Sunny Notes: 09.16.26 - Our Ingathering Service
On the first Sunday after Labor Day, Unitarian Universalist congregations across the country typically celebrate the start of a new congregational year with an “Ingathering” Service. Themes for such services include “reunion; re-gathering; re-covenanting as a community of faith; hospitality; returning home to the church community that holds us; hope; looking forward with excitement to the church year.” (from the UUA's WorshipWeb)
This past Sunday at BUF, I felt the energy of reunion, re-gathering and looking forward with excitement to the new congregational year, as we celebrated our own Ingathering Service. After travel and activities that took them far afield for summer, the families are back! It was wonderful to look into the front right corner of the Sanctuary and see it filled with kids once again, all of whom were invited to receive a Backpack Blessing, facilitated by Lis Epperson, our incredible Director of Religious Education (and check out the particularly sparkly backpack in the photo below!).
We also shared in the annual Water Communion ritual that usually accompanies Ingathering, a tradition that has existed since the 1980s, involving "a ceremony in which we enact the intermingling of a community through the blended water we pour out together.” (Rev. Nancy McDonald Ladd). The overflowing crowd brought water from meaningful places and spaces, all poured into a communal bowl. We blessed the water we collected, and BUF Youth Group members Raya and Natasha Paci-Green even poured a small amount into the little pine that our outgoing Board President, Lin Skavdahl, and our new Board President, Tom Nicholas, planted together earlier this year.
Following the service, we held a Connection Carnival, where 37 (yes, 37!!) BUF groups, committees, and social justice action teams came together to showcase all that goes on around BUF. As I walked from table to table, seeing faces new and old, seeing folks excitedly sharing about their respective activities around BUF and inviting others to join in, seeing sign-up sheets filling with names, I was thrilled. Thank you to all who made the Connection Carnival such a success!
Because I arrived at BUF on October 1, 2025, this was my first Ingathering Sunday with the congregation, which made it particularly meaningful. As I prepared for the service last week, mulling the Ingathering themes noted above, I was most struck by the theme of “re-covenanting as a community of faith.” BUF's Covenant, which we repeat in unison every Sunday, begins with, "Love is the spirit of this fellowship..." I also was reminded of a UU song from our teal hymnal, #1037 “We Begin Again in Love.” The chorus that repeats throughout the hymn says: “We forgive ourselves and each other; we begin again in love.”
These are the reminders I am holding as we begin this new congregational year. May love be the spirit that animates us as we worship together, work together, and grow the connections we've made. May we forgive ourselves and each other as we humans in community inevitably stumble and make mistakes. And may we begin again in love.
Love, Rev. Sunny, minister