Happy new year!
Happy new year for our beloved community.
Happy new school year.
[Happy New Year, La Shana Tova, to those of you from Jewish backgrounds, as you celebrate Rosh Hashana]

We gather together at the start of this new year
As people of many ages
As people of many sexual orientations and gender identities
As people of many races and ethnicities
As people of many theologies and religious backgrounds.
Woven together in our love for this community
With our hopes and dreams and prayers for the year before us.
With our hearts and minds and spirits ready to be touched by the year before us.
With our hands and time and talents ready to be offered in the year before us.
We gather together at the start of this new year
With gratitude and love
For those who have come before us
For those who stand here with us
May it be a good year. May it be a sweet year.
Come, let us worship together.