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Sermons by Reverend Don Beaudreault

FLOWER POWER
Rev. Don Beaudreault
Unitarian Universalist Church of Sarasota, FL
March 27, 2005

OPENING READING: "Ah! What better symbol for us."

Ah! What better symbol for us of the renewal of life than the flower? From a winter's slumber, the earth stirs, seeds begin to sprout and push their way up toward the sun, producing leaves and flowers. Oh! The visions of beauty that even poets fail to articulate!

So too our lives - like the flowers - overcoming the death of our individual and collective winters - pushing through the obstacles that seek to bury us; sending up tentative shoots into the springtime air - and finally, after careful nurturing, blazing into a brilliant display of realized potential. We, too, are the flowers.

And then there are those weeds! Emerson reminds us that they, too, have worth. As he says: "What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered." Yes, the weeds are, indeed, wearing disguises - just like some of us - just like some of us who would hide our worth behind the burrs and brambles. But weeds, too, sometimes turn into flowers and in doing so, they take on a decidedly fragrant air.

So on this Easter morn, may each of us within her or his particular stage of budding and blooming, celebrate communally this happy day of renewal.

Don Beaudreault

MEDITATION READING: "Litany of the Flowers" (adapted)

Springtime has unwrapped the flowers in all their vibrant colors;
Field and garden, wayside and woodland offer up their treasure.

With lilacs and lilies, tulips and bluebells, earth pours forth her bounty;
With radiance she mirrors children's faces.

Innocent and vulnerable are these faces and these blossoms;
Each one unique, each one precious in our sight.

O give us pleasure in these flowers today
And teach how unity may grow from different gifts.

Each offered from the heart to serve the needs of all;
Each one received with gratefulness and joy.

The wellspring of our hope and faith and purpose
Affirmed in this communion freely shared.

Barbara Rohde

SERMON: "Flower Power"

With lilacs and lilies, tulips and bluebells, earth pours forth her bounty;
With radiance she mirrors children's faces.

Innocent and vulnerable are these faces and these blossoms;
Each one unique, each one precious in our sight.

So writes Barbara Rohde in our Meditation Reading this morning. The flowers are mirrored in the faces of children. The flowers are the children in this regard. They are symbols of the innocence and vulnerability; the uniqueness and preciousness of children.

But there is another quality to flowers seen as children - power. Or at least, potential power. That is, if the children are allowed those other qualities Rohde mentions.

At Eastertide as we people from all over the world draw upon our particular histories, myths, cultures, traditions, and liturgical practices to celebrate the renewal of life, we turn to hope in a world oft gone astray; gone to war; gone to destruction. The universal message of this springtime celebration seeks ways to bring harmony back into disharmonious realities. From ancient cultures onward, we have striven to provide ways that speak of hope, of renewal, of power.

Let me tell you two stories that do that, both about dancing children.

The first one is personal and goes back a couple decades. But for me the image is as fresh and clear as if it were this morning's memory.

My daughters are two and three years old. I am a bit younger, too! And it is springtime in uptown New Orleans - a brilliantly clear and nicely warm Saturday afternoon and I am strolling with my progeny along St. Charles Ave., the street of stately mansions, live oaks, and flower gardens. Lots of flower gardens.

We get to the public library - a renovated mansion - but we never make it inside. My girls are precocious - then and now - and freely expressive of their desire, which, in this case, means that when they spot a fully blooming flower garden in front of the library, they want to frolic!

The two-year-old knows how to wail her intent, as well as show that intent by kicking her stroller; the three-year-old knows how to run - directly into the flower garden (while I am attempting to un-strap the two-year-old).

Free, the younger one joins her sister. Up until this point, I had never see her run so fast. But flower gardens have a way of attracting not just bees and butterflies, but little children - all of whom want to dive right in and communicate with these gifts of nature.

Now it may be true that, as the writer Christian Bovee phrases it:

To cultivate a garden is to walk with God.

But I am not sure at the moment that what my urchins are doing - rampaging through a garden - is a link with said deity.

Yes, I am an uptight person. In fact I was an uptight kid of uptight parents, so it must be genetic. And I find myself running after my wee ones, flailing my arms around and raising my voice in a threatening way. And just as I am doing this, I become aware that a streetcar filled with Saturday tourists and locals, has stopped directly in front of the library and about 80 pairs of eyes are witnessing the frenzied scene. Two little girls - heirs to Dionysus are screaming with delight as they cavort in a flower garden, albeit in doing their Isadora Duncan-like dance of independence and freedom, they are lopping off floral body parts!

And I see that some of the people on the streetcar are having a good time watching my kids have a good time; and that some of them are looking askance, reflecting my own uptightness. And I know I should get those kids out of the flower garden. They have to know the rules. They have to pay attention to the DO NOT PICK THE FLOWER signs, and the NO TRESPASSING signs, and the BEWARE OF DOG signs they will see in life.

And what if a cop comes along? I can see the headlines now:

RADICAL PREACHER AND HIS RADICAL KIDS JAILED FOR BEHEADING LIVE PLANTS!

But then I realize - as the child within me starts to manifest himself and I get less nervous - that sometimes kids are lucky because they can't read the rules; and that they are lucky when they don't have to read the rules because every once and a while there are safe places on the planet where people will love and nurture them.

