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An unlit chalice on a church altar

Unitarian Universalists honor and celebrate a wide range of holidays and occasions over the course of a year. Unlike other faith traditions that use a single lectionary (a collection of scripture readings appointed for a given day or occasion), the topics and themes for Unitarian Universalist worship services are usually chosen independently by worship leaders in congregations. These include unique UU traditions, like the Flower Ceremony, as well as holidays from other faith traditions, such as Christmas or Beltane.

View and download the 2023-24 UUA Worship Calendar (PDF), which includes faith-based and secular holidays that UU congregations often celebrate. The calendar also includes monthly worship themes used in popular theme-based ministry programs. To download or print, follow the link and use the File menu, then select the Landscape layout option.

LEADER RESOURCE 2 Rituals to Welcome a New Child
a medieval window from the Burrell Collection in Glasgow, Scotland, depicting the Nativity
Islamic prayer beads or Subha inside the Süleymaniye Moque (Istanbul).
An altar filled with candles, photos, and flowers

Search Words for Worship Services

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  • A hand holding a piece of chalk against a blank green chalkboard, as if poised to write. The hand is pale-skinned, and the part of the arm we see is clothed in a white shirt with cuffs.
    Let this year be a clean slate for new beginnings.
    Prayer | By Addae Ama Kraba | March 29, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Beginnings, Courage, Creativity, Empathy, New Year, Peace, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • A sketch of Mary, with a crown of stars and a fist raised. Around her are the words "Cast down the mighty" and "Send the rich away"
    The Magnificat is a courageous and subversive song of praise; a call to social justice.
    Reflection | By Laura Dobson | December 6, 2023 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Activism, Advent, Anti-Oppression, Christianity, Courage, History, Justice, Multiculturalism, Worship
  • A hand opens a door, revealing a restroom.
    I belong, and you belong, and we belong—just as we are.
    Reflection | By Li Kynvi | May 31, 2023 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Anti-Oppression, Body, Courage, Direct Experience, Humanism, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Oppression, Pride Sunday, Privilege, Secular, Worship
  • A vibrant colourful sunset or sunrise sky over limestone pavement landscape and a wind-bent English Hawthorn tree at Twisleton Scar, in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, UK
    Coming out is vulnerable, intimate, and holy.
    Homily | By Heather McDuffee | September 27, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: #Pride, Acceptance, Christianity, Coming Out, Courage, Direct Experience, Family, Friendship, God, Identity, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, National Coming Out Day, Transformation, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • A young teen lies on their bed, eyes closed, listening to music on headphones. A guitar lies on the bed next to them.
    Spirit of Life who dwells before and between and beyond all words… we open ourselves to you.
    Reflection | By David Glasgow | November 17, 2021 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Anti-Oppression, Arts & Music, Coming Out, Courage, Direct Experience, Friendship, Identity, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Pride Sunday, Secular, Solidarity, Worship
  • Unitarian Universalist Association Chalice
    "Most of us have been led to believe that prophets 'foretell' the future. That is true, and it is also misleading. It is not the point here. Prophets are seers of the big patterns; they see what is always and forever true. Prophets like Isaiah know how God acts by watching and listening, and they...
    Quote | By Richard Rohr | February 25, 2021 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Christianity, Contemplation, Courage, Discernment, God, Lent, Revelation
  • A long exposure, stacked image of the Pole Star and the light trail caused by the planets rotation.
    Spirit of Life, ancestor of the stars and the sun, you who embrace the vastness of space and us along with it, be with us today. Hold us in our worry, our exhaustion, our grief. Keep us close as we sit with our truth, whatever that may be....
    Prayer | By Lyn Cox | January 2, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Autumnal Equinox, Awe, Contemplation, Courage, Earth-Centered, Nature, Summer Solstice, Vernal Equinox, Vulnerability, Winter Solstice / Yule, Wonder
  • Against a backdrop of blue sky and ocean, a line of birds flies past a padlock attached to a fence.
    Coming out to my family was one of the hardest things I’ve had to do. I realized that my choice was one of life and death, and I needed to let my secret out in order to continue living, and to do so authentically.
    Reflection | By Adrian L. H. Graham | October 9, 2019 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Atheism, Coming Out, Community, Courage, Direct Experience, Humanism, Identity, Integrity, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, National Coming Out Day, Pride Sunday, Secular, Trust, Truth
  • An arc of Earth's surface, blue oceans and swirling white clouds, taken from space
    We pray to you, Mother Earth, with gratitude For your holding and sustaining love For the air, water, and soil that feed us For the mountains and rivers and oceans that calm our spirits For loving and supporting all beings and all creation. We pray to you, Mother Earth, with humility Help us to...
    Prayer | By Lucy Bunch | June 20, 2019 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Abundance, Beauty, Connections, Courage, Discernment, Earth, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Forgiveness, Gratitude, Interdependence, Paganism, Strength
  • Radiant_sky
    And so I bury my cauldron today I fill it full of salt and place it in the warm earth. Cradle it Persephone! Hold and rock and heal this womb. Take my woes and transform them. I was supposed to be this perfect gateway, and hold the balance of life and death. Well I held life, for a brief moment.
