In full presence to the moment, our perception of time shifts. We drop down through the bottom of now into the ocean of timeless being. Paradoxically, radical presence to self can lead to the dissolution of self. Join us for this worship service where we explore how the spiritual practice of presence can bring us to a place of presence to all that is.

Silence can contain oceans. In the depth of silence we can discover truth, love, the holy. Deep listening to one another also includes silence, as we listen to one another’s body language, breath, and non-verbal cues. Join us for this service where we explore silence’s power to lead us.

What makes a conversation or a community safe? What do we need in our lives to feel safe and ready to open up? This week we explore the practice of deep listening in community. Like the fractal patterns in seashells, our practices with one another can help build a larger network of safe, listening communities.

Elections mark a beginning, not an end. We are still in the middle of the story, being called to work together to care for one another and this world. Voting is one part of democracy, the rest of it is the work of being a good citizen: caring for the sick, working in solidarity with the vulnerable, and seeking justice for the harmed. Our humanity, and our values, remain the same, and we will continue our long-haul journey of working for a better future.

To make amends means to compensate or make up for wrongdoing. How do we do that? Is it even possible? Danya Ruttenberg writes, “We all cause harm sometimes. We have all been harmed. We also are all bystanders to harm.” But we lack tools to heal harm. Join us this Sunday when we reflect on some big words like ‘repentance’ and learn a process for repair.

When actions and words go sideways, our messages can have mistaken meaning+. Fixing a communication breakdown takes skill, care and brave vulnerability. The tools to find our way back to one another can heal ourselves and our communities in this polarized world. Join us to explore real ways to mend our interactions and restore relationships at this child dedication, multigenerational Sunday.

In this month of December, we explore the spiritual practice of Presence.  What does it mean to be present?  What does presence feel like?  How does the practice of Presence help us to put love at the center in our lives?

In her poem “The Clearing,” Martha Postlethwaite suggests that when you don’t know what to do, you should “create a clearing in the dense forest of your life and wait there, patiently.” Parker Palmer claims that the only way the soul can emerge is by creating a clearing for it through deep listening. How might we create a clearing for the soul and listen to what it needs in our dense lives, packed with joy and grief? Join us for this multi-generational service when we light candles to honor our dead.

To repair the fractures in this nation, and in our own hearts, we need empathy. We need the whole of our minds and hearts, but fear takes us out of that wholeness. We are fighting fascism for our democracy, which is frightening, but we cannot sit in that fear. We need empathy to connect with our fellow citizens, and we need our whole brains to be able to make good decisions. Join us for this service where we acknowledge the realness of the threat and our need to move from a position of love rather than fear.

Body versus Spirit is a false dichotomy that the church perpetuates to our harm. Embodiment means to give body to a spirit, so body and spirit are connected. We enter this world through a body and become a body to live. How can we reclaim the body in church, and why would we want to do that? Because embodiment is life!