Edit Header for Worship Holidays Search
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

Search Words for Worship Services

Displaying 261 – 280 of 3324

Changing a filter will refresh results (and remaining options) immediately. Searching by keyword requires use of the "Search" button.

  • A white and brown shofar resting on a piece of blue satin.
    If you have come here tonight on Rosh Hashanah and feel that there is nothing to examine, no wound in your life to heal, no relationship to repair—then I hope you will listen especially closely to the shofar.
    Quote | By Angela Buchdahl | April 4, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Brokenness, Grief, Healing, Judaism, Reconciliation, Rosh Hashanah, Worship
  • Close-up photo of the veins and midrib of a green leaf.
    We come from many places—along different paths, bringing different truths.
    Chalice Lighting | By Pat Uribe-Lichty | March 31, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Community, Diversity, Healing, Justice, Peace, Unity, Wholeness, Worship
  • Four Advent candles in a row in front of a deep black background. All four are lit. The third from the left is pink, and the others are purple.
    Prayers to be said on the four Sundays of Advent while lighting the Advent candle wreath.
    Prayer | By Elizabeth Barish Browne | March 29, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Advent, Christianity, Hope, Joy, Love, Patience, Peace, Worship
  • A hand holding a piece of chalk against a blank green chalkboard, as if poised to write. The hand is pale-skinned, and the part of the arm we see is clothed in a white shirt with cuffs.
    Let this year be a clean slate for new beginnings.
    Prayer | By Addae Ama Kraba | March 29, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Beginnings, Courage, Creativity, Empathy, New Year, Peace, Worship
  • A singing bird on a branch, silhouetted against a red and orange sunrise
    I look up and experience her music as a Beatitude of Peace, a feathery sonnet that rings of grace and hope...
    Poetry | By Jennifer Pratt-Walter | March 29, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Courage, Hope, Love, Nature, Peace, Worship
  • Behind clouds that are faintly lit by the last light of day, a thin crescent moon and a few stars are visible in the blue/black sky.
    There in the deep sack of night, a tiny Hope was born. 
    Poetry | By Jennifer Pratt-Walter | March 29, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Awe, Beginnings, Birth, Earth-Centered, Hope, Joy, Love, Peace, Sacred, Winter Solstice / Yule, Worship
  • A person with white skin holds, in their upturned palms, a strand of help. Beneath their hands we see the person's feet standing on sand.
    This is my favorite thing about seaweed: it feels so much like my neurodiverse brain.
    Reflection | By Quinn Gormley | March 20, 2024 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Acceptance, Direct Experience, Earth-Centered, Honesty, Imagination, Nature, Personal Stories, Self-Care, Worship
  • A painting of a person's head, in profile. Their brain and the background are both awash in swirls of color, galaxy-like sparks and stars, and cosmic texture.
    People who aren't neurodiverse tend to frame neurodiversity as symptoms of inconvenience to people around them. For me, my ADHD means beauty.
    Reflection | By Quinn Gormley | March 13, 2024 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Acceptance, Beauty, Direct Experience, Identity, Multiculturalism, Psychology, Self-Respect, Wonder, Worship
  • A close-up of a small sprout with two green leaves on a short stem. The plant is growing in a plot of deep black soil.
    The oldest stories tell us we came from the dust, and to dust we will return. But dirt? That’s different. Dust is fine, often even sterile. Dirt, on the other hand, is made up of messier stuff.
    Ritual | By Joy Berry | March 11, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Earth, Earth-Centered, Nature, Reverence, Sacred, Worship
  • Four people with their backs to the camera stand shoulder-to-shoulder, their arms around each other, as they look into a beautiful sunny vista.
    Appreciation and deep witness are beautiful gateways for returning to our most authentic selves.
    Reflection | By Jami Yandle | March 6, 2024 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Compassion, Friendship, Humanism, Interdependence, Listening, Love, Vulnerability, Worship
  • A silhouette of six or seven young people against a cloudless sky, which ranges from pale blue near the bottom to deep blue at the top of the image.
