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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 red fox looks into the camera, which is positioned on the yellow stripe separating the two sides of a county road. We see the otherwise empty road receding far into the distance, but the fox is prominent in the foreground. Blurred bushes and trees — yellow, orange, and dark green — line the sides of the road.
    Today, we are charged to remember. To know that as we live together in community, we are also in community with the silently singing lives in the vast congregation of the earth as well... Let us remember, and then act.
    Reading | By Irene Glasse, Rebekah Savage | April 24, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Animals, Connections, Earth, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Environment, Nature, Sacred, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • Above a cityscape, in a black-and-white photo, a lone crow or corvid spreads its wings mid-flight.
    Crows found ways to adapt to our concrete forests but we have not yet found ways to make sure we are in balance with the rest of creation.
    Reflection | By Christine Slocum | April 17, 2024 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Animals, Earth, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Interdependence, Nature, Worship
  • A white and brown shofar resting on a piece of blue satin.
    If you have come here tonight on Rosh Hashanah and feel that there is nothing to examine, no wound in your life to heal, no relationship to repair—then I hope you will listen especially closely to the shofar.
    Quote | By Angela Buchdahl | April 4, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Brokenness, Grief, Healing, Judaism, Reconciliation, Rosh Hashanah, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • Behind clouds that are faintly lit by the last light of day, a thin crescent moon and a few stars are visible in the blue/black sky.
    There in the deep sack of night, a tiny Hope was born. 
    Poetry | By Jennifer Pratt-Walter | March 29, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Awe, Beginnings, Birth, Earth-Centered, Hope, Joy, Love, Peace, Sacred, Winter Solstice / Yule, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • Roughly 100 white and reddish-brown mushrooms growing on a decaying tree trunk. Most are seen from above, emphasizing their round caps.
    It takes courage to bring our trust forward and invite another person to meet us there. This sometimes sure, often shaky, surrender is an opportunity to discover something deeper than the confines of our individual experience.
    Reading | By Adaku Utah | January 21, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Compassion, Earth, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Freedom, Growth, Interdependence, Nature, Relationships, Trust, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • A table full of friends raises their glasses--colored glass goblets--in the air outdoors.
    What “toast, boast, and oath” might you offer this January?
    Reflection | By Sarah Klinger Osborne | January 3, 2024 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Beginnings, Choice, Contemplation, Integrity, New Year, Searching, Self-Care, Self-Respect, Worship
  • A light-skinned Black person's arms cradle a tiny infant whose bare foot soles face the camera.
    Fear not, the angels would text me. Hallelujah, I’d write back.
    Reflection | By Marcus Liefert | December 20, 2023 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Advent, Awe, Children, Christianity, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Direct Experience, Family, Hope, Parents, Wonder, Worship
  • A mountain range is silhouetted by the orange dawn behind it. Most of the sky is still dark, and time-lapse trails of the paths of the stars show the spinning of the Earth.
    The fulcrum of the Earth tilts toward goodness and I will ride along…
    Reading | By Jennifer Pratt-Walter | December 13, 2023 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Balance, Beauty, Earth, Earth-Centered, Good, Nature, Transcendence, Winter Solstice / Yule, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • Through a thick forest, a reindeer peeks out at the camera
    Spirits of winter, I celebrate you!
    Reflection | By Erica Shadowsong | December 13, 2023 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Animals, Earth-Centered, Generations, Goddess, Imagination, Spiritual Practice, Winter, Winter Solstice / Yule, 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 vibrantly orange and crimson sky, at sunset, with the silhouette of an evergreen tree in front of it.
    Love this world, she whispers.
    Poetry | By Rebecca Ann Parker | November 30, 2023 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Advent, Beauty, Brokenness, Earth, Love, Wholeness, Winter Solstice / Yule, Wonder, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • a person touches a Ghanti bell on a Hindu altar, in front of statues of Ganesha and Lakshmi
    Welcome abundance, welcome prosperity, welcome love, and welcome light.
    Responsive Reading | By Michael J. Tino | October 10, 2023 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Diwali, Goddess, Hinduism, Multiculturalism, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • From the ground level, the camera points up at a tree canopy beneath a blue sky.
    Is it not a marvel?
    Poetry | By Jennifer Pratt-Walter | September 20, 2023 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Animals, Awe, Body, Earth, Earth Day, Nature, Wonder
  • A close-up of bright pink peacock flower buds, with a couple of flowers opening.
    I am singing/of the wonder of how roots/so love the buds they bid them grow...
    Poetry | By Jennifer Pratt-Walter | September 20, 2023 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Beauty, Earth, Earth-Centered, Flower Communion, Nature, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • Unitarian Universalist Association Chalice
    In our lived lives, family comes in different shapes and sizes and constellations.It is in this variety—this diversity—that our lives are made fuller and our individual selves made more whole. It is in this variety, it is in this diversity, that we look back to the ancestors, recognizing no...
    Reading | By Karen G. Johnston | August 17, 2023 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Family, Generations, Integrity, Love, Memorial Services, Truth, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • Six cylindrical vases are filled with colored liquid, so that together they form a rainbow. This photo captures the bottom of each vase and the reflection of their color on a blank surface.
