Resources for Faith Development, December 2025
In this busy time at year’s end, religious educators and volunteers may be stretched thin by the abun
dance of “holy days and holidays”: so many congregational events, pageants, ceremonies, and celebrations happening! We hope the resources offered here can make some part of it just a little easier — and support you in finding ways to rest now, and center your spirit for the year ahead.
Worship Web offers seasonal resources for most holidays, with links to relevant articles, activities and stories. Here are some ideas for the weeks ahead:
- Opening Words: Celebrating the Darkness
- Celebrating Advent
- Celebrating Winter Solstice / Yule
- Celebrating Christmas Eve / Christmas
- Celebrating Hanukkah
- Celebrating Kwanzaa
- Questions about Chalica?
- Fire Communion / Burning Bowl
Stories, Activities, and Readings for the Season
Chalice Snowflake Instructions
This timeless activity is an easy way to encourage multigenerational connections. The shared making — and meaning making! — makes this a low-input, high-return offering.
The Christmas Story (As Best We Can Remember It)
Tony Bianca, religious educator at First UU San Diego, helped kids tell the tale via zoom in 2020. Consider sharing the clip as an all ages story (potentially with volunteers acting it out).
Snow Kid
A “gentle, reassuring” wintery picture book about a kid snowman finding out what it means to truly be ourselves — even when we, or things around us, change.
Aisha’s Moonlit Walk
A pagan family celebrates 8 special days around the wheel of the year. Includes activities and discussion guide for each.
A Treasury of African American Christmas Stories
Historical stories and poems reflecting the Christmas experiences of everyday African-Americans; includes deeper topics.
Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times
An invitation to change how we relate to our own fallow times.Wintering models an active acceptance of sadness, and the nourishment of the deep retreat of winter.
Give Me a Word:The Promise of an Ancient Practice to Guide Your Year
Thirty contemplative and creative practices invite you to slow down and listen for a word to guide you through the year ahead.
Sacred Bow: An Intentional Way to Close Out the Year & Start the New Year
A practice guide to learning from and letting go of the past; looking forward mindfully; and creating a plan to be intentional in how we spend the next year.
Sabbath Practices for Wintertime
What would it look like to not just accept and survive our times of rest, but to delight in them?
New Curricula from UUA
Journeys of Deeper Joy A roleplaying curriculum for all ages, with young people in mind.
Religious Education Study Guide: Love at the Center – Defending Trans Lives and Democracy
Framing quotes, discussion questions, and actionable steps to help congregations learn how to practice love and interdependence.
Timely Professional Development
New Religious Education Professional Orientation - Fridays in January and February
Organizing to Make a Difference in Our Communities
The examples below demonstrate the Whole Church embodied practice of Public Witness. Sharing and discussing these examples can support faith formation in congregations — especially UU Identity Development.
- Helping Hands, Full Plates: With Looming Halt to SNAP Benefits, UUs Prep Emergency Food Support (UU World, October 31)
- People Power: UUs in Georgia are Energized for Utility Justice (UU World, October 30)
- UUs Are Helping During the SNAP Crisis (In Good Faith Blog, October 29)
- Rev. Sofía Betancourt at No Kings with UUA Board of Trustees (Facebook, October 23)
- Unitarian Universalists from Across the Country Say “No Kings!” (In Good Faith Blog, October 20)
The Side with Love Action Center has resources for immediate action and sustainable resistance, helping leaders stay grounded in justice, wisdom, and collective strength.