A Christmas Blessing
The story tells of a woman heavy with child, traveling with her partner to be counted in a census declared by a distant ruler unaware of the lives disrupted or the life that is to come....
A Guided Meditation on Gratitude
Ask yourself, in your heart: What or who are you grateful for?
Immortality
We remember the joys our departed gave us which opened us up to the life shared which is now ours to steward.
The Complex Feelings of Father's Day
Sometimes it feels like Father’s Day is more about enshrining a myth than it is about facing the realities of fatherhood.
Meditation on Letting Go
In our experience of letting go, may we be open to the possibility that we need not pick our worries back up.
The Cradle is Empty–Again
Can I do it again? Do I even dare? Do I have the strength? Because the cradle might be empty—again.
It’s Mother’s Day Again: A Childless Mother’s Cry
It can be a lonely time for those of us whose arms are empty.
I Believe in Fathering
I believe in the radical idea that men have the full human capacity to nurture.
Meditation on the Four Directions
In the pagan tradition, which is grounded in a respect and reverence for the natural world, calling upon the four directions is the usual way to begin any ceremony. Each direction is associated with an element of the natural world, and represents some part of our human nature as well....
Every Moment Is One
Your first Christmas, your last Christmas, this Christmas, and the redemption of the whole world are all happening right now, forever.
Let this Be a Place of Silence
Let this be a place of warm and gentle silence: the silence that soothes and comforts the wounded, the silence that yields insights into heart and soul, the silence that calms, the silence the listens, the silence that speaks, the silence that renews. Let this be a place of warm and gentle silence.
Spending Time in Silence
Quiet yourself and listen to the rhythm of your breath, your heart . . .Listen to the silence . . .
The Communion Prayer
In the name of Providence, which implants in the seed the future of the tree and in the hearts of men [and women] the longing for people living in [human] love; in the name of the highest....
Fall Equinox Meditation
Like the sun moving toward the shortest day, each moment arises—and is gone before we know it.
In These Days of Fire
Let us pause, and breathe, and be in touch with the sacred presence that permeates all, including this room, now. Web of All... of life, death, and renewal: We open our hearts to those who suffer as a result of the wildfires.
Where the self stops and the universe begins
Who can be certain where the self stops and the universe begins? When we breathe, it is the air from the passing wind that fills our lungs. To our nostrils drifts the fragrance of the woodland flower. When we taste, it is of the earth's flavors and its saltiness. When we eat, it is of the field's...
In this time of anticipated spring
In this time of anticipated spring let us allow ourselves to extend the anticipation—to value the time of budding before blooming, of seeding before sprouting. This is a time of revelation: the revealing of that which is eternal, which we see every year, but still need to be reminded to see it in...
Guided Meditation (For a Church Anniversary)
Let us be together in silence. Let our hearts listen. Let this house be quiet. For a moment, stretch back in memory to the first time you joined a meeting of this church. It may have been in this building or in a rented space or a home. What was happening then? Were you comfortable, anxious,...
The church is a body
The church is a body. May this body breathe and be together in the spirit of hope May it feel held by comfort. Those who seek consolation, may they find it in the solace of this moment. The church is a body. It is as strong as all the people who have ever gathered within its walls....
The Rainbow Prayer
Great Rainbow Arch your bright light your seven colours your cool dew link sky and earth above the Christmas stable. Hold us all in your encompassing arms. Forgive our exclusion of others earth and life and child. So may we too forgive those who have excluded us. Save us from the darkness of deep...
Oh, God of Many Moments
Oh God of many moments, of night gliding into day, and day seeping into night, of infant milky sleeping breaths and wrinkled, crinkled aging eyes, of the starting beauty of sunlight gazed upon a tree and mournful moonlit vistas, call us from days of doing into instances of being, remind us of the...
Prayer for Easter Sunday
Spirit of Life, How easy it is to speak your name and offer this prayer at this season of re-birth and renewal!! The spirit of life is everywhere, evident in each new bud and shoot. We pray that our lives may be blessed with that same renewal we see all around us in nature's annual celebration....
Now
You are the eternal, the timeless. You would have us dance and sing in celebration of the present moment, but we can't see your smile or hear your song. But how will we find you if we don't look where you are? We search the past -- through its dusty libraries, its darkened ruins, its bloodsoaked...
Meditation on Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer - for all ages
What can we say about Rudolph? So we have a classic story of the insiders excluding the newcomer and making fun of his special traits. It happens all of the time in schoolrooms, playing fields, classes, society. We say: "They just don't have it....
Infinite Spirit of Life, we ask thy blessing on these
Infinite Spirit of Life, we ask thy blessing on these, thy messengers of fellowship and love. May they remind us, amid diversities of knowledge and of gifts, to be one in desire and affection, and devotion to thy holy will. May they also remind us of the value of comradeship, of doing and sharing...
Many of the past generation and many of today...
Many of the past generation and many of today have found three abiding values in prayer: the quiet meditation on life, the reaching out toward the universal and the infinite, and the courageous facing of one's profoundest wishes....
