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.
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The human race is a vast rainbow bursting into view of white and black, red, yellow and brown. Yet for all blood is red, the sky is blue, the earth brown, the night dark. In size and shape we are a varied pattern of tall and short, slim and stout, elegant and plain....Reading | By Richard S. Gilbert | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Body, Diversity, Inclusion, Multiculturalism, Race/Ethnicity, Unitarian Universalism, Wholeness -
For religion to be significant, it has to provide more than the comforts of community. It also has to provide opportunities for deepening, for what I call spiritual growth, and for the casting down of false images and stereotypes, which hurt us all. A good religion has to open us to the real...Reading | By Mark Belletini | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 6th Principle (World Community), Diversity, Unitarian Universalism
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Why should we intentionally work for diversity? The responses to this question vary widely. Of course, hard demographic realities suggest much. But for me, beyond any demographic or sociological justification, there is a theological imperative....Reading | By Marjorie Bowens-Wheatley | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 6th Principle (World Community), Anti-Oppression, Diversity, Growth, Hospitality, Multiculturalism, Multiculturalism, Race/Ethnicity, Unitarian Universalism, Wholeness
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My father asked if I am gay I asked Does it matter? He said, No not really I said, Yes. He said get out of my life. I guess it mattered. My friend asked why I talk about race so much? I asked, Does it matter? He said, No not really I told him, Yes. He said, You need to get that chip off your...Reading | By Mark Hicks | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), Acceptance, Anti-Oppression, Anti-Oppression, Coming Out, Direct Experience, Disability, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Pride Sunday, Vulnerability, Youth Sunday
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Frances, an African American woman: To be African-American in this country is to face racism throughout life, however subtle. The love of one’s family is paramount in reducing the damage of racism on one’s wholeness. Unitarian Universalism is splendid as an affirming church family. Its primary...Reading | By Mark Hicks | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 6th Principle (World Community), Anti-Oppression, Black History / Whitney Young / James Reeb, Diversity, Kwanzaa, Martin Luther King, Jr. Sunday, Multiculturalism, Multiculturalism, Race/Ethnicity, Unitarian Universalism
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With humility and courage born of our history, we are called as Unitarian Universalists to build the Beloved Community where all souls are welcome as blessings, and the human family lives whole and reconciled. With this vision in our hearts and minds, we light our chalice. —“A vision for...Chalice Lighting | By UUA Leadership Council | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Acceptance, Brokenness, Calling, Courage, Diversity, Humility, Strength, Unitarian Universalism, Vision, Wholeness, Worth -
Once upon a time there was a girl named Wendy. She loved grass. What can I say? She loved grass—she loved the feel of it between her toes; she loved the smell of it when it was freshly mown; she loved its bright green color. Wendy loved grass more than just about anything. One day her family...Story | By Erik Walker Wikstrom | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Acceptance, Respect, Revelation, Unitarian Universalism
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Our time together is finished, but our work is not yet done: May our spirits be renewed and our purpose resolved As we meet the challenges of the week to come. The chalice flame is extinguished Until once again ignited by the strength of our communion. Go now in peace.Closing | By Martha Kirby Capo | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Purpose, Service, Strength, Unitarian Universalism
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If you are who you were, and if the person next to you is who he or she was, if none of us has changed since the day we came in here— we have failed. The purpose of this community— of any church, temple, zendo, mosque— is to help its people grow. We do this through encounters with the...Closing | By Erik Walker Wikstrom | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Acceptance, Change, Character, Growth, Integrity, Living Our Faith, Purpose, Transformation
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Into our world we commend our spirits: May the strength we have gained in this communal hour sustain us as we resume the work that is at hand. Source: Association Sunday 2009...Closing | By Martha Kirby Capo | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Purpose, Service, Strength
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Father, Mother God, here we are together—rich and poor; educated and not so well educated; gay and straight; democrats and republicans; some of us with light skin, some of us with darker; some of us walking, some of us unable to walk: none of us as whole as we would like to be—help us to know...Meditation | By Marilyn Sewell | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Acceptance, Diversity, Growth, Inclusion
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Let us join in the spirit of prayer and meditation. We are each different. Some of us are bigger and others are smaller. Some of us are taller and others are shorter. Our hair is different colors and our eyes are different shapes....Meditation | By Axel H Gehrmann | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Children's / Religious Education Sunday, Children's Sabbath, Community, Direct Experience, Diversity, Inclusion, Unity
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We who are here assembled Have made a conscious choice: We live intentionally. May we keenly attend to the silent, pulsing needs Here present at this altar, Made sacred by the power of our communion.Opening | By Martha Kirby Capo | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
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Come into this circle of love and justice, Come into this community where we can dream and Believe in those dreams— Come into this holy space where we remember who we are And how we want to live. Come now, and let us worship together!Opening | By Marilyn Sewell | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Vision
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In this hour may we be open To a rededication of treasured friendships, a renewal of spirit; May we relinquish the worries and anxieties of the past week, if just for this hour, and regain our strength Through this community of faith.Opening | By Martha Kirby Capo | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Strength
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We come together this morning because within us there is something that knows we need more than we can find in our aloneness. We know—instinctively, in the depths of ourselves—that we need others for this journey of life even though we also guard our independence and individuality quite...Opening | By Erik Walker Wikstrom | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Community, Connections, Relationships
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We unite in our differences in background and belief; We unite—with gratitude and hope: Hope for a world of differences; Hope for a world that honors difference; We unite in community With gratitude for difference. Source: Association Sunday 2009...Opening | By David Breeden | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Diversity, Multiculturalism, Multiculturalism, Unity
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We light this chalice to find inner peace, love for each other, and faith in ourselves. Also, to be welcoming to whomever we meet and kind to all living creatures. So gather around this light of hope as we share this time together.Chalice Lighting | By Oberlin UU Fellowship, Oberlin, OH | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Community, Connections, Diversity, Faith, Hope, Hospitality, Love, Peace, Purpose, Self-Respect -
Someone told me once that Einstein thought time is a variable. That is to say that time is not a constant. Are you following this? I think Einstein was right. When I was a child, a year was a YEAR! Now a year is a week....Reading | By Ken Nye | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Acceptance, Aging, Balance, Direct Experience, Humanism, Patience, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Wisdom
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Note: Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah) 2016 begins in the evening of Wednesday, May 4 and ends in the evening of Thursday, May 5. This week holds the annual observance of Holocaust Remembrance Day, or Yom Hashoah. Jewish communities prefer not to call the dreadful events of the 1930's and...Ritual | By Mary Wellemeyer | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), Grief, Holocaust Remembrance / Yom Ha'Shoah, Hope, Human Rights, Judaism, Responsibility, Suffering