The Pathway to Healing
Friends, thank you for your witness to all that exists on the margins; thank you for your commitment to hold yourselves and one other in great and steadfast love. Moving forward from this space, may we continue to nurture spiritual growth. May we continue to travel along the winding pathway to...
The Lifelong Goal
To act so that our empathy is evident wherever we go—that's the object.
Awesome and gracious God
Awesome and gracious God -- you who are the power that brings us to life and the spirit that sustains us -- forgive us for being less than we might be. Guide us to become what is in our power to become, in your service....
Blessed by Our Connections
We leave blessed by our connections to one another, to the spirit of life. Walk lightly that you see the life that is below your feet. Spread your arms as if you had wings and could dance through the air. Feel the joy of the breath in your lungs and the fire in your heart. Live to love and be a...
Into the sun-washed light
Let us go out now into the sun-washed light of the blossoming world. May the inner light of our own being add its bright blessing to the dappled days and enhance the glow of nightfall. Amen.
The Hand In Yours...
Invite the congregation to join hands. The hand in yours belongs to a person whose heart is sometimes tender, whose skin is sometimes thin, whose eyes sometimes fill with tears, and whose laughter is a beautiful sound....
If you are proud of this church
If you are proud of this church, become its advocate. If you are concerned for it future, share its message. If its values resonate deep within you, give it a measure of your devotion. This church cannot survive without your faith, your confidence, your enthusiasm. Its destiny, the larger hope,...
Our connection to each other and this community remains
Our time in this place may have ended, but our connection to each other and this community remains. Together may we walk the path of justice, speak words of love, live the selfless deed, trod gently upon the earth, and fill the world with compassion. Until we meet again, blessed be.
Closing Words by the Youth
We are never complete. We are never finished. We are always yet to be. May we always allow others to be, and help and enable each other to grow toward all that we are capable of becoming. Amen...
How To Write Your Own Closing Words
If the “opening words” called people to worship and opened the time and space for this purpose, the closing words bring the service to an end and prepare people to return home. If the service has been thematically tied together, the words can be a summation, a parting thought, a final nugget for...
Taking the Light with Us
Each week as we gather we light a common chalice. We sing and celebrate, we pray and think. Then we each gather strength from the flame and go out from here, taking the light with us.
It Is Our Journey Together
We are on a journey. We didn’t plan it. We didn’t have time for the bread to rise. We may find ourselves in the wilderness, hungry, thirsty, Doubting that we should have ever come. But look around: We are not alone. It is our journey together: A journey to our better selves, A journey to a...
The Lord bless you and keep you
The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord keep all those whom you love, whether here or in some other place. May God be your companion and you be God's friend, as you walk together through all the days of your life; and at the journey's end, may you find the welcome of God's love. It keeps us all.
In our hungering for meaning
In our hungering for meaning, In our aching for friendship, In our yearning for justice, In our heart's remembering of finer days, May we look deep within the mystery of things and gather our strength....
Remembering our spiritual, courageous ancestors
Remembering our spiritual, courageous ancestors who forsook oppression with security to gain freedom with opportunity, may we go forth to master ourselves by accepting duty with responsibility, by showing balance in our judgments and by having breadth of vision in our deliberations. May we be...
Benediction by the Minister
Now, go forth into the world in peace. Be of good courage. Prove all things and hold fast that which is good. Amen.
Because of those who came before
Because of those who came before, we are;in spite of their failings, we believe;because of, and in spite of, the horizons of their vision,we, too, dream.Let us go remembering to praise,to live in the moment,to love mightily,to bow to the mystery.(No.680, Singing the Living Tradition)...
Depature
As we prepare to depart, we give voice to these hopes: May we know ourselves bound in community, even while we are apart. May a passion for justice burn in our lives. May we carry the light of compassion in our hearts and in our every interaction....
Wherever We Are, Love Is
As we enter another week of uncertainty in the world, let us remember that there is only one side – that of humanity, and planet Earth. May we pray for peace; may we raise our voices with our elected officials and engage as we can in acts of resistance; and may we remember to take very good care...
May our faith sustain us
May our faith sustain us, our hope inspire us, and our love surround us as we go our separate ways, knowing that we will gather again in this beloved community. Amen.
Let us bless and keep one another
Let us bless and keep one another. Let kindness rule in our hearts and compassion in our lives, until we meet again. Amen.
In the end it won't matter
In the end it won't matter how much we have, but how generously we have given. It won't matter how much we know, but rather how well we live. And it won't matter how much we believe, but how deeply we love...
Remembering that the universe is larger
Remembering that the universe is so much larger than our ability to comprehend, let us go forth from this time together with the resolve to stop trying to reduce the incomprehensible to our own petty expectations, so that wonder—that sense of what is sacred—can find space to open up our minds...
