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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Go in peace. Live simply, at home in yourself. Be just in your word, just in deed. Remember the depth of your own compassion. Do not forget your power in the days of your powerlessness. Do not desire with desire to be wealthier than your peers, and never stint your hand of charity. Practice...Closing | By Mark Belletini | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Body, Compassion, Peace, Power, Purpose, Unitarian Universalism -
Go in peace. Hold in your heart the certainty That the spirit of life is with you always. When your heart is torn asunder Or when you soar with sweet joy, You are never alone, never apart, From the spirit that resides within us, That guides our lives and cherishes us always. Take comfort. Blessed...Closing | By Enid A. Virago | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Awe, Immanence, Pain, Reverence, Sacred, Unitarian Universalism
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Go in peace, embraced by the light and warmth of our gathering. Go in love, ready again to struggle on. Go in beauty, shining forth like a lamp for freedom. Amen!Closing | By Sarah Lammert | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Community, Meaning, Peace, Purpose, Unitarian Universalism
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O God, we beseech you, by your great goodness defend us from all perils and dangers of this night, for the love of the world over which you watch....Prayer | By Anne E Treadwell | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Faith, God, Peace, Presence, Sacred
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Cheered by our community, blessed by our covenant, uplifted in mind, and renewed in spirit, go forth with courage and in peace to meet the days to come. Amen.Closing | By Burton D. Carley | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Commitment, Community, Meaning, Purpose, Service, Unitarian Universalism
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Awesome and gracious God -- you who are the power that brings us to life and the spirit that sustains us -- forgive us for being less than we might be. Guide us to become what is in our power to become, in your service....Closing | By Polly Leland-Mayer | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Direct Experience, Faith, God, Healing, Service, Wholeness -
By our presence here with one another, Hearing the harmony that is the music of the spheres, May some of the harshness and discord of our human lives Be transmuted into music....Closing | By Richard S. Gilbert | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Arts & Music, Awe, Community, Presence, Unitarian Universalism, Unity -
And now may the blessings of life be upon us and upon this congregation. May the memories we gather here give us hope for the future. May the love that we share bring strength and joy to our hearts, and the peace of this community be with us until we meet again.Closing | By Gary Kowalski | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Community, History, Relationships, Strength, Unitarian Universalism, Unity
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Many Unitarian Universalist churches and fellowships start their worship service on Sunday morning by lighting a flame inside a chalice. This flaming chalice is a symbol for Unitarian Universalists just as the cross and the Star of David are symbols for other religious groups....Reading | By Noreen Kimball | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: History, Unitarian Universalism
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Many years ago in the land of Transylvania, in a mountain valley watered by quick rushing streams and shadowed by great forests of beech trees, there was a village of small wooden houses with dark-shingled roofs....Reading | By Janeen K Grohsmeyer | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Faith, Grace, Love
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In a land far away, a wise old man who knew a great deal about people because he traveled from place to place arrived at a strange village. In this town all the people were carrying what seemed to be great bundles on their backs....Reading | By Barbara Marshman | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Forgiveness, Letting Go, Peace -
Once upon a time God said, "I'm bored because I don't have anything to do. I want to play with my friends." And because God is God, as soon as the words were spoken, God's friends were there. When God saw them all gathered, God said, "I've been bored because I haven't had anything to do....Reading | By Mary Ann Moore | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Direct Experience, God, Mystery
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Once upon a time there was a drop of water named Higgins. Higgins was no ordinary drop of water. He was a drop with a dream. Higgins lived in a valley where it had not rained in a very long time, so all the lovely green grass was turning brown, all the beautiful flowers were wilting, and all the...Story | By Christopher Buice | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 6th Principle (World Community), Anti-Oppression, Anti-Oppression, Solidarity, Teamwork
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Once upon a time, a girl named Ramona and a boy named Roberto had a wonderful dog. They named the dog Feliz because he was so happy when they came home from school each day. He bounded toward them, barking and tail wagging madly. His sandy brown coat was sort of wavy around the shoulders but...Reading | By Heather Lynn Hanson | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Easter, Good Friday, Grief, Love
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It is easy to pray when the sun shines And we are grateful for another glorious day of being. It is hard to pray when wind and rain and thunder Plague our every step and spoil our every plan. It is easy to be virtuous when life goes well And our existence is a journey from bliss to beauty and back.Reading | By Richard S. Gilbert | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Spiritual Practice
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The other day I was driving on an expressway. These days expressway driving seems a frantic enterprise. Near one of the exit ramps, one of the highway denizens, a behemoth "semi" had pulled over onto the berm. The driver had emerged and was gathering some wild plants along the side of the road.Reading | By Gordon B McKeeman | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Solidarity
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Most of us look for love in only the most obvious places, and as a result, most of us come away disappointed. Its as if we are still grade school kids, counting valentines as a measure of what matters. The love that matters is not typically the subject of sonnets or love songs....Reading | By David S Blanchard | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Love
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A well-known poem by Robert Graves speaks of butterflies—their "honest idiocy of flight," "lurching here and there by guess and God and hope and hopelessness." Any number of quotations sound this way, and so, I think do we. But privately. Publicly we speak the civilized language of human beings...Reading | By Jane Rzepka | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Acceptance, Connections, Suffering
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I was working with a group of young people at a Safe Schools conference in Boston. They were discussing how to tell their parents they were gay or lesbian. Many of them had suffered harassment, brutality, and ostracism by their peers, and they worried about how to protect their parents from the...Reading | By Elizabeth Tarbox | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Christianity, Family, Good Friday, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Unitarian Universalism
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A one-paragraph newspaper article describes a subway platform during the morning rush hour at Grand Central Terminal. A train pulls in; a well-dressed woman gets off. Before the doors close, the woman realizes that she is holding only one of her leather gloves. She looks back into the train and...Reading | By Jane Rzepka | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Balance, Letting Go, Playfulness, Work