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Kristin Maier, author of A Good Telling: Bringing Worship to Life with Story (Skinner House Books, 2013) shares the first in a series of tips for good storytelling. Purchase A Good Telling at the UUA Bookstore.

Good stories are central to good worship. As a Time for All Ages, as part of a sermon, or as part of a multigenerational service, stories engage our hearts and minds and help us grow.

Stories from Other Unitarian Universalist (UU) Sources

Storytelling in Worship

✳ Pssst! Have you visited our Storytelling page? It’s filled with tips, how-to’s, and lots of resources!

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  • The back end of the underside of a surfboard. The visible edge of the board is yellow, and the surface of the underside is green with a decorative pattern in black. The surfboard is resting on a wooden deck made out of many thin light brown wooden planks.
    When we have a hard thing to do, it’s a good thing to have the right supplies—the necessary equipment—to help us get it done.
    Time for All Ages | By Karen G. Johnston | September 2, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Animals, Community, Earth, Friendship, Humanism, Interdependence, Love, Nature, Science, Winter, Worship
  • In a darkened room, a child with light brown skin and short straight black hair sits at a window that is splattered with raindrops. The child is wearing a red garment of some sort, and is holding their hand out near the window with their right index finger extended. Outside the window, all we can see is a green blur suggesting plants or trees.
    An interactive, cooperative process of creating a prayer of lament.
    Time for All Ages | By Tara Humphries | April 11, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Christianity, Judaism, Letting Go, Meaning, Mindfulness, Reverence, Sorrow, Spiritual Practice, Spirituality, Vulnerability, Worship
  • A close-up of colorful woven fabric. The warp and weft are visible: The warp is uniform throughout, and is a shiny pale red. The weft is different on almost every row, and each row looks like it might be a shoelace. The shoelaces are solid colors — black, blue, grey, brown, lime, pink — except for the center row, which is in a multi-colored pattern.
    After Sal’s beloved partner Lee dies, Sal’s neighbors in the big apartment building want to make them a grief blanket. But individually, no one has enough fabric or yarn…
    Story | By Tara Humphries | April 4, 2025 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Arts & Music, Caring, Community, Connections, Creativity, Death, Friendship, Grief, Healing, Humanism, Teamwork
  • 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
  • A small box made out of wooden slats sits on a grassy lawn, with a light brown teddy bear beside it. The box has a black stenciled sign on it labeled “TOOLS,” and various tools — a hammer, pliers, snippers, a jar of nails, and others — are visible between the slats and over the edge of the box.
    An activity to help congregants of all ages remember the tools available to help get through difficult times.
    Time for All Ages | By Tara Humphries | December 10, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Brokenness, Creativity, Healing, Imagination, Interdependence, Mental Health, Playfulness, Resilience, Self-Care, Spiritual Practice, Worship
  • Taken from a balcony looking down, people enter a Unitarian church building with red carpet. They are entering wooden pews with hymnals in their arms.
    Whether your congregation is layled or whether you have a professional minister (maybe you are the professional minister!), it's not always easy to fill the worship schedule.
    Complete Service | By Erika Hewitt | September 27, 2024 | From WorshipLab
    Tagged as: Worship
  • A group of half a dozen women, apparently part of a larger congregation, standing and singing in church. The three women in primary focus are clapping or snapping fingers.
    This liturgy provides words for a portion of a service devoted to hymn-singing. It should be possible to combine this with many of the usual elements of a congregation’s worship service. You will need to have an accompanist who can sight-read well, and it would be helpful to have a songleader.
    Script | By Kristin Grassel Schmidt | September 22, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Arts & Music, Community, Creativity, Music Sunday, Playfulness, Worship
  • "Trees of Justice Grow Everywhere Love is Present" visual and pneumonic for remembering Article 2 values.
    Remembering the proposed Unitarian Universalist Association's Article 2 values is as easy as counting on your fingers!
    Time for All Ages | By Emily C. Jones | April 19, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: #Article2, Equity, Generosity, Interdependence, Justice, Love, Pluralism, Transformation, Unitarian Universalism
