Flower Communion
Rev. Linda and leaders of the congregation join in an on-line celebration of the history Unitarian custom called “Flower Communion”. Members are encouraged to bring a flower to show on-line, and we will listen to one another share what we give and what we receive from one another when we gather.
Here is the sermon text:
“Seasons”
By Rev. Alexandra McGee, MDiv, BCC
For TJMC UU, now Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Charlottesville,
For service June 6, 2021, on occasion of return from Sabbatical, and grant funding news, and on Flower Communion Sunday
Hello to everyone. This is my first Sunday back with you all since the end of December. Wow. And what an unusual time this is!
For the past five months, I have been gifted by you all with extra time for rest and renewal on my sabbatical. Thank you! I slept plenty, ate meals peacefully, walked in the woods a lot, revitalized my yoga practice—both physically and philosophically. I did self care by catching up on financial and home management. I read a wide range of books— including Unitarian history, environmental economics, and childrens’ novels about thriving despite adversity. I have insights to share with you, and in the coming months, I will share them in sermons.
During my time away, I had a few conversations with Linda about the financial status of the church. I reflected on how I might handle change in the budget, both for my well-being and the congregation’s well-being. Then, right as I was returning, Sean, the congregation’s administrator, got the news about the federal covid relief grant which was not funded.
You all have a great church board. These leaders spent many hours hashing out options and implications. I hope you will honor them as they lead you through this time of change.
And, I am so deeply sad about departing from you at the end of the summer.
But, you know what else is true? I am coming into this moment well-rested.
And you know a truth about rest? It allows one to see broadly.
Rest literally shifts the brain chemistry to be open to many options.
I know from my yoga practice, deep rest allows flexibility.
The rest that I gained on my sabbatical means that I am not approaching this moment from a stress reaction (and I’ve learned in my life that my usual stress reaction is to be rigid, to have limited vision), but instead I am approaching this moment from a perspective of seeing: Seasons.
Seasons.
So, I’d like to offer some reflections about seasons.
Now, today is Flower Communion Sunday. The blossoming of flowers is a very clear mark of a season. You might have a certain flower that you look forward to for many months—knowing that it only blooms a certain time of year. You may keep track:
of when it will bud,
then begin to open,
then flower.
And from experience, you may know that the flower will eventually, with time fade, and the plant will return to just being green, and do its deep work of making flower buds for next year.
These kinds of seasons are visible in nature, and generally predictable every year. This predictability can give a certain kind of reassurance.
But, some seasons in nature don’t follow an annual cycle. Consider:
We see the moon get brighter and dimmer over about 28 days.
Some cicadas come every seven years.
Halley’s comet comes every 75 or 76 years.
Over a lifetime, a person has more and more chances to watch diverse seasons, and learn to watch for new and different patterns.
These seasons that we can watch in nature, can be a metaphor for seasons in our lives.
Perhaps you can recall a time when you felt an inner readiness, and watched to see if the world was ready for your blossoming. Perhaps you can recall a time when you felt full of bloom, and knew the environment around you shared in that full bloom. Perhaps you can recall a time when you felt a fading in you or around you.
Seasons occur throughout the life of an individual, the life of an organization, the life of a country. These seasons are what create the story-lines in our lives. Seasons, and how people handle them skillfully or not, are significant enough, that they make dramatic plots in fables, myths, books, movies, songs, and theatre. The characters who miss the signs of seasons in their lives often end up lost, lonely, wasting their time and other people’s time. In short, they suffer. By contrast, the characters who sense and follow the signs have more fruitfulness. They may still experience pain, solitude, and waiting, but they are not suffering, because they have a perspective of a greater harmony.
By season, I mean any time there is a building of energy, a sustaining of energy, and then a waning. I am making a clear distinction here between a season and a time of crisis. A time of crisis is a disruption: such as a pandemic, or, a political leader without decency. Right now, though, I’m talking about seasons that have a natural ebb and flow of enthusiasm, passion, or growth.
That could mean seasons such as longing for parenthood, a season of longing to create art, a season of longing to offer public service. At some point, each of these seasons of longing will pass, whether they are fulfilled or not. If the external factors weren’t right, then the person could not act on their longing and bring it to fruition.
Another thing that can happen, is that a person forgets to notice the seasons.
