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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 - 20 of 92

  • Three orange and black monarch butterflies on a lavender blossom, surrounded by other lavender blossoms
    Welcome, all who seek renewal in a weary world.
    Welcome | By Shari Woodbury | December 11, 2023 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Community, Connections, Friendship, Generations, Hope, Interdependence, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • Unitarian Universalist Association Chalice
    What if sometimes it’s about sparking potential into possibility, and possibility into existence?
    Chalice Lighting | By Lisa Doege | November 17, 2023 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Beginnings, Hope, Journey, Justice, Love, Peace, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • A person holds an open Qur'an in their hands, with beautiful calligraphy visible, as they sit on a green rug.
    “Verily with hardship comes ease...” (Quran; 94:5-6)
    Chalice Lighting | By Summer Albayati | November 16, 2023 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Compassion, Hope, Islam, Justice, Oppression, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • Unitarian Universalist Association Chalice
    We come together in one faith.
    Chalice Lighting | By Pat Uribe-Lichty | October 18, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Faith, Hope, Living Our Faith, Purpose, Unitarian Universalism
  • Unitarian Universalist Association Chalice
    We face a challenge to democracy.
    Chalice Lighting | By Pat Uribe-Lichty | October 18, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Challenge, Democracy, Hope
  • Deep orange sunlight falls on a single fern stalk.
    Can we find space for lifting our heads in wonder—that we’re still striving, still trying together
    Chalice Lighting | By Li Kynvi | August 10, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Business Meetings, Commitment, Community, Faith, Hope, Identity, Living Our Faith, Purpose, Unitarian Universalism, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • Small votive candles are lit in the catacombs under the raised pews of the Belper Unitarian Chapel in Derbyshire, UK
    This burning flame represented hope during the bleakness of World War II.
    Chalice Lighting | By anastasi birosh | May 23, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Generations, History, Hope, Tradition, Unitarian Universalism, Unitarianism, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • A single candle flame in a dark space illuminates a person in silhouette.
    May our beacon of hope give you respite
    Chalice Lighting | By Joseph M. Cherry | May 4, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Community, Good, Hope, Strength, Unitarian Universalism, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • An abstract flame-like pattern, in bright gold colors, and a black background.
    May we tend our Soul Fire through these challenging and trying times
    Chalice Lighting | By anastasi birosh | March 31, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: #8thPrinciple, Acceptance, Challenge, Hope, Hospitality, Inclusion, Purpose, Unitarian Universalism, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • Several rows of people, seen mid-torso, holding outstretched hands, in church.
    It is in gathering that we find our hope.
    Opening | By Pat Uribe-Lichty | March 24, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Community, Hope, Interdependence, Solidarity, Unity
  • A blue flame emitting red sparks
    Light the fire of the Future
    Opening | By Kiakiali Bordner | January 14, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Community, Freedom, Hope, Hospitality, Inclusion, Love, Purpose
  • A wash of colored smoke, drifting in abstract patterns, colored blue and violet and pink.
    Here we gather to celebrate hope, and the infinite possibilities of love.
    Chalice Lighting | By Tom Goldsmith | April 28, 2021 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Freedom, Hope, Love, Purpose, Unitarian Universalism, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • A field of purple flowers, in Latvia, with small lights reflected on them.
    Easter is a holiday of miracles.
    Opening | By Peggy Clarke | March 31, 2021 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Belief, Christianity, Easter, Hope, Love, Nature, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • A red candle glows, and the bottom half of a person's face is visible.
    The chalice, as a symbol of Unitarian Universalism, arose as a beacon of hope in an atmosphere of tyranny. The chalice arose as a sign of promise that the marginalized would neither be forgotten nor ignored, because they are beloved and precious from the perspective of the Holy. This morning, we...
    Chalice Lighting | By Erika Hewitt | August 5, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), Anti-Oppression, Freedom, Generations, History, Hope, Oppression, Unitarian Universalism, Unitarianism, Wholeness
  • Sunlight streams through a rounded window.
    We kindle this flame, Honoring the doorways in our souls: The windows through which we gaze at one another The balconies where we catch glimpses of sky The thresholds we stand on this morning Wondering, hoping, fearing, dreaming.
    Chalice Lighting | By Florence Caplow | May 1, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Connections, Fear, Hope
  • A person's feet and their laptop computer on a bed, as photographed from above.
    Spirit of life and love, We gather together in different ways this morning, From computer screens, from telephones, from car radios, We gather, reaching out across the wires, waving from a safe distance, To come together in religious community....
    Opening | By Cynthia Landrum | April 7, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: #COVID19, Beginnings, Community, Hope, Love, Nourishing the Spirit, Personal Inspiration
  • Zentangle Chalice by Cynthia Landrum 2013
    We light this flame For the art of sacred unknowing. Humbled by all that we cannot fathom in this time, We come into the presence of what we do know, Perhaps the only thing we can ever know: That Love is now and forever The only answer to everything And everyone In every moment.
    Chalice Lighting | By Amy Carol Webb | March 30, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: #COVID19, 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Hope, Humility, Love, Presence, Unitarian Universalism
  • A small flame burns atop a ceramic oil lamp in New Delhi, India
    In a time of uncertainty, when everything around us is changing constantly— each day new developments, rising numbers, changing guidelines; when the world we live in suddenly seems upside-down and topsy-turvy: We light our chalice to remind ourselves of our grounding in our faith....
    Chalice Lighting | By Alice Anacheka-Nasemann | March 27, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: #COVID19, Courage, History, Hope, Tradition, Unitarian Universalism, Unitarianism
  • Scrabble letters spell out the word "January."
    For the new year, just days old, beginning today, always beginning: We light our chalice, symbol of faith, perseverance, and hope, in astonished thanksgiving and irrepressible praise. For beginnings that emerge out of endings, appear amidst continuity, become visible in hindsight: We light our...
    Chalice Lighting | By Lisa Doege | January 8, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Beginnings, Faith, Gratitude, Homecoming / Ingathering, Hope, New Year, Unitarian Universalism
  • A stark angular doorway in a bright orange wall.
    Thresholds. We cross them every day. From room to room, from outside to inside, and back again, from here to there, from anywhere to everywhere, from age to age. Each threshold offers an opportunity for change, for renewal, for transformation, from what we were and what we are to what we can be....
    Opening | By Arlen Goff | January 2, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Beginnings, Change, Community, Direct Experience, Ending, Hope, Humanism, Progress, Secular, Transformation