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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EARTH, clay from which we are made and to which we will return. Soil, rich and aromatic, crumbling in my fingers, dark under my nails. This, cleansing dirt, the natural filter for aquifers, holds life....Meditation | By David Snedden | April 5, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Beginnings, Climate Justice, Direct Experience, Earth, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Environment, Humanism, Imagination, Imbolc / Brighid's Day / Candlemas, Interdependence, Nature, Spring, Summer Solstice, Vernal Equinox -
One of the potential spiritual lessons of sports comes in its ability to connect people—to each other as well as to a team of strangers. Not too long ago, I was in a workshop in which we were discussing “peak experiences,” those mystical, transcendent experiences of what Abraham Maslow would...Reading | By Michael J. Tino | April 5, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Awe, Connections, Direct Experience, Personal Stories, Playfulness, Secular, Teamwork, Unity, Wonder -
This name now symbolizes all that you truly are and are becoming.Ritual | By Laura Bogle | April 5, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Acceptance, Body, Direct Experience, Gender, Identity, Inclusion, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Life Transition, Multiculturalism, Resilience, Transformation, Wholeness -
From night into day, From chill into warmth, From sleep into awakening, We open our hearts to the wonder of life, Born again.Prayer | By David M. Horst | April 5, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), Awe, Beauty, Beginnings, Direct Experience, Mystery, Wonder -
Early in the morning, before the children are awake and while the grass is still dewy, I like to walk in my garden. It’s “my” garden only because it shares the same small plot of land my family and I inhabit. The garden does not really belong to me; I belong to it—at least for the short time...Meditation | By David M. Horst | April 5, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Beauty, Contemplation, Direct Experience, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Flower Communion, Grace, Mystery, Nature, Spiritual Practice, Summer Solstice, Vernal Equinox, Wonder -
I wonder Did God’s heart (I mean the love-mushy, endearing part of God) That part The heart that I don’t really believe in as a thing, With pulses... ANYWAY Did that heart Did it Break just a little; When God realized "Oh no— They have made leaves into underpants!" If God says things like...Poetry | By Robin Tanner | April 4, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Body, God, Playfulness, Self-Respect, Sexuality, Shame, Wonder -
Within each of our hearts there is a most glorious light....Benediction | By James Morison | April 4, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Generosity, Healing, Hope, Humanism, Love, Secular, Strength, Unitarian Universalism, Wisdom, Worth -
For all those who celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, may this day be another affirmation of divine love and promise; For all those who see the eternal story of new spring and life beginning anew, may you breathe deeply of a season of promise and hope. For all who are experiencing despair or...Closing | By Alex Holt | April 4, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Acceptance, Beginnings, Christianity, Courage, Direct Experience, Easter, Hope -
Our Time for All Ages this morning is a time of make-believe. I’d like you to put your imagination caps on so that we can pretend together. Raise your hand if you've ever been to a baseball game. How many of you follow a team you think of as “your” team? Well, I have bad news. (Here’s the...Time for All Ages | By Erika Hewitt | April 2, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), 5th Principle (Conscience & Democracy), Belief, Choice, Courage, Generations, History, International, Living Our Faith, Partner Church Observation, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Psychology, Secular -
Dear Liberal Allies, You and I learned very different things in very different ways. If you didn’t live an experience, then step aside. We students of color, gay students, trans* students, children of immigrants and refugees knew this stuff before our professors told us what to call it....Reading | By Trungles | March 30, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Anti-Oppression, Direct Experience, Growth, Identity, Justice, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Multiculturalism, Personal Stories, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Race/Ethnicity, Solidarity, Suffering -
What do you do with the secret verses of your heart? With your need for redemption, the story without words? With paradoxical truths, too private and nuanced to share, that cannot be printed or spoken aloud? You weave their energy into a poem, carefully, carefully, over and under and through,...Meditation | By Angela Herrera | March 28, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Creativity, Direct Experience, Mystery, Searching, Spiritual Practice -
Spirit of spring and new life, spirit of decay and death, We turn to your wisdom and strength as we seek to live lives of meaning and love. The cycle of life is powerful. Everything that lives, dies. Everything that dies has lived. There is no escaping this cycle. What then, can we learn from its...Prayer | By Cathy Rion Starr | March 28, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Beauty, Community, Contemplation, Death, Earth, Earth-Centered, Easter, Growth, Spring, Vernal Equinox -
After the Hosannahs have all been shouted, After anguished moments in the garden have been spent, After “take this bread and eat, take this wine and drink,” After betrayal with a kiss, After hands washed and 39 lashes, After seven last words and “he breathed his last,” After crucifixion and...Litany | By Joshua Mason Pawelek | March 28, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Activism, Christianity, Commitment, Easter, Justice, Living Our Faith, Purpose, Secular, Solidarity -
In religious community, we share our joys and our triumphs, our sorrows and our broken places. In this circle of care, we make space for the complexity of life, the myriad experiences that bless and break our hearts....Affirmation | By Lisa Bovee-Kemper | March 27, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Acceptance, Children, Direct Experience, Diversity, Family, Gender, Generations, Mother's Day, Mothers, Parents, Truth -
Good morning everyone and welcome to [congregation's name]. My name is {name} and I feel blessed to serve this healing and holy congregation. I'm so glad to see all of you here today on this brand new morning in this brand new world as we gather together in peace. Thank you for joining us: we who...Welcome | By Mark Glovin | March 23, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Acceptance, Community, Inclusion, Interdependence, Peace, Purpose, Unity -
We are about to enter sacred time. We are about to make this time and this place sacred by our presence and intention. Please turn off or silence your phones… and as you do so, I invite us also to turn down the volume on our fears; to remove our masks; and to loosen the armor around our hearts.Welcome | By Chip Roush | March 23, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Acceptance, Body, Fear, Forgiveness, Inclusion, Vulnerability
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Good Morning. Welcome to our Unitarian Universalist congregation. I’m [name]; I serve as [role] of this growing, journeying community. We welcome all of you to our service, especially those of you who are searching for a spiritual home. Many of us were once, too, seeking for something larger than...Welcome | By Erika Hewitt | March 23, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Direct Experience, Humility, Interdependence, Journey, Purpose, Searching, Unitarian Universalism, Vulnerability -
Often people say that they love coming to a place with so many like-minded people. I know just what they are getting at -- and I know that they aren’t getting it quite right. I don’t want to be with a bunch of people who think just like me. I want to be in a beloved community where I don’t...Affirmation | By Dana E Worsnop | March 23, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Business Meetings, Commitment, Community, Integrity, Interdependence, New Member Ceremony, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Purpose, Unitarian Universalism
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If we lived in another climate Our souls might speak other languages We might speak oasis or permafrost, dry season or monsoon But our souls speak spring Our souls speak green shoots pushing through last year’s leaves Our souls speak flower buds stretching to sun Our souls speak mud puddle and...Opening | By Evin Carvill Ziemer | March 23, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Direct Experience, Earth, Earth-Centered, Easter, Growth, Hope, Nature, Passover (Pesach), Spring, Vernal Equinox -
Imagine if Easter preachers—and all the rest of us—had the chutzpah of Mary Magdalene.Time for All Ages | By Anne S. Howard | March 22, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), Abundance, Christianity, Courage, Easter, God, Good, Power, Revelation