Flower Communion Prayer Daniel O’Connell (adapted)
We come together this spring morning as a people of faith
Like the flowers arrayed here before us
we look somewhat alike, but we each have an inner beauty
and a sparkling joy, if we would but be still enough to see it
May we remember the women and men who
came before us and made our religion possible.
May we remember that some of them died
to give us what we often take for granted
May we remember to occasionally get up,
turn off the TV and walk outside
to go take a look at a flower
a flower as common, unique, & precious as life itself
We have gathered to celebrate the flowers, and our time here together. Amen.

Today we are having a “Flower Celebration”. It is a celebration specific to Unitarian Universalist churches. Sometimes it has been referred to as “Flower Communion”. But something I read recently suggested that its founder, the Reverend Norbert Capek, wouldn’t have called it “communion”. Norbert Capek was serving a church in Prague, in Czechoslovakia. He had grown up in the Roman Catholic church, and had later become a Baptist. In those traditions communion has a specific meaning as a sacrament, and includes bread and wine. Eventually Capek had became a Unitarian. For his free-thinking about God and religion, he was accused of being a heretic, was arrested, and taken to court.
He served many people in his church who had come out of a variety of different churches, kind of like Unitarian Universalist churches today. Many of his parishioners had allergies to the various rituals they had experienced in their previous churches. Rev. Capek sought to create a new ritual which wouldn’t trigger old allergies, but would bind people together in his church and give concrete expression to the humanity-affirming principles of Unitarianism. He created the Flower Celebration in 1923. It was brought to the United States by Capek's wife, Maja, where it was first celebrated in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1940.
In creating this ritual, Capek turned to nature, asking people to bring a flower to church, from their own gardens, or nearby fields or roadsides. By placing their flowers in a common vase, people signified that they joined with others by their own free will. The vase, filled with all the flowers, became a symbol of the united church community. During the service, Dr. Capek would say a prayer and “consecrate” the flowers, making them sacred symbols of fellowship and the oneness of humanity.
As explained in his sermon, the flowers symbolized the members, each unique and free, joining together in fellowship and accepting each other regardless of their differences.   At the end of the service, each member was to take one flower, other than the one they brought, "just as it comes without making any distinction where it came from and whom it represents, to confess that we accept each other as brothers and sisters without regard to class, race, or other distinction, acknowledging everybody as our friend who is human and wants to be good."
Among Capek's congregation were a number of Jews whom he successfully hid from the Nazis, and eventually helped to escape. Despite warnings from friends, Capek refused to stop preaching or to discontinue his humanitarian work. While his wife was on a speaking tour in the United States, he was arrested and imprisoned in Dachau concentration camp, where he was killed in 1942. Many Unitarian Universalist churches include remembrance of Dr.Capek's courage and willingness to risk his life for his principles and liberal faith when they hold their annual services to celebrate this ritual of flowers.
As I was thinking about flowers, Dr. Capek, and his wife Maja, in preparation for this morning’s service, several qualities of flowers and of the Capeks came to mind. First is the idea that flowers are fragile and rooted- and so are people. There is a rootedness... a grounding in history, family, and principle... which gives us strength and endurance, throughout periods of challenge and difficulty... through times when we might not be sure which way is up, which way is right and left, which way is right and wrong. We can draw on our belief in something greater than ourselves. We can dig deep to the principles which sustain us. This brings to mind a letter which I wrote to my meditation teacher when I had begun my ministry and was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. She wrote back that she was happy that I was doing ministry, and in regard to my health issue, she said I could draw, again and again, from the deep well of my spiritual practices. Plants are like that, too. The roots anchor the plant and hold it firm through wind and rain, and draw sustenance from the earth in times of drought.
Even while we are rooted, we are fragile and vulnerable. Our feelings get hurt, we make mistakes, we hurt each other and ourselves. Even when we try to be good... to do things right ... we often fail. We get sick, injured, and finally die. Plants appear to be rooted, resilient, and strong- pushing up through paved driveways and cracks in concrete sidewalks, springing up through winter’s frozen earth, sprouting with new life after devastating forest fires. And yet, we see flowers wilting in the summer sun, and know that they, too, must fade and die.
