From Whence it Flows: A Water Communion Ceremony
by Rev. Lauren Levwood
“and when / the world burned / we taught ourselves / to be oceans for one other” – Kimberly Vanderhorts
They say that all rivers run into the sea, and yet the ocean is never full. How can we continue to pour our hearts into the work of loving the world, during a time when so much is burning? Bring your waters from near and far… collected from your summer travels or your kitchen sink. We will remember the goodness of being together, pour our separate waters into a shared vessel, and practice being oceans for each other.
BIO
Reverend Lauren Spivey Levwood is an ordained Unitarian Universalist Minister in fellowship with the Unitarian Universalist Association. She holds a Master of Divinity from Starr King School for the Ministry, a UU-identity seminary located in California’s Bay Area. Rev. Lauren began her ministry as an intern and then as Assistant Minister at the First UU Church of Richmond, a 650-member congregation in the heart of the city. Following her time there, Rev. Lauren completed a chaplaincy residency at Mary Washington Hospital in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and then became the minister of the UU’s of the Blue Ridge in beautiful Sperryville, Virginia. Rev. Lauren serves UU BRidge part time, and also proudly serves as the Executive Director of the UU Ministry for Earth.
Rev. Lauren’s professional background includes: massage therapy, childbirth mentorship, birth and postpartum doula care, modern dance, and somatics. She holds Bachelors of Arts in Dance and Interdisciplinary Philosophy from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Rev. Lauren is drawn to embodied and earth-based spiritual practices, religious naturalism, and experiences of awe and wonder arising from art, poetry, music, and the natural world. Raised Baptist, she is comfortable with Christian theology and the ways that it informs the liberal Christian roots of Unitarian Universalism. She has also studied and practiced several world religions, including Judaism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Sufism, Paganism, and Native American spirituality.
Rev. Lauren lives in Stafford, Virginia, with her daughter, Haya, black cat, Comet, and two white rats, Cinnamon and Sugar.
Come join us!