First Unitarian Church of Pittsburgh
605 Morewood Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213-2999
412-621-8008
|
605 Morewood Avenue |
|
 |
HOMILY FOR FLOWER COMMUNION By David Herndon The Flower Communion service we celebrate this morning holds several different meanings. First, the Flower Communion service can remind us of the importance of religious community. Just as each of us is invited to bring a flower, so each of us brings something to church; and just as each of us is invited to accept a flower, so each of us receives something from church. The fact that we bring many different beautiful flowers also reminds us that there are many different ways to be a beautiful person. Second, the Flower Communion service can remind us that our religious community extends around the world. The very first Flower Communion was celebrated on June 4, 1923, at the Unitarian Church in Prague, in what is now the Czech Republic, in Europe. We can remember, therefore, that many other people in many other places in the world share our religious values and our hopes for peace and justice. Here at the First Unitarian Church of Pittsburgh, we can especially recall our connection with the Unitarian communities in the Khasi Hills of India. Third, the Flower Communion service can remind us of our hopes for peace in the world and the importance of finding non-violent ways of resolving conflict. The Flower Communion was created by Norbert Capek, minister with the Unitarian Church of Prague. I will say more about his life in a moment, but for now I would remind us that Norbert Capek was one of tens of millions of people who died in the Second World War, which took place between 1939 and 1945. Therefore, our Flower Communion service this morning can remind us of the terrible devastation and death that war brings, and it can remind us of the importance of promoting peaceful ways for nations to settle their quarrels with one another. "There was never a good war or a bad peace," said Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. This morning, we may wish to ponder what truth there may be in that statement. Fourth, the Flower Communion service can remind us of the importance of caring for our planet earth. We see the beauty in the flowers that we have brought with us, and they can remind us of the beauty we see in the natural world around us-the beauty of the changing seasons and the changing weather, the beauty of woods and fields, gardens and roadsides, mountains and oceans. We can then take a step beyond our appreciation of the beauty of the natural world and understand that we need for the earth to be healthy if we are to be healthy. Fifth, the Flower Communion service can remind us that just one person can make a significant positive change in the world. Consider Norbert Capek. He was born on June 3, 1870, in the province of Bohemia, the son of a tailor. After doing missionary work as a member of a youth organization, he studied theology and was ordained at the age of twenty-five as a Baptist minister. Although he rose to a position of national leadership for the Baptist churches in Czechoslovakia, Capek left the ministry to pursue journalism, believing that this profession would provide better opportunities for him to express his liberal views. Unfortunately, once his liberal views appeared in print, particularly his views about the prospect of war, Capek found it necessary to leave Czechoslovakia and come to the United States. After the First World War, which took place between 1914 and 1918, Capek returned to Czechoslovakia. Having encountered Unitarianism here in the United States while living in East Orange, New Jersey, Capek turned his attention to establishing a Unitarian presence in Czechoslovakia, with the assistance of Unitarian organizations in the United States and England. Apparently he was the right person at the right time, for his church in Prague grew to include five thousand people, and this congregation helped establish Unitarian churches in five other cities. After the Second World War began, Capek's liberal views were not appreciated by the Nazi government, and in the spring of 1941, Capek was apprehended at his home and sent to the concentration camp at Dachau. Capek died there on October 30, 1942, at the age of seventy-two. But Capek's legacy did not die. The Flower Communion service that he created is celebrated in hundreds of Unitarian Universalist churches here in the United States. Capke wrote several hundred hymns, several of which appear in our hymnbook, Singing the Living Tradition, and one of which we are singing this morning at this service. But perhaps what was most important about Norbert Capek that still lives on is his courage, his leadership, and his willingness to stand up for what he believed, even though it meant he had to rearrange his life and even though, in the end, he was executed because those in power did not appreciate his views. We, too, can have the courage to stand up for our religious values and our hopes for peace and justice. And let us hope that we do not have to suffer the consequences that Norbert Capek suffered. I have now talked about five different meanings that our Flower Communion service can have: it can remind us of the importance of religious community; it can remind us that our religious community extends around the world; it can remind us of our hopes for peace in the world; it can remind us of our responsibility to take good care of the earth; and it can remind us that one person can indeed make a significant positive change in the world. Perhaps you will find other meanings in our Flower Communion service, or you will extend one of these meanings more deeply. May we open all of our senses this morning-seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, and touching-as we reflect on all the meanings that the Flower Communion may hold for us. And then may we put those meanings into practice. © 2005 by David Herndon |
|
 |
||
| Copyright 2005 | ||