I have a confession to make.
I don't like the Unitarian Universalist Water Communion.
I have not always felt this way, but the more I participate in it, the less I like it.
For those who may not be familiar with the ritual, during the service, members bring forward water from a place special to them, or from a location(s) visited over the summer. Each person pours the water in a common vessel, and shares why it is special to them. Often this water is boiled and used for child dedications throughout the year.
Now, I like the image of combining our waters in a common pot and having it be used in the ritual life of the church. It is a powerful metaphor for how we come from may places, theologies and identities and become one body in worship. What I don't like is the sharing.
It is hard for me to listen to people tell of their journeys to other countries, states and cities, without thinking of the class bias behind this sharing. What effect does this litany of places have on those who are not able to travel? What assumptions do we make by asking people to bring water from places they have traveled over the summer? How are we being exclusive in a ritual about inclusion?
I think the ritual can be very powerful without speaking the location of the waters, especially if presented with the right context. It could be done in silence, or with people writing the locations on paper or post-its which can be posted for people to choose to see later. Or if speaking is important, people can pour in a blessing for the new church year, or what they have to offer to the church community.
As I look back at previous times I participated in the Water Communion, I realize that I more enjoyed the sharing of where I had been, then the moved by joining of waters. And when I did not go anywhere interesting, I was not moved to participate in the ritual.
In my previous parish ministries, I wish that I had been aware enough to rethink the ceremonies I led. I'd love to hear how others have engaged the inherent classism in the Water Communion.
Darrick, Too many of our congregations are still doing it that way. See my blog post on the topic and classism. I will link your post to it. http://wp.me/p3BiVX-5h
ReplyDeleteTheresa Novak
My home congregation settled a new minister four years ago and since then we've been slowly shifting away from the "What I did on my summer vacation" water communion to more mindful ways of doing it. For us part of it is the practical reality that we are just a bit too big for everybody to stand up and tell a story. This year's iteration of the ritual was to write on slips of paper where our water came from and why it was meaningful, and these slips were gathered in baskets for worship leaders to use as a resource later...
ReplyDeleteExcellent point! Thanks for naming that. That's always sat a little funny with me too, and I could never figure out why.
ReplyDeleteThe most recent water communion I was a part of did not have anyone saying where their water came from. The focus was not on where we had been, but in coming together and where we are going together as a community in the coming year.
I have always disliked the travelogue water communion. I am also from a fairly large church. I agree it gets much too long. I also feel the litany of locations lacks religious meaning. In the long list exotic locations stick out since there is so little time to explain what the person actually experienced there.
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