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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We who gather here In this tender and anxious and confusing time We have been awash in a sea of information And misinformation and disinformation and this information that we seek is simply so that we May make wise decisions about how we respond And learn how we hold one another when we can’t hol...Opening | By Rod Richards | March 19, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: #COVID19, Community, Interdependence, Seven Principles -
Many Unitarian Universalist congregations and communities are choosing to livestream their worship services during the pandemic so that members can connect to their faith community at a familiar time. Creating online worship—whether it's live or recorded—involves a series of learning curves,...Webinar | By Erika Hewitt | March 18, 2020 | From WorshipLabTagged as: #COVID19 -
Years ago, I did one of those mud run obstacle races. There were eight physical obstacles on the course, but my biggest learning was that we all had a ninth obstacle.Reflection | By Laura Solomon | March 18, 2020 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: #COVID19, Community, Compassion, Disaster or Crisis, Fear, Relationships, Self-Care -
What if you thought of it as the Jews consider the Sabbath— the most sacred of times? Cease from travel. Cease from buying and selling. Give up, just for now, on trying to make the world different than it is. Sing. Pray. Touch only those to whom you commit your life. Center down. And when your...Poetry | By Lynn Ungar | March 17, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: #COVID19, Body, Contemplation, Direct Experience, Healing, Judaism, Sacred, Wisdom -
We gather in this time of uncertainty, full of unknowns, as angst closes in upon us. We light this chalice with a flame that draws us together. With this flame, we cut through the dankness of isolation and are warmed by the fires of our interconnection....Chalice Lighting | By Amy Williams Clark | March 16, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: #COVID19, Community -
Our community knows no boundaries. We are not confined by the physical limits of walls Or, for that matter, Of what often Binds us, restricts us Holds us back. We are free-er than we know When we release ourselves And each other From expectations Of what is needed For true community. We are here...Chalice Lighting | By Nancy Reid-McKee | March 14, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: #COVID19, Community -
In this community, we hold hope close. We don’t always know what comes next, but that cannot dissuade us. We don’t always know just what to do, but that will not mean that we are lost in the wilderness. We rely on the certainty beneath, the foundation of our values and ethics. —Rev. Theresa I.Reflection | By Erika Hewitt | March 11, 2020 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: #COVID19, 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Caring, Community, Direct Experience, Disaster or Crisis, Fear, Humanism, Interdependence, Leadership, Relationships, Responsibility, Secular -
The tree stood in the middle of the village. Its trunk was so large that it took six people holding hands to reach around it. The roots were strong and wide, and its branches spread out over the village square, offering shelter from the rain, or shade from the summer sun....Story | By Lynn Gardner | March 4, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Abundance, Canvass/Pledge, Caring, Commitment, Earth-Centered, Generosity, Humanism, Interdependence, Nature, Stewardship -
“Trauma is not what happens to us, but what we hold inside in the absence of an empathetic witness.”...Quote | By Peter A. Levine | March 4, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Brokenness, Direct Experience, Empathy, Healing, Humanism, Secular, Self-Care, Self-Respect, Trauma -
So much held in a heart in a lifetime. So much held in a heart in a day, an hour, a moment. We are utterly open with no one, in the end—not mother and father, not wife or husband, not lover, not child, not friend. We open windows to each but we live alone in the house of the heart. Perhaps we...Quote | By Brian Doyle | March 4, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Brokenness, Healing, Love, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Relationships, Vulnerability
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We all have our foibles; pieces of ourselves that we both admire and occasionally revile. These gifts and struggles exist in tandem.Reflection | By Alix Klingenberg | March 4, 2020 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Acceptance, Body, Compassion, Direct Experience, Discernment, Self-Care, Self-Respect -
an original retelling Daedalus was a brilliant inventor, and he had made a career, even a legend of himself for being able to create the seemingly impossible. So when he decided to escape from his tower prison by flying over the ocean like a bird, his son, Icarus, had no doubt he would do it. It...Story | By Erica Shadowsong | March 4, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Children, Conscience, Courage, Creativity, Freedom, Humility, Individualism, Parents, Searching -
In 1919, Henry Hallam Saunderson, minister of the First Parish Church (Unitarian) of Brighton (MA), decided to create “wayside sermons,” liberal messages that would make people stop, read, and search their conscience.Leader Resource | March 3, 2020 | From WorshipLab -
How might Unitarian Universalists acknowledge the sacred sources of people's water, in the annual Water Ceremony, without creating a parade of privilege and/or centering the ritual around an open mic?Leader Resource | March 3, 2020 | From WorshipLabTagged as: Water Communion -
If God’s name is love, then God compels us to resist the fall to sinful violence by pushing back with muscular resolve against the social structures that confine our capacity to care. A universalist God for a tragic era is not a gauzy, hymn-singing force of personal devotion that draws us...Quote | By Nancy McDonald Ladd | February 29, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), Anti-Oppression, Commitment, God, Living Our Faith, Purpose, Responsibility, Universalism -
Vibrant, thriving congregations arise from a meaningful worship life—which is based on the presence & energy that its leaders bring to worship. In this post, we’ll explore practices and skills that empower worship leaders to strengthen and deepen worship. Beginning Assumptions When people are in...Leader Resource | By Erika Hewitt | February 26, 2020 | From WorshipLab -
Worship planning is an act of hospitality. ...Leader Resource | February 26, 2020 | From WorshipLabTagged as: Hospitality, Relationships -
Stories are a powerful tool in worship, especially multigenerational worship.Leader Resource | February 26, 2020 | From WorshipLab -
Sermon sparks are brief teasers of sermons that have been written and delivered by UU clergy.Leader Resource | February 26, 2020 | From WorshipLab -
Before I birthed my baby, he was a possibility, a kick against my insides. With that first cry, first breath, he became a person in the world.Reflection | By Caitlin Cotter Coillberg | February 26, 2020 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Beginnings, Birth, Body, Children, Death, Direct Experience, Family, Grief, Mothers, Sacred