Christmas Eve Prayer
Please join me in the spirit of prayer followed by a full minute of meditative silence Gods and Goddesses of darkness and light, Spirit of life and love: We come together on this sacred night to awaken ourselves to the joy of Christmas To the miracles of life The birth of a baby The rise of the s...
A Thanksgiving Blessing
Let us join hands and hearts in gratitude on this wondrous day, where we have the abundance of our lives before us. We remember, on this day of bounty, all those who do not have enough, who are afraid, who are lonely, and who suffer....
Pastoral Thought: December 16, 2001
The holiday season is upon us But this year many of us Move toward it with leaden feet. It has been such a year....
Veterans Day Invocation
Father God, Mother God, God of many names and of none, we invite your presence; be with us this morning. Be with us as we honor our veterans of wartime; teach us how to care for those who have borne arms in our names. Be with us as we honor our veterans of peacetime; teach us to care for all who...
Meditation: Breathe with Me
Breathe with me You who feel sorrows calling across the oceans, calling across the room, echoing in the spacious cavern of your chest. Breathe with me You who wake with the sun carrying a restlessness to make justice and do mercy....
Theology of Love
My theology understands humanity as simultaneously fragile and resilient, weak and strong, greedy and generous, mean and compassionate. I see the divine spark in the tension between those opposites....
Food for the Spirit
In one church it was meals, prepared and frozen to be shared with those in need. Food was handed out at the door, or taken to where it was needed. In another church it was casseroles, brought to families whose strength was consumed by illness or disaster....
Boundaries
The universe does not revolve around you. The stars and planets spinning through the ballroom of space dance with one another quite outside of your small life. You cannot hold gravity or seasons; even air and water inevitably evade your grasp. Why not, then, let go?...
In Between
In between, liminal, that space where we wait. Between moments; events, results, action, no action. To stand on the threshold, waiting for something to end, And something new to arrive, a pause in the rumble of time. Awareness claims us, alert, a shadow of something different....
Here We Are
Here we are: children at the Big Party, having our moment in the sun, our piece of the action, till our bodies give way and we are called home. We’re one big, not-always-happy family, given life and breath by an eternal parent we dearly long to know....
The Last Soldier
I saw the parade pass by with the last soldier marching. I saw politicians stand by not in pride, but in shame as they recited the names of the dead and admitted their failure. I saw the marching band step in time to silence, no more hymns of glory could they play. I saw mothers and fathers say,...
No Hot House Flowers
No hot house flowers, these, bred for perfection, dyed and trimmed, and arranged to order, clothed in ribbons and bows. Not these. No, these are hardy, raw and wild. Grown under the sky, they’ve weathered the wind and the rain and the heat. These drew nutrients from the neighborhood soil and...
To Light the Darkness and Begin Again
There is a glow far off in the distance, a light to which no path leads. We know that each time we help another or join with them to heal the world, each time we stand up for justice and what is right, each time we work and hope and love against all odds, a spark is created that adds to the...
Guided Meditation on Darkness
I invite you to enter a period of quiet for a guided meditation. You may wish to adjust your position so that your spine is straight, your body relaxed, your hands resting gently in your lap. You will probably want to close your eyes and shut out all the distractions of the light....
Surface Tension
Of course there are people behaving badly during this pandemic, using it as an excuse to practice prejudice, to hoard, to blame; using it to divide and weaken us, cashing in on surface tensions for their own terrible benefit. The news daily shows these heavy things....
All Is Dukkha
"Dukkha," they say. The Buddhists say, "All is dukkha." It is hard to translate, they tell us. It means literally "suffering" but the feeling of dukkha is closer to impermanence. The fact of impermanence is central to the Buddhist path to nirvana, enlightenment. Dukkha. All is impermanence....
In the seasons of our lives
Let there always be in the seasons of our lives a time for forgiveness -- for such is being human that we do unto others, as they do unto us, that which needs to be forgiven. There is a saying that "It's easier to forgive our enemies after we've gotten even with them." But is that in truth...
We Are Asking Creatures
Creator God: We always ask before we thank, for we are asking creatures. We ask for love and thank you for the love you have inspired in us. We ask to be closer to you and thank you for our capacity to pray. We ask for understanding and thank you for bringing us the light of your presence. We ask...
Great Unity beyond all differences
Out of a troubled world of expediency and selfish strife, we come to this place set apart for the renewal of vision. Great Unity beyond all differences, should our lives be narrowed by personal sorrow or tragedy, envision us with a sense of worth; should we be weary of the diminishing purposes of...
O Source of life and love
O Source of life and love, Torn by desires to sit back and to enjoy the beauty of the world— to savor the blue skies and gentle days— and by desires to recast the world and to fight its evils— to save the world... Torn by all those things that hurt and confuse and make no sense amid beauty—...
Pastoral Prayer
Spirit of Life, We pause to give thanks for many gifts of life that are ours, gifts we find expressed and enhanced in the community of this church. We are grateful for our family and friends and all they mean to us....