Worship 2026

Cohort Details

Worship is an essential act of religious community. Worship engages the liberating Spirit of Life so that we might be transformed, and thereby transform our communities. In this Wave Cohort, which is grounded in the work of previous Waves in the Spring of 2025 and at General Assembly 2025, we’ll build a greater shared understanding of the needs of our people, and cultivate a useful approach to crafting worship that meets those needs.

Grounding Principles & Their Call

  • Unitarian Universalists are spiritually hungry… therefore, we need to increase our fluency in creating/leading ritual and spiritual practice, within worship, that invite transformation.
  • Worship Leaders are over-functioning and can’t always access “the river” as a life-giving source… therefore, we might need to renegotiate the way we allocate our time–including the space, time, and resources that renew us.
  • Crafting worship entails holding tension between The Prophetic and the nourishing of souls… therefore, our planning process includes faithful discernment about how to hold this tension.

Timeline

  • Nov. 17 through Dec.14: this application is open to all Unitarian Universalists
  • Dec. 15: Revs. Erika and Tyler review applications and choose participants
  • Week of Dec. 15: participants are notified of their inclusion in the cohort; Doodle poll to schedule us in January.
  • January 2026: Meeting #1

Facilitation Team

How to Join

Past Cohorts

  • Led by Rev. Byron Tyler Coles and Rev. Erika Hewitt, the first Worship Wave Cohort met through the Spring of 2025 and a new Cohort engaged this topic for three days at General Assembly 2025.
  • Learn more about the Spring 2025 Cohort.