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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- Advent (13)
- All Saints Day (1)
- All Souls Day (4)
- Animal Blessing (3)
- Animal Memorial (4)
- Autumnal Equinox (1)
- Backpack Blessing (2)
- Black History / Whitney Young / James Reeb (2)
- Bridging Ceremony (3)
- Building/Space Dedication (5)
- Business Meetings (3)
- Child Dedication (6)
- Children's / Religious Education Sunday (1)
- Children's Sabbath (1)
- Christmas Eve / Christmas (15)
- Coming of Age (3)
- Coming Out (4)
- Communion (Christian) (1)
- Día de los Muertos (3)
- Disaster or Crisis (6)
- Divorce / Separation (1)
- Earth Day (2)
- Easter (12)
- Father's Day (8)
- Good Friday (2)
- Graduation Recognition (1)
- Hanukkah (2)
- Hiroshima Day (1)
- Homecoming / Ingathering (3)
- IllUUmination (2)
- Imbolc / Brighid's Day / Candlemas (1)
- Installations (2)
- Joys & Concerns (1)
- July 4th (1)
- Juneteenth (1)
- Justice Sunday (4)
- Kwanzaa (1)
- Lent (2)
- Life Transition (1)
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Sunday (3)
- Meditation Practices (1)
- Memorial Day (4)
- Memorial Services (14)
- Military Service (1)
- Ministerial Transition (2)
- Mother's Day (15)
- Mourning (4)
- Music Sunday (2)
- National Coming Out Day (2)
- New Child (3)
- New Home (1)
- New Member Ceremony (1)
- New Year (3)
- Ordinations (2)
- Partner Church Observation (2)
- Passover (Pesach) (1)
- Pentecost (1)
- Pride Sunday (9)
- Remembrance Day (6)
- Rosh Hashanah (1)
- Samhain (1)
- Table Grace (1)
- Thanksgiving (3)
- Twelfth Night / Epiphany (1)
- Valentine's Day (16)
- Veterans Day (1)
- Water Communion (1)
- Weddings and Commitment Ceremonies (3)
- Winter Solstice / Yule (11)
- Yom Kippur (2)
- Abundance (3)
- Acceptance (10)
- Activism (2)
- Aging (1)
- America (4)
- Anger (2)
- Animals (6)
- Anti-Oppression (11)
- Arrogance (1)
- Arts & Music (3)
- Awe (9)
- Balance (1)
- Beauty (5)
- Beginnings (9)
- Belief (2)
- Birth (9)
- Body (8)
- Bridging (1)
- Brokenness (10)
- Calling (1)
- Caring (10)
- Challenge (4)
- Change (4)
- Children (30)
- Choice (2)
- Coming-of-Age (1)
- Commitment (11)
- Community (32)
- Compassion (12)
- Conflict (3)
- Connections (15)
- Contemplation (2)
- Courage (15)
- Covenant (1)
- Creativity (1)
- Death (19)
- Despair (5)
- Dignity (3)
- Discernment (3)
- Diversity (3)
- Division (1)
- Doubt (1)
- Earth (5)
- Education (1)
- Empathy (3)
- Ending (2)
- Failure (1)
- Faith (16)
- Family (31)
- Fathers (13)
- Fear (4)
- Food (1)
- Forgiveness (12)
- Freedom (2)
- Friendship (7)
- Gender (2)
- Generations (18)
- Generosity (3)
- Globalism (1)
- God (14)
- Goddess (1)
- Governance (1)
- Grace (3)
- Gratitude (13)
- Grief (19)
- Growth (6)
- Happiness (2)
- Healing (19)
- Health (1)
- History (2)
- Home (4)
- Honesty (3)
- Hope (33)
- Hospitality (5)
- Humility (3)
- Identity (4)
- Imagination (1)
- Immanence (1)
- Inclusion (6)
- Integrity (7)
- Interdependence (13)
- Intimacy (5)
- Journey (10)
- Joy (10)
- Justice (14)
- Kindness (1)
- Leadership (2)
- Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer (11)
- Letting Go (5)
- Listening (3)
- Living Our Faith (7)
- Marriage (2)
- Meaning (3)
- Men (2)
- Military (2)
- Ministry (1)
- Money (1)
- Mothers (18)
- Multiculturalism (2)
- Mystery (7)
- Nature (11)
- Nonviolence (1)
- Oppression (2)
- Pain (4)
- Parents (21)
- Patience (4)
- Peace (14)
- Personal Stories (1)
- Playfulness (7)
- Power (5)
- Presence (3)
- Psychology (1)
- Purpose (10)
- Reconciliation (1)
- Redemption (1)
- Relationships (31)
- Respect (2)
- Responsibility (4)
- Revelation (1)
- Reverence (3)
- Sacred (13)
- Sacrifice (6)
- Salvation (5)
- Searching (5)
- Self-Care (1)
- Self-Respect (4)
- Service (7)
- Sexuality (4)
- Shadow (1)
- Silence (1)
- Solidarity (4)
- Sorrow (8)
- Spirituality (3)
- Spiritual Practice (3)
- Spring (1)
- Strength (6)
- Stress (1)
- Suffering (2)
- Teamwork (1)
- Terrorism (3)
- Tradition (7)
- Transcendence (6)
- Transformation (8)
- Trust (4)
- Truth (7)
- Unity (4)
- Violence (3)
- Vision (1)
- Vulnerability (3)
- War (2)
- Wholeness (7)
- Winter (6)
- Wisdom (3)
- Wonder (7)
- Work (3)
- Worry (1)
- Worth (1)
- Young Adults (3)
- Youth/Teens (1)
- (-) Love (155)
- Addae Ama Kraba (1)
- Alex Swift (1)
- Alice Anacheka-Nasemann (1)
- Amanda Poppei (1)
- AmyBeth Gibbs (1)
- Amy Johnson (1)
- Amy Young (1)
- Andrée Mol (1)
