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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The dictionary defines soil as: “the upper layer of earth in which plants grow, or a black or dark brown material typically consisting of a mixture of organic remains, clay, and rock particles.” But I like to think of soil as a community. There are three main mineral components of soil: clay,...Time for All Ages | By Ariel Aaronson-Eves | November 13, 2019 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Earth, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Interdependence, Stewardship, Climate Justice -
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 WorshipWebTagged as: Awe, Body, Direct Experience, Earth, Earth-Centered, Imagination, Nature, Playfulness, Science, Secular, Water Communion, Climate Justice -
Think of where you feel safe and at peace. What’s the signal that tells you it’s okay to be at peace? (Ask for answers.) For people in the United States military, there’s a special signal that says “you’re okay, and you’re at peace.” It's a melody called "Taps," and it's only 24 notes...Time for All Ages | By Erika Hewitt, Paul S Sawyer | May 21, 2019 | From WorshipWebTagged as: America, Death, History, Memorial Day, Military, Secular -
All the great religions have their stories, and usually a special day that celebrates that story. Today is Easter. Easter and Christmas are the most special days for Christians: on Christmas we tell the story of Jesus being born in the manager; on Easter we tell a story about the end of Jesus’...Time for All Ages | By Sue Andrews | March 29, 2018 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Christianity, Easter -
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 WorshipWebTagged as: Advent, Awe, Child Dedication, Children, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Family, Fathers, Generations, Humanism, Mothers, Parents, Secular, Tradition -
Did you know that there are trillions of little tiny creatures living inside your bodies? They’re called microbiota, and they're SOOO tiny that to them, you and your body… are like a planet. To my microbiota I am Planet [your name]. You are Planet [name of child present]. You are Planet [name of...Time for All Ages | By Carolyn Fisher | August 10, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Activism, Body, Earth, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Humanism, Nature, Responsibility, Secular, Climate Justice -
Our Time for All Ages this morning is a time of make-believe. I’d like you to put your imagination caps on so that we can pretend together. Raise your hand if you've ever been to a baseball game. How many of you follow a team you think of as “your” team? Well, I have bad news. (Here’s the...Time for All Ages | By Erika Hewitt | April 2, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), 5th Principle (Conscience & Democracy), Belief, Choice, Courage, Generations, History, International, Living Our Faith, Partner Church Observation, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Psychology, Secular -
Imagine if Easter preachers—and all the rest of us—had the chutzpah of Mary Magdalene.Time for All Ages | By Anne S. Howard | March 22, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), Abundance, Christianity, Courage, Easter, God, Good, Power, Revelation -
This Time for All Ages is greatly enhanced by visual elements. If you're able to create a slide show, it may be helpful to show the accompanying images, as well as diagrams of the geocentric and heliocentric models of the solar system. We humans have always looked up at the stars, wondered about...Time for All Ages | By Erika Hewitt | March 21, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Awe, Earth Day, History, Identity, International, Living Our Faith, Partner Church Observation, Religion, Science, Secular, Wonder -
To prepare for this Message for All Ages, you’ll need to do the following: remove a small white tea light from its aluminum casing make a fake candle out of a turnip or jicama: carefully peel and cut (adults only!) until your disc of turnip is the same size as the tea candle. (The aluminum case...Time for All Ages | By Erika Hewitt | November 20, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Children's / Religious Education Sunday, Children's Sabbath, Direct Experience, Doubt, Freedom, Playfulness, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Responsibility, Truth, Unitarian Universalism, Wonder -
I’m going to talk about something really powerful today: HOPE. And first, I have a question. Have you ever hoped for something? … and did the thing you hoped for happen? [Take responses.] I think that hope is kinda like these: [Pass around basket of acorns and invite children to take one to hold...Time for All Ages | By Martha Dallas | May 12, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Autumnal Equinox, Caring, Change, Direct Experience, Earth-Centered, Growth, Hope, Lammas, Self-Care, Summer Solstice, Transformation, Vernal Equinox, WorshipWeb -
This was created as a Message for All Ages for a service honoring Yom Ha’Shoah, the Jewish holiday for Holocaust Remembrance. In 2016, Yom Ha'Shoah begins on the evening of Wednesday, May 4th and ends on the evening of Thursday, May 5th. Once there was a place that was very bleak and dreary. All...Time for All Ages | By Martha Dallas | May 12, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Beauty, Connections, Direct Experience, Food, Generosity, History, Holocaust Remembrance / Yom Ha'Shoah, Hope, Judaism, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Secular, WorshipWeb -
Who here knows from experience that life is not fair? [Show of hands.] We know this, don’t we? Life is just not fair. And I really don’t think it ever has been. But what can we do? We generally just shrug and accept it: it’s not fair. But there was once a man who refused to just shrug off the...Time for All Ages | By Martha Dallas | May 12, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Anti-Oppression, Christianity, Compassion, Easter, Equity, Justice, Justice Sunday, Service, Seven Principles, WorshipWeb -
Have you ever wondered how it came to be that churches are known as places where you can get a helping hand when you need one? It seems to me that a key source of the charitable nature of churches goes all the way back to the time of Jesus. You see, in the society in which Jesus lived—in his time...Time for All Ages | By Martha Dallas | May 12, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Activism, Caring, Christianity, Compassion, Easter, Inclusion, Justice Sunday, Living Our Faith, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Service, WorshipWeb -
Today, the congregation will be singing hymns from our hymnals which are particularly precious to us as Unitarian Universalists. But today, being the last Sunday in February, is also part of Black History Month....Time for All Ages | By Martha Dallas | May 12, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), Anti-Oppression, Arts & Music, Black History / Whitney Young / James Reeb, Direct Experience, Freedom, Juneteenth, Justice Sunday, Martin Luther King, Jr. Sunday, Oppression, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Race/Ethnicity, Six Sources -
This reflection was created for Choir Sunday, an annual tradition at the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Burlington, Vermont. You can adapt the language as suitable for you....Time for All Ages | By Martha Dallas | May 11, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Arts & Music, History, International, Music Sunday, Unitarian Universalism, Unitarianism -
I have a story for you. It's a tale of two heads of lettuce. This one (hold up head of lettuce and maybe even move around the sanctuary as you speak) was grown in Salinas Valley, CA. It was grown according to conventional, industrial farming methods by a multi-national corporation. They used...Time for All Ages | By Melissa Carvill-Ziemer | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Community, Earth, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Economy, Food, Living Our Faith, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Responsibility -
There are two things we can learn from a daffodil to help ourselves and each other.Time for All Ages | By Ruth E Gibson | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Change, Earth, Earth-Centered, Flower Communion, Growth, Nature, Spring, Strength, Transformation, Vernal Equinox, Wonder