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Liturgy of the Water Slide!

8/22/2015

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PictureRev. Lydia as greeted by the kids.
You can't cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water - Rabindranath Tagore

Thirty years as a religious educator and I had never thought of a water slide in the context of the Water Service until last year. But now I know is the perfect element for celebrating water, celebrating return, and celebrating the generations.

Last year, we rented a water slide with some trepidation. Would it be accepted? Was it too silly? Would the adults try it out? Would folks resent wet children in the pews?

The answers were YES, it was accepted, NO, it wasn't too silly, YES, many adults tried it out, and NOBODY complained about the wet seat marks in the sanctuary.

Our gracious minister, Rev. Lydia Ferrante-Roseberry, grinned and affirmed my tentative suggestion. "Of course!" she said, "I'll go down it, for sure!" She wore her "Standing on the Side of Love" shirt for the ride. Our Music Director, a PhD. in Piano Performance, changed into his gym clothes in the car after the service and careened into the water. The President-Elect wore flippers and a snorkel for the walk across the lawn (I nearly hyperventilated I was laughing so hard!)

The kids played on the slide during the early part of the service, then we joined together in full community for the Sharing of the Waters Ceremony in the Sanctuary. Families, singles, elders, young adults and leaders brought water from meaningful places and poured them, one at a time, into the large bowl. The children in their wet pigtails and dripping towels joined their parents at the microphone. We created the sacred water to be used during the year when the blessing of the community would be invoked. The choir sang "Wade in the Water." The murmur of the fountain said, "This is us, this is our community, this is a sacred time." Our hearts were full, so full, that they would explode unless....
we flowed outside to complete the service with the liturgy of the water slide. We held our noses, slid into the streaming water and splashed into the pool! 
We celebrated and played in glorious exuberance, Dads made cannon ball splashes. Moms rolled their eyes and gave it a try in shorts and T-shirts.  Matrons pranced, and blue-lipped children shivered in line.
Laughter and whoops on the water slide make the Water Service complete. We are doing it again this year! 

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The best UU Core Story for "Invitation."

8/20/2015

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Picture
SpiritJam combines with Soul Matters for the monthly themes to be used in our congregational life at Boulder Valley UU Fellowship. What a great dovetailing of resources! 

The theme for September is "Invitation." As we brainstorm and create the Jams, we include core stories from Unitarian Universalism. I call those stories UU Core Stories which are pivotal to our faith.

What better story for "Invitation" than that of Thomas Potter building a chapel and waiting to invite a preacher of a loving God? Plus, how did John Murray come to accept the invitation to preach, even though he had sworn off preaching? How did Potter's invitation change his heart?

After the story, we will offer an ImaginationJam. We will be inviting children into a Creative Visualization of a walk through the woods into a clearing (based on the introduction to the "Invitation" packet by Scott Taylor). There will be something to build. What would they imagine building? Who will it be for? Me, I'd build a log cabin while waiting for a storyteller who can help me write my wilderness memoirs. What would you build and who would you be waiting for?

For more information about Thomas Potter and John Murray, visit:
  • John Murray and the Winds of Change - story from "Creating Home" UUA Tapestry of Faith Curriculum
  • The Story of John  Murray and Thomas Potter - from Murray Grove Retreat and Renewal Center



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    Katie Covey came up with SpiritJam when told by both the Treasurer and the Minister to "Think big!" She has been a religious educator since 1983.

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