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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

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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14

  • Seven leaves, all of the same variety but in a range of colors from green to gold to red, are strung on a line to represent a continuum.
    May we each find the balance point we need
    Closing | By Michelle Collins | September 15, 2023 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Beginnings, Change, Ending, Life Transition, Limitations, Transformation, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • From above, a cross-section of a large, old oak stump--with all of its rings--and an oak sapling growing out of its center.
    I don’t know exactly when it happened, but something began to change.
    Reading | By Tess Baumberger | March 13, 2023 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Acceptance, Aging, Caring, Change, Coming-of-Age, Direct Experience, Generations, Humanism, Life Transition, Secular, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • A piece of artwork in a butterfly shape, filled with textures and in the colors of the rainbow.
    Today we celebrate the new name that reflects a truth long-hidden, now revealed.
    Ritual | By Karen G. Johnston | March 9, 2023 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Acceptance, Caring, Identity, Inclusion, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Life Transition, Naming Ceremony, Self-Respect, Transformation, WorshipWeb, Worship
  • 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
  • Flower_ripples_on_water
    Everything is about to change. And it already has. It will be. It was. It is. The dawn you eagerly await to end the long, cold darkness is already full sun far off in the east. Yet even after light’s return spring is months away. Thirty long years pass after His birth before the Messiah comes.
    Reading | By Mandie McGlynn | January 7, 2019 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Advent, Beginnings, Change, Christianity, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Contemplation, Ending, Faith, Growth, Hope, Journey, Justice, Life Transition, Paganism, Patience, Winter Solstice / Yule, WorshipWeb
  • Against a stark gold wall, with ornate floor tiles, a curving doorway leads into the next room.
    We call forth the life of our faith by igniting our chalice. This spark of new beginnings invites us into a sacred space to reflect where we have been and where we are going. Even knowing that this particular flame will intentionally end with our ritual extinguishing, we fear not its end… For we...
    Chalice Lighting | By Katie Sivani Gelfand | May 31, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Beginnings, Challenge, Courage, Direct Experience, Divorce / Separation, Earth-Centered, Ending, Fear, Humanism, Job Loss, Journey, Leaving Home, Letting Go, Life Transition, Mystery, Secular, Unitarian Universalism
  • A grandmother and granddaughter talk while holding a photo album.
    We remember the joys our departed gave us which opened us up to the life shared which is now ours to steward.
    Meditation | By Leslie Takahashi | December 8, 2016 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: All Saints Day, All Souls Day, Death, Día de los Muertos, Direct Experience, Family, Generations, Grief, Immanence, Life Transition, Memorial Services, Mystery, Spirituality, Unitarian Universalism, Wholeness
  • With a foaming waterfall behind her, a woman floats in water, smiling, with her bare feet floating in the foreground
    May you never thirst. May your body and your spirit always have what they need. When you are in need of refreshment, or new life, may the waters be available to you. May you never know thirst unto death, in your body or in your soul. May you never thirst. And may your body and your spirit always...
    Blessing | By Erica Baron | October 13, 2016 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Autumnal Equinox, Balance, Body, Connections, Earth-Centered, Food, Growth, Journey, Justice, Life Transition, Searching, Self-Care, Spirituality
  • a black-and-white photo of a wedding band on a table
    For all who left a relationship in order to save your heart, may your own heartbeat be your blessing. Its rhythm, its particular kinships, its unique rhythm. May you know your own heart as God's blessing....
    Blessing | By Meg Riley | May 10, 2016 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Acceptance, Body, Brokenness, Conflict, Direct Experience, Division, Divorce / Separation, Forgiveness, Life Transition, Love, Marriage, Relationships, Self-Respect
  • LGBTQ Welcoming Congregation logo
    This name now symbolizes all that you truly are and are becoming.
    Ritual | By Laura Bogle | April 5, 2016 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Acceptance, Body, Direct Experience, Gender, Honesty, Identity, Inclusion, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Life Transition, Multiculturalism, Transformation, Wholeness
  • Unitarian Universalist Association Chalice
    Overview: New Year Ritual or Transition Ritual Theme or Background: Burn an effigy to welcome the new year, or any major transition....
    Complete Service | By Unitarian Church of Baton Rouge, Young Adult Group | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Earth-Centered, Letting Go, Life Transition, Regret, Transformation, Youth/Teens
  • Unitarian Universalist Association Chalice
    We pause now on the edge of the New Year— An artificial beginning to be sure—but still a time to reflect. Like Janus, the god for whom January was named, we glance back at past joys and sorrows That what has past can guide us Toward what is yet to be. Let us reflect for a moment on some of the...
    Ritual | By Joan Kahn-Schneider | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Letting Go, Life Transition
  • Unitarian Universalist Association Chalice
    Once there was and once there was not a town on the edge of the swamp in the sultry summer weather of far south Florida, between the alligators and the ocean. In this town there were two amazing friends, Sam and Joseph. They were a lot alike. They liked the same foods. They liked the same books.
    Story | By Naomi King | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Family, Imagination, Life Transition, Playfulness, Revelation, Secular
  • Unitarian Universalist Association Chalice
    It was Spring. At long last there was no hint of snow on the ground. It was even warm, sort of. Birds and bugs had, at last, returned to Milwaukee. And so in the great flush of Spring madness, Jan and I decided it was time to barbecue....
    Sermon | By James Ishmael Ford | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Acceptance, Buddhism, Change, Life Transition, Presence