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.
Search Words for Worship Services
Toggle to filter resultsAvailable filters:
Changing a filter will refresh results (and remaining options) immediately. Searching by keyword or changing the number of items per page requires use of the "Search" button.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13
-
This sermon refers to, and includes, the emerging ritual of a "chocolate communion." If you're seeking to incorporate our Unitarian Universalist values into such a ritual, we recommend providing an organic fair-trade product like the one...Sermon | By Sarah Movius Schurr | August 14, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Body, Commitment, Direct Experience, Diversity, Food Justice, Humanism, Love, Relationships, Valentine's Day -
Jefferson Unitarian Church Golden, CO Mothers Day, May 13, 2007 Three weeks ago my wife, Phyllis, and I participated in our all church social action weekend. What a magical day that was! We chose to help out building the new community garden at 32nd Avenue just this side of I-70....Sermon | By Peter Morales | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 6th Principle (World Community), Child Dedication, Children, Commitment, Health, Parents, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Relationships, Teacher Dedication, Teacher Recognition -
In 1935, a US government truck pulled up to my grandfather’s house, a two-room sharecropper’s shack in which sixteen people lived. They were starving to death. Not malnutrition. Starvation. The truck brought surplus food, which on that particular visit consisted of a gallon of mustard. My father...Sermon | By David Breeden | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 6th Principle (World Community), Human Rights, Labor Day, Money, Poverty, Work
-
What we try to express as Unitarian Universalists, are these truths: Each of us is unique. Each of us has gifts we were given at birth – we were born with these gifts; they are wired within us. Each of us has the responsibility to apply these talents to the world. Each of us must navigate how to...Sermon | By Beth Graham | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Calling, Canvass/Pledge, Meaning, Searching, Service, Stewardship, Vision
-
It was Spring. At long last there was no hint of snow on the ground. It was even warm, sort of. Birds and bugs had, at last, returned to Milwaukee. And so in the great flush of Spring madness, Jan and I decided it was time to barbecue....Sermon | By James Ishmael Ford | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Acceptance, Buddhism, Change, Life Transition, Presence
-
The first step is to notice the mountain. It is there. And it belongs to a range of mountains. There’s no going around it. The next step is to reach the kind of acceptance that has us praying in our hearts: "Lord, I don’t ask you to move the mountain, just give me the strength to climb." The...Sermon | By Paul R Beedle | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Anti-Oppression, Diversity, Martin Luther King, Jr. Sunday, Race/Ethnicity, Respect, Responsibility, Service
-
Leonard Cohen sings to us there’s “a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.” I believe this is one of the most important insights we can have. And so, today I want to talk about that crack, that wound we each have. Today let’s reflect a little about something perhaps a bit...Sermon | By James Ishmael Ford | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Justice, Spiritual Practice, Wholeness, Yom Kippur
-
We are five days away from what is has come to be traditionally celebrated as the birth of Jesus of Nazareth....Sermon | By David A Miller | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 6th Principle (World Community), Advent, Christianity, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Generosity, Grace, New Child, Revelation, Transformation, Unitarian Universalism
-
When I was in third grade at Evergreen School in Plainfield, NJ, my best friend was John Carvana. At 8 years old, I was awkward physically and socially, and I was drawn to John’s intelligence and easy grace. The friendships of young boys are less about whispered secrets than about hanging out and...Sermon | By Fred Small | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 6th Principle (World Community), Anti-Oppression, Diversity, Martin Luther King, Jr. Sunday, Multiculturalism, Race/Ethnicity, Unitarian Universalism, Wholeness, Multiculturalism
-
On the cusp of this new day in our nation’s history, seems like everyone has something to say. I have been deluged with emails from the various groups I try to pay attention to: Planned Parenthood, the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture,...Sermon | By Melissa Carvill-Ziemer | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Anti-Oppression, Black History / Whitney Young / James Reeb, Identity, Martin Luther King, Jr. Sunday, Multiculturalism, Race/Ethnicity, Unity
-
Earlier this week I was speaking with a member of the church about the sermon I was going to deliver today. She said to me, “What’s the big deal?” This one’s easy. All you have to say is: “You have money. We need money. Give us your money. Then we can all go home.” So, you have money. We...Sermon | By Peter Friedrichs | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Canvass/Pledge, Generosity
-
It’s really complicated honey. I’m only now understanding it myself. We weren’t really thinking about it like you and your friends do. It’s not that we didn’t care about how it would impact you; we weren’t really thinking about you at all. Oh that’s sounds terrible, I’ll say. I...Sermon | By Scott Tayler | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Earth, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Environment, Generations, Healing, Responsibility, Unitarian Universalism
-
How clearly I remember it. My husband, Dan, and our daughter, Sarah, had spent the night in Taos, New Mexico. The next morning we set out for the pueblo, an ancient village inhabited by indigenous people known as the Pueblo. Clearly tourists, easily identified as European Americans, we were...Sermon | By Jan Carlsson-Bull | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), America, Anti-Oppression, Healing, History, Indigenous American, Indigenous Peoples Day, Race/Ethnicity, Secular, Anti-Oppression