The power to choose is the power of life in the midst of brokenness.

Taking what we need and leaving the rest behind isn’t only a one time thing. We can do it anytime.

Let us grieve for our own pain, as oppressions / come between us, as sharp / as broken glass.

May I speak from my learning and not from my habit.

May I have the wisdom to be curious when I find myself grumbling about “them.”

Amidst the swirl of life's challenges, fears, and even moments of crisis, I make time to gaze at the night sky to see the vastness there, And to remember that this moment in time is but a flicker— Not an inconsequential flicker— For what I do and think now does matter. My work, though, is to let...

One of my most treasured New Year’s traditions is coming up with a word for the year: a single word that I want to be the theme for my entire year. When I’m questioning what’s the right thing to do, I will look to my word of the year for guidance.

When we can gently hold things steady, change comes from within; that’s where the real growth happens.

The freedom to doubt, to question, to be content to live in Mystery is central to the liberal religious tradition. Like the process of evolution itself, the path that we follow—our practice—is not easy or simple. It isn’t without its dead ends or its disappointments. It doesn't guarantee that...

How many times do I need to make mistakes before I’m ready to admit that I’m not any better at this than the bigoted and willfully ignorant?

What's my favorite weather? When the wind whips your face, you're alive, and you can think what you will.

What's going to happen? Will everything be ok? What can I do? In these days we find ourselves, too often, Stuck with these questions on repeat: What's going to happen? / Will everything be ok? /What can I do?...

.I want liberty and justice for all in my country. That will ask of me—and of many of you—the discipline of discomfort.

Those of us with some privilege in this empire may be tempted to seek refuge in it, as if privilege was ever going to save us. But who’s to say whether you’ve come to this place and position for a time such as this?

[We suggest that the Worship Leader act out the relevant parts of this message: e.g clutch a bag tightly; let the contents spill; hold it like a "club" for bopping congregants over the head.] Babies don’t believe anything. Babies aren’t born Buddhists or Baptists or believers of any sort. But...

Inexplicable. How we rise each morning, instead of burying our heads under bedcovers, sewing them shut. Why we keep on welcoming babies with bone-deep joy to this sordid world. How we fill burlap sacks with grit and gratitude, our hands shredded as we drag one over the other....

Often people say that they love coming to a place with so many like-minded people. I know just what they are getting at -- and I know that they aren’t getting it quite right. I don’t want to be with a bunch of people who think just like me. I want to be in a beloved community where I don’t...

We arrive from many different experiences and backgrounds. Some of us have trouble speaking; others are so young that they’re still learning to talk. Some of us speak English as a second language, and others of us can speak several foreign languages....

Once there was an emperor who needed a new set of clothes to wear in the grand parade. He called two of his finest cloth weavers to order one. They looked at each other and decided this would be a chance to make a little extra money from the deal. “Oh Emperor,” one said, “We have invented the...

The following ritual—which could be used to honor a congregation's founders—is used at First Unitarian Church of Des Moines (IA) to honor decade(s) membership anniversaries. Those celebrating 10, 20, 30, etc. years of membership are invited on stage, given a rose for each decade of membership,...