Rev. Mike Quayle
Labor Day 2011

Today we pause to reflect on the meaning of Labor Day. For many of us the arrival of Labor Day marks the end of summer, schools have resumed, vacations have been taken and the church schedule returns to a predictable rhythm.

In many places, politicians emerge during Labor Day celebrations and rally their supporters with stirring speeches and great promises of what the party will accomplish in the coming year. Those seeking office use this day as a platform to rally support and gather votes.

Families gather; picnics are held; and we all hope for a final weekend of good weather.

The first Labor Day was observed in 1878 in Boston. It became a federal holiday in 1894 following the deaths of a number of worker’s at the hands of the US Military and US Marshals during the Pullman Strike. Within six days of the end of the strike and fearing more protests, congress rushed through legislation mandating a federal holiday in hopes of avoiding more violence.

For most who gather this weekend, there will be little thought about the origins of the day or reflection on the meaning of work.

I don’t know about you, but I grew up in a time and place where there was an unspoken agreement between the employer and the worker. I still recall the days when the Cleveland Cliffs Iron Company dominated the lives of my father and my uncles. Generations of Quayle’s had worked in the Iron Mines. Some had died when conditions were so unsafe that cave-ins were frequent.

Our neighborhoods were named by the mine. The mine owned all of the land and to this day homeowners hold 100 year leases on the land for the sum of $1.00.

I remember going to the company store. I can also recall when pay for the miners was in the form of “credits” at the company store with cash making up only a part of the pay.

Then the unions came in. The United Mine Workers promised that if the miners organized, they would find the good life, higher pay, freedom from intolerable work conditions and a better future for their children.

Strikes were a frequent event. Whenever the contract were about to expire, the union would present a list of demands and the Iron Company would counter. Some of the strikes went for several months and meals got very simple. When a new contract was signed, there were parties and picnics.

But, underlying all of that was a basic belief that, in the end, an agreement WOULD be reached and life would go on. We believed in the Cleveland Cliffs Iron Company and we thought they believed in us and would always be there to take care of us. Most young men who graduated from my high school had their future set. They would work in the mine as had their fathers and grandfathers. It was our way of life. [Read more…]

We are disappointed to find the following edict in a UUA pamphlet that is available on a table in our sanctuary, headed “10 Things Your Congregation Can Do To Become More Welcoming”:

“Avoid using words which are necessarily gender specific. Use the word ‘children’ instead of ‘boys and girls’ and ‘people’ instead of ‘women and men.’” (It’s Item No. 8 in an updated version of the pamphlet; an earlier version is on the UUA website.)

We live in a time when misguided, however well-meaning, people try to wipe out prejudice by sterilizing the language. Do they expect to prevent sexism or homophobia by stamping out awareness of sex or gender? Once that step has been taken, will someone next perceive speciesism in the use of “people” and demand we say “creatures” instead? Must “creatures” then be replaced by “life-forms;” next, by “things”?

Will any of these measures add the tiniest spark of kindness to the world?

In George Orwell’s famous essay, “Politics and the English Language,” he laments a trend for prose to move “away from concreteness.” He writes that “Orthodoxy, of whatever color, seems to demand a lifeless, imitative style. . .The great enemy of clear language is insincerity.” Citing vagueness as a tactic in propaganda and exploitation, he makes the case for “language as an instrument for expressing and not for concealing or preventing thought.”

Orwell might turn over in his grave.

But at least we are not being stopped at the door and given instructions not to say “women,” “men,” “boys,” “girls,” etc. Not yet. How “welcoming” would that be?

Chris Edwards and Robin McNallie

Choral Reading
By Rev. Mike Quayle
PRIDE Sunday

Starting quietly, stirring deep in the
hearts of those oppressed;
Growing louder, catching fire;
spreading throughout the land;
The arc of the universe bends
toward justice.

1969

The Stonewall riots transform the gay
rights movement. Patrons at the
Stonewall Inn fight back during a
police raid, sparking three days of
riots and giving birth to a movement.

Starting quietly, stirring deep in the
hearts of those oppressed;
Growing louder, catching fire;
spreading throughout the land;
The arc of the universe bends
toward justice.

1973

The American Psychiatric Association
removes homosexuality from its
official list of mental disorders.

Starting Quietly, stirring deep in the
hearts of those oppressed;
Growing louder, catching fire;
spreading throughout the land;
The arc of the universe bends
toward justice.