    Spirit of the divine masculine, grant us the strength to nurture in ourselves, and in every young person we have the privilege to know, the gifts of patience, curiosity, and compassion.
    Prayer | By AJ van Tine | February 29, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Character, Children, Coming of Age, Coming-of-Age, Community, Gender, Growth, Identity, Resilience, Worship, Youth/Teens
  • Black and white photo of only the arms of dark-skinned people, raised as if praying in a church pew
    When someone lists Unitarians or Universalists, they usually name white men. Never anyone Black like me.
    Reflection | By Connie Simon | February 28, 2024 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: #8thPrinciple, #BlackHistoryMonth, #BlackLivesMatter, 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Generations, History, Identity, Race/Ethnicity, Self-Respect, Truth, Unitarian Universalism, Unitarianism, Universalism, Worship
  • A Black child around 8 years old stares down at a desk covered in books, with a dismayed or tired look on their face.
    From the beginning, the story of Black people in America has been told through the lens of white supremacy.
    Reflection | By Bev Spears | February 21, 2024 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: #BlackHistoryMonth, #BlackLivesMatter, Generations, History, Justice, Race/Ethnicity, Truth, Worship
  • Formal portrait photograph of W. E. B. Du Bois, a balding Black man with a mustache and Van Dyke beard, wearing a white shirt and dark coat.
    “[Democracy] is not merely majority rule based on the fact that the majority has the physical force to prevail…"
    Quote | By W.E.B. Du Bois | February 20, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 5th Principle (Conscience & Democracy), America, Covenant, Democracy, Governance, Interdependence, Leadership, Politics, Rights, Worship
  • A cropped photo of a person with a wrist tattoo with upturned hands lightly holding the hands of another person, sitting knee-to-knee with them.
    Scorekeeping is about who hurts whom more. In the long-term, no one wins.
    Reflection | By Anne Griffiths | February 14, 2024 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Commitment, Humanism, Love, Marriage, Men, Psychology, Relationships, Secular, Teamwork, Trust, Women, Work, Worship
  • Outdoors on a lawn, a group of Black friends are seated as if at a picnic. They're smiling and laughing with abundant joy.
    If you’re seeking sacred Black “text” in our tradition, you have to examine the way our Black ancestors lived.
    Reflection | By Takiyah Nur Amin | February 7, 2024 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: #8thPrinciple, #BlackHistoryMonth, #BlackLivesMatter, 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Anti-Oppression, Covenant, Generations, History, Identity, Living Our Faith, Race/Ethnicity, Unitarian Universalism, Unitarianism, Universalism, Worship
  • The sun, framed by two hands forming a heart shape, in an orange sky.
    Love is the center and foundation of this faith... let fall away all that might distract us from the whole-hearted practice of Love.
    Welcome | By Shari Woodbury | January 31, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: #Article2, Anti-Oppression, Community, Covenant, Living Our Faith, Love, Principles and Purposes, Worship
  • With a blurred gym in the background, a white person with short hair holds a handweight out from her body, so that it's the center of the picture's focus.
    Remind me that success is not the only measure of a life.
    Reflection | By Amanda Poppei | January 31, 2024 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Acceptance, Compassion, Failure, Humanism, Secular, Self-Respect, Vulnerability, Worship
  • On an airplane, a person sitting in the window seat holds a phone as if texting.
    May the words that I speak remind others that they are beloved.
    Reflection | By Aaron Stockwell Wisman | January 24, 2024 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Caring, Friendship, Good, Humanism, Ministry, Relationships, Respect, Responsibility, Worship
  • A frozen soap bubble rests on snowy ground, with the sun setting on the horizon in the background.
    As we repent in full body and form, secure our names and the generations to come as you have done through time. God who blessed the womb of life, save us once again.
    Prayer | By Julie Yeeun Kim | January 21, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Advent, Christianity, Faith, Generations, Interdependence, Patience, Redemption, Salvation, Wisdom, Worship