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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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25
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What “toast, boast, and oath” might you offer this January?Reflection | By Sarah Klinger Osborne | January 3, 2024 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: Beginnings, Choice, Contemplation, Integrity, New Year, Searching, Self-Care, Self-Respect, Worship -
Advent encourages us to be present in each moment of waiting.Reflection | By Megan Lloyd Joiner | December 7, 2022 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: Advent, Christianity, Contemplation, Patience, Presence, Sacred, Worship -
The words we cast to fill the silence left by one we loved never are enough.Poetry | By David Breeden | June 2, 2021 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Contemplation, Death, Grief, Meaning, Memorial Services, Silence -
"Most of us have been led to believe that prophets 'foretell' the future. That is true, and it is also misleading. It is not the point here. Prophets are seers of the big patterns; they see what is always and forever true. Prophets like Isaiah know how God acts by watching and listening, and they...Quote | By Richard Rohr | February 25, 2021 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Christianity, Contemplation, Courage, Discernment, God, Lent, Revelation -
Spirit of Life, ancestor of the stars and the sun, you who embrace the vastness of space and us along with it, be with us today. Hold us in our worry, our exhaustion, our grief. Keep us close as we sit with our truth, whatever that may be....Prayer | By Lyn Cox | January 2, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Autumnal Equinox, Awe, Contemplation, Courage, Earth-Centered, Nature, Summer Solstice, Vernal Equinox, Vulnerability, Winter Solstice / Yule, Wonder -
We pause as the path of the sun reverses, seemingly holding its place for a moment of turning. Let us delve into the gifts of darkness at the winter solstice. We follow curiosity and contemplation down into the cold earth, taking a journey to the world below the surface....Meditation | By Lyn Cox | March 17, 2019 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Abundance, Contemplation, Creativity, Earth, Earth-Centered, Growth, Healing, Journey, Trust, Winter, Winter Solstice / Yule -
Spirit of Life that goes by so many names… Spirit of Love that has taken so many shapes on our earth over the millennia of human habitation here… we open our hearts to make room for you. With the innocence and imagination of a child, help us to hear the beauty and the magic in the Christmas...Prayer | By Shari Woodbury | January 21, 2019 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Beginnings, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Community, Contemplation, Courage, Empathy, Faith, Healing, Hope, Humility, Love -
We feel the season turning. The early sunset glancing through the red-tinged leaves. The newspaper arriving in the cool morning air. The flock of migrating swallows. A feeling of being on the edge of something new. These are the Days of Awe. A time to welcome a new year and a time to make the old...Opening | By Ben Soule | January 7, 2019 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Awe, Conscience, Contemplation, Judaism, Mindfulness, Peace, Reconciliation, Rosh Hashanah, Sacred, Wonder, Yom Kippur, Worship -
Everything is about to change. And it already has. It will be. It was. It is. The dawn you eagerly await to end the long, cold darkness is already full sun far off in the east. Yet even after light’s return spring is months away. Thirty long years pass after His birth before the Messiah comes.Reading | By Mandie McGlynn | January 7, 2019 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Advent, Beginnings, Change, Christianity, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Contemplation, Ending, Faith, Growth, Hope, Journey, Justice, Life Transition, Paganism, Patience, Winter Solstice / Yule, WorshipWeb -
In this time of waiting, may we hold the world in our hearts. In this time of waiting, may we hold each other's hands. In this time of waiting, may we be thoughtful and introspective. In this time of waiting, may we delight in the darkness and all it teaches us. In this time of waiting, may we...Prayer | By Cricket Hall | December 5, 2018 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Advent, Christianity, Contemplation, Hope, Patience, Tradition, Winter -
In real life, we can only place the pieces, one by one, and see what kind of picture we create. Sometimes we turn out to have chosen the wrong piece. Sometimes the picture is wildly unexpected.Reflection | By Amanda Poppei | April 4, 2018 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: Bridging Ceremony, Calling, Choice, Coming of Age, Coming-of-Age, Contemplation, Courage, Direct Experience, Discernment, Hope, Humanism, Journey, Playfulness, Searching, Secular -
As we come together, let us pause to take stock of the year now concluding: its moments of happiness and hurt, its times of accomplishment and failure, and its occasions of inspiration and fear. We add these experiences to the tapestries of our years, and look bravely towards a new horizon.Opening | By Paul Vachon | January 23, 2018 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Beginnings, Contemplation, Direct Experience, Ending, Humanism, New Year, Secular, Unitarian Universalism -
