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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From arrogance, pompousness, and thinking ourselves more important than we are, may some saving sense of humor liberate us. For allowing ourselves to ridicule the faith of others, may we be forgiven....Prayer | By Harry Meserve | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Brokenness, Challenge, Humility, Purpose, Searching, Unitarian Universalism -
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but find no rest.Quote | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Despair, Hope, Pain, Suffering
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Do not take life—which God has made sacred—except for just cause. And if anyone is slain wrongfully, we have given his heir authority to demand retribution; but let him not exceed bounds in the matter of taking life, for he is helped by the law. —Al-Isra, 17.33...Quote | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Anger, Caring, Islam, Multiculturalism, Peace, Wisdom
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My soul is deprived of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is. Lamentations is a book in the Hebrew (Old) Testaament, written around or after 586 BCE.Quote | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Depression, Despair, Ending, Judaism, Sorrow
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Out of the depths I cry: Who will hear my voice? Out of the pain I cry: Who will make space for my living and my dying? Out of the years I cry: Who will remember? Who will remember? My soul awaits: More than those who watch for the morning. More than those who watch for the morning. —inspired by...Quote | By Marjorie Bowens-Wheatley | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Christianity, Death, Despair, Listening, Meaning, Pain, Searching, Unitarian Universalism, Wonder
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Even when the gates of heaven are shut to prayer, they are open to tears.Quote | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Despair, God, Judaism, Pain
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Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is sadness, joy; where there is darkness, light....Prayer | By St. Francis of Assisi | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Balance, Christianity, Despair, Forgiveness, God, Healing, Peace, Wholeness
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In addition to the traditional concept of true commitment that means you are willing to die for what you think is right, make equal space for the womanly concept of commitment that means you are willing to live for what you believe. June Jordan (1936-2002) was an African-American poet, activist,...Quote | By June Jordan | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), America, Belief, Commitment, Meaning, Purpose, Secular, Women
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[And now], since the struggle deepens, since evil abides, and good does not yet prosper, Let us gather what strength we have, what confidence and valor that our small victories may end in triumph, and the world awaited be a world attained.Benediction | By Barrow Dunham | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Acceptance, Activism, Commitment, Hope, Strength
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To worship God is nothing other than to serve the people. It does not need rosaries, prayer carpets, or robes. All peoples are members of the same body, created from one essence. If fate brings suffering to one member The others cannot stay at rest.Reading | By Saadi Shirazi | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Compassion, Connections, God, Islam, Solidarity, Suffering, Unity
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Cherish your doubts, for doubt is the attendant of truth. Doubt is the key to the door of knowledge; it is the servant of discovery. A belief which may not be questioned binds us to error, for there is incompleteness and imperfection in every belief....Responsive Reading | By Robert T Weston | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Doubt, Faith, Searching, Truth, Wonder
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We kindle this flame as a symbol of the light we would keep glowing in our lives: of appreciation for those who differ, loving kindness for those who suffer, esteem for all who remind us of our heritage and calling as agents of the Most High.Chalice Lighting | By Philip Randall Giles | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Calling, Kindness, Purpose, Sacred, Searching, Unitarian Universalism
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I am afraid of nearly everything: of darkness, hunger, war, children mutilated. But most of all, I am afraid of what I might become: reconciled to injustice, resigned to fear and despair, lulled into a life of apathy. Unchain my hope, make me strong. Stretch me towards the impossible, that I may...Meditation | By Anonymous | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), 6th Principle (World Community), Commitment, Justice, Meaning, Purpose, Service
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I feel the suffering of millions. And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that everything will change for the better, that cruelty too will end, that peace and tranquility will return once more.Quote | By Anne Frank | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Brokenness, History, Hope, Suffering, Transcendence
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My heart is moved by all I cannot save: so much has been destroyed I have to cast my lot with those who age after age, perversely, with no extraordinary power, reconstitute the world. #463, Singing the Living Tradition Original source: From Dream of a Common Language (1978)...Reading | By Adrienne Rich | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Disaster, Disaster or Crisis, Healing, Limitations, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Responsibility, Salvation, Solidarity, Stewardship, Transformation -
Some beliefs are like walled gardens. They encourage exclusiveness, and the feeling of being especially privileged. Other beliefs are expansive and lead the way into wider and deeper sympathies. Some beliefs are like shadows, clouding children's days and fears of unknown calamities. Other beliefs...Reading | By Sophia Lyon Fahs | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Belief, Division, Doubt, Faith, Growth, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Unitarianism
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In a world with so much hatred and violence, We need a religion that proclaims the inherent worth and dignity of every person. In a world with so much brutality and fear, We need a religion that seeks justice, equity, and compassion in human relations . In a world with so many persons abused and...Responsive Reading | By Scott W. Alexander | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Identity, Purpose, Seven Principles, Unitarian Universalism, Unity, Vision
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We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied to a single garment of destiny. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. There are some things in our social system to which all of us ought to be maladjusted....Reading | By Martin Luther King, Jr. | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), Black History / Whitney Young / James Reeb, Interdependence, Juneteenth, Justice Sunday, Love, Martin Luther King, Jr. Sunday, Multiculturalism, Peace, Power
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The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish truth....Reading | By Martin Luther King, Jr. | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Black History / Whitney Young / James Reeb, Christianity, Commitment, Dignity, Justice, Justice Sunday, Love, Martin Luther King, Jr. Sunday, Seven Principles, Unitarian Universalism, Violence -
The more we try to say precisely what is in our hearts, the more we find that we are speaking for multitudes of strangers the world over. The deeper we get down to our own fundamentals, the more deeply we represent those of other people. Like all human beings, I live on borrowed time....Reading | By Jack Mendelsohn | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Death, Meaning, Mystery, Purpose, Seven Principles, Unitarian Universalism, Wholeness