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9/19/04 Service         UNEDITED

Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Milford, New Hampshire
Rev. Barbara McKusick Liscord
Water Communion Ingathering Service
Water Communion for Youth and their Families

Today we celebrate our annual water communion ceremony, when we gather the waters from our individual pilgrimages these last months.  We will do our communion in two phases. First children and their families will bring their water to our communal bowl before they join their circles for the first Sunday of the new church season.  Later in our service, there will be time for everyone who stays in the sanctuary to participate in our water communion.  

Each Sunday morning that we gather together in this community, we celebrate life.  And without water there is no life.  Every drop of water that we bring to our ceremony today has been on amazing adventures.  Most of the earth is covered by water.  Every day, the sun shines on the water and tiny molecules of water rise up into the clouds.  Eventually the clouds fill up and become so heavy that the water comes down as rain.  
Let’s create the sound of a rainstorm together as a way to invite the water into our communion this morning.  Just like the rain brought by hurricane Ivan, our rainstorm will sweep in from the south and move north.  People in each section of the sanctuary can follow my movements.  Please continue to make the sounds until I return to your section of the sanctuary and show you how to change the sounds.  Notice the rain…

Rub fingertips together 
Rub hands together
Snap fingers
Clap hands
Drum hands on thighs
Stomp feet
Drum hands on thighs
Clap hands
Snap fingers
Rub hands together
Rub fingertips together
Stop

Our Keeper of the Water, Shirley Smith, has lovingly cared for this water this year.  Some of this water comes from the first water communion ceremony at the Unitarian Universalist Assembly in Philadelphia in 1981, 22 years ago.  Rev. Olav Nieuwejaar, brought some of that water and the tradition here to Milford and it was the first time, as far as we know, that the ceremony was done in a church.  About 5 years after that, Olav began to hear of other churches incorporating these services into their liturgical year. This is the water gathered from all the water communions ever held in this sanctuary represents relationships and meaningful moments in the lives of all those who have participated over the years.    (Pour water in bowl.)

Today you are invited to commingle the waters from your spiritual journeys with these waters from past journeys and rituals.  After the service today, you may come forward to take some water home with you- just leave a little on the bottom to begin our communion service next year.  You may choose to water a special plant or garden- knowing that what grows there will now incorporate a real connection with our community and beyond.  

Now I ask each child and their families and circle leaders who brought water from their summer travels to come forward.   You may let us know where your water comes from and what it represents to you, or you can choose to silently add the water for your own more private moment of reflection.  
 (Time for children and families to bring their water forward.)

Through the interdependent web of life, the waters flow.  With each drop the mysterious gift of life is given.  Let the waters flow through us with love and compassion; watering the seed of hope that each of us carries in side.  Let this be our prayer.  Amen.   

Offering and Offertory       
I come from Maine, a place on the edge of the ocean, the cradle of life.  The Portland Headlight stood at the edge of the harbor since it was commissioned to be built by George Washington.  I remember when lighthouse keepers lived with their families in a cottage at the foot of the lighthouse.  Their children were my classmates in school.  Now the lighthouse has been automated by the Coast Guard.  The keeper’s cottage is now a museum.  No human being keeps that light shining in the darkness.  

Here in Milford, we have a vision of serving as an ever brightening beacon that lights the heart, mind and spirit; a beacon of love and hope; of comfort and challenge; of learning and teaching; of peace and of justice.  We have a vision of serving as beacon for both our inner community, and the community at large, illuminating and affirming our diversity as well as our common ground; a beacon for all ages through the ages.  

Unlike the beacons on the coast of Maine, our light is not automated and never will be.  It will always take human beings to tend this beacon. Let us give generously now to  to sustain and strengthen our ministry together.  We are Keepers of the Light.  

Reflection 
As Unitarian Universalists, we come together with diverse theologies, philosophies and political orientations, but we are held together by some basic ethical principles.  Our seventh principle states that we will affirm and promote respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.  Today we pause to recognize and celebrate one of the most basic elements of the interdependent web- water gives tension to the web.  Water flowing through all living things demonstrates our total interdependence. 

  Without water, there is no life.   Your brain, which allows you to listen this very moment, is about 75% water.  Your body is 50-65% water.  Religious peoples, yearning for truth, have used water to point to the power of divine creation and the mystery of life.  Creation myths from Babylonia to Brazil to North American traditions recall a time when human life rose from the sea.  First there was water and then there was human life.  

Yet, today, 1 in 5 people on our planet lacks access to clean water.  One in 5 people lacks access to clean water.  The human body can survive for weeks without food, but it only can go for a few days without water.  When water is not clean, it is no longer a life force, but rather it brings illness and death. 80% of illness worldwide involves contaminated water.  Most victims of water-related diarrheal illnesses are children under the age of five.  There is a global trend toward privatizing water supplies, threatening access of the poor to clean, drinkable water.   As we participate in our communion today, let us include in our circle all those on earth who are bereft of clean, clear water.   Let us take a moment of silence to remember all those in need of water- a moment not only to remember, but let us also reflect on what we can each do in our personal lives and as a community to maintain public access to clean water for all people.   (silence)

Today, we also celebrate the spiritual dimension of water in our lives.  This summer, I read a series of short stories by Andrea Barrett.  These stories were set against the backdrop of the nineteenth century and derive their inspiration from the world of science.  Barrett interweaves historical and fictional characters and illuminates the secret passions of those driven by a devotion to and an intimate acquaintance with the natural world.   One story is entitled “Ship Fever.”  It’s about a physician who rejects some of the current medical treatments of the day- such as blood letting with the use of leaches- and he’s ridiculed for it.  His life story intersects with the immigration of the Irish poor to Canada upon the devastation in Ireland caused by the potato famine and typhus epidemic in the late 1840’s.  Ships form Ireland arrived on the Saint Lawrence with most of their human cargo having died on the trip over.  Those who still lived and were sick with typhus were dropped half dead at the Grosse Isle Quarantine Station.  One such passenger, Nora Kynd was close to death and found in a pile of dead bodies in the hold of a ship.  The physician insisted that she be brought off the ship and he helped nurse her back to health.  Eventually, she became well.  Instead of leaving the island for Quebec or Montreal, she chose to stay on the island ending the sick.  Nora lost all of her family to the disease in Ireland- except for her younger brothers from whom she was separated when she was kept in quarantine.     

