Let us imagine washing the feet of someone who has wronged us. Their feet, too, are calloused and muddy from the road.

God, teach us to consider also how others experience the world. To understand how my reality and their reality are different and yet they share qualities of the same core desire. Teach us to listen for shared feelings, for places of connection. Teach us to be curious and open to hearing differences.

[for 2-3 voices, alternating] On this eve of mystery and magic, let us enter into the Christmas story as if we were there on the holy night. What part will we play this year? Are you the mother, trusting your body to know what to do when the time of birth comes?...

The innkeeper isn’t part of most Nativity sets. No one sings carols about innkeepers. There don’t seem to be any paintings that include them. But we can imagine the scene: Bethlehem is crowded with people coming home for the census. It’s late at night when the innkeeper responds to a knock on...

Blessed are the homeless and those who beg for spare change, for they will inherit the house of the Lord. Blessed are the black mothers who lament the deaths of their sons at the hands of the state, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex,...

Go slow if you can. Slower. More slowly still. Friendly dark or fearsome, this is no place to break your neck by rushing, by running, by crashing into what you cannot see....

Let us go out into the world singing. Let us go out into the world singing songs that proclaim liberty. Songs that turn ashes into garlands Songs that bind up the afflicted and those who mourn. Songs that, like oaks, have roots that go deep and stand strong. Let us go out into the world singing....

I am always in a bit of a shock when December 1st arrives on the calendar. I always feel like there should be at least another week beyond Thanksgiving before I can even contemplate the next holiday....

This morning I’ve invited a special guest to join us, someone who has quite a story to tell. [Pull out costume and put on hat and blanket/cloak. Prepare to change your voice just a bit, and your manner, so as to be in character.] Good morning. Thank you for allowing me to join you for a little...

Who here knows from experience that life is not fair? [Show of hands.] We know this, don’t we? Life is just not fair. And I really don’t think it ever has been. But what can we do? We generally just shrug and accept it: it’s not fair. But there was once a man who refused to just shrug off the...

Have you ever wondered how it came to be that churches are known as places where you can get a helping hand when you need one? It seems to me that a key source of the charitable nature of churches goes all the way back to the time of Jesus. You see, in the society in which Jesus lived—in his time...

One day a merchant was traveling on a road when he was attacked by bandits. The bandits were so cruel that they beat the merchant, stole everything he had, and left him for dead lying on the side of the road. The merchant was so badly hurt he couldn’t move or speak at all, and he could barely see...

Leader 1: This is a special night – Christmas Eve, the night before we celebrate the birth of a Jewish leader whose life and words have changed the minds and hearts of many to the side of goodness, generosity and caring. Leader 2: In honor of that birth, tonight we tell the story of a man whose...

We ask to have clarity of Spirit come forth into our lives with the power of a mighty wind

"[Lord,] when did we see you a stranger and invite you in? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you? The King will reply, "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."...

"If your brother becomes impoverished and his means falter in your proximity, you shall strengthen him—stranger or resident—so that he can live with you." Levtitcus is the third book of the Hebrew Bible (sometimes called the Old Testament) and the third of five books of the Torah (or...

Where is our holy church? We're on the side of love.

Thou who art the soul and heart of life, save us from fear—the fear of days and nights yet to be, the fear of the known and the unknown, the fear that builds high walls around our spirits and our lives, the fear that closes in and envelops us, the fear that nibbles at the edges of every...

"Let there be light!" Let it shine in dark places, in moments of pain, in times of grief, in the darkness of hatred, violence, oppression, where there is discouragement and despair. Wherever darkness is to be put to flight, "Let there be light!"...