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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Source of life and death, ground of all being, Spirit of our spirits, whose we are in life and in death—Life itself is the great mystery and death a part of it. In truth we know not the one nor the other. We live and die in the mystery of being from moment to moment till at the end we merge with...Prayer | By Richard M Fewkes | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Connections, Death, Gratitude, Mystery, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Reverence, Unitarian Universalism -
Spirit of life—mysterious power in all creation—we gather before you now as countless others have stood asking that you make yourself known to us. Let us find you in the glories and wonders of the world and in moments of great joy and ecstasy. But most of all, let us find you in the commonplace:...Meditation | By Andrew C Backus | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Awe, Connections, Growth, Mystery, Revelation, Transcendence -
Spirit of Life, Known to us in many ways, but so often, in so many cultures, in the image of a mother, Hold us in your arms this day. Let all that we value and all that we hold dear in the images of motherhood we carry be our guide. We are grateful for all the parents that share the community of...Meditation | By Wayne B. Arnason | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Mother's Day
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Spirit of kindness and compassion, we come from different places to this sacred ground of communal caring. We are enriched by the company of each other, and are drawn closer to the heart of love in this time of service. Touch this gathering with tenderness so that we may be refreshed anew by the...Blessing | By Nancee Campbell | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Caring, Community, Compassion, Courage, Fear, Grace, Kindness, Love, Sacred, Unitarian Universalism, Vulnerability
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Spirit of Justice,God who befriends those who stand upon the constant edges of decision,-- crucial and aloneWe are grateful to be together this morning.We gather especially to remember Dr. Martin Luther King Jr....Meditation | By Kathleen Rolenz | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Martin Luther King, Jr. Sunday
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Spirit of creative good, be with us when we are afraid. Grant us the courage to do what we have to do. Grant us the peace that passes understanding. When we fail to find courage, or peace, May we find compassion for our brothers and sisters who also fail. May we sometimes win the prizes that we...Prayer | By Virginia P Knowles | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Aging, Compassion, Courage, Failure, Faith, Unitarian Universalism
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Loving God, We gather today in humility, Awed by the stone rolled back; And the surprise of the empty tomb. We gather in defiance Of the pain and the injustice that came before; And of the pain and injustice that will likely come again. We gather in hope That life can begin anew; That our...Meditation | By Paul S Sawyer | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Awe, Birth, Christianity, Commitment, Easter
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Lord of all being, the longer I walk upon this great green earth the less do I understand my purpose in being here; the less am I able to fathom the reason of my birth and span of life....Prayer | By Michael A Schuler | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Awe, Faith, Peace, Purpose, Transcendence, Unitarian Universalism
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We pray: Live in me, Spirit of Life. We are alive Because others have lived And we all were born within homes we did not build. Live in me, Spirit of Life. Every one of us is alone No one can live a life but each self And we all will have made our choices before we die. Live in me, Spirit of Life.Litany | By Joel Miller | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Choice, Community, Meaning, Reverence, Trust, Vulnerability
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Welcome to all our siblings this morning. We enter into this half circle of diversity, Celebrating the ways that we upright walking two-legged wanderers share With the four-leggeds lounging, lunging and leaping among us, With Winged warblers, With slithering, sliding snaky beings, With circling...Opening | By Susan Karlson | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Animals -
Harpo: Hi there, I'm Harpo the harbor seal. I come back each year and more and more of my friends join me to hang out in Staten Island waters. I'm glad to be invited here to this gathering where you are bringing water from different places this morning....Story | By Susan Karlson | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Diversity
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Oh power of springtime, Spirit of green grasses and warm breezes; Goddess of creativity of birth of life renewed You sing all about us at this time. The birds call your sacred name. Buds burst forth with your vestment....Prayer | By George A Tyger | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Awe, Body, Direct Experience, Earth, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Grace, Nature, Vernal Equinox -
Oh God of many moments, of night gliding into day, and day seeping into night, of infant milky sleeping breaths and wrinkled, crinkled aging eyes, of the starting beauty of sunlight gazed upon a tree and mournful moonlit vistas, call us from days of doing into instances of being, remind us of the...Meditation | By Tess Baumberger | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Awe, Body, Connections, God, Grace, Nature -
Oh Divine Spirit, healer of my hurts, consoler of my sorrows, vibrant light of happiness, birther of all life and gentle way of death, hear my prayer. I raise my heart to you as do the ancient redwoods, rooted in the ground, swaying in the wind....Meditation | By Tess Baumberger | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Awe, Body, Gratitude, Joy, Listening, Mystery, Presence, Unitarian Universalism, Worth
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Praise and thanks to you, divine source of comfort, of pleasure, of knowledge and of peace.Meditation | By Judy Welles | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Mother's Day, Spring -
No one is ever really ready for Christmas....Meditation | By Maureen Killoran | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Christianity, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Connections, Direct Experience, Love, Patience
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Let us pray to the God who holds us in the hollow of his hands -- to the God who holds us in the curve of her arms -- to the God whose flesh is the flesh of hills and hummingbirds and angleworms -- whose skin is the color of an old black woman and a young white man, and the color of the leopard a...Meditation | By Max A Coots | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Awe, God
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Infinite Spirit, sometimes called Grandfather, Grandmother —...Meditation | By Vern Barnet | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Indigenous American
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Indwelling God, who art infused throughout all existence, we hallow thee with many names. Thy Kingdom is within the human heart. We accept life for all that it can be, on earth as throughout all creation....Meditation | By Fred F Keip, Jr | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Christianity, Forgiveness, God, Immanence, Reverence, Sacred, Unity
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Incandescent, the bright autumn leaf clings to the branch, holding on to glory, then floats to the ground in its fine array—down to winter's snows and spring's muck and mold. Does it rant and rave into that good night?...Meditation | By John H Robinson, Jr | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Fall, Transformation