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.
Search Words for Worship Services
Toggle to filter resultsAvailable filters:
Changing a filter will refresh results (and remaining options) immediately. Searching by keyword or changing the number of items per page requires use of the "Search" button.
- Advent (25)
- Autumnal Equinox (2)
- Backpack Blessing (1)
- Black History / Whitney Young / James Reeb (1)
- Bridging Ceremony (2)
- Building/Space Dedication (2)
- Business Meetings (2)
- Chinese New Year (1)
- Christmas Eve / Christmas (24)
- Coming of Age (2)
- Disaster or Crisis (13)
- Earth Day (2)
- Easter (21)
- Father's Day (1)
- Fire Communion (1)
- Flower Communion (1)
- Good Friday (4)
- Hanukkah (3)
- Hiroshima Day (1)
- Holocaust Remembrance / Yom Ha'Shoah (2)
- Homecoming / Ingathering (3)
- IllUUmination (1)
- Imbolc / Brighid's Day / Candlemas (2)
- Installations (2)
- Joys & Concerns (1)
- Justice Sunday (3)
- Lammas (1)
- Life Transition (1)
- Meditation Practices (1)
- Memorial Day (1)
- Memorial Services (1)
- Ministerial Transition (1)
- Mother's Day (1)
- Mourning (4)
- New Child (1)
- New Year (9)
- Ordinations (1)
- Palm Sunday (3)
- Passover (Pesach) (1)
- Prayer Practices (1)
- Pride Sunday (1)
- Remembrance Day (1)
- Rosh Hashanah (1)
- Summer Solstice (1)
- Thanksgiving (1)
- Twelfth Night / Epiphany (2)
- Valentine's Day (1)
- Vernal Equinox (6)
- Water Communion (2)
- Winter Solstice / Yule (17)
- Yom Kippur (1)
- Abundance (1)
- Acceptance (3)
- Activism (6)
- America (1)
- Anger (1)
- Anti-Oppression (4)
- Awe (9)
- Balance (7)
- Beauty (3)
- Beginnings (13)
- Belief (3)
- Birth (10)
- Body (1)
- Bridging (1)
- Brokenness (14)
- Calling (6)
- Caring (5)
- Challenge (5)
- Change (5)
- Character (1)
- Children (7)
- Choice (2)
- Class (1)
- Coming-of-Age (1)
- Commitment (5)
- Community (22)
- Compassion (9)
- Conflict (2)
- Connections (11)
- Contemplation (5)
- Courage (13)
- Creativity (2)
- Death (3)
- Democracy (1)
- Despair (19)
- Dignity (3)
- Disaster (1)
- Discernment (5)
- Diversity (1)
- Doubt (4)
- Earth (10)
- Empathy (1)
- Ending (6)
- Evil (1)
- Failure (1)
- Faith (21)
- Fall (1)
- Family (4)
- Fathers (1)
- Fear (5)
- Food (1)
- Forgiveness (3)
- Freedom (2)
- Friendship (2)
- Generations (4)
- Generosity (3)
- God (4)
- Grace (3)
- Gratitude (5)
- Grief (6)
- Growth (7)
- Happiness (1)
- Healing (12)
- Health (2)
- History (2)
- Home (3)
- Honesty (1)
- Hospitality (2)
- Human Rights (1)
- Humility (2)
- Identity (2)
- Immanence (1)
- Immigration (1)
- Inclusion (4)
- Integrity (3)
- Interdependence (4)
- Journey (8)
- Joy (13)
- Justice (10)
- Kindness (1)
- Leadership (1)
- Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer (1)
- Letting Go (9)
- Limitations (1)
- Listening (3)
- Living Our Faith (7)
- Love (33)
- Meaning (1)
- Military (1)
- Mindfulness (1)
- Ministry (1)
- Mothers (2)
- Multiculturalism (1)
- Mystery (7)
- Nature (11)
- Pain (3)
- Parents (5)
- Patience (6)
- Peace (13)
- Playfulness (1)
- Politics (1)
- Power (6)
- Presence (6)
- Privilege (1)
- Purpose (10)
- Race/Ethnicity (2)
- Reason (1)
- Redemption (2)
- Relationships (9)
- Respect (1)
- Responsibility (3)
- Revelation (1)
- Reverence (4)
- Sacred (3)
- Sacrifice (2)
- Sadness (1)
- Salvation (4)
- Searching (7)
- Self-Care (2)
- Self-Respect (3)
- Service (4)
- Shadow (2)
- Silence (1)
- Simplicity (1)
- Solidarity (4)
- Sorrow (4)
- Spirituality (3)
- Spiritual Practice (5)
- Spring (6)
- Strength (6)
- Suffering (3)
- Terrorism (2)
- Tradition (5)
- Transcendence (5)
- Transformation (8)
- Trust (3)
- Truth (2)
- Unity (4)
- Violence (2)
- Vision (5)
- Vulnerability (3)
- War (1)
- Wholeness (5)
- Winter (11)
- Wisdom (3)
- Wonder (9)
- Work (1)
- Worry (3)
- Worth (1)
- Young Adults (1)
- (-) Hope (117)
- Aaron Payson (1)
- Alex Holt (1)
- Alex Swift (1)
- Alice Anacheka-Nasemann (1)
- Alix Klingenberg (1)
- Alyson Jacks (1)
- Amanda Poppei (1)
- Amanda Udis-Kessler (1)
- Annie Foerster (1)
- Ariel Hunt-Brondwin (1)
- Ashley Horan (1)
- Carter Smith (1)
- Celie Katovitch (1)