    I would have loved it as a kid to have a church that encouraged us to listen to our heartfelt yearning of self.
    Reflection | By Zeb Green | June 7, 2023 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Anti-Oppression, Coming Out, Direct Experience, Gender, Identity, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Pride Sunday, Truth, 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
  • Against a dark field, five neon arrows in blue, pink, and yellow point in the same direction.
    Is a calling a feeling of joy, of completeness in your work?
    Reading | By Megan Foley | May 22, 2023 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Calling, Direct Experience, Leadership, Ordinations, Unitarian Universalism, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • A person's hands scoop green material into a full compost bin, filled with flowers, eggshells, and colorful vegetable matter.
    The miracle of grace is available to us even when it has been left untended.
    Reflection | By Jennifer Hundley-Batts | May 3, 2023 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Abundance, Direct Experience, Earth, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Food, Grace, Nature, Patience, Stewardship, Summer Solstice, Worship
  • A tiny chickweed seedling still has the cap of its seed pod, while the tiny seedling next to it is unfurling its tiny green leaves.
    Remind me that life is magical and mysterious.
    Reflection | By JD Stillwater | April 19, 2023 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Animals, Awe, Beauty, Direct Experience, Earth, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Nature, Stewardship, Wonder, Worship
  • A bowl of dates, a strand of prayer beads, and a small brass pot.
    Ramadan, never forgotten, entices me back to Love, and I am home once again
    Poetry | By Summer Albayati | April 10, 2023 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Faith, Food, Islam, Ramadan, Spiritual Practice, Spirituality, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • The cast of "Jesus Christ Superstar" on stage, at a moment where Jesus is kneeling with a woman and smiling.
    It’s complicated, sorting out where Jesus fits into my life as a witch. But he hasn’t gone away.
    Reflection | By Myke Johnson | April 5, 2023 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Christianity, Easter, Lent, Worship
  • At a March For Our Lives event, a protester is seen from behind wearing a very large sign that says #Enough
    How can I be love instead of being anger and fear?
    Reflection | By DeEtte Waleed | March 29, 2023 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Disaster or Crisis, Integrity, Love, Violence, Worship
  • From above, a cross-section of a large, old oak stump--with all of its rings--and an oak sapling growing out of its center.
    I don’t know exactly when it happened, but something began to change.
    Reading | By Tess Baumberger | March 13, 2023 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Acceptance, Aging, Caring, Change, Coming-of-Age, Direct Experience, Generations, Humanism, Life Transition, Secular, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • The number "2023" with vintage letterpress printing blocks on rustic wooden background
    I’m proud to belong to a living religious tradition that embraces evolution, both scientifically and spiritually.
    Reflection | By Tim Atkins | January 4, 2023 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Beginnings, New Year, Spiritual Practice, Worship
  • A straw-filled manger in a stable, with the Christmas star in the window
    Advent encourages us to be present in each moment of waiting.
    Reflection | By Megan Lloyd Joiner | December 7, 2022 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Advent, Christianity, Contemplation, Patience, Presence, Sacred, Worship
  • A Progress Pride flag on a flagpole, with a blue sky and bright sun behind it.
    Queer joy is resistance.
    Reflection | By cristy cardinal | November 23, 2022 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: #LoveResists, #Pride, 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), Activism, Anti-Oppression, Community, Direct Experience, Humanism, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Pride Sunday, Solidarity, Unitarian Universalism, Worship
  • A starry night sky and and an atmospheric glow blanket the well-lit southeastern African coast as the International Space Station orbited 263 miles above.
    All that we are, together and individually, is part of the abundance of the universe.
    Responsive Reading | By Julián Jamaica Soto | November 11, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Abundance, Canvass/Pledge, Connections, Earth, Earth-Centered, Gratitude, Interdependence, Stewardship, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • The edge of a sukkah, decorated with leaves and vines
    We all want to feel at home, somewhere, somehow....
    Reading | By Christian Schmidt | October 18, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Home, Judaism, Searching, Sukkot
  • A few dog paw prints in the sand
    My vet said, “She's telling you thank you for letting her go.”
    Reflection | By Ndidi Achebe | October 12, 2022 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Animal Memorial, Animals, Death, Direct Experience, Grief, Letting Go, Love, Secular, Worship
  • A hand cupping a person's foot in the process of footwashing during a Maundy Thursday Mass.
    Let us imagine washing the feet of someone who has wronged us. Their feet, too, are calloused and muddy from the road.
    Responsive Reading | By Patty Willis | October 3, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Caring, Christianity, Compassion, Easter, Empathy, Ministry, Service, WorshipWeb, 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
    I wasn’t really “born this way.” I grew this way.
    Reflection | By Heather McDuffee | September 28, 2022 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: #Pride, Choice, Coming Out, Friendship, God, Identity, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Marriage, National Coming Out Day, Transformation, Trust, Worship
  • Seen from the chest up, a side view of three generations: a Black son, father, and grandfather standing side by side.
