Rali Weaver

It has been difficult to decide what to say to you in this last sermon of the church year. I want to offer you some words of wisdom that might last you all summer long. That might get you through these sweltering days with the looming election, the declining economy and the see sawing Red Sox scores with a smile on your face until we meet again.

But I have no memorable jokes with which to close the year and to be honest I am not sure I can wrap this first year of my ministry with you in any neat and tidy bundle worth remembering. Sure we have had loads of fun and there have been countless ideas expressed but what have we accomplished anyway? Have we made a dent in Global Warming? Have we dealt with Homelessness and Hunger in our city? Have we healed any rifts among our membership? Have we grown to our capacity? Have we moved any measurable distance closer toward institutional enlightenment?

Now I could beat about the bush answering these rhetorical questions but it is hot and I know we are all hoping to get to that picnic and that sprinkler on the green so I am going to get to my point straight away- the answer to all of those questions is; It is all in how you look at it.

It is our perception that matters.

I chose the centering thought today from the Buddha because I think that Buddhism has a unique and important message to offer us. In its simplest form Buddhism reminds us that all life is suffering and since the origin of suffering is desire we each have a choice in how much we suffer by the shifting of perception through right living. Now all of this is easier said than done, but I want to encourage us all to think about how shifting our point of view might just liberate us.

There is a common Buddhist story that I may have shared with you one other time this year. It is the story of the blind men and the elephant. Do you remember it? The story originated in South Asia and is attributed to Buddhist, Hindu, Sufi and Jainist thought. In the story six blind men are asked to determine what an elephant looks like by touching it. Each man touches the elephant in a different place. The one who touches the leg says the elephant is like a pillar, the one who feels the tail says the elephant is like a rope the one who feels the trunk says the elephant is like a tree branch. The one who feels the ear says the elephant is like a hand, the one who feels the belly says the elephant is like a wall and finally the one who feels the tusk says the elephant is like a solid pipe. When the six men begin to describe what they saw they each begins to argue with the other. You can almost here them can’t you “no it is like a wall” the other wailing “no like a hand” they wrestle and argue until a wise man comes to them and explains that they are all actually right and that they each saw it differently because they touched a different part of the animal.

This simple story reflects how point of view changes our perception and reminds us how we can live in harmony with others if only we remember how our individual perspective can be dramatically affected by our point of view.

But Mary Oliver’s poem points out, this is not always easy, we can be distracted by so many things. Our perspective is not only affected by our point of view but also by what we choose to pay attention to.

Imagine if Monet had chosen to focus on the darkness instead of the light in his paintings. How might that have changed his canvass. Although it takes time and consistency and effort I believe that we too can train our minds to focus on the light instead of the shadow. I would argue that this is the primary gift of church, to offer us a place to help us to realign our spirits and lift us out of the shadows back into the light.

The Rev. Norbert Capek, who was the Czechoslovakian minister who created the flower communion service we will celebrate today, believed this too. Born in 1870 into a Roman Catholic family, Capek’s beliefs became more liberal throughout his life bringing him finally to Unitarianism. He played a significant role in the International Association for Religious Freedom and built a nationwide movement growing the Unitarian Church in Prague to 3,200 in just 20 years and bringing 8,000 Czechs to consider themselves Unitarian.

Capek authored more than 20 books and in 1939 on the eve of World War 2 he published a 2^nd edition if his book titled, “Toward a Sunnier Shore”. The essential message of this book is “that people can choose their own moods (and) direct their own feelings” and above all “try everything with humor”. “It is my ideal,” he wrote “that Unitarian Religion in our country should mean a higher culture, new attitudes toward life.”

Rev. Capek’s ideals sustained thousands of his companions during the Nazi occupation from 1939 – 1945, his faith enabled him to endure his own martyrdom with equanimity and heroism as confirmed by the survivors of the concentration camp in Dachau who knew him before his death.

Our Flower communion today is Rev. Capek’s visible reminder and ritual of the beauty still around us in difficult times.

I would like to suggest that suspending our conscious minds and focusing on beauty, even the beauty of a single flower, when so much else is going on in the world, is a way of shifting our perspective.

It was Rev. Capek’s intention to help us to look ahead to beauty when times are tough; to give us the strength that is required to do the work needed in the world. Let us take part in flower communion today celebrating the year and remembering the precious and most beautiful gift this community is to us.

The prayers and words we will use for the flower communion today are the same that Rev. Capek used. He would begin each Flower communion with these words of prayer over the flowers.

Let us pray:

Infinite Spirit of Life, we ask thy blessing on these, thy messengers of fellowship and love. May they remind us-- amid diversities of knowledge and of gifts, to be one in desire and affection, and devotion to thy holy will. May they also remind us of the value of comradeship, of doing and sharing alike. May we cherish friendship as one of thy most precious gifts. May we not let awareness of another's talents discourage us, or sully our relationship, but may we realize that, whatever we can do, great or small, the efforts of all of us are needed to do thy work in this world.

Partaking of the Communion

It is time now for us to share in the Flower Communion. I ask that as you each in turn approach the vase 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. It represents that person's unique humanity, and therefore deserves your kindest touch. Let us share quietly in this Unitarian Universalist ritual of oneness and love.

The communion is shared silently.

Closing Words

Just before he was put to death in Dachau, Dr. Capek wrote this prayer. Let us pray

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

Oh 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 wing to the mind is entering into the golden age of the victorious.

Flower Ceremony for Children's Day Service

We use flowers in our ceremony this morning to help us symbolize the love that is hidden deep inside us. Reminding each of us to focus on the light as we go our separate ways. Flowers are beautiful, and so are the feelings of love among all people.

Amen