SHARING OUR SACRED STORIES
Easter 2008 Summit UU Fellowship
Rev. Kathleen A. Green
If I close my eyes I can imagine myself as a young child, in full Easter Sunday regalia….crisply starched new dress, hat, gloves, and new patent leather shoes - yellow, the color of butter. I can smell the lilies that decorate the altar and my great-grandma’s dress as we sit on the hard wooden pew of her tiny church in rural Oklahoma. I try to sit still as the preacher delivers his sermon. It’s the same sacred story, from the same sacred text, every Easter. I know it well.
As I grow older, and have my own children to make Easter memories with, I find myself seeking other sacred stories and other sacred texts. But I choose not to ignore or discard the story that was sacred to my great-grandma and the little Baptist church in the country, because I am connected. And in that connection I can find new meaning within the story of my childhood.
Sacred stories reveal our relationship with what is divine in our lives.
What is a sacred story? Moses and the escape from Egypt. Krishna and Arjuna on the battlefield. Jesus feeding the 5000. First Woman and Coyote.
What is a sacred story? THE DARK DAY
(Read by Dir. Of RE) They brought Jesus to the Place of the Skull. They crucified him and divided his clothes among them, casting lots to decide what each should take. It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him. When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land. At three o’clock, Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last.
(gong sounds)
We need sacred stories of dark nights of the soul; of letting go and dying. It is a frightening place, but also sacred and revelatory. It is often in darkness that we can learn to be transformed in a deep way. When our hearts break, the cosmos opens up.
(choir sings I Know This Rose Will Open)
What is a sacred story? PASSOVER REMEMBERED
(Read by child from RE program) Pack nothing. Bring only your determination to serve and your willingness to be free. Don’t wait for the bread to rise. Take nourishment for the journey, but eat standing, be ready to move at a moment’s notice. Do not hesitate to leave your old ways behind – fear, silence, submission. Only surrender to the need to the time – to love justice and walk humbly with your God.
Sing songs as you go, and hold close together. You may at times grow confused and lose your way. Touch each other and keep telling the stories. It is the first of many beginnings. Remain true to this mystery. Pass on the whole story. Do not go back. I am with you now and I am waiting for you. (gong sounds)
We need sacred stories of our passions, desire, anger, and grief. Permission to see anger as part of our power, and to convert it into creative energy is part of the sacred story.
(choir sings Shalom Havayreem and congregation joins twice more)
What is a sacred story? THE SACRED HOOP
(Ready by congregation elder) Then I was standing on the highest mountain of them all, and round beneath me was the whole hoop of the world. And while I stood there I saw more than I could tell and I understood more than I saw. For I was seeing in the sacred manner the shape of all things of the spirit. And the shapes as they must live together like one being. And I saw that the sacred hoop of my people was one of many hoops that make one circle, wide as daylight and starlight, and in the center grew one mighty flowering tree to shelter all the children of one mother and one father. And I saw that it was holy. (gong sounds)
We need sacred stories of wisdom. Wisdom that teaches us to be still, to listen to the children, to listen to each other, as one family.
(minister sings Heleluyan and congregation joins twice more)
What is a sacred story? IN THE MORNING
(Read by child from RE program) On the first day of the week, at early dawn they came to the tomb, saying:
Who will roll away the stone from the entrance to the tomb? They looked up and saw that the stone had already been rolled back, and on the right, they saw a young man. They were alarmed. But the man said to them:
Why do you seek the living among the dead? So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them.
(gong – Calvin Steussy)
We need sacred stories of resurrection. Hope as an antidote to despair and terror. (choir sings Sing and Rejoice and then leads congregation singing altogether and then in round twice)
Sacred stories are not exclusively those told by the worlds’ religions. There is a sacred dimension to everyone’s life. We all have stories. We have Unitarian Universalist stories rooted in our Christian and Jewish heritage. Stories of women and men who sought to promote use of reason in religion, a sense of justice in an often unjust society, and love of humankind.
The story of the Flower communion service is a sacred story. It was created by a man named Norbert Capek, who founded the Unitarian Church in Czechoslovakia. He introduced this special service to that church in 1923, because he longed for a ritual of communion – of intimacy and connection that was humanist in foundation – that was inclusive.
The significance of the flower communion is that as no two flowers are alike, so no two people are alike, yet each has a contribution to make. Together the different flowers form a beautiful bouquet. Our common bouquet would not be the same without the unique addition of each individual flower, and thus it is with our beloved community, it would not be the same without each and every one of us. Thus, this service is a statement of our community.
By exchanging flowers, we show our willingness to walk together in our Search for truth, disregarding all that might divide us. Each person takes home a flower brought by someone else; symbolizing our shared celebration in community.
It is important to know about another part of this sacred story. The flower communion was brought to the United States in 1940 by Dr. Capek's wife, Maja. The Czech-born Maja had met Norbert Capek in New York City while he was studying for his Ph.D., The Capeks returned to Czechoslovakia in 1921 and established the dynamic liberal church in Prague; during her tour of the United States that Maja introduced the flower communion, Unfortunately, Maja was unable to return to Prague due to the outbreak of World War II, and it was not until the war was over that Norbert Capek's death in a Nazi concentration camp was revealed - Dr. Capek's gospel of the inherent worth and beauty of every human person was-as Nazi court records show-- "...too dangerous to the Reich [for him] to be allowed to live." This gentle man suffered a cruel death, but his message of human hope and decency lives on through his Flower Communion, which is widely celebrated today. It is a noble and meaning-filled ritual from a sacred story.
It is time now for us to share in the Flower Communion. As your section of the room is invited to come forward, I ask that as you each in turn approach the communion baskets you do so quietly--reverently--with a sense of how important it is for each of us to address our world and one another with gentleness, justice, and love. I ask that you select a flower--different from the one you brought. As you take your chosen flower--noting its particular shape and beauty--please remember to handle it carefully. It is a gift that someone else has brought to you today. It represents that person's unique humanity, and therefore deserves your kindest touch.
If you are not able to physically come forward, a basket will be brought to you. Let us rise in body or spirit, singing hymn #8 Mother Spirit, Father Spirit, written by Norbert Capek, as we share in this Unitarian Universalist ritual of oneness and love.
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Would you please join me in the responsive reading composed in Dresden prison by Norbert Capek as we conclude our Flower Communion?
