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The Flower Communion service, originated by Rev. Dr. Norbert Capek (pronounced Chah' - peck) in his native Czechoslovakia in 1923, is perhaps the most widely-celebrated ritual in Unitarian Universalist congregations today. On the last Sunday before the summer recess of the Unitarian church in Prague, all the children and adults participated in this colorful ritual, which gives concrete expression to the humanity-affirming principles of our liberal faith.Ê

Dr. Capek founded the Unitarian movement in his country. Originally a Baptist minister in what was then Bohemia, Dr. Capek became increasingly liberal in his religion and his politics. He left the ministry to become a journalist. Just before World War I, he had to leave his homeland and settle in the United States.

It was in this country that Dr. Capek and his family became Unitarians. In fact, it was at what is now the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Essex County in Orange, New Jersey, that the Capeks declared their new affiliation.

After the War, Dr. Capek and his family returned home and he founded the Liberal Religious Fellowship in Prague. Because of the diverse religious backgrounds of the Fellowship's members (Catholic, Protestant, Jewish), he sought rituals that would include all. In 1923, the first Flower Communion was celebrated in Prague.

Then, as now, each member of the congregation was asked to bring a flower (or even a twig) to place in a common vase as he or she entered. This vase was attended by Sunday School students. Near the end of the service, the flowers were consecrated and redistributed. Each person selects a flower different from the one brought. By each person adding a flower to the common vase, she or he signifies being part of the community in which they all freely join. By taking a different flower upon leaving, the gift of sharing in which each participates in the community is similarly signified. The selected flower is to be handled carefully. It is a gift that someone else has brought to you and represents that person's unique humanity.

When the Nazi's took control of Prague in 1940, they found Dr. Capek's gospel of the inherent worth and beauty of every human person to be--as Nazi court records show--"...too dangerous to the Reich [for him] to be allowed to live." Dr. Capek was sent to Dachau, where he was killed the next year during a Nazi "medical experiment." This gentle man suffered a cruel death, but his message of human hope and decency lives on through his Flower Communion.

Rev. Dr. Capek's daughter, the Rev. Bohdana Haspl, who attended Sunday School in Orange, New Jersey, is among the ministers who have since served in Prague.
 

- written by Jill Jones

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