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 - 19 of 19

  • This chalice is for the living, the changing, the becoming.
    Chalice Lighting | By Li Kynvi | March 15, 2023 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Growth, Identity, Living Our Faith, Transformation, Truth, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • 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
  • Every creature is an embodiment of the Love of the Universe.
    Chalice Lighting | By Kiakiali Bordner | November 22, 2021 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: #8thPrinciple, Anti-Oppression, Identity, Seven Principles, Solidarity, Unitarian Universalism, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • To be a Unitarian Universalist means we’ll never be done with the work.
    Chalice Lighting | By Erika Hewitt | November 9, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Anti-Oppression, Community, Covenant, Identity, Living Our Faith, Purpose, Seven Principles, Transformation, Unitarian Universalism, Universalism
  • On a holy night In 1969, In an Inn, also known as a bar, Called the Stonewall Inn, A basement— which had no running running water, Nor safe fire exits— Queer people, of many colors and kinds, Danced together, For it was the only place Where they were allowed to dance, At least, permitted to, by...
    Opening | By Otto O’Connor | June 11, 2019 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), Activism, America, Anti-Oppression, Coming Out, History, Identity, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, National Coming Out Day, Pride Sunday, Prophetic Words & Deeds
  • It was at a gathering of white women when this gathering of the waters first came to pass. White women in a second wave of gender self-awareness; awakening, connecting, making new meaning, shifting the old ethos. The solidarity of these white women was reflected in the waters each brought, waters...
    Invocation | By Renee Ruchotzke | October 2, 2017 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Anti-Oppression, Direct Experience, Earth, Gender, Identity, Multiculturalism, Race/Ethnicity, Reconciliation, Tradition, Unitarian Universalism, Water Communion
  • The circle of the chalice helps keep the fire small.
    Chalice Lighting | By Elizabeth Harding | October 27, 2016 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Generations, Identity, Spiritual Practice, Tradition, Unitarian Universalism, Unity
  • 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
  • We come together tonight to remember the history, or the myth, that says hope was born in the form of a baby named Jesus. What is so compelling about the story of Jesus’s birth, his life, his love? Why has this story reached across the ages to us while so many others have faded into history?...
    Opening | By Alix Klingenberg | May 31, 2016 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Belief, Birth, Christianity, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Hope, Identity, Purpose, Unitarian Universalism
  • Welcome to this morning, this day, and this opportunity to be together in community—which is a time of joy, comfort, and sometimes challenges. This Unitarian Universalist congregation is a place where we come to learn more about being human. We’re not here because we’ve figured out life’s...
    Welcome | By Erika Hewitt | March 21, 2016 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Community, Direct Experience, Humility, Identity, Purpose, Vulnerability
  • Fire of our faith, fire our future.
    Chalice Lighting | By Cynthia Landrum | November 11, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Commitment, Faith, Generations, History, Hope, Identity, Journey, Leadership, Living Our Faith, Responsibility, Unitarian Universalism
  • Reader 1: The word courage comes from the Latin cor, which means heart. According to poet Mark Nepo, the original use of the word courage meant to stand by one’s core: a “striking concept that reinforces the belief found in almost all traditions that living from the Center is what enables us to...
    Chalice Lighting | By Erika Hewitt | October 29, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), 6th Principle (World Community), Courage, Covenant, Identity, Love, Power, Purpose, Relationships, Responsibility, Strength, Trust
  • Are we a people of holding on or of letting go?...
    Chalice Lighting | By Jay Wolin | October 29, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Acceptance, Connections, Direct Experience, Generosity, Growth, Hospitality, Identity, Integrity, Letting Go, Unitarian Universalism, Wholeness
  • This is a congregation that gathers in faith. Not faith in one religion or one god or any one way. We gather in faith of the power of diversity, the power of love, and the hope of a world transformed by our care. We gather in faith in ourselves and those around us. Not a faith that requires...
    Opening | By Sunshine Jeremiah Wolfe | October 2, 2015 | 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), Community, Faith, Identity, Purpose, Relationships, Unitarian Universalism, Unity
  • Welcome to this place. This is a home where no revealed truths are promoted and no scripture or human being accepted as infallible. This is a place for searching for truth. But we are believers....
    Opening | By John M Higgins | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), 6th Principle (World Community), Caring, Freedom, Identity, Purpose, Truth, Unitarian Universalism, Unity, Vision
  • In this time of loss In this time of asking why We light a flame of sharing We light a flame of commitment. In this time of why We light this flame Sign of our searching Sign of our sharing Sign that together we remember Together we ask why Together in sadness and joy We share light. Together we...
    Chalice Lighting | By David Breeden | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Commitment, Community, Death, Generosity, Grief, Identity, Joy, Sacrifice, Searching, Sorrow
  • We come together every week Bound not by a creed, Or a mutual desire to please one God Or many Gods Yet we are drawn together By a belief, that how we are in the world, Who we are together Matters. We light this chalice, together in the knowledge That love, not fear, can change this world...
    Chalice Lighting | By Jennifer Gracen | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Character, Community, Covenant, Growth, Hope, Identity, Integrity, Interdependence, Purpose, Vision
  • All that we have ever loved And all that we have ever been Stands with us on the brink Of all that we aspire to create: A deeper peace, A larger love, A more embracing hope, A deeper joy in this life we share.
    Chalice Lighting | By Leslie Takahashi | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Community, Creativity, Growth, Hope, Identity, Individualism, Joy, Love, Peace, Vision
  • Each of the stars in the heavens is unique, an individual, yet together they form the night sky; Each of us here is unique, an individual, yet together we are a congregation; Each of our congregations is unique, an individual, yet together we are an Association....
    Chalice Lighting | By Erik Walker Wikstrom | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Awe, Caring, Connections, Diversity, Gratitude, Identity, Individualism, Nature, Purpose, Relationships