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

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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7

  • A person in a gray shirt is doing a jigsaw puzzle, holding up a piece to someone else on a video call on a cell phone.
    It's okay to be feel weary of resiliency and wholeness and learning and growth.
    Opening | By Sharon Wylie | November 16, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: #COVID19, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • A blurred photo of a wreath of red and warm white lights.
    This solstice night [or day] In honor of ancient traditions that celebrate this time of longest night, we observe that the flaming chalice holds the elements of the four directions: Earth, air, fire, water....
    Chalice Lighting | By Sharon Wylie | May 5, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Balance, Earth, Earth-Centered, Nature, Winter Solstice / Yule
  • An oval mirror, lying on grass, reflects the blue sky and two birds flying
    We speak so often of brokenness in religious life, Let us speak today of wholeness....
    Opening | By Sharon Wylie | May 28, 2019 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), Acceptance, Anti-Oppression, Beauty, Coming Out, Gender, Humanism, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, National Coming Out Day, Pride Sunday, Secular, Self-Respect, Wholeness
  • A crescent moon in the dark silhouette of evergreen trees, against a deep blue night sky
    The hours of day and night are in balance. In honor of Earth-centered traditions that celebrate this time of year, we observe that the flaming chalice holds the elements of the four directions: Earth, air, fire, water. The lamp oil for earth The air that feeds the flame The fire we light And the...
    Chalice Lighting | By Sharon Wylie | December 22, 2017 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Autumnal Equinox, Balance, Earth, Earth-Centered, Nature, Searching, Vernal Equinox
  • In a sunlit sanctuary, a person sits in a wooden pew.
    You whose hearts are broken, come in. You whom pain has touched, and sorrow, and shock. You who have cried this week, and read the news with sadness. You whom loss has shadowed. You who grieve. Come in, come in. You with hearts open to joy and hope, come in. You whom love has touched, and...
    Opening | By Sharon Wylie | November 21, 2017 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Brokenness, Challenge, Community, Despair, Direct Experience, Disaster or Crisis, Hope, Inclusion, Interdependence
  • Unitarian Universalist Association Chalice
    It is said that ministers are here to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. I say, we are all afflicted, and we are all comfortable. May our time together this morning be a comfort and a confrontation. May we here find peace in times of tumult; May we here invite tumult into lives of...
    Opening | By Sharon Wylie | March 27, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Activism, Challenge, Commitment, Justice, WorshipWeb
  • Unitarian Universalist Association Chalice
    For millennia People have gathered together to hear stories, To root for the underdog, To jeer the evil and the unkind. We see in our stories Mirrors to our own lives Where we hope good things will happen to good people And that evil will be vanquished....
    Opening | By Sharon Wylie | March 3, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Connections, Evil, Generations, Good, History, Judaism, Purim, Unitarian Universalism