“To be a person is to have a story to tell.” – Isak Dinesen

“True patriotism springs from a belief in the dignity of the individual, freedom and equality not only for Americans but for all people on earth.”                                        — Eleanor Roosevelt

You must do the thing you think you cannot do.
Eleanor Roosevelt

“In the sacred traditions, the first thing you do in the morning is ask for blessings from the four elements: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. Because all of the work that you are going to do that day will change the Universe.” –
– Laura Esquivel, Writer

Do we really need much more than this? To honor the dawn. To visit a garden. To talk to a friend. To contemplate a cloud. To cherish a meal. To bow our heads before the mystery of the day. Are these not enough? Kent Nerburn

“If you keep the Sabbath, you start to see creation not as somewhere to get away from your ordinary life, but a place to frame an attentiveness to your life.”
– Eugene H. Peterson

“When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.” Henri Nouwen, Out of Solitude: Three Meditations on the Christian Life

Let us be as open vessels that God’s spirit may enter.
The Community Gathers: Experience God’s presence in the assembly. Please greet one another with joy and welcome new friends into our community of love.
You are welcome here…come and worship!

“Earth rejoices in our words, breathing and peaceful steps. Let every breath, every word and every step make the mother earth proud of us.”― Amit Ray

“Finding your way in life is not so much about choosing a direction. It’s about uncovering the voice of the soul, the call that is already imprinted inside you, and then finding the courage to face down your fears and let your true voice be heard.” Rabbi Naomi

“Laughter is carbonated holiness.” – Anne Lamott
“It is cheerful to God when you rejoice or laugh from the bottom of your heart.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
“Life is worth living as long as there’s a laugh in it.”
– L.M. Montgomery

Link to Sermon Order of Worship Let us be as open vessels that God’s spirit may enter. The Community Gathers:  Experience God’s presence in the

“May the blessing of light be on you – light without and light within. May the blessed sunlight shine on you like a great peat fire, so that stranger and friend may come and warm himself at it. And may light shine out of the two eyes of you,
like a candle set in the window of a house, bidding the wanderer come in out of the storm. And may the blessing of the rain be on you, may it beat upon your Spirit and wash it fair and clean,
and leave there a shining pool where the blue of Heaven shines,
and sometimes a star.” Scottish Blessing

“To walk the spiritual path is to continually step out into the unknown.” – Wallace Huey

Sometimes in the stillness of the quiet, if we listen, / We can hear the whisper in the heart / Giving strength to weakness, courage to fear, hope to despair. —Howard Thurman, Meditations of the Heart

Let us be as open vessels that God’s spirit may enter.
The Community Gathers: Experience God’s presence in the assembly. Please greet one another with joy and welcome new friends into our community of love.
You are welcome here…come and worship!

“In the flush of love’s light / we dare be brave / and suddenly we see / that love costs all we are / and will ever be. / Yet it is only love which sets us free.
Dr. Maya Angelou in her poem “Touched by an Angel.”

“Our wounds are often the openings into the best and most beautiful part of us.” ― David Richo

“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.”
– Harriet Tubman

“Today the Magi gaze in deep wonder at what they see: heaven on earth, earth in heaven, humanity in God, God in humanity, one whom the whole universe cannot contain now enclosed in a tiny body.” — Peter Chrysologus

The overwhelming message of the Christmas story is the assurance that we, too, are children of the Holy One. In this, our very presence is a gift if we will only allow the Spirit to move in and through us. Every day of our ordinary lives, we can show up — be present — and proclaim the assurance of hope, peace, joy, and love to those who need it most. Rev. Shirley Bowen

Link to Sermon Order of Worship Let us be as open vessels that God’s spirit may enter.The Community Gathers:  Experience God’s presence in the assembly.