BLOG ENTRY: 6/26/2017

While preparing for the Flower Communion we had at West Wind Unitarian Universalist Congregation earlier this month, I was searching for a certain tone of experience for those in participation. I was trying to find just the right words to use as a blessing/meditation on what the flowers represented and why we were about to exchange them with each other during service.

The UUA has a lovely variety of poems, prayers and reflections for just this instance, but after reading them I wanted something more grounded in the specific intent of Rev. Norbert Capek and his wife Rev. Maya Capek, the initial creators of the Flower Communion. I was less interested in the "flowery" poetic language and more interested in the metaphor of flower representing the variety of beauty, individuality and difference of humanity. I wanted us to celebrate our differences while recognizing our solidarity as a congregation, so, I wrote this:

Within this bucket are ...
   collected varieties of flowers,
Whose beds are left behind
   both near and far from here.

This sanctuary is our bucket,
   we the flowers, plucked
From our beds, left behind
   both near and far from here.

Each petal on each stem,
   whether loved in light or shade,
Consumes the water which gives
   life flowing from below.

Each person, in each chair,
   whether loved in light or shade,
Consumes the love which gives us life,
   flowing from the depths of hearts combined.

Today we ask our hearts
   to know and recognize our
Lives portrayed within this
   fragrant metaphor bouquet.

And remember as we hold our
   fellow beings lives within our
Hands, that cradle them in
   love, so cradled are we in theirs.