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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Spirit of Life, Source of Love, you who know our struggles and failures as well as we know them ourselves, be with us as we enter into this time of reflection. Give us the courage to travel through a moral inventory of our lives, to notice the places where we have missed opportunities to live our...Prayer | By Lyn Cox | October 16, 2019 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Community, Conscience, Ethics, Failure, Judaism, Reconciliation, Responsibility, Rosh Hashanah, Transformation, Yom Kippur -
We people, gathered here today on the quest for truth and meaning, bear witness. We bear witness. To the record of human lives extinguished, simply because these people dared to live authentically, we bear witness. To the lives and reported deaths of (number) transgender people, globally, so far...Responsive Reading | By Amy Brooks | January 22, 2019 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), Acceptance, Anti-Oppression, Choice, Conscience, Courage, Diversity, Empathy, Freedom, Gender, Identity, Transgender Day of Remembrance, Unitarian Universalism -
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 -
Spirit of Life and Love, we are here because we believe what we do matters. We are here because we believe how we live our life matters. That with every act of kindness or meanness, courage or fear, love or hate, we are weaving the fabric of the universe that holds us all. We are here because we...Meditation | By Laura Horton-Ludwig | February 19, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), 6th Principle (World Community), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Activism, Brokenness, Challenge, Character, Choice, Commitment, Conscience, Disaster or Crisis, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Unitarian Universalism -
Leader 1: This is a special night – Christmas Eve, the night before we celebrate the birth of a Jewish leader whose life and words have changed the minds and hearts of many to the side of goodness, generosity and caring. Leader 2: In honor of that birth, tonight we tell the story of a man whose...Script | By Tess Baumberger, Cindy Clarenbach | January 25, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 6th Principle (World Community), Christianity, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Compassion, Conscience, Dignity, Generosity, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Transformation, Unitarian Universalism, Unitarianism -
As today we have received these children into the congregation and committed ourselves to their nurture, let us now receive into our hearts all children. Let us remember the children we once were and who still live within us. Let us love them now, in this quiet moment....Meditation | By Connie P Sternberg | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 6th Principle (World Community), Child Dedication, Conscience, Justice -
All violence is framed by blood. Our scars are the red line reminders— for the survivors, and all who follow later. See them, and do not turn away from the violence that drew them. Feel the scars you know, and hear the ones whispered about— They are guides. They are pathways, as much as they are...Meditation | By Kathleen McTigue, Eric Cherry | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Authority, Conscience, Courage, Disaster or Crisis, Discernment, Healing, Oppression, Politics, Responsibility, Violence, Wisdom