Unitarian Universalist Worship Resources

A few days ago I mentioned Ellis’s post at her blog Post Office Mission, about creating and leading a small group worship. I was so pleased that Ellis shared her experiences, as there is a need for more online resources about planning Unitarian Universalist worship.

To make finding these resources a little easier, I’ve made a list here of some of the online resources for Unitarian Universalist worship that I have found helpful.

Worship Content (Readings, Prayers, and More)

If you are a planning a worship, a great place to start is the UUA’s WorshipWeb. The WorshipWeb is a large collection of worthwhile readings, opening words, closing words, and other worship elements.

CUUPS (the Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans) has an extensive online archive of pagan worship elements.

The Church of the Larger Fellowship offers several written worship services on their site.

Worship Form (Orders of Service and General Suggestions)

The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Fairbanks website has a Layleaders Resources section, geared towards laypeople creating worship. Their Lay Leader Script (PDF) includes a complete script for leading worship, as well as a check-list for what to do immediately before and after worship. This script draws attention to the finer points of worship planning that are too often ignored. Although some of its recommendations may not be applicable to your own worship community, it is definitely worth reading and adapting.

The Unitarian Universalist Young Adult Network and Campus Ministries offers “Ten Tips for UU Contemporary Worship.”

The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Atlanta’s “Better Worship By Next Sunday” is a good wake-up call for Unitarian Universalists involved in planning congregation-wide services, as it enumerates many of the pitfalls in Unitarian Universalist large-group worship today.

When I worked at Promise the Children, I wrote up a list of suggestions on leading worship, based on my own experience leading worship and training others to do so.

The following congregations describe their orders of service, explaining each piece of the worship:

The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of York
The Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashua
The Unitarian Universalist Church of Greater Lansing

More Recommendations?

Please let me know if you can recommend additional websites that you have found helpful in planning UU worship. I’m especially interested in highlighting free resources that do not require registration or subscription.