Unitarian Universalists use different terms for the words that begin a worship service, including call to worshipinvocation, 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

  • Leader 1: At this time of balance, at this time of awakening,we celebrate Ostara, the Spring Equinox. Leader 2: We honor the fertile Earth. We honor the warming breezes. Leader 1: We Honor the waxing light. We honor the nurturing rains....
    Opening | By David Ensley | June 18, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Earth, Earth-Centered, Nature, Spring, Vernal Equinox
  • 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
  • Around us, light is returning. It rekindles the spirit of life in the skeletons of trees. It brings forth new shoots from the soil. It wakes us from our winter slumber, and invites us to see what lies beyond. We light this chalice in the spirit of our Earth’s awakening and to reaffirm our...
    Chalice Lighting | By Kate McPhee | May 13, 2016 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Earth, Earth-Centered, Healing, Home, Nature, Vernal Equinox, Climate Justice
  • If we lived in another climate Our souls might speak other languages We might speak oasis or permafrost, dry season or monsoon But our souls speak spring Our souls speak green shoots pushing through last year’s leaves Our souls speak flower buds stretching to sun Our souls speak mud puddle and...
    Opening | By Evin Carvill Ziemer | March 23, 2016 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Direct Experience, Earth, Earth-Centered, Easter, Growth, Hope, Nature, Passover (Pesach), Spring, Vernal Equinox
  • As the first hint of green begins to peek through the barren ground As that little sprig grows into a healthy stem As that stem grows into a stalk and forms a bud As that bud slowly opens with each new day To form a yellow daffodil Let us be, like that first hint of green, renewed by the warm of ...
    Chalice Lighting | By Jennifer McGlothin | October 20, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Abundance, Awe, Beauty, Beginnings, Earth, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Easter, Flower Communion, Growth, Health, Interdependence, Nature, Secular, Spring, Unitarian Universalism, Vernal Equinox
  • Children of the earth and sky, we are nurtured, sustained, given warmth and light from above and below. Supported by earth's strong, firm crust, we build our homes, till the fields, plant our gardens and orchards....
    Opening | By Alice Berry | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Autumnal Equinox, Awe, Children's / Religious Education Sunday, Earth, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Meaning, Nature, New Child, Searching, Unitarian Universalism, Vernal Equinox
  • Once more, the earth has turned toward the light of the sun. As we are bathed in the light of a new day, So may we greet the dawning of fresh possibility. Once more, we awaken from our slumber....
    Opening | By Amy Bowden Freedman | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Earth Day, Vernal Equinox