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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Image | By Maryah Converse | December 10, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Anti-Oppression, Caring, Compassion, Hospitality, Immigration, International, Islam, Justice, Relationships -
Image | By Maryah Converse | December 10, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Caring, Community, Hospitality, Islam -
Image | By Maryah Converse | December 10, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Anti-Oppression, Caring, Compassion, Hospitality, Immigration, International, Islam, Justice, Seven Principles -
Image | By Maryah Converse | December 10, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Caring, Hospitality, Islam -
Image | By Maryah Converse | December 9, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: America, Anti-Oppression, Compassion, Hospitality, Immigration, International, Islam, Justice -
To the Weaver of Molecules, the Spinner of Stars the Impulse that gives birth to the Universe, to the Earth, to Me In the deepest, darkest night of my wintered soul I wrap myself in the blanket of my sadness and grief, pain and suffering, doubts and concerns, fears and questions, and look out fro...Meditation | By Cynthia Frado | December 8, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Agnosticism, Depression, Direct Experience, Growth, Healing, Imbolc / Brighid's Day / Candlemas, Indigenous American, Meditation Practices, Mourning, Sadness, Secular, Transcendence, Transformation, Trust, Twelfth Night / Epiphany, Unitarian Universalism, Winter Solstice / Yule -
We are called today, from the midst of pain and challenge, we are called to praise the world. From a world that appears broken, we are called to praise life’s moments of joy and grace. From time that seems to freeze in ongoing exchanges of platitudes and blame, we are called to reach out to those...Opening | By Maureen Killoran | December 8, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 6th Principle (World Community), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Community, Direct Experience, Grief, Healing, Justice, Pain
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Image | By Maryah Converse | December 8, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Acceptance, America, Anti-Oppression, Compassion, Immigration, Justice, Multiculturalism -
Image | By Jennie Freiberger | December 8, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Identity, Living Our Faith, Seven Principles, Unitarian Universalism -
Image | By Maryah Converse | December 8, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 6th Principle (World Community), America, Compassion, Immigration, Inclusion, Interdependence, Justice -
In a world so filled with brokenness and sorrow It would be easy to lose ourselves in never ending grief, To be choked by our outrage To be paralyzed by the enormity of suffering, To feel our hearts squeeze tight with hopelessness....Meditation | By Alice Anacheka-Nasemann | December 8, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 6th Principle (World Community), Brokenness, Despair, Hiroshima Day, Hope, Justice, Justice Sunday, Love, Meditation Practices, Peace, Terrorism -
Creator of Life, Source of All Being It was from the particles of the Universe that you formed me... Iron and carbon and phosphorous Mixed with energy, passion and dreams. I was made in your image, says ancient Scripture. Made from the colors of the rainbow, Shaped with bones straight and curved,...Meditation | By Cynthia Frado | December 8, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Atheism, Coming of Age, Connections, Direct Experience, Diversity, God, Homecoming / Ingathering, Identity, Inclusion, Individualism, Integrity, National Coming Out Day, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Reverence, Secular, Transgender Day of Remembrance, Unitarian Universalism, United Nations Day -
Image | By Maryah Converse | December 8, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Acceptance, America, Anti-Oppression, Immigration, Inclusion -
I want to say to all those who would close the door, who would be guided by fear instead of hope, who would clutch in scarcity rather than live in generosity, who would say “No, you can’t come here”— I want to say: How dare you. For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, . .Reading | By Matthew Johnson | December 7, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Acceptance, America, Anti-Oppression, Christianity, Direct Experience, Immigration, Inclusion, Justice, Secular -
In eighth grade, we were assigned a project: to make a poster about some part of our ancestry. I made mine about the story of the 1930 migration, from Germany to the United States, of my great-grandmother, her husband, and their three children. My great-grandmother, Emma Johanna Jacoba Kranenburg...Reading | By Matthew Johnson | December 7, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Acceptance, America, Anti-Oppression, Direct Experience, Family, Generations, Immigration, Inclusion, Multiculturalism, Prophetic Words & Deeds -
This prayer was written to accompany the Advent hymn "People, Look East," #226 in Singing the Living Tradition. Spirit of the Living God, turn our faces to the East to look for your presence. Turn our faces in any and every direction from which you draw near to us....Prayer | By Fr. Austin Fleming | December 7, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Advent, Awe, Immanence, Transcendence, Wonder -
Note: this reflection was written at the end of Rev. Janis-Dillon's week in Samos, Greece working in a Syrian refugee center. The people of Samos, Greece have done something that sounds ordinary, only it's not: they have treated the Syrian refugees like human beings. Past the terror of the rubber...Reading | By Bob Janis-Dillon | December 6, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 6th Principle (World Community), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Anti-Oppression, Compassion, Dignity, Human Rights, Immigration -
We hear it said we are witnessing a “clash of civilizations.” We hear it from presidential candidates, from right-wing talk radio pundits, from white supremacist, nationalist and terrorist organizations. They say we live in the midst of a “clash of civilizations.” This is the first great lie...Reading | By Joshua Mason Pawelek | December 6, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), America, Direct Experience, Immigration, Inclusion, International, Justice -
A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more. ~ Matthew 2:18 I read those words aloud from the pulpit once a year, on Christmas Eve: a night when we celebrate the birth of hope and possibility and...Meditation | By Lisa Doege | December 3, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), Advent, Birth, Brokenness, Children, Christianity, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Hope, Judaism, Parents, Peace, Violence
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For many reasons, people depart. They leave home—or the places given to them, in place of home that might’ve been lost to war—and seek refuge from a thousand dangers and uncertainties. For many reasons—many of them inconceivable to us, who live in relative peace and prosperity—people...Reading | By Erika Hewitt | December 3, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Acceptance, America, Anti-Oppression, Compassion, Immigration, Journey