Our religious communities at their best are places where we grow our capacities to be with experience in all its complexity and paradox, to listen deeply to one another, to allow ourselves to be seen and held in love, and to respond creatively and collectively.

Appreciation and deep witness are beautiful gateways for returning to our most authentic selves.

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...

Make sure, both at Christmastime and in other times, that you ask for that which you really want.

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.

These opening words are formatted for two readers, as indicated below....

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....

This story is great to be acted out by four women (of applicable ages for each direction) around a large bowl/vessel....

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...

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.

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...

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.

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....

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.

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,...

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....

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...

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?...

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....

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...