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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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  • A map of the world from 1862, drawn using the Mercator projection. The oceans are shown in off-white, while the nations of the world are colored in pale shades of blue, red, and pink, as well as white.
    I don’t want a smoothed-out, disproportionately aggrandized faith that attempts to draw all comers to its one self-righteous place at the top of the map of humanity… Instead, I want an imaginative and wandering faith of holy cartographers…
    Reading | By Teresa Honey Youngblood | October 15, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Compassion, Connections, Diversity, Inclusion, Listening, Living Our Faith, Resilience, Transformation, Worship
  • A tree with a large reddish-brown trunk and many branches, whose green leaves create a canopy that covers the sky from our perspective. A portion of another large tree can be seen to the left. The lighting seems to make the tree and the ground at its feet glow.
    When your mind is silent… the forest suddenly becomes magnificently real and blazes transparently with the Reality of God.
    Quote | By Thomas Merton | October 15, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Contemplation, Immanence, Mindfulness, Nature, Sacred, Silence, Worship
  • Against a pale blue cloudless sky we see a leafless tree on a small rise in the desert. The light brown earth surrounding the tree is mostly covered by dark grey-green scrub. Behind the tree there is a rocky outcropping.
    Silence is never merely a cessation of words… Rather, it is the pause that holds together—indeed, it makes sense of all the both spoken and unspoken.
    Quote | By John Chryssavgis | October 14, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Contemplation, Immanence, Mindfulness, Sacred, Silence, 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, Worship
  • A cluster of Black volunteers, wearing matching blue T-shirts, talk and smile outdoors. Similarly-dressed volunteers chat in the background, implying a large group event.
    The work of justice can’t be carried out by one person–or even a few diverse people.
    Reflection | By Antoinette Scully | October 9, 2024 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: #UUTheVote, 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 Barish Browne | October 8, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Disaster or Crisis, Humanism, Worship
  • In a gym-turned-polling station, multiple adults stand at individual voting booths filling out ballots. An American flag and "vote" are stenciled on the side of one partition.
    A worship collection celebrating democracy as a promise and a practice
    Leader Resource | October 7, 2024 | From WorshipLab
    Tagged as: #UUTheVote, Activism, America, Democracy, Worship
  • A close-up of a leaf, whose many closely-spaced veins are colored green and red. The first impression is of an abstract pattern of curving parallel lines.
    Let us continue to grow as citizens of our communities, our nation, and our world. Let us work to build the common good, for ourselves and the generations to come.
    Closing | By Shari Woodbury | October 5, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: America, Community, Earth, Generations, Growth, 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, 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, Worship
  • Looking from inside a room through a set of four tall arched windows, we see a garden with some tall purple salvia-like flowers. Beyond the garden a wide grassy field stretches to the horizon, where there are trees and hills.
    There is no separation, here, of the sacred from the profane. No setting apart from the natural world.
    Opening | By Shari Woodbury | October 4, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Beauty, Body, Connections, Interdependence, Nature, Sacred, Spirituality, Spring, 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
  • Taken from a balcony looking down, people enter a Unitarian church building with red carpet. They are entering wooden pews with hymnals in their arms.
    Whether your congregation is layled or whether you have a professional minister (maybe you are the professional minister!), it's not always easy to fill the worship schedule.
    Complete Service | By Erika Hewitt | September 27, 2024 | From WorshipLab
    Tagged as: 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, Worship
  • Two LatinX preteens, crouched on the ground, feeding three black chickens and a speckled rooster.
    Like the free-roaming roosters of the Caribbean, no one can tell me I don’t belong.
    Reflection | By Raquel V. Reyes | September 25, 2024 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Acceptance, Anti-Oppression, Character, Direct Experience, Identity, Integrity, International, Multiculturalism, Race/Ethnicity, Self-Care, Self-Respect, Vulnerability, Worship
  • The smoothly curving walls of a desert canyon, in which the many sedimentary layers of rock are visible in the red and orange stripes that follow the bends of the surface. The photo is cropped so that the pattern formed by the sedimentary layers appears to be an abstract design.
    …those of us who believe in human rights for everyone; who believe in fundamentals of fairness, of equality, of equity; who believe in recognizing injustices of past, of present, and being accountable for ending them…
    Poetry | By Charles Thomas | September 24, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Accountability, Environment, Equity, Freedom, Justice, Nature, Peace, Rights, Worship
  • A mural of a large red heart on a blue background, painted on a pair of wooden doors in a brick wall.
    Together we create a love energy more powerful than any force of oppression…
    Poetry | By Dayna Edwards | September 24, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: America, Community, Democracy, Faith, Hope, Love, Oppression, Politics, Worship
  • A black-and-white overhead photo of about 20 books, standing on their short edges, crowded together in various directions. Viewed from above, each book looks somewhat like a fan, with the covers slightly open and the pages spreading out radially from the spine.
    This liturgy is for a ritual where the members of the congregation each bring to the service a meaningful book they would like to give away, and each member takes home a book that someone else has brought.
    Ritual | By Jami Yandle | September 23, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Arts & Music, Community, Education, Generosity, Imagination, Revelation, Wisdom, 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, Worship
  • A close up of a clear, bubbly beverage being poured into a clear wine glass, held by a person.
    All of us are active participants in co-creating congregational and community life.
    Reflection | September 18, 2024 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Accountability, Addiction/Recovery, Hospitality, Inclusion, Individualism, Responsibility, Worship