Unitarian Universalist Church at Washington Crossing

What a fabulous floral display. Look at the variety of flowers. Like snowflakes, no two plant species have flowers that are exactly alike. Blossoms have so few parts and yet the fact that the flowers of no plant species are exactly alike is amazing. It is mind blowing. Among flowering plants there are sweet smelling roses and lilies, strange looking and beautiful orchids, the single flower on the stem of a tulip, the numerous flowers on some irises, some with petals that are fringed, others that are spiky, or spurred. We take so much pleasure in the wonderful abundance and the incredible beauty of flowers.

Our congregation is like a flower garden with a wealth of color and a wide variety of floral forms. We have a rich variety of races, ethnic groups and religions ideas. We come in all sizes, shapes and colors even as do these flowers.

In the realm of religion, the normal desire is for conformity of theology and behavior with an opposition to diversity in thinking. Yet, if there is a god, gods or goddesses, wouldn’t he, she or they take great pleasure in being honored by different forms of worship and ceremonies? How could the fabulous variety of human and animal forms all give thanks in the same way?

We, Unitarian Universalists, at our best, find deep and genuine appreciation in our diversity. Over the centuries, our liberal religious movement has led the way in demonstrating a genuine understanding of the need for and the appreciation for religious diversity and the pluralism that so often overwhelms usual religious dogma and doctrine.

The members of many religions show a growing appreciation for the understanding of other religious claims. I know from my own interfaith dialogue experiences that once we open ourselves up to listen to others with compassion we find that we are not always so very different in some important and basic ways.

Today, we celebrate the beauty, the fragility and the diversity of flowers in our “Unitarian Universalist Flower Festival.” Norbert Capek, born in 1870 in what is now called the Czech Republic, created the festival. Capek is one of my favorite Unitarian heroes. He was born about the same time my grandfather emigrated from the Czech Republic in order to avoid serving as an Austrian-Hungarian soldier.

Capek grew up with a Moravian Baptist father and a Roman Catholic mother. He became a Baptist Minister. He brought the reason and common sense he used in his daily life to his understanding of religious doctrines. Not long after he became a Baptist minister he got into trouble over claims of heresy. Capek believed that he could find a more open religious atmosphere in the United States. He came here, but soon found he had to leave the American Baptist ministry.

Capek was living here in New Jersey when he discovered Unitarian Universalism. Capek’s children attended the Sunday school of the East Orange Unitarian church. They came home and told him what they learned. He went back with them and liked what he heard. Many people still come to church initially so their children can get some religious education. It often happens as it did with Norbert Capek that the parents end up discovering something meaningful that they did not even realize was missing from their lives.
These flowers symbolize each one of you here today, member, friend and brand new visitor. These flowers symbolize the religious freedom that Unitarian Universalists have worked for so very hard to achieve over the centuries.

Capek became a Unitarian in America. Then he returned to Czechoslovakia and started the Czech Unitarian Church. As a minister of the Unitarian Church of Prague, Capek wanted to create meaningful new rituals that his diverse and growing congregation could fully embrace. In the Flower Festival, he emphasized putting the different flowers together symbolizing the support and unity we can find within our liberal religious community — while at the same time accepting and celebrating our diversity. We really do not need to think alike to live in a loving relationship with one another. An individual flower is beautiful but a diverse bouquet of flowers, consisting of contrasting sizes, shapes and colors brings out the deeper beauty of each individual flower.

I challenge you to not only go forward from this day striving to tolerate the differences you encounter, but to go a step further and learn to appreciate and accept the value they can bring to the beauty, meaning and purpose of your life. The contrasting sizes, shapes, colors and ways of thinking found in this congregation creates a vibrant and positive energy. Together we are able to do what no one of us can do alone. We need those who wish to join us and in doing so enlarge and strengthen our potential.

The Crossing Chorale provided beautiful music for our service today and has done so throughout the year. It consists of many different and varied voices. Some may be better trained than others may. Some can reach higher notes, while others can reach lower notes. Yet, it is only together, under the skilled direction of Caryl Tipton, our Director of Music Ministries, and accompanied by our talented pianist Diane that they are able to create such beautiful and pleasing music. No one of them could do alone what they can do together.

The same is true of the rich diversity among our volunteer teachers in our religious education classes for children and adults. They are individuals with many different and varied skills. Some may be better trained as teachers than others are. Some have taught religious education classes for years, while others just started this year. Some have their own children in religious education classes, while others do not. Yet, it is together, under the direction of our skilled Director of Lifespan Religious Exploration, Robin Pugh, that we are able to offer such first class religious education. No single teacher could do alone what they do together.

It is when we learn to receive from one another and when we learn to give something away to others that we grow. So when you take one of these flowers today, try not to make a distinction as to where it came from or who might have brought it. Doing so will symbolize our acceptance of one another without regard to class, ability, race, gender, gender orientation or any other distinction.
Remember our Unitarian brothers and sisters in Czechoslovakia worshiping with Norbert Capek, first in 1923 and then later in the 1930’s when Hitler dominated their country. His theological ideals caused his arrest and imprisonment by the Gestapo in Dresden and then in Dachau concentration camps. Records show that he became a source of spiritual inspiration and strength for people of all faiths before the Nazis put him to death.

We enjoy the very same religious ideals that meant so much to Norbert Capek. The challenge we have today, is not necessarily to die for these ideals but to live and work for these ideals. How willing are you to do that, here, now with your life? Ask yourself, how much do your ideals mean to you? Do they mean enough to live according to them?