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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George: This is Angel Gabriel of KGOD airwaves, coming to you live from the downtown mall in Bethlehem. The air is positively solar as frenzied shoppers scurry from store to store, their camels and donkeys weighted down with purchases. The beasts bawl. There are only, count ‘em and weep shoppers,...Story | By Lois Van Leer | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Christianity, Hanukkah, Judaism, Kwanzaa, Multiculturalism, Multiculturalism, Paganism, Winter Solstice / Yule -
Since the economy is in a kind of black hole, I was interested to read that researchers using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope have traced the building blocks of the universe back one more step and it leads to the massive black holes in space. We know that the Earth did not spring out of thin air...Reading | By Burton D. Carley | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Awe, Joy, Purpose
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May your journey know joy and contentment and satisfaction.Meditation | By Dana E Worsnop | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Coming of Age
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Leader (L): When there was a need, you came forward. Congregation (C): And so we thank you. L: In the nighttime or daytime, on weekends and even in the coldest, darkest part of the year, you helped. C: And so we thank you....Reading | By Jay Libby | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Service
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Setting ourselves to the task of Greening our Congregation, together we promise these things: Most simply, we will each do our small part to care for the earth around us. We will start with one step forward toward the thriving world that we envision....Reading | By Molly Housh | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Climate Change, Climate Justice, Earth, Earth-Centered, Environment, Ethics, Purpose, Unitarian Universalism
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We light this chalice, spark of the original fire of creation, to remind us that we all on this planet—the furred, the feathered, the finned, and the scaled, along with us featherless bipeds—we are all made of the same star-stuff and all share a common destiny. We all share the same hopes of a...Chalice Lighting | By Mark Causey | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Animals, Climate Justice, Compassion, Diversity, Earth, Earth-Centered, Equity, Ethics, Interdependence, Nature, Relationships, Unitarian Universalism -
Recorded music (e.g., Mozart's Requiem; Arvo Pårt's Lamentate) will be playing as the background. Spoken introduction as people prepare to walk in silence: Let us open our minds and hearts to the power of healing that is in us and in the world around us....Ritual | By Melanie Morel-Ensminger | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Christianity, Climate Justice, Disaster or Crisis, Earth, Environment, Grief, Transformation, Unitarian Universalism, Wholeness
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...[H]ow we eat is not an isolated issue. While we would like to think, and often do think, with our independent human personalities, that what we eat is our own business, the truth is that what I eat, what you eat, has further reaching consequences than merely staying alive and being healthy. In...Sermon | By Alison Wohler | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Animals, Food, Food Justice, Nature, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Responsibility
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A meat eater comes up to a vegan: “Did you hear about the new study saying vegans are more likely to go blind? I guess it’s because you don’t get the proper nutrition.” The vegan replied, “Nah, it’s just from reading all of those tiny ingredient lists.” Vegans (vegetarians who don’t...Sermon | By LoraKim Joyner | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Animals, Compassion, Food, Food Justice, Responsibility
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Working to feed the hungry and obtain adequate food for poor people in our society has long been central to my own justice and service work. When I was in high school, I spent many weekends volunteering with a group called Youth Service Opportunities Project....Sermon | By Michael J. Tino | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Abundance, Body, Direct Experience, Earth, Food, Food Justice, Unitarian Universalism
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...Our spiritual connection to the food we eat has...been harmed by a modern culture in which over-processed foods are so ubiquitous that we have ceased to think about foods in their whole forms any more. ...Michael Pollan writes, “Try this: Don’t eat anything your great-great-grandmother...Sermon | By Michael J. Tino | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Animals, Earth, Food, Food Justice, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Responsibility
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I grew up on my family farm in the southern part of Illinois. There was nothing about it that was a golden age. And I’m NOT nostalgic about the good old days. I don’t like carrying water from the well out back. I don’t like going to an outhouse at 4 a.m. in the snow. I don’t like the wasps...Reading | By David Breeden | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Animals, Food, Food Justice, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Respect, Responsibility, Unitarian Universalism
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There I was, at the "Big Question:" What is my relationship to the creatures on this earth, and to the earth itself? Are they, is it, here for me, or am I a part of it? How far does the interdependent web extend, and do I really believe that all of us are intimately connected with all of existence?Homily | By Peter Friedrichs | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Challenge, Earth, Environment, Food, Food Justice, Prophetic Words & Deeds
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...For the affluent, sitting down to a dinner derived from perhaps twenty-five different food sources is taken for granted...Filling the plate and eating and drinking to fullness is a social event, an opportunity to admire the art before you, to pay your respects by consuming it....Homily | By Meri Gibb | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Animals, Food, Food Justice, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Responsibility, Spiritual Practice
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What you choose to eat is important to both parts of how you live out the mission of our congregation—transforming your life and caring for the earth. ...How many of you have heard that “an apple a day keeps the doctor away?” Apples (and other fresh fruits) are healthy foods, and eating them...Homily | By Duane H. Fickeisen | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Direct Experience, Earth, Food, Food Justice, Justice Sunday, Responsibility
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On a deeper level, do we consider what we are eating and whether its origins are compatible with our personal values? Since the beginning of time, dietary practices have been incorporated into the religious practices of humanity....Reading | By Gerri Kennedy | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Animals, Body, Ethics, Food Justice, Nature, Prophetic Words & Deeds
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I [do not] mean to present myself as some kind of bodhisattva of compassion. However, in my better moments—at least in my more conscious moments—while I’m eating, I do try to imagine the lives and even the deaths of the creatures who nourish me. I try to think of the freedom and exhilaration...Reading | By Lillian Nye | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Activism, Animals, Body, Earth Day, Ethics, Food, Food Justice, Nature, Thanksgiving, Unitarian Universalism, Work -
To me democracy is an exciting, living practice, what we do every day. To most democracy doesn’t relate to our daily lives and it sure isn’t much fun. I now see that to engage in democracy, to jump into this living practice we all need something tangible to act on... Because food is our most...Quote | By Frances Moore Lappe | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Commitment, Democracy, Direct Experience, Food, Food Justice, Meaning
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Moses was a rancher. Long before he became a famous Biblical patriarch who led his people to freedom from slavery, he was a simple rancher. And this simple rancher was tending his flock on the side of a mountain one day circa 1527 BCE, when he came upon a small forest fire—a burning bush. He was...Sermon | By Ana Porter | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Conscience, Earth, Food, Food Justice, Living Our Faith, Money
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To water in excelsis. In vino veritas. As the Son of Man (or, Jesus) came eating and drinking and made friends with the people of the earth regardless of social distinction or class, let us strive to do likewise in our own eating and drinking, thinking and speaking, living and acting....Closing | By Richard M Fewkes | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Christianity, Community, Earth, Food, Food Justice, Friendship, Gratitude