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.
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- Advent (8)
- All Saints Day (1)
- All Souls Day (1)
- Black History / Whitney Young / James Reeb (1)
- Building/Space Dedication (2)
- Business Meetings (1)
- Christmas Eve / Christmas (9)
- Disaster or Crisis (3)
- Earth Day (1)
- Easter (3)
- Father's Day (1)
- Fire Communion (1)
- Good Friday (1)
- Hiroshima Day (3)
- Indigenous Peoples Day (1)
- Installations (1)
- Juneteenth (1)
- Justice Sunday (4)
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Sunday (3)
- Meditation Practices (1)
- Memorial Day (7)
- Memorial Services (1)
- Military Service (3)
- Ministerial Transition (1)
- Mother's Day (1)
- New Year (4)
- Partner Church Observation (1)
- Remembrance Day (1)
- Rosh Hashanah (1)
- Thanksgiving (1)
- Twelfth Night / Epiphany (1)
- United Nations Day (1)
- Veterans Day (4)
- Winter Solstice / Yule (4)
- Yom Kippur (1)
- Abundance (1)
- Acceptance (2)
- Activism (1)
- America (6)
- Anti-Oppression (1)
- Arts & Music (2)
- Awe (3)
- Beauty (1)
- Beginnings (4)
- Birth (3)
- Brokenness (3)
- Calling (1)
- Children (4)
- Choice (1)
- Commitment (1)
- Community (4)
- Compassion (3)
- Conflict (3)
- Connections (3)
- Conscience (1)
- Contemplation (1)
- Courage (5)
- Creativity (2)
- Death (2)
- Despair (5)
- Discernment (1)
- Diversity (3)
- Doubt (1)
- Earth (1)
- Empathy (1)
- Ending (1)
- Equity (1)
- Faith (4)
- Family (2)
- Fathers (1)
- Fear (3)
- Forgiveness (2)
- Freedom (1)
- Friendship (1)
- Generations (4)
- Generosity (2)
- God (2)
- Gratitude (3)
- Grief (2)
- Happiness (1)
- Healing (4)
- History (2)
- Honesty (2)
- Hope (13)
- Hospitality (1)
- Human Rights (1)
- Imagination (1)
- Immanence (1)
- Inclusion (3)
- Integrity (1)
- Interdependence (2)
- Intimacy (1)
- Joy (5)
- Justice (13)
- Kindness (1)
- Leadership (1)
- Letting Go (1)
- Listening (2)
- Living Our Faith (2)
- Love (14)
- Men (1)
- Military (3)
- Mindfulness (2)
- Multiculturalism (3)
- Mystery (2)
- Nature (2)
- Nonviolence (2)
- Oppression (1)
- Pain (2)
- Parents (3)
- Patience (3)
- Personal Stories (1)
- Power (2)
- Presence (2)
- Privilege (2)
- Purpose (2)
- Reconciliation (3)
- Redemption (1)
- Regret (1)
- Religion (1)
- Responsibility (2)
- Reverence (1)
- Sacred (3)
- Sacrifice (2)
- Searching (1)
- Service (4)
- Silence (1)
- Solidarity (2)
- Sorrow (2)
- Spirituality (1)
- Spiritual Practice (3)
- Spring (1)
- Strength (1)
- Suffering (1)
- Terrorism (1)
- Transcendence (1)
- Transformation (1)
- Trust (1)
- Truth (2)
- Unity (2)
- Violence (4)
- Vision (2)
- War (11)
- Winter (5)
- Wisdom (2)
- Wonder (2)
- Work (1)
- Worry (1)
- (-) Peace (48)
- Addae Ama Kraba (1)
- Alice Anacheka-Nasemann (1)
- Amy Petrie Shaw (1)
- Anne Barker (1)
- Barbara J Pescan (1)
- Ben Soule (1)
- Cynthia Landrum (1)
- David Breeden (1)
- Debra Burrell (1)
- Debra Faulk (1)
- Eileen B Karpeles (1)
- Elizabeth Mount (1)
- Eric Cherry (2)
- Erika Hewitt (1)
- George A Tyger (2)
- Heather K Janules (1)
- Howard Thurman (1)
- Jan Taddeo (1)
- Jennifer Pratt-Walter (1)
- Jessica Purple Rodela (1)
- Julia Ward Howe (1)
- Kathleen Rolenz (3)
- Kristin Grassel Schmidt (1)
- Lara Cowtan (1)
- Linda Hart (1)
- Lisa Doege (3)
- Martin Luther King, Jr. (1)
- Megan Visser (1)
- Meg Barnhouse (1)
- Melanie Davis (1)
- Paul S Sawyer (1)
- Ralph Yeager Roberts (1)
- Richard F. Beil (1)
- Robert Walsh (2)
- Rosemary Morrison (1)
- Sam Trumbore (1)
- Sandra Fees (1)
- Sara Eileen LaWall (1)
- Stephen M. Shick (1)
- Unitarian Universalist Partner Church Council (1)
- William G. Sinkford (1)
Displaying 1 - 20 of 48
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Prayers to be said on the four Sundays of Advent while lighting the Advent candle wreath.Prayer | By Elizabeth Mount | March 29, 2024 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Advent, Christianity, Hope, Joy, Love, Patience, Peace, WorshipWeb, Worship
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Let this year be a clean slate for new beginnings.Prayer | By Addae Ama Kraba | March 29, 2024 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Beginnings, Courage, Creativity, Empathy, New Year, Peace, WorshipWeb, Worship
