This morning I put myself, the Apple Galette I made and a small container of water in the car and headed to Houlton for the Unitarian Universalist In-gathering Service. The Sunday after Labor Day is the beginning of a new UU year. This congregation is uninterrupted in its service and commitment to the community for two hundered and twelve (212) years.
Two Hundred and Twelve Years, that's a long time. I felt the presence of those who sat I sat in the Midcentury Arts and Crafts Sanctuary with it's huge beams and wonderful light. This is only the third building of this congregation, my congregation, where I got to participate in the Water Communion Ceremony today.
It seemed poignant that now is the time of the water communion, people bringing water from special places, sharing about their summers, coming together as we begin fall. A lovely clear cut glass bowl on the altar ready to hold all of our water, mingled and mixed together.
I brought water from my tap, Patten Town water. Gratitude that I can turn on a tap and get good water to drink, to cook and wash with. I have had much opportunity this summer to think about water and how our water can be threatened.
It seems appropriate as I pause to reflect back on this summer, that I would begin to hear Sweet Honey in the Rock in my head. Water, precious water, standing up against a wrong, singing out while we "Wade In The Water"
This performance by Sweet Honey in the Rock was from 1987, where they performed at Carnegie Hall, this song like the mixing of the water today seemed to hold me. Holding images of two hundred and twelve years of UU Houlton church members marking the end of summer, the beginning of another spiritual year. The image of children wading in the water holding god's hand. The pouring and blending of our little vials of water into a vessel that holds it all.
I have more to say about my summer journey, a journey that started with worries and always returns to the water. The Pickett Mountain Mining project still looms, and we have done much to attempt to lift up the half-truths, the promises without facts, all by a company with no little experience, and with a plan that no company has ever done anywhere, ever. But that is for another day, maybe tomorrow! If you can't wait you can check out NRCM's Frontline Voices Podcast.
For now, I am enjoying my feeling of awe about 212 years of people in this community holding UU service and the communion of water.
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