1978

Harvey Milk is assassinated in
San Francisco, California due to
his support for GLBT persons and
his advocacy for other minorities.

Starting quietly, stirring deep in the
hearts of those oppressed;
growing louder, catching fire;
spreading throughout the land;
The arc of the universe bends
toward justice.

1982

Wisconsin becomes the first state
to outlaw discrimination based
on sexual orientation.

Starting quietly, stirring deep in the
hearts of those oppressed;
growing louder, catching fire;
spreading throughout the land;
The arc of the universe bends
toward justice.

1988

Rebecca Wright and her partner,
Claudia Brenner, were shot
while camping along the Appalachian
Trail. The shooter was enraged
because of their perceived
lesbianism.

Starting quietly, stirring deep in the
hearts of those oppressed;
Growing louder, catching fire;
spreading throughout the land;
The arc of the universe bends
toward justice.

1993

“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” becomes the
official policy of the US military
leading to the discharge of
thousands of men and women
serving proudly.

Starting quietly, stirring deep in the
Hearts of the oppressed;
Growing louder, catching fire;
spreading throughout the land;
The arc of the universe bends
toward justice.

1995

Roxanne Ellis and Michelle Abdill, a lesbian
couple in Oregon, were murdered by a
man who said, “he had no compassion
for bisexual or homosexual people.”

Starting quietly, stirring deep in the
hearts of those oppressed;
growing louder, catching fire;
spreading throughout the land.
The arc of the universe bends
toward justice.

1998

Matthew Sephard, a gay student, was
tortured, beaten, tied to a fence, and
abandoned. He hung there for 18 hours
before being found and died less than a
week later.

Starting quietly, stirring deep in the
hearts of those oppressed;
growing louder, catching fire;
spreading throughout the land;
The arc of the universe bends
toward justice.

1999

U.S. Army Pfc. Barry Winchell, was
murdered after rumors spread on
base in Ft. Campbell Kentucky over
his relationship with transgendered
Calpernia Addams.

Starting quietly, stirring deep in the
hearts of those oppressed;
growing louder, catching fire;
spreading throughout the land;
The arc of the universe bends
toward justice.

2000

Vermont becomes the first state
to legalize civil unions.
Ronald Gay enters a bar in Roanoke
and opens fire on patrons. He claimed he
had been told by God to find and kill
lesbians and gay men.

Starting quietly, stirring deep in the
hearts of those oppressed;
growing louder, catching fire;
The arc of the uinverse bends
toward justice.

2003

Nireah Johnson and Brandie Coleman
were shot to death after Paul Moore
found out that Nireah was transgender. He
then burned the bodies of the victims.

2004

Same-sex marriage becomes legal in
Massachusetts

2005

Civil unions become legal in Connecticut
and, in 2006, unions become legal in
New Jersey.

Starting quietly, stirring deep in the
hearts of those oppressed;
growing louder, catching fire;
The arc of the universe bends
toward justice.

2007

Andrew Anthos, a 72 year old, disabled gay
man, was beaten to death with a lead pipe
by a man shouting anti-gay slurs.

The US House of Representatives
approves a bill ensuring equal rights for
gay men, lesbians, and bisexuals.

2008

In May, the California Supreme Court
rules that same-sex couples have the right
to marry, in November, voters pass a
ban that overturned the court’s ruling.
In October, the Supreme Court of
Connecticut rules that same-sex
couples have the right ot marry.
Two persons were killed and several
injured when during the worship service
of Tennesseee Valley Unitarian Universalist
Church, a man began shooting and later
said he disliked the congregations support
of gays and liberal causes.

Starting quietly, stirring deep in the
hearts of those oppressed;
growing louder, catching fire;
The arc of the universe bends
toward justice.

2009

Iowa approves same- sex marriages.
Vermont approves same-sex marriages.
New Hampshire approves same-sex
marriages.
Seaman August Provost was shot and his
body burned at his guard post on
Camp Pendleton. Military leaders
concluded that the “Don’t ask-Don’t Tell” policy
prevented Provost from seeking help and
protection.
President Obama posthumously awards
Harvey Milk the Presidential Medal of
Honor.

Starting quietly, stirring deep in the
hearts of those oppressed;
growing louder, catching fire;
The arc of the universe bends
toward justice.

