Holidays

The holiday celebrations at Emerson Unitarian Universalist Church reflect and honor the Sources of our faith.

Like many Unitarian Universalists congregations, Emerson celebrates Christian holidays like Christmas, Jewish holidays like Passover, and Pagan Winter Solstice, among others. Our holiday services use the stories and traditions creatively, calling us to our deeper humanity and our commitment to the good.

In addition to religious holidays, we also honor secular holidays including Earth Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Labor Day, Indigenous Peoples Day, and Thanksgiving.

Traditions

  • Turnings – On the Sunday after New Year’s Day, we acknowledge the events of the past year in the “Turnings” service, led by our ministers. This moving service is one that touches the hearts of everyone, as the events of the year touch us all– in the congregation, the community, and the wider world.

  • Youth Sunday – (usually in spring) is written and led by the senior high group and is always inspiring.

  • Coming of Age – In this service, Emerson’s teenagers give their credo statements from the pulpit and it is one of the highlights of the year.

  • Flower Ceremony – Sometimes referred to as Flower Communion, is an annual ritual that celebrates beauty, human uniqueness, diversity, and community. Originally created in 1923 by Unitarian minister Norbert Capek of Prague, Czechoslovakia, the Flower Ceremony was introduced to the United States by Rev. Maya Capek, Norbert’s widow. In this ceremony, everyone in the congregation brings a flower. Each person places a flower on the altar or in a shared vase. The congregation and minister bless the flowers, and they’re redistributed. Each person brings home a different flower than the one they brought.

  • Solstice/Equinox – Acknowledge our relationship to the natural world.

  • Guest Speakers –  July and August feature sermons by speakers from the community.

  • Deck The Halls  – Early in December all ages decorate the Sanctuary for the season and share a snack or a meal!

  • Christmas Eve – A beautiful service full of candles and carols invites you to bask in the soft sweetness of the season.

  • Taize Service – Unitarian Universalist churches worldwide are turning to the Taizé form of worship to create meaningful contemplative services for their own members.

  • Ingathering Service and Water Ceremony –
    We celebrate our first service after the summer, to welcome home all who would be part of this beloved community. We will do this by celebrating the intergenerational “Water Ceremony” or “Water Communion.” The Water Service is celebrated in many Unitarian Universalist congregations and involves each of us bringing with them water from a source you deem personally significant, maybe from a trip or some work you did. You get to choose what makes it significant. The combined water is symbolic of our shared faith: many beliefs; one community. We will blend all of our waters together, along with water from last year and build a legacy of community through this ritual.