Sunday, April 12, 2015

Flower Communion

While we UUs don't celebrate Easter quite the same way as our Christian neighbors, we do honor the holiday. For us, the holiday celebrates the rebirth of the world: animals have their babies, the trees begin to bud and bloom and there are flowers. Many look back to the ancient roots of the season, with eggs and bunnies and lilies all coming from a variety of traditions.

At UUFC, Easter is a multi-generational service. Rev. Terre spent time in the service to ask what symbols the children could recall, and shared with all the history and meaning behind some of those symbols. Eggs mean more than fertility: the Chinese have a creation story in which the entire universe is contained within an egg. Christians use dogwoods to tell the story of the crucifixion. The Easter bunny is a tradition that came from Germany.

Finally, we shared a truly Unitarian story: that of flower communion. Created in the 1920s by Unitarian minister Norbert Capek in Czechoslovakia, it was a way to celebrate the beauty of the earth seen while congregants walked to church. Each flower would be unique and lovely, much as the person who brought it with them. The flowers were made even more lovely by being shared together.

Rev. Terre had the children surround the flowers and bless them. The children decided to bless the flowers with hope and with love. One child suggested we all give each other hugs after the service. Then, after the blessing, all who wished to came forward to take a different flower.

A truly moving way to celebrate the season of rebirth.