- Charles A. Howe (1)
- Charles F Flagg (2)
- Cricket Hall (1)
- Cynthia Frado (1)
- Cynthia Landrum (1)
- D. Scott Cooper (1)
- Daniel Chesney Kanter (1)
- David A Johnson (1)
- David Breeden (1)
- David O. Rankin (2)
- David Richo (1)
- DC Fortune (1)
- Dori J. Somers (1)
- Eileen B Karpeles (1)
- Elea Kemler (1)
- Elena Westbrook (1)
- Elizabeth Mount (1)
- Elizabeth M Strong (1)
- Erika Hewitt (4)
- Erik Walker Wikstrom (1)
- Evin Carvill Ziemer (1)
- Gary Kowalski (1)
- Gordon B McKeeman (1)
- Gregory Jones (1)
- Gregory Pelley (1)
- Gwen Matthews (1)
- Heide Cottam (1)
- Howard Thurman (1)
- Ian W. Riddell (1)
- Janet Parsons (1)
- Jeanne Lloyd (1)
- Jennifer Gracen (1)
- Jennifer Pratt-Walter (1)
- Jes Kast (1)
- Jessica York (1)
- Julia Hamilton (1)
- Karen G. Johnston (1)
- Kate Landis (1)
- Kelly Murphy Mason (1)
- Kendyl L. R. Gibbons (1)
- Kevin Jagoe (1)
- Kimberley Debus (1)
- Krista Taves (1)
- Kristin Grassel Schmidt (1)
- Laura Wallace (1)
- Leslie Takahashi (2)
- Li Kynvi (1)
- Lindasusan Ulrich (1)
- Lisa Doege (4)
- Lois Van Leer (4)
- Lorelei Greenwood-Jones (1)
- Mandie McGlynn (1)
- Marcus Liefert (1)
- Martha Dallas (2)
- Mary Wellemeyer (1)
- Maureen Killoran (5)
- Megan Visser (1)
- Melanie Davis (1)
- Melanie Morel-Ensminger (1)
- Myke Johnson (1)
- Nathan Ryan (2)
- Paul R Beedle (2)
- Peggy Clarke (1)
- Ranwa Hammamy (1)
- Rexford J. Styzens (1)
- Richard F. Beil (1)
- Richard S. Gilbert (1)
- Robert Walsh (1)
- Robin Bartlett (1)
- Robin Tanner (2)
- Rosemary Morrison (1)
- Ruben Piirainen (1)
- Ruth E Gibson (1)
- Sam Trumbore (1)
- Shari Woodbury (2)
- Sharon Wylie (1)
- Suzelle Lynch (1)
- Sylvia L Howe (1)
- Terasa Cooley (1)
- Tess Baumberger (1)
- Theresa Hardy (1)
- Thomas Rhodes (1)
- Tom Schade (1)
- Vanessa Rush Southern (2)
Displaying 1 - 20 of 117
-
Prayers to be said on the four Sundays of Advent while lighting the Advent candle wreath.Prayer | By Elizabeth Mount | March 29, 2024 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Advent, Christianity, Hope, Joy, Love, Patience, Peace, WorshipWeb, Worship
-
There in the deep sack of night, a tiny Hope was born.Poetry | By Jennifer Pratt-Walter | March 29, 2024 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Awe, Beginnings, Birth, Earth-Centered, Hope, Joy, Love, Peace, Sacred, Winter Solstice / Yule, WorshipWeb, Worship
-
Fear not, the angels would text me. Hallelujah, I’d write back.Reflection | By Marcus Liefert | December 20, 2023 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: Advent, Awe, Children, Christianity, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Direct Experience, Family, Hope, Parents, Wonder, Worship
-
The circle of evergreens reminds us that life and love will never end.Ritual | By Rosemary Morrison | January 26, 2023 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Advent, Christianity, Hope, Joy, Love, Peace, Spiritual Practice
-
Can we find space for lifting our heads in wonder—that we’re still striving, still trying togetherChalice Lighting | By Li Kynvi | August 10, 2022 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Business Meetings, Commitment, Community, Faith, Hope, Identity, Living Our Faith, Purpose, Unitarian Universalism, WorshipWeb, Worship
-
May we open our hearts to the abundance of creation.Prayer | By Vanessa Rush Southern, Alyson Jacks | August 8, 2022 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Balance, Connections, Earth Day, Easter, Hope, Joy, Vernal Equinox, WorshipWeb, Worship
-
We have a holy obligation to bring about paradise on this earth; each generation helps us do that.Reflection | By Nathan Ryan | June 15, 2022 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: Children, Father's Day, Fathers, Generations, Hope, Mothers, Parents, Purpose, Secular, Unitarian Universalism, Worship
-
Easter is a holiday of miracles.Opening | By Peggy Clarke | March 31, 2021 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Belief, Christianity, Easter, Hope, Love, Nature, WorshipWeb, Worship
-
