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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 - 20 of 45

  • A white and brown shofar resting on a piece of blue satin.
    If you have come here tonight on Rosh Hashanah and feel that there is nothing to examine, no wound in your life to heal, no relationship to repair—then I hope you will listen especially closely to the shofar.
    Quote | By Angela Buchdahl | April 4, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Brokenness, Grief, Healing, Judaism, Reconciliation, Rosh Hashanah, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • A Black man's hand is holding a mirror, in which we see a partial reflection of his face. Our point of view is from over his shoulder, so in the foreground we see a slightly out-of-focus portion of the back of his head.
    In this heartbreak what we carry forth is our humanity in newly revealed form—our hearts tender and delicate.
    Prayer | By Vanessa Titang | December 12, 2023 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Brokenness, Community, Compassion, Disaster or Crisis, Grief, Healing, Trauma, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • A vibrantly orange and crimson sky, at sunset, with the silhouette of an evergreen tree in front of it.
    Love this world, she whispers.
    Poetry | By Rebecca Ann Parker | November 30, 2023 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Advent, Beauty, Brokenness, Earth, Love, Wholeness, Winter Solstice / Yule, Wonder, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • An elderly person with short curly white hair adjusts their glasses so they can wipe away tears with a tissue.
    May you be tender and gentle with yourself
    Prayer | By Katie Sivani Gelfand | September 13, 2023 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Brokenness, Disaster or Crisis, Grief, Love, Self-Care, Self-Respect, Stress, Transformation, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • a pink heart, apparently drawn on chalk, on a badly cracked concret surface
    We are an angry and beautiful people.
    Reflection | By Laura Solomon | June 1, 2022 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Brokenness, Connections, Direct Experience, Disaster or Crisis, Fear, Humanism, Love, Suffering, Unitarian Universalism, Worship
  • A wash of green, blue, and purple light blending together.
    Church is for helping people stay human in the face of inhumane circumstances.
    Audio Recording | By Erika Hewitt, Elizabeth Stevens | August 2, 2021 | From WorshipLab
    Tagged as: Brokenness, Disaster or Crisis, Presence, Self-Care, Trauma, Worship Tips
  • The back of a person as they regard a wall, lit by a stark fluorescent light, on which many medical face masks are hung.
    I am afraid and exhausted from the constant fear. I don’t know who to trust for information about the virus.
    Ritual | By Kate Landis | March 16, 2021 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: #COVID19, Brokenness, Death, Direct Experience, Disaster or Crisis, Grief, Healing, Hope, Secular, Solidarity, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • On a church chancel, children dressed as sheep and cows kneel during a Christmas pageant
    Every year, I tell the congregation not to worry about mistakes because there aren’t any; there is only us, telling an old story about love getting born into this aching world.
    Reflection | By Elea Kemler | December 18, 2019 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Advent, Brokenness, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Community, Direct Experience, Forgiveness, Love, Playfulness, Tradition, Transcendence, Unitarian Universalism
  • Two wooden knitting needles plunged into a ball of thick purple yarn
    Knit six purl six sets of two rows four rows six rows up to twelve, patterns, repeating, steady, soothingly same. This is not what life is like. Life is like picking up a tousled hunk of yarn pulled out of the basket by an impatient child looking for a string too many times. You find an end. You...
    Poetry | By Dawn Star Sarahs-Borchelt | October 16, 2019 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Acceptance, Brokenness, Connections, Direct Experience, Grief, Humanism, Interdependence, Life Transition, Pain, Secular, Stress
  • In a crowd at a protest or vigil, a young adult holds a sign saying "Kids are the future not guns"
    We are broken, O God. We are broken. We gather in vigil again to mourn the death of school children and school teachers. Death and violence are the reasons that draw us together in sorrow, in anger, in anxious grief and loss....
    Prayer | By Douglas Taylor | December 7, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), 5th Principle (Conscience & Democracy), Brokenness, Direct Experience, Disaster or Crisis, Grief, Healing, Violence
  • A metal basket, on a piece of cloth, holds a loaf of bread.
    Set up for this ritual: It's especially meaningful to have a congregant bake bread for communion. (If that’s not possible, store bought bread will do.) Cut the bread into cubes and place in baskets lined with napkins. Have a basket of gluten-free crackers available as well. To hold the juice, one...
    Ritual | By Sheri Prud’homme | October 22, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), 6th Principle (World Community), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Body, Brokenness, Christianity, Food, Grief, Healing, Spiritual Practice, Thanksgiving, Transformation, Wholeness
  • Several people standing with their arms around each other, photo taken from behind, so that the composition is a tangle of backs and arms.