  • “Priestess of Delphi,” an 1891 painting by John Collier. A woman in a brown dress, with her face partially shadowed by a red fabric hair covering, sits on a tall stool over a crack in the earth below her, from which visible fumes are rising. She holds a shallow bowl in her right hand and a laurel branch in her left.
    Some geologists believe that gases from the earth caused the Delphic oracle’s fits of passion and her prophecies. But the scientific answer does not mean the Greeks were foolish to believe they had a relationship with Apollo; it does not erase the relationship they had with their gods.
    Time for All Ages | By Julie Rigano | April 12, 2024 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Belief, Faith, Mystery, Nature, Reason, Science, Worship
  • A close up of a good dog's black nose, asking you to please boop his snoot.
    Carl the golden retriever learns about the limitations of the Golden Rule.
    Story | By Tiffany Fae Anderson | October 10, 2023 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Animals, Caring, Imagination, Playfulness, Relationships, Worship
  • A person reaches up to the sill of a window, as if fixing or cleaning the window.
    Our church calls us to "bring all that you are." This includes all our talents—known, and yet to be discovered.
    Script | By First Parish UU Church, Kennebunk, ME | May 15, 2023 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Playfulness, Stewardship, Worship
  • Unitarian Universalist Association Chalice
    There's an older rhythm calling us to rest.
    Time for All Ages | By Jamila Batchelder | January 27, 2023 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Balance, Body, Contemplation, Healing, Peace, Presence, Stress, Worship
  • A single cassette tape, black with a blank yellow label, on a white surface.
    Change can be uncomfortable. Like any time we learn a new technology, it can take a little while to adjust.
    Time for All Ages | January 12, 2023 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Challenge, Change, Faith, Identity, Living Our Faith, Seven Principles, Unitarian Universalism, Worship
  • A brilliant red cardinal perches on a tree branch.
    One of the Goddess’s best friends was a cardinal—a bright red bird who loved to play with the Goddess and the Sun.
    Story | By Christina Leone Tracy | December 16, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Animals, Change, Earth, Earth-Centered, Ending, Faith, Friendship, Goddess, Imagination, Letting Go, Nature, Paganism, Winter Solstice / Yule, Worship
  • Unitarian Universalist Association Chalice
    What happens when you don’t agree?
    Story | By Renee Ruchotzke | October 18, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Choice, Community, Compromise, Conflict, Relationships, Worship
  • A child carefully tries to remove a wooden block from a Jenga tower.
    Preparation: acquire a wooden block tower building game (similar to Jenga ©). If possible, consider getting a jumbo version of game because its size lends itself to more visibility for the congregation and more space for more kids to participate. Other supplies: signs or name tags that state...
    Time for All Ages | By Karen G. Johnston | October 17, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: #8thPrinciple, Compromise, Conflict, Covenant, Relationships, Trust, Unitarian Universalism, Worship
  • A buttery-yellow butterfly, with black stripes, rests on a vivid pink flower.
    Change is part of who we are.
    Story | By Caitlin Cotter Coillberg | May 19, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Change, Earth-Centered, Letting Go, Transformation, Worship
  • a tall glass vase, rectangular, with a layer of soil at the bottom and about 8 striations of colored sand poured over it.
    We can plant the seeds of love and justice in the world.
    Time for All Ages | By mandi huizenga | March 29, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: #8thPrinciple, America, Anti-Oppression, History, Humanism, Justice, Race/Ethnicity, Secular, Seven Principles, Unitarian Universalism, Worship
  • Two small children, in superhero costumes: one is Spiderman
    Masks let us be someone or something totally different from who we usually are.
    Time for All Ages | By Mary Gear | January 21, 2022 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Imagination, Playfulness, Secular, Worship
  • A mandala coloring sheet: concentric circles contain designs and prhrases from the seven Principles
    Maybe if we add an 8th Principle, we will get closer to the BeLOVEd Community we dream about.
    Time for All Ages | By Karen G. Johnston | June 5, 2021 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: #8thPrinciple, #BlackLivesMatter, Seven Principles, Worship