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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‘Tis the Season . . . of advertisers run amok and ambitions amplified beyond belief . . . of Martha Stewart moments mixed with desert island dreams . . . when even the most dedicated holiday-hopper admits perfection isn’t possible and “good enough” is how the season ought to be. ‘Tis the...Meditation | By Maureen Killoran | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Advent, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Prayer Practices -
We come together today to celebrate, honor, hold and support your new life. We recognize the complexity that is gender, while also recognizing the complexity that goes into living a life that openly and honestly challenges the simplicity of our culturally imposed binary gender system. It takes...Ritual | By Del Mulhern | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), Courage, Earth-Centered, Gender, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Reconciliation, Unitarian Universalism, Wholeness
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It was December. I was in a new school in a new place and there were new teachers and new classmates. And we were living in a new house too. Also there was no snow in Florida. That was a lot of new things at once. I didn’t like it. At least I had my bicycle—it was my old bicycle so it wasn’t...Story | By Orlanda R Brugnola | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Children, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Direct Experience, Generosity, Home, Joy, Parents
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Every June, representatives of the congregations in the Unitarian Universalist Association gather for the annual General Assembly. Each year as we do so, we try to shed some light on a local issue of justice, and we invite people of all faiths to join us in working to make our world a better place.Sermon | By Michael J. Tino | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), Anti-Oppression, Anti-Oppression, Caring, Immigration, Immigration, Justice, Secular, Solidarity, Unitarian Universalism
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Once more the year's turned round. We've come full circle on this small planet, Spinning down the grooves of change, Another revolution completed around the sun. Another year older ... Another set of rings on the tree ... As seasons parade in endless procession The people's troubles and prayers...Meditation | By Gary Kowalski | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Christianity, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Hope, Immanence, Revelation, Transformation, Unitarian Universalism, Wonder
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We are five days away from what is has come to be traditionally celebrated as the birth of Jesus of Nazareth....Sermon | By David A Miller | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 6th Principle (World Community), Advent, Christianity, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Generosity, Grace, New Child, Revelation, Transformation, Unitarian Universalism
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Would you please join me in the spirit of prayer and meditation? Dear Gods and Goddesses, Spirit of Life & Love, Bless us on this beautiful southern California winter day as we celebrate and honor the darkness of the season as a time for us to reflect, look inward, and nourish and replenish our...Meditation | By Sara Eileen LaWall | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Earth-Centered, Generosity, Joy, Winter Solstice / Yule
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Please join me in the spirit of prayer followed by a full minute of meditative silence Gods and Goddesses of darkness and light, Spirit of life and love: We come together on this sacred night to awaken ourselves to the joy of Christmas To the miracles of life The birth of a baby The rise of the s...Meditation | By Sara Eileen LaWall | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Christianity, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Immanence, Mystery, New Child, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Sacred, Wonder
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We covenant together to share hope with each other and with the world.Reading | By Lucas Hergert | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Covenant, Hope, Justice, Love
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Whitman Jones had just turned nine. That was good. But he was going to a new school in a new town, and that was bad. In his old school he knew everyon—they had been in classes with him for years. In this new school he didn’t know one single person. Not only that, the first day didn’t go well...Story | By Orlanda R Brugnola | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Animals, Compassion, Forgiveness, Friendship, Reconciliation
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It was not a city. It was not a large town. But it was not a small town. It was—just average, you might say. Except for one thing. There was a Storyteller in the town. That’s Storyteller with a capital S. The Storyteller had arrived one day without advance notice (or as some people would put it,...Story | By Orlanda R Brugnola | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Imagination, Mystery, Revelation, Tradition, Wonder
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Why Christmas? Especially to one who doubts? Are you not being hypocritical? Unitarian Universalists, with their penchant for secular humanism are fond of arguing the validity of Christmas: Is it a Christian holiday? A pagan holiday? A secular holiday?...Opening | By Lenny Scovel | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Christmas Eve / Christmas
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Here in this space, we are gathered, called by our sense of urgency, or duty, or the longing for community, called to be together on this day...Here, in this space, we are gathered...called to hold ourselves accountable to our values...to remind ourselves of those hopes and dreams and possibiliti...Meditation | By Maureen Killoran | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Community, Connections, Healing, Hope, Pain, Unitarian Universalism
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Setting ourselves to the task of Greening our Congregation, together we promise these things: Most simply, we will each do our small part to care for the earth around us. We will start with one step forward toward the thriving world that we envision....Reading | By Molly Housh | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Climate Change, Climate Justice, Earth, Earth-Centered, Environment, Ethics, Purpose, Unitarian Universalism
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Leader: We are here to derive meaning in our actions All: When I change, the world changes Leader: We are here to win our power back over our areas of powerlessness All: When I change, the world changes Leader: We are here to deepen our understanding of ourselves in order to strengthen...Opening | By Ma Theresa "Tet" Gustilo Gallardo | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Purpose, Transformation, Unitarian Universalism
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Once there was and once there was not a family of dogs. Like many dog families, there were dogs that had wandered off the street and dogs with fine pedigrees and dogs from the shelter and dogs who had been born into the family. They ran together. They played together....Story | By Naftali King | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Animal Blessing, Animals, Direct Experience, Gratitude, Thanksgiving
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Once there was and once there was not a town on the edge of the swamp in the sultry summer weather of far south Florida, between the alligators and the ocean. In this town there were two amazing friends, Sam and Joseph. They were a lot alike. They liked the same foods. They liked the same books.Story | By Naftali King | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Family, Imagination, Life Transition, Playfulness, Revelation, Secular
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Once upon a time, there were these two pirates name of Calico Caesar and Barnacle Betty, and their parrots Flag and Sail. It was actually the parrots, which the pirates carried for good luck, who introduced these two pirates to one another. Because one day in Cayo Hueso (Key West), sitting on the...Story | By Naftali King | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 5th Principle (Conscience & Democracy), Democracy, Generosity, Governance
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In this free church, we come together without creed, focusing instead on the core values of justice, equity and compassion... Of mutual acceptance of our diverse ways of being, as we seek to connect ourselves more fully with the unfolding truths of life and of our world....Chalice Lighting | By Maureen Killoran | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Hope, Inclusion, Unitarian Universalism
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You are in the story of the world. You are the world coming to know itself. May you trust that all you will ever say or do Belongs in the story of the world.Closing | By Ean Huntington Behr | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Community, Inclusion, Trust