    In the days ahead, many of us will gather with family and friends, people with whom we may have long and complicated relationships. It helps to prepare. Let us enter into the spirit of prayer or meditation. Dear Spirit, Great Mystery that has blessed us with Life, help us to feel grateful....
    Prayer | By Susanne Intriligator | June 18, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Brokenness, Challenge, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Direct Experience, Family, Father's Day, Forgiveness, Healing, Humanism, Mother's Day, Searching, Secular, Thanksgiving, Tradition
  • Unitarian Universalist Association Chalice
    We all take part in this ancient play. At some time. There is no other way. At some time… Thieves, guilty of poor choices caught red-handed in our human reality. One points at the other and says, “You: save me.” The other bows his head. “I accept responsibility. The mistakes I’ve made are...
    Meditation | By Rebecca Bryan | June 18, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Brokenness, Christianity, Death, Good Friday, Grief, Humanism, Responsibility
  • A human hand holds a fraying, spooled piece of red silk
    As the news cycle brings us images of terror and heartbreak once again, We grieve together As each of us faces into this new level of horror, We grieve together As we remember other moments of pain, fear, and loss, We grieve together Yearning for an end to violence and suffering, We grieve togeth...
    Litany | By Caitlin Cotter Coillberg | December 8, 2017 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), Brokenness, Community, Connections, Disaster or Crisis, Grief, Healing, Solidarity, Suffering, Unitarian Universalism
  • An Advent wreath, with four lit candles, and a fifth white candle in the center
    We lean in expectation into all that is being born in us at this Holy time of the year...
    Ritual | By Erika Hewitt | December 2, 2017 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Advent, Brokenness, Christianity, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Faith, Spiritual Practice, Tradition, Transcendence, Wholeness
  • In a sunlit sanctuary, a person sits in a wooden pew.
    You whose hearts are broken, come in. You whom pain has touched, and sorrow, and shock. You who have cried this week, and read the news with sadness. You whom loss has shadowed. You who grieve. Come in, come in. You with hearts open to joy and hope, come in. You whom love has touched, and...
    Opening | By Sharon Wylie | November 21, 2017 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Brokenness, Challenge, Community, Despair, Direct Experience, Disaster or Crisis, Hope, Inclusion, Interdependence
  • Against a purple-dusk sky, a light bulb hangs suspended; the background are hundreds of other light bulbs, each hanging in mid-air
    We live inside paradox. Humans generally don’t like to admit it—we much prefer tidy, stable, comprehensible, logical ways of getting through the day—but paradox is woven into the fabric of this particular universe we inhabit. Light is both a particle and a wave Imaginary numbers describe the...
    Opening | By Lindasusan Ulrich | October 2, 2017 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Agnosticism, Balance, Brokenness, Christianity, Easter, Faith, Hope, Mystery, Unitarian Universalism
  • A speckled egg and leaves inside of a bird's nest
    One: Despair is sapping our spirits, damaging our souls, hurting our hearts. Many: We need to be resurrected into hope, faith, and trust. Today, may we be resurrected. One: Violence is shortening our lives and robbing us of our joy. Many: We need to be resurrected into peace and its many blessings.
    Responsive Reading | By Amanda Udis-Kessler | September 12, 2017 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Brokenness, Despair, Direct Experience, Failure, Good Friday, Grace, Hope, Redemption, Salvation
  • A classic red Christmas ornament -- a glass ball -- sits shattered on a white surface.
    December 7, 2016 “Use loneliness. Its ache creates urgency to reconnect with the world.” — Natalie Goldberg I know a little about "merry" meeting "mess" at the holidays — and by a little I mean How much time have you got? Four Christmases ago, a painful break-up sent me spinning into a long...
    Reflection | By Erika Hewitt | December 7, 2016 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Advent, Brokenness, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Commitment, God, Healing, Hope, Pain, Sadness, Spiritual Practice
  • Figures from a nativity creche, including an adult figure gazing at the infant Jesus
    God has a fondness for what is fragile. This means us. Advent tells us that God came to us—and comes to us still—with complete vulnerability. Christ is to be found among what is fragile—including us, ourselves, when pain and loss have left us feeling less than whole. In coming to us as a...
    Reflection | By Jan Richardson | November 28, 2016 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Advent, Brokenness, Christianity, Christmas Eve / Christmas, God, Immanence, Relationships, Vulnerability