- Ariel Hunt-Brondwin (1)
- Barbara Child (1)
- Becky Brooks (3)
- Becky Laurent (1)
- Bettye A Doty (1)
- Carie J Johnsen (1)
- Carol Allman-Morton (1)
- Carter Heyward (1)
- Carter Smith (1)
- Charles A. Howe (1)
- Charles F Flagg (1)
- Cheryl Strayed (1)
- Claudene (Deane) Oliva (1)
- Cynthia Landrum (1)
- David Breeden (1)
- David O. Rankin (2)
- David Richo (1)
- DeEtte Waleed (1)
- Dillman Baker Sorrells (1)
- Dori J. Somers (1)
- Eileen B Karpeles (1)
- Elea Kemler (2)
- Eliot Brian Chenowith (1)
- Elizabeth Harding (1)
- Elizabeth Mount (2)
- enfleshed (2)
- Erica Shadowsong (1)
- Erika Hewitt (3)
- Gary Kowalski (4)
- George A Tyger (1)
- Gregory Pelley (1)
- Greg Ward (1)
- Gwen Matthews (2)
- Heather Lynn Hanson (1)
- Heide Cottam (1)
- HP Rivers (1)
- Israel Buffardi (1)
- Jake Morrill (1)
- Jake Tidmore (1)
- Jan Richardson (1)
- Jay Wolin (1)
- Jean L Wahlstrom (1)
- Jean M. Olson (1)
- Jennifer Gracen (1)
- Jennifer Kitchen (1)
- Jennifer Pratt-Walter (1)
- Jessica Ferguson (4)
- Jim Burklo (1)
- Joel Miller (2)
- Jonathan Chapman (1)
- Karen G. Johnston (2)
- Kathleen McTigue (1)
- Kathleen Rolenz (1)
- Katie Sivani Gelfand (1)
- Kelly Murphy Mason (1)
- Kirk D Loadman-Copeland (1)
- Kristin Grassel Schmidt (1)
- Kristin Kany (1)
- Laura Horton-Ludwig (1)
- Laura Solomon (1)
- Laura Wallace (1)
- Lilia Cuervo (1)
- Linda lee Franson (1)
- Lindasusan Ulrich (3)
- Lisa Doege (1)
- Lois Van Leer (1)
- Lora Brandis (1)
- Lori Walke (1)
- Lyn Cox (2)
- Mandie McGlynn (1)
- Mark Belletini (1)
- Martin Luther King, Jr. (2)
- Maureen Killoran (8)
- Meg Barnhouse (1)
- Meg Riley (1)
- Molly Housh Gordon (1)
- Monica Jacobson-Tennessen (1)
- Myke Johnson (1)
- Naomi King (1)
- Natalie Maxwell Fenimore (1)
- Ndidi Achebe (1)
- Paul S Sawyer (1)
- Peggy Clarke (1)
- Peter Friedrichs (1)
- Peter Scott Lee (1)
- Phoenix Bell-Shelton Biggs (1)
- Quinn G. Caldwell (1)
- Rachel Lonberg (1)
- Rebecca Ann Parker (2)
- Rebecka Clement (1)
- Renee Ruchotzke (1)
- Rev. Molly Brewer (1)
- Richard F. Beil (1)
- Robert Walsh (2)
- Rosemary Morrison (1)
- Ruben Piirainen (1)
- S. William Feiss (1)
- Sandra Fees (1)
- Sarah C Stewart (1)
- Sarah Movius Schurr (1)
- Shari Woodbury (2)
- Stephen M. Shick (1)
- Susan Maginn (1)
- Suzelle Lynch (1)
- Tamara Lebak (1)
- Tess Baumberger (2)
- Thomas Rhodes (2)
- Tim Atkins (4)
- Tom Schade (1)
- Unitarian Universalist Partner Church Council (2)
- Vanessa Rush Southern (1)
- Victoria Safford (2)
- Viola Abbitt (1)
- Yolo Akili (1)
Displaying 1 - 20 of 155
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Prayers to be said on the four Sundays of Advent while lighting the Advent candle wreath.Prayer | By Elizabeth Mount | March 29, 2024 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Advent, Christianity, Hope, Joy, Love, Patience, Peace, WorshipWeb, Worship
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There in the deep sack of night, a tiny Hope was born.Poetry | By Jennifer Pratt-Walter | March 29, 2024 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Awe, Beginnings, Birth, Earth-Centered, Hope, Joy, Love, Peace, Sacred, Winter Solstice / Yule, WorshipWeb, Worship
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Love this world, she whispers.Poetry | By Rebecca Ann Parker | November 30, 2023 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Advent, Beauty, Brokenness, Earth, Love, Wholeness, Winter Solstice / Yule, Wonder, WorshipWeb, Worship
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May you be tender and gentle with yourselfPrayer | By Katie Sivani Gelfand | September 13, 2023 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Brokenness, Disaster or Crisis, Grief, Love, Self-Care, Self-Respect, Stress, Transformation, WorshipWeb, Worship
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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 WorshipWebTagged as: Family, Generations, Integrity, Love, Memorial Services, Truth, WorshipWeb, Worship
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How can I be love instead of being anger and fear?Reflection | By DeEtte Waleed | March 29, 2023 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: Disaster or Crisis, Integrity, Love, Violence, Worship
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The circle of evergreens reminds us that life and love will never end.Ritual | By Rosemary Morrison | January 26, 2023 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Advent, Christianity, Hope, Joy, Love, Peace, Spiritual Practice
