Blessing It All - Rituals for Transition and Transformation

"An expansive collection, the rituals in Blessing It All foster community, joy, and healing in moments like the joining of a blended family, changing names and pronouns, honoring Pride Month, having an abortion, getting a prosthesis, surviving sexual assault, ending a marriage, and so many others. The rituals-written by a diverse array of contributors with lived experiences that add depth and authenticity to each offering-are designed to be led by anyone inspired to do so, with clear instructions and additional insights and guidance. They are suitable for communities, congregations, family, and individual use. And they can happen anywhere our lives happen, wherever people or families or communities gather, because that is where we encounter the holy"--

List of contents

Introduction

Handle with Care: Context and Covenant for Rituals

Practical Tips for Rituals

Permissions and Guidelines for Adaptations

Rituals for Individuals and Families

Grounding and Centering

For Daily Reflection

For a New Year

For Everyday Adventures

For Discernment

For Entering and Exiting Silence

Milestone Moments

For Preparing to Give Birth

For Adoption

For Weaning

For Starting at a New School

For Life Transitions for a Person with Intellectual Disability and/or Autism Spectrum Disorder

For Coming Out

For Affirming Names and Pronouns

For Release from Prison, Jail, or Detention

For Retirement

Partnership

For the Union of More Than Two Partners

For Acknowledging Community in a Wedding

For a Blended Family

For Separation or Divorce (for Both Partners)

For Separation or Divorce (for an Individual)

For a Partner Near the End of Life

Creating Home

For Blessing a New Home

For Bidding Farewell to a Home

For Blessing a Temporary Home After Disaster

Blessing Our Bodies

For Assisted Conception

For Abortion

For Planned Hospitalization

For a Hysterectomy

For Beginning Gender-Affirming Hormone Therapy

For Gender Affirmation Surgery

For a Service Dog Partnership

For an Assistive Device

For Head Shaving during Chemotherapy

For a Loved One with Dementia or Cognitive Decline

Grief and Memory

For Losing a Wanted Pregnancy

For a Baby Who Has Died or Will Soon Die

For Blessing a Body after Death

For Blessing a Space Where a Loved One Has Died

For the Dedication of a Memorial Bench or Tree

For the First Anniversary of a Death

For Burying or Scattering the Ashes of a Pet

Rituals for Congregations and Communities

Healing, Hope, and Blessing

For Mending a Broken Covenant

For Honoring Grief and Gratitude

For Letting Go

For Those Living on the Threshold of Significant Change

For Honoring Elders

For Carrying Hope after Collective Loss

For Honoring Our Connection to Water

For Saying Goodbye to a Sacred Space

For Breaking Ground on a Building Project

For Blessing a New or Renovated Church Building

For the Days following a Natural Disaster

For the End of a Natural Disaster Season

For the First Anniversary of a Natural Disaster

Seasons and Cycles

For Blessing Backpacks

For Beginning and Ending a Congregational Year

For Celebrating the Harvest

For Coming Out Day

For Veterans Day

For Transgender Day of Remembrance

For the Season of Creative Dormancy

For Grief during the Winter Holidays

For the Winter Solstice

For a New Year

For Earth Day

For Acknowledging Mother’s, Father’s, and Parents’ Days

For Pride

Working for Justice

For Blessing the Organizers

For Direct Action

For Nourishing Justice Makers

For Lamenting and Setting Intentions to Heal White Supremacy Culture

For Blessing a Congregational Black Lives Matter Banner

For Survivors of Sexual Assault and Harassment

For Trauma in the News

Crafting Your Own Rituals

About the author

Heather Concannon serves as the settled minister of the Theodore Parker Unitarian Universalist Church in West Roxbury, Massachusetts. Previously she served as the Minister of Faith Formation at the Unitarian Universalist Area Church in Sherborn, Massachusetts. She is a lifelong Unitarian Universalist and lives in Boston with her family.


Allison Palm serves as the settled minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashua, New Hampshire. Previously, she worked for the UU Ministers Association and served congregations on Long Island and in the Boston area. She is a lifelong Unitarian Universalist from Minnesota and lives in Nashua with her family.

Summary

As humans, we grow and we change, we grieve and we celebrate. Let Blessing It All be your guide to foster meaning and community as you mark the moments in your life.
Our personal lives and the lives of our communities are marked by moments of transition and transformation. As individuals, we grow up, we move, we start new schools and new jobs, we begin and end relationships, we have children and if we are lucky we get to watch them grow, we lose people we love, and we discover more about who we are. As communities, we honor people entering new life stages, we reckon with natural disasters and national traumas, and year after year we mark the cycles of the seasons.
Traditionally, we often mark birth, marriage, and death, and yet these are not the only moments that touch our lives and shape who we are. In this stunning collection, editors and ministers Heather Concannon and Allison Palm and contributors invite you to bless it all—moments that are ordinary and profound, tender and heartbreaking, joyful and celebratory, and everything in between.
An expansive collection, the rituals in Blessing It All foster community, joy, and healing in moments like the joining of a blended family, changing names and pronouns, honoring Pride Month, having an abortion, getting a prosthesis, surviving sexual assault, ending a marriage, and so many others.
The rituals—written by a diverse array of contributors with lived experiences that add depth and authenticity to each offering—are designed to be led by anyone inspired to do so, with clear instructions and additional insights and guidance. They are suitable for communities, congregations, family, and individual use. And they can happen anywhere our lives happen, wherever people or families or communities gather, because that is where we encounter the holy.
May you find connection and commitment, inspiration and invitation, a blessing and a balm in these rituals.

Foreword

• Early reviewer promotion through advance copies to encourage reader reviews and generate buzz.



• National review outreach to trade and print publications (PW, Kirkus, Booklist, Library Journal, Foreword, New York Times) and online (Spirituality & Practice, Book Riot)



• Social media campaign featuring blurbs and reviews of the book as well as designed graphics of select excerpts on publisher’s Twitter feed (@skinnerhouse), Instagram page (@skinnerhouse), Facebook page (/skinnerhouse), Tumblr page (@skinnerhousebooks), and Pinterest (@skinnerhousebks)



• Advertising in print publications (Great Reads section in Sojourners and full-page ad in Publishers Weekly) and online (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Sojo mail)

Product details

• Assisted by: Heather Concannon (Editor), Allison Palm (Editor)
• Publisher: Ingram Publishers Services
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Release: 04.06.2024, delayed
• EAN: 9781558969209
• ISBN: 978-1-55896-920-9
• No. of pages: 456
• Subjects: Guides > Spirituality > Esoterics; RELIGION / Inspirational, RELIGION / Unitarian Universalism, BODY, MIND & SPIRIT / Healing / Prayer & Spiritual