God of all our understandings, center of life; source of wisdom, courage and love. We pause to gather, pray, sing and wonder in gratitude for this fine day and for another set of possibilities to live and love, to make amends, to become more active parents....to think freely, to hope, to set new priorities, to ask and to affirm. Just as seeds and plants await their time to reawaken, shrouded in snow for so long in cold months, we too, anticipate new learning and becoming, new questions and convictions. We gather today in this winter journey to discern and reflect, to commit and re-commit to those beliefs and values that guide and ground, that liberate and compel us to serve this world with prophetic call and humble compassion. In this science series, we remain open to beliefs expanding us into fuller, more human beings - sorting out truths and facts, celebrating questions, embracing mystery. Moving beyond co-dependency toward interdependency we travel this day to new horizons - ever growing like saplings deepening into life, venturing toward light.

In light of both the risks and liberation of knowledge and scholarship - we gather as a community seeking to realize and live out what is essential. May we continue to think well on these things. Will justice, bold inquiry and love be our language and way of being - or will we be a threat to these things - ones who would limit the emergence of a greater peace and equality on earth? Will we make life-changing commitments so that this community, our workplaces, our homes and families bring about changes in this world? Life-changing commitments for a world-changing community. May we think well on these things.

We remember now the many family members within and beyond these walls - for the joys and pains of this people are many. For all those in the grip of faith and life crises, those who are troubled by life’s dilemmas and questions....for those in caring relationships, those who guide and listen....therapists, counselors, ministers.. We remember those moving in and through separation, divorce....those experiencing significant loss of a relationship or one loved. We lift up those moving in and through chemotherapy - that combination of substances that can both heal and drain the body of its life force. We remember Shirley Swaney, Al Elders, Rog Vandermeulen, Erin Johnson, and others who face further intervention of care - those who take the chance for greater freedom, mobility and health. We recall as well countless thousands impacted by the insanity of suicide blasts, random acts of violence and conflict around the world. So many dramas lived out....many known, most unknown. May we be compelled to care, to inquire, to ask honest questions, to build bridges with understanding, compassion and action.

In the face of it all - in this beautifully expanding universe, may we mirror the timeless goodness and goodwill so intricately and intimately part of everything and everyone. Let our love be known to each this day; may our thoughtful questions be raised; may our integrity and convictions shine through like lights - lights that illuminate new paths of understanding and living. We re-commit to these things during this en-lightening season, inspired by guides, sages, prophets, physicists - in honor of life, the God and source of all our understandings, and in honor of all those we meet along the way. Amen. Let it be.

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