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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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  • Caught in flight, a red-winged blackbird flies over greenery. The small, bright red patches on its wings blaze against its black body and wings.
    When we live authentically, we honor the truth that all people are beloved.
    Reflection | By Cara Stultz Costello | May 7, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Worship
  • The words "A lamentation on the first 100 days of this administration" appear over a darkened human figure, from the waist up, holding a lit taper candle in their stacked, upturned palms. The Side With Love name and rainbow heart logo appear in the lower right hand corner.
    May we be a people who side with love.
    Prayer | May 5, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: America, Living Our Faith, Politics, Worship
  • From above, a large white salt crystal rests on a light surface next to a bowl filled with pink rose petals. A narrow prism of rainbow light falls directly between the two objects.
    A ritual honoring the story of love in our lives
    Ritual | By Erika Hewitt | May 1, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), All Souls Day, Beauty, Direct Experience, Father's Day, Letting Go, Love, Mother's Day, Parents, Relationships, Spiritual Practice, Transformation, Valentine's Day, Vulnerability, Worship
  • A dark mosaic, crafted from many small pieces of dark glass, reflect a rainbow of vivid colors.
    Everything is different now.
    Reflection | By Manish Mishra-Marzetti | April 30, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Abundance, America, Direct Experience, Empathy, Family, Fathers, Fear, Humanism, Identity, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Love, Worship
  • A black-and-white photo of an older person carrying a heavy bucket uphill on a dark-colored road next to a whitewashed stucco wall. The person is wearing sandals and a calf-length sleeveless dress made of a diamond-patterned fabric. They are stooped over and walking away from the camera, so all that can be seen of their head is some curly grey hair. They are carrying the bucket with their left arm, and their right arm is bent with the hand at their right hip.
    We don’t have to impress or convince or win over. We don’t have to know the words. It’s okay we didn’t read the book, or pass that class, or carry that title, or meet that mark. We don’t have to be anything but who we are.
    Opening | By Kate Steinberg | April 24, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Acceptance, Community, Compassion, Connections, Interdependence, Justice, Letting Go, Self-Care, Worship
  • A chalice with the word Love over the flame, with six outstretched swirls that create a circular space within them. Together, they form a six-petal flower shape and alternate in color between goldenrod and dark pink. Each contains one of the six UU shared values, printed in a modern font. Clockwise: Transformation (aqua), Equity (bright green), Pluralism (red), Interdependence (dark blue), Justice (goldenrod), and Generosity (dark pink).
    … Love is not only at the center but also the opening that invites us to lament, celebrate, and care.
    Opening | By anastasia birosh | April 24, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Caring, Equity, Generosity, Interdependence, Justice, Love, Pluralism, Transformation, Worship
  • In the foreground, the singer of a punk band grips a microphone and sings with passion. Behind him, colored lights and smoke fill a stage that holds three guitarists. In the background, people are rocking out to the music.
    As chaplains, we create spaces that provide ceremony, connection, and sanctuary.
    Reflection | By James Clarke | April 23, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Acceptance, Arts & Music, Caring, Direct Experience, Identity, Inclusion, Individualism, Searching, Worship
  • A close up of a green palm plant front, with the stalk symmetrically dividing its many green leaves.
    Thousands of years ago people in an ancient city sang the songs of their hearts.
    Opening | By Emily R. Mace | April 16, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Christianity, Love, Meaning, Palm Sunday, Redemption, Sacred, Salvation, Tradition, Worship
  • In a church sanctuary, with a stained glass window behind the pulpit with a blurred figure, two different people with dark skin raise an arm to the sky in praise.
    In an era of certain oppression, living our values calls me to resistance.
    Reflection | By Verdis Robinson | April 16, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Christianity, Easter, Worship
  • Seen from above, an apparently exhausted person lies on a running track. The person has light brown skin and dark black hair, including a beard and mustache. They are wearing black shorts, a long-sleeve black athletic top, and white athletic shoes. The track is blue, with white lane markings, and the person is lying down where there are yellow triangles marking a relay exchange zone. The track markings give the composition of the image an abstract feel.
    Help me remember, Beloved, that the longings of my heart are never satisfied by the sprint but rather by the slow, languid meander.…
    Poetry, Prayer | By Manish Mishra-Marzetti | April 13, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Balance, Immanence, Journey, Mindfulness, Patience, Trust, Worship
  • A chalice with the word Love over the flame, with six outstretched swirls that create a circular space within them. Together, they form a six-petal flower shape and alternate in color between goldenrod and dark pink. Each contains one of the six UU shared values, printed in a modern font. Clockwise: Transformation (aqua), Equity (bright green), Pluralism (red), Interdependence (dark blue), Justice (goldenrod), and Generosity (dark pink).
    Make us instruments of your peace with love at the center of everything we do.
