Sharing the Waters...

Water communion is one of my favorite rituals...The last weeks of August and first weeks of September mark the time when many Unitarian Universalist congregations share in their annual Water Communion service. It is often a time of sharing where members and friends bring water to pour in a common bowl and share the origin and meaning of their water. The stories and reflections are intimate and personal, ranging from water dipped from a stream out behind someone's house to a family trip to the ocean. The water is then blessed by the congregation and minister, and used for child blessings, holy unions and other rituals throughout the year.

People have been using water for rituals for thousands of years. People have been baptized in the rivers and lakes and the sea. People have dipped into wells or gathered water and carried it for miles and miles. Our Unitarian Universalist ritual of water communion has a history too that is more recent. Only twenty-six years old. Two women - Carolyn McDade and Lucile Longview were asked to create a ritual for the Women and Religion Conference at East Lansing, Michigan, in 1980; their service was intended to honor and celebrate women’s voices and involvement in Unitarian Universalism. As McDade, a social activist and songwriter, remembers "It was a strong service, about community taking power…about creating a political and liberating theology." The two women spent created a ritual that McDade said "broke the long silence of laywomen. The creation of a sacred space for and by women happened with a circle and a simple bowl." The water symbolized all the water on the planet and the water within our own bodies. It was a celebration of interconnectedness. The women brought water from places of spiritual importance to them and the ceremony embodied a connection with women all over the world who are traditionally the carriers of water. Twenty six years after its creation, the water communion ritual symbolizes our knowledge that there are many people who do not have access to clean water. This ceremony of joining our water in a common bowl and sharing our stories is a visuable symbol of our interconnectedness with living beings all over the planet. The sacred element of water needs to be celebrated and cherished.

I also wanted to share a story that reveals the transformative power of water. There was a girl named Helen Keller. She was born in 1880 and when she was about a year and a half old. (the age of Isabelle) she got very sick. She almost died. And when she got better she couldn’t hear or see anymore. Close your eyes with me. Feel how it is to only see darkness. Now put your hands over your ears for a minute. She could see only darkness and couldn’t hear any sounds. So the sense she had left were…smell – how things smelled. And taste. She could taste her food. And touch. Her ability to feel would transform her life. So when Helen Keller was six years old, there was finally someone who came to help her. Her teacher Ann Sullivan came to begin their time together. On that memorable day – the most memorable day of her whole life, Helen Keller’s world opened up. In “The Story of My Life” Helen writes: “We walked down the path to the well house, attracted by the fragrance of the honey suckle with which it was covered. Someone was drawing water and my teacher placed my hand under the spout. As the cool stream gushed over one hand she spelled into the other the word water, first slowly, then rapidly. I stood still, my whole attention fixed upon the motions of her fingers. Suddenly I felt a misty consciousness as something forgotten – a thrill of returning thought; and somehow the mystery of language was revealed to me. I knew then that w – a – t –e – r meant the wonderful cool something that was flowing over my hand. That living word awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set it free!” Amazing story. She could communicate with people, she could learn. Water, that stream of water coming out of the pump transformed her life. And she then went on to share her story with many, many people. She wrote books and traveled. She was an incredible person with a special story.

We are here to share our stories, to pour our water into the common bowl. To bless our water with memory and hope, compassion and forgiveness.

Telos Whitfield, Sept. 10, 2006