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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- Advent (6)
- All Saints Day (1)
- All Souls Day (1)
- Animal Blessing (1)
- Autumnal Equinox (1)
- Black History / Whitney Young / James Reeb (10)
- Building/Space Dedication (2)
- Business Meetings (2)
- Child Dedication (3)
- Children's / Religious Education Sunday (1)
- Children's Sabbath (1)
- Christmas Eve / Christmas (13)
- Coming of Age (1)
- Coming Out (3)
- Día de los Muertos (1)
- Disaster or Crisis (1)
- Earth Day (11)
- Easter (9)
- Father's Day (2)
- Fire Communion (1)
- Flower Communion (2)
- Gender / Sex Change (1)
- Good Friday (2)
- Halloween (1)
- Hanukkah (1)
- Holocaust Remembrance / Yom Ha'Shoah (1)
- Homecoming / Ingathering (2)
- Indigenous Peoples Day (2)
- Installations (3)
- July 4th (1)
- Juneteenth (5)
- Justice Sunday (3)
- Kwanzaa (1)
- Labor Day (1)
- Lent (2)
- Life Transition (2)
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Sunday (8)
- Memorial Day (1)
- Memorial Services (1)
- Military Service (1)
- Mother's Day (5)
- Music Sunday (1)
- National Coming Out Day (1)
- New Child (2)
- New Member Ceremony (2)
- Ordinations (4)
- Prayer Practices (1)
- Pride Sunday (5)
- Samhain (1)
- Sukkot (1)
- Summer Solstice (1)
- Table Grace (1)
- Teacher Dedication (1)
- Thanksgiving (5)
- Transgender Day of Remembrance (1)
- Vernal Equinox (4)
- Veterans Day (1)
- Water Communion (2)
- Winter Solstice / Yule (6)
- Yom Kippur (1)
- Youth Sunday (1)
- Abundance (1)
- Acceptance (3)
- Activism (3)
- Aging (3)
- America (9)
- Animals (4)
- Anti-Oppression (21)
- Arts & Music (2)
- Awe (7)
- Balance (4)
- Beauty (6)
- Beginnings (1)
- Belief (1)
- Birth (2)
- Body (3)
- Brokenness (1)
- Calling (3)
- Caring (3)
- Challenge (2)
- Change (6)
- Character (2)
- Children (8)
- Coming-of-Age (1)
- Commitment (7)
- Community (7)
- Compassion (6)
- Connections (5)
- Contemplation (3)
- Covenant (2)
- Creativity (1)
- Death (3)
- Democracy (1)
- Despair (2)
- Dignity (2)
- Disability (2)
- Disaster (1)
- Discernment (1)
- Diversity (3)
- Doubt (1)
- Earth (11)
- Economy (1)
- Education (1)
- Empathy (3)
- Ending (1)
- Environment (4)
- Ethics (2)
- Faith (4)
- Family (10)
- Fathers (5)
- Fear (1)
- Food (2)
- Forgiveness (1)
- Freedom (4)
- Gender (1)
- Generations (11)
- God (1)
- Good (1)
- Gratitude (3)
- Grief (5)
- Growth (5)
- Healing (5)
- History (13)
- Home (1)
- Hope (4)
- Hospitality (1)
- Human Rights (1)
- Humility (2)
- Identity (6)
- Imagination (2)
- Immigration (1)
- Inclusion (4)
- Integrity (5)
- Interdependence (8)
- Intimacy (1)
- Journey (1)
- Joy (1)
- Justice (9)
- Kindness (1)
- Leadership (5)
- Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer (7)
- Letting Go (3)
- Limitations (1)
- Living Our Faith (5)
- Love (7)
- Meaning (1)
- Military (1)
- Mindfulness (1)
- Ministry (1)
- Money (2)
- Mothers (5)
- Multiculturalism (7)
- Mystery (2)
- Nature (14)
- Oppression (2)
- Pain (2)
- Parents (6)
- Patience (3)
- Peace (4)
- Power (3)
- Presence (2)
- Privilege (1)
- Purpose (2)
- Race/Ethnicity (15)
- Reconciliation (1)
- Relationships (9)
- Religion (1)
- Respect (1)
- Responsibility (5)
- Sacred (3)
- Sacrifice (1)
- Salvation (1)
- Science (1)
- Searching (1)
- Service (2)
- Sexuality (2)
- Solidarity (4)
- Sorrow (1)
- Spiritual Practice (2)
- Stewardship (1)
- Strength (1)
- Teamwork (1)
- Tradition (1)
- Transcendence (1)
- Transformation (4)
- Trust (3)
- Truth (1)
- Unity (4)
- Violence (1)
- Vision (1)
- Vulnerability (1)
- War (1)
- Wealth (1)
- Wholeness (2)
- Winter (1)
- Wonder (5)
- Work (1)
- Worth (2)
- Youth/Teens (1)
- Adaku Utah (1)
- Adrianne Ross (1)
- Adrienne Rich (1)
- Aisha Ansano (1)
- Alicia R. Forde (1)
- Anne Dilenschneider (1)
- Annie Gonzalez Milliken (1)
- Anonymous (1)
- Anya Sammler-Michael (1)
- Barbara Rohde (1)
- Carl Scovel (1)
- Charles F Flagg (1)
- Cheryl Strayed (1)
- Chris Crass (1)
- Chris Rothbauer (1)
- Christian Schmidt (1)
- Christine Robinson (1)
- Cynthia Frado (1)
- Daniel Chesney Kanter (1)
- David Schwartz (2)
- Dawn Skjei Cooley (1)
- Debra Faulk (1)
- Elizabeth Harding (1)
- Elizabeth Tarbox (1)
- Ellen Cooper (1)
- Gail Forsyth-Vail (1)
- Gary Kowalski (1)
- Gordon B McKeeman (1)
- Gretchen Haley (1)
- Heather Lynn Hanson (1)
- Hope Jahren (1)
- Ibram X Kendi (1)
- Irene Glasse (1)
- Jabari S. Jones (1)
- Jade C. Angelica (1)
- James (Jay) C Leach (1)
- Jane Rzepka (1)
- Jeffrey B Symynkywicz (1)
- Jennifer Pratt-Walter (1)
- Jennifer Willet (1)
- Jill Duffield (2)
- Jonathan Chapman (1)
- Julia Ward Howe (1)
- Karen G. Johnston (1)
- Karen Mooney (1)
