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- America (2)
- Anger (2)
- Anti-Oppression (1)
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- Awe (5)
- Balance (2)
- Beauty (1)
- Beginnings (3)
- Belief (2)
- Birth (1)
- Brokenness (2)
- Calling (2)
- Caring (4)
- Challenge (2)
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- Character (5)
- Children (1)
- Choice (5)
- Class (1)
- Coming-of-Age (1)
- Commitment (11)
- Community (12)
- Compassion (2)
- Connections (8)
- Contemplation (3)
- Courage (7)
- Death (10)
- Democracy (2)
- Despair (4)
- Dignity (1)
- Discernment (4)
- Diversity (2)
- Earth (5)
- Empathy (1)
- Environment (1)
- Faith (4)
- Family (1)
- Fear (3)
- Food (2)
- Food Justice (1)
- Forgiveness (2)
- Freedom (2)
- Generations (3)
- Generosity (1)
- God (6)
- Good (2)
- Grace (3)
- Gratitude (7)
- Grief (2)
- Growth (5)
- Healing (4)
- Health (1)
- History (5)
- Hope (4)
- Hospitality (1)
- Humility (1)
- Identity (6)
- Imagination (1)
- Immanence (1)
- Integrity (3)
- Interdependence (1)
- Journey (3)
- Joy (2)
- Justice (6)
- Kindness (1)
- Leadership (3)
- Letting Go (3)
- Limitations (3)
- Listening (3)
- Living Our Faith (8)
- Love (6)
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- Mindfulness (1)
- Multiculturalism (1)
- Mystery (7)
- Nature (4)
- Pain (4)
- Peace (4)
- Playfulness (1)
- Politics (2)
- Power (4)
- Presence (4)
- Progress (3)
- Psychology (1)
- Purpose (33)
- Race/Ethnicity (2)
- Reason (2)
- Relationships (9)
- Respect (1)
- Responsibility (4)
- Revelation (3)
- Reverence (5)
- Sacred (4)
- Salvation (2)
- Science (1)
- Searching (15)
- Self-Respect (3)
- Service (8)
- Silence (1)
- Solidarity (1)
- Sorrow (2)
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- Suffering (1)
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 83
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Dying is scary, but we are brave, and we can talk about it together.Reflection | By Meg Barnhouse | October 5, 2022 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Death, Family, Limitations, Meaning, Worship
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I want to be shaped in a way that lets me serve the eternal.Reflection | By Jake Morrill | September 22, 2021 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: Contemplation, God, Meaning, Presence, Purpose, Transcendence, Worship
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The words we cast to fill the silence left by one we loved never are enough.Poetry | By David Breeden | June 2, 2021 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Contemplation, Death, Grief, Meaning, Memorial Services, Silence
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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
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Life is political, not because the world cares about how you feel, but because the world reacts to what you do.Quote | By Timothy Snyder | September 27, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 5th Principle (Conscience & Democracy), Activism, America, Democracy, Justice, Meaning, Politics, Secular, WorshipWeb, Worship
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Deep in the shadow of night, down near the crossroads and cemetery gates, with bitter liquor and cigar smoke wafting, I greet you. Clad in white, upon the floor before shrines, following the names of the Ancestors being uttered, I greet you. You are the sacred and righteous rage of my people.Prayer | By Byron "Tyler" Coles | June 2, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Activism, Anger, Awe, Direct Experience, Generations, Indigenous American, Meaning, Power, Race/Ethnicity, Relationships, Secular, Wonder
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May the invitation of prayer and meditation embrace this holy house and each precious person, moving each and all to connect with a sense of affirmation— sound, movement, or silence— in whatever way your body knows to be true. [chime] Spirit of Life and Love, our hearts are overflowing with...Prayer | By Karen G. Johnston | May 5, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Community, Courage, Justice, Meaning, Pain, Politics, Purpose, Unitarian Universalism, Vision
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As my body begins to loose its hold On this life, this earth, this entirety, May I lay my past to rest And face the unknowable With courage and curiosity. May those to whom I am connected gather. May they recall me as I am and have been....Prayer | By Tess Baumberger | January 16, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Death, Direct Experience, Gratitude, Grief, Humanism, Meaning, Memorial Services, Mystery, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Remembrance Day, Secular
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Our chalice reminds us that the fire within ourselves is the same fire that illuminates the Universe. It is our reminder that all is connected even though the space of the void is vast, and our experience here is but a blip in the cosmic timeline....Chalice Lighting | By Shawn Trapp | November 11, 2019 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Agnosticism, Atheism, Awe, Humanism, Meaning, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Purpose, Reason, Science, Secular, Wonder
