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Join us at 11am Sunday mornings

(22:00 UTC Saturday evening)

Our services include a talk from a different speaker every week, often followed by a discussion. Services feature Frank Chen on piano. We always finish with morning tea and opportunity for friendly socialising.


Join us ‘live’ in the building,
or via Zoom, link below:-
Meeting ID: 894 916 3748, Passcode: 12345

Coming up:-

11.00am Sunday 6th April

The Spiritual Philosophy of Alan Watts: Part Two

Speaker & Worship Leader:- Ruby Johnson

The ocean is an object of both wonder and fear. Its rhythm clears the mind and soothes jangled nerves. But underneath its glassy surface, whole ecosystems go about the business of eating and being eaten. What can this contradiction tell us about the nature of being human


11.00am Sunday 13th April

The Language of Reverence

Speaker:-Maria Hayward
Worship Leader:- Rachel Mackintosh

What does the language of reverence look like? What are the considerations we should take into account if wish to show reverence when speeaking to and about others? How can our language reflect the UU values of generosity, equity, pluralism, transformation and love?


11.00am Sunday 20th April

Love beyond the Threshold

Speaker:- Keola Whittaker
Worship Leader:- Rachel Mackintosh

Join us this Easter Sunday as Keola Whittaker, currently in his second year of the Unitarian Seminary, explores the profound metaphor of resurrection through the lens of our Southern Hemisphere autumn. He examines the boundary between life and death, and what might exist beyond. Drawing from Unitarian Universalist theology and personal stories, this sermon contemplates how, like autumn leaves that transform in brilliant colors before falling, love doesn’t end with death but merely changes form. This exploration offers a uniquely UU perspective on Easter, asking not for belief in a literal resurrection but for engagement with a powerful metaphor: What if love truly is stronger than death? What if the greatest certainty about our afterlife is that the love we share continues to ripple outward long after we’re gone?


11.00am Sunday 27th April

The paradox of tolerance

Speaker & Worship Leader:- Ted Zorn

The paradox of tolerance suggests that extending tolerance to the intolerant risks enabling the eventual dominance of intolerance. It challenges UUs’ commitment to justice, equity, and compassion. How do we manage the tension between openness and resisting hate in an era of rising divisiveness?


you can also

Zoom into an 11:00am Wednesday morning tea and chat, with whoever else turns up

Follow this link to read the latest (April 2025) ANZUUA (Australia and New Zealand Unitarian Universalist Association) Newsletter. At the bottom of each newsletter is the opportunity to subscribe as an individual.

Health and safety measures: We now have working air purifiers in the church, to help reduce the spread of any nasties.

Giving it a Go in Muslim Worlds: Musings in Honour of Ramadan

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Speaker & Worship Leader:- Kate Lewis

Video to come

Audio to come

Read below, or download the PDF


Kate Lewis © 30 March 2025

As far as I can tell looking through the archives we’ve had two services in which the musings were about Ramadan. In both cases Clay introduced the services by talking about violence associated with Islam. In 2017 it followed a week in which there had been six terrorist attacks around the world, all of which involved Muslims as either perpetrators or victims. He presented a talk by another Unitarian minister on religious fundamentalism in Islam and other religions.

In May, 2019, the talk followed the murder of 51 Muslims at a mosque in Christchurch. In that case Clay used text from a convert to Islam answering some basic questions about Islam and Ramadan.

I would love to have an occasion to talk about Islam without mentioning violent extremism, but it is impossible not to mention the on-going war in Gaza and to acknowledge that violence against Muslims by Christians, Jews, and other Muslims pervades our world. The persistent and wide-spread Western association between Islam and violence leads to prejudice and racist speech and behaviour, so it is everyone’s problem.

Having said that, this talk is quite personal and describes times that I have had entirely peaceful experiences and relationships in the largely Muslim country of Senegal, in West Africa, and in Saudi Arabia. I will talk about my experience of observing Ramadan in Senegal, and how this helped lead me to Unitarian Universalism.

For starters it’s important to know the difference among the words Islam, Islamic, and Muslim. Islam refers to the religion itself. It is an Arabic word that means “submission to the will of God.” Islamic is an adjective that usually describes things related to the religion, such as Islamic culture or history. Muslim is the word for a person who practices Islam. It is also an adjective, as in a Muslim family.

