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An unlit chalice on a church altar

Unitarian Universalists honor and celebrate a wide range of holidays and occasions over the course of a year. Unlike other faith traditions that use a single lectionary (a collection of scripture readings appointed for a given day or occasion), the topics and themes for Unitarian Universalist worship services are usually chosen independently by worship leaders in congregations. These include unique UU traditions, like the Flower Ceremony, as well as holidays from other faith traditions, such as Christmas or Beltane.

View and download the 2023-24 UUA Worship Calendar (PDF), which includes faith-based and secular holidays that UU congregations often celebrate. The calendar also includes monthly worship themes used in popular theme-based ministry programs. To download or print, follow the link and use the File menu, then select the Landscape layout option.

LEADER RESOURCE 2 Rituals to Welcome a New Child
a medieval window from the Burrell Collection in Glasgow, Scotland, depicting the Nativity
Islamic prayer beads or Subha inside the Süleymaniye Moque (Istanbul).
An altar filled with candles, photos, and flowers

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Displaying 1 - 20 of 1094

  • A Black person, only partly visible due to framing, holds a lit match up to a white pillar candle. The candle is on a mantle, surrounded by greenery and two other unlit candles.
    The old story of the nativity speaks to us anew
    Responsive Reading | By Jane Blackall | December 20, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Christianity, Christmas Eve / Christmas, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • A black-and-white photo of the full moon, close to the horizon and behind a tiny wisp of clouds, over the calm but not glassy surface of the Pacific ocean. The water reflects the moon’s light, forming a bright streak between the viewer and the moon.
    Here in the quiet, may we lift up our hearts in gratitude for the gifts of our lives, pausing in thanksgiving.
    Prayer | By Linda Hart | December 11, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Advent, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Faith, Grace, Gratitude, Hope, Love, Pain, Sorrow, Winter Solstice / Yule, Worry, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • At night, from the vantage point of a dark stretch of beach, there are three light sources visible: On the left there is a lighthouse, shining bright streams of light in several directions; on the right, the moon glows behind a light cloud cover; and in the middle, we see fainter light from several houses farther down the coast. The foam from the sea is also visible, and shows the shoreline stretching in a straight line from the lower right of the photo to the houses in the middle of the photo.
    We cannot know what all the year may bring, and would we heed the prophecy if we could?
    Chalice Lighting | By Mary Shelden | December 10, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Caring, Equity, Generations, Justice, Love, New Year, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • A greyscale image of the tiny feet of a baby held in a pair of adult hands, with larger adult hands cradling both. The symmetrical arrangement of hands and feet somewhat resembles a heart. Behind the hands and feet, we can see a little of the clothes covering the baby’s belly.
    Later, poets would tell of stars, shepherds, and seers, songs of angels…
    Poetry | By Daniel S. Schatz | December 10, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Beginnings, Birth, Children, Christianity, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Fathers, Journey, Love, Mothers, Pain, Parents, Winter, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • In the foreground, the edge of a Christmas tree decorated with baubles and a blurred string of white lights. In the background, a blurred grouping of people indoors, as if at a restaurant or party.
    The winter holidays are beautiful and celebratory; they’re also hard and complicated.
    Reflection | By Kim Mason | December 4, 2024 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Advent, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Hanukkah, Winter Solstice / Yule, Worship
  • A woman cups her forehead in her hand, as if crying. She holds a coffee mug in the other hand. In front of her, on a lap desk, is an open journal and a lit candle.
    After the shattering, all that remains is another ordinary day.
    Reflection | By Donna Moriarty | October 16, 2024 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Brokenness, Despair, Direct Experience, Disaster or Crisis, Grief, Healing, Hope, Parents, Purpose, Sorrow, Spirituality, Strength, Worship
  • A small pile of painted rocks outdoors; one, painted with stripes, says LOVE
    We need one another so that when our own little spring of hope dries up, there is a community well from which we can drink.
    Affirmation | By Julia Hamilton | October 9, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Disaster or Crisis, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • A parent holding the hand of a small child approaches a red van with an open door, where North Carolina Army National Guard Soldiers work with a school cafeteria worker to distribute breakfast meals.
    There will be help and community and kindness....
    Meditation | By Elizabeth Mount | October 8, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Disaster or Crisis, Humanism, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • Dark, heavy clouds over the ocean, seen from the coast. Behind the nearly-black clouds, near the horizon, we see indirectly the brightness of the sun. Its light gives a golden glow to the parts of the ocean and sky that are not in deep shadow from the clouds.
    Voice still and small, as we turn inward we listen for you. Deep inside all, this Easter morning, open our hearts to hear you in the figure of Jesus.
