I found this reflection by Rev. Lora Brandis to be especially meaningful today. She reminds us all that we are Connected by Mortality.
UU Lent 2022 – Day 1 – Reflection

I found this reflection by Rev. Lora Brandis to be especially meaningful today. She reminds us all that we are Connected by Mortality.
“Do Justice, Love Mercy, Journey Humbly with the Divine.” – Micah 6:8
Welcome:
Good morning and welcome to West Fork Unitarian Universalists. I’m Cricket and I feel blessed to serve this congregation as a lay leader. I’m glad to see all of you here today.
Thank you for joining us.
[If guests] I’d like to welcome our guests. Thank you for taking a chance and taking the time to walk through our doors and join us for worship.
Let us use the prelude for centering. We are about to enter sacred time. We are about to make this time and this place sacred by our presence and intention.
Please silence your phones… and as you do so, I invite us also to turn down the volume on our fears; to remove our masks; and to loosen the armor around our hearts.
Breathe.
Let go of the expectations placed on you by others—and those they taught you to place on yourself.
Drop the guilt and the shame, not to shirk accountability, but in honest expectation of the possibility of forgiveness.
Let go of the thing you said the other day. Let go of the thing you dread next week. Be here, in this moment. Breathe, here.
Prelude: Lullabye (Goodnight my Angel) by Billy Joel
Opening Words: Come down off the ladder by David S Blanchard
According to the dictionary commitment is “the state or quality of being dedicated to a cause, activity, person, or people.”
In his reflection, “What on Earth is worth saving”, Jake Morrill discusses what is important about commitment.
Created by Ralph Roberts
WorshipWeb is delighted to offer these images, created by Unitarian Universalist (UU) minister Ralph Roberts, to count down the days in December to Christmas Eve (December 24).
Merriam Webster defines safety as 1) the condition of being safe from undergoing or causing hurt, injury, or loss and 2) a device (as on a weapon or a machine) designed to prevent inadvertent or hazardous operation.
The question for me then becomes how can we practice safety and be a safety for all?
“Safety and Security” a sermon by Rev. Tom Capo
Prelude: Disappear From Dear Evan Hansen
Welcome: All of us are welcome here; all of us are loved By Erika A. Hewitt
Welcome Song: “Enter Rejoice and Come in”
Chalice Lighting: Come we now out of the darkness By Annie Foerster
The Principles: Kidciples Song
The Story for All Ages: You Will be Found from Dear Evan Hansen
Offering and Response (Unison)
For the gifts which we have received—and the gifts which we, ourselves, are—may we be truly grateful. Yet more than that, may we be committed to using these gifts to make a difference in the world: to increase love and justice; to decrease hatred and oppression; to expand beloved community; to share, and to keep sharing, as long as ever we can. Amen.
Hymn: Blue Boat Home
Reading: On this Trans Day of Visibility by Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray
Here is a prayer “A Bouquet of People” by Claire Feingold Thoryn and a poem “Now I Love You, Now I Witness” by Rev. Theresa I. Soto. May their words inspire you.
“Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.”
― Fred Rogers
In her reflection, “Go Play“, Rev. Marisol Caballero discusses why we should play and how it can break down stereotypes.