{"id":139571,"date":"2024-06-04T10:36:35","date_gmt":"2024-06-04T16:36:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/?p=139571"},"modified":"2024-06-04T10:36:36","modified_gmt":"2024-06-04T16:36:36","slug":"2024-flower-communion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/2024-flower-communion\/","title":{"rendered":"2024 Flower Communion"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_183\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-139571-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/www.austinuuav.org\/audio\/2024-06-02_Flower_Communion.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/www.austinuuav.org\/audio\/2024-06-02_Flower_Communion.mp3\">http:\/\/www.austinuuav.org\/audio\/2024-06-02_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\/2024-06-02_Flower_Communion.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/?powerpress_pinw=139571-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/www.austinuuav.org\/audio\/2024-06-02_Flower_Communion.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"2024-06-02_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 and Michelle LeGrave<br \/>June 2, 2024<br \/>First UU Church of Austin<br \/>4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756<br \/>www.austinuu.org<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">This Sunday we will hold our annual Flower Communion Service. Please join us for this much-loved Unitarian Universalist ritual exchange of flowers. During the service you will have the opportunity to add your flower(s) to large bouquets we will create in the sanctuary and to take a different flower with you, symbolizing both the unique, sacred beauty of each of us and the even greater beauty we create when we share that sacred uniqueness with one another.<\/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\">&#8220;You who have an eye for miracles regard the bud now appearing on the bare branch of the fragile young tree. It&#8217;s a mere dot, a nothing. But already it&#8217;s a flower, already a fruit, already its own death and resurrection.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">&#8211; Diego Valeri<\/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>Reading<\/b><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p align=\"left\">FLOWER COMMUNION<br \/>Lynn Unger<\/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. <br \/>Who can be grim<br \/>in the face of such abundance? <br \/>There is nothing to compare, <br \/>no need for beauty to compete. <br \/>The voluptuous rhododendron <br \/>and the plain grass<br \/>are equally filled with themselves, <br \/>equally declare the miracles <br \/>of color and form. <br \/>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. <br \/>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\">On June 4, 1923, Rev. Norbert Capek, the minister of Prague Liberal Religious Fellowship, a Unitarian church, created what has become our flower communion.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">Rev. Capek needed a symbolic ritual that would bind people together as they faced the impending threats from Nazism in neighboring Germany ..<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">Capek turned to the beauty of the surrounding countryside and created a communion where congregants would bring flowers from their gardens, fields or the roadside and share them with one another &#8211; symbolizing that just as no two flowers are exactly alike, so each of us has an inherent and unique beauty.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">Capek&#8217;s wife, Maja, also an ordained minister, came to the United States in 1940 and introduced the ritual to U.S. Unitarians while she was here.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">Unfortunately, she was unable to return to Prague at the time, because World War II had broken out.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">It was only after the war that she learned that the Nazi&#8217;s had sent Capek to a concentration camp.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">However, even in the concentration camp, he held a flower ceremony with his fellow prisoners, using whatever flowering weeds they could find, testifying to a love larger than themselves and that would outlive them &#8211; a ritual we still practice today &#8211; a ritual still symbolizing both the unique, sacred beauty of each of us and the even greater beauty we create when we share that sacred uniqueness with one another.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><b>Extinguishing the Chalice<\/b><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p align=\"left\">We extinguish this flame, but not the light of truth, the warmth of community, or the fire of commitment. These we hold in our hearts until we are together again.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p align=\"left\"><b>Benediction <\/b><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p align=\"left\">As we go out into our world now, let us continue to share our unique gifts.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">May we flourish and flower in communion with one another and all that is.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">May we bring one another and our world delight.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">May the congregation say, &#8220;Amen&#8221; and &#8220;Blessed Be&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">Go in peace.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\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 24 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 Jimmerson and Michelle LeGraveJune 2, 2024First UU Church of Austin4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756www.austinuu.org This Sunday we will hold our annual Flower Communion Service. Please join us for this much-loved Unitarian Universalist ritual exchange of flowers. During the service you will have&#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":[19,27,174,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-139571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio-available","category-chris-jimmerson","category-michelle-lagrave","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139571","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=139571"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139571\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":139572,"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139571\/revisions\/139572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}