- Kari Kopnick (1)
- Katie Lee Crane (1)
- Kendyl L. R. Gibbons (1)
- Ken Nye (3)
- Kirsty Johnson (1)
- Leslie Alexander (1)
- Lillian Nye (1)
- Lisa Fischbeck (1)
- Liz James (1)
- Lois Van Leer (1)
- Mandie McGlynn (1)
- Marilynne Robinson (1)
- Mark Belletini (1)
- Mark Hicks (2)
- Martin Luther King, Jr. (2)
- Megan Foley (1)
- Melissa Jeter (1)
- Michelle Alexander (1)
- Myke Johnson (4)
- Nathan C. Walker (1)
- Nicole Janelle (1)
- Patrick T O'Neill (1)
- Paul R Beedle (2)
- Paul S Sawyer (1)
- Peggy Clarke (1)
- Peter Friedrichs (1)
- Rebekah Savage (1)
- Renee Ruchotzke (1)
- Rianna Johnson-Levy (1)
- Ricardo Williams (1)
- Richard S. Gilbert (2)
- Robert Walsh (1)
- Sean Neil-Barron (1)
- Stephanie Noble (1)
- Stephen M. Shick (1)
- Sydney A Morris (1)
- Teresa Schwartz (1)
- Tess Baumberger (2)
- Vern Barnet (2)
- Victoria Weinstein (1)
Displaying 1 - 20 of 96
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Today, we are charged to remember. To know that as we live together in community, we are also in community with the silently singing lives in the vast congregation of the earth as well... Let us remember, and then act.Reading | By Irene Glasse, Rebekah Savage | April 24, 2024 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Animals, Connections, Earth, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Environment, Nature, Sacred, WorshipWeb, Worship
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It takes courage to bring our trust forward and invite another person to meet us there. This sometimes sure, often shaky, surrender is an opportunity to discover something deeper than the confines of our individual experience.Reading | By Adaku Utah | January 21, 2024 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Compassion, Earth, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Freedom, Growth, Interdependence, Nature, Relationships, Trust, WorshipWeb, Worship
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The fulcrum of the Earth tilts toward goodness and I will ride along…Reading | By Jennifer Pratt-Walter | December 13, 2023 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Balance, Beauty, Earth, Earth-Centered, Good, Nature, Transcendence, Winter Solstice / Yule, WorshipWeb, Worship
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In our lived lives, family comes in different shapes and sizes and constellations.It is in this variety—this diversity—that our lives are made fuller and our individual selves made more whole. It is in this variety, it is in this diversity, that we look back to the ancestors, recognizing no...Reading | By Karen G. Johnston | August 17, 2023 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Family, Generations, Integrity, Love, Memorial Services, Truth, WorshipWeb, Worship
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Is a calling a feeling of joy, of completeness in your work?Reading | By Megan Foley | May 22, 2023 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Calling, Direct Experience, Leadership, Ordinations, Unitarian Universalism, WorshipWeb, Worship
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I don’t know exactly when it happened, but something began to change.Reading | By Tess Baumberger | March 13, 2023 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Acceptance, Aging, Caring, Change, Coming-of-Age, Direct Experience, Generations, Humanism, Life Transition, Secular, WorshipWeb, Worship
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We all want to feel at home, somewhere, somehow....Reading | By Christian Schmidt | October 18, 2022 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Home, Judaism, Searching, Sukkot
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There’s never been a time in the United States history when black rebellions did not spark existential fear among white people.Reading | By Michelle Alexander, Leslie Alexander | May 12, 2022 | From WorshipWebTagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), America, Black History / Whitney Young / James Reeb, Freedom, History, Juneteenth, Race/Ethnicity, Secular, WorshipWeb, Worship
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Water sustains, gives, and yields to / Life.Reading | By Melissa Jeter | March 24, 2022 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Balance, Earth, Earth-Centered, Imagination, Nature, Water Communion, WorshipWeb, Worship
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It’s as if something was born from nothing.Reading | By Anya Sammler-Michael | March 1, 2022 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Christianity, Christmas Eve / Christmas