Rosh Hashanah Benediction
The Book of Life is open before us. It tells stories of sadness and happiness, despair and hope, stagnation and change, and a peaceful stillness that transcends both. May you be written in the Book of Life....
Let Us Be Humble
Let us be humble, for the worst thing in the world is of the same stuff as we are. Let us be confident, for we too are composed of the same stuff as the stars. Amen.
Blessing at Departure
We call for this blessing on all sheltered here whether in body or in spirit... May the flame of our community ignite a love bold enough to share. And, in return May we all be embraced by a love that remains constant in times of sorrow and in days of great gladness.
Winter Solstice Reflection
On this, the longest night of the year, we are warmed by the certain knowledge that tomorrow will welcome more light than today. As it has for eons—for billions of years—the coming of light brings life. May we be awed by the great miracles of light and life, and faithfully nurture the mystery...
May our lives be blest
May our lives be blest according to the depth of our love, the persistence of our faith, our willingness to forgive and be compassionate, and in proportion to our yearning to be free. Amen.
Gathered Community
The worship of the gathered community is now ended. Go in peace. Go in joy. Go in love to share in the ongoing worship of the community in dispersion. Carry with you what is precious to us all: reverence for all life, beauty that displays itself in love, deep, abiding peace.
In the river, the water continually flows
In the river, the water continually flows on, yet the river is ever there. "Our lives flow on in endless song," yet life and joy shall never end. Quotation from the traditional Quaker song, "My Life Flows on in Endless Song," #108 in Singing the Living Tradition.
Participants of the Universe
Reminded that we are part and participants of the Universe, let us go forth from the quiet of this hour encouraged to strive toward faithfulness to the best in ourselves, in others, and in the whole creation.
Peace Making Benediction
Every week we gather in this beautiful space to find peace. Each week words and music offer and celebrate peace with the hope of instilling it in us. Now, take the peace you have found here, back out into the world with you. Renewed in our faith and inspired to act, Let us be the peacemakers the...
Chalice Extinguishing
The flame is extinguished, but not our hope for the future, our courage in the face of crisis, or the love we share in all the world.
Until We Meet Again
May all our hours together be blessed as this one has been: by open-hearted sharing, learning from one another, and making beautiful harmonies together. And may we greet everyone we encounter with the same acceptance and grateful kinship, until we meet again. Blessed be.
After
After the words, a quiet; after the songs, a silence; after the crowd only the memory recalls the gathering. Peace and justice have need of you after the words, the music, and the gathering. God grant you the depth for dedication to justice. God grant you the will to be an apostle of peace. Amen.
May the love that gives to life its beauty
May the love that gives to life its beauty, the reverence that gives to life its sacredness, and the purposes that give to life its deep significance be strong within each of us and lead us into ever deepening relationships with all of life. Amen.
And now may we go forth
And now may we go forth in the certainty of faith, in the knowledge of love, and in the vision of hope. And in our going, may we be blessed with all good things on this day and forevermore. Amen.
In this community
In this community we give and we receive. May we go forth, now, to share the bounty of our love.
That which is worthy of doing
That which is worthy of doing, create with your hands. That which is worthy of repeating, speak with a clear voice. That which is worthy of remembering, hold in your hearts. And that which is worthy of living, go and live it now.
There Are Miles Behind You
There are miles behind you And many more ahead. As you journey on toward wholeness May all that is good and true guide your way May the joy of love lighten every step And the miracle that is life be ever in your sight.
Take Courage Friends
Take courage friends. The way is often hard, the path is never clear, and the stakes are very high. Take courage. For deep down, there is another truth: you are not alone.
Chalice Extinguishing
Ours is a communion borne of words and welcome. Our communion finds expression in caring and commitment to our highest ideals. Our communion lives on in our hearts though this sacred hour is ended.
As We Go Forward
As we go forward into this frightening, exhilarating, confusing, miraculous world, may we offer our comfort to the afflicted our love to those who are lonely and our wish for all to be safe.
Worship need not cease
Worship need not cease. It can echo in our lives, in our words, in our deeds, in our moods, in our dreams. Carry worship with you wherever you may go. Be a blessing in your going out and your coming in.
May the love that overcomes all differences
May the love that overcomes all differences, that heals all wounds, that puts to flight all fears, that reconciles all who are separated, Be in us and among us now and always. Amen.
Bring Happiness
And now we take our leave. Before we gather here again-- may each of us bring happiness into another's life; may we each be surprised by the gifts that surround us; may each of us be enlivened by constant curiosity -- And may we remain together in spirit til the hour we meet again.
Let us go forth into the world
Let us go forth into the world through a door of hope for the future, remembering these words by Martin Luther: "Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree." So may it be with us.
Only one thing required of us
There is, finally, only one thing required of us: that is, to take life whole, the sunlight and shadows together; to live the life that is given us with courage and humor and truth. We have such a little moment out of the vastness of time for all our wondering and loving....