Previous Service Themes adapted from Soul Matters …
From our friends at Soul Matters: You hardly knew how hungry you were to be gathered in, to receive the welcome that invited you to enter entirely… You began to breathe again… You learned to sing. But the deal with this blessing is that it will not leave you alone, will not let you … Continue reading The Practice of Inclusion (February 2025)
From our friends at Soul Matters: It’s dangerous to tell yourself stories are tame. To treat them as something that lives only between the covers of a book. As something that can be easily kept on a shelf, taken down and put back up as we see fit. Stories are wilder than that. And more … Continue reading The Practice of Story (January 2025)
From our friends at Soul Matters: The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself. – Henry Miller Spiritually, presence can mean two quite different things. On the one hand, contemplatives talk of “being present.” Presence from this perspective is all … Continue reading The Practice of Presence (December 2024)
From our friends at Soul Matters: This is your chance to listen carefully.Your whole life might depend on what you hear.– Joyce Sutphen Listening helps us find our way. The listening of therapists allows us to navigate our way through life. We turn to prayer to hear God’s guidance. We listen to experts so we … Continue reading The Practice of Deep Listening (October 2024)
From our friends at Soul Matters: Do not try to save the whole world or do anything grandiose. Instead, create a clearing in the dense forest of your life and wait there patiently, until the song that is your life falls into your own cupped hands and you recognize and greet it. Only then will … Continue reading The Practice of Invitation (September 2024)
From our friends at Soul Matters: We are renewed by so many things: nature, each other, memory, music, play, solitude, silence, and – of course – our faith. Through small groups, calls to justice work, worship, caring for one another, covenant and accountability, our faith breathes new life into us. But it also renews us … Continue reading The Gift of Renewal (June 2024)
From our friends at Soul Matters: I wonder how the moonflower feelsabout its sweet sister, the morning glory.What it must be to know that world longingly awaits anotherwhile you must seek solace hidden under a night sky. When the world has told you to hide,it is only the shadows that welcome you in.And while blooming … Continue reading The Gift of Pluralism (May 2024)
From our friends at Soul Matters: “Talk of interdependence immediately calls up the work of saving the planet, rightly so. But what if the first step toward saving the planet is learning to speak to it? And hear it? Could our collective failure to confront the climate crisis be rooted in our lost ability to … Continue reading The Gift of Interdependence (April 2024)
From our friends at Soul Matters: Let mystery have its place in you; do not be always turning up your whole soil with the plowshare of self-examination, but leave a little fallow corner in your heart ready for any seed the winds may bring, and reserve a nook of shadow for the passing bird; keep … Continue reading The Gift of Transformation (March 2024)
UUFM is a part of the Soul Matters Sharing Circle, which provides resources for our Sunday Services, children’s Religious Education, and Chalice Circles. Check out our year of themes here and read below for the thoughtful introduction to this month’s theme, Justice & Equity. “Here we go again.Another injustice.Even more inequity exposed. So much pain.So many issues.So little … Continue reading The Gifts of Justice & Equity (February 2024)
