I once saw a little sign, carved in wood, that read, “There is only the hard way.” Many of us have been harmed by theology that told us that suffering was a sacrifice that would bring us closer to God. Many of us were told that our suffering would redeem us, even when we knew that actual...

The wellspring of decency is loving this life in which people die, people suffer, there are limits, and we make mistakes. The wellspring, then, of moral action is not utopia, not a counterfactual vision, not a declaration that the world could and should be otherwise....

It is time to throw out our exceptional identity and humble ourselves... We have always done good in the world—it is in our DNA. The question is, are we ready to do better for our own people? Because the world includes every person in our faith—many of whom have been micro-aggressioned right out...

You can’t be prejudiced, racist, sexist, or homophobic. After all, you belong to this faith. You don’t carry pitchforks and march with the Charlottesville gang. You don’t vote for Trump and you started the Women’s March chapter in your city. You are a good person with good intentions; you...

I choose to believe in community. I choose to believe in the difficult, slow work of building a common life.

We’re the faith of reason and science and dignity. There's nothing wrong with that. It’s just that too many of us have been taught by culture that what "smart" looks like is white, male, and middle class. We’ve been taught that credibility and authority are white. We’ve been taught that what...

In every worship service at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, you’ll hear diverse voices, sources, and viewpoints. The congregation is committed to being a multicultural community, and honors that commitment in every service in a measurable, noticeable way: at least one worship...

Blessed are we who gather with open hearts, together, in this space, today. Blessed are we: the chalice-lighters of resistance, justice, love, and faith. Blessed are we: the heretics, the outcasts, the walkers of our own way. Blessed are we: the border-crossers, the refugees, the immigrants, the...

To become an anti-racist faith community, the key question for a white/white majority community is not “How do we get people of color to join our faith community?” It is, instead, “How can we make a prolonged, spiritually-rooted, engaged commitment to uprooting white supremacy within our...

What does “fair” mean? Is “fair” the same thing as “equal”? Which one is reflected in the concept of “justice”? Designed to be used as a Message for All Ages or as part of a Children's Chapel service, this activity uses cookies (yum!) to explore the differences between fair and...

Sheet Music (PDF) for "There Is A Love." There is a love holding me / us. There is a love holding all that I / we love. There is a love holding all. I / We rest in this love.

What does deep spirituality feel like to you? Spirituality is impossible to define and difficult to describe. For me, it feels like connection—connection to myself, to others around me, to the earth and all of creation. Connection to myself feels like deep peace, awareness, calm, authenticity.

May we honor and hold gently our past. May we live fully our present. May we hope toward and build our future, Living our mission [insert congregation's mission statement]: "To be a spiritual community To welcome all To nurture one another To work for justice And to care for the earth." May these...

[In the] spirit of love, harmony, and remembrance, we stand too often divided, too often set apart from one another in heedless ways. We seek to be compassionate but our vision may be clouded or distracted. We too often go forward, day by day, and look without seeing....