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In the Bible, there’s a pretty well-known story about David and Goliath. Goliath, a huge warrior from the side of the Philistines, challenged someone from the side of the Israelites to battle. David was chosen and he knew that even with all of the armor in the world, he would not be able to win...Sermon | By Kari Gottfried | November 7, 2019 | From WorshipWebTagged as: History, Identity, Living Our Faith, Meaning, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Purpose, Revelation, Salvation, Seven Principles, Unitarian Universalism, Unitarianism, Universalism
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Today I’m going to tell a story about a girl who was searching for a porpoise. Now, as you probably know, a porpoise is a sea mammal in the dolphin family. Porpoises are smaller and shyer than dolphins. They are more difficult to find, but porpoises are very important. Minister (or other Worship...Time for All Ages | By Chrissy Bushyager | May 6, 2019 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Beginnings, Caring, Commitment, Discernment, Environment, Identity, Living Our Faith, Meaning, Purpose, Responsibility
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Note: Lisa Maria has provided instructions, below, to make this litany interactive and fun. One of her suggestions entails inviting an added written response from members of the congregation. #1: We celebrate the memory of winter’s sleep and the quieting of our souls. Response: Sing praises for...Litany | By Lisa Maria Andreoli Steinberg | April 9, 2019 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Abundance, Beauty, Easter, Gratitude, Meaning, Spring
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One: On Labor Day we honor our work, physical and mental, paid and unpaid, joyous and heartbreaking. Many: We give thanks for work’s gifts, suffer its difficulties, and strive to make labor just and joyous for all. One: Our work can build our society, provide for our material needs, and give our...Responsive Reading | By Amanda Udis-Kessler | December 7, 2018 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Character, Direct Experience, Gratitude, Integrity, Labor Day, Living Our Faith, Meaning, Purpose, Service, Unitarian Universalism, Work
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We gather as many drops, each winding our own path down life’s surfaces and ruts. Here we pool together as a single body, flowing together for a time. Together we are a stream, at times even a river, for with our shared force we can travel toward oceans of meaning and seas of connection.Chalice Lighting | By Leslie Takahashi | December 7, 2018 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Community, Connections, Earth, Earth-Centered, Meaning, Nature, Playfulness, Unitarian Universalism, Water Communion
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Humans make maps of stars, choosing some stars, ignoring others, to project our imaginations onto the heavens. These maps shift over time, across cultures. Names change for the same assemblage of bright points: Drinking Gourd, Big Dipper, Plough, Lost Hunters [1], Saptarishi [2]. Humans make...Affirmation | By Karen G. Johnston | December 6, 2018 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Commitment, Community, Earth, Earth-Centered, Imagination, Leadership, Meaning, Nature, Stewardship, Wonder
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We seekers are on a quest: A quest to discover truth and meaning. Sometimes we think we’ve found it— Wrapped up, glimmering with newness Straight off the intellectual assembly line. All the answers right here for us And others, if they’d only listen. But truth has a way of coming in disguise,...Opening | By Jason Cook | June 18, 2018 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Character, Children's / Religious Education Sunday, Direct Experience, Growth, Humanism, Leadership, Meaning, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Revelation, Searching, Secular, Teacher Dedication, Teacher Recognition, Transformation, Truth, Wisdom
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We light this chalice remembering and honoring our own tradition and celebrating the rich diversity of traditions among us. As we search for justice, meaning, and purpose, may we remember that justice, meaning, and purpose live first in deeply listening to one another. This chalice lighting was...Chalice Lighting | By David Breeden | August 21, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Connections, Diversity, Hospitality, International, Living Our Faith, Meaning, Multiculturalism, Purpose, Tradition, 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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For all the talk about reason and science, Humanism is really about a passionate love affair. It is a love affair with life, not a mythical hereafter. Humanism is a love affair with a progressive vision of civilization in which each of us can add to our growing library of wisdom, our evolving...Reading | By Michael Werner | April 20, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Humanism, Meaning, Progress, Reason
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If I were to wish you peace, it would not be for long. It would be peace to rest, to reflect, to make ready for the coming day, that the full force of your creativity and love might be released and shared. I do wish you peace.Benediction | By Bill Hamilton-Holway | December 22, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Activism, Commitment, Humanism, Living Our Faith, Meaning, Peace, Purpose, Secular, Seven Principles, Unitarian Universalism
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