2010

The U.S. Congress approves a law that
allows same-sex marriage in the District of
Columbia.
Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker rules
that California’s ban on same-sex marriage
is unconstitutional and violates the 14th
Amendment of the Constitution.

STARTING QUIETLY, STIRRING DEEP IN THE
HEARTS OF THOSE OPPRESSED;
GROWING LOUDER, CATCHING FIRE;
THE ARC OF THE UNIVERSE BENDS
TOWARD JUSTICE.

2011

The State of New York passes a law
that allows same-sex couples to marry.
New York is the largest state to pass such
a law.

Friday July 22,
US president Obama signs
Into law the official end of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
Allowing men and women to serve
Openly in the US Military.

Unitarian Universalists from all over
gather in Charlotte, North Carolina to
rally for GLBT equal rights and to “Stand on
The Side of Love.”

Harrisonburg Unitarian Universalists
Gather today for the 5^th annual “Pride in the
Park Celebration.

STARTING QUIETLY, STIRRING DEEP IN THE
HEARTS OF THOSE OPPRESSED;
GROWING LOUDER, CATCHING FIRE;
THE ARC OF THE UNIVERSE BENDS
TOWARD JUSTICE.

STARTING QUIETLY, STIRRING DEEP IN THE
HEARTS OF THOSE OPPRESSED;
GROWING LOUDER, CATCHING FIRE;
THE ARC OF THE UNIVERSE BENDS
TOWARD JUSTICE.

July 24, 2011

Mike Quayle

There are those who ask, “Why do we need to keep on talking about GLBT rights ? Is this really something we need to talk about in a church or congregational setting.” Then there are those who are just tired of hearing about it. Some wish we would just move on and talk about something else. It is my greatest hope that the day will come when we can stop talking about this.

The goal of any great movement; women’s rights, reproductive rights, the right to die, racial equality, the green movement, the peace movement, and the right to love whomever one chooses to love, ought to have as the final goal, becoming obsolete. The sure sign of the success of ANY movement is when the movement is no longer needed. When speaking about the goals or beliefs of the movement becomes redundant. This morning, in our choral reading called, “The Arc of the Universe Bends Toward Justice,” we retraced the steps of the GLBT movement. Of course, the movement is much older that the reading would indicate; There were countless others who stood for this movement. Thousands of others who gave their careers, resources, and even their lives. Thousands of others who were murdered or tortured for the cause….

But, in the brief summary we heard today of this movement, we realize that we are standing on the shoulders of those who went before us. We realize that any progress we have made, any rights we have gained, have been passed to us as a gift from those who stood strong in the face of insurmountable odds

Many of the worlds religious movements have at their core the ideal of self-sacrifice for one’s beliefs. Before Christianity became entrenched in doctrinal and theological debates over the meaning of the atonement and the death of Christ on a cross, we had a simple truth. The world does not like to be challenged. Society does not like to be questioned about assumed values. The status quo enjoys the power of being in charge.

[Read more…]

Laura Dent
July 10, 2011

Dawn of Light

When I was 16 – like many young people in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s – I was questioning the religion I grew up with.  I was yearning for something  more profound, more expansive, more universal.

Just at that moment, when I was the most impressionable, my brother played for me this album:   Tales from Topographic Oceans by Yes.

When I saw from the liner notes that the music was inspired by ancient Hindu scriptures, I glimpsed the vast possibilities of many spiritual paths.  That awakening launched me on a journey of spiritual exploration that I have continued to this day.

The opening chant I’ll play for you introduces the four movements of the piece – the four sides (remember “sides”?) corresponding to the four Hindu scriptures you heard in the readings.

[opening album and holding it up:] I’ve spent many hours gazing at this, and it’s amazing to see it again now.

Oh, and to let you know, I get so into this music that I can’t help singing along.  Feel free to observe, to close your eyes and have your own meditative experience, or to follow along with the lyrics in the program.  I encourage you to enjoy the music in your own way.

[PLAY “Dawn of Light …” “The Revealing Science of God: Dance of the Dawn” – 1st movement (“side”) of Tales from Topographic Oceans, 1974: Part One and Part Two]

To give you a sense of how important this music is to me:  when Noel and I got married a little over three years ago, that opening chant to Tales from Topographic Oceans is what I chose to play as my brother walked me down the aisle – the green felt runway in the woods – in the rain.

