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.
Search Words for Worship Services
Displaying 2021 – 2040 of 3317
Changing a filter will refresh results (and remaining options) immediately. Searching by keyword requires use of the "Search" button.
-
Like those shepherds who were on the hillsides with their flocks, like those wise ones in their observatories with their telescopes and astronomical charts, we find our daily work interrupted by these holidays. Like them, we can’t keep on working, we have to listen to singing angels, we have to...Meditation | By Mary Wellemeyer | May 13, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Advent, Awe, Beginnings, Calling, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Journey, Searching, Vision, Work -
We invite each of you to take a deep breath into the present moment, and, realizing that not everyone will have the functions to enter into all of these movements, but grateful for the skills that we do have, we invite you, as you are willing and able, to participate in this interactive meditation.Meditation | By Claudene (Deane) Oliva | May 12, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Beauty, Body, Children, Children's / Religious Education Sunday, Direct Experience, Gratitude, Humanism, Meditation Practices, Mindfulness, Nature, Prayer Practices, Wholeness, Youth Sunday -
I’m going to talk about something really powerful today: HOPE. And first, I have a question. Have you ever hoped for something? … and did the thing you hoped for happen? [Take responses.] I think that hope is kinda like these: [Pass around basket of acorns and invite children to take one to hold...Time for All Ages | By Martha Dallas | May 12, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Autumnal Equinox, Caring, Change, Direct Experience, Earth-Centered, Growth, Hope, Lammas, Self-Care, Summer Solstice, Transformation, Vernal Equinox -
Who here has to go through their clothes sometimes, say every year or so? Maybe it’s something your parents make you do…. [ask for a show of hands] So I’m wondering: How do you decide what to keep and what to get rid of? [Take responses. If needed, suggest ones such as: Does it fit? Is it all...Time for All Ages | By Martha Dallas | May 12, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Change, Generations, Growth, Searching, Truth -
This was created as a Message for All Ages for a service honoring Yom Ha’Shoah, the Jewish holiday for Holocaust Remembrance. In 2016, Yom Ha'Shoah begins on the evening of Wednesday, May 4th and ends on the evening of Thursday, May 5th. Once there was a place that was very bleak and dreary. All...Time for All Ages | By Martha Dallas | May 12, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Beauty, Connections, Direct Experience, Food, Generosity, History, Holocaust Remembrance / Yom Ha'Shoah, Hope, Judaism, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Secular -
Imagine with me for a moment, things that you love about life, things that you love about being alive. What do you love about life, and about being alive in it? [Pause a few moments to allow reflection time.] And now, if some of you sitting here up front are comfortable sharing, tell us what you...Time for All Ages | By Martha Dallas | May 12, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Awe, Balance, Body, Direct Experience, Interdependence, Playfulness -
This children's worship activity relies on the use of objects that you'll have to assemble. Its author used Quarto! game pieces (shown in the accompanying picture)....Complete Service | By Martha Dallas | May 12, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Children's Sabbath, Direct Experience, Diversity, Division, Inclusion, Interdependence, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Unity, Worship Tips -
Who here knows from experience that life is not fair? [Show of hands.] We know this, don’t we? Life is just not fair. And I really don’t think it ever has been. But what can we do? We generally just shrug and accept it: it’s not fair. But there was once a man who refused to just shrug off the...Time for All Ages | By Martha Dallas | May 12, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Anti-Oppression, Christianity, Compassion, Easter, Equity, Justice, Justice Sunday, Service, Seven Principles -
Have you ever wondered how it came to be that churches are known as places where you can get a helping hand when you need one? It seems to me that a key source of the charitable nature of churches goes all the way back to the time of Jesus. You see, in the society in which Jesus lived—in his time...Time for All Ages | By Martha Dallas | May 12, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Activism, Caring, Christianity, Compassion, Easter, Inclusion, Justice Sunday, Living Our Faith, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Service -
Imagine with me that you’re going along a trail in the woods in Vermont and you come across a steep gorge with a river rushing at the bottom. There is only one way to get across. You see a bridge and it’s made of… this: [show basket of grass… long overgrown grass, and pass it around so kids...Time for All Ages | By Martha Dallas | May 12, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 5th Principle (Conscience & Democracy), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Community, Direct Experience, Interdependence, Solidarity, Teamwork, Unity -