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Grief is welcome, a sacred part of the mourning.Reading | By Kari Kopnick | March 1, 2022 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Advent, Balance, Challenge, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Compassion, Despair, Empathy, Grief, Winter Solstice / Yule, WorshipWeb, Worship
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Čapek turned to the beauty of the countryside; to the beauty of flowers.Reading | By Teresa Schwartz, David Schwartz | June 16, 2021 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Flower Communion, Unitarianism, WorshipWeb, Worship
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Why do we so readily hand over what's priceless for a meager sum of money—or a major sum, for that matter?Reading | By Jill Duffield | March 5, 2021 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Character, Christianity, Ethics, Integrity, Leadership, Lent, Money, WorshipWeb, Worship
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Maundy Thursday means that followers of Jesus serve.Reading | By Jill Duffield | March 3, 2021 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Christianity, Humility, Lent, Service, WorshipWeb, Worship
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The soul of America has yet to be born.Reading | By Peggy Clarke | November 16, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 5th Principle (Conscience & Democracy), America, Democracy, Generations, History, Humanism, Indigenous Peoples Day, July 4th, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Secular
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Ironically, Americans who self-identify as not racist—whether they're conservatives, moderates, liberals, radicals, progressives—they don't realize… that we are connecting ourselves to a history of slave traders who self-identified as not racist (although they didn't use that term). We're...Reading | By Ibram X Kendi | January 16, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), America, Anti-Oppression, Direct Experience, History, Identity, Juneteenth, Martin Luther King, Jr. Sunday, Oppression, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Race/Ethnicity
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A seed knows how to wait. Most seeds wait for several years before starting to grow; a cherry seed can wait for a hundred years with no problem. What exactly each seed is waiting for is known only to that seed. Some unique trigger-combination of temperature-moisture-light and many other things is...Reading | By Hope Jahren | January 9, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Child Dedication, Earth, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Environment, Growth, Humanism, Nature, New Child, Patience, Secular, Climate Justice
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The first time I was told that I was too queer to be a congregation's minister, they asked, "What will the neighbors think?,” as if it were the most natural question in the world. It was then that I understood how grace works: it’s costly. It requires us to be uncomfortable, to get outside...Reading | By Chris Rothbauer | January 9, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Anti-Oppression, Coming Out, Direct Experience, Diversity, Identity, Inclusion, Integrity, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Living Our Faith, National Coming Out Day, Oppression, Pride Sunday, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Relationships, Solidarity
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Do not be afraid of the darkness. Dark is the rich fertile earth that cradles the seed, nourishing growth. Dark is the soft night that cradles us to rest. Only in darkness can stars shine across the vastness of space. Only in darkness is the moon's dance so clear....Reading | By Stephanie Noble | November 19, 2019 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Balance, Beauty, Earth, Earth-Centered, Nature, Secular, Winter, Winter Solstice / Yule
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In our water ritual, we bring water from the places we live or the places we may have visited and pour it in one container. All of the water mixes together, and every drop has some of the molecules of water from every place....Reading | By Myke Johnson | June 25, 2019 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Awe, Connections, Direct Experience, Earth, Interdependence, Nature, Secular, Unitarian Universalism, Water Communion