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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Reader One: You who feel your heart is breaking, come in. Reader Two: You who are confused and wondering. Come in. Reader Three: You who are angry, in pain, or not wanting to be here. Come in. Reader Four: You who are hopeful and energized. Come in. Leader: Come into this community of your heart...Chalice Lighting | By Amy Russell | October 24, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Acceptance, Community, Hope, Pain, Unitarian Universalism, Vulnerability
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We kindle a flame of power, illuminating the Holy in each of our faces. We recognize in the flame a passionate commitment to our shared faith. We are held and carried from day to day, week to week, in the shining of the light. This flame is mine, as well as yours. We are brought together on this...Chalice Lighting | By Adrian L. H. Graham | October 15, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Commitment, Community, Direct Experience, Living Our Faith, Tradition, Unitarian Universalism
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We light our flaming chalice as a beloved people united in love and thirsting for restorative justice. May it melt away the tethers that uphold whiteness in our midst. May it spark in us a spirit of humility. May it ignite in us radical love that transforms our energy into purposeful action....Chalice Lighting | By Rebekah Savage | October 15, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Anti-Oppression, Commitment, Community, Direct Experience, Hope, Integrity, Living Our Faith, Multiculturalism, Race/Ethnicity, Reconciliation, Unitarian Universalism
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We are Unitarian Universalists. When we lift up our Seven Principles, some of us think of them as a form of theology—but they are more important to our collective than that: they do not tell us what we should believe; they tell us how we should be. They tell us how we should act in the larger...Invocation | By Viola Abbitt | October 15, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Anti-Oppression, Commitment, Community, Direct Experience, Integrity, Listening, Living Our Faith, Multiculturalism, Race/Ethnicity, Reconciliation, Unitarian Universalism
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We live inside paradox. Humans generally don’t like to admit it—we much prefer tidy, stable, comprehensible, logical ways of getting through the day—but paradox is woven into the fabric of this particular universe we inhabit. Light is both a particle and a wave Imaginary numbers describe the...Opening | By Lindasusan Ulrich | October 2, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Agnosticism, Balance, Brokenness, Christianity, Easter, Faith, Hope, Mystery, Unitarian Universalism
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It was at a gathering of white women when this gathering of the waters first came to pass. White women in a second wave of gender self-awareness; awakening, connecting, making new meaning, shifting the old ethos. The solidarity of these white women was reflected in the waters each brought, waters...Invocation | By Renee Ruchotzke | October 2, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Anti-Oppression, Direct Experience, Earth, Gender, Identity, Multiculturalism, Race/Ethnicity, Reconciliation, Tradition, Unitarian Universalism, Water Communion
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Open up the doors Push on looming wooden arches embroidered with ironwork Brace shoulders against the weight of history unmoved Slough off the musty smell of unused joy and stored up sorrow Knock rust off the hinges if you have to And let your breath precede you inside Open the doors more Make ro...Opening | By Lindasusan Ulrich | September 27, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Change, Connections, Direct Experience, Hospitality, Interdependence, Living Our Faith, Searching
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May we recognize and abandon the familiar attitudes and practices that do not serve the whole. We are who we are and we have the opportunity to be who we want to be, to create a new inheritance for the future....Invocation | By Sweethome Teacup | September 1, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Activism, Animals, Anti-Oppression, Connections, Earth, Earth-Centered, Healing, Interdependence, Nature, Wholeness
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We light this chalice remembering and honoring our own tradition and celebrating the rich diversity of traditions among us. As we search for justice, meaning, and purpose, may we remember that justice, meaning, and purpose live first in deeply listening to one another. This chalice lighting was...Chalice Lighting | By David Breeden | August 21, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Connections, Diversity, Hospitality, International, Living Our Faith, Meaning, Multiculturalism, Purpose, Tradition, Unitarian Universalism