I went to Senegal for my entire third year of university. Senegal is the farthest west country in West Africa, on the tip of the western hump of the continent. It was a French colony from the 1600’s until 1960, and most people still speak French as well as local languages. When I was thinking about studying abroad I wanted to study in French and focused on West Africa in part because my father had lived and taught English in East Africa after university and had had many outstanding adventures.

By the time Ramadan came around in spring of 1992 I had been living in Dakar, the capital of Senegal, for 8 months. I lived in a house of 12 American students, and initially we walked to our classes at the university down the road. Unfortunately after a couple of months the Senegalese students went on strike, and university classes were cancelled. I had a Senegalese boyfriend and socialised with local students more than my American housemates. We spent hours on the front porch of the house drinking minty tea.

I hadn’t seen much evidence of religious devotion in my friends, who were mostly young men in their 20’s. I was pretty sure they did not pray 5 times a day, since we were together drinking tea through at least two of the prayer times on any given day. I was 22 at the time and aggressively questioning my own Christian background, but like many young people I thought that I was unique. It surprised me that Muslims, who I assumed would be devout and observant, were not. Now I know there’s often a difference between what the books say Muslims (or anyone else) do and what some Muslims (or anyone else) actually do.

Thus I was taken aback when, just before Ramadan, they said they would be fasting for the month. Fasting in Ramadan means no food or water passes your lips from sunrise to sunset. No chewing gum. No kissing. All Muslim adults are required to observe Ramadan unless it is unhealthy to do so; the exempt include people who are travelling, ill, elderly, breastfeeding, pregnant, or menstruating. The goal is to practice self-discipline and sacrifice, and to gain more empathy for people who are less fortunate. It is a time to draw closer to God and piety through prayer and self-examination.

I wanted to share this experience with my friends, so I fasted too. I started getting up early to eat breakfast before dawn. The guys stopped coming over for tea, and I hadn’t spent much time at the university dorms in any case, so I didn’t see them much. I had long quiet hours, fasting 7 am to 7 pm, and new experiences of physical discomfort.

By 8 am I started to get thirsty. I discovered that hunger was nothing compared to thirst. It was hot and tropical, and the thirst tore at my body. By the afternoon I stopped caring about my relationship with God. However, I persisted with the fast and broke the fast alone with dates and weak tea, drank litres of water, ate a normal dinner and went to bed. I started to lose weight and felt morose and lonely.

After a while, maybe a week or so, I learned that my friends were treating Ramadan quite differently. They had become nocturnal, staying up late into the night eating and sleeping most of the day. They were having a grand time, and as far as I could tell self-reflection and sacrifice were not part of the programme. I seethed. I successfully finished the month of fasting out of curiosity and stubbornness, partly fueled by my feeling of pious superiority.

Later again I realised that Cheikh, the boyfriend, wore a tiny leather bag on the belt loop of his jeans, every single day. When I enquired he said it was an amulet from his uncle and symbolized the religion of the place where he was from. I asked him how he could do that and still be a Muslim? You remember that pious superiority I felt? Here it came again… as well as a huge fight between me and Cheikh. He was outraged that I would question his devotion to Islam. He saw no contradiction between being Muslim and embracing the gods of his family village and home.

I had already been interested in why people embrace religion, in how religion drives us and and motivates behaviour, and this interaction set me on a path of exploring religion both for my university major and for myself.

Then in 2012 I had the chance to go to Saudi Arabia three times to study volcanoes. There are thousands of small volcanoes along the western edge of Saudi Arabia, bordering the Red Sea. The volcanism is similar to that of Auckland, lots of small eruptions in different places scattered around a volcanic field. We were part of a research group at a university there, and the three women from the Auckland team were the only women involved.

We decided it was important to dress correctly and bought black abayas, the robe-like thing that covers the clothes underneath, and head scarves. We followed the instructions of our Saudi colleagues, rode in the cars they sent for us, and sat in the “family” areas of restaurants, separate from the men. When we ate as a team they usually got a private room in the restaurant where we could all sit together.

