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 - 20 of 22
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Night has its own kind of beauty, different than the beauty of day. Night is a time of sleep and dreams and inward visions, A time of pause within activity. Darkness is an invitation to imagining and storytelling, And to using ears instead of eyes to listen to the world in its stillness....Meditation | By Gary Kowalski | June 3, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Balance, Beauty, Death, Earth-Centered, Imagination, Listening, Mystery, Searching, Silence, Solitude, Summer Solstice, Vision, Winter Solstice / Yule -
Gracious Mother Matrix of Creation Womb of Mystery We thank you on this day for the miracle of birth, For the holiness of sex, For the power of eros and passionate love To regenerate the world. Mother Nature, Earth Mother, We lift our hearts in song For all forms green and fragrant Glad with the...Meditation | By Gary Kowalski | February 23, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Birth, Earth-Centered, Goddess, Love, Mother's Day, Mothers, Mystery, Paganism, Pain, Sexuality -
In his avant-garde theatrical “The Last Supper At Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” New York choreographer/dancer Bill T. Jones includes a backwards broadcast of Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech: Last At Free Are We. Almighty God Thank! The jumbled juxtaposition of the great orator’s...Meditation | By Gary Kowalski | February 19, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Belief, Challenge, Faith, Love, Martin Luther King, Jr. Sunday, Nonviolence, Vulnerability
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We thank you God for potlucks Where a multitude can cook With ingredients and spices That aren’t from just one book. From casseroles and dumplings, Hors d’oeurves and canapés, Puddings, sauces, pastas, To sensational flambés. How boring when there’s just one dish Or flavor to fit all. How...Meditation | By Gary Kowalski | February 19, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Abundance, Community, Diversity, Food, Friendship, Gratitude, Table Grace, Unitarian Universalism -
Keeper of our journeys, Today we mark and celebrate a significant moment in the lives of these young people Who this year assume the responsibility of becoming licensed drivers. We ask that they might be gifted with wisdom to make good choices as they navigate the roads ahead....Blessing | By Gary Kowalski | January 25, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Balance, Beginnings, Choice, Discernment, Freedom, Health, Journey, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Respect, Responsibility, Youth Sunday, Youth/Teens
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You never know how things will turn out. Sometimes big events have very small beginnings. A little acorn can turn into a giant oak tree, for example, but you’d never guess from looking that the acorn had all that potential hidden inside. Long ago, Jesus talked with people about that very idea....Homily | By Gary Kowalski | January 25, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 6th Principle (World Community), Children, Christianity, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Courage, Justice, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Transformation
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I like congregational meetings. More than any other facet of church life, more than the worship or music or potlucks, these exercises in democratic decision-making go to the heart of our religious heritage....Opening | By Gary Kowalski | January 25, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 5th Principle (Conscience & Democracy), Business Meetings, Community, Democracy, History, Unitarian Universalism
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Our time is short here on the earth. Around us swirl immensities of time and space, A universe infinite in all directions. How small our hopes and cares seem Amid the panorama of creation....Meditation | By Gary Kowalski | January 25, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Earth Day, Earth-Centered, God, Interdependence, Nature, Unity
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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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When I think of power, strength, sheer physical force, I think of an avalanche. Tons of thundering snow come falling down the side of a steep mountain with the speed and irresistable force of a locomotive or freight train. In an instant an avalanche can sweep away everything in its path. But...Homily | By Gary Kowalski | January 25, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 6th Principle (World Community), Christianity, Earth, Earth-Centered, Easter, Flower Communion, Nature, Sacrifice, Transcendence, Transformation
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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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On Easter Sunday, we remember the teachings of Jesus as we celebrate the miracle of life, which is also closely related to the mystery of death. Jesus, for example, spoke of a seed. Unless it falls to the earth and is buried, it remains just a seed. But by going down, down beneath the ground, it...Homily | By Gary Kowalski | January 25, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), Change, Christianity, Death, Easter, Faith, Growth, Transformation
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Asked if he was lonesome in his hut on Walden Pond, our neighbor Henry Thoreau famously replied, “How could I be lonely? Don’t I live in the Milky Way?” Thoreau doubtless would have been encouraged by the recent discovery of Kepler-22, a planet just 600 light years from earth right in the...Reading | By Gary Kowalski | January 25, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Advent, Awe, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Direct Experience, Science, Wonder
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Is the world getting more connected or more fragmented? Facebook, in conjunction with the University of Milan, recently announced that there were only 4.74 "degrees of separation" among its 700 million users (representing 10% of the world's population). That contrasts with the famous six degrees...Homily | By Gary Kowalski | January 25, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), Community, Friendship, Homecoming / Ingathering, Interdependence, Solidarity
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Children widen the circle of our being in ways that are limitless. Every baby that’s born connects us to our history, our own parents, grandparents and unknown forbears who brought new life to the world in each successive generation. Every baby that’s born links us to the future, to a world yet...Meditation | By Gary Kowalski | January 25, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), Birth, Child Dedication, Children, Children's / Religious Education Sunday, Children's Sabbath, Family, Fathers, Generations, Love, Mothers, Parents -
We draw from many wells, From oceans and rivers, From lakes and streams, From the muddy Mississippi to the roaring Rio Grande, From faraway places and from the ponds and puddles in our own backyards....Ritual | By Gary Kowalski | January 25, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Buddhism, Christianity, Community, Diversity, Hinduism, Humanism, Inclusion, Taoism, Unity, Water Communion
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We give thanks for love, Agape and Eros, Chocolates and pillow talk, And all of cupid’s arrows. For unrequited yearning And the grand passion burning, For quiet appreciation And platonic contemplation. For lovers, too, we offer thanks: Those gay and straight, near and dear, Gender metamorphic or...Meditation | By Gary Kowalski | January 25, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Intimacy, Love, Sexuality, Valentine's Day -
We pray for the children, For the voiceless, for the innocent, for the vulnerable, for the least powerful among us, and those most in need of our protection....Meditation | By Gary Kowalski | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Children's / Religious Education Sunday
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We give thanks for the earth and its creatures and are grateful from A to Z: For alligators, apricots, acorns and apple trees; For bumblebees, bananas, blueberries and beagles; Coconuts, crawdads, cornfields and coffee; Daisies, elephants, and flying fish; For groundhog, glaciers and grasslands;...Meditation | By Gary Kowalski | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Animal Blessing, Animals, Children, Direct Experience, Earth, Earth Day, Environment, Nature, Secular -
Once more the year's turned round. We've come full circle on this small planet, Spinning down the grooves of change, Another revolution completed around the sun. Another year older ... Another set of rings on the tree ... As seasons parade in endless procession The people's troubles and prayers...Meditation | By Gary Kowalski | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Christianity, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Hope, Immanence, Revelation, Transformation, Unitarian Universalism, Wonder