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Blue cloth rippling across chancel at the UU Congregation of Fairfax, VA.

The Water Communion, also sometimes called Water Ceremony, was first used at a Unitarian Universalist (UU) worship service in the 1980s. Many UU congregations now hold a Water Communion once a year, often at the beginning of the new church year (September).

Members bring to the service a small amount of water from a place that is special to them. During the appointed time in the service, people one by one pour their water together into a large bowl. As the water is added, the person who brought it tells why this water is special to them. The combined water is symbolic of our shared faith coming from many different sources. It is often then blessed by the congregation, and sometimes is later boiled and used as the congregation's "holy water" in child dedication ceremonies and similar events.

Man and child pour water into the common bowl.

Faith Without Borders

The Water Ceremony/ Communion Service is an excellent opportunity for Unitarian Universalist congregations to express their commitment to our Sixth Principle: We covenant to affirm and promote the goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all. See Sixth Principle Resources for Water Communion Services.

From Tapestry of Faith Curricula

A tiny drop of water bouncing off of the surface of water in a bowl.

Unitarian Universalist Perspectives

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  • A drop of water bounces off of a vessel of still water, sending out small ripples.
    This was written as a blessing for pouring out the Water Communion waters onto a memorial garden. Like water that swells rivers and fills the ocean, the memories of those we have loved rush through us. Sometimes they are quiet, almost as if we have forgotten—and then suddenly, they flood our...
    Ritual | By Amy Zucker Morgenstern | September 4, 2019 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Direct Experience, Generations, Grief, Humanism, Imagination, Interdependence, Nature, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Remembrance Day, Secular, Water Communion