As I was listening to this album the first time when I was 16, I was reading this introduction, from Jon Anderson, the singer and spirit of Yes:

1st movement: Shrutis. The Revealing Science of God can be seen as an ever-opening flower in which simple truths emerge examining the complexities and magic of the past and how we should not forget the song that has been left to us to hear.  The knowledge of God is a search, constant and clear.

Now, many years later, I find that these words express my personal creed:

“The knowledge of God is a search, constant and clear.”

For me, this means:

Direct experience of the divine – God, or Spirit, or the universal – is an ongoing exploration.  And when Spirit speaks to me, that voice is clear:  the still, small voice.

Sometimes I have to be very quiet to hear the voice of Spirit.  And through this music – I learned to listen for that voice.

The Ancient

When I listened to Tales from Topographic Oceans again to prepare for this talk, the line that jumped out at me was:

“Attuned to the majesty of music, they marched as one with the earth.”

That’s from the third movement, “The Ancient:  Giants Under the Sun.”

In Music and the Mind, Anthony Storr writes:

“No culture so far discovered lacks music.  Making music appears to be one of the fundamental activities of [hu]mankind.”  There is even speculation that singing preceded speech.

Any time we sing we are bringing joy to ourselves.  Any kind of melodic expression is almost by definition spiritual, and spiritually uplifting in some form.

The Sacred Sound

My husband Noel asked me recently, “If you hadn’t found Yes, then what?”

I responded, “If it hadn’t been Yes, it would have been something else.  I was already questioning. And, Eastern spirituality was already prevalent in the counterculture, and in the music of the time.”

For instance, I heard this, from the Moody Blues.  Here I invite you to go into a meditative space, even to sing along to feel the vibration.

[play “OM” The Moody Blues – “The Word” (spoken poem) + “OM” from In Search of the Lost Chord, 1968: ]

The ancient sacred sound of OM [pronounced “AUM”] resonates deeply in the body.  In the yogic tradition, the vibrations of the sounds travel up the spine and stimulate each of the chakras, the energy centers of the body.

The deep sound “AAAH” starts in the first chakra that roots you to the earth, setting a strong foundation.  The sound travels up (AAH, OH, OOOO)  through the navel, the solar plexus, the heart chakra, the throat, the third eye, then to “mmmm” as a high vibration in the crown chakra that connects you to the cosmos.

“To be in tune with OM is to be in tune with All.”

The Chord

The “OM” song is from the Moody Blues album In Search of the Lost Chord.

The piano piece I played at the offertory is an improvisation on a chord I’ve been playing since my sophomore year in college, a very difficult time in my life.

One day after playing the piano in the studio, I came running back to my dorm room and announced to my roommate:

“I just found the chord that says everything there is to know about me.”

She replied, in all seriousness, “You’re lucky to have found it so young.”

That’s how I feel about Yes music:  I’m lucky to have found it so young.

Spending My Life

Another powerful musical inspiration for me was when Noel and I got together, seven years ago now.  One evening I was in the kitchen cooking dinner and he was in the living room playing the piano.  As I listened to him playing, I felt deep within me the certainty:  “I could easily spend my life with this man.”

A couple of weeks later, same scene:  I’m in the kitchen, he’s in the living room playing the piano.  It dawned on me:  “I am spending my life with this man.”

I’m sure you can understand, since you’ve heard Noel playing many times, including this morning – how beautifully he plays,  expressing the beauty within him.

The Finger Pointing at the Moon

The musicians I admire have the humility to acknowledge that their inspiration comes from a source beyond themselves, or perhaps deep within themselves.  After all, they are human – and they work with the very deeply-rooted human endeavor of making music, and expressing themselves through the poetry of the lyrics.

Joni Mitchell said, “It’s very hard, peeling the layers off your own onion.”

The Moody Blues said later, “I’m just a singer in a rock & roll band.”  Perhaps they were tired of people looking to them to be “gods.”  But what did they expect, with that “OM” song?!

Like the Zen saying, “The finger pointing at the moon is not the moon.”

I realize that my experience of Yes, and of other musicians, is like the finger pointing at the moon.  They’re saying, “Don’t look at me, look where I’m looking.”  I receive from them, through their music, the inspiration for my own spiritual growth, my own experience of the moon.  (Wow.)

Unbroken Spirit

Many decades later, I’m still in touch with my original musical inspiration.