    Prayer | By Rebecka Clement | January 22, 2019 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Birth, Courage, Death, Grief, Healing, Letting Go, Love, Memorial Services, Mothers, Nature, Reverence
  • Transgender_Portraits
    We people, gathered here today on the quest for truth and meaning, bear witness. We bear witness. To the record of human lives extinguished, simply because these people dared to live authentically, we bear witness. To the lives and reported deaths of (number) transgender people, globally, so far...
    Responsive Reading | By Amy Brooks | January 22, 2019 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), Acceptance, Anti-Oppression, Choice, Conscience, Courage, Diversity, Empathy, Freedom, Gender, Identity, Transgender Day of Remembrance, Unitarian Universalism
  • A side view of a person, eyes closed, with their hands pressed together and brought to their face, as if in prayer.
    Spirit of Life that goes by so many names… Spirit of Love that has taken so many shapes on our earth over the millennia of human habitation here… we open our hearts to make room for you. With the innocence and imagination of a child, help us to hear the beauty and the magic in the Christmas...
    Prayer | By Shari Woodbury | January 21, 2019 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Beginnings, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Community, Contemplation, Courage, Empathy, Faith, Healing, Hope, Humility, Love
  • A close-up photo of the stacked hands, solidarity-style, of three people.
    This work isn’t all prayers and beautiful moments, nor is it laments and trauma. It’s not even both/and, because this work is something greater than you, greater than us, greater than the whole of those we serve. This work is a calling. And we’re doing it. Day after day, night after night,...
    Blessing | By Andrea Hawkins-Kamper | January 16, 2019 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Calling, Challenge, Commitment, Compassion, Courage, Grace, Gratitude, Healing, Installations, Ministry, Ordinations, Vulnerability, Worship
  • two_rabbis_blowing_shofar_rosh_hashana
    I invite you now to join me in the spirit of meditation and imagination. Find a comfortable position in your seat and close your eyes. Take a deep breath and try to find the restorative power of air and water in the breath. We must breathe to live, but our bodies also need water to survive. Our...
    Meditation | By Israel Buffardi | December 7, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 6th Principle (World Community), Beginnings, Body, Commitment, Courage, Creativity, Generations, History, Judaism, New Year, Power, Rosh Hashanah, Searching, Spiritual Practice
  • lgbtiflag
    Let this banner be a symbol of hope, A blanket of protection for those who need it, And a cape of power for those who must be empowered. Let this flag be a standard of our conviction to embody all of these things, And to be the change we will upon the world. Let the will we weave to empower and...
    Blessing | By Alex Swift | August 3, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), Activism, Commitment, Compassion, Courage, Healing, Hope, Humanism, Justice, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Love, Power, Pride Sunday, Secular, Unitarian Universalism
  • Against a stark gold wall, with ornate floor tiles, a curving doorway leads into the next room.
    We call forth the life of our faith by igniting our chalice. This spark of new beginnings invites us into a sacred space to reflect where we have been and where we are going. Even knowing that this particular flame will intentionally end with our ritual extinguishing, we fear not its end… For we...
    Chalice Lighting | By Katie Sivani Gelfand | May 31, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Beginnings, Challenge, Courage, Direct Experience, Divorce / Separation, Earth-Centered, Ending, Fear, Humanism, Job Loss, Journey, Leaving Home, Letting Go, Life Transition, Mystery, Secular, Unitarian Universalism
  • A close up of jigsaw puzzle pieces scattered across a table, and two people's hands sorting those pieces.
    In real life, we can only place the pieces, one by one, and see what kind of picture we create. Sometimes we turn out to have chosen the wrong piece. Sometimes the picture is wildly unexpected.
    Reflection | By Amanda Poppei | April 4, 2018 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Bridging Ceremony, Calling, Choice, Coming of Age, Coming-of-Age, Contemplation, Courage, Direct Experience, Discernment, Hope, Humanism, Journey, Playfulness, Searching, Secular
  • Five women, with their arms around each other, outdoors and viewed from the back.
    I put my faith in you. I put my faith in every one of you who woke up this morning with the weight of loss—manifesting as numbness, anger, fear, or an alienating, aching pain. I put my faith in you, and I pray you will put your faith in me. We need one another now, because we will not make it...
    Affirmation | By Anya Sammler-Michael | January 4, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Commitment, Community, Connections, Courage, Covenant, Disaster or Crisis, Humanism, Interdependence, Relationships, Secular, Solidarity, Unitarian Universalism
  • An assortment of brightly colored holiday sweaters, in profile, lined up as they hang together
    An adequate Christmas would have you calm and open, taking it in, accepting whatever is. Slow it all down like you might be, in some way, attuned to the pace of the Eternal. If you need, you can fake it at first.
    Reflection | By Jake Morrill | November 29, 2017 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Advent, Balance, Challenge, Choice, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Courage, Direct Experience, Family, God, Self-Care, Spiritual Practice, Spirituality, Thanksgiving, Winter Solstice / Yule
  • A small child, back to the camera, wearing a handmade crocheted blue backpack with a large sunflower on it.
    We carry bags with us throughout the week for many reasons. (If you have a bag with you, and you want to have it blessed, please bring it forward, send it forward with a helper, or lift up your bag when you hear me describe you.) Some of us take books and homework to school Some of us bring our...
    Blessing | By Erika Hewitt | August 28, 2017 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Backpack Blessing, Children, Community, Courage, Direct Experience, Journey, Love, Playfulness, Presence, Solidarity, Strength, Unitarian Universalism, Work