"With our minds and our hearts and our hands, may we choose to bless the world." Sheet music available in 4-part harmony.

Empathy isn’t just something that happens to us—a meteor shower of synapses firing across the brain—it’s also a choice we make: to pay attention, to extend ourselves. It’s made of exertion, that dowdier cousin of impulse. Sometimes we care for another because we know we should or because...

"Fear's pronoun is singular: I've got to watch out for me and mine. Love's pronoun is plural: we're in this together, and together we can grow things that will blossom even in a time of drought." —Kathleen McTigue My son, Caleb, and I went to Starbucks on a recent Saturday morning. We often do...

As we create and share sacred space together, let us reflect upon what brings us here. We have all come here for different reasons, from different decisions, faced different challenges and shared different love. And yet all of our differences have led us to this space, right here, right now. Some...

There’s something deeply moving for me about the idea of a love that will always have my back.

[Touch hands to your own forehead, if it feels natural] May you be blessed with wisdom, knowledge and understanding. May your intellect take you far on your journey. You have been blessed with reason and free will, it is your call every day to use these gifts. [Throat] May you be blessed with voice.

May I remember in this tender moment that Love is my guide, always, shepherding me toward ways of openness and compassion. I have what I need, really, with Love at my side, above me, below me, in front of me, behind me, inside every cell of me, Love infused everywhere! Just when the weight of the...

What DO we do in the face of evil? Anything. Everything. Pray, protest, bake, hug, grieve, wail, laugh, explain, linger, research, fight, cry. What we absolutely must not do is ignore it.

From the time I was a baby, my mother often displayed her love for me by reciting a list of endearments such as: mi chiquitica linda, mi preciosa, mi criaturita hermosa, mi alegría, la hija más amada en el mundo, el tesoro de mi corazón. Loosely translated, her litany would go like this: my cute...

Last summer at General Assembly, I walked out of the sanctuary we had made from the convention center space. As tired as I was, I returned more and more to my deeply introverted default of self, and I passed a woman who had to stop to talk with me....

We have come to share the loss we have felt in (Name) passing and some examples of the joy we carry from her/his/their* life. This we have done. But before we extinguish this chalice, let us acknowledge that we will not – that we cannot – extinguish the love she/he/they showed us; or the memory...

We don't live into our redemption very much, or get to win the fight over death. Jesus’ resurrection is a symbol and a promise that we are redeemed and that death’s dominion is not the final word. On Easter the Deep Magic breaks through. We proclaim and sing that love’s redeeming work is done...

I invite you into a period of quiet meditation. Close your eyes if you wish, and get comfortable in your seat. Think about the father-figure you carry in your heart. I invite you to remember the gifts and the wounds you received from that person or persons. If any feelings come up, just breathe...

Open your hearts, my friends, And let yourself feel the reality of absence. Open your hearts, and acknowledge That we gather in the presence of death. Open your hearts. Make room For the healing balm of connection, the release of forgiveness. No matter what pain dwells within your spirit, Or how...

Every mother has a different story, though we tend to group them together. We like to think that partnered moms have it good and single moms have it rough, but the truth is that we're a diverse bunch....

"The soul is made of love and must ever strive to return to love. Therefore, it can never find rest nor happiness in other things. It must lose itself in love. By its very nature, it must seek God, who is love." —Mechthild of Magdeburg, 13th century Germany For twelve years, Daisy has been the...

Kristin Kany wrote this multi-voice poem in 2016 to be read by a group of "diverse moms." I am mother Mother 1: I am Mother Mother 2: I am Mother Mother(s) 3: I am Mother Mother 4: I am Mother Mother(s) 5: I am Mother Mother 6: I am Mother I am Mama, I am Mommy, I am Chinese, Jewish, African,...

We're very grateful to Tim Atkins (copy) and Jessica Ferguson (design) for sharing their UU Valentines with WorshipWeb: We go together like a flame and a chalice Let's let our interconnected webs interconnect, baby I love you more than [Henry David] Thoreau loved the woods Will you join the...

Your gifts—whatever you discover them to be— can be used to bless or curse the world. The mind's power, the strength of the hands, the reaches of the heart, the gift of speaking, listening, imagining, seeing, waiting Any of these can serve to feed the hungry, bind up wounds, welcome the...

“Empathy is not finite, and compassion is not a pizza with eight slices. When you practice empathy and compassion with someone, there is not less of these qualities to go around. There’s more. Love is the last thing we need to ration in this world. The refugee in Syria doesn’t benefit more if...