Words for Worship

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Chalice Extinguishing
The flame is extinguished, but not our hope for the future, our courage in the face of crisis, or the love we share in all the world.
Closing | By Robin F. Gray | March 25, 2015 | From WorshipWeb

Tagged as: Sacred
We Prepare for the Future
By the light of this chalice we prepare for the future. We prepare ourselves for the times of triumph and times of trial that might come. We prepare ourselves to be present to one another with loving hearts even in the most difficult of times....
Chalice Lighting | By Robin F. Gray | March 25, 2015 | From WorshipWeb

Tagged as: Caring
Blessing at Departure
We call for this blessing on all sheltered here whether in body or in spirit... May the flame of our community ignite a love bold enough to share. And, in return May we all be embraced by a love that remains constant in times of sorrow and in days of great gladness.
Closing | By Robin F. Gray | March 25, 2015 | From WorshipWeb

Tagged as: Community, Justice, Peace
Day Break
(Can be preceded by singing the first verse of "Bright Morning Stars," Hymn 357 in Singing the Living Tradition) Day breaks on our gratitude for family and friends, For the freedom to find our own truth, For the company of those who gather here, And the promises we offer one another....
Chalice Lighting | By Robin F. Gray | March 25, 2015 | From WorshipWeb

Tagged as: Covenant, Faith, Family, Freedom, Friendship, Grace, Gratitude, Hope, Journey, Truth
Depature
As we prepare to depart, we give voice to these hopes: May we know ourselves bound in community, even while we are apart. May a passion for justice burn in our lives. May we carry the light of compassion in our hearts and in our every interaction....
Closing | By Robin F. Gray | March 25, 2015 | From WorshipWeb

Tagged as: Community, Justice, Peace
Chalice Lighting for a Service on the Separation of Church and State
This chalice burns with twin flames. The first flame burns for those who seek and defend the right to a free and responsible search for truth and meaning so that each person may live according to conscience in a democratically elected society. The second flame burns for the defenders of freedom,...
Chalice Lighting | By Tracy Bleakney | March 25, 2015 | From WorshipWeb

Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), 5th Principle (Conscience & Democracy), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Activism, America, Anti-Oppression, Commitment, Democracy, Freedom, July 4th, Justice Sunday, Memorial Day, Oppression, Power, Responsibility, Rights, Secular, Unitarian Universalism
Wind, Water, Sun
Wind that whispers through the willow trees Sun that sustains us Water that washes over willing earth and weathered stones A smile shared and savored A child’s squeal of delight as she dances in the daisies and daffodils The quiet joy of gathered community This, this is the spirit of life and lov...
Invocation | By Seth Carrier-Ladd | March 25, 2015 | From WorshipWeb

Tagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Beauty, Children, Community, Direct Experience, Earth, Earth-Centered, Humanism, Joy, Nature, Paganism, Sacred, Unitarian Universalism
Taking the Light with Us
Each week as we gather we light a common chalice. We sing and celebrate, we pray and think. Then we each gather strength from the flame and go out from here, taking the light with us.
Closing | By Heather Christensen | March 25, 2015 | From WorshipWeb

Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Community, Direct Experience, Humanism, Interdependence, Spirituality, Unitarian Universalism
To My Haggadah
Over the years your staples have slipped and pages loosened. Here a faded purple crescent of ancient wine, there a smudge from bricks of date paste. But when you speak I swoon....
Poetry | By Rabbi Rachel Barenblat | March 24, 2015 | From WorshipWeb

Tagged as: Courage, Freedom, God, History, Judaism, Reverence, Sacred, Tradition
The Day After
The day after the seder, reality shoves back in like a football player with lowered shoulder. Dishes to wash: the browned kugel pan, chopping knives, the eggbeater that whipped the whites for Eppie’s matzah balls, the gravy boats that held haroset, the glass bowls encrusted with salt. All day...
Poetry | By Rabbi Rachel Barenblat | March 24, 2015 | From WorshipWeb

Tagged as: Food, Judaism, Passover (Pesach), Prophetic Words & Deeds, Spiritual Practice, Tradition
Ready
Wear God like a cloak / and stride forth with confidence.
Poetry | By Rabbi Rachel Barenblat | March 24, 2015 | From WorshipWeb