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At last, we are here. After a long winter, we can say enthusiastically and without second thought, alleluia! Alleluia, spring is here in all her glory. New life begins, the earth and its creatures are resurrected from their dens of hibernation and dark slumber....Opening | By Jeanne Lloyd | August 11, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Beauty, Christianity, Earth, Earth-Centered, Easter, Gratitude, Hope, Joy, Reverence, Spring, Transformation
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Blessed Lady, Hallowed Lord, Let me hear your Holy Word. When the Veil is thinned tonight, Let me see with Sacred Sight.Invocation | By Martha Kirby Capo | August 11, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Earth-Centered, Immanence, Mystery, Paganism, Presence, Reverence, Samhain, Transcendence
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Here we are in our circle again. A circle of vision and reflection, A forum for deciding and empowering. Here we are at the base of another bridge, another space spanning the shores of today and tomorrow. Beckoning us to cross the chasm, one day at a time....Opening | By Shari Woodbury | August 11, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 5th Principle (Conscience & Democracy), Business Meetings, Calling, Community, Humanism, Installations, Leadership, Secular, Trust, Unitarian Universalism, Vision
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As we create and share sacred space together, let us reflect upon what brings us here. We have all come here for different reasons, from different decisions, faced different challenges and shared different love. And yet all of our differences have led us to this space, right here, right now. Some...Opening | By Ella Boyer | July 13, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Awe, Diversity, Generations, Love, Purpose, Transcendence, Unitarian Universalism, Unity
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Here, today, in this place and with these people, May we listen so that we can hear; May we hear so that we can feel; May we feel so that we can know; and May we know so that we can change ourselves and this world. May this chalice we light, Light our Way.Chalice Lighting | By Erik Walker Wikstrom | July 13, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), Body, Change, Community, Listening, Purpose, Reverence, Transformation, Unitarian Universalism
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We are all flames. When we gather hand in hand our church our community our home We inspire, We celebrate, We come together Sharing our light of hope for our shared future. This chalice lighting was written by two young children and their parent, in honor of their mom's ordination.Chalice Lighting | By Josh, Prudence, & Percival Robern | July 13, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Community, Generations, Humanism, Purpose, Unitarian Universalism
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What if everything always went according to plan? At first, we might accomplish more of what we think we need to accomplish. And it may seem less stressful, at first, being able to anticipate what happens next. But after a certain amount of time (and that amount would vary person to person) the...Opening | By Krista Flanagan | July 4, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Challenge, Direct Experience, Letting Go, Mystery, Patience, Stress, Trust
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Come into this place with your whole self – the parts that are raw and exposed; the part that is beaming with joy; the part that is seeking the truth, the new, the possibility. Come into this place – open your heart, lay down your burden, lift up your hope – for something new to happen. Come...Opening | By Margaret Weis | July 4, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Acceptance, Caring, Direct Experience, Humanism, Journey, Joy, Presence, Wholeness
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If we are lucky, we will all get a chance during our life to know someone who becomes for us an exemplar of living. And if we are really lucky, we will recognize how they ended up passing on some of their goodness to us. If we are lucky. But one thing is certain. No one – not one of us –...Chalice Lighting | By Greg Ward | April 25, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Death, Grief, Living Our Faith, Memorial Services, Unitarian Universalism
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We kindle this flame with love for mothers and foremothers past, present, and future; We kindle this flame in celebration of community and its generations. We kindle this flame with respect and support for the greater circle of life of which we are all part.Chalice Lighting | By Selena Fox | April 24, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Earth-Centered, Generations, Humanism, Mother's Day, Mothers, Secular, Tradition, Women
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Our words for the chalice lighting were written from the perspective of Jessica Star Rockers. Perhaps her specific memories will elicit your own. She writes, "Every Sunday morning growing up my father would take us to mass at St. Peter’s Catholic church....Chalice Lighting | April 13, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), Caring, Children, Family, Father's Day, Fathers, Generations, Secular, Unitarian Universalism, Work
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