Week by week, the candles remind us that fear and hopelessness recede as more warmth enters the world.

This Releasing of Covenant was created to end the final worship service of a settled ministry. Minister: For [number] years you have offered me your free pulpit and the freedom of creativity in worship, gifts for which I’m grateful. I hereby return the ministry of worship to your able hands. Use...

The new year calls us forward, filled with mystery. As we turn toward that new year, we take a final glimpse of the past year, and reckon with all that it held for us. There are baskets moving through the aisles with pens and something called flash paper. It’s specially treated paper that...

This ritual was designed as part of a worship service/fire communion. Please see that holiday description for more details. Leader: Today’s service is about letting go, metaphoric cleansing and quenching of thirst, setting of intentions, self-anointing, healing, new beginnings and possibilities.

Lay Leader: Our church family is constantly changing. People come and go. Babies are born. Children grow up. People commit themselves to one another. Loved ones and friend among us come to the end of their lives. Individuals move into our community and church life. Others leave us, moving away to...

In a worship service, the congregation presented farewell gifts to the outgoing Director of Religious Education/Exploration (DRE) before the following: MINISTER: In (season, year), this congregation and NAME entered into a formal/unspoken covenant with one another. NAME agreed to step out of her...

Please note: this ritual was preceded by the departing minister's homily, in which she looked back at the installation service and the promises they had made to each other as minister and congregation. She then continued as follows....

This ritual, for use within a worship service, calls for the voices of two lay leaders—such as the Board President and a worship associate—although a single lay leader could just as easily read both parts. Lay Leader 1: The life of our religious community is fluid, ever changing with new lives,...

We pause now on the edge of the New Year— An artificial beginning to be sure—but still a time to reflect. Like Janus, the god for whom January was named, we glance back at past joys and sorrows That what has past can guide us Toward what is yet to be. Let us reflect for a moment on some of the...

Introduction to a New Orleans Jazz Funeral Welcome to a new tradition for our church—a New Orleans-style jazz funeral for the old year. This service offers opportunities for reflection on the past year, a chance to “bury” whatever that was negative or hurtful to us in 20xx, and looks forward...

Introduction As we continue to seek out the stories of hope in our world in the new year, there are also some things we would very much like to put behind us from the old year. The ushers have given you scraps of paper on which to inscribe those things from which we would seek to unburden ourselves.

Note: This ritual involves writing grievances on a piece of paper and casting them into a flame. All our lives we have been told to seek that which is good, to turn our faces from the dark and toward the light, toward beauty, toward truth. But the truth is that the world is not always good. The...

Minister: The life of our religious community is fluid, ever changing with new lives, new visions, new possibilities and new ministries. [Length of time] ago we welcomed our intern minister, [Name]. And we have been changed....

ALL: Today we honor the youth among us You who are stepping beyond and away and toward Today we share in your journey And encourage your discovery Young Adults (18-35): Today we welcome your energy And offer you a safe place to grow Today we celebrate your hopes and dreams Come live, breathe, thr...

Today we are recognizing those in the congregation who have recently retired or are about to retire. The transition from an active work life to retirement is an important life transition....