Like many Unitarian Universalists (UU), my favorite service of the year is Flower Communion. Each person brings a flower, places it in a common basket, then leaves with a different flower. The flowers may come from gardens, farmers’ markets, or the grocery store. This ritual is not imbued with the deep symbolism of Christian Communion; rather, it is in the sharing of beauty by the community. It’s also to commemorate a World War II martyr and Unitarian minister, Dr. Norbert Capek (pronounced Cha-peck).
Dr. Capek served the Unitarian congregation in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Under his leadership, it grew to over 3000 members and was the largest Unitarian congregation in the world at the time. He initiated Flower Communion in his church in 1923, at the last service before the summer. When the Nazis took over Czechoslovakia in 1939, Dr. Capek’s message of the inherent worth and dignity of everyone did not conform with the conquerors’ idea of the master race. The Nazis arrested him, made him participate in “scientific experiments”, and eventually executed him in 1942. His wife and children escaped to the United States, where they settled in the Boston area and introduced Flower Communion to Unitarian congregations on this continent.
Yesterday on my way out of the driveway, I snipped a couple of rhododendron clusters off a bush in the front yard. A bee was in a neighboring cluster, so I wisely left her alone to do her work. I set my contribution on a table in the foyer of the church and set up the bookstore for the day.
The baskets of flowers were brought in during the introductory music and laid on a table in front of the chapel. Flowers played a role in other facets of the service: The dedication of a baby (a long-stemmed rosebud stripped of the thorns), and a celebration of graduating high school seniors (long-stemmed roses with the thorns left on). Before blessing the flowers, our senior minister read a letter Dr. Capek wrote to his wife the night before he was killed. The letter miraculously made it to her. It’s hard to remain stoic during the reading of that letter. Finally the congregation was called up by rows to select their flowers while singing a hymn written by Dr. Capek, Color and Fragrance. I chose an iris.
The definitive book on Dr. Capek, Norbert Fabian Capek by retired UU minister Richard Henry, is out of print. However, if you saw Ken Burns’s Defying the Nazis, Dr. Capek and the Prague congregation were featured in that film. Dr. Capek met the Sharps at the Prague train station to help them begin their operation to get people out of Nazi-occupied Europe.
In these times, the message of Dr. Capek is more resonant than ever. We need to support the inherent worth and dignity of all against assaults by those in power. Jews, Gypsies, disabled, and gays were targeted back in World War II; now immigrants and Muslims are called out for abuse. Resolve to love your neighbor, regardless.
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