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There in the deep sack of night, a tiny Hope was born.Poetry | By Jennifer Pratt-Walter | March 29, 2024 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Awe, Beginnings, Birth, Earth-Centered, Hope, Joy, Love, Peace, Sacred, Winter Solstice / Yule, WorshipWeb, Worship
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We pause on this night of mystery, to tell the stories, to sing the songs, and to bring more light into the world.Chalice Lighting | By Linda Hart | December 13, 2023 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Christmas Eve / Christmas, Mystery, Peace, Personal Stories, Winter, Winter Solstice / Yule, WorshipWeb, Worship
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We pray for those with power to create peacePrayer | By Lara Cowtan | November 13, 2023 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Disaster or Crisis, Peace, Violence, War
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The circle of evergreens reminds us that life and love will never end.Ritual | By Rosemary Morrison | January 26, 2023 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Advent, Christianity, Hope, Joy, Love, Peace, Spiritual Practice
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We feel the season turning. The early sunset glancing through the red-tinged leaves. The newspaper arriving in the cool morning air. The flock of migrating swallows. A feeling of being on the edge of something new. These are the Days of Awe. A time to welcome a new year and a time to make the old...Opening | By Ben Soule | January 7, 2019 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Awe, Conscience, Contemplation, Judaism, Mindfulness, Peace, Reconciliation, Rosh Hashanah, Sacred, Wonder, Yom Kippur, Worship
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Each week until Christmas, we light a new candle on the Advent wreath, a circle of evergreens.Ritual | By Megan Visser | November 13, 2018 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Advent, Christianity, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Hope, Peace
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We come this day, called by war By the suffering we inflict and endure When minds across borders fail to reason and compromise. We come this day, called by loss, The deaths of those who serve in our name, Those whose lives end before their natural course In service to a cause greater than their own.Opening | By Heather K Janules | May 29, 2018 | From WorshipWebTagged as: America, Grief, Humanism, Memorial Day, Military, Peace, Secular, Violence
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May this time of waiting inspire our courage.Ritual | By Erika Hewitt | December 2, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Advent, Buddhism, Christianity, Patience, Peace, Spiritual Practice, Spirituality
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Fire consumes, and casts a bright light. May our chalice flame consume our regrets for the past, our fears about the future, and our worries about today. May it light for us a path of joy and peace.Chalice Lighting | By Debra Burrell | November 21, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Beginnings, Direct Experience, Ending, Fear, Joy, Letting Go, New Year, Peace, Presence, Regret
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We gather with a hunger for reconciliation. What is done cannot be undone. What is done next must now be done with care. We gather because we are hopeful, Because we have visions and dreams of a brighter future. That there may be more than vision in this room, These are the wounds we must heal...Prayer | By Anne Barker | August 22, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Beginnings, Community, Forgiveness, Healing, Indigenous Peoples Day, Listening, Peace, Transformation, Unitarian Universalism, Unity
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In this time of long nights and short days, let us seek the light within … by contemplating, through our mind’s eye, the image of a candle flame. Notice how the soft, quiet, and gentle flame tamely rises from the wick. Yet, just by touching a dry twig, it has the power to become a raging bonfire...Meditation | By Sam Trumbore | January 1, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Direct Experience, Imagination, Mindfulness, Peace, Presence, Secular, Spiritual Practice, Unitarian Universalism, Winter, Winter Solstice / Yule, Wonder
