pleasure helps us move through the times that are unfair, through grief and...

We are not automatic lovers of self, others, world, or God. Love does not just happen.

One: To become is a life long process. Nothing is constant, not even the self. We evolve in the midst of narratives meant only for some and ways of being made narrow by fear and power. We must, then, have the courage to listen to the truth of our own lives, to the wisdom that comes from within—...

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.

As we light this chalice [this evening], may it serve to give us clarity of purpose and illumine our way as we set about doing the work of this congregation, in commitment, in cooperation, and in love.

Reader 1: We come today to gather together as Unitarian Universalists. Reader 2: We come today to join in the spirit of love and the service of life. Reader 3: We come today to be part of the stream of this living tradition. All: In our gathering, may we be blessed. Reader 1: Our shared faith is...

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 crisis was an opportunity to learn to be fully me and love it, inner turmoil and all. I learned that strength comes from authenticity, never from perfection.

Perhaps for a moment the typewriters will stop clicking, the wheels stop rolling the computers desist from computing, and a hush will fall over the city....

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...

Love is hard. Love for people, especially those who are different from you. Love that says “I see you as a person.” Love that says “let your unique light shine in the world” because each of our souls touches the divine mystery. Love that says “we’re on a journey together, and my fate is...

God, teach us to consider also how others experience the world. To understand how my reality and their reality are different and yet they share qualities of the same core desire. Teach us to listen for shared feelings, for places of connection. Teach us to be curious and open to hearing differences.

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.

I was a foster parent long before I was a mom, and an inside look at families "in the system" reveals pretty quickly that love and parenthood are two different qualities, and the relationship between them is neither straightforward nor guaranteed....

Spirit of Life, I have witnessed a loud love, an out-loud love, that challenges me. I did not recognize it at first— the rumble of an ocean I had long been under. But here it is right now and it looks just like the whole world could be. It doesn’t play nice; why should it when nice has only ever...

We are grateful to mark time with seasons, to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries, or to gather as family to remember our loved ones. In all these seasons, may we give thanks for the breath of life, ever mindful of the fragile nature of existence. May we live fully in each moment....