Sunday, August 23, the Fellowship will celebrate with the traditional end-of-summer Water Communion. Every year we begin the church year with this intergenerational service to celebrate a coming together of our community spirit.
The Water Communion marks the reunion of a congregation that is often scattered over the summer. Throughout the year, members of the congregation collect small amounts of water from various places they have been, including their homes and far-off travel destinations. You are invited to bring bottles or vials of water from trips, literal or spiritual, that you may have taken this summer; you will pour this water into our water communion bowl, while you tell the congregation about your experiences. If you do not have actual water from a trip, bring symbolic water from your kitchen sink or use "virtual water" to represent your journey.
The resulting bowl of water represents the comingled lives of the congregation, and the interdependence of all existence.
The water communion bowl is witness to all that holds us together. Like rivers flowing to the sea, we come together as one. We gather together to share the spiritual journey. As the new year unfurls before us, we share our joys and our sorrows. We strengthen our faith by making room for each other’s questions. We face change and challenges together as a community. We reach out our arms in welcome.
Wherever your life has flowed this summer, welcome home.