Luz del sol to warm your days. Luz de luna to illuminate your nights. Luz de estrella to steer you through rough oceans. Luz de vela to celebrate your fifteenth year. Esta luz, this chalice is lit for you this day, That it and this community may be a source of light to guide you into adulthood.

“Though we tremble before uncertain futures, may we meet illness, death, and adversity with strength. May we dance in the face of our fears,” writes trailblazer Gloria Anzaldua, who knew a thing or two about courage. Courage requires both vulnerability and careful strategy. Like other people of...

We light this chalice remembering and honoring our own tradition and celebrating the rich diversity of traditions among us. As we search for justice, meaning, and purpose, may we remember that justice, meaning, and purpose live first in deeply listening to one another. This chalice lighting was...

How often we seek refuge in this sacred flame From the world’s trouble and pain. Today, may our lamp light the way For whose who know no refuge, That we may open our minds Our arms Our hearts Our mouths to sing “Come, whoever you are,” Wholly new and wholly true.

Spirit of Life and Love, Shaken by sorrow We wonder why We wonder how Humans can find it within themselves To destroy life That exists also within them. Together we grieve the injustice Of lives cut short by hate Of survivors touched by terror And we stand firm in life Knowing that only love can...

Introduction The Cornbread and Cider Communion is a tradition in some of our congregations. With gratitude for our freedom and for our abundance, let us celebrate this ritual today mindful of Syrian and other refugees who are unable to go home, those for whom we pray safe passage and a welcoming...

This reflection was created for Choir Sunday, an annual tradition at the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Burlington, Vermont. You can adapt the language as suitable for you....

Suppose you scrub your ethical skin until it shines, but inside there is no music, then what? —Kabir Suppose you cried a thousand years for a child who died when she drank bad water. Suppose you organized a great movement to clean the water. Suppose you carried the first filled glass to the...

The children being dedicated will take a walk around the sanctuary. Different church members and older children present in the pews will offer objects that will become a part of the child throughout the poem....

The journey was a long one. We started on an airplane, a 16-hour trip crossing the international date line. A van for an hour, then another hour’s plane ride. A pedi-cab trip, and a four hour van ride. Then another hour’s drive up a windy mountain road, turning off the road onto a rocky, bumpy,...

Many Unitarian Universalist (UU) congregations follow an annual Ingathering tradition on the first Sunday after Labor Day that includes a Water Communion/Ceremony ritual. Specific traditions vary widely, but often they include introductory remarks, a time for reflection, a sharing of water that...