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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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  • Outdoors, an older man and a younger woman sit next to each other. She is holding a folded book or pamplet, and he's looking at it while talking.
    There are many ways to connect.
    Reflection | By Jo VonRue | November 20, 2024 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Acceptance, Connections, Courage, Empathy, Friendship, Gratitude, Personal Stories, Worship
  • The bronze statue of Atlas that stands above the entrance of the central train station in Frankfurt. Atlas struggles to hold the Earth — with a band of figures representing the twelve astrological signs surrounding the equator — on his back and shoulders. Atlas is aided by allegorical figures representing Steam and Electricity.
    We call upon all the transcendent gifts of renewal to be bestowed upon us, for an energizing renewal to fill us in all the ways that serve our lagging spirits when our own resilience wanes.
    Meditation | By Rebekah Savage | November 19, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Brokenness, Challenge, Grace, Healing, Love, Oppression, Pain, Resilience, Stress, Wholeness, Worship
  • A child — perhaps eight years old or so, wearing shorts and a short-sleeve shirt, and with their arms raised — is standing on a ridge, silhouetted by the sun. The sky is pale blue with scattered clouds, and the sun is low in the sky, but still above the horizon.
    May we be bold in our faith, declaring that Gone are the Days! We are Unitarian Universalists. We are the blessings we seek for this world and the Beloved Community we are building.
    Prayer | By Rebekah Savage | November 19, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Community, Credo, Grace, Growth, Progress, Self-Care, Worship, Worth
  • An overhead view of a few square feet of a street paved with concrete bricks, showing the yellow flower of a dandelion growing in the space between two bricks. The flower is on the right side of the photograph, and its color matches a yellow stripe painted on the pavement, which fills the left third of the photo.
    Spirit of Love, come alongside with all the holy nudges that we need, so we may live in such a way that we celebrate all the blessings that we have been given. So we may be the blessings in the world.
    Prayer | By Rebekah Savage | November 19, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Community, Grace, Gratitude, Grief, Hope, Justice, Living Our Faith, Love, Wholeness, Worship
  • Rays of sunlight stream down through a break in the cloudy sky, showing green plants and trees on mountains that otherwise look dark.
    Let beauty in. Let beauty in like waves lapping on the shore, covering the beach and soaking the sand like an embrace.
    Opening | By Rebekah Savage | November 18, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Beauty, Happiness, Joy, Sacred, Worship
  • A portrait of John Angell James (1785–1859) by William Derby, painted circa 1830. James is a middle-aged white man with dark brown hair and with thin sideburns from his ears halfway across his cheeks to his mouth. He is wearing a thick black coat with wide lapels, and is sitting on a heavy wooden chair with wooden arms and red upholstery on the seat and back. Behind him is some red drapery.
    “I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything; but still I can do something. And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.” This quotation is often attributed to Edward Everett Hale, but WorshipWeb could find no evidence for this.
    Quote | November 18, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Accountability, Activism, Commitment, Individualism, Integrity, Responsibility, Worship
  • A landscape painting by Thomas Cole, of the Hudson Valley school, entitled “Catskill Mountain House: The Four Elements.” The painting shows the tree-covered hills around the Catskill Mountain House, a hotel near Palenville, New York, in the fall. A large rock is visible, as well as a dark rainstorm and, in the distance, a forest fire.
    May we each model in our natures, the best in Nature. Eternally changing; knowing only movement, and an urge to create life.
    Prayer | By Nicholas D’Agosto | November 8, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Activism, Change, Community, Democracy, Earth, Earth-Centered, Nature, Teamwork, Transformation, Worship
  • A white woman with dreadlocks and a colorful hairband, and a Black man with short hair dyed blond, sort food and clothing at a food bank. They are working at a table on which there are large plastic bins for clothes and smaller bins for bread and canned goods. Behind them are the windows of the room they are working in, with small potted plants on the windowsill.
    Our true wealth is the welfare of all beings and the planet that we all call home.
    Affirmation | By Aaron Payson | November 8, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Activism, America, Caring, Community, Democracy, Education, Living Our Faith, Politics, War, Work, Worship
  • A grassy meadow with purple flowers under a starry sky showing the Milky Way. The entire top half of the image is the night sky. Between the sky and the meadow, we see the silhouettes of the hills surrounding the meadow, with a soft glowing light behind them.
    In neo-Pagan traditions, we recognize five elements: Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Spirit. We call on these Elements to help us in a variety of ways…
    Blessing | By Noel Lemen | November 7, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Balance, Body, Change, Connections, Earth, Interdependence, Joy, Nature, Paganism, Strength, Worship
  • A mature tree growing out of a mossy rock with its roots exposed.
