Kristin Maier, author of A Good Telling: Bringing Worship to Life with Story (Skinner House Books, 2013) shares the first in a series of tips for good storytelling. Purchase A Good Telling at the UUA Bookstore.

Good stories are central to good worship. As a Time for All Ages, as part of a sermon, or as part of a multigenerational service, stories engage our hearts and minds and help us grow.

Stories from Other Unitarian Universalist (UU) Sources

Storytelling in Worship

✳ Pssst! Have you visited our Storytelling page? It's filled with tips, how-to's, and lots of resources!

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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9

  • Carl the golden retriever learns about the limitations of the Golden Rule.
    Story | By Tiffany Sapp | October 10, 2023 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Animals, Caring, Imagination, Playfulness, Relationships, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • One of the Goddess’s best friends was a cardinal—a bright red bird who loved to play with the Goddess and the Sun.
    Story | By Christina Leone Tracy | December 16, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Animals, Change, Earth, Earth-Centered, Ending, Faith, Friendship, Goddess, Imagination, Letting Go, Nature, Paganism, Winter Solstice / Yule, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • Masks let us be someone or something totally different from who we usually are.
    Time for All Ages | By Mary Gear | January 21, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Imagination, Playfulness, Secular, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • Once there was a wise woman named Athenerva.* Athenerva would travel from town to town in her country, spending a few days, maybe a week in each town. People came to her with difficult problems or arguments they were having with others, and she would help them find their way toward satisfying...
    Story | By Gail Sphar | May 8, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Belief, Diversity, God, Goddess, Imagination
  • This story is great to be acted out by four women (of applicable ages for each direction) around a large bowl/vessel....
    Story | By Katie Sivani Gelfand | January 7, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Direct Experience, Earth-Centered, Generations, Imagination, Listening, Nature, Sacred, Spirituality, Unitarian Universalism, Water Communion, Women
  • Rain falls upon the surface of the earth, and pulled by gravity each drop begins to flow downhill. Drop merges with drop, flowing together, into a trickle, a streamlet, a creek, a mighty river, flowing onward. Some of the water seeps down into the earth itself, as groundwater, or deep aquifers,...
    Time for All Ages | By Molly Housh Gordon, Jamila Batchelder | September 4, 2019 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Awe, Body, Direct Experience, Earth, Earth-Centered, Imagination, Nature, Playfulness, Science, Secular, Water Communion, Climate Justice
  • Did you notice that in the story of Christmas there are lots of journeys? Mary and Joseph have to go on a journey. The shepherds have to go on a journey. And those angels must have gone on a journey to find the shepherds....
    Script | By Kathy Schmitz | October 5, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Children, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Direct Experience, Generations, Imagination, Journey, Relationships
  • It was not a city. It was not a large town. But it was not a small town. It was—just average, you might say. Except for one thing. There was a Storyteller in the town. That’s Storyteller with a capital S. The Storyteller had arrived one day without advance notice (or as some people would put it,...
    Story | By Orlanda R Brugnola | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Imagination, Mystery, Revelation, Tradition, Wonder
  • Once there was and once there was not a town on the edge of the swamp in the sultry summer weather of far south Florida, between the alligators and the ocean. In this town there were two amazing friends, Sam and Joseph. They were a lot alike. They liked the same foods. They liked the same books.
    Story | By Naomi King | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Family, Imagination, Life Transition, Playfulness, Revelation, Secular