At one point there was a conference, and we had to sit behind a screen so as not to be on the television news, which was portraying a male-only environment. Saudi geologists complained that we had been too “visible,” in approaching the breakfast pastries and coffee bar and needed to ask our male colleagues to get our food for us. We discovered how our immediate colleagues had been changing their own behaviour to welcome us into their research programme.

These behaviours are not written into the Quran. They have been superimposed on some Muslim societies by men in power. In Senegal most women did not wear headscarves. In the Middle East the requirements for women’s dress and behaviour changes as political power ebbs and flows.

Being in Saudi Arabia brought me back to my interest in religion and specifically in Islam. I’m interested in how people interpret religious texts to suit their needs and beliefs. In how practicing religion is a political act. In how practicing religion is a deeply personal act as well.

I had grown up in the Episcopal church in the U.S. but stopped going after university. I attended the Quaker church for a period but finally came back to a religious community when I found this church. I think most of us know that our religious practice and beliefs are intertwined with our politics.

Reflecting on the observance of Ramadan and my friends at that Senegalese university, the act of holding that amulet was a political act as well as a personal one. The country had been converted to Islam over centuries and then colonised by the French. In retrospect I wish I had learned more about Cheikh’s family and how they managed to hold onto anything from their ancestors’ ancient beliefs.

It’s partly these experiences that let me to Unitarianism and our principles. I believe interacting with different cultures and religions helps us be better people, more understanding, patient, compassionate, and loving towards people who are different than we are. I think we become more tolerant and more interconnected when we seek truth and meaning in other places and peoples.

So on the eve of Eid al-fatr, the end of the month of Ramadan, I wanted to do this talk to honour the complexity of religious belief and practice. And to thank those friends in Senegal and Saudi Arabia for their generosity in welcoming me in and sharing their worlds.


Links

A Neopagan Celebration of Autumn Equinox

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Worship Leader:- Barbara Thomborson
Leader for Dances of Universal Peace:- Laurie Ross

Autumn equinox marks a day or two of equal amounts of daylight before nights are longer. What are the implications for us? What does ‘neopagan’ mean? An interactive Service. Laurie Ross to lead in 2 Dances of Universal Peace.

Video to come

Audio to come

Read below, or download the PDF


Barbara Thomborson © 23 March 2025

Merry meet and blessed be! This is how many neopagans greet each other. Before getting into neopaganism, let’s look at some basics of autumn equinox.

Continue reading A Neopagan Celebration of Autumn Equinox

The Constitution of Nature

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Speaker & Worship Leader:- Ruby Johnson

Today’s service is an introduction to the works of Alan Watts, a British-American writer and philosopher who worked to interpret Hinduism, Buddhism, and Daoism for Western audiences. I first encountered Watts’ completely by accident. I was listening to a selection of calming, meditative music on youtube and a compelling voice came on and began talking very matter-of-factly about some very strange but intriguing spiritual ideas. I wasn’t quite sure what to think. It always pays to be suspicious of people who talk a load of pseudo-mystical nonsense in a very confident fashion – it’s the perfect recipe for a cult leader. It turned out that Alan Watts wasn’t a cult leader, but did get up to all the mischief you might expect of a mid-20th century Californian hippie. He lived for some time in a commune, had three wives (though not all at once), fathered seven children, and used psychedelic drugs. So all in all, exactly my kind of person. I’ve enjoyed Alan’s spiritual insights, and I hope you will too.

No recording this week.

Follow this shortcut to the bottom of the page for the various readings, videos, etc. shared in the service.

Continue reading The Constitution of Nature

Change is loss, and …

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Speaker & Worship Leader:- Rachel Mackintosh

Video to come

Audio to come

Follow this shortcut to the bottom of the page for the various readings, videos, etc. shared in the service.

Read below, or download the PDF


Rachel Mackintosh © 9 March 2025

Please take a moment to close your eyes and breathe.

Breathe in the possibility of tomorrow

Breath out what is done.

In our wedding vows, Clay and I said to each other, “I love you with all I am and hope to be. I promise to be with you as you are and as you will be.”

As we will be is not as we are. Everything changes us.

