Beloved friends,

I hope to see you all this Sunday for our annual Flower Service! We’re continuing in our multi-platform format. It’s the Flower Service, so those of you who are coming in person are encouraged to bring a flower or two to create the beauty in the front of the church when we all put ours in. Those of you who will be joining us from home are especially encouraged to take a picture of yourself with some flowers – in your yard, maybe sneaking into a neighbor’s yard, or a park where you walk sometimes. There’ll be a slideshow of flowers along with the flowers in the sanctuary. Send your photos of you and flowers to TahomaUU@gmail.com by 12:00 noon on Saturday, June 4, so they can be included in the slideshow during the worship service.

We appreciate reservations, but we have ample space for you to come even if you haven’t reserved a spot. We have a seat for you, so do come along.  And there will be extra flowers to be shared if you don’t remember to bring one, or if it’s just too much to find some. Come and be nourished in this special service.

From the time I was small, I’ve loved the tradition of the Flower Service. Created by Czechoslovakian Unitarian minister Norbert Čapek. Of course, I didn’t know anything about him or how it came to be part of our church, I just loved the buckets of flowers at the front of the church. I loved watching people bringing flowers from their yards, or even from the a store. There was singing and stories.

I must admit that most of the time in the service I was looking intently at the gathered flowers and planning my strategy for when I got to pick out my flower to take home. First choice, second choice, which stem had the most blossoms, where was the biggest bloom?

Each time I lead us through a service, I feel like I’m back there again, sitting on the linoleum floor of the cinderblock building, the windows open, and the heat of the early summer in suburban Washington, D.C. I remember the excitement of waiting for the moment we could select our flowers, and the happiness of gathering the leftovers into handfuls of bouquets at the end.

This service calls me back to that time of wonder and excitement, and it reminds me of the beauty of life, its fragility, and it’s strength in the flowers and the words and the coming together.

Linda
Rev. Dr. Linda A. Hart