{"id":137765,"date":"2023-06-06T12:49:16","date_gmt":"2023-06-06T18:49:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/?p=137765"},"modified":"2023-06-06T12:49:17","modified_gmt":"2023-06-06T18:49:17","slug":"flower-communion-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/flower-communion-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Flower Communion 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_7346\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-137765-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/www.austinuuav.org\/audio\/2023-06-04_Flower_Communion.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/www.austinuuav.org\/audio\/2023-06-04_Flower_Communion.mp3\">http:\/\/www.austinuuav.org\/audio\/2023-06-04_Flower_Communion.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\" style=\"margin-bottom: 1px !important;\">Podcast: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.austinuuav.org\/audio\/2023-06-04_Flower_Communion.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/?powerpress_pinw=137765-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/www.austinuuav.org\/audio\/2023-06-04_Flower_Communion.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"2023-06-04_Flower_Communion.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">Listen to the sermon by clicking the play button above.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">Rev. Chris Jimmerson<br \/>June 4, 2023<br \/>First UU Church of Austin<br \/>4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756<br \/>www.austinuu.org<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">In this traditional Unitarian ceremony, everyone is invited to bring flowers to church. Then, during the service, we will hold our annual ritual where we bless the flowers and then share them with one another. What might this annual ritual tell us about human flourishing and delight.<\/p>\n<hr align=\"center\" noshade=\"noshade\" size=\"4\" width=\"300\" \/>\n<p align=\"left\"><b>Chalice Lighting<\/b><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p align=\"left\">This is the flame we hold in our hearts as we strive for justice for everyone. This is the light we shine upon systems of oppression until they are no more. This is the warmth that we share with one another as our struggle becomes our salvation.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p align=\"left\"><b>Call to Worship<\/b><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p align=\"left\">ALL OF US ARE BEAUTIFUL<br \/>By Thomas Rhodes<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">We come in a variety of colors, shapes, and sizes. <br \/>Some of us grow in bunches. <br \/>Some of us grow alone. <br \/>Some of us are cupped inward,<br \/>And some of us spread ourselves out wide.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">Some of us are old and dried and tougher than we appear. <br \/>Some of us are still in bud. <br \/>Some of us grow low to the ground, <br \/>And some of us stretch toward the sun.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">Some of us feel like weeds, sometimes. <br \/>Some of us carry seeds, sometimes. <br \/>Some of us are prickly, sometimes. <br \/>Some of us smell.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">And all of us are beautiful. <br \/>What a bouquet of people we are!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p align=\"left\"><b>Affirming Our Mission <\/b><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p align=\"left\">Together we nourish souls, transform lives, and do justice to build the Beloved Community.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><b>Meditation Reading<\/b><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p align=\"left\">FLOWER COMMUNION<br \/>By Lynn Ungar<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">What a gathering-the purple <br \/>tongues of iris licking out <br \/>at spikes of lupine, the orange <br \/>crepe skirts of poppies lifting <br \/>over buttercup and daisy.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">Who can be grim <br \/>in the face of such abundance? <br \/>There is nothing to compare, <br \/>no need for beauty to compete.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">The voluptuous rhododendron <br \/>and the plain grass <br \/>are equally filled with themselves, <br \/>equally declare the miracles<br \/>of color and form.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">This is what community looks like- <br \/>this vibrant jostle, stem by stem <br \/>declaring the marvelous joining. <br \/>This is the face of communion,<br \/>the incarnation once more <br \/>gracefully resurrected from winter.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">Hold these things together <br \/>in your sight-purple, crimson, <br \/>magenta, blue. You will <br \/>be feasting on this long after <br \/>the flowers are gone.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p align=\"left\"><b>Sermon<\/b><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">Text of this sermon is not yet available.<\/p>\n<hr align=\"center\" noshade=\"noshade\" size=\"4\" width=\"300\" \/>\n<p align=\"center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/category\/sermons\/indexes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b>SERMON INDEX<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">Most sermons during the past 23 years are available online through this website. Click on the index link above to find tables of all sermons for each year listed by date (newest to oldest) with topic and speaker. Click on a topic to go to that sermon.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/podcast\/first-unitarian-universalist\/id372427776\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b>PODCASTS<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">Podcasts of this and other sermons are also available for free on iTunes. You can find them by clicking on the podcast link above or copying and pasting this link. https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/podcast\/first-unitarian-universalist\/id372427776<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Listen to the sermon by clicking the play button above. Rev. Chris JimmersonJune 4, 2023First UU Church of Austin4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756www.austinuu.org In this traditional Unitarian ceremony, everyone is invited to bring flowers to church. Then, during the service, we will hold our annual ritual where we bless the flowers and then share&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[19,27,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-137765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio-available","category-chris-jimmerson","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137765"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137765\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":137766,"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137765\/revisions\/137766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}