    A worship collection calling upon our individual and collective resilience for troubled times.
    Reference | November 1, 2024 | From WorshipLab
    Tagged as: Resilience, Worship
  • Two fireworks exploding in a deep black sky. The two explosions each take the shape of a dandelion, with streaks of white light coming out of a colorful center. The firework on the left is pale green, with red at the center; the one on the right ranges from yellow in the center to red and purple at the edges.
    Rejoice! May this time of worship celebrate what we know at our core.
    Opening | By Rebekah Savage | October 30, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Faith, Gratitude, Joy, Transformation, Worship
  • In the foreground there is a mostly leafless sapling, standing in a field of brown grass. In the distance, at the far edges of the field, there much larger trees, still with green leaves.
    Justice is our prayer. We affirm in covenant with the Beloved Community that is possible.
    Opening | By Rebekah Savage | October 30, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Community, Equity, Growth, Interdependence, Justice, Patience, Worship
  • A Black person's hands, cupped together, hold a polished, red heart-shaped stone.
    “What is the most loving, life-affirming choice I can make in response to life’s circumstances?”
    Reflection | By Takiyah Nur Amin | October 30, 2024 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Anti-Oppression, Conscience, Contemplation, Direct Experience, Discernment, God, Interfaith, Living Our Faith, Love, Power, Self-Respect, Spirituality, Worship
  • A murmuration of birds, seen from a distance. The birds form a black cloud of varying density, seen against a sky streaked with clouds. The clouds near the horizon show a touch of red from the rising or setting sun.
    May our time together honor all the hopes we hold within; may our time together bless us with the gifts of inspiration, comfort and renewal.
    Opening | By Rebekah Savage | October 29, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Community, Creativity, Growth, Home, Hope, Peace, Purpose, Strength, Wholeness, Worship
  • A black-and-white photograph of a white man sitting on a bench outside of a building, wearing sneakers, black pants, and a warm cloth coat. The man’s head is bent down, his forearms rest on his knees, and his hands are clasped between his knees. It looks as though he is troubled, or lost in thought.
    Figuring out the why doesn’t really help me. My work is to figure out the how.
    Reading | By Karen Brigid Taliesin | October 29, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Acceptance, Challenge, God, Living Our Faith, Meaning, Pain, Spirituality, Worship
  • Several arms and hands with different skin tones are intertwined and connected.
    Originally designed for the Safety Conference Threats from Without, Care from Within, this short worship service recording offers a time of refuge and centering during troubled times. View it alone or as a group.
    Sermon, Video | By Rosemary Bray McNatt, Mariela Pérez-Simons, Jules Taylor | October 23, 2024 (reviewed November 2024) | From WorshipLab
    Tagged as: Congregational Action, Resilience, Trauma, Worship
  • Two hikers wearing backpacks, seen from behind, hiking on a path in the woods.
    Only when my knowledge is combined with uncountable others does Truth emerge.
    Reflection | By JD Stillwater | October 23, 2024 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Worship
  • A woman cups her forehead in her hand, as if crying. She holds a coffee mug in the other hand. In front of her, on a lap desk, is an open journal and a lit candle.
    After the shattering, all that remains is another ordinary day.
    Reflection | By Donna Moriarty | October 16, 2024 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Brokenness, Despair, Direct Experience, Disaster or Crisis, Grief, Healing, Hope, Parents, Purpose, Sorrow, Spirituality, Strength, Worship
  • A map of the world from 1862, drawn using the Mercator projection. The oceans are shown in off-white, while the nations of the world are colored in pale shades of blue, red, and pink, as well as white.
    I don’t want a smoothed-out, disproportionately aggrandized faith that attempts to draw all comers to its one self-righteous place at the top of the map of humanity… Instead, I want an imaginative and wandering faith of holy cartographers…
    Reading | By Teresa Honey Youngblood | October 15, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Compassion, Connections, Diversity, Inclusion, Listening, Living Our Faith, Resilience, Transformation, Worship
  • A tree with a large reddish-brown trunk and many branches, whose green leaves create a canopy that covers the sky from our perspective. A portion of another large tree can be seen to the left. The lighting seems to make the tree and the ground at its feet glow.
    When your mind is silent… the forest suddenly becomes magnificently real and blazes transparently with the Reality of God.
    Quote | By Thomas Merton | October 15, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Contemplation, Immanence, Mindfulness, Nature, Sacred, Silence, Worship