As Unitarian Universalists, our congregation respects and celebrates holidays and traditions from a wide range of faiths. We have some holidays that are uniquely ours, such as our beautiful Flower Communion. We also celebrate Christmas and Yule, All Souls Day, Halloween, and other familiar holidays. We often celebrate less frequently observed occasions such as the summer and winter solstices and Earth Day, as well. You can find more information about Unitarian Universalist holiday traditions here.

Water Ceremony

Our annual Water Ceremony is a Unitarian Universalist tradition. At the UUFC, we celebrate this traditional event marking the end of the summer season. Whether your summer took you across the world or for a walk in the rain, we hope you will bring water to share in the communal font during the Water Ceremony.

Members bring to Sunday worship service a small amount of water from a place that is special to them or from a place they have visited over the summer. During the service, people one by one pour their water together into a large bowl. As the water is added, each person explains why this water is special to them. The combined water is symbolic of our shared Unitarian Universalist faith coming from many different sources.

Flower Ceremony

We’ll celebrate spring and renewal with a traditional Unitarian Universalist ceremony that was created by two Unitarian ministers, Rev. Maja Capek and Rev. Norbert Capek. They founded the Unitarian ministry in Czechoslovakia and introduced this special service to that church on June 4, 1923, as a symbolic ritual that would bind people more closely together. She escaped arrest by the Nazis in the 1930s and brought the ceremony to the United States. Her husband died at Dachau.

Celebration of Life

The toast was written by long-time fellowship member Ed Wilson. Ordained as a Seventh Day Adventist Minister, Ed pastored churches in Indiana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Alberta, Canada. Somewhere along the line, he changed spiritual direction, which led him to Unitarian Universalism.

Ed also worked in radio in Columbus for 25 years—as a newsman, a commentator and talk show host, due in part to his deep life experience and in part to his deep, rich, radio voice. Then, for a dozen years, he served as executive to the mayor of Columbus. He was a founding member of our fellowship and served as our “adjunct minister” for many years.

Celebration of Life Toast

We celebrate life . . .
We celebrate life with its beauty and its pain,
We lift our thoughts in tribute
To the achievements of human minds and hands,

And in sensitivity to the
Frustrations of misfortune and heartache;
Not fixing blame or credit for the outcome of chance,
Sensing the risk . . . savoring the joy . . .

Sharing it all!
Knowing of the certainty of death
And remembering the value of each moment,
We raise our thoughts of celebration
To this time . . . to the future . . .
To each other . . . to the throbbing of the
Earth and sea and sky with life,

Together . . . (in unison)
WE LIFT OUR HEARTS IN CELEBRATION OF LIFE!