Today, we are charged to remember. To know that as we live together in community, we are also in community with the silently singing lives in the vast congregation of the earth as well... Let us remember, and then act.

Late in his life, the philosopher Richard Rorty — a well-known atheist — was asked by an interviewer if he could define holy. Perhaps the interlocutor thought the aging and dying Rorty would be stumped by the question or would fall into some traditional language of reverence. But Rorty was not...

How does it happen? this transformation....

The winter solstice is a time to look back upon our ancestors, gather our family and friends close, and rejoice in the return of the sun. It is a time of renewed hope and a time of resurrection – for just as Arianrhod’s Wheel turns and the Oak King resumes his rightful place, so must we go on.

Gather we now into this space, this time when the Wheel turns and the Veil shatters. Gather we now to remember, to grieve, to prophesy, to complete our harvests before the Long Dark comes. Gather we now to tell the Old Stories and sing the Old Songs, to be as we have always been —the Voice of our...

My friends, when you go from here know that our hearts are always in a holy place, for we are always connected to one another. Know that deep down, our hearts beat in one universal rhythm. May we each find the sacred space to hear it.

We light this flame As our fervent plea to brighten the dark corners of our hearts; We hold this flame For in it is the promise of warmth for souls grown cold in loss and despair; We kindle this light That we might continue to find comfort in its warmth; strength in its light; holiness in its...

Wind that whispers through the willow trees Sun that sustains us Water that washes over willing earth and weathered stones A smile shared and savored A child’s squeal of delight as she dances in the daisies and daffodils The quiet joy of gathered community This, this is the spirit of life and lov...

Fire and water, ancient opposites Sun and ocean, the cradle of life Dancing flame and dancing river— We invoke them together today As we kindle our chalice flame.

A person is ethical only when life, as such, is sacred, that of plants and animals as that of other men and women, and when one devotes oneself helpfully to all life that is in need of help.

In the beginning There was light Infinite and expansive Flowing out from an unseen center. Throughout Creation There is light From the steady Sun The glowing Moon The flashing Meteor The twinkling Stars And the auroras dancing in the northern skies....

We light this chalice for the web of life which sustains us, For the sacred circle of life in which we have our being, For the Earth, the Sky, Above and Below, and For our Mother Earth, and for the Mystery.

May the love that gives to life its beauty, the reverence that gives to life its sacredness, and the purposes that give to life its deep significance be strong within each of us and lead us into ever deepening relationships with all of life. Amen.

As we light the chalice and fully embrace the sacred space created here this morning, please hold in your hearts the Unitarian Universalist principle which calls upon us to respect the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part....