Spirit of Life and Love, may we offer our humble, if not sometimes begrudging, gratitude for the miracle of moments taken for granted— for minutes that feel like hours, for the miracle of mountain tops and coral reefs, the miracle of survival and ancient olive trees…
Help us stretch beyond the human-worn patterns of movement, and to notice more fully the path of the ravens overhead, the bob of the coyotes through the brush.
Blessed are we, the whole queer family, for love is our birthright, and joy is our inheritance.
Dear humans, the ones with senses that witness and hearts that break; the ones with brokenness and bruises, seen and unseen: Know you are blessed just by being.
May we know that love can heal us, all of us, if we act with compassion, if we offer grace.
I trust your love to heal my wounds. I trust your love is flowing through me, and from me to those around me.
We pray that all people can have what they need and know how much they are loved.
How do I leave behind the pain, the disappointment, the anger, at what has been? The unconscious cruelty, the negating, the selfish harm I have walked through, knowing the possibility always exists that it could happen again…
God of many names and mystery beyond all our naming, Our time together today is a precious gift. We gather in the name of justice in love and service to a higher good. We gather in hope for a world where oppression of any kind is challenged. We gather to spark the fire of commitment lit in every...
Spirit of Life, God of Love, who are we to know how you moved over the waters when all was new? We were not there when you parted them and formed dry land. We didn't hear you cry with joy when earth gave birth to life, or when love began to grow in the human heart....
The road of history is long, full of both hope and disappointment. In times past, there have been wars and rumors of wars, violence and exploitation, hunger and homelessness, and destruction of this earth, your creation....
Today we gather with determination and commitment that is grounded in a profound sense of sorrow for those who have suffered and will suffer in the future because of climate change. As always, those who suffer most are the poor and marginalized....
Oh spirit of life and love, We pause for a moment on this snowy day to reflect on the changes one week can make in our lives. We celebrate the feast of Imbolc, the pagan holiday that heralds the coming of spring. Our hearts stir with the thought that lambs are being born, that the light is...
Spirit of Life, God of Love, I am entwined in your delicate web of mutuality. The life energy that makes me reach for the sun also moves me to become wrapped, like the strong bittersweet vine and the delicate sweet pea, around those I meet and love. Here in the tangle of my daily life I feel your...
Spirit of Life, We hold in our hearts the peaceful protestors of all tribes and faiths who are gathered at Standing Rock, protecting sacred water and land. They ask for respect, they ask for our government to help protect their sacred lands and the water that sustains their lives....
Take a moment to breathe into the silence. Our breath is always with us. We can always come back to the breath, our anchor, our grounding, our freedom. Spirit of life and love, we are here not just minds and hearts, but bodies too. We human beings, spirit and body joined together. On this day we...
Sisters, I stand before you without homily or lecture or opinion. I stand here naked on the page. I stand here with my hands extended in helpless prayer. I will never know your pain. I will never know your agony of spirit. I will never know the dark nights of your souls. I will never know the...
Holidays are complicated, especially the ones named after roles. Human relationships are messy, including relationships with people who are honored by holidays. For a lot of people, Father’s Day brings up feelings of grief for fathers who were lost, or who couldn’t be there, or who chose not to...
Creative spirit, source of life and love: We give thanks for the beauty of this day and for the company of those assembled here. Thank you for the breezes of change, clearing our heads and bringing fresh ideas. May they cleanse our minds of the oppressions and isms that divide us....
Spirit of Life, Who draws us together in a web of holy relationships, Make your presence known with us and in us and among us. Remind us that we are not alone in history, Ignite us with the courage of the living tradition. Remind us that we are not alone in entering the future, Anchor us with...
Here in the quiet, may we lift up our hearts in gratitude for the gifts of our lives, pausing in thanksgiving.
We come together in this quiet moment to unify our hearts again towards the clarion call of our time: May justice and equity guide us to great connection, a greater truth.
