Crashing waters at creation

Crashing waters at creation. Sylvia Dunstan* (1955-1993). A member of the National Worship Committee of the United Church of Canada, Sylvia Dunstan was the editor of the trial 1986 liturgical resource ‘Baptism and Renewal of Baptismal Faith’ that contained her own ‘Prayer of Thanksgiving and Pouring of Water’. She wrote ‘Crashing waters’ to accompany that prayer, calling to mind the richness of salvation history. Published in the first volume of Dunstan’s collected works, In Search of Hope and Grace (Chicago, 1991), the hymn found rapid acceptance as a result of a number of factors: the ecumenical church’s renewed interest in recovering the theological fullness of baptism; the influence of...