And so, I let the kids dance in the flower garden a little bit more. And I don't mind when they get their little sun dresses dirty - I mean really dirty - because how many more times in life will they have a chance? A chance to be innocent and have spontaneous pleasure. And really, not that many flowers were decapitated!

Furthermore, I realize that it wasn't just my kids doing the dancing. The flowers were, too. And many people on the streetcar, and after awhile even this uptight daddy.

*****

But there is another story I want to share with you today. This one is about children who have not had an upbringing as sweet and innocent as my own children, or perhaps yours. (The following is taken from the article: Rawdat El Zuhur, the Flower of Education in East Jerusalem - see http://rawdat.org/namemeaning.html:

Rawdat El-Zuhur was established in 1952 as a home for Destitute girls. The founder, the late Elizabeth Nasir, (known to all her friends as Lizzy) was the director of the Social Welfare Department in Jerusalem, Jordan at that time. A graduate of the American University of Beirut (1933), she was avant-garde for her generation.

Elizabeth Nasir was on one of her inspection tours during a very wet and cold day in February 1952, when she ran across two little girls around six and five years old, hanging around on one of the streets of Ramallah north of Jerusalem at a late hour in the afternoon. Elizabeth Nasir writes:

"The girls came up to me begging and when I asked them why they were doing that, they explained that they were supporting their old parents who lived in a nearby village. They also told me that the taxi drivers had pity on them and gave them free lifts back to their village. My conscience pricked me and I accompanied them to their home, and to my horror, I found out that they lived in a bare hovel with torn sack cloth on the floor. The mother was blind, and the father was sick and shivering as it was bitterly cold, and with no food whatsoever around. I could not hold back my tears and I was determined to put an end to their misery and humiliation. There were hardly any orphanages at that time, so I appealed to the Judge to allow me to put the girls up temporarily in the Reformatory. I realized that the Reformatory was not the ideal place for those young girls, but at least they would have shelter and food. So I was very glad when my appeal was granted especially when the medical examination showed that those two girls had been molested and they had venereal disease."

That incident set "Lizzy" out to fulfill her mission. She was determined to provide a home for destitute girls so that they could earn an honorable living. She was personally on the streets looking for such girls, and searching for them in hovels and caves that were part of the landscape where penniless families took refuge. At the beginning it was a struggle with the girls and the whole family, but gradually the parents started seeking help when they realized what kind of care she was giving to their daughters. With the generous support of the Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem, who had provided her with the first seed money for the project, and the help of many other friends, Elizabeth was able to launch a program in house-keeping, hygiene, literacy, embroidery, religious education and music; all taught at this special home for destitute girls. The home started with twenty-five girls and by using part of her own home for the project which Lizzy dedicated the rest of her life; a full life which ended on April 2, 1987.

"Garden of Flowers" is the meaning of Rawdat El-Zuhur. This is exactly what Elizabeth Nasir wanted the home to be. A garden of happy girls looking like flowers and radiating with joy and love. Music and dancing were the first activities she exposed the girls to, for she strongly believed in the magic of music and its power to lift the spirits of those girls and to help replace the tears of destitution with a happy smile. The first piece of equipment she purchased for the home was a manual record player and she became the talk of the town as she skipped and danced with the bare-footed girls all over the courtyard. In 1955, Elizabeth Nasir was awarded a special certificate from the National Recreation Association of the USA for "Enriching the Human Spirit through Recreation." Music, folk dancing and art still play a very big role in the lives of the children of Rawdat El-Zuhur School. The founding spirit continues to prevail with the same enthusiasm for caring and sharing. No hurt or health problem goes untreated, no individual joy goes uncelebrated by teachers and pupils together trying to ease the tension that encompasses the whole community.

*****

Yes, two stories about flower power - one of children whose father allowed them to discover how beautiful an experience it is simply to be a child dancing amidst the riot of color and fragrance that a flower garden brings; and one of children whose benefactress helped them move beyond the status of "victim" to one of "victor," teaching them to be flowers and to dance with joy!

And our children here today - each has gifts to discover and to give; each is unique, like a flower; each has potential to create a world that is just a little bit better than it was before they came into it.

So, this morning, think of our children and the ones throughout the planet. May they all experience what it means to be a flower with power; and may they all dance in doing so!

*****

Soon our church youth will process to the front of the sanctuary where they will lead us in our annual Unitarian Universalist Flower Communion. This ceremony was established in 1923 by the founder of the modern Unitarian movement in Czechoslovakia, The Reverend Dr. Norbert Capek who died at the Nazi concentration camp in Dachau. In this simple blessing and sharing of flowers, UUs around the world seek to express the hope for the flower power of peace and love; and of goodness and justice - the legacy we would give to the children everywhere.

But truly, not all children have the advantages that some have. This morning, I want you to hear another story about the youth in Sarasota who can benefit from your assistance.

Let me introduce Mr. Fred Spence who will tell you how you can do this.

CLOSING READING:

To analyze the charms of flowers is like dissecting music; it is one of those things which it is far better to enjoy, than to attempt fully to understand.

Henry Theodore Tuckerman

Your voiceless lips, O, flowers, are living preachers - each cup a pulpit, and each leaf a book.

Horace Smith