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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 person with dark skin sits, a blanket around their shoulders, on the edge of an emergency vehicle holding what seem to be their injured hand. We see a white person in a uniform bending over, about to apply a bandage or ice pack to the hurt hand.
    Noticing things that need our attention, and then stopping to help, is a communal habit.
    Reflection | By Christine Slocum | April 2, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Worship
  • On a black wrought iron fence, a sprig of flowers is taped next to a handwritten sign on purple posterboard: "Trans energy is sacred energy"
    Trans joy trans joy is bigger than the struggle, louder than the hate, more enduring than fear.
    Reflection | By Jes Martinez-Hunt | March 26, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: #LGBTQ, #Pride, 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Children, Identity, Joy, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Parents, Self-Respect, Worship
  • A close-up of a white person's neck, collarbone, and upper chest. The person is wearing a shallow, scoopnecked black shirt, and there's glitter covering their skin.
    As a trans woman, I love the ways we sparkle; the ways we twirl. This is how I enter the world, and I've paid a high price for it my entire life.
    Reflection | By Quinn Gormley | March 19, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: #LoveResists, #Pride, 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Direct Experience, Freedom, Gender, Healing, Identity, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Secular, Self-Respect, Sexuality, Transformation, Women, Worship
  • A small flowering plant (Phacelia neglecta) on a reddish rock in the desert outside Quartzsite, Arizona. It has four or five leaves on its small stem, and a single blossom with five pale purple and white petals.
    Improbably, the wind-blown seed found its way here, to a long, beautiful stretch of land, but one that was hot, dry, and arid.…
    Poetry | By Manish Mishra-Marzetti | March 13, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Beauty, Challenge, Earth, Interdependence, Nature, Resilience, Transformation, Worship
  • A close-up of a drop of water forming on the tip of an icicle, against a blurred dark blue and white background. The many tiny cracks and bubbles in the icicle are visible.
    …it is enough to release the piercing frigidity, the brittle rigidity of ice— and embrace the versatile, vital, blessing, bathing, embodiment of water.
    Poetry | By Nicholas D’Agosto | March 13, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Change, Nature, Simplicity, Transformation, Worship
  • Over the vast New Mexico landscape of scrubbrush and, in the distance, purple mountains, a large stormy sky is filled with lurking clouds. A bright arm of lightning reaches down from one cloud to the earth below.
    When the storm is powerful, we need each other to weather it.
    Reflection | By Tomo Hillbo | March 12, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Worship
  • A Black man and a small child, wearing rubber boots, hunch down in the shallow part of a wide river. The child is dipping a small pink net into the water, guided by their father's hand. They're both gazing at the surface of the water.
    At any moment in our lives we have a choice about how to inhabit the world.
    Reflection | By Michelle L. Mills | March 5, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Buddhism, Worship
  • A plain white card with the text ”thank you :)” is leaning against a blue and grey ceramic pot containing a small plant with round green leaves, possibly a Chinese money plant. The card and plant are on an otherwise bare weathered wooden table.
    This worship service explores gratitude and wonder through opportunities for spiritual practice. Instead of a sermon, the service includes time for personal reflection, community storytelling, and action.
    Script | By Liz Weber | March 4, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Arts & Music, Community, Creativity, Gratitude, Personal Stories, Spiritual Practice, Wonder, Worship
  • Unitarian Universalist Association Chalice
    With appreciation to Timothy Snyder’s On TyrannyAs fear abounds, may courage as well. In these times, we know we will need not to turn away nor surrender in advance. In the coming years, when asked to turn away, to focus only on our own survival and to disregard our neighbors's—Knowing the...
    Responsive Reading | By Leslie Takahashi | February 28, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Activism, Democracy, Disaster or Crisis, Interdependence, Justice, Living Our Faith, Responsibility, Solidarity, Suffering, Terrorism
  • A close-up of a piece of lapis lazuli. Most of the image is the deep blue of the stone, but there is a large irregularly-shaped area of white on the left side of the photo. Throughout, the stone contains cracks as well as flecks of gold-colored pyrite.
    Some years are hard. Some holidays won’t feel jolly. Some days are best kept In quiet contemplation. But none of that makes this time less holy. None of that makes you less worthy…
    Reading | By Monica Clark-Robinson | February 26, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Beauty, Brokenness, Christianity, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Compassion, Fear, Grace, Sacred, Shadow, Truth, Wholeness, Worship, Worth
  • An overhead view of a person holding a small globe in their cupped hands. We see the brim of their blue-and-white hat and a foreshortened view of their jeans-clad lower legs and their black shoes; their hands, with the small colorful globe, are visible from our point of view because they stick out far enough to be seen below the hat’s brim. We also see several squares of the sidewalk beneath their feet, decorated with children’s chalk art.