And change is loss.

Continue reading Change is loss, and …

Being a UU in India

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Speaker:- Daniel Kanter
Worship Leader:- Viv Allen


Daniel Kanter is senior minister of the First Unitarian Church of Dallas, one of the largest UU churches in the USA, and author of the book, Faith for the Unbeliever.

In this second talk for us during his sabbatical visit to Aotearoa New Zealand, he will share his views on Unitarian Universalism in India, based on his recent visit to India as part of his sabbatical.

Video to come

Audio to come

No text this week


Meditation / Conversation starter

  • What is the quality of your spiritual life?

What does it mean to be a UU? A Texas pastor’s perspective

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Speaker:- Daniel Kanter
Worship Leader:- Shirin Caldwell


Daniel Kanter is senior minister of the First Unitarian Church of Dallas, one of the largest UU churches in the USA, and author of the book, Faith for the Unbeliever. He is visiting Aotearoa New Zealand as part of his sabbatical. In this talk, he will share his views on what being a Unitarian Universalist means to him.

Video to come

Audio to come

No text this week


Meditation / Conversation starter

  • Many of us had our early experiences in different churches; but have chosen to join this church. What influenced your choice to come to the Auckland Unitarian Church either as a member or a visitor?

Links

Opening Words:- include What is Success?” by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Chalice Lighting:- Different Yet United” by Pat Uribe-Lichty

Reading:- Don’t Hesitate” by Mary Oliver

Closing Words:- As we go forward” by Cheryl Block

Stories and Community

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Speaker & Worship Leader:- Alix Geard

Stories, parables and memes show us patterns which we may choose to live by. In ways big and small they can set the courses of our lives and help define the groups who share them. Considering that, what stories do we want to share?

Video to come

Audio to come

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Alix Geard © 16 February 2025

About stories

You’re going to get my musings in 2 different sections with 2 different flavours today.

Today, I want to talk about stories.

This means, a little sadly, that I’m mostly not going to tell stories, certainly not with the poetry and resonance some of them deserve. When I do speak of specific stories I’ll summarise them.

Continue reading Stories and Community

Pride is Not a Club

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Speaker & Worship Leader:- Ruby Johnson

This week’s service will take some wisdom given to us by our late minister, Clay Nelson, and apply this to Auckland Pride month. A church, as it turns out, is a lot like a Pride march. What role do each of these play in 2025?

Video to come

Audio to come

Follow this shortcut to the bottom of the page for the various readings, videos, etc. shared in the service.


Ruby Johnson © 9 February 2025

Read below, or download the PDF

This past Wednesday we celebrated Waitangi Day. I’m sure many of you will agree with me when I say that this year’s celebrations were somewhat marred by the presence of an elephant in the room: The Treaty Principles Bill. At the moment I find myself frequently reminded of the ugly and racially divisive general election of 2005, during which I was 15 – not old enough to vote, but old enough to be paying attention. National’s slogan for the election was “Kiwi, not Iwi”, which it utilised to stoke resentments about then-recent Treaty settlements. It was a cynical political ploy to frame te ao Māori as inherently separate from and opposed to the beliefs and values that characterise Aotearoa.

Being from a white, conservative family on the North Shore, you can imagine the kinds of things I heard around the dining room table during that election cycle. I am hearing a lot of those same things from members of the current government. The “Kiwi, not Iwi” approach did not carry the day in 2005, and I am encouraged to be able to say that I don’t think it will carry the day now. However, this isn’t a given. We need to stay engaged and ready to defend the pluralistic nature of our society. The second of our Unitarian Universalist principles is: Justice, equity and compassion in human relations. I believe that upholding this obligates us to make our voices heard.

Keeping with the theme of the second principle, our main topic for the week is Auckland Pride Month. When I first attended this church I was struck by its openness to the queer community, and particularly by the warmth and compassion of our late minister, Clay Nelson. There are two particular quotes which I heard spoken by Clay which particularly affected me.

The first is as follows: “A church is not a club. It is an open and welcoming community.”