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 WorshipWebTagged as: #COVID19, Brokenness, Death, Direct Experience, Disaster or Crisis, Grief, Healing, Hope, Secular, Solidarity, WorshipWeb, Worship
-
The stories remind us there is still and always joy in this world, but it usually comes right alongside the struggle.Reflection | By Elea Kemler | December 16, 2020 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: Advent, Christianity, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Direct Experience, Hope, Joy, Searching, Worship
-
This year, the Advent season seems particularly seized by a spirit of the expected, the longing.Reflection | By Robin Tanner | December 2, 2020 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: #COVID19, Advent, Children, Christianity, Hope, Living Our Faith, Parents, Purpose, Worship
-
Hope continues, uncertain and true, like candlelight, ready to spark again.Chalice Extinguishing | By Kevin Jagoe | November 2, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Autumnal Equinox, Despair, Disaster or Crisis, Fall, Hope, Winter, Winter Solstice / Yule, WorshipWeb, Worship
-
Advent is about the new story being written in our lives.Quote | By Jes Kast | September 10, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Advent, Christianity, God, Hope, Spirituality, Vulnerability, WorshipWeb, Worship
-
Jesus had no political power. He lived his whole life in the shadow of the Roman empire, and that empire killed him. Yet Jesus healed the sick, he listened, he moved among the ordinary people, in the lowly places.Reflection | By Myke Johnson | April 8, 2020 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: #COVID19, 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Calling, Caring, Christianity, Democracy, Easter, Evil, Good Friday, Healing, Hope, Power, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Responsibility
-
For the new year, just days old, beginning today, always beginning: We light our chalice, symbol of faith, perseverance, and hope, in astonished thanksgiving and irrepressible praise. For beginnings that emerge out of endings, appear amidst continuity, become visible in hindsight: We light our...Chalice Lighting | By Lisa Doege | January 8, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Beginnings, Faith, Gratitude, Homecoming / Ingathering, Hope, New Year, Unitarian Universalism
-
Reader 1: Flaming chalice, symbol of our living tradition, we kindle you for light Reader 2: Light in this darkest season of the year Light to reveal the sources of greed and hate among us Light to guide our way forward together Reader 1: Chalice Flame, we kindle you for love Reader 2: Love to ke...Chalice Lighting | By Ariel Hunt-Brondwin | November 13, 2019 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Hope, Love, Purpose, Unitarian Universalism, Winter, Winter Solstice / Yule
-
Ours is a spiritual community where we find and forge connection. We trust in the strength of our mutual support, knowing how it has sustained us, day after day, year after year. Today we hold in the light: _________ and we lift up: _________ Now you are invited to recall the names of persons or...Meditation | By Kelly Murphy Mason | March 27, 2019 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Community, Compassion, Faith, Gratitude, Hope, Joy, Joys & Concerns, Love, Sorrow, Trust
-
"After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it....Homily | By Heide Cottam | February 13, 2019 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Awe, Christianity, Easter, Faith, Hope, Living Our Faith, Love, Mystery, Reverence, Strength, Transformation
-
Spirit of Life On this night, may we bear witness to the guiding lights: the lights in the sky That call us to gather, and to give of ourselves To celebrate new life....Prayer | By Carter Smith | February 7, 2019 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Birth, Caring, Christianity, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Community, Faith, Happiness, Hope, Love, Presence, Relationships, Transcendence
-
[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