    Prayer | By Shari Woodbury | October 5, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Christianity, Community, Compassion, Courage, Death, Easter, Grief, Hope, Love, Pain, Truth, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • A black and white photograph of two hands — one perhaps older, one perhaps younger — holding one another. The hands are starkly lit against a black background.
    This prayer is designed to be woven into the song “Comfort Me,” #1002 in Singing the Journey.
    Prayer | By Shari Woodbury | October 4, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Caring, Community, Compassion, Despair, Empathy, Growth, Healing, Hope, Interdependence, Joys & Concerns, Music Sunday, Suffering, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • In a muddy field under a gray sky, people in raincoats kneel in the mud, harvesting vegetables to stack in plastic crates.
    I care that fascism is not just approaching, but is already here, rising, like this cresting river.
    Reflection | By Karen G. Johnston | October 2, 2024 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: #UUTheVote, Disaster or Crisis, Worship
  • A black-and-white image of three Polaroid photographs, slightly overlapping one another, on a wooden table with visible grain. The faded and slightly blurry photos look like they are casual shots of a few people sitting on risers in a high-school or college gym, and they give the impression of having been taken long ago.
    A ritual for honoring and remembering beloved ancestors and the recently departed, with roots in both the Christian and Pagan traditions.
    Ritual | By Tiffany Fae Anderson | September 26, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: All Saints Day, All Souls Day, Death, Family, Grief, Healing, History, Letting Go, Love, Memorial Services, Samhain, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • A group of half a dozen women, apparently part of a larger congregation, standing and singing in church. The three women in primary focus are clapping or snapping fingers.
    This liturgy provides words for a portion of a service devoted to hymn-singing. It should be possible to combine this with many of the usual elements of a congregation’s worship service. You will need to have an accompanist who can sight-read well, and it would be helpful to have a songleader.
    Script | By Kristin Grassel Schmidt | September 22, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Arts & Music, Community, Creativity, Music Sunday, Playfulness, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • A clean, empty, brown paper cup photographed against a nondescript grey background.
    During your congregation’s water ceremony, UUs for Justice in the Middle East invite you to place an empty paper cup next to the congregational vessel in solidarity with Palestinians.
    Ritual | By Unitarian Universalists for Justice in the Middle East (UUJME) | August 28, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Freedom, Human Rights, Justice, Oppression, Peace, Solidarity, Trauma, War, Water Communion, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • A white person’s hand with its fingers dipping into shallow water, with sand and rocks beneath.
    A water communion liturgy that asks that we listen for God’s voice in the waters.
    Ritual | By M Jade Kaiser | August 28, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Earth, Earth Day, Environment, Interdependence, Nature, Responsibility, Reverence, Water Communion, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • Two children in silhouette against a dark, stormy sky. The children are facing one another, and the taller one holds an umbrella over them both.
    You are now holding in your heart a precious commodity. Someone trusted you with what was irking them, what brought them joy, what enraged them, what frightened them, what moved them, or simply, what is.
    Benediction | By Rumni Saha | August 21, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Community Ministry Sunday, Ministerial Transition, Ministry, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • An egret takes flight from marshland near still water. The bird’s reflection is visible.
    Give thanks for all the waters that be—for bays and gulfs and shining seas!
    Responsive Reading | By Patricia Montley | August 20, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Earth, Environment, Interdependence, Nature, Water Communion, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • A tree trunk rising out of leaf-covered ground. Further behind, we see a small stand of similar trees, and beyond that there is a lake.
    We honor all our beloved dead whose bodies have returned to the earth, the earth that is our home. We honor their lives which shaped our own. We honor their love, which is beyond death. We honor their teachings, which teach us still.
    Litany | By Elizabeth Bukey Saunter | August 1, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Death, Earth, Interdependence, Memorial Services, Mystery, Nature, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • Four people celebrating with arms raised, seen in silhouette against the sky. The sun is centered behind them, and the sky’s colors range from blue to pink.
    We are whole and holy; we are loved beyond all measure. And in our refusal to accept anything less, may we know we are rooted in the infinite divinity.
    Chalice Lighting | By Jami Yandle | August 1, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Awe, Body, Freedom, Gender, God, Imagination, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Pride Sunday, Transgender Day of Remembrance, Wholeness, Wonder, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • A small copse of oaks in a light misty fog. There are still some green leaves on the trees, but the ground is covered with brown fallen leaves.
    High up, the wild geese have pulled the rusty doorway of Autumn closed behind them, their sharp music a choir of deep acoustic truth.
    Poetry | By Jennifer Pratt-Walter | July 31, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Animals, Autumnal Equinox, Earth, Earth-Centered, Fall, Nature, Winter, WorshipWeb, Worship