The second quote was adapted from the journalist Finley Peter Dunne: “The job of a church is to comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable.” This quote originally referred to the purpose of newspapers rather than churches, and was in fact intended to be rather biting satire. Regardless, I like Clay’s adaptation of the quote and I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiment he was trying to get across. Keep these two sentiments in mind as we continue with today’s service.

Main Topic: Pride is Not a Club

When I moved from the North Shore to the central city, one of the main motivators was to be near the centre of Auckland’s queer community. In the East Coast Bays where I grew up, there were very few overt signs of queer life. In and around Ponsonby and Karangahape Road, these signs are everywhere. No time is that more obvious than during Auckland Pride Month. I love Pride. Some days I wander about, just people-watching. There are so many weird and wonderful people that make up the fabric of this area. During Pride, they are all out in force – and now, I get to be one of them. This church is a part of that fabric as well. We really are in the centre of it all.

The main event of any Pride celebration is arguably the parade, which in Auckland passes every year right by the church. Many of you will know that over the last few years, this parade has been the subject of considerable controversy within the queer community itself. To summarise briefly: several years ago, the New Zealand Police asked to be allowed to march in the Auckland Pride parade in full uniform. This was a big deal for a lot of people. Within living memory, homosexuality was illegal in Aotearoa. Many queer people have extremely negative experiences with uniformed police officers, even today. Yes, some police officers are themselves queer, but many of us felt that for them to be marching in their official capacity as law enforcement was inappropriate. There is a common saying: “The first pride was a riot.” Well, the police were on the other side of that riot.

The result of all this was a fracturing of the pride board into two organisations, running two separate events. The original Pride board now organises an event called the “Pride March” which runs down Queen Street, and has, for lack of a better term, a more “activist” tone. The newer breakaway Pride organisation runs the Ponsonby Road Pride parade: this is the event which allows uniformed Police and Corrections officers to attend. I attended the parade a couple of times before it split, and for the past two years, I’ve attended and enjoyed both events. However, I have to say that I found it harder to enjoy the parade last year. Its faults were much more evident than its virtues.

There is a term that gets thrown around a lot within the queer community these days: “Corporate Pride”. When an organisation decides to pander to queer people for one month out of the year, but maintains the status quo for the other 11 months, that’s “Corporate Pride”. It’s slimy, it’s insincere, and it’s everywhere during Pride month now. As queer people have gained greater societal acceptance, businesses, political parties, and state agencies have clamoured to show that they deserve our money, our votes, and our trust. Most of what I saw at last year’s Ponsonby Road parade was, in my opinion, “Corporate Pride”.

Pride parades used to be something deeply subversive and taboo. In some places, they still are. They represent an oppressed subsection of society fighting for its right to live. In many places, including Aotearoa, past generations of queer folks dreamed of a day where they would be able to safely hold hands with their partner in public, or dress as they wished without fear of violence. These weren’t mainstream events. Businesses and politicians didn’t want to sully themselves by being associated with a community whose intimate lives were prohibited by law. This same prohibition meant that law enforcement was in attendance as a purely antagonistic, oppressive force. People whose lives were rendered invisible chanted slogans like “We’re here, we’re queer, get used to it”.

Well, now it’s 2025 and much of society has “gotten used to it”. All of these organisations that would have never touched a Pride parade in past decades are now in full attendance. Ruby, you ask me, what are you complaining about? Isn’t it great that all of these groups are comfortable with queer people now? So I ask you in return: Is a pride parade really the appropriate place for “comfort?” I believe that Clay was right about churches, and I would extend what he said to include queer Pride: “The purpose of Pride is to comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable.”

It’s fantastic that Pride is so accepted now. It really is. Sometimes, when I see how many people are out there, openly and authentically living their lives, I get teary-eyed. That’s “comforting the afflicted” in its purest form. But how can we “afflict the comfortable”, if we uncritically allow the comfortable to cosy up to us? During the last parade, I saw several ministers from the current government marching. One of them smiled at me, and I smiled back. Because that’s polite. That’s amiable. That’s comfortable. But in 2021, when the last government moved to ban gay conversion therapy, that same minister (then in opposition) voted against the ban, in line with his party’s position. His private messages were leaked to the press, in which he said that he “hated” making this vote on the issue. I’m sorry, but feeling guilty about your vote doesn’t absolve you of having made it. The bill passed, thankfully, but presumably it wouldn’t have if the present government had been in charge in 2021. How am I supposed to afflict this man’s comfort, if the Pride board is busy bending over backwards to make him comfortable?

