Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto

Water Communion

September 7, 2008
Palo Alto, CA

Part I: Sharing the Waters

Our water communion is in two parts this morning. It begins with our bringing the waters in from what are poetically called the four corners of the earth and what have long been known as the four oceans of the world. Each of the four banners here at the north, west, south, and east corners has a bowl at its foot to receive the water. Each square of chairs is a quadrant, north, west, south, and east.

In the closing half of our ceremony we will gather the waters into a single place, just as we gather here at our home, our source, our ocean of strength, this church. In the opening half of the ceremony, we each bring our water to the bowl that symbolizes our water’s meaning to us, and then sit in that quadrant of our sanctuary. If you did not bring water, there is a small pitcher at each bowl for you to use.

There are many ways to determine under what banner your water belongs, or would belong if you had brought it. One is geographical, of course. If you brought water from the Pacific you might want it to go into the West, if you took it from a Minnesota lake you might want it to go into the North, water from an river that flows to or from the east might go into the East, water from your home in Sunnyvale might go into the South … And then there are the meanings associated with each direction. The west is associated with water and the other three directions with the other elements of antiquity, earth, air, and fire, but each form of water also has a correspondence with a direction. Ice and frigid waters are north (for us here in the Northern Hemisphere), steam and hot springs are south, rivers with their light, quick flow are like air, while the ocean is west.

And there are other meanings. If the water you have brought symbolizes to you new beginnings, birth, the morning time of day or the springtime of the year; if the place or time you collected it is associated with change, intellectual thought, or imagination, it may call you to the east. If it symbolizes growth, the years of youth or young adulthood, midday or summer, the qualities of determination or passion, it may belong in the south. If it symbolizes maturity, endings, the years of middle age, the afternoon and sunset of the day or autumn of the year, or the qualities of love and emotion, it may belong in the west. If it symbolizes rest, the years of advanced age, nighttime or winter, or the qualities of stability, patience, and nurturance, it may call you to the north.

We are each other’s source. We share our inner lives with each other as guides. Where you’re coming from may be the place I need to go next. So now, before we share the waters that symbolize ourselves and the most recent stops on our lives’ journeys, we will take a few moments to reflect on what our waters mean.

Now, when the piano begins to play, please move along your row toward the center aisle and from there out to the direction where your water belongs. After you have poured a few drops of the water in the bowl, take a seat in the quadrant corresponding to your offering.

Please add just a few drops. We will be carrying these bowls shortly, and the idea is not to fill the bowls to the brim but just to share with each other! If you have more than a few drops of water and want to do something with the rest of it that respects its importance, a lovely thing to do is to water the plants of the church garden with it after the service.

Part II: Gathering the Waters

And now, just as we are gathered from the many places from which we have come, we gather our waters together.

[Water-bearers rise and walk to stand around the center table, each facing his/her banner]

The center bowl already holds water we have gathered in previous years. This bowl is our source, our history, our heritage, our spiritual home. As the water-bearers pour the waters together, we all arrive home.

[They walk down the horizontal aisle side by side (north and east together, west and south together), each walk to his/her banner, pick up the bowl, and carry it back to the center bowl. All pour the waters in while Amy says:]

May we always know that we can return again and again to the home of our souls, the source of our being.

[Water-bearers return the bowls to the four corners and take their seats.]

[The water is blessed]

 

Sermon: Returning to the Source by Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern