"Flowers & Memories" A Homily for Flower Communion

North Shore Unitarian Universalists
Sunday, May 24, 2009

Flowers are always connected to memories. When sweethearts send each other flowers, it means, "Remember I love you." Flowers brought to funerals and laid at gravesides say, "We remember you." Roses given to moms and grandmothers on Mother's Day say loud and clear, "We remember all you did for us and we appreciate all you've done." Flowers brought to veterans' memorials proclaim, "We are grateful for your terrible sacrifice, and we have not forgotten." Flowers are always connected to memories.

Flowers at a Unitarian Universalist Flower Ceremony (in Reverend Capek's preferred term) are also connected to memories. People bring and share flowers in this worship service in order to say, "We remember that we are all different and all beautiful, like these flowers. We remember that we need each other in all our gorgeous variety." The flowers also say, "It takes courage to be a religious liberal, and we remember that too."

It is good for us to hold the Flower Ceremony on Memorial Day weekend. Those who are so inclined can go after the service or tomorrow to bring their flowers directly to a veterans' memorial or cemetery to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice, giving their lives in service to their country. Others can bring the flowers home and put them in vases, letting them stand as silent testimony and tribute to the heroism of soldiers and the heroism of Norbert Capek. In both cases, the flowers will still be reminders of the beautiful diversity of our faith community.

Flowers and memories. I spent a lot of time this week carefully going over all the colorful Post-Its that had been stuck on the North Shore UU timeline that for several months hung in this Sanctuary for individuals to add their memories to. Some were bald statements of fact, complete with an exact date. Others were poignant testimonies of what this congregation meant in one person's life. Some notes were sad, speaking of pain and loss. Others were joyful, speaking of good times of love and connection. A few were funny.

It was interesting to read what had been posted, to see what different people thought was important enough to go on the timeline -- and in some cases, more than one person posted the same event. It was equally interesting to note what was missing, what no one apparently thought worthy of posting -- or perhaps that folks preferred to forget. Here's what was on the timeline last week as I transcribed it:

1970’s
The Church –
•Conversations with Larry Mayne about a church on the North Shore
•Picnic at Fountainbleau Park that brought together a group that founded NSUU
Personal – Marriages, births of children

1980-1985
The Church –
•10/18/80 Day One, discovering freedom in religion, to speak and listen without dogma or superstition; a place to forever learn truth
•Listening and learning from the Universe, Earth’s Nature, and Neighbor in order to discover self truth
Personal – Marriages, births of children

1985-1990
The Church –
•Sent lay leaders to District Leadership School 1985
•Calling Rev. Dr. Jane Mauldin as minister 1986
•Purchase of congregation’s first property February 1990
•Hosting SWUUC conference at NSUU April 1990
Personal – Marriages, births and adoption of children

1990-1995
The Church –
•Dedication of Dome building in Lacombe April 1990
•Winning the UUA Pickett Award at GA June 1990
•Sending more lay leaders to District Leadership School 1990-1994
•Strong Pledge Leadership
Personal – Marriages, births and adoption of children
•Moving to New Orleans area and North Shore
•Moving away and saying good-bye to NSUU

1995-2000
The Church –
•Deciding to move from the Dome
•Buying the new property
•Working on plans for the present building
•Making the Labyrinth
•Death of Ed Malone
•Rev. Dr. Jane Mauldin departs as minister 1997
Personal – Marriages, births of children
•Feeling supported by the congregation after deaths of loved ones

2000-2004
The Church –
•Groundbreaking Ceremony for the present building December 2001
•Finishing the present building
•New members joining in new location
•Members learning to stick with the congregation through conflicts over leadership, realizing the community more important than leaders
•Members stepping up to support the congregation in significant ways
•New members joining (“finally found a congregation I could respect”)
Personal – Deaths of loved ones
•Significant health issues: heart attack, cancer

2005
The Church –
•Hurricane Katrina & aftermath
•Long Haul volunteers under Rev. Mary Harrington begin long-term relationship with NSUU
•Beginning to learn of Rev. David Ord’s betrayal of the congregation
•Start of combined efforts with other 2 area UU churches, birth of GNOUU
Personal – Marriages, births of children
•Hurricane Katrina & aftermath
•Deaths of loved ones

2006-Present (Spring 2009)
•Rev. David Ord’s resignation Spring 2006
•Dealing with conflict and disagreements in the congregation
•Rev. Liz Brown arrives as Interim Minister 2007 and resigns under conflict less than a year later (“realizing our minister needed more ministering from us than we needed from her”)
•Coping with emotions surrounding both Rev. David’s and Rev. Liz’s resignations
•Hiring a DRE
•Working out shared ministry arrangement with Rev. Jim and Rev. Melanie
•New members joining post-Katrina (“The pleasant experience of my first visit to NSUU, and deciding to depart my old faith for this one”)
•Successful gathering of youth and young adults at a Wed. Night Potluck 2007
•New leadership stepping forward for Board positions
•Really fun Holiday Service December 2008
•Continuing relationship with Long Haul
Personal –
•Moving to Louisiana from a very large UU church and joining NSUU – a very different experience
•Losing jobs, finding new jobs
•Health challenges for members: surgery, surviving a horrific car accident

Timelines are a little like flower gardens -- they are never really finished. You can stop adding to or weeding from or working on a timeline or a garden, but it's not "finished." Time keeps marching on, and there's always more to be done -- not just more remembering of the past and filling in the gaps, but more terrific times and great accomplishments in the future.

There's an inherent danger to both memorial Day and a church's timeline, and that is the haze of nostalgia that can gently envelop the past. A nation or a congregation can look back and think, "THOSE were our glory days! THAT was when we were truly great!" But for both nations and congregations, it is always better to see the great days as the ones that haven't happened yet.

And that is the thought I want to leave with us this morning -- the best is yet to come, for our country and for the North Shore UU congregation. Let these flowers be for us messengers of hope and memory, to honor and learn from the past, and to remind us of the work and effort needed in the present. And let us be comforted knowing that the best is yet to come. AMEN -- ASHE -- SHALOM -- SALAAM -- NAMASTE -- BLESSED BE!