UUSD to celebrate diversity with Flower Communion June 9
The Unitarian Universalists of Southern Delaware will conduct a special Flower Communion ceremony at 10 a.m., Sunday, June 9, to celebrate its diverse connections to the community. Members and visitors are invited to participate in this family-friendly annual tradition held each spring. UUSD is at 33739 Marsh Road, Lewes.
The Flower Communion service has a deep historical meaning for Unitarian Universalists around the world. The service was created by Dr. Norbert Capek (1870–1942), the founder of the Unitarian Church in Czechoslovakia. Capek introduced this special service in June 1923 using flowers to symbolize a communion to bind people more closely together. His wife brought the tradition to the U.S. in 1940, a few years before Capek’s death in a Nazi concentration camp.
The Rev. D. Michael Smith, minister of the UUSD congregation, notes that the need to bind all traditions is especially important in today’s world of division and divisiveness. “Just as Dr. Capek turned toward the native beauty of his countryside for natural elements of unity and a reminder of our connection to the Earth and each other,” Smith said, “we in Lewes will do the same.”
In the Flower Communion Service people are invited to bring a flower and place it in a shared vase. At the end of the ceremony, people take home a flower other than the one they brought. The significance of this ceremony is that as no two flowers are alike, so no two people are alike, yet each has a contribution to make.
The children at UUSD have planted a flower garden and will participate in this festive service. With its celebration of both the Earth’s beauty and humanity’s oneness, this simple but universal service makes it a meaningful spiritual experience for children as well as adults.
UUSD is a welcoming congregation that provides a liberal spiritual home for people of all faiths valuing diversity, and social and environmental justice. Contact UUSD at 302-645-6334 or visit www.uussd.org. Follow the link to Facebook.
