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Displaying 1 - 20 of 61
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Once, during my ministerial internship, a woman I’ll call Clara came up to me during the hustle and bustle before the Sunday service. I knew that Clara struggled with anxiety; now, in great distress, she told me how anxious she was and that she didn’t know what to do. She was frantic, and I...Reading | By Barbara F. Meyers | July 27, 2022 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Acceptance, Caring, Listening, Mental Health, Presence
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Make sure, both at Christmastime and in other times, that you ask for that which you really want.Homily | By Megan Foley | December 1, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Abundance, Advent, Belief, Children, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Direct Experience, Discernment, Generosity, Humanism, Listening, Meaning, Secular, WorshipWeb, Worship -
The most life-giving coping strategy—for me—is to attune to a voice calmer and wiser than mine, and allow that seeking to be its own expression of faith.Reflection | By Erika Hewitt | July 22, 2020 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: Calling, Direct Experience, Discernment, Faith, Letting Go, Listening, Presence, Searching, Spiritual Practice -
These opening words are formatted for two readers, as indicated below....Opening | By Shari Woodbury | January 16, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Direct Experience, Home, Humanism, Listening, Secular, Self-Respect, Unitarian Universalism -
Sit and rest for a minute. Take several deep breaths in and out again, calling your attention to this space. Attention. Pay attention. Pay attention to where you are right now. I mean where you are, Where you are, And where you are....Meditation | By Nancy Reid-McKee | January 16, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Listening, Presence, Spiritual Practice -
This story is great to be acted out by four women (of applicable ages for each direction) around a large bowl/vessel....Story | By Katie Sivani Gelfand | January 7, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Direct Experience, Earth-Centered, Generations, Imagination, Listening, Nature, Sacred, Spirituality, Unitarian Universalism, Water Communion, Women
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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 WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Challenge, Change, Growth, Humanism, Humility, Listening, Searching, Secular, Transformation -
What I do know for sure is that hope matters. One of the best things we can do is to hold hope for someone when that person cannot hold it for themselves.Reflection | By Elea Kemler | October 2, 2019 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: Hope, Listening, Ministry, Presence, Searching -
Spirit of Life and Love, Holy One of our Being and our Becoming, That which is Sacred Within, Among, and Beyond Us… We know so many stories about You: God, Lord, King, Father. Earth Mother, Great Spirit, Universe. Holy Parent, Divine Love, Deepest Longings, Covenanted Partner. We know stories...Prayer | By Mandie McGlynn | January 29, 2019 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Acceptance, Discernment, God, Honesty, Listening, Self-Respect, Truth, Unitarian Universalism, Vision -
It's an impulse of the human self to be known fully, and that’s almost never possible unless we risk the conversations that help us see past our initial impressions.Reflection | By Amanda Poppei | September 5, 2018 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Anti-Oppression, Connections, Direct Experience, Empathy, Family, Humanism, Humility, Identity, Individualism, Listening, Playfulness, Secular -
I give thanks for all it takes to be a healing presence, and also how simple it is. I confess that I want to be seen as (especially) good (especially) right (especially) useful. I confess that I'm still learning an artful skill....Prayer | By Samantha Lynne Wilson | May 30, 2018 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Awe, Contemplation, Direct Experience, Doubt, Humility, Leadership, Listening, Presence, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Self-Respect, Spiritual Practice, Transcendence, Unitarian Universalism -
Let this be a place of warm and gentle silence: the silence that soothes and comforts the wounded, the silence that yields insights into heart and soul, the silence that calms, the silence the listens, the silence that speaks, the silence that renews. Let this be a place of warm and gentle silence.Meditation | By Barbara Stevens | March 15, 2018 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Contemplation, Direct Experience, Listening, Peace, Silence -
This Lamentation is for two voices: one white, and one person of color/indigenous (POCI). Both voices invite people to repeat a refrain several times: white voices say, “So much has been lost,” and voices of color say, “Beloved, you must not be defensive when you hear our hurt.” The latter,...Responsive Reading | By Erika Hewitt, Rebekah Savage | October 15, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Anti-Oppression, Direct Experience, Forgiveness, Grief, History, Humanism, Listening, Multiculturalism, Pain, Personal Stories, Race/Ethnicity, Reconciliation, Secular, Unitarian Universalism
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I play this moment over and over again in my head: the day I heard of the Thomas Jefferson Ball, hosted by Unitarian Universalists in 1993. As a person of color, raised in a UU congregation, I felt a shiver down my spine as I learned something new and unsettling about the faith that I call home....Homily | By Rebekah Savage | October 15, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Commitment, Direct Experience, History, Integrity, Listening, Living Our Faith, Multiculturalism, Pain, Personal Stories, Race/Ethnicity, Reconciliation, 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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Diverse. Multicultural. Inclusive. Welcoming. If I made a list of every single Unitarian Universalist congregation I have served, visited or worshipped at, they would have a few things in common—including the use of these words. Perhaps on the front of the Order of Service?...Reading | By Carol Thomas Cissel | October 15, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Anti-Oppression, Direct Experience, Health, Listening, Multiculturalism, Pain, Personal Stories, Race/Ethnicity, Reconciliation, Unitarian Universalism -
When I started attending a UU church, I was excited by the promise of worship that would draw from the arts, science, nature, literature and a multitude of voices. Indeed, some of the voices that Unitarian Universalists hear in worship each week belong to Thoreau, Emerson, Ballou, and others....Reading | By Connie Simon | October 15, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Community, Direct Experience, Identity, Inclusion, Listening, Multiculturalism, Pain, Personal Stories, Race/Ethnicity, Reconciliation, Unitarian Universalism
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Let us open our hearts, still our minds and enter a time of prayer. Let us call forth and hold in our hearts the stories of all who have come before us, the memories of those who are with us today, and the hope for tomorrow and for all of those who will come after us. Let us be thankful for this...Prayer | By Viola Abbitt | October 15, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Anti-Oppression, Commitment, Direct Experience, Forgiveness, Healing, Listening, Multiculturalism, Race/Ethnicity, Reconciliation, Unitarian Universalism
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Loving inclusion has been an elusive goal within our congregations. We are a covenantal people, and the promise of our faith, which was enough to bring us together, should have been enough to bind us together in love. Many hearts have been, and often continue to be, broken, time and again....Litany | By Viola Abbitt | October 15, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Anti-Oppression, Commitment, Community, Covenant, Direct Experience, Integrity, Listening, Living Our Faith, Multiculturalism, Race/Ethnicity, Reconciliation, Unitarian Universalism
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We are Unitarian Universalists. When we lift up our Seven Principles, some of us think of them as a form of theology—but they are more important to our collective than that: they do not tell us what we should believe; they tell us how we should be. They tell us how we should act in the larger...Invocation | By Viola Abbitt | October 15, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Anti-Oppression, Commitment, Community, Direct Experience, Integrity, Listening, Living Our Faith, Multiculturalism, Race/Ethnicity, Reconciliation, Unitarian Universalism