May our beacon of hope give you respite

When we feel overwhelmed, we gather to find a path, to find new ways forward.

People sometimes ask: Is Pride a protest Or a party? And the answer is Of course Yes. And why not? Why not Rejoice as we resist Dance as we demand change Celebrate as we create community that delights in All of who we are? So bring all of that With you this morning....

We light our chalice as a symbol of gratitude as we celebrate the abundance of our lives together. In this sanctuary we harvest bushels of strength for one another, and offer our crop with the hands of compassion and generosity....

Spirit of Life and love, God of many names and yet none at all Our hearts are stretched thin. We see and hear the devaluing of people of color, of those with disabilities, of women, of immigrants; this list, incomplete as it is, is exhausting. And yet, we hold fast because we carry hope in our...

We carry bags with us throughout the week for many reasons. (If you have a bag with you, and you want to have it blessed, please bring it forward, send it forward with a helper, or lift up your bag when you hear me describe you.) Some of us take books and homework to school Some of us bring our...

"Love, once again, break our hearts open wide." Thanks to Rev. Jason Shelton for providing the sheet music (PDF) for this song.

Would you be with me in a spirit of meditation, reflection, and prayer. Friends, it has been another challenging week in our world. I want to invite us to start with some silence, time to reconnect with our breath and reground ourselves. Let’s be in silence together. Silence... ring bell. This...

We gather today in the presence of the old old story of death defeated by emptiness, of hope and newness triumphant over fear and separation. We come, hearts heavy with pain and anxiety, spirits flattened by exhaustion and apathy, vision darkened by strife and violence. We come seeking connection...

Spirit of Life, Earth and Sea and Sky, Place of deep longing in my heart Find your way from silence to voice Give me strength and courage to speak truth through my life For I am a creature of the Universe, small but infinite A momentary body in the sea of life, and also the sea itself I am a...

Within each of our hearts there is a most glorious light....

Today, you join in membership. This is a moment of excitement and possibility. And although I don’t wish to pull you out of this moment, I need to talk to you for a bit about a moment in your future....

Text from "Love Will Guide Us," by Sally Rogers, #131, http://www.uuabookstore.org/Singing-the-Living-Tradition-Hymnal-P16918… the Living Tradition.

Once upon a time there was a drop of water named Higgins. Higgins was no ordinary drop of water. He was a drop with a dream. Higgins lived in a valley where it had not rained in a very long time, so all the lovely green grass was turning brown, all the beautiful flowers were wilting, and all the...

In gatherings we are stirred like the leaves of the fall season rustling around sacred trees, tossed hither and yon until we come to rest together, quietly, softly . . . We come to gather strength from each other. We come to give strength to each other....

Into the dwelling place of togetherness, we come to collect remnants of hope.

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...

You are not alone, dear one...you are among all those who have walked this straining path before. You are not alone... you are with the wisdom of all your ancestors who live, if nowhere else, in the cells of your body and breath, remembering you from the very beginning....

“The Miseducation of Justice-Making” excerpted from Nathan C. Walker (2014) Exorcising Preaching: Crafting Intellectually Honest Worship. St. Louis: Chalice Press. What does justice-making look like, feel like, when we receive hostile communication? Are we hostile in return? Or is something else...

Something has changed in me this winter. In the past I’ve focused on how long winter is, How miserable I find it, and how it seems so interminable. This winter, I find myself thinking instead That every day, every hour, every minute Brings us just that much closer to spring. We all experience...