Another quality of the Capeks and flowers which comes to mind is persistence. Norbert and Maja Capek didn’t give up. Even when Norbert’s first wife died, and then his second, he married still a third time. He had a total of eight children. When he didn’t find his truth in the church of his childhood, he kept searching. This meant leaving home... the known... the comfort zone... and taking risks to follow his heart. It meant holding fast to his beliefs even when they differed from others... even when he was considered a heretic. It meant being creative in serving his congregation in new ways. It meant remaining in a country in which he was persecuted and endangered, in order to serve others who needed his assistance and his message of hope.
Plants are like that, too. You’ve probably noticed that if you put a potted plant near a window or another source of light, the plant grows toward the light. It is persistent in that. That is its nature... to grow toward the light, no matter how dim it might be. I believe that is the nature of people, too, to grow toward the light... to lean toward love and justice, no matter how faint that love and justice may at times appear to be. In some churches there is a belief in original sin, but here there is a belief in original blessedness... original goodness.... our task is to uncover that goodness and light, and to help it shine forth.
When I was contemplating why we celebrate the flowers, I realized that a flower gives itself fully to being what it is, without concern for the future. This reminded me of Norbert Capek, who gave himself fully to his belief, to sharing his message of hope, and to serving people without regard for his own future. The same might be said of Jesus Christ, who is said to have taught, preached, and healed without concern for his own life and to have said: “Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” (Mt 10:39) It might seem like a paradox, and yet, my experience tells me that when we loose ourselves in something greater than our individual selves - whether in family, church, work, a sports team, music, or service to whatever great cause we choose- we transcend our individual boundaries... like the seed which is planted in the earth and must lose its small identity in order to sprout into a plant.
When I reflected further upon flowers, I realized that when flowers are gathered together in a bouquet, we may overlook the uniqueness of each, which is more apparent to us when we see them separately. And yet, it is the uniquesness of each flower which contributes to the beauty and richness of the whole bouquet. Without any one of the flowers, the bouquet would be different. Similarly, any group changes significantly when even one individual is added or subtracted. Each is unique and makes a difference. It is a trick to remain aware of, and appreciate, the uniqueness of each, while also celebrating the beauty of the whole.
Finally, I realized that there is strength in numbers. When we see a field of flowers, we can be struck by their color or fragrance. One twig or stick is easily broken, but when bundled together they become strong. In our chanting and meditation group, we have noticed that these practices can be stronger and deeper when done together as a group. And then there is this church- together we can be a stronger voice for love and justice in our world, than any one of us can be alone. And, we can support each other along the way. One of my favorite hymns says:
Gathered here in the mystery of the hour
Gathered here in one strong body
Gahtered here in the struggle and the power
Spirit, draw near.
When we are alone, we may be weak. But when we gather together, a Spirit flows among us, and we are strengthened. Many women and men have gone before us, and have risked their all for their beliefs, and for us. We stand on their shoulders. My question today is, Are we living in a way which will inspire those who come after us?
I’d like to close by reciting these words written by the Reverend Norbert Capek as a hymn when he was suffering in Dresden prison in 1942, soon to die, but still filled with courage and optimism. May his words, and the flower celebration, serve to inspire us.
When a holy enthusiasm seizes the heart
Your face lights up. You feel like a star singing.
Your very soul, hearing your song, is radiant
It was, and it will be again.
With the sun on our brows,
Enthusiasm will bloom once more.
With paradise in our hearts
Clouds will disappear,
And the sun's rays bring the earth back to life.
The sun of your hope will shine again
Along the dangerous narrows of your life,
Bringing warmth and light
And the air of freedom, peace and happiness.
It was, and it will be again.
Courage will be astir in the air
And prompt you to action
To create warmth in harmony with the Highest
And Nearest Friend.
Success will attend you.
It was, and it will be again.
You would embrace the whole world,
Have peace touch every flower,
You would like to give yourself away completely to everybody
Forgive everything, play host to everyone.
You would lift this earth to heaven.
It was, and it will be again.*
May it be so.

*Where Holy Enthusiasm Is
Adapted from Norbert Fabian Capek: A Spiritual Journey by Richard Henry, Skinner House Books, 1999).