Clay’s other quote can also be applied to queer Pride: “A church is not a club. It is an open and welcoming community.” On one level, what Clay was warning against here was churches becoming insular, and with that reading it may appear hypocritical of me to apply this quote to the parade. After all, expressing my displeasure with this or that group being a part of Pride celebrations is implicitly a call to exclude those groups. That’s not very “open and welcoming”. However, I’ve always taken this warning against becoming “a club” to have a secondary meaning: that a church can’t just be a place where friends get together to hang out. It has to have a social purpose.

I think that the Auckland Pride parade has largely abandoned its social purpose, and that this is down to prioritising the comfort of various business, political, and state organisations. The impetus for this is simple: money. You can make your club bigger and more flashy when powerful people are willing to pay for it. Yes, pride should be open and welcoming to all people. But, as much as the US legal system might disagree with me: corporations aren’t people. Political parties aren’t people. Law enforcement organisations aren’t people. These groups are all made up of individuals who should feel welcome to attend the parade. Yes, even that one government minister. But the organisations themselves don’t have any right to be there. Allowing them to buy their way in is an active detriment to Pride’s social purpose.

Prioritising the comfort of these groups, making the parade uncontroversial and family friendly, actually makes it less open and welcoming to those who are afflicted and in need of comfort. How can we speak truth to power when the powerful are footing the bill? Perhaps in a roundabout way, the split between the parade and the march was a good thing. The Queen Street march is now free of all the business elements that held the old parade back from being relevant and radical. It doesn’t have to bend over backwards to appease the people paying the bills. Speakers can champion their causes without fear that a sponsor will pull out in retaliation.

Even so, the attitude represented by the Ponsonby Road parade does concern me. An attitude that says “mission accomplished”, that there are not more battles to be fought. This is dangerous. Queer people have made great strides in Aotearoa, but with rising reactionary forces both within our government and in the wider world, now is not the time to be complacent. Our gains need to be safeguarded, and I’m not sure what part there is to play in that for a glorified street party. A club.

So, that was our main talk for the week, and what I’m about to say is the epilogue: everything I just said (barring a few edits), was written nearly a year ago. I got ill two days before I was due to give last year’s Pride month service, and had to pull out. The caution that I expressed then about the need to safeguard our gains has proved prescient, especially looking at the international situation. I hate to say I told you so, but…well. Since Trump’s reelection, we have seen the entire executive branch of the US government completely roll back its accommodations for trans people, with many US federal agencies instructed to do similar. If I lived in the United States, I would be unable to get a driver’s license or passport that matches the way I live my life day to day. This is all aided and abetted by business leaders, who at this moment are busy cozying up to power, allowing hate speech on their platforms, and generally rolling back support for queer people. They were never interested in being part of, as Clay put it “an open and welcoming community”. They were interested in sponsoring a social club, in the hopes that it would make them look good. I think that over the last three months, we have witnessed the death knell of “Corporate Pride”, and I have to be honest and say: good riddance.

Now, I would like to offer my apologies to you all, particularly the American members of our congregation, because that was thoroughly depressing. I do think there is every reason to be hopeful about the future though. I place my faith, not in businesses and sponsorships, but in open and welcoming communities like ours.

Links

Reading:- “Things Haunt” by Joshua Jennifer Espinoza

Closing Words:- from The rise of queer joy” by Jenny Rockwell

2025 Water Communion

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Speaker & Worship Leader:- Rachel Mackintosh

2025 Water Communion

Audio to come

Follow this shortcut to the bottom of the page for the various readings, videos, etc. shared in the service.

Read below, or download the PDF


Rachel Mackintosh © 2 February 2025

Why do we repeat this ritual every year? It isn’t just to brag about our travels. When we share our water in the common bowl, it reminds us that while we are separate people, we are also part of an interdependent community.

You probably know about the water cycle.

Continue reading 2025 Water Communion