Written by Matt Carriker
On the surface, it seems that death is triumphant. It appears as though those who conspired to do evil have won.
Written by William Channing Gannett
Bring, O morn, thy music! Night, thy starlit silence! Oceans, laugh in rapture to the storm-winds coursing free! Suns and planets chorus, praise to all found holy. Life was, and is, and evermore shall be.
Written by Rev. Irene Laudeman
This service is appropriate for a small congregation of 20-60 people. The service is conducted in two settings:
Hymn lyrics by Rev. Jim Gertmenian
In the brilliant sunshine, in the city street, Hear the bright hosannas, hear the marching feet;
Written by Kris Minister
God is a verb Living within you and me Fleshing our flesh Rejoicing our joy Crying our sorrow And empowering us to swim upstream.
Written by Buckminster Fuller
I see God in the instruments and the mechanisms that work reliably, more reliably than the limited sensory departments of the human mechanism.
Written by Matt Carriker
Spiritual growth always happens most when we cross borders, in whatever form those borders take. God did not create borders. Humans did.
A new prayer for Hanukkah by Rabbi Brant Rosen
We light these lights for the instigators and the refusers the obstinate and unyielding for the ones who kept marching
Links to collections of worship liturgies on the theme of care of the Earth
From the Seekers Church, Washington D.C.
Leader: Holy God of surprises, we hear you call us to a new way of being.
The SALT Project is a not-for-profit project committed to creating beautiful and theologically interesting church media!
Adapted from an Anglican litany
For the darkness of waiting Of not knowing what is to come Of staying ready and quiet and attentive, We praise you, o God.
by Rick Cypert and Jean Henderson
Bound within by my own mind, And a day not left behind. Circling round the memory stays, Echoing through all my days.
by Jenelle Dove
Love, care, lend, do good; Only with our closest friends As they will for us.
Written by Wayne Fraser
God’s Love Priest: Dear friends, God is love. We love because God first loved us and in baptism we respond to that love.
A poem by Denise Levertov
One of Marcus Borg’s favorite examples of how poetry enriches liturgy:
Hymn words by Shirley Erena Murray
Now the star of Christmas shines into our day, points a new direction: change is on the way –
A poem by Madeleine L'Engle
This is no time for a child to be born, With the earth betrayed by war & hate And a comet slashing the sky to warn That time runs out & the sun burns late.
by Ashley Goff and Rob Passow
The Winter Solstice marks the longest night of the calendar year. This liturgy invites participants into a time of rest and reflection that counters the frenetic pace of the secular Christmas season.
A poem by Madeleine L'Engle
There is also a legend that Mary was not the first young woman to whom the angel came. But she was the first one to say yes. And how unsurprising it would be for a fourteen-year-old girl to refuse the angel. To be disbelieving. Or to say:
Reflections by Michael Hollingshead
I could feel the warm afternoon wind blowing a few moments before; right through the window where I was standing, stacking some bowls. A moment later it blew again, only this time it was cool and refreshing, and even smelled sweet like hyssop, or juniper, or jasmine.
Two poems by William Blake, published in 1789
A little black thing among the snow, Crying " 'weep! 'weep!" in notes of woe! "Where are thy father and mother? say?"— "They are both gone up to the church to pray.
Written by Rob Stoner, August 2009
I recently conducted the funeral for my father, who died after a long episode of declining health. It was a joy and a privilege to work with my family in preparing this service. But many of our family are not avowedly Christian so I wanted to respect their spiritual traditions as well as be faithful to my own. I also wanted the theology to reflect my own liberal/progressive Christian understanding.