Spring is a time for dizzying new growth in the world around us, even as we plan the rituals and celebrations that help mark the end of the regular church year — and the beginning of Summer Sundays. Whether you are looking for inspiration for big ideas, stories, activities, or worshiping together as a community, this month’s round up is here to help.
UU Rituals
Spring is a time for rituals and ceremonies important to UUs, like Coming of Age Service, Flower Communion, and Volunteer Appreciation. (See March resources post for more on COA and Bridging.)
A Primer on Rituals (excerpts from Blessing It All: Rituals for Transition and Transformation)
For UUs, ritual is an embodied, participatory way to mark transitions or facilitate transformation, connecting us to something larger—community, the holy, the seasons, the cycles of life and death.
Ceremonies and Rituals for Worship: ideas and resources on UUA’s Worship Web.
Volunteer Appreciation
Recognition of Volunteers: A Litany
Ideas for Volunteer Appreciation Gifts (from the members-only LREDA resource portal; LREDA membership info)
Flower Communion
Flower Communion: Worship Resources
Learning from Daffodils (Time for All Ages)
Flower Ceremony: Coloring Page 1 &Coloring Page 2
Coming of Age
Coming of Age in a Unitarian Universalist community | Rev. Beth Dana (10 min video)
An example of celebration and blessing of CoA youth and graduating seniors bridging into young adulthood. On the songs we know about ourselves — and the stories of our lives not yet written.
Coming of Age–Threshold Conversations: panel discussion, essays, interviews, podcast
Opportunities to Learn, Share, and Connect
Call for Submissions: Whole Church RE Field Guide
Whole Church Religious Education (WCRE) gives UUs a powerful story and practical tools to connect all the parts of the congregation, center faith development, and engage a community practice of shared learning as UUs. We hope to learn from, and lift up, creative ideas from the field. Please consider sharing WCRE resources/activities that you’ve created for your congregation. Click the link above!
Whole Church RE Training: April 29 1:30-3:30 ET
RE professionals and lay leaders are invited to register for this 2 hr webinar on Whole Church Religious Education (WCRE). We’ll explore the approach together, with examples from the field — including WCRE as an emergent strategy that meets the moment of change we are in. This training will equip you for congregational conversations and creative ways to share the blessings of RE, in community-wide faith development. Register by April 26.
The Deeper Joy of Whole Church RE – at RE Week @ The Mountain
This workshop will be offered for Sparks credit, July 5-10, 2026. Designed especially to support shared ministry approaches to congregational community-building and co-learning – registrants are encouraged to invite their ministry colleagues! Register by June 21.
Resources for Upcoming Special Days and Celebrations
April
Arab American Heritage Month
Always Carry Salt: A Memoir of Preserving Language and Culture: The author, child of refugees, grew up speaking Judeo-Iraqi Arabic — a language that’s now on the verge of extinction. The healing power of our ancestor’s music, stories, and recipes.
April 1-9 Passover
Celebrating Passover Seder | UUA Worship Web: activities, stories, and worship elements (beneath search boxes)
UUs for Jewish Awareness: a variety of resources for Passover and more
April 5 Easter/April 12 Easter (Orthodox)
Celebrating Easter | UUA Worship Web: activities, stories, and worship elements
Blessing of the Easter Baskets
Easter Litany Worship Activity
Mary Magdalene’s Story
Marie’s Magic Eggs: Story of the woman who saved the craft of Ukrainian Easter eggs and brought it to America. A richly illustrated picture book for kids who love creating. Great idea for shared activity. (ages 7-10)
April 13 Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day)
Ceremony of Remembrance: Yom Hashoah
The Gift of a Raspberry (Story for All Ages)
April 22 Earth Day
Activities, Stories, Games, Taking it Home
Dirt Communion: multigenerational worship service appropriate for Earth Day. With homily, ritual, and a “blessing of the dirt” brought by congregants from places special to them.