Tagged as: Courage, Fear, Freedom, Judaism, Letting Go, Passover (Pesach), Tradition, Transformation
Order
Breakfast on kosher macaroons and Diet Pepsi in the car on the way to Price Chopper for lamb. Peel five pounds of onions and let the Cuisinart shred them while you push them down and weep....
Poetry | By Rabbi Rachel Barenblat | March 24, 2015 | From WorshipWeb

Tagged as: Direct Experience, Food, Freedom, Generations, Judaism, Passover (Pesach), Prophetic Words & Deeds, Spirituality, Tradition
Individually and Together
Unitarian Universalism is a grand vision of a world filled with peace and justice, love and joy. That vision is embodied in a few large congregations, numerous mid-sized congregations, and many, many small congregations....
Offering | By Heather Christensen | March 24, 2015 | From WorshipWeb

Tagged as: 6th Principle (World Community), Interdependence, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Stewardship, Unitarian Universalism, Vision
In Gatherings
In gatherings we are stirred like the leaves of the fall season rustling around sacred trees, tossed hither and yon until we come to rest together, quietly, softly . . . We come to gather strength from each other. We come to give strength to each other....
Poetry | By Marta I. Valentín | March 23, 2015 | From WorshipWeb

Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Acceptance, Community, Covenant, Direct Experience, Gratitude, Power, Strength, Unitarian Universalism, Wholeness
Show Up Hungry
I got off work at 7 pm and did the thing where you chase the bus a little bit but then realize you won’t make it and walk sheepishly back to the bus stop. I’m already an hour late to Sunday night singing at the Lucy Stone Cooperative, a UU affordable housing co-op in Boston. I’m still...
Reading | By Elizabeth Nguyen | March 23, 2015 | From WorshipWeb

Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Acceptance, Commitment, Community, Conflict, Direct Experience, Relationships, Unitarian Universalism, Vulnerability
The Road We Travel Together
I’ve always had a tough time falling asleep. As a child, I was skeptical about the whole idea of sleep. I thought, “Who needs it anyway? Can’t we just be awake all the time? Isn’t that what life is all about?” So it is not surprising that, when my now mother-in-law asked me a few years ago...
Reading | By Nic Cable | March 23, 2015 | From WorshipWeb

Tagged as: Choice, Direct Experience, Growth, Identity, Unitarian Universalism, Vision, Youth/Teens
Let Me Die Laughing
We are all dying, our lives always moving toward completion. We need to learn to live with death, and to understand that death is not the worst of all events. We need to fear not death, but life— empty lives, loveless lives, lives that do not build upon the gifts that each of us has been given,...
Poetry | By Mark D. Morrison-Reed | March 23, 2015 | From WorshipWeb

Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Commitment, Death, Direct Experience, Fear, Living Our Faith, Playfulness
Living Waters
We float on a sea hidden beneath dry surfaces covered by stones. Isn’t this why we drink and dive so deeply go down to the sea in ships risk drowning, again and again? Isn’t this why Moses parted the waters to begin his journey? Why Jesus crossed the waters to comfort and challenge us? We were...
Poetry | By Stephen M. Shick | March 23, 2015 | From WorshipWeb

Tagged as: Abundance, Awe, Nature, Reverence, Sacred
Joy
I have been wondering what the morning glories know. Is it envy that compels these vines to strangle other flowers arising in their path? Or perhaps self-preservation, to climb these walls, forsaking humbler beings, winding greedy stems around the trellis in their hungry pursuit of light. Still,...
Poetry | By Terri Pahucki | March 23, 2015 | From WorshipWeb

Tagged as: Connections, Earth-Centered, Joy, Nature, Reverence
Uncounted Psalm
Why did I listen to Your calling, O God? Why did I step out on faith, O Love? Why did I lift my feet, ignore my fear, and run toward the unknown? Now I am far from home. My heart aches for my familiar land, for people who greeted me with kisses. I can’t see the way back—it doesn’t exist. I...
Poetry | By Angela Herrera | March 23, 2015 | From WorshipWeb

Tagged as: Despair, Direct Experience, Fear, Home, Listening, Searching

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