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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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 WorshipWebTagged as: Brokenness, Grief, Healing, Judaism, Reconciliation, Rosh Hashanah, WorshipWeb, Worship -
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 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 -
It was at a gathering of white women when this gathering of the waters first came to pass. White women in a second wave of gender self-awareness; awakening, connecting, making new meaning, shifting the old ethos. The solidarity of these white women was reflected in the waters each brought, waters...Invocation | By Renee Ruchotzke | October 2, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Anti-Oppression, Direct Experience, Earth, Gender, Identity, Multiculturalism, Race/Ethnicity, Reconciliation, Tradition, Unitarian Universalism, Water Communion -
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 -
Today, you join in membership. This is a moment of excitement and possibility. And although I don’t wish to pull you out of this moment, I need to talk to you for a bit about a moment in your future....Reading | By Liz James | February 11, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Commitment, Community, Covenant, Inclusion, Living Our Faith, New Member Ceremony, Reconciliation, Relationships, Strength, Teamwork, Transformation, Unitarian Universalism, WorshipWeb -
Beloved Children of the Oneness of many names, you who cover the land in numbers greater than the stars, I petition you, I pray to you, because you are the fruit of God’s promise to the World; because each of you holds a piece of the truth of all that is; because the vision of Beloved Community...Prayer | By Jan Taddeo | December 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 6th Principle (World Community), Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Justice, Justice Sunday, Multiculturalism, Peace, Reconciliation, Reverence, War, WorshipWeb -
For all who die in war We lift up our hearts For all who live in suffering in the aftermath of violence We lift up our hearts For all who give their lives in smoke and flame We lift up our hearts For all who go on in honor of the dead We lift up our hearts For all who have served We lift up our...Prayer | By Amy Petrie Shaw | October 30, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 6th Principle (World Community), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), All Saints Day, All Souls Day, Brokenness, Buddhism, Christianity, Conflict, Direct Experience, Islam, Judaism, Memorial Day, Pain, Peace, Reconciliation, Religion, United Nations Day, Veterans Day, War, WorshipWeb -
This light unites us. This light unites us with our neighbors, Our friends and our enemies. Most importantly, This light unites us within ourselves. Our hearts, Our souls, Our spirits. This light unites us. —First Parish, Bedford, Massachusetts, Coming of Age participant...Chalice Lighting | By Rebecca Pankhurst | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Acceptance, Coming of Age, Community, Diversity, Healing, Reconciliation, Relationships, Sacred, Unity, Wholeness -
I don't know about you, but I'm a little bit skittish about holidays that seem to have originated with the greeting card people. That's not true, in fact, of Mother's Day....Ritual | By Barbara Child | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Children, Direct Experience, Forgiveness, Love, Mother's Day, Mothers, Parents, Reconciliation