Loving God, We pause in the stillness to rest for a moment, to quiet ourselves so that we can feel what stirs within us. Each breath draws us closer to the pulse of life and with each exhalation we make room for something new. May we find in this gathering the comfort of those who care. May we...

Please join with me in the spirit of meditation and prayer. We know the leaves are dying. We know that their blaze of beauty is a preparation for death. It is a time when we appreciate the effort of nature to rise above the ordinariness of life and death. It is a time when we visibly comprehend...

We join our hearts and minds together in a time of meditation or prayer; spoken, silent, sung, and shared....

Please join with me in the spirit of meditation and prayer.We have returned again to the time of Atonement, the time to look back over our lives this past year and face the realities of when we have fallen short of the aims set forth in "Moments of high resolve."We have the opportunity, if we cho...

On this both joyous and solemn day we have reason to celebrate; we have reason to be grateful; we have reason to be proud. We gather in the shadow of a world unsure of itself, of plans for peace lost in the plague of ambition, of a planet under threat. And yet, we have cause to be hopeful. Our...

We give thanks for this day and for these people and all the people who have enriched our lives. We give thanks for the gift of life with all of its pain and its joy, its struggles and its triumphs....

Breathe with me You who feel sorrows calling across the oceans, calling across the room, echoing in the spacious cavern of your chest. Breathe with me You who wake with the sun carrying a restlessness to make justice and do mercy....

Cast Abigail Adams Julia Ward Howe Frances Watkins Harper Clara Barton Florence Nightingale Lydia Maria Child Script All the women file onto the stage (through the side door on the stage, and stand with shawls over their heads, their backs to the audience). Narrator: Women in the 18th and 19th...

Let us bless the Earth, And all that is steady and firm. Let us bless the Sky, And all that is open and filled with light. Let us bless their union, Holy and without ceasing. Let us bless their children, The bounty of field and forest, Stones, plants, animals, and all living things....

The world is too beautiful to be praised by only one voice. May you have the courage to sing your part. The world is too broken to be healed by only one set of hands. May you have the courage to use your gifts. May you go in peace.

Holy Spirit, God of Ages and so many names, we gather once again to rejoice in the light offered to the world by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. His walk on this earth was a gift to generations, and today we give thanks for that gift. We know that we are called together today not simply to...

This light we kindle is set in the lamp of our history. We inherit this free faith from the brave and gentle, fierce and outspoken hearts and minds that have come before us. Let us be worthy inheritors of this faith and through our good works, pass it boldly to a new generation.

Call to sing joyfully to fulfill our role as part of creation Let us sing a song to the Eternal. Let the earth and her children break forth in song. Let the sky and its creatures in chorus reply. Let the sea and all that is within it sound out praise. Let the storms raise their voices, the river...

The author, a member of a Unitarian Universalist (UU) congregation, reflects on living with bipolar disorder.

In our modern age of apathy and egoism, there is cause for hope whenever people care about something beyond themselves. But there is more to being human than feeling deeply, for we risk becoming impassioned fools. Our minds must conspire with our hearts. We should care enough to think—and think...

A voice screeched gate assignments through a nerve-jangling public address system. Even if the announcements had been in English, I doubt that I’d have been able to make sense of them. But whatever was being broadcast to the cavernous waiting area of the Moscow airport prompted mobs of people to...

Our Subaru Forester was sliding sideways down Interstate 80 at fifty miles per hour. My wife, Nan, had gingerly switched to the left-hand lane to avoid a truck that was overturned on the right shoulder, but no amount of experience, skill, or caution could overcome our car’s mass and momentum on a...

There is no such thing as a lasting peace, a tranquility that will persist forever, a final resting place for the lion and the lamb. We yearn for the completion of our task, the fulfillment of our striving, the consummation of our journey. And this longing sows the seeds of our defeat....

May all the beings in all the worlds be happy. May all the beings in all the worlds be happy. May all the beings in all the worlds be happy. Om Peace, Peace, Peace. One of the earliest and most important religious texts of ancient India, the Rig Veda is the oldest of the four collections of hymns...

There is a love Holding me. There is a love Holding you. There is a love Holding all. I rest in this love. —Rebecca Parker, Unitarian Universalist...