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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

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  • In a living room with a lit Christmas tree and gifts, a woman sits with closed eyes, slumped, with her hand on her forehead as if she's disappointed or frustrated.
    Help me feel the calm in the storm—even the ones of my own making.
    Reflection | By Kahla Childers | December 3, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Acceptance, Advent, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Compassion, Empathy, Failure, Family, Letting Go, Limitations, Responsibility, Self-Care, Self-Respect, Worship
  • Prehistoric stenciled outlines of many overlapping hands on the wall of a cave (the Cueva de las Manos in Argentina). Some hands show up as ochre on a white background, some are white on a black or ochre background.
    We sang, we loved, we gazed up at the mysterious stars. We tried to understand what had created us, why we were here, why we suffered and how to keep what was precious.
    Reading | By Lóre Stevens | December 1, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Awe, Beginnings, Connections, Earth, Generations, History, Journey, Nature, Reverence, Science, Worship
  • Against a dark blue sky, a sheet of strung lights is blurred, creating a golden, net-like appearance.
    Hope seeks out the forgotten places...
    Invocation | By Hannah Roberts Villnave | November 26, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Advent, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Hope, Worship
  • A wooden crate holding vegetables like carrots, peppers, and leeks is carried between two people: each person is holding one handle, outdoors, as they walk through a field or garden.
    My grandparents are now ancestors, but they taught me about creating a home of abundance.
    Reflection | By Melissa Jeter | November 26, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Abundance, All Souls Day, Direct Experience, Earth, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Family, Food, Friendship, Generations, Generosity, Gratitude, Humanism, Simplicity, Stewardship, Thanksgiving, Worship
  • A white woman with long reddish-brown hair holds an iPhone up to her face with two hands, perhaps taking a photo. The phone blocks most of her face from view, except for the corners of her sunglasses. Behind her, blurry, we see a mostly empty street or plaza.
    A call to worship is secretly a call to focus our attention. Choosing to focus our attention is countercultural.
    Opening | By Samantha Lynne Wilson | November 20, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Calling, Commitment, Community, Connections, Mindfulness, Presence, Sacred, Spiritual Practice, Worship
  • A low-angle shot of a wet gutter and curb in a city at nighttime. We see the colorful, out-of-focus lights of cars, traffic light, and building windows, as well as their reflections on the damp ground.
    The sacred does not hide from the world—it lives in it.
    Chalice Extinguishing | By Craig Rowland | November 19, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Brokenness, Interdependence, Reverence, Sacred, Worship
  • A low-angle shot of a wet gutter and curb in a city at nighttime. We see the colorful, out-of-focus lights of cars, traffic light, and building windows, as well as their reflections on the damp ground.
    Not every sanctuary has walls—some are stitched together from longing, kindness, and sheer survival.
    Chalice Lighting | By Craig Rowland | November 19, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Brokenness, Interdependence, Reverence, Sacred, Worship
  • A heart, carved into the light grey wood of a tree trunk, with its interior dyed pale red.
    You deserve a circle that sees your scars and your strength, your doubts and your radiance, and holds them all with care.
    Chalice Extinguishing | By Craig Rowland | November 19, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Acceptance, Community, Doubt, Empathy, Growth, Hope, Interdependence, Strength, Worship
  • A heart, carved into the light grey wood of a tree trunk, with its interior dyed pale red.
    You deserve a place that welcomes your becoming, that knows your fire is not too much, your silence not too little.
    Chalice Lighting | By Craig Rowland | November 19, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Acceptance, Community, Empathy, Grief, Growth, Healing, Hope, Interdependence, Vulnerability, Worship
  • A lecturer with graying hair speaks at a lectern, holding a page of notes, his back to the camera. In the background, blurred, is a bank of seats filled with audience members.
    Whether they walk, shuffle, or wheel themselves into my life, every person I interact with matters.
    Reflection | By JD Stillwater | November 19, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Worship
  • A table covered with a red tablecloth and a purple tablecloth. The front is labeled with the word PRIDE, with each letter handwritten on a separate piece of letter paper. On the center of the table is a clear box filled with large serving spoons. The rest of the table is completely covered by many loose spoons. Among the spoons are many handwritten signs labeled with types of disabilities: “cognitive,” “developmental,” “sensory,” “hidden,” and so on.
    This two-part ritual, inspired by the disability justice concept of spoon theory, includes a litany of things that can “take spoons away” from people. Part of the WorshipWeb collection “Worth and Dignity of All Bodies.”
    Litany, Ritual | By Anna Tulou | November 17, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Anti-Oppression, Body, Commitment, Disability, Human Rights, Identity, Inclusion, Respect, Rights, Solidarity, Worship
  • Indoors, in front of a sunny window and amid houseplants, a light-skinned Black sits cross-legged, eyes closed, as if meditating.
    I have a right to feel scared and hurt, and angry. Yet I refuse to let hate calcify my heart.
    Reflection | By Vanessa Titang | November 12, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: America, Anger, Anti-Oppression, Belief, Commitment, Identity, Spiritual Practice, Spirituality, Worship
  • Sitting on a couch, with only their torso and upper legs visible, a dark-skinned person wearing jeans and an olive T-shirt leans forward with their elbows on their knees. In one hand they dangle a military dog tag, and a similar tag is visible hanging from their neck outside of their T-shirt.
    As citizens of this democratic nation, we’re all complicit in its wars and conflicts.
    Reflection | By Rina Shere | November 5, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Accountability, America, Compassion, Conscience, Mental Health, Military, Politics, Veterans Day, Worship
  • An woman wearing an olive T-shirt and camo pants, suggesting a military veteran, leans forward in her chair, hands together, towards a counselor who's seated with a clipboard of notes on her lap.
    Just as you and I are more than our suffering, so too is each veteran more than their suffering.
    Reflection | By Rina Shere | October 29, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Military, Veterans Day, Worship
  • From behind, from the neck down, a military service member is shown wearing camouflage holds his rucksack in front of a house's doorstep. An American flag hangs next to the front door.
    My Universalist theology guides me to remind our veterans that they are not defined by their worst moment or action.
    Reflection | By Rina Shere | October 22, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Military, Military Service, Veterans Day, Worship
  • Inside an structure that contains many angled mirror panels, the camera captures a mosaic of reflections of people moving through an urban landscape.
    May my path be guided by dharma—a love ethic of right thought and action.
    Reflection | By Rumni Saha | October 15, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Worship
  • Outdoors under a canopy of trees, three men chat while looking upward; one points toward something out of frame.
    The neighborhood, the village, the beloved community is for all of us.
    Reflection | By Helen “HP” Rivers | October 8, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Worship
  • In a hospital bed, a person wearing an oxygen mask gazes up at two nurses or physicians, who are wearing blue scrubs, masks, and hairnets.
    The most important person is the person in front of us, whether they’re a person we’re “supposed” to help, a friend, or a stranger.
    Reflection | By Sue Oshiro-Zeier | October 1, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Worship
  • With a blue sky behind him, a Black man opens his arms wide and lifts his face up, with eyes closed, as if basking in joy.
    Gratitude is the opposite of addiction. Opposite gratitude is shame, denial, and spiritual paralysis
    Meditation | By Michael J. Crumpler | September 25, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Addiction/Recovery, Choice, Gratitude, Worship
  • A close up of a person's hands, with dirt under their nails. One open palm cradles a pile of seeds; the other hand is pinching a few of those seeds.
    To live well is to be in relationship with the earth’s constant change.
    Reflection | By Kimi Floyd Reisch | September 24, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Worship