Just two months ago, I saw Jon Anderson, now the former singer of Yes, in a solo concert.  I was thrilled to discover that I still love Jon!  (And I mean that in the most spiritual way, of course.)

It was a joy to sing along with Jon to the opening chant to Tales from Topographic Oceans, as you heard earlier.  Afterwards he said to the audience, “That’s a LOT of words!!”

Jon had a respiratory illness from which he nearly died – twice.  He told a story of being rushed to the hospital – and somebody in the ambulance asking for his autograph!!

Jon was ousted from Yes – his own band – who wanted to keep touring when he was sick.  So he had been through his share of challenges.

At that concert, Jon played this song, Unbroken Spirit.  Again you can find the lyrics in your program.

[PLAY Unbroken Spirit]

That’s Jon, forty years later!  His new album is called Survival and Other Stories.

There’s a new husky quality to his voice, after his illness and recovery, that underscores his message of optimism in the face of adversity.

La Grandezza dell’Anima

Recently I received a similar inspiring message from another beloved musician and dear friend, Aldo Tagliapietra, whom Noel and I visited in Italy last year.

A couple of months ago when our mutual friend in the music community, Rob, was undergoing heart surgery at 42, Aldo wrote to us one of the most beautiful statements of the purpose of spiritual growth I’ve ever heard:

(I’ll give you my English translation first, and then Aldo’s original Italian.)

“Life very often puts us through terrible and unfair trials, but our faith gives us hope that all this serves to increase the greatness of our soul, (and here the Italian is particularly beautiful:  “aumentare la grandezza della nostra anima”) and the greater our soul becomes, the more we are prepared one day to be united with that All that pervades all and contains all.”

And here’s how Aldo wrote it:

“La vita molto spesso ci sottopone a delle prove terribili e ingiuste, ma la nostra fede ci fa sperare che tutto questo serva ad aumentare la grandezza della nostra anima e più grande diventa l’anima, più siamo preparati un giorno ad unirci a quel Tutto che tutto pervade e che tutto comprende.”

Aldo gives us a new possibility of the meaning of faith:  Our faith can give us hope that through the trials of life, we can expand our soul to prepare ourselves to join with the ALL.

Wow.  And the amazing thing to me is, that’s just Aldo being himself.  He just tossed that off in an email!  in support and compassion for his friends in need.

There’s a sense of divine wisdom flowing through him, and that he is a clear channel for that wisdom, after spending several decades developing his spirituality and expressing it in his music.  Again, the finger pointing at the moon.

All Things Must Pass

When George Harrison, another enlightened being from the music world, was on his deathbed, his doctor said he had never seen anyone who was so unafraid of death.  George knew:  “All Things Must Pass.”

Still, as Aldo says, our faith gives us hope that somehow it’s all worthwhile.

Since we don’t know what happens when we die, what happens when we live?!

If all things must pass, what do we make of our lives, NOW?

Could it be that the purpose of our lives, of all the trials we endure, all the growth we achieve by peeling our own onion to find the core of love within, is to expand our souls so that we can glimpse the ALL, NOW, while we are still alive?

Well, these are the Big Questions.  And the music takes me there.

The knowledge of God is a search, constant and clear.

Sempre una Luce

Now I’d like to play for you a song by Aldo Tagliapietra – “Come un vecchio indiano” – “Like an old Indian” – again the connection to Eastern spirituality.

You’ll find the lyrics and translation in your program.  The song begins “Like an old Indian, I sit on the earth to listen to the breathing of the world”.

I meditated on that phrase this morning:

“ascoltare il respiro del mondo” –

“to listen to the breathing of the world” –

and got:

“I am breathing because the world breathes.”

Here are the words to the chorus:

Nell’oscurita esiste sempre una luce – In the darkness there is always a light

In ogni silenzio senti sempre una voce – In every silence you always hear a voice  (again, that still, small voice)

Nelle parole, anche quelle piu’ amare – In words, even the most bitter

C’e` qualcosa che ricorda l’amore – There is something that reminds us of love

“In even the most  bitter words, there is something that reminds us of love.”

In that play on words:  “amare” (bitter) / “amore” (love) there’s a profound message:  If we listen closely, with compassion for ourselves and others, to even the most bitter words, we can hear, behind them, the longing for love.

[PLAY “Come un vecchio indiano”]

Transformation

Here is my personal reflection as I was preparing this service – just some notes I jotted down that I then realized were a poem!

