Welcome, all who seek renewal in a weary world.

Can we enfold other people in the way we long to be enfolded?

Can we find space for lifting our heads in wonder—that we’re still striving, still trying together

People of faith are experts in human kindness.

May our beacon of hope give you respite

It is in gathering that we find our hope.

Light the fire of the Future

Spirit of life and love, We gather together in different ways this morning, From computer screens, from telephones, from car radios, We gather, reaching out across the wires, waving from a safe distance, To come together in religious community....

I’m confident in our human ability to together muscle our way into renewing our world.

We are never numbers to be tallied for turnout. We are more than a sum. Together, we are the hope and courage.

Thresholds. We cross them every day. From room to room, from outside to inside, and back again, from here to there, from anywhere to everywhere, from age to age. Each threshold offers an opportunity for change, for renewal, for transformation, from what we were and what we are to what we can be....

As we light the chalice may our souls become its hearth. We join our hearts to the one great flame of bright compassion, Beloved Community, and fervent justice. May we become lanterns to the world, lighting the way for all.

We don’t always know what comes next, but that cannot dissuade us.

We light this chalice—symbol of our faith alive in this world— naming our vision of collective liberation, and daring to re-member each other into beloved community.

Ours is a spiritual community where we find and forge connection. We trust in the strength of our mutual support, knowing how it has sustained us, day after day, year after year. Today we hold in the light: _________ and we lift up: _________ Now you are invited to recall the names of persons or...

What could you accomplish this week if you knew you had a ground team wishing you well? Who are the other explorers around you, needing a word of encouragement that would mean so much coming from you?

Spirit of Life On this night, may we bear witness to the guiding lights: the lights in the sky That call us to gather, and to give of ourselves To celebrate new life....

Spirit of Life that goes by so many names… Spirit of Love that has taken so many shapes on our earth over the millennia of human habitation here… we open our hearts to make room for you. With the innocence and imagination of a child, help us to hear the beauty and the magic in the Christmas...

Be it real or metaphor, whatever is in your backpack, or your briefcase, or your purse that you’ve brought into this sanctuary that is weighing you down: leave it behind. Whatever you are carrying that is keeping you distracted, or caught up in shame, or guilt, or hopelessness: leave it behind....

This is a prayer for when words fail, for when they are not big enough or small enough to slip into the little cracks left in our hearts by life’s unbearable pressures....