The moment of asking for help is a tender moment.

We all have our foibles; pieces of ourselves that we both admire and occasionally revile. These gifts and struggles exist in tandem.

This opening was written for two voices, as indicated below. 1: Welcome, who come in friendship who long for genuine community... 2: May you be graciously received here as your authentic self. 1: Welcome, who come in curiosity, full of questions or simply open... 2: May you embrace wonder and...

We can be cheerleaders for simple joys (even when we don't share them) and compassionate about the fact that we’re all just trying to survive.

In her 1975 theological treatise Suffering, German liberation theologian Dorothee Söelle* examines the ways that suffering can knit humans beings closer together, and can draw us more fully into the process of loving. She uses the term apatheia, “the inability to suffer,” to describe the...

It is deeply spiritual work to learn to treat ourselves with compassion; to learn to see ourselves, if only in moments, the same way we look at something or someone we find beautiful: a newborn baby, the ocean, a sunset.

I trusted the woman at the pharmacy to be capable of hearing hard truth. Bless her wounded heart with its internalized misogyny. She just wants women to love and support each other. Thank you. Me too.

If a friend were in my situation, I would have seen their failings as human. So why hold someone to an unforgiving standard just because that someone is me?

Spirit of Compassion, remind us that our task as humans is not perfection, but faithfulness.

Rest now, Rest in the peace of this moment. Be at ease. Look up at the stars, and down at the grass: Imagine the stars looking back at you over years and centuries, across oceans of empty space. Imagine the feel of the grass on your bare feet and feel it—dry and crunchy, soft and supple....

“Empathy is not finite, and compassion is not a pizza with eight slices. When you practice empathy and compassion with someone, there is not less of these qualities to go around. There’s more. Love is the last thing we need to ration in this world. The refugee in Syria doesn’t benefit more if...

I’m going to talk about something really powerful today: HOPE. And first, I have a question. Have you ever hoped for something? … and did the thing you hoped for happen? [Take responses.] I think that hope is kinda like these: [Pass around basket of acorns and invite children to take one to hold...

In our experience of letting go, may we be open to the possibility that we need not pick our worries back up.

When we introduce ourselves to another person, we usually extend our hand and summarize ourselves with one word, usually our name. "Hello, my name is Naomi…" These are the kinds of face-to-face greetings that initiate relationships, that open our hearts and act as a bridge of connection from one...