    I rise on the shoulders of ancestors whose names I can not know.
    Reflection | By Glen Thomas Rideout | September 14, 2022 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: #8thPrinciple, #BlackHistoryMonth, #BlackLivesMatter, 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), America, Anti-Oppression, Black History / Whitney Young / James Reeb, Direct Experience, Family, Generations, History, Oppression, Race/Ethnicity, Secular, Self-Respect, Unitarian Universalism, Worship
  • A candid black-and-white shot at night, looking through window of nearby pizza parlour. Two workers are seen from behind as they prepare food.
    There is no such thing as unskilled labor.
    Reflection | By Sarah Skochko | August 31, 2022 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), America, Compassion, Dignity, Human Rights, Humanism, Labor Day, Secular, Work, Worship
  • Against a sunset, an adult holds up a child with their arms outflung joyfully
    We have a holy obligation to bring about paradise on this earth; each generation helps us do that.
    Reflection | By Nathan Ryan | June 15, 2022 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Children, Father's Day, Fathers, Generations, Hope, Mothers, Parents, Purpose, Secular, Unitarian Universalism, Worship
  • a pink heart, apparently drawn on chalk, on a badly cracked concret surface
    We are an angry and beautiful people.
    Reflection | By Laura Solomon | June 1, 2022 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Brokenness, Connections, Direct Experience, Disaster or Crisis, Fear, Humanism, Love, Suffering, Unitarian Universalism, Worship
  • Unitarian Universalist Association Chalice
    There’s never been a time in the United States history when black rebellions did not spark existential fear among white people.
    Reading | By Michelle Alexander, Leslie Alexander | May 12, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), America, Black History / Whitney Young / James Reeb, Freedom, History, Juneteenth, Race/Ethnicity, Secular, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • Seen from high above, a human crowd forms two hands and a heart shape on white background
    You can crush Love down, bury it, cover it over, but it will rise.
    Reflection | By Molly Housh Gordon | April 6, 2022 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Christianity, Community, Easter, Love, Mystery, Purpose, Worship
  • A small droplet of water balanced on the leaf of a plant
    Water sustains, gives, and yields to / Life.
    Reading | By Melissa Jeter | March 24, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Balance, Earth, Earth-Centered, Imagination, Nature, Water Communion, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • Seen from behind, at the beach, a father has his arm lovingly wrapped around his child's shoulder.
    Happy kids are safer kids, because happy kids have adults they can ask for help.
    Reflection | By Quinn Gormley | March 2, 2022 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Acceptance, Anti-Oppression, Children, Coming Out, Direct Experience, Humanism, Identity, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Parents, Pride Sunday, Secular, Worship
  • Unitarian Universalist Association Chalice
    It’s as if something was born from nothing.
    Reading | By Anya Sammler-Michael | March 1, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Christianity, Christmas Eve / Christmas
  • A menorah with red candles lies on the open pages of Hebrew scripture.
    We could have assimilated but instead / we rededicate
    Affirmation | By Leah Ongiri | March 1, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Hanukkah, Identity, Judaism, Strength, Tradition, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • A lit taper candle burns against a blurred background of blue holiday lights.
    Grief is welcome, a sacred part of the mourning.
    Reading | By Kari Kopnick | March 1, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Advent, Balance, Challenge, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Compassion, Despair, Empathy, Grief, Winter Solstice / Yule, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • Unitarian Universalist Association Chalice
    There was an audible gasp when they heard he* was gone A whoosh of air that sounded exactly like the bottom falling out of his mother’s** world the winds of mortality brushing his father’s** face the last breath of a kind soul All the years of struggle have settled into silence: Unsought,...
    Poetry | By Lindasusan Ulrich | January 14, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Death, Grief, Love, Memorial Services
  • MLK in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, August 28, 1963.
    We have come here today to remember what some are intent on making us forget.
    Affirmation | By Addae Ama Kraba | January 10, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: History, Justice, Martin Luther King, Jr. Sunday, Race/Ethnicity, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • On a nest of straw and holiday tinsel three white paper stars, or Froebelsterne, are nestled.
    May we continue to find ways to connect while keeping safe this holiday season.
    Reflection | By Laura Shay | December 22, 2021 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Advent, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Community, Worship
  • In the foreground, a slice of pecan pie and a hot beverage sit on a table. In the background, there's a merry decorated Christmas tree.
    For me, “surrendering everything tenderly” brings an awareness of grace.
    Reflection | By Jake Morrill | December 15, 2021 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Advent, Food, Grace, Patience, Worship
  • A worn, chipped statue of Mary, pictured from the shoulders up, with a weary expression.
    Each Advent, my empathy for Mary’s situation returns.
    Reflection | By Taryn Strauss | December 8, 2021 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Advent, Children, Choice, Christianity, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Discernment, Women, Worship
  • Unitarian Universalist Association Chalice
    Every day offers us, yet again, the chance to experience our own Divinity and spiritual Transformation.
    Affirmation | By Paul Stephan Dodenhoff | November 17, 2021 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Easter, Good Friday, Unitarian Universalism
  • 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