Edit Header for Worship Holidays Search
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

Displaying 161 – 180 of 3388

Changing a filter will refresh results (and remaining options) immediately. Searching by keyword requires use of the "Search" button.

  • A Black man and a small child, wearing rubber boots, hunch down in the shallow part of a wide river. The child is dipping a small pink net into the water, guided by their father's hand. They're both gazing at the surface of the water.
    At any moment in our lives we have a choice about how to inhabit the world.
    Reflection | By Michelle L. Mills | March 5, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Buddhism, Worship
  • A plain white card with the text ”thank you :)” is leaning against a blue and grey ceramic pot containing a small plant with round green leaves, possibly a Chinese money plant. The card and plant are on an otherwise bare weathered wooden table.
    This worship service explores gratitude and wonder through opportunities for spiritual practice. Instead of a sermon, the service includes time for personal reflection, community storytelling, and action.
    Script | By Liz Weber | March 4, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Arts & Music, Community, Creativity, Gratitude, Personal Stories, Spiritual Practice, Wonder, Worship
  • Unitarian Universalist Association Chalice
    With appreciation to Timothy Snyder’s On TyrannyAs fear abounds, may courage as well. In these times, we know we will need not to turn away nor surrender in advance. In the coming years, when asked to turn away, to focus only on our own survival and to disregard our neighbors's—Knowing the...
    Responsive Reading | By Leslie Takahashi | February 28, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Activism, Democracy, Disaster or Crisis, Interdependence, Justice, Living Our Faith, Responsibility, Solidarity, Suffering, Terrorism
  • A close-up of a piece of lapis lazuli. Most of the image is the deep blue of the stone, but there is a large irregularly-shaped area of white on the left side of the photo. Throughout, the stone contains cracks as well as flecks of gold-colored pyrite.
    Some years are hard. Some holidays won’t feel jolly. Some days are best kept In quiet contemplation. But none of that makes this time less holy. None of that makes you less worthy…
    Reading | By Monica Clark-Robinson | February 26, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Beauty, Brokenness, Christianity, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Compassion, Fear, Grace, Sacred, Shadow, Truth, Wholeness, Worship, Worth
  • An overhead view of a person holding a small globe in their cupped hands. We see the brim of their blue-and-white hat and a foreshortened view of their jeans-clad lower legs and their black shoes; their hands, with the small colorful globe, are visible from our point of view because they stick out far enough to be seen below the hat’s brim. We also see several squares of the sidewalk beneath their feet, decorated with children’s chalk art.
    Agape love—radical, quiet, boundless, unconditional—is the love we have for God, the Universe, the Interconnected Web, for whatever words for Spirit make your soul sing.
    Opening | By Monica Clark-Robinson | February 26, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Community, Connections, God, Interdependence, Love, Sacrifice, Self-Respect, Service, Worship
  • Rev. Lindasusan, a person of color, stretches out their arm to reveal their tattoo by James Chase: a dandelion going to seed, with its scattered seeds spelling the word L I B E R A T I O N
    What if each of us made a lifetime commitment to get free and to bring others with us?
    Reflection | By Lindasusan Ulrich | February 12, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Arts & Music, Body, Direct Experience, Freedom, Friendship, Letting Go, Living Our Faith, Worship
  • Several stalks of tall meadow grass, silhouetted against an orange sky with the sun low on the horizon.
    If you have come here seeking comfort, may your pain be soothed. If you have come here looking for answers, may you find new questions.…
    Opening | By Michelle LaGrave | February 5, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Calling, Community, Purpose, Searching, Worship
  • A closeup of one person — a Black woman with natural hair wearing silver hoop earrings and a white T-shirt, holding up a sign — in what appears to be a large crowd at a protest. We see her left profile, from slightly behind her.
    In the midst of the anger and frustration is hope—hope that we are here, hope that a loving world is indeed possible, hope in the faith that love can and will triumph over hate.
    Prayer | By Andrew Weber | February 5, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Anger, Despair, Dissent, Grief, Hope, Justice, Living Our Faith, Love, Politics, Worship
  • A wooden footbridge with a railing on the right side crosses a small ravine and continues as a boardwalk disappearing into a mixed forest of fir and leafy trees.
    We won’t know how the story ends until we get there, but we can decide what words we use to write those stories.
    Affirmation | By Emily Richards | February 5, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Beginnings, Courage, Creativity, Ending, Gratitude, Hope, Joy, Kindness, Love, Peace, Worship
  • A shaggy, black, medium-sized dog wearing a purple harness sits alertly on the grass, with its face turned away from the camera. A leash from the harness is in a white person's hand; we see only their sleeve and a portion of their leg.
    Choice by choice, we make an effort to live out what we say we want, and who we claim to be.
