Norbert and the Flowers

Norbert and the Flowers

By Aaron McEmrys

This morning we are going to celebrate Flower Communion. Flower Communion is one of the only uniquely Unitarian Universalist rituals in the whole world. Over the next Sunday or two, congregations across the globe – in London, and in Anchorage, Alaska; in the Khasi Hills of India and in Clinton, Iowa; in Indonesia and in Jacksonville, Mississippi; in Transylvania, in Prague and even in my little hometown in Wisconsin – Unitarian Universalists will be celebrating Flower Communion in their own unique churches and fellowships and in their own unique ways.

But before we do that, I want to tell you a story about Norbert Capek, the Unitarian minister who created Flower Communion, way back in 1923. For those of you who already know this story, you will be tested on this after the service, so no dozing off!

Norbert Capek grew up in Czechoslovakia way back in 1870, and he lived in a city called Prague, which was an ancient city even then. He always knew that he wanted to be a minister, and when he grew up that’s exactly what he did. He studied in America for a while, but he missed his homeland, so as soon as he could he and his family boarded a big ocean-going boat (they didn’t fly in airplanes back then) and they sailed all the way across the Atlantic Ocean back to Prague.

He started a church in Prague, and before long it was bursting at the seams, and became the biggest Unitarian church in the whole world, with more than 3200 members! His sermons were printed in the newspapers and people all over the country listened to him on the radio, drawn to his message of the brother and sisterhood of all people, of religious tolerance and of the place of reason in religion. See back then, like now, many churches fought a lot about who was saved and who was damned; who was good and who was bad – so when people heard Norbert Capek talking about how all people should love one another - it was pretty exciting.

But Unitarians were just one of many different kinds of churches in Czechoslovakia, and they were scattered all over the country in tiny little villages. Hardly anybody ever went very far from their villages back then, so they often felt lonely and cut off from one another. The church in Prague was huge, but it had its problems too. Most people lived their whole lives in the city and hardly ever left – everything was made of stone, and there was more and more pollution from the new factories all the time. So Capek was worried about two things: one that the people of Prague never got to experience the beauty of nature and the countryside, and two: that so many of his people felt lonely and disconnected from one another. Feeling lonely sucks, doesn’t it?

But one day, Norbert had an idea. It was a very good idea, and as he thought about it, he got more and more excited, and his idea started to turn into a plan! So when springtime came (right about this time of year) he and his family got some big wagons and went out into the countryside where there were huge fields full of blooming flowers. They loaded up as many flowers as they could and brought them back to the grey city of Prague – where everybody who came to church got to go home with some beautiful, sweet smelling flowers!

Soon, all the Unitarian churches in Czechoslovakia were celebrating flower communion, just like we do today. People would bring flowers, and leave with flowers – symbolizing our connection to the beautiful Earth and also how wonderful it is to have communities like these, where we always see the beauty in every person. Norbert Capek believed that we are like the flowers: each beautiful in our own way, but especially beautiful when we are all together as a whole, like we are in church this morning.

But then dark times fell on Czechoslovakia, and on the whole world really. In 1939, the Nazis, who wanted to take over the whole world, took over Czechoslovakia. It was a scary time. The Nazis were violent, and started sending all the people they didn’t like to prisons, where many of them were killed. They also ordered many of the Unitarian churches to close their doors and stop having worship services because many Unitarians didn’t like the Nazis and wouldn’t go along with them.

The church in Prague became more popular than ever, because Norbert Capek and his congregation were not afraid to stand up to the Nazis. Many people tried to persuade Capek to be careful, to either stop making the Nazis so mad or to flee to the United States where he would be safe. He did persuade his wife and children to go to America, but he decided to remain with his people in Prague and to do his best to help the people the Nazis were trying to kill. Every week thousands of people came to hear him speak, and the Nazis finally had enough. They arrested him and sent him off to a concentration camp, a prison called Dachau. Soon after that, in 1942, Norbert Capek was killed, because, as his court-records say, Norbert’s belief in the inherent worth and dignity of all people was “too dangerous to the Reich for him to be allowed to live.”

His wife, Maja and their daughters were heartbroken, of course, but they decided that the best way to remember Norbert was by sharing Flower Communion with their American friends. And look, now Unitarian churches all over the world celebrate flower communion, and even sing songs that Norbert wrote – like the one we sang together at the beginning of this service.

So this morning as we celebrate Flower Communion together, let’s remember Norbert Capek. He and his family are true Unitarian heroes. Every time we celebrate flower communion, they remind us to stand up for what’s right, to love all people, and to always celebrate the beauty and wonder of life – even when the whole world seems to be falling apart.

So, does anyone feel like celebrating Flower Communion this morning?