    Agape love—radical, quiet, boundless, unconditional—is the love we have for God, the Universe, the Interconnected Web, for whatever words for Spirit make your soul sing.
    Opening | By Monica Clark-Robinson | February 26, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Community, Connections, God, Interdependence, Love, Sacrifice, Self-Respect, Service, Worship
  • Rev. Lindasusan, a person of color, stretches out their arm to reveal their tattoo by James Chase: a dandelion going to seed, with its scattered seeds spelling the word L I B E R A T I O N
    What if each of us made a lifetime commitment to get free and to bring others with us?
    Reflection | By Lindasusan Ulrich | February 12, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Arts & Music, Body, Direct Experience, Freedom, Friendship, Letting Go, Living Our Faith, Worship
  • Several stalks of tall meadow grass, silhouetted against an orange sky with the sun low on the horizon.
    If you have come here seeking comfort, may your pain be soothed. If you have come here looking for answers, may you find new questions.…
    Opening | By Michelle LaGrave | February 5, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Calling, Community, Purpose, Searching, Worship
  • A closeup of one person — a Black woman with natural hair wearing silver hoop earrings and a white T-shirt, holding up a sign — in what appears to be a large crowd at a protest. We see her left profile, from slightly behind her.
    In the midst of the anger and frustration is hope—hope that we are here, hope that a loving world is indeed possible, hope in the faith that love can and will triumph over hate.
    Prayer | By Andrew Weber | February 5, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Anger, Despair, Dissent, Grief, Hope, Justice, Living Our Faith, Love, Politics, Worship
  • A wooden footbridge, with a railing on the right side but not the left, leads into a forest with a mix of firs and leafy trees. Our viewpoint is as if we were standing on the bridge as it reaches the end of a small ravine, and we see the bridge continue as a boardwalk that disappears into the woods.
    We won’t know how the story ends until we get there, but we can decide what words we use to write those stories.
    Affirmation | By Emily Richards | February 5, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Beginnings, Courage, Creativity, Ending, Gratitude, Hope, Joy, Kindness, Love, Peace, Worship
  • A shaggy, black, medium-sized dog wearing a purple harness sits alertly on the grass, with its face turned away from the camera. A leash from the harness is in a white person's hand; we see only their sleeve and a portion of their leg.
    Choice by choice, we make an effort to live out what we say we want, and who we claim to be.
    Reflection | By Erika Hewitt | February 5, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Animals, Faith, Integrity, Interdependence, Living Our Faith, Playfulness, Relationships, Religion, Worship
  • The famous “blue marble” photo of the Earth from space taken by the crew of Apollo 17. Africa, the Arabian peninsula, Madagascar, and Antarctica are visible behind some cloud cover, as well as the Indian Ocean and the South Atlantic.
    We light this chalice for the Earth, of which we all are part / Encendemos este cáliz por la tierra
    Spanish | Chalice Lighting | By Adena Dannouf, Tania Y Márquez | January 31, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Children's / Religious Education Sunday, Earth, Earth Day, Interdependence, Nature, Worship
  • A black-and-white photo of a large adult hand, open and facing upward, with a lit tea light in its palm.
    In each breath we take, may we remember that the work of love, justice, and healing is ours to continue—both here and beyond these walls.
    Chalice Extinguishing | By Craig Rowland | January 30, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Business Meetings, Community, Courage, Healing, Justice, Love, Transformation, Truth, Worship
  • A black-and-white photo of a large adult hand, open and facing upward, with a lit tea light in its palm.
    As we light this chalice, may each breath remind us of the sacred rhythm of life, the pulse of creation, and the power we hold to shape the world around us.
    Chalice Lighting | By Craig Rowland | January 30, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Business Meetings, Community, Courage, Despair, Fear, Healing, Love, Spiritual Practice, Strength, Transformation, Truth, Worship
  • A drawing, on a textured greenish grey surface using a thick white pen or brush, of a very simplified outline of a human head in profile, with many curved and twisting arrows pointing outwards from the head.
    Blessed are the unfocused, for they notice the sparks of divinity that illuminate the world.…
    Blessing | By Stacey Elza | January 30, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Christianity, Diversity, Grace, Identity, Imagination, Inclusion, Spirituality, Worship