    Reflection | By Erika Hewitt | February 5, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Animals, Faith, Integrity, Interdependence, Living Our Faith, Playfulness, Relationships, Religion, Worship
  • The famous “blue marble” photo of the Earth from space taken by the crew of Apollo 17. Africa, the Arabian peninsula, Madagascar, and Antarctica are visible behind some cloud cover, as well as the Indian Ocean and the South Atlantic.
    We light this chalice for the Earth, of which we all are part / Encendemos este cáliz por la tierra
    Spanish | Chalice Lighting | By Adena Dannouf, Tania Y Márquez | January 31, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Children's / Religious Education Sunday, Earth, Earth Day, Interdependence, Nature, Worship
  • A black-and-white photo of a large adult hand, open and facing upward, with a lit tea light in its palm.
    In each breath we take, may we remember that the work of love, justice, and healing is ours to continue—both here and beyond these walls.
    Chalice Extinguishing | By Craig Rowland | January 30, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Business Meetings, Community, Courage, Healing, Justice, Love, Transformation, Truth, Worship
  • A black-and-white photo of a large adult hand, open and facing upward, with a lit tea light in its palm.
    As we light this chalice, may each breath remind us of the sacred rhythm of life, the pulse of creation, and the power we hold to shape the world around us.
    Chalice Lighting | By Craig Rowland | January 30, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Business Meetings, Community, Courage, Despair, Fear, Healing, Love, Spiritual Practice, Strength, Transformation, Truth, Worship
  • A drawing, on a textured greenish grey surface using a thick white pen or brush, of a very simplified outline of a human head in profile, with many curved and twisting arrows pointing outwards from the head.
    Blessed are the unfocused, for they notice the sparks of divinity that illuminate the world.…
    Blessing | By Stacey Elza | January 30, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Christianity, Diversity, Grace, Identity, Imagination, Inclusion, Spirituality, Worship
  • A green wooden door set in an ivy-covered wall. The door is locked with a padlock. On the upper part of the door, at about eye level, there is a small hole in the shape of a heart.
    Today in UU congregations all over the world, people will gather in an effort to live into, as best as we can, what we profess about placing love at the center of all we do.
    Affirmation | By David A Miller | January 30, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: America, Calling, Challenge, Faith, Living Our Faith, Love, Worship
  • A metal anchor rests on a patch of sand on a beach. Behind the anchor, a chain trails towards the incoming tide.
    Hope is challenging, if not impossible, to grasp alone.
    Reflection | By Oscar Sinclair | January 29, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Worship
  • The trunks of a number of trees in a forest stand on the Olympic Peninsula. The brown trunks stand out against the pale green foliage behind them. The largest tree has a much smaller tree right next to it, some of whose roots are wrapped partway around the larger trunk.
    Hug the prayer before it leaves your body. Float it along like murmuring leaves.…
    Poetry | By Jennifer Pratt-Walter | January 28, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Earth, Nature, Spiritual Practice, Trust, Worship
  • A baby with brown skin looks directly with wide eyes at the camera while being held by a woman with brown skin and black hair, wearing a white sweater with two blue stripes around the upper arm. The woman is turned partly away from us, so that what is visible to us is her right shoulder, part of her back, and the right side of her face. Her eyes are closed and her mouth is in a gentle smile. The baby looks at us over her shoulder with an expression of excitement and curiosity.
    Beloved Child — May you know great love; may you feel deep joy; may you understand the work of justice and the light of truth.
    Prayer | By Karishma Gottfried | January 27, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Child Dedication, Community, Home, Joy, Justice, Love, Truth, Worship
  • A long-exposure photograph showing a trail of sparks in the shape of a heart, against a background that is mostly darkness. The person holding the sparkler is just barely visible as a reddish blur behind the sparkler’s trail, which repeats the heart shape four or five times in roughly the same location.
    Love begets love, and it is love that lights our chalice.
    Chalice Lighting | By anastasia birosh | January 27, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Community, Freedom, Love, Worship
  • A close-up image of the splash formed by a single drop of water landing in a still pool of water, taken at high speed so that the shape of the splash is well-defined. We see the initial ripple spreading outwards from the place where the droplet fell, as well as a vertical column of water formed by the rebounding water. The rebound splash almost looks like a simplified human figure, with a droplet as the head. The pool of water reflects yellow and green light.
    May we become quiet enough and still enough to notice the call deep within us that lures us towards what matters most, this call that lures us towards freedom and purpose.
    Prayer | By Kate Steinberg | January 27, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Awe, Calling, Connections, Contemplation, Empathy, Freedom, Gratitude, Listening, Purpose, Worship