From Sandra Leialoha: Flowers and Faces of God's Delight

Thursday, September 10, 2020

Easter flowers at the High Altar

It has been the tradition in the Episcopal Church to use fresh flowers for the decorations of the altars, shrines, and statues. St. Mark’s has been blessed through the years with people that have made some of the most beautiful arrangements that you could find anywhere in the world. They have used a mix of flowers and greenery grown both locally and elsewhere. The flower arrangements tie the beauty of God’s handiwork in the creation to the works of beauty that God’s people offer in praise of God.

The flowers are very much like God’s people. Each flower has a face that is unique just as God has made it. They are beautiful as individual flowers. Some of them are delicate such as jasmine, and others are hardy such as heliconia. Often the delicate flowers are still buds, waiting to open in accordance with God’s time. A single flower in a vase may look beautiful, but when each of the individual flowers are assembled together into an arrangement, the beauty can increase infinitely. When you add the greenery to the flowers resulting a complete arrangement, the colors and uniqueness of the flowers pop.  

Each week the various flower arrangements in the church need to be deconstructed so that new arrangements may adorn the high altar. The more delicate flowers and greenery last less than a week. They dry up and wilt. No amount of additional care or water will help them last any longer. The hardier flowers such as the anthuriums will last another week or even more. When I deconstruct the flowers, I take the dead flowers and greens and return them to the earth. Then I look for the flowers that will last to give beauty to our church for another week. Depending on how many flowers there are, they are used again. Those flowers are recycled by being rearranged for the Holy Sovereigns’ cross or the Blessed Virgin Mary statue. Others that are still nice, but would not last very long, are shared with others such as the preschool teachers, giving them some joy for a few days.

During these days of COVID restrictions, the flowers may or may not be available for the church, just as we are not able to worship in person as we desire. As some of the flowers are more delicate than others, some of us are delicate. We need to care for our delicate family, friends, and neighbors with love by following CDC recommended guidelines. As we currently must worship God online, sometimes without flowers adorning the altars, we can still give thanks that the unharvested flowers are decorating the altar of God’s creation. The flowers are still bringing beauty to the world, even if we cannot see them in the house of God. Like these flowers, we may still share our beauty as the followers of Jesus, as we do our best to worship God from home. We can still share Jesus’ love by making our spiritual communions, proclaiming the Gospel, offering our prayers, and helping those in need.  

God’s blessings and beauty to everyone.

Sandy Leialoha 

The General Thanksgiving

Almighty God, Father of all mercies, 
we your unworthy servants give you humble thanks 
for all your goodness and loving-kindness 
to us and to all whom you have made. 
We bless you for our creation, preservation, 
and all the blessings of this life; 
but above all for your immeasurable love 
in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; 
for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory. 
And, we pray, give us such an awareness of your mercies, 
that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth your praise, 
not only with our lips, but in our lives, 
by giving up our selves to your service, 
and by walking before you 
in holiness and righteousness all our days; 
through Jesus Christ our Lord, 
to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, 
be honor and glory throughout all ages.
Amen.

The Book of Common Prayer (pp. 101 and 125)