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.
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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 WorshipWebTagged as: Anti-Oppression, Community, Connections, Covenant, Faith, Growth, Interdependence, Relationships, Vision
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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 WorshipWebTagged as: Christianity, Easter, Love, Pain, Unity, Wholeness
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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 WorshipWebTagged as: Beauty, Direct Experience, Healing, Integrity, Living Our Faith, Spiritual Practice, Unitarian Universalism
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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 WorshipWebTagged 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
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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 WorshipWebTagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 6th Principle (World Community), Acceptance, Community, Honesty, Relationships, Service, Unitarian Universalism, Water Communion
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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 WorshipWebTagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 6th Principle (World Community), Beauty, Community, Living Our Faith, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Service, Tradition, Unitarian Universalism
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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 WorshipWebTagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), Anti-Oppression, Courage, Hope, Justice, Love, Unitarian Universalism
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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 WorshipWebTagged as: Awe, Earth, Earth-Centered, Hope, Winter, Winter Solstice / Yule
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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 WorshipWebTagged as: Christianity, Communion (Christian)
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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 WorshipWebTagged as: Commitment, Healing, Hope, Integrity, Living Our Faith, Multiculturalism, Purpose, Race/Ethnicity, Reconciliation, Responsibility, Unitarian Universalism
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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 WorshipWebTagged as: Anti-Oppression, Arts & Music, Calling, Healing, Listening, Living Our Faith, Multiculturalism, Race/Ethnicity, Reconciliation, Responsibility
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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 WorshipWebTagged as: Commitment, Courage, Healing, Multiculturalism, Race/Ethnicity, Reconciliation, Unitarian Universalism
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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 WorshipWebTagged as: America, Democracy, Direct Experience, Grief, History, Humanism, Leadership, Secular
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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 WorshipWebTagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), Calling, Healing, Humanism, Justice, Living Our Faith, Love, Purpose, Unitarian Universalism
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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 WorshipWebTagged 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
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Worship Associate: This is the message of our faith Congregation (left): To act with passion in the face of injustice. Congregation (right): To love with courage in the midst of life’s pain. Worship Associate: This is the meaning of our chalice flame. All: May it empower our hearts until we are...Chalice Extinguishing | By Maureen Killoran | August 11, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Activism, Justice, Living Our Faith, Meaning, Unitarian Universalism
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We are on a journey. We didn’t plan it. We didn’t have time for the bread to rise. We may find ourselves in the wilderness, hungry, thirsty, Doubting that we should have ever come. But look around: We are not alone. It is our journey together: A journey to our better selves, A journey to a...Closing | By Debra Haffner | July 4, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Beginnings, Community, Connections, Courage, Doubt, Journey, Judaism, Passover (Pesach)
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I do not know where we go when we die; And I do not know what the soul is Or what death is or when or why. What I know is that The song once sung cannot be unsung, And the life once lived cannot be unlived, And the love once loved cannot be unloved.Closing | By Kenneth W. Collier | April 27, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Agnosticism, Animal Memorial, Death, Direct Experience, Faith, Humanism, Memorial Services, Purpose
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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...Chalice Extinguishing | By Greg Ward | April 25, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Community, Interdependence, Love, Memorial Services
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Our grief is a holy thing. It is that proof that another life touched ours in a profound way. It is the mark of love, the mark of connection, and the mark of a life well lived. We will mourn, we will cry, we will miss (Name)....Closing | By Tracie Barrett | April 25, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Death, Grief, Memorial Services, Relationships, Sacred