Meditation on Planting
EARTH, clay from which we are made and to which we will return. Soil, rich and aromatic, crumbling in my fingers, dark under my nails. This, cleansing dirt, the natural filter for aquifers, holds life....
Fierce Urgency
My four-year-old daughter has taught me this lesson: when a child wants to derail Business As Usual— to curb the hubris of adults who dare believe in schedules and plans and productivity— one fierce little body and one clear, piercing voice, strategically applied to the right pressure point,...
We gather to be together
We gather to be together,We gather to celebrate and to support our beloved communityWe gather to commune in body as well as in spirit.Let us share both the food and the fellowship we find here tonight.
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....
Bring Us Close to the Earth
Spirit of Life, Ground of our being, Root of unified mystery Growing into myriad branches of expression, Bring us together now....
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....
Beauty Is Our Birthright
Sometimes we awake in the morning, and we’d rather go back to sleep… And then, the first sliver of sunshine may dance across our face.
A Prayerful Meditation for Renewal
We call upon all the transcendent gifts of renewal to be bestowed upon us, for an energizing renewal to fill us in all the ways that serve our lagging spirits when our own resilience wanes.
Being Present
Let every moment be a prayer. With every sip of trea, let your lips move in thanksgiving. Be fully present to every stroke of the hairbrush, every cup of milk you pour for the children....
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....
Give Voice to Mourning
Give voice to sorrow and fear — the wracking sobs at family betraying family the shock at the chasm separating neighbors...
The Strength of Water
Settle your mind upon the strength, the power that is yours. Draw that strength into your heart. Draw it up into your soul. As we gather together the many waters of this community, we need each of your power, each of your resilience, each of your love to make us whole.
Sensory Reflection
We invite each of you to take a deep breath into the present moment, and, realizing that not everyone will have the functions to enter into all of these movements, but grateful for the skills that we do have, we invite you, as you are willing and able, to participate in this interactive meditation.
Humanity's Psalm
Creator of Life, Source of All Being It was from the particles of the Universe that you formed me... Iron and carbon and phosphorous Mixed with energy, passion and dreams. I was made in your image, says ancient Scripture. Made from the colors of the rainbow, Shaped with bones straight and curved,...
Psalm for the Wintered Soul
To the Weaver of Molecules, the Spinner of Stars the Impulse that gives birth to the Universe, to the Earth, to Me In the deepest, darkest night of my wintered soul I wrap myself in the blanket of my sadness and grief, pain and suffering, doubts and concerns, fears and questions, and look out fro...
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....
Unitarians (and UUs) at Christmas
They say a story can carry a truth far greater than the literal truth. We Unitarians* know the value of stories. We know they carry truth. We know they carry more truth than just the plain truth ever can. Maybe we can’t believe a virgin gave birth to the son of God: but we can believe that all...
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,...
The Last Leaf
Once, many grey autumns ago, I came upon a tree. The tree, a poplar, had dropped all of its leaves but for one, just one. Exactly one leaf remained near the topmost part of the tree, fluttering in the breeze like a little reddish-brown flag....
A Prayer Addressing All Hungers
We are hungry We are eating our daily bread and bowing our heads and yet we are hungry We are thanking the farmer and the farm worker and yet we are hungry We are speaking in spaces for food that is healthy and still we are hungry We are tiring of slogans that say Feed the Children and mean feed ...
Embodiment & Sexuality
Spirit of life and love, may we find appreciation today, and in our lives, for our embodiment. We are physical creatures: mind, spirit and soul housed within our bodies. Our bodies, our physical form, allow us to experience the world: Taste—chocolate chip cookies fresh from the oven. Touch—the...
Holy is this place
Blessed is this ground on which we stand. Holy is this place. Holy are the places of memory, the places which have formed us, where we store the icons of success and shattered dreams and gather threads and pieces of what we would become. . . Holy are the places of memory....
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...
Fall Equinox Meditation
Like the sun moving toward the shortest day, each moment arises—and is gone before we know it.
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.
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.
A Guided Meditation on Gratitude
Ask yourself, in your heart: What or who are you grateful for?
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....
Surrendering to the Truth of My Addiction
Surrendering to the truth of my addiction has been the most empowering act of my life.
The Holy of Holies
The real holy of holies happens in sobriety when relationships with self and others are healthy and whole.
Spring Has Arrived
Beneath the snow, life is bursting, preparing for the next season.
Meditation on the Power of We
When you hear, “We are the liberating force, spirit, light, and love,” what does that conjure in your spirit?
A Centering Practice
A centering practice for meetings, gatherings or worship in person or online.
Moving Meditation for Día de los Muertos
As we begin to settle to a deeper more inward place; to be fully present right now in this place made for head and heart together; we might begin to feel how our own bodies are not only flesh and blood — but skeleton bones as well. No matter how old we are, no matter how we move from place to...
In the Face of Fear
Any time, Friday evening, Sunday morning, Monday afternoon Any place, Paris Beirut Baghdad West Bank Chad Cameroon Lebanon Syria Somalia Sinai Charleston Any number, 132 19 2 43 1 228 10 Fear invites new participants to its dance of death But every time, In every place, Numbers beyond counting ri...
Weeping for Our Children
A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more. ~ Matthew 2:18 I read those words aloud from the pulpit once a year, on Christmas Eve: a night when we celebrate the birth of hope and possibility and...
Meditation on Hope and Love in a Time of Struggle
In a world so filled with brokenness and sorrow It would be easy to lose ourselves in never ending grief, To be choked by our outrage To be paralyzed by the enormity of suffering, To feel our hearts squeeze tight with hopelessness....
"Easter Week 1982"
The light green shoots of blossoms-to-have-been are out of sight under the drifting snow. Gale force winds are rattling the old house. The temperature is far below freezing. Nature is not cooperating with preparations for Easter. The storm evokes the spiritual quality of Good Friday more than...
Acquitted of Universalism
In the newspaper there was a story about a seminary professor in Kansas City who was put on trial by the Southern Baptists, accused of being a Universalist. It's no wonder they were suspicious. He had stated publicly his belief that all people born into the world are children of God....
It Matters
I knew a man who had printed on his stationary this proverb: “Nothing is settled. Everything matters.” It established a certain ambience for reading his letters, as if to say: what you are about to read is to be taken seriously, but is not final. I remember him and his proverb sometimes,...
A Baptism
She called to ask if I would baptize her infant son. I said, "What we do is like a baptism, but not exactly. And we normally do it only for people who are part of the church family. The next one we have scheduled is in May." She said, "Could we come to talk with you about it anyway?" They came to...
How Poets Pray
What do you do with the secret verses of your heart? With your need for redemption, the story without words? With paradoxical truths, too private and nuanced to share, that cannot be printed or spoken aloud? You weave their energy into a poem, carefully, carefully, over and under and through,...