Today, the congregation will be singing hymns from our hymnals which are particularly precious to us as Unitarian Universalists. But today, being the last Sunday in February, is also part of Black History Month....Time for All Ages | By Martha Dallas | May 12, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), Anti-Oppression, Arts & Music, Black History / Whitney Young / James Reeb, Direct Experience, Freedom, Juneteenth, Justice Sunday, Martin Luther King, Jr. Sunday, Oppression, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Race/Ethnicity, Six Sources
-
The first time I ever played “Taps” was at summer camp when I was ten years old. That was the year I started playing trumpet, so I can only imagine how it sounded. I know there was no way that I could have hit the high note near the end. The first time I played Taps in honor of those who died...Reading | By Paul S Sawyer | May 11, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), America, Death, Direct Experience, Grief, History, Memorial Day, Military, Military Service, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Secular, Veterans Day, War -
This reflection was created for Choir Sunday, an annual tradition at the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Burlington, Vermont. You can adapt the language as suitable for you....Time for All Ages | By Martha Dallas | May 11, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Arts & Music, History, International, Music Sunday, Unitarian Universalism, Unitarianism -
Spirit of Life, Today, the advertising tells us what to buy for mom, instead help us listen to and honor the deeper voices. Today, let us honor all of those who have made this world possible for us. Those who did the hard work of building a better world for future generations. Today, let us honor...Prayer | By Evin Carvill Ziemer | May 7, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Children, Direct Experience, Family, Fathers, Generations, Humanism, Mother's Day, Mothers, Parents, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Relationships -
Text from "Love Will Guide Us," by Sally Rogers, #131, http://www.uuabookstore.org/Singing-the-Living-Tradition-Hymnal-P16918… the Living Tradition.Image | By Ellen Rockett | May 7, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Commitment, Community, Humanism, Love, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Seven Principles, Strength, Unitarian Universalism, Unity -
Creative spirit, source of life and love: We give thanks for the beauty of this day and for the company of those assembled here. Thank you for the breezes of change, clearing our heads and bringing fresh ideas. May they cleanse our minds of the oppressions and isms that divide us....Prayer | By Lyn Cox | May 7, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Anti-Oppression, Beauty, Change, Christianity, Creativity, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Gratitude, Judaism, May Day / Beltane, Nature -
When my youngest daughter was about two years old she came across a tattered paperback on our bookshelves, Ten Thousand Baby Names, and for a little while this was her favorite book. Drawn by the shining face of the baby on the cover, she brought it to me over and over and demanded that I read...Meditation | By Kathleen McTigue | May 6, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Birth, Children, Death, Direct Experience, Fathers, Identity, Love, Memorial Day, Mother's Day, Mothers, Parents, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Relationships -
Holidays are complicated, especially the ones named after roles. Human relationships are messy, including relationships with people who are honored by holidays. For a lot of people, Father’s Day brings up feelings of grief for fathers who were lost, or who couldn’t be there, or who chose not to...Prayer | By Lyn Cox | May 6, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Direct Experience, Family, Father's Day, Fathers, Forgiveness, Healing, Humanism, Men, Parents, Relationships -
What if when I light the chalice, you hear an invitation to welcome gratitude for the earth? This week, as I got ready to light the chalice, my family talked about blessings from this planet. Here is my list: [list 3-7 things] And now, with this flame of hope shedding light in your heart: what is...Chalice Lighting | By Karen G. Johnston | May 6, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Animals, Children, Earth, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Environment, Gratitude, Nature, Unitarian Universalism -
Among Star Wars afficianados, May 4th is recognized as a special day. This "May the Fourth" invocation was written by Tori Jameson with help from Earl Rogers, Kevin Mann, and Cyn Burnelle. Please use it in worship as responsibly as a Jedi uses a lightsaber. Leader: May the force be with you!Invocation | By Tori Jameson | May 4, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Community, History, Playfulness, Secular