From all her devastating experiences, Nora learned that it was a matter of luck whether one lived or not.  Fate could not be fought, but it could be tricked a bit.  I offer you this reading where Nora describes this trick…which you will see is apropos to our water service this morning:  (READING)

I remember that when my husband was first diagnosed with prostate cancer.  I felt tossed about, disoriented.  A few weeks later, we found an excellent surgeon who gave us date for Paul’s surgery.  This was a plan of action that felt hopeful.  Then I noticed a certain inner calm. I remember thinking that it was as if I had a pond or lake at about the level of my diaphragm in my chest.  Whereas the water had been choppy, it was now calm.  

These are turbulent times, as we carry worries about the wars in Iraq and about the state of our country as we get closer to the Presidential elections.  We also carry worries and losses closer to home in our personal lives.  This morning, I invite you into a meditation that helps me when my internal waters are roughed by the turbulence of life.  It is the Lake Meditation.  I will lead you to some imagery with words, then we’ll have some silence, and then blessing and we will be called out of our meditation time with three sounds of the bell.  I encourage you to try a longer version of this meditation at home.  You will find a copy of the words in our library.

Lake Meditation  Jon Kabat-Zin  From Wherever You Go There You Are
I invite you to relax where you are seated.
Put down anything you are holding so that you can relax your hands in your lap.
Gently close your eyes, as you are comfortable.
Picture in your mind’s eye a lake,
A body of water held in a receptive basin in the earth.
Note in your mind’s eye and in your own heart that the water likes to pool in low places.
It seeks its own level, asks to be contained.
The lake you invoke may be deep or shallow, blue or green, muddy or clear.
With no wind, the surface is flat.
Mirror-like it reflects trees, rocks, sky and clouds, 
holding everything in itself momentarily.  
Wind stirs up the waves on the lake, from ripples to chop.
Clear reflections disappear.
But sunlight may still sparkle in the ripples and dance on the waves in a play of shimmering diamonds.
When you have a picture of the lake in mind,
Allow yourself to become one with the lake as you sit in meditation
Your energies are held by your awareness
And by your openness
And compassion for yourself
In the same way the lake’s waters are held 
by the receptive and accepting basin of the earth itself.  
Breathing with the lake image, moment by moment
Feeling its body as your body,
Allow your mind and you heart to be open and receptive, 
To reflect whatever comes near. 
Experience the moments of complete stillness 
When both reflection and water are completely clear
And other moments when the surface is disturbed, choppy, stirred up, 
reflections and depth lost for a time.  
As  you dwell in meditation, 
Simply note the play of various energies of your own mind and heart, 
The fleeting thoughts and feelings, impulses and reactions
Which come and go as ripples and waves, noting their effects just as you observe the various changing energies at play on the lake: the wind, the waves, the light and shadow and reflections, the colors and the smells.  
Do your thoughts and feelings disturb the surface?
Can you see a rippled or wavy surface as an intimate, 
Essential aspect of the lake, of having a surface?
Can you identify, not only with the surface, 
But also with the stillness below the surface as well?
Notice when the lake reflects.
Notice when your mind reflects.
Notice when the lake is embroiled.
Notice when your mind is embroiled.
Note the calm below the surface.
With each breath, note the calm below the surface.
(SILENCE)
May we hold in awareness and acceptance all qualities of mind and body, 
Just as the lake sits held, cradled by earth, reflecting sun, moon, stars, trees, rocks, clouds, sky, birds, light, caressed by the air and wind, Which bring out and highlight its sparkle, its vitality, and its essence. (3 gongs)

Water Communion 
Our times by and in streams, rivers, ponds, lakes and sea looking over water filled clouds from mountaintops offer wordless experiences that bring us a sense of renewal and peace, a sense of well being.  Water is a source of mystery.  When we look across the surface of the water, we can rarely see what is underneath.  This morning we honor experiences of spiritual deepening by gathering water from those places where we have found spiritual renewal.  When I use the word “spiritual,” I mean a sense of wholeness and connection with something larger than oneself.  The experience may bring with it a sense of awe, or a gentle feeling of well-being and peace.  This morning, we gather waters of the world to recall moments of renewal in these last months and to renew our spirits in these very moments today.  

Now, I ask each of you who brought water to come forward add your water to the bowl.  You may let us know where your water comes from and what it represents to you, or you can choose to silently add the water for your own more private moment of reflection.  Some of you may not actually have brought water today, but you are welcome to pour some of the water from this pitcher and speak of it in symbolic terms.  (time for people to come forward) 

Through the interdependent web of life, the waters flow.  With each drop the mysterious gift of life is given.  Let the waters flow through us with love and compassion; watering the seed of hope that each of us carries in side.  Let this be our prayer.  Amen.   
 

Rev. Barbara McKusick Liscord
September 19, 2004
 

  Some language from #41 A Longer Water Communion, The Communion Book, edited by Carl Seaburg. 
  From Unitarian Universalist Service Committee.  See http://www.uusc.org/news/alert082604p.html
  Church World Service publication, Fall 2002.
  Description from book jacket.  Ship Fever, stories by Andrea Barrett.  New York: Norton, 1996.