Our common work is the creation of Beloved Community.

In the weaving of our story to the web of life, we must remember that we must not cut the strings, for there are others coming after us.

One: On Labor Day we honor our work, physical and mental, paid and unpaid, joyous and heartbreaking. Many: We give thanks for work’s gifts, suffer its difficulties, and strive to make labor just and joyous for all. One: Our work can build our society, provide for our material needs, and give our...

Spirit of Life, love which holds us, We gather in reverence and thanks for You. We are grateful for the gift of another breath, and for each moment of connection, beauty, and truth. Cry with us in our pain for our world. Remind us that we are loved, just as we are. Remind us that we are connected...

Let us be a faith that gathers, reaching for one another through the walls of hate others build, through the cages of ignorance and arrogance, and through the fear that burns city streets....

We light this chalice to honor our work, to celebrate our community, and to bring hope and determination to our mission in the wider world....

"With our minds and our hearts and our hands, may we choose to bless the world." Sheet music available in 4-part harmony.

Your gifts—whatever you discover them to be— can be used to bless or curse the world. The mind's power, the strength of the hands, the reaches of the heart, the gift of speaking, listening, imagining, seeing, waiting Any of these can serve to feed the hungry, bind up wounds, welcome the...

When the song of the angels is stilled, when the star in the sky is gone, when the kings and princes are home, when the shepherds are back with their flocks, the work of Christmas begins: to find the lost, to heal the broken, to feed the hungry, to release the prisoner, to rebuild the nations, to...

This has been published with "they" pronouns; please use the most fitting pronoun in your own setting. Minister: I call (intern name) to the pulpit. Congregation of the Unitarian Universalist Church of (name), we have begun a new thing by bringing (intern) into our midst, to learn the practice of...

The Chalice is now extinguished, but its light lives on in the minds and hearts and souls of each one of you. Carry that flame with you as you leave this place and share it With those you know With those you love and most especially, with those you have yet to meet.

In the first episode of "Call the Midwife"—a British show about post-WWII midwives—the main character Jenny Worth is just starting as a midwife in the East End of London. She experiences a moment of disgust and overwhelm at witnessing the awful experience of one of her expectant mothers. She...

When you heard that voice and knew finally it called for you and what it was saying—where were you? Were you in the shower, wet and soapy, or chopping cabbage late for dinner? Were you planting radish seeds or seeking one lost sock? Maybe wiping handprints off a window or coaxing words into a...

Become aware of the hands that you are holding: their warmth, texture, and weight. As an infant, these same hands reached out for the nourishment of milk. As a child, these hands shakily wrote a name on paper for the first time....

In a free religious community, to serve is the highest expression of our commitment and love. To be asked to lead is the highest honor. This morning, the members of [your congregation] you have chosen to lead you in the coming year stand before you....

When we light our chalice everyone focuses on the flame. Yet it is the paraffin of the candle, the cotton of the wick, the potassium chlorate and sulfur of the match, and the oxygen in the air around us that makes that flame possible. As leaders we are not called to be a lone beacon on a hill.

As we approach our agenda let us remember that we are doing the work of the congregation.* When we do the work of this congregation*, we touch lives. When we touch lives, we change the world. May this chalice flame we now kindle remind us throughout our meeting of our ministry and our mission....

"There is a hope that's been expressed in you: the hope of seven generations, maybe more. And this is the faith that they invest in you: It's that you'll do one better than was done before. Inside you know, inside you understand; inside you know what's yours to finally set right..." —lyrics from...

In the spirit of community and a sense of purpose in our ministry: Let us commence the discovery of our strengths, our concerns, our grief and our joy. Let this journey be one of love, authenticity and reverence....

I have walked that long road to freedom. I have tried not to falter; I have made missteps along the way. But I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment here to rest, To steal a view of the glorious...