Not just unbroken spirit –

expanded spirit –

growth is its own imperative –

why does a flower grow?

why does a soul grow?

because that’s what souls do.

sometimes there’s a transformation required –

darkness into light –

bitterness into love –

and that transformation itself expands the soul.

… aumentare la grandezza dell’anima.

Blessed be.

Benediction:

“May you always find the light in the darkness – the voice in the silence – and the compassion to transform bitterness into the love that expands your soul – aumentare la grandezza dell’anima.”

by Beryl Lawson

July 3, 2011

The celebration  of Independence Day brings forth many nostalgic ideas about our founding, the people who made it possible and questions as to how we are doing today. How well are we keeping to the ideals of those who started it all, what might we change of those ideals, do they need changing, and how can these ideals carry us through the difficult times ahead.

The current attack on our country from the “Religious right” comes in the form of a statement that they want this country to “return to the Christian principles on which it was founded.”  However, a little research into American history will show that that statement is not true.”

The men responsible for the building the foundation of the United States had little use for Christianity . They were men of the Enlightenment. They were Deists who did not believe that the bible was true.

Most of the founders were deists, which is to say they thought the universe had a creator, but that he, she or it does not concern itself with the daily lives of humans and does not directly communicate with humans, either by revelation or sacred books

They spoke often of God (Nature’s god or the God of Nature as mentioned in the Declaration. But this was not the god of the bible. They often praised the benevolent teachings of a man called Jesus but flatly denied his divinity.

The Constitution has only two mentions of religion and both times in negative terms. First amendment, congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion  …  and no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.

Jefferson-letter in 1802: “ I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should “make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the g=free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between church and State.” [Read more…]

INTRODUCTION TO FLOWER COMMUNION:

In the city of Prague, in the land of Czechoslovakia, in the year nineteen hundred and twenty three, there was a church. But the building did not look much like a church. It had no bells, no spires, no stained glass windows. It had no organ to make beautiful music. It didn’t even have a piano. It had no carvings of wood or statues of stone. It had no candles or chalices. It had no flowers.

The church did have some things. It had four walls and a ceiling and a floor. It had a door and a few windows. It had some wooden chairs. But that was all, plain and simple.

Except… the church also had people who came to it every Sunday. It had a minister, and his name was Norbert Capek (pronounced CHAH-peck). He had been the minister at the plain and simple church for two years. Every Sunday, Minister Capek went to church, and he spoke to the people while they listened, sitting quietly and still in those hard wooden chairs. When he was done speaking, the people talked a little bit among themselves, and then they went home. And that was all—no music, no candles, no food. Not even coffee or doughnuts.

Springtime came to the city of Prague and Norbert Capek went out for a stroll. The rains had come, the birds were singing, and flowers were blooming all over the land. The world was beautiful.

Then an idea came to him, simple and clear, plain as day. The next Sunday, he asked all the people in the church to bring a flower or a budding branch, or even a twig. Each person was to bring one.

“What kind?” they asked. “What color? What size?”

“You choose,” he said. “Each of you choose what you like.”

And so, on the next Sunday, which was the first day of summer, the people came with flowers of all different colors and sizes and kinds. There were yellow daisies and red roses. There were white lilies and blue asters, dark-eyed pansies and light green leaves. Pink and purple, orange and gold—there were all those colors and more. Flowers filled all the vases, and the church wasn’t so plain and simple anymore.

Minister Capek spoke to the people while they listened, sitting quiet and still in those hard wooden chairs. “These flowers are like ourselves,” he said. “Different colors and different shapes, and different sizes, each needing different kinds of care—but each beautiful, each important and special, in its own way.”

When he was done speaking, the people talked a little bit among themselves, and then they each chose a different flower from the vases before they went home. And that was all—and it was beautiful, plain and simple as the day.

And so Dr. Capek turned to the native beauty of their countryside for elements of a communion which would be genuine to them. This simple service was the result. It was such a success that it was repeated every year.

Dr. Capek was arrested by the Nazis and killed in Dachau concentration on October 1942. He was charged with listening to radio broadcasts and “high treason.” As is the case so many times in human affairs his treason was reaching out to his fellow citizens and helping them be their highest selves as the world was closing in on them.

The following paragraph was written by Sy Safransky, editor of The Sun magazine. It appeared in this year’s March issue.