Now, just as is it possible to get so busy
with cars, phones and computers
that one forgets to stop and smell the roses,
so to speak,
it is also possible to get so caught in up in things
that we miss the cues for seasons in our lives.
Learning to sense seasons, and not to miss them, is part of the process of maturing spiritually. I have been grateful in my life for spiritual practices that have taught me to watch for spiritual seasons. I’m grateful for prayer time, meditation time, spiritual conversations, reading spiritual autobiographies, and good old-fashioned sleep that leaves me well-rested enough to notice with open eyes and a fresh perspective, what is going on around me. I’m grateful for Buddhist teachings about: not fearing change, but having curiosity and compassion during change. I’m grateful for a contemplative chant from the Taize Community Singers that reminds me watch and wait.
In addition to spiritual practices, a person can benefit from spiritual mentors. Consider again the metaphor of seasons in nature. Sometimes we turn to specialists to tell us when a season is beginning or ending…such as the meteorologist who tells us the beginning of hurricane season. Knowing that, one can safely plan a trip, or, prepare for power outages. Similarly, in our lives, we may turn to a spiritual guide to help us discern the seasons in our lives, and how to move safely and well with them.
And finally, just as airplanes stay safe
because air traffic controllers tell them
when the storms are passed and safe for landing or take off,
so, we need an inner, spiritual, air traffic controller.
We need an inner monitor
for the seasons and changes around us…short term and long term changes…
so that we can respond skillfully.
Then, we can land, and we can take off…
and not miss the seasons and changes in our lives.
My wish for each one of you listening here today on this zoom worship, is to fully live each moment of the changing seasons in your life, and to wait and watch as long as you need, to sense the cues of how to flow with them.
I will close now with a story from my work as a chaplain in the hospital. One day, I was with a family who was gathered round an elder who was dying. All day, they shared stories, held her hand, read text messages from family far away, and gave updates to loved ones who could not travel to say goodbye. And then, one very special text message arrived. A great-grandchild had been born. There were many tears. Tears of joy, tears of sorrow. But together, they were honoring the seasons of life beginning and ending.
My friends, I feel in this tender way about this moment with you all. I have returned from a five month sabbatical. I will finish up my 11 years of service to this congregation in September. Between now and then, the congregation will vote on a new name. Very likely, we will gather in the beautifully renovated sanctuary again. New members will join and a new year of religious education will begin. New story lines will unfold in this congregation, and in the world.
But at this moment, right now, let us pause, Let us take a deep breath, and watch, and wait, together.
Join me in a moment of mindful breathing.
See if you can feel your inhale.
See if you can feel your exhale.
Like seasons changing.
Notice if there’s any pause or stillness after you breathe in…..or before you breathe in.
This way of mindful breathing is a tool you can use anytime to remind you to notice change in and around you, and to flow more peacefully with it.
Blessed be. Amen.
Flower Communion Sunday
11am UUCville Community Worship
June 6, 2021
Prelude Lovely Day by Bill Withers
Welcome and Call to Worship Hayley Owens, Worship Weaver
Opening Hymn Gather the Spirit by Jim Scott
Chalice Lighting The Hansen family
Chalice Song You Are My Sunshine/This Little Light
offered by Scott DeVeaux, Director of Music
A Story of the Flower Communion The Rev. Gretchen Haley
Welcome Back Lorie Craddock, Board President
Homily The Rev. Alex McGee, Assistant Minister
Song From You I Receive offered by The Rev. Kristin Grassel Schmidt
Sharing of Joys and Sorrows The Rev. Leia Durland-Jones
Musical Meditation Triste by Antonio Carlos Jobim
Music offered by Scott DeVeaux, Art by Lara Call Gastinger
The Flowers We Share Hayley Owens, Laura Horn, the Little-Goodloe family, Kay Frazier
Revs. Linda & Leia, Breck Gastinger, Jim Gorham
Song That’s What Friends Are For by Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager
offered by Jerry Kim
Invitation to Offering Hayley Owens
Hymn There Is More Love traditional African American Spiritual. Arr. Adam and Matt Podd
offered by the First Unitarian Brooklyn Choir
Benediction The Rev. Dr. Linda Olson Peebles
Postlude We Give Thanks by Wendy Luella Perkins offered by the Orange Coast UU Choir
Thanks to tech crew Sean Skally, Bailey Reed, Caroline Heins and video artist Ellie Ransom