Let our hearts be welcoming of multiple truths, not holding hard or fast to closed mindedness or judgmental thinking. What can we learn from each other in the richness of our differences?
Spirit of the divine masculine, grant us the strength to nurture in ourselves, and in every young person we have the privilege to know, the gifts of patience, curiosity, and compassion.
Our faith also gives us hope. A faith that knows that transformation is a holy and sacred task, that affirms that the democratic process is a faithful act, that brings a generous heart and a lens of justice and liberation to all that we do, that values equality and equity and is centered in love.
Oh Spirit of Life and Love, fortify us with the wisdom and tenacity of our ancestors to continue toward the promise in the founding documents of our nation: a nation where all of us are created as equals and are endowed with the inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Ours is the work of creation. Ours is the work of inviting people into an irresistible movement, rooted in our belief that a new world is possible. And the center of our work is love, and joy, and the spirit of abundance.
Lead us to the love that holds us all and is with us always; the love that can help us through the messy and necessary life-altering work of building movements across beliefs, across difference, for change that can endure.
Voice still and small, as we turn inward we listen for you. Deep inside all, this Easter morning, open our hearts to hear you in the figure of Jesus.
May we each model in our natures, the best in Nature. Eternally changing; knowing only movement, and an urge to create life.
Spirit of Love, come alongside with all the holy nudges that we need, so we may live in such a way that we celebrate all the blessings that we have been given. So we may be the blessings in the world.
Spirit of Transformation, may our hearts break open and stretch out to join with the hearts of others who yearn for a freer world…
Meet me in the heartbeat between what has been and what will be; meet me in the flicker of our eternal flame. We need not face this moment alone.
May we become quiet enough and still enough to notice the call deep within us that lures us towards what matters most, this call that lures us towards freedom and purpose.
Beloved Child — May you know great love; may you feel deep joy; may you understand the work of justice and the light of truth.
In the midst of the anger and frustration is hope—hope that we are here, hope that a loving world is indeed possible, hope in the faith that love can and will triumph over hate.
Make us instruments of your peace with love at the center of everything we do.
The human spirit has enormous resilience. But it is pushed to the limit by grief following the tragedy we have witnessed: sudden and unexpected death, the loss of so many lives. These vicious attacks defy our understanding. It hurts. We grieve....
May we remember we are a people of resilience. We have faced uncertainty before; we have weathered storms; we have been consumed by flames; we have risen like the phoenix from the ashes. And we will again.
Spirit of Life and Love, God of Many Names, we gather in awareness of the opportunity before us as Unitarian Universalists. We have been given many chances before today to heal the wounds of the racism and oppression that have beset our denomination for many years...
Spirit of my longing and lonely heart, help me travel through the barren borderlands that separate me from others. Teach me to willingly explore relationships with those who frighten or threaten me, grant me the courage to risk confidently my own comforts, that I might make others more comfortable.
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...
We are broken, O God. We are broken. We gather in vigil again to mourn the death of school children and school teachers. Death and violence are the reasons that draw us together in sorrow, in anger, in anxious grief and loss....
Gracious God, We are not supposed to talk about hearing voices in our head. That’s how rumors get started. But there’s a voice, a familiar stranger, that we can’t seem to turn down or turn off. One that says we’re a mess, a mistake, a fool, a fraud. That voice says everyone else has it...
Spirit of Life, I have witnessed a loud love, an out-loud love, that challenges me. I did not recognize it at first— the rumble of an ocean I had long been under. But here it is right now and it looks just like the whole world could be. It doesn’t play nice; why should it when nice has only ever...
As we begin a new year together, let us offer our blessing to the lay leaders who invest their time and care in the well-being of this congregation. If you help lead a ministry here, I invite you to rise in body, in spirit, in all the ways that we do. And I invite all of us to enter a spirit of...
May we find love in this place: love in our hearts, love for the broken-down, love for the lonely, love for those yet to feel whole, love for those in-between, love for those out of our reach. May we find love, add love, and be love in this world. Amen.