“I don’t know what’s harder to fathom: the atrocities committed by the Nazis, or a prayer found written on a piece of wrapping paper in Ravensbruck, the largest concentration camp for women in Nazi Germany. The prayer asks God to remember ‘not only the men and women of good will, but also those of ill will. But do not remember all the suffering they have inflicted on us. Remember the fruits borne of this suffering: the loyalty, the humility, the courage, the generosity, the greatness of heart which has grown out of this. And when they come to judgment, let all the fruits which we have been borne be their forgiveness.'”

Like most Unitarians Dr. Capek’s spiritual journey took him through various religious traditions. As WWI ignited and his religious views became increasingly liberal, the threat of arrest by the authorities made it necessary for him to move to the United States.

Before Dr. Capek and his new wife Maja returned to Czechoslovakia in 1921, they were introduced to Unitarianism by two of his children. Upon their return to a now independent Czechoslovakia, Capek established The Prague Congregation of Religious Fellowship. Nine years later this congregation would get a new name: The Unitarian Church of Czechoslovakia and official recognition by the Czech government.

From the pulpit Dr. Capek encouraged his fellow citizens to have courage in the face of the growing Nazi madness: “We are today” he said in 1938, “the only nation in the whole of Europe that is ready to resist oppression…. Confronting our descendants, we will never have to feel ashamed of the fact that as a small nation in the middle of Europe we were ready to defend human dignity, freedom and justice from violence, lies and lawlessness.” And as certain as death, his speaking out against blind and murderous power cost him his life.

On March 28, 1941 Norbert Capek, the Minister of the Unitarian Church of Czechoslovakia and his youngest daughter Zora were arrested by the Nazi Gestapo. They were charged and convicted of listening to foreign radio broadcasts. This was not a made up charge, it was a crime in his country at that time to try to find out the truth.

Capek was sentenced to a year in prison, and eleven months that he had already been confined while waiting for trail were to be counted in the sentence. Unfortunately, at that time the German official in charge of the occupied Czechoslovakia was killed, and Dr. Capek became a victim of German retaliation for his murder.

Capek spent a year is Dresden Prison before being sent to Dachau where he met his death.

Flower Processional:

By exchanging flowers in this service, we will follow the example of Norbert Capek.  He believed that each of us is different and unique and when we gather together to worship or learn, we create a bouquet of beautiful people.

Today, we have placed our flowers in a common vase, remembering we are all individuals but we are also people of a common faith.

The communion we are about to celebrate has taken place all over the world in Unitarian Universalist churches since 1923. Norbert Capek started this ritual to celebrate the beauty of our faith and the people in it. In each flower, Capek saw hope for humanity, even though he would later die because of his beliefs. Let us remember him and his principles and dreams.

Let’s share in flower communion. Each of you will come up in silence and choose a flower brought by another. Hold it with care. It is a gift someone else has brought for you with love.

(Have participants silently line up to go up to the altar to find a flower.)

(pause for reflection)

READING

The following are three verses from “For the Flowers Have the Gift of Language,” which I obtained from a service by Reginald Zottoli.

For the Flowers Have the Gift of Language

The flowers have the gift of language.

In the dark depths of a death camp

They speak the light of life.

In the face of cruelty

They speak of courage.

In the experience of ugliness

They bespeak the persistence of beauty….

For the flowers have the gift of language:

They transport the human voice on winds of beauty;

They lift the melody of song to our ears;

They paint through the eye and hand of the artist;

Their fragrance binds us to sweet-smelling earth.

May the blessing of the flowers be upon you.

May their beauty beckon to you each morning.

And their loveliness lure you each day,

And their tenderness caress you each night.

May their delicate petals make you gentle,

And their eyes make you aware.

May their stems make you sturdy,

And their reaching make you care.

READING

composed in Dresden Prison in 1941, shortly before he was transferred to Dachau concentration camp, where he died in October, 1942

It is worthwhile to live and fight courageously for sacred ideals.

O blow ye evil winds into my body’s fire my soul you’ll never unravel.

Even though disappointed a thousand times or fallen in the fight and everything would worthless seem,

I have lived amidst eternity — Be grateful, my soul — My life was worth living.

He who was pressed from all sides but remained victorious in spirit is welcomed into the choir of heroes.

He who overcame the fetters giving wings to his mind is entering into the golden age of the victorious.