Closing words bring the service to an end and prepare people to return home. If the service has been thematically tied together, the words can be a summation, a parting thought, a final nugget for people to reflect on throughout the week.

Benediction comes from the Latin, to speak well or the good words, and are a final blessing on the community. Benedictions are a blessing: words of comfort, strength, and encouragement for the week to come.

Search Words for Worship Services

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  • In every person we meet, especially those who cause us discomfort, we find an opportunity for us to grow, to learn, to go further along the path of transformation that is our purpose in life. Every single one is our teacher. May the next week bring you many such moments of meeting that help you...
    Benediction | By Amy Zucker Morgenstern | January 2, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Challenge, Change, Growth, Humanism, Humility, Listening, Searching, Secular, Transformation
  • Blessed is the dark, in which our dreams stir and are revealed. Blessed is the dark of earth, where seeds come to life. Blessed are the depths of the ocean where no light shimmers: the womb of all earthly life. Blessed is the light into which we awake, the light that sparkles on the waters: that...
    Chalice Extinguishing | By Amy Zucker Morgenstern | October 31, 2019 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Earth, Earth-Centered, Imagination, Nature
  • Love our Earth. Take action to consume less, use less energy, respect water; And be cooperative, collaborative and creative community – like the moss and the mushrooms. Our children’s lives depend on us.
    Closing | By Denise Cawley | June 20, 2019 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Climate Justice, Commitment, Earth, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Environment, Food Justice, Interdependence, Privilege, Respect, Responsibility, Simplicity, Six Sources
  • As flame is to spirit, so spirit is to breath, and breath to song. Though we extinguish the flame in this sanctuary, may we tend it in our hearts until we meet again.
    Chalice Extinguishing | By Becky Laurent | June 8, 2019 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Arts & Music, Body, Humanism, Love, Music Sunday, Unitarian Universalism
  • When I say go in peace, I don’t mean “go in mindless oblivion.” When I say go in peace, I don’t mean “go without challenging yourself or others.” When I say go in peace, I don’t mean “go in utter ease and comfort.” When I say go in peace, I mean “go in peace, seeking justice.”...
    Benediction | By Jim Magaw | May 6, 2019 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Activism, Challenge, Commitment, Community, Compassion, Courage, Humanism, Justice, Love, Peace, Secular, Service
  • It is our work, shared with each other in covenant, That creates and sustains this beloved community. We extinguish this chalice, but its light lives on in the directions we have chosen today. The light of this faith lives on in us, together, in our hearts, minds, bodies and spirits. Amen and...
    Chalice Extinguishing | By Krista Taves | January 31, 2019 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Anti-Oppression, Community, Connections, Covenant, Faith, Growth, Interdependence, Relationships, Vision
  • We all know loss and pain. Let none of it divide us. In the rising sun today Let us do together what we cannot do alone: Roll away the stones that close our hearts.
    Closing | By Joel Miller | December 21, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Christianity, Easter, Love, Pain, Unity, Wholeness
  • Let our lives be a prayer That waters dry souls Mends broken hearts Refuses to be terrorized Seeks this world’s beauty And carries us through its storms.
    Closing | By Joel Miller | December 21, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Beauty, Direct Experience, Healing, Integrity, Living Our Faith, Spiritual Practice, Unitarian Universalism
  • As we go forward into this frightening, exhilarating, confusing, miraculous world, may we offer our comfort to the afflicted our love to those who are lonely and our wish for all to be safe.
    Closing | By Cheryl Block | September 14, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 6th Principle (World Community), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Caring, Community, Compassion, Living Our Faith, Service
  • May all our hours together be blessed as this one has been: by open-hearted sharing, learning from one another, and making beautiful harmonies together. And may we greet everyone we encounter with the same acceptance and grateful kinship, until we meet again. Blessed be.
    Closing | By Amy Zucker Morgenstern | September 14, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 6th Principle (World Community), Acceptance, Community, Honesty, Relationships, Service, Unitarian Universalism, Water Communion
  • We have basked in the warmth and beauty of this flame and this community. As the chalice flame is extinguished, let us carry its glow within. Let us kindle new sparks within these walls and beyond.
    Chalice Extinguishing | By Debra Burrell | May 30, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 6th Principle (World Community), Beauty, Community, Living Our Faith, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Service, Tradition, Unitarian Universalism
  • Go in hope, for the arc of the universe is long and we can bend it toward justice. Go in courage, for together we have the strength to confront injustice in our daily lives and the larger world....
    Benediction | By Elena Westbrook | January 23, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), Anti-Oppression, Courage, Hope, Justice, Love, Unitarian Universalism
  • On this, the longest night of the year, we are warmed by the certain knowledge that tomorrow will welcome more light than today. As it has for eons—for billions of years—the coming of light brings life. May we be awed by the great miracles of light and life, and faithfully nurture the mystery...
    Closing | By Gregory Jones | November 21, 2017 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Awe, Earth, Earth-Centered, Hope, Winter, Winter Solstice / Yule
  • Beloved, as we depart this holy space nourished and renewed, let us live into our dreams and expand our circle of justice to encompass all of creation. Let us love one another and the earth, for as a body is animated through the relationships among its many parts, so God is made manifest among us...
    Benediction | By Mandie McGlynn | October 20, 2017 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Christianity, Communion (Christian)
  • We are the ones we have been waiting for.* We are not perfect, but we are perfectly fitted for this day. We are not without fault, but we can be honest to face our past as we chart a new future. We are the ones we have been waiting for....
    Benediction | By Kimberly Quinn Johnson  | October 15, 2017 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Commitment, Healing, Hope, Integrity, Living Our Faith, Multiculturalism, Purpose, Race/Ethnicity, Reconciliation, Responsibility, Unitarian Universalism
  • Hush: Somebody’s calling your name— Can you hear it? Calling you to a past not quite forgotten, Calling us to a future not fully imagined? Hush, hush: Somebody’s calling our name. What shall we do? Note: this benediction is part of an entire Promise & Practice...
    Benediction | By Kimberly Quinn Johnson  | October 15, 2017 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Anti-Oppression, Arts & Music, Calling, Healing, Listening, Living Our Faith, Multiculturalism, Race/Ethnicity, Reconciliation, Responsibility
  • Spirit of Life, Spirit of Love, We have gathered under the banner of a shared faith. We are born of a welcoming grace that extends and receives love; we are touched by the ways we have fallen short of who we strive to be; and we here we reborn — forged by a greater courage. Let us move from this...
    Benediction | By Rebekah Savage | October 15, 2017 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Commitment, Courage, Healing, Multiculturalism, Race/Ethnicity, Reconciliation, Unitarian Universalism
  • On this hallowed day, We remember. We remember those who are no longer present with us here, but who remain forever present in our hearts and who live on in our memories. We embrace....
    Benediction | By Gregory Jones | September 27, 2017 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: America, Democracy, Direct Experience, Grief, History, Humanism, Leadership, Secular
  • The world aches for us to join together and bring about healing, toil for justice, and produce ever-increasing love. This is our calling. Go forth and act accordingly. Amen.
    Benediction | By D. Scott Cooper | August 17, 2017 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), Calling, Healing, Humanism, Justice, Living Our Faith, Love, Purpose, Unitarian Universalism
  • As we enter another week of uncertainty in the world, let us remember that there is only one side – that of humanity, and planet Earth. May we pray for peace; may we raise our voices with our elected officials and engage as we can in acts of resistance; and may we remember to take very good care...
    Closing | By Debra Haffner | August 12, 2017 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Activism, Direct Experience, Fear, Hope, Living Our Faith, Love, Secular, Unitarian Universalism