Our Roots of Resilience (Body Meditation)
Church Grounds Clean-Up (Multiage Activity)
Climate Change Religious Education Curriculum (aimed at 4th/5th grades — also works for multi-age)
Earth Day: An Alphabet Book (ages 3-6)
Love, the Earth (ages 3-7)
The Tide is Rising, So Are We! (ages 5-8)
Human Nature: Nine Ways to Feel About Our Changing Planet. There is anger, fear, and grief—but also wonder, hope, and love. A soaring journey, filled with mythology, physics, witchcraft, bad movies, volcanoes, sequoia groves, and the many small miracles of nature we usually take for granted.
This Sweet Earth: Walking with Our Children in the Age of Climate Collapse We raise our children toward an uncertain future. This book helps us see that those same children shift our posture, slow us down, and invite us away from despair: to fall in love with the ground we inhabit together.
Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden The author wanted to diversify her garden in a white community — with strict restrictions on “allowed” plants. Uses the diverse garden as metaphor for risky homogeneity; explores why cultivating intersectional language in our discourse on the environment is the best means of protecting it.
May
Asian Pacific American Heritage Month
Asian American Histories of United States
Asian American is Not a Color
We Who-Produce-Pearls: An Anthem for Asian America (ages 4-8)
Jewish American Heritage Month
Jewish American Heritage Month
Jewish Unitarian Universalists
Jewish Voices in Unitarian Universalism (book)
Mental Health Awareness Month
Peaceful Mind: An Introduction to Meditation by the Dalai Lama (ages 2-5)
ABCs for a Peaceful Me: A Mindfulness Seek-and-Find Book (ages 3-5)
It’s OK –Being Kind to Myself When Things Get Hard (ages 3-7)
Words Are My Superpower: A Kid’s Guide to Affirmations, Mantras, and Positive Thinking (ages 8-13)
Here I Am, I Am Me: An Illustrated Guide to Mental Health (ages 13+)
Rest and Sabbath Retreat: J. Zimmer’s weekend youth retreat; focus is on mental health
A Novel Mind:database of kid’s books,educator resource pages on mental health/neurodiversity
May 1 Beltane / May Day / International Workers’ Day
The May Weavers (Multigenerational Activity)
May 10 Mother’s Day
Celebrating Mother’s Day (History, Articles, Ideas for Action)
Mama’s Day — Ideas & Queries for Worship, RE, and Beyond
May 17 International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia
Love at the Center – Defending Trans Lives and Democracy (Study Guide, Lecture)
The LGBTQ+ History Book
If You’re a Kid Like Gavin (ages 4-8)
This Is Our Rainbow: 16 Tales of Her, Him, Them, and Us (ages 8-12)
Tales from Beyond the Rainbow: Ten LGBTQ+ Fairy Tales Proudly Reclaimed (ages 8-12)
Beyond They/Them: 20 Influential Nonbinary & Gender-Diverse People You Should Know (ages 12-14)
May 25 Memorial Day
Honoring Fallen Soldiers (Time for All Ages)
Creative Ideas for Summer and Beyond
Better than Sunday School: UU World Article
UU World article explores how one Oakland UU church changed its approach to RE with Summer Camp — changing their church culture, and deepening community and faith identity, in ways they didn’t expect.
Born to Belong: Spirituality for Mammals
J.L. Shattuck’s BORN TO BELONG explores the core emotional systems common to all mammals, and calls UUs to lifespan faith formation with a whole church approach. A focus on embodied practices of care, wonder, and joy that will nourish all ages — and inspire big ideas about how to live into them.
Full Week Faith — Shared Values Learning
This 6-week offering supports spiritual practice, lifelong learning, and community connection. For each value, a ritual of candle lighting, family reflection, activity prompts, playlists, songs, and stories invite reflection on the values that guide UUism, and shape our life together.Note: These resources were offered as part of one congregation’s tradition of “Chalica”, a “holiday” problematic for many UUs. However, the content is deeply faithful to our shared values, and useful under any name!
Building Beloved Community: A Whole Church RE Cooperative Game
The whole congregation takes turns drawing cards and resolving actions: an opportunity to listen, to work together, to learn and to share! Resources include adaptable, printable cards, tokens, and guide.