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If ever there were a time for a candle in the darkness, this would be it. Using a spark of hope, kindle the flame of love, ignite the light of peace, and feed the flame of justice.Chalice Lighting | By Melanie Davis | December 22, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), Activism, Calling, Despair, Hope, Justice, Justice Sunday, Peace, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Secular, Unitarian Universalism, Worry
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When the song of the angels is stilled, when the star in the sky is gone, when the kings and princes are home, when the shepherds are back with their flocks, the work of Christmas begins: to find the lost, to heal the broken, to feed the hungry, to release the prisoner, to rebuild the nations, to...Affirmation | By Howard Thurman | December 6, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Advent, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Community, Hope, Justice, New Year, Peace, Purpose, Redemption, Service, Twelfth Night / Epiphany, Work
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Out of the flames of fear We rise with courage of our deepest convictions to stand for justice, inclusion and peace Out of the flames of scrutiny We rise to proclaim our faith With hope to heal a fractured and hurting world Out of the flames of doubt We rise to embrace the mystery, wonder and awe...Chalice Lighting | By Sara Eileen LaWall | January 11, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), Awe, Courage, Doubt, Faith, Fear, Fire Communion, Healing, Inclusion, Justice, New Year, Peace, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Unitarian Universalism, Vision, WorshipWeb
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This prayer's author suggests that for each paragraph of the prayer, an accompanist (on piano or some other instrument) softly play the hymn that's indicated at stanza's end. For clarity, these instructions are included below....Prayer | By Lisa Doege | January 11, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), Arts & Music, Christianity, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Humanism, Immanence, Joy, Justice, Peace, Privilege, Unitarian Universalism, WorshipWeb
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The light green shoots of blossoms-to-have-been are out of sight under the drifting snow. Gale force winds are rattling the old house. The temperature is far below freezing. Nature is not cooperating with preparations for Easter. The storm evokes the spiritual quality of Good Friday more than...Meditation | By Robert Walsh | January 10, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Choice, Despair, Easter, Good Friday, Healing, Hope, Justice, Living Our Faith, Love, Peace, Spring, Unitarian Universalism, Winter
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Beloved Children of the Oneness of many names, you who cover the land in numbers greater than the stars, I petition you, I pray to you, because you are the fruit of God’s promise to the World; because each of you holds a piece of the truth of all that is; because the vision of Beloved Community...Prayer | By Jan Taddeo | December 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 6th Principle (World Community), Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Justice, Justice Sunday, Multiculturalism, Peace, Reconciliation, Reverence, War, WorshipWeb
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In a world so filled with brokenness and sorrow It would be easy to lose ourselves in never ending grief, To be choked by our outrage To be paralyzed by the enormity of suffering, To feel our hearts squeeze tight with hopelessness....Meditation | By Alice Anacheka-Nasemann | December 8, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 6th Principle (World Community), Brokenness, Despair, Hiroshima Day, Hope, Justice, Justice Sunday, Love, Meditation Practices, Peace, Terrorism