The acts that people do over and over as part of worship are called rituals or rites. People have performed religious rituals for thousands of years. Since the earliest clans and tribes, people did whatever they thought would please the powers of the world: natural powers, like sun and rain, and super-natural powers, like good and evil spirits. The idea was that if people could just create the right rituals, then the powerful spirits would be pleased and not harm the people. If they were really pleased, they might even protect the people from danger and provide their tribe with a good food supply. Over time, holy books, like the Bible and the Koran, were written to tell stories about God and to help people remember just how to perform these rituals. Many people believe these books were written with the help of God.

Some religious rituals must be done in order to be accepted as a member of that religion. Some are done because people believe that is how they will get to heaven after they die. And some people do religious rituals because that’s what people in their family and faith tradition have done for hundreds of years. It makes them feel like they belong.

At one time, before the Unitarian and Universalist religions joined together to make one religion, both Unitarians and Universalists were Christians and early Unitarian churches performed Christian rituals, including Communion. But there were a few important differences between Unitarians and other Christians. Most Unitarians believed that Jesus was a man, not the divine son of God. They believed that people were basically good and did not need to be saved by Jesus. They also believed that people could decide for themselves the best way to have worship services and that they didn’t have to keep performing rituals the way ancient people did, or the way the Bible told them to. So, today, most Unitarian Universalist churches don’t perform the ritual of Communion any more—although some still do. When they do have communion, they do it to remember Jesus’ life and goodness, and how he shared with his friends.

For sure, lighting a chalice at the start of worship every Sunday is a ritual. But Unitarian Universalists do not believe that lighting a chalice or saying certain words must be performed in order to be a Unitarian Universalist or to live a good, religious life. We do not believe that we must keep doing the same things over and over just because they were done that way hundreds of years ago or because the Bible says we should. In fact, 20 years from now, some Unitarian Universalists may not be doing any of the rituals we do these days—they may have found some new way to make our worship services beautiful and meaningful. And others may still be lighting chalices. That’s just the way it is today: one church might say certain words each week, while another does not; one church might have a water ceremony on the first Sunday of the new church year, while others never heard of such a thing. The freedom to design our own rituals to make our worship together more meaningful is what makes us who we are. And we like it like that.

Real Rituals Hindus perform puja, a daily ritual that involves a statue of the family god or goddess. The family will clean the statue, make clothes for it and even arrange fresh flowers to put in front of it. Muslims stop whatever they are doing five times every day to face Mecca, a city in Saudi Arabia that Muslims regard as holy, and pray to Allah—the name Muslim people give to God. Jews begin observance of the Sabbath (the name many religions give to the one day of every week set aside for rest and worship) every Friday night with a candle-lighting ritual: the woman of the household lights two candles and recites a blessing no later than 18 minutes before sundown. Christians participate in a Communion ritual during Sunday service. In this ritual, people remember the Last Supper Jesus ate with his followers. They take a sip of wine and eat a small piece of bread or wafer. Doing this is a way of saying, “Jesus is my savior and I will try to follow his example in everything I do.” UU Rituals Think about your congregation or a UU church you've visited. How many of these rituals do you do in church every Sunday? Check off the things that you do in your church every Sunday:   Light a chalice Light other candles Say the same words, sometimes called the affirmation Sing the same short song Light the candles of Joy and Concern Turn to greet one another during the service Stand at the end of the service for the closing words Say Amen or Blessed Be Anything else you do?   __________________________ __________________________ __________________________