Is there a definite form of Universalist or Unitarian Christian worship?
Note I wrote, definite because I won’t venture into the troubled waters of
figuring out if there is a definitive form.
But the more I compare orders of Christian worship from the Universalist and Unitarian
traditions, the more unity I see, especially in those works composed after the
first glimmerings of American ecumenism. These, in turn, look conspicuously like other
denominational liturgies from that period to the present. That’s a good thing, since
today’s Unitarian Universalists seem to revel in being peculiar independent-minded.
My earlier mistake in trying (and failing) to find a common thread was in comparing Communion orders from too broad a time frame. There is something about the Communion liturgy that brings out the eccentric in just about everyone, but even there there is more in common than one might think.
First, there seems to be more familiarity with what most people call “liturgical worship” than is seen today. The past is littered with liturgies: some Unitarian, some Universalist; some for Sunday school, some for congregational worship; some for churches with ministers, some for preaching stations that waited for ministers and needed to worship with lay leadership.
The Book of worship: for the congregation and the home from the Church of the Disciples, Boston, is a Unitarian liturgy to pique your interest:
search MOA here for “worship.”