I invite you now into a time of meditation. You may wish to adjust your position: your feet flat on the ground, your body resting easily against the back of the chair, your hands gently open, palms up, resting on your thighs, your eyelids relaxed and half-closed, your breathing soft and easy.Meditation | By Martha Kirby Capo | November 17, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Contemplation, Direct Experience, Earth-Centered, Meditation Practices, Mindfulness, Nature, Paganism, Prayer Practices, Revelation
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I understand participation in Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) as a spiritual practice or discipline. While the word discipline may want to make us run and hide, a spiritual practice or discipline is meant to help us find our center. Approaching my participation in the CSA as a spiritual...Reading | By Nicole Janelle | July 10, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Community, Contemplation, Direct Experience, Earth, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Family, Food, Food Justice, Gratitude, Nature, Spiritual Practice, Summer Solstice, Table Grace, Wonder -
Spirit of Life, Earth and Sea and Sky, Place of deep longing in my heart Find your way from silence to voice Give me strength and courage to speak truth through my life For I am a creature of the Universe, small but infinite A momentary body in the sea of life, and also the sea itself I am a...Prayer | By Alix Klingenberg | May 31, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Acceptance, Awe, Connections, Contemplation, Earth-Centered, Identity, Nature, Prayer Practices, Strength, Unitarian Universalism -
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 -
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 -
Once, many grey autumns ago, I came upon a tree. The tree, a poplar, had dropped all of its leaves but for one, just one. Exactly one leaf remained near the topmost part of the tree, fluttering in the breeze like a little reddish-brown flag....Meditation | By David M. Horst | January 25, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Autumnal Equinox, Connections, Contemplation, Despair, Direct Experience, Earth, Earth-Centered, Letting Go, Nature, Reverence, Samhain, Thanksgiving, Winter Solstice / Yule, WorshipWeb -
In all sacred literature, the hearts of the storytellers are revealed in the stories, their breath is felt in the words on the page, and we may be touched or moved or stirred by their ancient art. And maybe we can glimpse a truth that they saw, if we read closely and reflect on what we have read.Reading | By Paul R Beedle | April 9, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Awe, Christianity, Contemplation, Easter, Mystery
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A Christmas Play for Grownups Minister: Tonight I invite you to imagine yourselves there that holy night, when a mother and father had their first child. We try to imagine what went through the minds and hearts of the parents of Jesus, in the months leading up to his birth....Script | By Tess Baumberger | January 25, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Children, Christianity, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Contemplation, God, Love, Parents, Unitarian Universalism
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We thank you sky for your blue, Also, breeze, for what you do: Everything simple, Undivided, And too ordinary to be tried as true. The sound of rain when we’re warm inside, Purple shadows on the mountainside, Help us to notice, Open our eyes, Give us grateful hearts, And unclinging minds. That we...Meditation | By Gary Kowalski | January 25, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Contemplation, Earth, Earth Day, Earth-Centered
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Maybe prayer doesn’t mean talking to God at all. May it means just listening. Unplugging the TV, turning off the computer, Quieting the mental chatter and distractions. Maybe it means listening to the birds And the insects, the wind in the leaves, the creaking and groaning of the trees, noticing...Meditation | By Gary Kowalski | January 25, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), Contemplation, Direct Experience, Listening, Prayer Practices
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When used as a responsive reading, "We are waiting" is the congregational response. This is the season of anticipation, Of expecting, of hoping, of wanting. This is the time of expecting the arrival of something--or someone. We are waiting. This is the time of living in darkness, in the hues of...Responsive Reading | By Leslie Takahashi | January 25, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Advent, Balance, Calling, Christianity, Contemplation, Hope, Unitarian Universalism, Vision -
Overview: Harvest, Balance, and Mulching for Spring Theme or Background: Equinox/Harvest Time Materials involved: Apples for folks to share, paper leaf cutouts, pens, bowl of water, bell or gong Details: Opening Words: Robert T....Complete Service | By Austin Putman | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Autumnal Equinox, Balance, Contemplation, Earth, Earth-Centered, Food, Nature, Paganism, Samhain -
Quiet yourself and listen to the rhythm of your breath, your heart . . .Listen to the silence . . .Meditation | By Stephen W Dick | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Contemplation, Direct Experience, Meditation Practices, Self-Care, Silence, Spiritual Practice