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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Once upon a time there was a family. Maybe this family had not quite enough to eat. Or maybe they had just about enough. Or … perhaps they had MORE than enough. You might not have been able to tell. THEY might not have been able to tell. Sometimes it’s hard to tell if you have enough or not.Story | By Dawn Star Sarahs-Borchelt | April 3, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 6th Principle (World Community), Abundance, Family, Generosity, Home, Hospitality, Humanism, Inclusion, Secular, Stewardship, Thanksgiving, Unitarian Universalism, Wealth -
[for 2-3 voices, alternating] On this eve of mystery and magic, let us enter into the Christmas story as if we were there on the holy night. What part will we play this year? Are you the mother, trusting your body to know what to do when the time of birth comes?...Opening | By Shari Woodbury | January 21, 2019 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Awe, Birth, Christianity, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Compassion, Dignity, Faith, Family, Hope, Hospitality, Journey, Love -
The innkeeper isn’t part of most Nativity sets. No one sings carols about innkeepers. There don’t seem to be any paintings that include them. But we can imagine the scene: Bethlehem is crowded with people coming home for the census. It’s late at night when the innkeeper responds to a knock on...Reading | By Anne Dilenschneider | January 2, 2019 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), Abundance, Anti-Oppression, Christianity, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Compassion, Discernment, Empathy, Hospitality, Inclusion, Judaism, Kindness, Living Our Faith, Responsibility, WorshipWeb -
“There’s a hunger beyond food that’s expressed in food, and that’s why feeding is always a kind of miracle. It speaks to a bigger desire.” Note: one version of this quote, quasi-attributed, appears in Take This Bread (p. 23) by Sara Miles.Quote | By William E. Swing | June 1, 2018 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Abundance, Body, Communion (Christian), Direct Experience, Food, Food Justice, Generosity, Hospitality, Humanism, Searching, Secular, Stewardship, Table Grace, Thanksgiving -
"Where are you a pastor?" It's not an uncommon question when you've chosen to do ministry in a small, rural town, especially when you wear a clerical collar much of the time. I'm getting used to the puzzled looks on people's faces as they struggle to reconcile a genderqueer body in this...Reflection | By Chris Rothbauer | March 15, 2018 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), Acceptance, Activism, Anti-Oppression, Hospitality, Inclusion, Justice, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Pride Sunday, Unitarian Universalism -
Dearly beloved, the story is told that a man named Jesus dined nearly two thousand years ago among his disciples on the eve of his arrest and crucifixion. Some say that Jesus took bread, spoke of it as his body, broke it into pieces and passed it among them to eat....Blessing | By Barnaby Feder | December 8, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), Christianity, Communion (Christian), Community, Earth, Faith, Food, Generosity, God, Gratitude, Hospitality, Spiritual Practice, Spirituality -
This blessing was written in honor of two Unitarians, Martha and Waitstill Sharp, who during WWII dared to risk their own comfort in order to help save the lives of those in desperate need. As we gather together, May we remember When you share with me what is most important to you, That is where...Blessing | By Andrée Mol | November 30, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), Abundance, Compassion, Courage, Direct Experience, Gratitude, Hospitality, Justice, Listening, Love, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Sacrifice, Salvation, Thanksgiving, Unitarianism -
Spirit of Life and Love, known by many names and yet fully known by none, we give thanks for this time and this place of renewal. We give thanks for the ability to begin again: after the disaster, after the tragedy, after the loss, after meeting the challenge set before us....Prayer | By Lyn Cox | September 22, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Courage, Disaster or Crisis, Diversity, Gratitude, Homecoming / Ingathering, Hospitality, Journey, New Year, Reconciliation, Rosh Hashanah, Transformation, Unitarian Universalism, Yom Kippur -
Image | By Melissa Gibson | June 14, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Acceptance, Anti-Oppression, Hospitality, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Pride Sunday -
People ask me sometimes, “Is this a gay church?” It is a privilege to answer: “Ours is absolutely, gladly, hopefully and humbly, gaily, a gay church, a gay tradition, where everyone, including heterosexual members and friends, is welcome, where everyone is needed, where everyone’s experience...Meditation | By Victoria Safford | June 9, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Acceptance, Anti-Oppression, Coming Out, Direct Experience, Hospitality, Identity, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Love, Pride Sunday, Unitarian Universalism, Wholeness -
May each one among us have skin that longs to touch other skin: fingertips that long for other fingertips or whole hands and even arms; bodies that want to stand next to other bodies, not alone, while singing and bending, stirring soup. May ones whose skin doesn’t cry out for other skin wish it...Meditation | By Nancy Shaffer | June 5, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Acceptance, Building/Space Dedication, Community, Hospitality, Inclusion, Purpose, Relationships, Teamwork, Unity -
Come sit by our fire and let us share stories. Let me hear your tales of far off lands, wanderer, and I will tell you of my travels. Share your experience of the holy with me, worshipper, and I will tell you of that which I find divine. Come and stay, lover of leaving, for ours is no caravan of...Opening | By Jennifer Kitchen | January 11, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Community, Direct Experience, Empathy, Homecoming / Ingathering, Hospitality, Journey, Listening, Love, Personal Stories -
With our words we have given our mind's consent to the letter of this covenant. Now let us come together in the spirit of covenant, laying on our hands, and offering our heart's consent. As we begin, join me in placing your hands over your heart. Feel its precious beating....Blessing | By Keith Goheen | April 22, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Commitment, Compassion, Hospitality, Installations, Ministry, Ordinations, Presence, Relationships, Reverence, Service, Spirituality, Tradition, Unitarian Universalism, WorshipWeb -
May we honor and hold gently our past. May we live fully our present. May we hope toward and build our future, Living our mission [insert congregation's mission statement]: "To be a spiritual community To welcome all To nurture one another To work for justice And to care for the earth." May these...Benediction | By Karen Lewis Foley | February 24, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Building/Space Dedication, Caring, Challenge, Change, Direct Experience, Earth-Centered, Environment, Faith, Hospitality, Joy, Justice, Secular, Service, Seven Principles, Strength, Unitarian Universalism, Worship -
NOTE: All or part of this ritual can be used to bless a sacred space. We blessed our newly renovated sanctuary for the qualities and attributes we were trying to create with our renovations. Between each blessing, we sang a hymn, had a children’s story, took the offering, had a choir anthem, and...Blessing | By Sandra Fees | February 18, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Building/Space Dedication, Community, Creativity, Diversity, Generations, Hospitality, Inclusion, Integrity, Love, Peace, Responsibility, Unitarian Universalism
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May the walls of this house be strong in the face of storms: Whether of winds or of words, whether of thunder or of tyranny. May the windows of this house be clear to the world's light: Whether of dawns or of daring, whether of sunsets or of stillness....Meditation | By Michael DeVernon Boblett | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Acceptance, Building/Space Dedication, Community, Friendship, Home, Hospitality, New Home
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Come we now out of the darkness of our unknowing and the dusk of our dreaming; Come we now from far places. Come we now into the twilight of our awakening and the reflection of our gathering. Come we now all together. We bring, unilluminated, our dark caves of doubting; We seek, unbedazzled, the...Chalice Lighting | By Annie Foerster | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Despair, Earth-Centered, Hope, Hospitality, Nature, Shadow, Spirituality, Transformation, Winter, Winter Solstice / Yule -
Loving Spirit, Be our guest, Dine with us, Share our bread, That our table Might be blessed And our souls be fed.Blessing | By Gary Kowalski | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Community, Food, Generosity, Gratitude, Home, Hospitality, Presence, Reverence, Sacred, Spirituality, Table Grace