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As we gather in this sacred moment, the Holy Spirit settles among her people.Chalice Lighting | By Phoenix Bell-Shelton Biggs | October 18, 2022 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Christianity, Communion (Christian), God, Love
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My vet said, “She's telling you thank you for letting her go.”Reflection | By Ndidi Achebe | October 12, 2022 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: Animal Memorial, Animals, Death, Direct Experience, Grief, Letting Go, Love, Secular, Worship
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We are an angry and beautiful people.Reflection | By Laura Solomon | June 1, 2022 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: Brokenness, Connections, Direct Experience, Disaster or Crisis, Fear, Humanism, Love, Suffering, Unitarian Universalism, Worship
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You can crush Love down, bury it, cover it over, but it will rise.Reflection | By Molly Housh Gordon | April 6, 2022 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: Christianity, Community, Easter, Love, Mystery, Purpose, Worship
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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 WorshipWebTagged as: Death, Grief, Love, Memorial Services
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We cannot begin to find ourselves without love.Opening | By Elizabeth Mount | April 12, 2021 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Body, Children, Connections, Father's Day, Humanism, Interdependence, Love, Mother's Day, Parents, Relationships, Secular, Trust, WorshipWeb, Worship
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A triumph of love over death is the core of the Easter message.Reflection | By Rachel Lonberg | March 31, 2021 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: Beauty, Christianity, Death, Easter, Joy, Love, Worship
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Easter is a holiday of miracles.Opening | By Peggy Clarke | March 31, 2021 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Belief, Christianity, Easter, Hope, Love, Nature, WorshipWeb, Worship
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Impermanence, mortality, ashes, dust: this is the truth of being human.Reflection | By Lora Brandis | February 17, 2021 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Christianity, Death, Discernment, Grief, Humility, Lent, Love, Spiritual Practice, Worship
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This is a "love saves" story.Reflection | By Paul S Sawyer | December 9, 2020 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), Advent, Anger, Children, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Compassion, Direct Experience, Humanism, Living Our Faith, Love, Psychology, Relationships, Respect, Responsibility, Self-Respect, Worship
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One day, I’ll have to care for my mother as she once cared for me. I’m not ready to handle the truth that our relationship must change.Reflection | By Erica Shadowsong | September 9, 2020 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: Caring, Child Dedication, Children, Coming of Age, Coming-of-Age, Direct Experience, Fear, Generations, Growth, Humanism, Love, Mother's Day, Mothers, Parents, Secular, Worship
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Spirit of Life, Spirit of Love, we come today carrying our grief, our memories, and our love. We gather around screens and devices, reaching out with our minds and hearts to join in this most ancient of human customs: honoring one whom we loved who has died....Prayer | By Laura Horton-Ludwig | July 1, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: #COVID19, Death, Grief, Love, Memorial Services
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We are not automatic lovers of self, others, world, or God. Love does not just happen.Quote | By Carter Heyward | February 7, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Choice, Commitment, Direct Experience, Love, New Member Ceremony, Relationships, Valentine's Day, Weddings and Commitment Ceremonies