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Unitarian Universalists use different terms for the words that begin a worship service, including call to worship, invocation, and opening words. These words invite the congregation from their separate lives and to the common place and time of the worship hour.

(In Unitarian Universalist worship if there are Opening Words there is generally not an Invocation, and vice versa.)

Search Words for Worship Services

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  • An aerial view of a public park in autumn. The main feature is a large circular area, perhaps hundreds of yards across, whose perimeter is marked by large trees. The circle is divided by walking paths into eight equal sections, meeting at a very large tree in the center of the circle.
    We join together in solidarity as a covenanted people, who are drawn together by the promise of connection and the mysterious pull of the unanswerable.
    Opening | By Bran Lennox | January 6, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Community, Covenant, Love, Mystery, Solidarity, Wonder, Worship
  • At night, from the vantage point of a dark stretch of beach, there are three light sources visible: On the left there is a lighthouse, shining bright streams of light in several directions; on the right, the moon glows behind a light cloud cover; and in the middle, we see fainter light from several houses farther down the coast. The foam from the sea is also visible, and shows the shoreline stretching in a straight line from the lower right of the photo to the houses in the middle of the photo.
    We cannot know what all the year may bring, and would we heed the prophecy if we could?
    Chalice Lighting | By Mary Shelden | December 10, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Caring, Equity, Generations, Justice, Love, New Year, Worship
  • Rays of sunlight stream down through a break in the cloudy sky, showing green plants and trees on mountains that otherwise look dark.
    Let beauty in. Let beauty in like waves lapping on the shore, covering the beach and soaking the sand like an embrace.
    Opening | By Rebekah Savage | November 18, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Beauty, Happiness, Joy, Sacred, Worship
  • Two fireworks exploding in a deep black sky. The two explosions each take the shape of a dandelion, with streaks of white light coming out of a colorful center. The firework on the left is pale green, with red at the center; the one on the right ranges from yellow in the center to red and purple at the edges.
    Rejoice! May this time of worship celebrate what we know at our core.
    Opening | By Rebekah Savage | October 30, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Faith, Gratitude, Joy, Transformation, Worship
  • In the foreground there is a mostly leafless sapling, standing in a field of brown grass. In the distance, at the far edges of the field, there much larger trees, still with green leaves.
    Justice is our prayer. We affirm in covenant with the Beloved Community that is possible.
    Opening | By Rebekah Savage | October 30, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Community, Equity, Growth, Interdependence, Justice, Patience, Worship
  • A murmuration of birds, seen from a distance. The birds form a black cloud of varying density, seen against a sky streaked with clouds. The clouds near the horizon show a touch of red from the rising or setting sun.
    May our time together honor all the hopes we hold within; may our time together bless us with the gifts of inspiration, comfort and renewal.
    Opening | By Rebekah Savage | October 29, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Community, Creativity, Growth, Home, Hope, Peace, Purpose, Strength, Wholeness, Worship
  • Looking from inside a room through a set of four tall arched windows, we see a garden with some tall purple salvia-like flowers. Beyond the garden a wide grassy field stretches to the horizon, where there are trees and hills.
    There is no separation, here, of the sacred from the profane. No setting apart from the natural world.
    Opening | By Shari Woodbury | October 4, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Beauty, Body, Connections, Interdependence, Nature, Sacred, Spirituality, Spring, Worship
  • A glass ball, held in a person’s hand at the sea shore, acts as a lens and shows an inverted image of the sea and the sunset sky. The image in the glass ball is sharp and in focus; the actual sea and sky, visible around the ball, is out of focus.
    As we light this chalice, we kindle the spirit of the great turning: the movement for justice alive in this nation today. May we feel it in our bones, and in the stillness of this hour, may we sense it calling our name.
    Chalice Lighting | By Lisa Garcia-Sampson | September 13, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: America, Community, Democracy, Generations, Hope, Justice, Love, Politics, Worship
  • Four people celebrating with arms raised, seen in silhouette against the sky. The sun is centered behind them, and the sky’s colors range from blue to pink.
