with Rev. Clay Nelson

Opening Words are Fault Line by Robert Walsh

Rev. Clay Nelson © 2020

This morning we carry love and hope and courageous faith, and seek to renew our covenantal commitments. We remind ourselves of the home we share, a home that we come back to, whether after a long or short absence, a home we welcome all to make their own: a home of love and hope and faith—come, let us gather together within.

And, we gather ritually this morning—carrying gifts of our summer—symbols of the water that we have been present with, and which has been present to us.

These symbols may call to mind light summer showers, thunderstorms, dewy mornings, and misty evenings. Or moments at oceansides, poolsides, riversides, lakesides—swimming, fishing, hiking, strolling—and who we were with while there, even if we were alone. Perhaps we found ourselves in the presence of water during a moment of grief or birth or rebirth. Or, perhaps in a mundane place whose sacredness is palpable nonetheless.

We reflect upon what we brought with us to these moments and places, in backpacks and chilly bins, surely—but more so, what spiritual, emotional or other baggage we carried. And what we did with it while we were in these watery places and moments.

Did the water’s unprovoked and indefatigable resiliency inspire you? Or its serenity? Maybe its waxing and waning tides? The music of its motion, or the silence of its sleep?

Did you feel the interdependent web of all existence coming alive in those moments? Some of you may have had the gift of a momentary spiritual epiphany. Others of you a growing awareness of how this very water is like strands of the web, and how the web is us… and everything.

Perhaps the ties to spiritual companions throughout the world come clearer and clearer. Bring to mind the monsoon rains that our UU partners in the Philippines and India know; or the churning ocean that the UUs in Tierra del Fuego know; the rivers and valleys of Transylvania; or Lake Victoria and Lake Tanganyika present to UUs in Kenya, Uganda and Burundi. What brings these companions, like us, to the water? What does the water bring to them, like us?

How glorious. How sacred. How peaceful. Let us rest and rely on that truth in a moment of silence.

 

And now, come forward to add the water you have carried with you. If you wish, describe the origin of the water you are bringing and offer a few words the water carries for them.

 

Closing Words came from TV 2 Denmark – All That We Share