There is a glow far off in the distance, a light to which no path leads. We know that each time we help another or join with them to heal the world, each time we stand up for justice and what is right, each time we work and hope and love against all odds, a spark is created that adds to the...
Meditation
| By
D. Scott Cooper
|
January 18, 2017
| From
WorshipWeb
We bow our heads in order to imagine not one path, but many. We imagine a path forward for those who cannot imagine any path forward, because of poor health, financial hardship, family crises, and other roadblocks we cannot begin to understand or imagine. We struggle to imagine a path forward for...
Prayer
| By
D. Scott Cooper
|
January 18, 2017
| From
WorshipWeb
O God, who moves among the stars of the cold clear sky, whose voice whispers in the silence of falling snow, whose silence stills our hearts and leaves us wondering and waiting. Lord, We are seeking Christmas, searching in this season for a hidden door to a forgotten room in the house of our very...
Prayer
| By
Tom Schade
|
January 18, 2017
| From
WorshipWeb
Night has fallen. Stars beckon in an indigo and velvet sky Somewhere a baby is being born. Tonight, the world lazes in a love of goodness while glories stream from heaven afar God is meeting us, tonight, where we are. So be not afraid, and be of good cheer, We wish you, each and all, very Merry...
Benediction
| By
Tom Schade
|
January 18, 2017
| From
WorshipWeb
Tonight, everyone is displaced and homeless. Tonight, everyone searches for Bethlehem. On this night, when the darkness comes so close, We listen in the stillness for the songs of angels. Like shepherds, we aren't too sure of what is happening. We don't know why we are so expectant. We don't know...
Meditation
| By
Tom Schade
|
January 18, 2017
| From
WorshipWeb
“Suddenly summoned to witness something great and horrendous, we kept fighting not to reduce it to our own smallness.” —John Updike, “Tuesday, and After,” The New Yorker, September 24, 2001 We sat on the back steps watching transfixed as hundreds of rust-red spiders, big as thumbs, dropped...
Reflection
| By
Teresa Honey Youngblood
|
January 18, 2017
| From
Braver/Wiser
In times like these, we may seek a new word. But perhaps, in times like these, more than new words, we need old words. We made the journey back to Bethlehem; to the old story of a young, unwed, pregnant girl and her fiancé, Joseph, a poor, young carpenter. The Roman emperor, Caesar Augustus,...
Reflection
| By
Teresa Schwartz
|
January 18, 2017
| From
WorshipWeb
Tagged as: Anti-Oppression, Christianity, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Courage, Fear, Journey, Tradition, Twelfth Night / Epiphany
We light the Hanukkah candles in wonder, joy, and gratitude, each candle a miracle. When the Holy Temple was rededicated at the time of the Maccabean liberation battle, only one day’s worth of oil remained, yet it burned for eight days so we light candles in remembrance....
Responsive Reading
| By
Amanda Udis-Kessler
|
January 18, 2017
| From
WorshipWeb
The winter solstice is a time to look back upon our ancestors, gather our family and friends close, and rejoice in the return of the sun. It is a time of renewed hope and a time of resurrection – for just as Arianrhod’s Wheel turns and the Oak King resumes his rightful place, so must we go on.
Meditation
| By
Andrea Hawkins-Kamper
|
January 10, 2017
| From
WorshipWeb
May you be safe. May you be free from all harm. As the road or skies carry you toward your fellow pilgrims, may you sense the presence of those who travel with you in spirit, whose hopes and hearts are tucked into your pockets, who name your journey’s purpose as sacred. May you encounter...
Blessing
| By
Erika Hewitt
|
January 10, 2017
| From
WorshipWeb
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” ―Albert Einstein This was not my plan for January 1st, 2017: disheveled, wearing a pair of pajamas, and with unbrushed teeth at the pediatric urgent care in New...
Reflection
| By
Robin Tanner
|
January 4, 2017
| From
Braver/Wiser
There are two questions that [a person] must ask [themselves]. The first is "Where am I going?" and the second is "Who will go with me?" If you ever get these questions in the wrong order, you are in trouble. source: Fire in the Belly by Sam Keen, p. 12.
Quote
| By
Howard Thurman
|
January 3, 2017
| From
WorshipWeb
Tagged as: Compromise, Direct Experience, Discernment, Ethics, Humanism, Interdependence, Journey, Leadership, Listening, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Purpose, Secular, Unity, Vision
This was written for Christmas Eve, or other occasions when people are each holding a candle. The spirit of the holy dwells in each of us. The spirit of love dwells in each of us. May the flames in our hands remind us that Eternal Love dwells in our hearts....
Benediction
| By
Renee Ruchotzke
|
January 1, 2017
| From
WorshipWeb
The Solstices teach us that darkness comes, that darkness goes. The Solstices teach us that light comes, that light goes. The Solstices teach us, calmly, silently, to be calm, silent. Learning. The Solstices teach us as we circle the sun that everything flies....
Poetry
| By
David Breeden
|
January 1, 2017
| From
WorshipWeb
It was getting dark and the weary travelers needed a place to sleep. It’s almost 70 miles between Nazareth and Bethlehem, and Joseph and Mary were making the long journey that was required of them in order to pay taxes to the Roman Empire. It was a long journey for everyone, but Mary was feeling...
Story
| By
Lynn Gardner
|
January 1, 2017
| From
WorshipWeb
Tagged as: Christianity, Christmas Eve / Christmas
In this time of long nights and short days, let us seek the light within … by contemplating, through our mind’s eye, the image of a candle flame. Notice how the soft, quiet, and gentle flame tamely rises from the wick. Yet, just by touching a dry twig, it has the power to become a raging bonfire...
Meditation
| By
Sam Trumbore
|
January 1, 2017
| From
WorshipWeb
We offer blessings for life and the end of life. Blessings for the dying. Blessings for the caregiver, holding love and carrying burden. Blessed is the Body. Youth claimed by death. Elder claimed by death. Blessed is all creation moving toward one ending in order to begin again. Let us Bless the...
Blessing
| By
Natalie Maxwell Fenimore
|
January 1, 2017
| From
WorshipWeb
This song by Jake Tidmore is about animal rescue. He's provided WorshipWeb with sheet music in the key of F and the key of E flat. I was kicked out and abandoned On a road from nowhere lost and alone I felt unwanted, my spirit fading How much longer could I keep going on?...
Music
| By
Jake Tidmore
|
December 29, 2016
| From
WorshipWeb
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WorshipWeb’s Origin Story
Conceived in 1999, WorshipWeb was implemented in late 2000 and 2001 through funding from the Unitarian Universalist Association’s successful 1997 “Handing on the Future” capital fund campaign.
We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association and its members in the development of WorshipWeb.