Chalice and Advent Wreath on UU chancel.

A chalice and advent wreath share the altar at Starr King UU Church in Hawyard, CA.

Advent is a season of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the nativity of Jesus. The name derives from the Latin adventus, meaning "coming." Marked over the course of the four Sundays before Christmas, Advent is traditionally celebrated with an advent wreath: a ring of evergreen with three purple candles and one pink one (or four purple candles) that represent: Hope, Love, Joy (pink) and Peace.

(In Eastern Orthodox churches, which use the Julian calendar, Advent begins earlier and lasts 40 days rather than four weeks.)

Faith Without Borders

For everything there is a season—a time to die and a time to be born. With the arrival of winter’s low dark sky, communities around the world look to the miracle of light as a sign of rebirth and a source of hope. We celebrate the promise of new life and recommit ourselves to the protection of everyone’s right to his or her own radiant humanity.

Celebrating the winter holidays, thus, is an excellent opportunity for Unitarian Universalist congregations to express their commitment to our Sixth Principle: We covenant to affirm and promote the goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all. See Sixth Principle Resources for winter holidays.

Unitarian Universalist Perspectives

Changing a filter will refresh results (and remaining options) immediately.

Displaying 21 - 40 of 92

  • Minister: At this time, we would like to introduce a special ritual. The holidays can be an especially poignant time of year. Alongside the joy in these present moments, we may recall fond memories of past celebrations with our loved ones....
    Ritual | By Shari Woodbury | May 5, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Advent, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Connections, Direct Experience, Family, Grief, Spiritual Practice
  • [Written for two voices, here set for Worship Association (WA) and Minister (M)] WA: Perhaps some here have outgrown mystery. Maybe you have doubts about Santa, Or have forgotten the magic of a newborn child. M: One might easily lose touch with awe, In the struggle to do it all, Or simply to...
    Opening | By Shari Woodbury | January 8, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Advent, Awe, Children, Christianity, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Mystery, Tradition, Unitarian Universalism, Winter Solstice / Yule, Wonder
  • Every year, I tell the congregation not to worry about mistakes because there aren’t any; there is only us, telling an old story about love getting born into this aching world.
    Reflection | By Elea Kemler | December 18, 2019 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Advent, Brokenness, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Community, Direct Experience, Forgiveness, Love, Playfulness, Tradition, Transcendence, Unitarian Universalism
  • Everything is about to change. And it already has. It will be. It was. It is. The dawn you eagerly await to end the long, cold darkness is already full sun far off in the east. Yet even after light’s return spring is months away. Thirty long years pass after His birth before the Messiah comes.
    Reading | By Mandie McGlynn | January 7, 2019 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Advent, Beginnings, Change, Christianity, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Contemplation, Ending, Faith, Growth, Hope, Journey, Justice, Life Transition, Paganism, Patience, Winter Solstice / Yule, WorshipWeb
  • In real life, sometimes grief looms largest in December. Sometimes there's one too many dress-ups and the gold tulle makes your legs itch. “I just needed it to stop for a minute. Next time I will take calm breaths.”
    Reflection | By Misha Sanders | December 19, 2018 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Advent, Children, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Direct Experience, Limitations, Self-Care, Self-Respect
  • In this time of waiting, may we hold the world in our hearts. In this time of waiting, may we hold each other's hands. In this time of waiting, may we be thoughtful and introspective. In this time of waiting, may we delight in the darkness and all it teaches us. In this time of waiting, may we...
    Prayer | By Cricket Hall | December 5, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Advent, Christianity, Contemplation, Hope, Patience, Tradition, Winter
  • Advent is about expectation—radical expectations that undo the status quo—and anticipation: a skillful search for the places where liberation rises from the ashes.
    Reflection | By Robin Tanner | December 5, 2018 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Advent, Anti-Oppression, Christianity, Direct Experience, Patience, Power, Presence, Progress
  • 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 WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Advent, Christianity, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Hope, Peace
  • First Sunday of Advent Minister: Unitarian Universalism is a faith with roots in Christianity. Some UUs today identify as Christians, others don’t; yet during the season of Advent we all have something we can find illuminating, comforting, challenging, or fulfilling by reinterpreting old...
    Ritual | By Lyn Cox | October 15, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Advent
  • Once upon a time, a baby was born. Even before that baby was born, there were people waiting and wishing and hoping for that baby. The people who were waiting and wishing and hoping for that baby didn’t know exactly what that baby would be like. And so, they wondered: Would the baby have a smile...
    Time for All Ages | By Gwen Matthews | January 23, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Advent, Awe, Child Dedication, Children, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Family, Fathers, Generations, Humanism, Mothers, Parents, Secular, Tradition
  • It’s been said that it’s easier to untangle a string of lights if you plug them in; it’s no different for people. Humans, just like strings of lights, are wired for connection.
    Reflection | By Erin Powers | December 13, 2017 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Advent, Awe, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Connections, Direct Experience, Humanism, Mystery, Relationships, Secular, Trust, Vulnerability, Wholeness
  • We lean in expectation into all that is being born in us at this Holy time of the year...
    Ritual | By Erika Hewitt | December 2, 2017 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Advent, Brokenness, Christianity, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Faith, Spiritual Practice, Tradition, Transcendence, Wholeness
  • May love guide us and be a creating force in our lives.
    Ritual | By Erika Hewitt | December 2, 2017 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Advent, Christianity, Faith, Love, Patience, Spiritual Practice, Tradition
  • During Advent, we listen and keep vigil for the promise of things to come.
    Ritual | By Erika Hewitt | December 2, 2017 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Advent, Christianity, Despair, Faith, Hope, Joy, Spiritual Practice, Tradition
  • May this time of waiting inspire our courage.
    Ritual | By Erika Hewitt | December 2, 2017 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Advent, Buddhism, Christianity, Patience, Peace, Spiritual Practice, Spirituality
  • 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
  • I was talking to someone recently about the story of her church-going life, and she told me about a time in her life that she stopped coming to church. Many people who have a story about their church-going life also have a story about taking a break from church—when they stopped going, sometimes...
    Reflection | By Robin Bartlett | November 26, 2017 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Advent, Christianity, Despair, God, Hope, Inclusion, Presence
  • Week by week, the candles remind us that fear and hopelessness recede as more warmth enters the world.
    Ritual | By Erika Hewitt | November 26, 2017 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Advent, Beginnings, Christianity, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Ending, Faith, Hope, Letting Go, Patience, Spiritual Practice
  • This is the season of endings and beginnings.
    Opening | By Erika Hewitt | November 26, 2017 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Advent, Beginnings, Ending, Letting Go, New Year, Patience, Spiritual Practice, Spirituality
  • We bow our heads in order to imagine not one path, but many. We imagine a path forward for those who cannot imagine any path forward, because of poor health, financial hardship, family crises, and other roadblocks we cannot begin to understand or imagine. We struggle to imagine a path forward for...
    Prayer | By D. Scott Cooper | January 18, 2017 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), Advent, Anti-Oppression, Class, Conflict, Hope, Immigration, Journey, Justice Sunday, Searching, Unitarian Universalism, Worry