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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I do not like the "I hate it" feeling, but I have it....Meditation | By Albert F Ciarcia | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), Commitment, Purpose, Regret, Work -
I do not know if the seasons remember their history or if the days and nights by which we count time remember their own passing. I do not know if the oak tree remembers its planting or if the pine remembers its slow climb toward sun and stars. I do not know if the squirrel remembers last fall's...Meditation | By Burton D. Carley | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Autumnal Equinox, Earth, Earth-Centered, Growth, Meaning, Nature, Reverence, Salvation, Transformation, Unitarian Universalism
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How does one address a mystery? Cautiously—let us go cautiously, then, to the end of our certainty, to the boundary of all we know, to the rim of uncertainty, to the perimeter of the unknown which surrounds us. Reverently—let us go with a sense of awe, a feeling of approaching the powerful holy...Meditation | By Gordon B McKeeman | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Awe, Connections, Contemplation, Mystery, Presence, Unity, Wonder -
In this time of anticipated spring let us allow ourselves to extend the anticipation—to value the time of budding before blooming, of seeding before sprouting. This is a time of revelation: the revealing of that which is eternal, which we see every year, but still need to be reminded to see it in...Meditation | By Terasa Cooley | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Birth, Earth, Hope, Imbolc / Brighid's Day / Candlemas, Listening, Nature, Unitarian Universalism, Vernal Equinox
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In the moments when Word is silence give yourself to it in wholeness and wait. Let the knowing of this primal sound carry you into circles where sound itself— where silence itself—becomes new and the new a song you sing from your bones.Meditation | By Susan L Van Dreser | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Body, Direct Experience, Immanence, Listening, Silence, Unitarian Universalism, Wholeness
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Introduction: In our time of meditation this morning, we are going to continue to work on the issue of forgiveness. I invite you to continue to hold in your mind and heart, the situation of hurt that you were thinking about during the sermon....Meditation | By Christine Robinson | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Forgiveness, Judaism
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God, God is water sleeping in high-piled clouds. She is gentle drink of rain, pooling lake, rounding pond, angry flooding river. She is frothy horse-maned geyser. She is glacier on mountains and polar ice cap, and breath-taking crystalline ideas of snowflakes. She is frost-dance on trees....Meditation | By Tess Baumberger | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Awe, Direct Experience, Earth, Earth-Centered, God, Immanence, Nature, Wonder
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Enter into the communion of flowers with joyful hearts. Enter with reverent thoughts. It has taken long months beneath cold ground for these flowers to prepare their blooming. It has taken each of us long times of growth through sorrow and joy to prepare for our living now. The blooming season is...Meditation | By Elizabeth M Strong | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Beauty, Earth, Flower Communion, Limitations, Nature, Transcendence -
"Dukkha," they say. The Buddhists say, "All is dukkha." It is hard to translate, they tell us. It means literally "suffering" but the feeling of dukkha is closer to impermanence. The fact of impermanence is central to the Buddhist path to nirvana, enlightenment. Dukkha. All is impermanence....Meditation | By Elizabeth Tarbox | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Buddhism, Change, Connections, Death, Letting Go, Presence, Unitarian Universalism
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Leader: Whether you have come here with heart full or heart empty, with spirits high or low, rested or tired, hopeful or despairing, Congregation: Whether we have come here out of habit, conviction, loneliness, or curiosity, Leader: You belong here because you are here, and all that you have and ...Opening | By Krista Taves | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Acceptance, Community, Hospitality, Inclusion, Unitarian Universalism, Unity
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We gather together to face ourselves honestly, to forgive ourselves gently, to love one another fervently.Opening | By Philip Larson | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Compassion, Forgiveness, Love
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We gather together in this space to honor and understand our lives. We bring our pasts and would share them, our dreams and would express them. We use words, song, silence, and gesture....Opening | By Judith G Mannheim | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Connections, Relationships, Taoism, Unitarian Universalism, Wonder
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"We gather together": familiar words to many of us. "We"—called here not by name, not by special invitation—but we who are here, who, walking by the door, come in; who come anonymously, burdened and borne by our visions, yearnings, despairs, solitudes. "Gather"—called here not by law, not by...Opening | By Libbie D Stoddard | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Challenge, Community, Inclusion, Interdependence, Unitarian Universalism, Unity
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Ah, how beautiful is this day. How crisp and clean the air. How clear the sky. How full of life the teeming earth. And we are alive! Yes, we feel the beat of our own hearts, the pulsing of life in our veins, the rhythm of our breathing....Meditation | By Sara Campbell | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Connections, Healing, Mystery, Strength, Unity
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Here is where it all begins. It cannot be otherwise. Here we have come to listen, we have come to hear. An old woman sat here yesterday on a park bench, a brown bag at her side, her eyes sparkling as children frolicked on a carousel. "Nice day," I said. "You're right," she said, and smiled....Meditation | By Maureen Killoran | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Compassion, Connections, Direct Experience, Listening, Relationships, Unitarian Universalism
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Gracious and loving Lord, in perfect assurance of Your presence here we pray your fulfillment of these blessings upon this minister who has been called from among these people to assume the office of pastor, preacher, prophet and servant. God, we pray that you will utterly possess N. in all of...Prayer | By Victoria Weinstein | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: God, Ministry, Ordinations
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It is a good morning to be together! When winter's darkness spreads across the land, and cold seeps through our thickest coats, we hurry here, drawn by the warmth of faces familiar and new, to the welcoming walls of this house. Here, for this hour, we open ourselves to new understanding,...Opening | By Barbara Cheatham | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Challenge, Community, Connections, Earth, Meaning, Unitarian Universalism, Unity, Winter Solstice / Yule
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Whatever the need that brings you to this special place and hour, know most surely that it is best served through eager receptivity of mind and heart....Opening | By Albert F Ciarcia | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Discernment
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What life have we, if we have not life together? There is no life not lived in community, and no community not lived in celebration and praise! Adapted from lines from T. S. Eliot's "The Rock."...Opening | By Charles A. Howe | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Community
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Welcome to this place of possibility! This is love's hearth, the home of hope, a refuge for minds in search of truth unfolding, ever beautiful, ever strange. Here, compassion is our shelter, freedom our protection from the storms of bigotry and hate. In this abode, may we find comfort and courage.Opening | By Marianne Hachten Cotter | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Hospitality