Spirit of life, we come from different spaces. Some of us arrive alive with hope and joy. Some of us come in loneliness or fear -- looking for friendship and support but not sure we'll find it.

Spirit of life, we are joined today in a moment of gratitude for a perfect fall day -- for a last blaze of sunshine in a sapphire sky, before the rain and snow -- for gold and crimson leaves, before we are mired in piles of slush -- for the moment of peace and contemplation in which to appreciate...

Spirit of Life, We are here as a community dedicated to all that is good and just and beautiful. We ask that we might be strengthened in our dedication to a better world. In time of war, when national pride and anger overwhelms the call for world community, We would remember all those around the...

Spirit of Life, The beginning of the holiday season is filled with temptations to conspicuous consumptions, and pleas for generosity. The contrasts between the values represented by this time of year, and our ability to fulfill them, remind us how great the distance can be between aspirations and...

Spirit of life and love, your prophet Isaiah called us to worship you by freeing the oppressed, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and housing the homeless. Your follower St. Francis cried out, "Make me an instrument of Thy peace." Jesus instructed us to love our neighbors—and our enemies—as...

Spirit of life and love, thank you for the gifts of life and love. Help us to embrace fully the sweet and the bitter moments of our days. Help us to treasure the times of abundance and to find meaning in the times of emptiness....

[In this difficult time of war and destruction,] We call to our minds today the life of a man of peace, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. We pray that like Dr. King, we may have the courage to live our convictions even in the face of overwhelming opposition....

At this quiet time and in this place of worship we would seek to know more deeply what it means to love one another. We know so well our own needs. We know that we, ourselves need understanding, affection and recognition. Why is it then that so often we hesitate to extend these precious gifts to...

Spirit of Life whom we have called by many names in thanksgiving and in anguish— Bless the poets and those who mourn Send peace for the soldiers who did not make the wars but whose lives were consumed by them Let strong trees grow above graves far from home Breathe through the arms of their...

Source of life and death, ground of all being, Spirit of our spirits, whose we are in life and in death—Life itself is the great mystery and death a part of it. In truth we know not the one nor the other. We live and die in the mystery of being from moment to moment till at the end we merge with...

Spirit of life—mysterious power in all creation—we gather before you now as countless others have stood asking that you make yourself known to us. Let us find you in the glories and wonders of the world and in moments of great joy and ecstasy. But most of all, let us find you in the commonplace:...

Spirit of Life, Known to us in many ways, but so often, in so many cultures, in the image of a mother, Hold us in your arms this day. Let all that we value and all that we hold dear in the images of motherhood we carry be our guide. We are grateful for all the parents that share the community of...

Spirit of kindness and compassion, we come from different places to this sacred ground of communal caring. We are enriched by the company of each other, and are drawn closer to the heart of love in this time of service. Touch this gathering with tenderness so that we may be refreshed anew by the...

Spirit of Justice,God who befriends those who stand upon the constant edges of decision,-- crucial and aloneWe are grateful to be together this morning.We gather especially to remember Dr. Martin Luther King Jr....

Spirit of creative good, be with us when we are afraid. Grant us the courage to do what we have to do. Grant us the peace that passes understanding. When we fail to find courage, or peace, May we find compassion for our brothers and sisters who also fail. May we sometimes win the prizes that we...

Loving God, We gather today in humility, Awed by the stone rolled back; And the surprise of the empty tomb. We gather in defiance Of the pain and the injustice that came before; And of the pain and injustice that will likely come again. We gather in hope That life can begin anew; That our...

Lord of all being, the longer I walk upon this great green earth the less do I understand my purpose in being here; the less am I able to fathom the reason of my birth and span of life....

We pray: Live in me, Spirit of Life. We are alive Because others have lived And we all were born within homes we did not build. Live in me, Spirit of Life. Every one of us is alone No one can live a life but each self And we all will have made our choices before we die. Live in me, Spirit of Life.

Welcome to all our siblings this morning. We enter into this half circle of diversity, Celebrating the ways that we upright walking two-legged wanderers share With the four-leggeds lounging, lunging and leaping among us, With Winged warblers, With slithering, sliding snaky beings, With circling...

Harpo: Hi there, I'm Harpo the harbor seal. I come back each year and more and more of my friends join me to hang out in Staten Island waters. I'm glad to be invited here to this gathering where you are bringing water from different places this morning....