An unlit chalice on a church altar

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.

LEADER RESOURCE 2 Rituals to Welcome a New Child
a medieval window from the Burrell Collection in Glasgow, Scotland, depicting the Nativity
Islamic prayer beads or Subha inside the Süleymaniye Moque (Istanbul).
An altar filled with candles, photos, and flowers

Search Words for Worship Services

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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9

  • There is no such thing as unskilled labor.
    Reflection | By Sarah Skochko | August 31, 2022 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), America, Compassion, Dignity, Human Rights, Humanism, Labor Day, Secular, Work, Worship
  • In the face of hate, We answer the call of love.
    Responsive Reading | By Julia Corbett-Hemeyer | December 7, 2016 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Activism, Anti-Oppression, Commitment, Equity, Human Rights, Humanism, Indigenous Peoples Day, Justice, Justice Sunday, Living Our Faith, Martin Luther King, Jr. Sunday, Multiculturalism, Pride Sunday, Secular, Seven Principles, Solidarity, Unitarian Universalism, United Nations Day, Vision
  • We are hungry We are eating our daily bread and bowing our heads and yet we are hungry We are thanking the farmer and the farm worker and yet we are hungry We are speaking in spaces for food that is healthy and still we are hungry We are tiring of slogans that say Feed the Children and mean feed ...
    Meditation | By Debra Smith | February 11, 2016 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Christianity, Communion (Christian), Democracy, Direct Experience, Food, Food Justice, Generosity, Human Rights, Humanism, Justice, Justice Sunday, Poverty, Prayer Practices, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Spiritual Practice, Table Grace, Thanksgiving, Transcendence, Transformation, WorshipWeb
  • Today we light our candle of remembrance. On April 19, 1943 the Jewish community in the Warsaw ghetto rose up against their captors in a valiant effort to regain their freedom and return a common humanity to those intent on destroying their very existence....
    Reading | By Karen Mooney | April 27, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Anti-Oppression, Brokenness, Direct Experience, History, Holocaust Remembrance / Yom Ha'Shoah, Human Rights, Humanism, Identity, Judaism, Prayer Practices, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Race/Ethnicity, Solidarity
  • O come all you faithful, rejoicing and victorious, Come, let us embrace the mystery in the spirit of life, as we celebrate the goodness of Kwanzaa and the the African American heritage. Come and give thanks for companions on the journey in the struggle for freedom and justice....
    Prayer | By Addae Ama Kraba | January 25, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Community, Diversity, Human Rights, Justice, Kwanzaa, Race/Ethnicity, Unitarian Universalism
  • Note: Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah) 2016 begins in the evening of Wednesday, May 4 and ends in the evening of Thursday, May 5. This week holds the annual observance of Holocaust Remembrance Day, or Yom Hashoah. Jewish communities prefer not to call the dreadful events of the 1930's and...
    Ritual | By Mary Wellemeyer | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), Grief, Holocaust Remembrance / Yom Ha'Shoah, Hope, Human Rights, Judaism, Responsibility, Suffering
  • 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 WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 6th Principle (World Community), Human Rights, Labor Day, Money, Poverty, Work
  • Holy Spirit, God of Ages and so many names, we gather once again to rejoice in the light offered to the world by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. His walk on this earth was a gift to generations, and today we give thanks for that gift. We know that we are called together today not simply to...
    Prayer | By Audette Fulbright Fulson | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 5th Principle (Conscience & Democracy), 6th Principle (World Community), Activism, Anti-Oppression, Black History / Whitney Young / James Reeb, Caring, History, Human Rights, Justice, Kindness, Martin Luther King, Jr. Sunday, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Race/Ethnicity, Anti-Oppression
  • Spirit of Life, You call us to embody equity and freedom in our lives.
    Meditation | By Eric Cherry | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 6th Principle (World Community), Compassion, Courage, Disaster or Crisis, Human Rights, International, Leadership, Oppression, Peace, Power, Solidarity, Suffering, Wisdom