Edit Header for Worship Opening Search

Unitarian Universalists use different terms for the words that begin a worship service, including call to worship, invocation, and opening words. These words invite the congregation from their separate lives and to the common place and time of the worship hour.

(In Unitarian Universalist worship if there are Opening Words there is generally not an Invocation, and vice versa.)

Search Words for Worship Services

Changing a filter will refresh results (and remaining options) immediately. Searching by keyword or changing the number of items per page requires use of the "Search" button.

Displaying 1 - 6 of 6

  • Several_lit_candles_black_background
    We light this chalice, the symbol of our faith, knowing that this morning many others across this land and around the world are doing the same. For us and for our far-flung kin it is a light of peace, of justice, and of love....
    Chalice Lighting | By Ben Soule | January 7, 2019 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Commitment, Connections, Faith, Hope, Interdependence, Justice, Living Our Faith, Love, Peace, Sacred, Unitarian Universalism, Worship
  • Child_awe_seedling
    We feel the season turning. The early sunset glancing through the red-tinged leaves. The newspaper arriving in the cool morning air. The flock of migrating swallows. A feeling of being on the edge of something new. These are the Days of Awe. A time to welcome a new year and a time to make the old...
    Opening | By Ben Soule | January 7, 2019 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Awe, Conscience, Contemplation, Judaism, Mindfulness, Peace, Reconciliation, Rosh Hashanah, Sacred, Wonder, Yom Kippur, Worship
  • A night sky with a band of stars
    Let us hold a quiet moment now as we light our Chalice. Henry David Thoreau wrote in his journal on February 2nd, 1841: "A child asked his father what became of the old moon, and he said it was cut up into stars." Consider the light. Light out of darkness. Light begets light....
    Chalice Lighting | By Ben Soule | March 15, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Awe, Humanism, Science, Secular, Unitarian Universalism, Unitarianism, Wonder
  • On a bare, frozen branch, a bubble forms frost patterns
    Let us hold a quiet moment together as our chalice is lit. As the wild wind bites, so does the still flame warm us. As the deep snows block our doors, so does the gentle flame bring us out....
    Chalice Lighting | By Ben Soule | January 23, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Challenge, Community, Earth-Centered, Imbolc / Brighid's Day / Candlemas, Integrity, Relationships, Winter, Winter Solstice / Yule
  • From a distance, a group of people is silhouetted by a vibrant sunset.
    Out of the darkness, light. Out of the light, warmth. Out of the warmth, joy. Out of the joy, togetherness. May this flame hold us for the time we are here with one another.
    Chalice Lighting | By Ben Soule | February 7, 2017 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Caring, Community, Connections, Joy, Presence, Unitarian Universalism, Unity
  • Seen from above, a person's hands cradle a mug of cocoa. Also visible is their torso wrapped in a wool blanket.
    Now has come hard winter, With whip of wind and slash of snow and the diamond-bright stars in the black ice of the heavens. Just as we resist the season with shovel and scraper, wool and windbreaker, we embrace it with sled and snowboard, cocoa and comforter. Winter is here: let us find warmth in...
    Opening | By Ben Soule | February 7, 2017 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Acceptance, Balance, Beauty, Direct Experience, Earth-Centered, Grace, Nature, Secular, Winter