    We are whole and holy; we are loved beyond all measure. And in our refusal to accept anything less, may we know we are rooted in the infinite divinity.
    Chalice Lighting | By Jami Yandle | August 1, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Awe, Body, Freedom, Gender, God, Imagination, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Pride Sunday, Transgender Day of Remembrance, Wholeness, Wonder, Worship
  • The Milky Way in the night sky near the horizon, with one end aligned with a tree visible in silhouette.
    We light this chalice to ignite the divine spark of the universe, whose pronouns have always been plural…
    Chalice Lighting | By Jami Yandle | August 1, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Awe, Gender, Imagination, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Wonder, Worship
  • A lily blossom, with pale violet leaves and yellow stamens, floats in a pond. Our view is from directly above, and in the water around the blossom we see the reflection of the concentric circles of the frames supporting the glass roof of a greenhouse.
    We light this flame to remind us: love is the center. As we grow and connect, mature and deepen: love remains the center. When the light of truth burns all else away: love remains.
    Chalice Lighting | By Eric Hepburn | July 17, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Connections, Growth, Love, Sacred, Truth, Worship
  • Against a uniform dark background, a bright yellow light shines in the upper left of the image. Rays of light and lens flare effects stream from the central light.
    We light this chalice with all our soul’s longing, to be who we are, to be who will we will become, to be ourselves.
    Chalice Lighting | By SarahRuth Wekoye Davis | July 8, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Hope, Identity, Love, Reverence, Sadness, Worship
  • A large tree with a sagging branch being held aloft by a prop shaped like a human hand.
    On this Sunday before Labor Day, we light this flame to honor all work. Not only the work we do for pay with our hands, our backs, and our minds, that is important, yes. But also the work we do for love!
    Chalice Lighting | By Paul Dalzell | June 28, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Body, Caring, Community, Connections, Labor Day, Love, Work, Worship
  • The face and arms of a young person, surrounded by darkness, are illuminated by the light from the fire in a sky lantern that he is holding and about to launch.
    We light our chalice as a symbol of the Light within us and the life that flows through the world around us.
    Chalice Lighting | By Brian C. Lee | June 28, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Commitment, Community, Love, Truth, Worship
  • Through a heart-shaped window in the door of a light blue metal box, we see a glowing candle and its reflection.
    We gather in covenant to celebrate the reality that love is at the core of our beings and that love will guide us if we open ourselves to the challenges which love requires of us.
    Affirmation, Opening, Poetry | By Esther Hurlburt | June 26, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Covenant, Living Our Faith, Love, Worship
  • chalice at St. Cloud UU Fellowship
    May we be kind in our speaking, thoughtful in our deliberating, and never stray from the love that binds us together.
    Opening | By Linda Hart | June 6, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Business Meetings, Community, Covenant, Democracy, Governance, Interdependence, Leadership, Service, Teamwork, Work, Worship
  • A woman with long hair, mostly in silhouette, holds a sparkler near the camera. The camera is focused mostly on the bright red and yellow sparks, with the woman behind them slightly blurred.
    The essence that is you—that spark of life, is in your body; is of your body; and it is—you are—divine.
    Opening | By Gwen Matthews | May 30, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Body, Humanism, Sacred, Worship
  • A greyscale silhouette of a person extending their open hand towards the viewer. The image is highly foreshortened, with the hand looming large in the image and the person seemingly far away.
    We proclaim with Love on our side: Our bodies are sacred. Our minds are blessed. Our spirits are beloved.
    Chalice Lighting | By Karishma Gottfried | April 24, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), Body, Fat Liberation, Grace, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Love, Sacred, Worship
  • In a dark room, white-hot molten metal is poured from a crucible into a mold. We see leather-clad arms holding a long-handled tool to help guide the flow.
    Here we engage in a holy alchemy, finding beauty in the ordinary and life in the present.
    Opening | By Kim Mason | April 6, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Beauty, Community, Connections, Solidarity, Transformation, Worship
  • Close-up photo of the veins and midrib of a green leaf.
    We come from many places—along different paths, bringing different truths.
    Chalice Lighting | By Pat Uribe-Lichty | March 31, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Community, Diversity, Healing, Justice, Peace, Unity, Wholeness, Worship