    Prayer | By Christopher Buice | April 13, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Equity, Generosity, Interdependence, Justice, Love, Peace, Pluralism, Transformation, UU Beliefs
  • Christmas-themed crafts on a white table, seen from above. The focus of the image is a tic-tac-toe game: the squares are marked by sprays of pine needles decorated with holly berries, the Xs are pine-tree-shaped Christmas cookies covered in powdered sugar, and the Os are gingerbread people partly covered with chocolate icing and colorful sprinkles. Surrounding the game are a holiday card, a bowl of Christmas cookies, cinnamon sticks, more sprays of pine needles, and holly berries on otherwise bare branches.
    The magic of Christmas doesn't just happen: It’s made, just like how each year a miracle is celebrated. But that very first Christmas—that miracle—didn’t just happen either…
    Reading | By Adena Dannouf | April 13, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Caring, Christianity, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Commitment, Creativity, Love, Meaning, Patience, Sacred, Work, Worship
  • A black-and-white photograph of a person’s hand, partially obscured by the paws of a cat. The black cat is nearly invisible in the shadows surrounding the hand, but its face must be behind the hand because the whiskers from one side of its face are visible in the light that illuminates the hand. The cat’s paws — white, in contrast to its black legs — are pulling the person’s hand toward its body.
    If I can do nothing more, I go out the back door and sit on the steps where the tuxedo cat rubs my leg and I look for the holy.…
    Poetry | By Jennifer Pratt-Walter | April 11, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Acceptance, Animals, Earth, Interdependence, Nature, Spiritual Practice, Worship
  • A person wearing a blue waterproof jacket and grey pants walks away from us on a narrow trail between giant redwood trees in the Pacific Northwest. They are using a wheeled walker as a mobility aid.
    May all creatures live their lives as if no human crushed asphalt / over the land or shaved ancient forests bald.
    Poetry | By Jennifer Pratt-Walter | April 11, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Earth, Interdependence, Nature, Reverence, Worship
  • In a darkened room, a child with light brown skin and short straight black hair sits at a window that is splattered with raindrops. The child is wearing a red garment of some sort, and is holding their hand out near the window with their right index finger extended. Outside the window, all we can see is a green blur suggesting plants or trees.
    An interactive, cooperative process of creating a prayer of lament.
    Time for All Ages | By Tara Humphries | April 11, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Christianity, Judaism, Letting Go, Meaning, Mindfulness, Reverence, Sorrow, Spiritual Practice, Spirituality, Vulnerability, Worship
  • On a set of stairs outdoors, two women sit talking. They're holding hands, as if comforting one another.
    It seems to me that right now, we all need a little extra grace.
    Reflection | By Elizabeth Stevens | April 9, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Caring, Compassion, Conflict, Despair, Direct Experience, Empathy, Grace, Living Our Faith, Patience, Relationships, Worship
  • A close up shot of a chalice -- a lively flame and oil burner inside the large lip of a metal chalice -- at First Unitarian Society of Milwaukee. In the dark background, the beams of the sanctuary arch gracefully.
    The American Unitarian Association was officially formed on May 26, 1825.
    Leader Resource | April 7, 2025 | From WorshipLab
    Tagged as: Unitarianism, Worship
  • A close-up of colorful woven fabric. The warp and weft are visible: The warp is uniform throughout, and is a shiny pale red. The weft is different on almost every row, and each row looks like it might be a shoelace. The shoelaces are solid colors — black, blue, grey, brown, lime, pink — except for the center row, which is in a multi-colored pattern.
    After Sal’s beloved partner Lee dies, Sal’s neighbors in the big apartment building want to make them a grief blanket. But individually, no one has enough fabric or yarn…
    Story | By Tara Humphries | April 4, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Arts & Music, Caring, Community, Connections, Creativity, Death, Friendship, Grief, Healing, Humanism, Teamwork
  • At nighttime, a person is facing towards us on a grassy footpath, shining a flashlight on the ground several feet in front of them. The person is in silhouette, illuminated from behind by a light further away from us on the path. We can just barely make out the trees, bushes, and weeds outside the path.
    Our faith, like a light, illuminates the path before us…
    Chalice Extinguishing | By James Galasinski | April 4, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Awe, Community, Compassion, Despair, Faith, Love
  • A bas-relief of Da Vinci’s “Vitruvian Man” drawing, which shows a diagram of a man inside a circle, with his arms and legs extended so that his hands and feet touch the circumference, and with his arms and legs shown in two positions. The sculpture is made out of grey metal, with a decorative border surrounding the circle in which the man is enclosed.
    …Now that we have enjoyed the quiet, connected to our bodies, and noticed how we are connected to the world around us, may we remember that connection with every breath.
    Meditation | By Lóre Stevens | April 2, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Body, Connections, Earth, Mindfulness, Spiritual Practice, Worship