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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

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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4

  • A white pillar candle, lit, with patterns of light and shadow in the background.
    • It takes a spark. • It takes fuel. • It takes air. • And it takes a container to hold them all. It is only with all of these things that we make fire. • It takes a call. • It takes learning and experience • It takes love. • And it takes a community to hold them all. It is only with...
    Chalice Lighting | By Christian Schmidt | January 16, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Calling, Direct Experience, Leadership, Ordinations, Relationships
  • Three small children sit, in costumes (including a chicken and a dinosaur) while snacking on Halloween candy.
    No matter who—or what—you are, you are welcome here. Let’s be clear: Here, we welcome goblins and ghouls, saints and sinners, angels and devils, zombies and werewolves, vampires and witches. We welcome princesses and princes, paupers and farmhands, aliens and astronauts, robots and cyborgs,...
    Opening | By Christian Schmidt | September 25, 2016 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Halloween, Identity, Inclusion, Playfulness, Secular, Unitarian Universalism
  • Large panels with letters in lights: "Dismantle Hate"
    Let us wake up. Not just from the Sunday morning exhaustion, from the wish for a few more drowsy minutes in bed. Let us wake up to this world we live in: to its beauty and wonder, and also to its tragedy and pain. We must wake up to this reality: that not all in our world have what we do, however...
    Opening | By Christian Schmidt | October 29, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Activism, Anti-Oppression, Black History / Whitney Young / James Reeb, Challenge, Direct Experience, Justice, Martin Luther King, Jr. Sunday, Privilege, Race/Ethnicity, Unitarian Universalism
  • Man and child pour water into the common bowl.
    We light this chalice for our children and youth, and for us: celebrating the flame of faith lit in each of us, honoring the light each of us bring into the world, rejoicing in the community we create together.
    Chalice Lighting | By Christian Schmidt, Alexis Capen | June 4, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Child Dedication, Children, Children's / Religious Education Sunday, Community, Direct Experience, Faith, Family, Generations, Inclusion, Interdependence, Reverence, Worth, Youth Sunday, Youth/Teens, WorshipWeb