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Rev. Chris Jimmerson & Rev. Carrie Holley-Hurt
September 7,2025
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org
We come together to begin our new church year with the annual Water Communion Ritual. We share with one another water that symbolizes something meaningful to us as we blend and mingle the waters that remind us of our shared faith.
Chalice Lighting
This is the flame we hold in our hearts as we strive for justice for everyone. This is the light we shine upon systems of oppression until they are no more. This is the warmth that we share with one another as our struggle becomes our salvation.
Call to Worship
You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in drops.
– Rumi
Affirming Our Mission
Together we nourish souls, transform lives, and do justice to build the Beloved Community.
Reading
from PAINTED OXEN
by Thomas Lloyd QuallsWater knows no boundary. Though we may draw it on a map, say, “This is where the water starts and where it ends.” It is not true. Water knows the way into the great mystery. It is not afraid of going underground. Water is not afraid of dams or dry creeks, bridges or brick walls. It is patient. Water understands time. It will find a way.
Sermon
NOTE: This is an edited ai generated transcript.
Please forgive any omissions or errors.
Carrie
As we just learned from Sol, the water communion is a recent addition to our faith. It was created by a group of women who had a desire and intention to be reflected in their own religion. You see at the time the principles used only masculine language.
They symbolize their desire by pouring water into a vessel, a show of pouring into each other, and into their faith with the intention of creating a more just and equitable religion and world.
Our water communion is a beautiful ritual that symbolizes our desires and our intention. And it uses the ancient and rich symbolism of water. Over 2,000 years ago, a Chinese philosopher named Lao Tzu wrote a book called The Tao Te Ching. He wrote:
“There is nothing in the world more soft and weak than water. And yet for attacking things that are firm and strong, there is nothing that can take precedence of it.”
In other words, water is both gentle and strong. It gives life to all living things on this planet. And when it meets rock, it will wear it down to a deep canyon. To me that sounds a lot like love and the desires and intentions that flow from that love.
The water communion is a tangible symbol then of what we endeavor to do as a religious community. We pull from our own personal well of love and bring it here to one another, to the collective and that collective love creates a desire for a more loving and just world, a desire for liberation.
Through the power of our collective love we move with intention toward our desires. And just like love and just like water this love combined is powerful. It’s more powerful than hate. It’s more powerful than oppression. It’s more powerful than marginalization or even the violence that seems so firm and immovable right now. For I believe, then when it comes to love, for attacking things that are firm and strong, there is nothing that can take precedence of it.
And so today, as we think about the way the waters we will pour into the vessel nourish us, think also about the ways that the love we bring together creates something that can overcome all that seems immovable.
Chris
Thank you, Carrie.
Now we are going to consider in what way or ways the water you have brought to share and intermingle with that of your fellow members of the religious community, what that water represents, how it represents your intentions, your love, that which you value most deeply.
Perhaps you have brought water from a place where you gather with your family or loved ones each year and so it represents love and relationship and perhaps in the case of an annual family reunion the role that ancestors continue to play in your life. Maybe you simply brought water from a faucet in your yard somewhere from which you water that which you garden and grow. And so your water might represent interconnectedness with the natural world or the wonder you find in the cycles of life or the value of nourishing and tending other life. These are just examples.
In just a moment, I will invite you to find someone nearby, preferably someone whom you did not come with today, and then share with that person the story of your water, and most importantly, its meaning for you. How does it represent your values, your intent, your place within that divine ocean of fierce love?
If you didn’t actually bring water today, that’s okay. We have placed some extra containers of water that you can bring and you can bring into your hearts and thoughts a source of water that is significant to you and what it represents to you. And if you’re not comfortable sharing verbally, that is absolutely okay too.
It’s fine to let folks know that you would prefer to contemplate this to yourself in a kind of personal meditation. We invite our children and youth who are with us this morning to also share with one another by finding someone close in age nearby with whom you might share.
If you’ve joined us virtually and have access to the comments, please feel free to share in that way. Or if you’re watching with others, to talk about the meaning of the water you have brought to mind with someone with whom you’re watching. Here in the sanctuary we will give you a couple of minutes each to share.
Now I’ll invite you to come forward with your water and to intermingle it with the water that others have brought in one of our large vases up front here. As I mentioned earlier, we have provided extra water in case you need it.
You will notice that we have two tables. One table holds our communal vessels, a symbol of our collective love and power. The second table holds five small vessels. These are symbols of our solidarity with the two million in Gaza who are being intentionally starved and cut off from access to water. If you feel so moved you can place some of your water in the communal vessel as well as one of the smaller vessels as a sign of solidarity.
So now as our music begins to play, let our annual water communion begin.
Music
All blessings on these waters. All blessings on each of you who have shared them. May the oean of divine love bless all of us.
Extinguishing the Chalice
We extinguish this flame, but not the light of truth, the warmth of community, or the fire of commitment. These we hold in our hearts until we are together again.
Benediction
As you leave this sacred time, may you remember the ocean of divine love flows through each of us.
May you see that divine love in others and may you carry it with you throughout the week.
Go in peace.
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