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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 - 17 of 17

  • In a dark room, white-hot molten metal is poured from a crucible into a mold. We see leather-clad arms holding a long-handled tool to help guide the flow.
    Here we engage in a holy alchemy, finding beauty in the ordinary and life in the present.
    Opening | By Kim Mason | April 6, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Beauty, Community, Connections, Solidarity, Transformation, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • In a shadowed forest, a path through the trees is bathed in golden light.
    We are stronger together because we are different, and because we are one.
    Chalice Lighting | By Frances Koziar | March 1, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Balance, Beauty, Conflict, Diversity, Earth-Centered, Relationships, Unitarian Universalism, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • From above, seven people hold hands around a table before eating.
    This opening was written for two voices, as indicated below. 1: Welcome, who come in friendship who long for genuine community... 2: May you be graciously received here as your authentic self. 1: Welcome, who come in curiosity, full of questions or simply open... 2: May you embrace wonder and...
    Opening | By Shari Woodbury | January 5, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Abundance, Beauty, Caring, Direct Experience, Hospitality, Humanism, Joy, Secular, Self-Care, Unitarian Universalism
  • An array, fan-like, of leaves ranging from green to gold to rust to red.
    Recognizing the beauty around us and within us, in voice and spirit, we gather to light our chalice. May we savor the beauty of our abundance and diversity, always cherishing one another and our earth. May we remember to inhale the lushness in life knowing that we are a people of beauty.
    Chalice Lighting | By Kimberlee Anne Tomczak Carlson | August 7, 2019 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Beauty, Earth, Earth-Centered, Humanism, Imagination, Nature
  • 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 pale pink Gerbera daisy, with its green stalk in front of a pale blue background
    Within the heart of the flower, the fountain of beauty Within the heart of the community, a fire that warms and dances Within the heart of each of us, a spark of the spirit of life. Holy, holy, holy.
    Chalice Lighting | By Amy Zucker Morgenstern | May 29, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Awe, Beauty, Direct Experience, Earth-Centered, Flower Communion, God, Nature, Paganism, Sacred, Wonder
  • Foamy waves wash up on craggy rocks, made red by the sun, in Morrazo, Galicia (Spain)
    A: Because the tides are rising B: So must we C: Rise! A: to this moment C: Rise! B: to this day C: Rise! A: to this life B: This place in the web A: That is yours, and ours. C: Rise! B: Because the earth remains A: Our only home C: And we B: Fellow travelers A: Its only hope C: For healing B:...
    Opening | By Gretchen Haley | February 15, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Awe, Beauty, Earth, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Gratitude, Nature, Responsibility, Climate Justice
  • colorful tulips, not yet in full bloom, lying on a white table
    At last, we are here. After a long winter, we can say enthusiastically and without second thought, alleluia! Alleluia, spring is here in all her glory. New life begins, the earth and its creatures are resurrected from their dens of hibernation and dark slumber....
    Opening | By Jeanne Lloyd | August 11, 2017 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Beauty, Christianity, Earth, Earth-Centered, Easter, Gratitude, Hope, Joy, Reverence, Spring, Transformation
  • 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
  • A stunning, bright Milky Way and the rest of the night sky over a cabin and man in the wilderness.e
    Our light is the light of the sun, keeper of all we love; our light is the light of the earth, provider of sustenance; our light is the light of all living things, life precious like our own....
    Chalice Lighting | By David Breeden | January 25, 2017 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Abundance, Awe, Beauty, Direct Experience, Earth-Centered, Humanism, Imagination, Nature, Science, Secular, Transcendence, Truth, Unitarian Universalism
  • A night sky with a band of stars
    For the wonder and inspiration We seek from sun and stars And all the lights of the heavens We light this chalice.
    Chalice Lighting | By Cynthia Landrum | November 11, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Awe, Beauty, Connections, Contemplation, Earth, Journey, Mystery, Nature, Presence, Wonder
  • a field of golden daffodil blossoms
    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
  • A coloring page of a vase filled with flowers.
    Wind that whispers through the willow trees Sun that sustains us Water that washes over willing earth and weathered stones A smile shared and savored A child’s squeal of delight as she dances in the daisies and daffodils The quiet joy of gathered community This, this is the spirit of life and lov...
    Invocation | By Seth Carrier-Ladd | March 25, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Beauty, Children, Community, Direct Experience, Earth, Earth-Centered, Humanism, Joy, Nature, Paganism, Sacred, Unitarian Universalism, WorshipWeb
  • Purple iris blossom.
    We come in a variety of colors, shapes, and sizes. Some of us grow in bunches. Some of us grow alone. Some of us are cupped inward, And some of us spread ourselves out wide. Some of us are old and dried and tougher than we appear. Some of us are still in bud....
    Opening | By Thomas Rhodes | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Beauty, Diversity, Earth, Earth-Centered, Flower Communion, Humanism, Imagination, Nature, Secular, Unitarian Universalism
  • Unitarian Universalist Association Chalice
    We come together this morning as celebrants, as seekers and companions. We enter into this, the longest day, joyfully, allowing ourselves the beauty of this time together in which we may rest our cares and sorrows, and allow our hearts and spirits to be uplifted....
    Opening | By B Leslie Koons | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Balance, Beauty, Earth, Presence, Searching, Summer Solstice
  • Unitarian Universalist Association Chalice
    We summon ourselves from the demands and delights of the daily round: from the dirty dishes and unwaxed floors; from unmowed grass, and untrimmed bushes; from all incompletenesses and not-yet-startednesses; from the unholy and the unresolved....
    Opening | By Gordon B McKeeman | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), 6th Principle (World Community), Beauty, Calling, Hope, Sacred, Unitarian Universalism, Vision
  • Unitarian Universalist Association Chalice
    We gather here to worship: to seek the truth, to grow in love, to join in service; to celebrate life's beauty and find healing for its pain; to honor our kinship with each other and with the earth; to create a more compassionate world, beginning with ourselves; to wonder at the mystery that gave ...
    Opening | By Gary Kowalski | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Beauty, Courage, Earth, Healing, Listening, Mystery, Searching, Unitarian Universalism, Wisdom