Beauty and the Beast

“Love makes us who we were meant to be.”

Chalice Lighting – Karen Curnow, Lay Minister

Out of the earth rises life. What was buried now rises in full beauty. Our resurrection and rebirth into the adventure of life requires that we finally push back the stone from the tomb of our self-limitations and allow love and beauty and potential to enter. Let us resurrect with spring and enter into renewed life with hope.

May we each light the chalice of renewal in our lives, so that we are astonished by the beauty of a flower, tickled by the giggle of a child, transformed by the power of a loving touch.

Blessing the Flowers: Alison Wilbur Eskildsen, Director of Religious Education

Our sanctuary is ablaze with coral pinks, sunshine yellows, flaming oranges, and many other beautiful colors. It’s wonderful to be alive and witness this glorious springtime palette. I love seeing the first purple crocus poke their heads up from the ground, or forsythia wave their wild yellow arms gaily in the breeze. I love spring because the earth seems to be shouting “Yes!” to life, hope and joy.

It is our tradition on Easter Sunday to invite you to bring to church a flower from your garden or neighborhood floral shop. If you did not, you were greeted outside the church and given a flower so that all who enter our sanctuary this morning may be included in our Flower Festival. Please join me a brief responsive litany. After I speak a short phrase, I will indicate for you to affirm with me by saying, “For this we give thanks.”

Worship Leader: Flowers speak to us of joy and celebration.

Congregation: For this we give thanks.

Worship Leader: Flowers give us hope when life begins anew each spring.

Congregation: For this we give thanks.

Worship Leader: Flowers share a message of love and compassion for others.

Congregation: For this we give thanks.

Worship Leader: Flowers affirm the transformations occurring in our lives.

Congregation: For this we give thanks.

Worship Leader: May it be so.

Many of you brought flowers this morning. Others were given a flower when you arrived. Every flower you hold is unique and special. Although there may be several carnations, tulips, or roses, no two are exactly alike. Their size, shape, and color vary. Some bear signs of stress and they are not perfectly formed. But we welcome those imperfections, for they are the signs of living; and each has something special to offer.

You are as alike and as different as these flowers. You each bring the special gift of yourself into this community. And, like the vases that will hold these flowers, this community holds us together in mutual support and commitment to our values and beliefs. Indeed, the bouquet would not be possible without the vase to hold us.

I invite you now to rise as you are able, and place your flower in one of the vases around the room. As you do so, please be mindful that you choose to freely place your flower into a vase, just as you freely enter into this church community. No government required your presence here. No threat of damnation keeps you here. If you are unable or prefer to stay in your seat, an Usher will bring a vase to you. After you have placed your flower in a vase, please return to your seat. [MUSIC interlude]

We are blessed by each other just as we are blessed today by these flowers. Towards the end of today’s service we will share these flowers, these symbols of transformation. Until then, let us enjoy their scent and beauty as we explore more ideas of transformation on Easter Sunday.

Reading & Meditation: Karen Curnow, Lay Minister

I will not die an unlived life. I will not live in fear of falling or catching fire. I choose to inhabit my days, To allow my living to open me, to make me less afraid, more accessible, to loosen my heart until it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise. I choose to risk my significance; To live so that which came to me as seed goes to the next as blossom and that which came to me as blossom goes on as fruit. - Dawna Markova

Beauty and the Beast, Part I: script by Hank Blakely, Lay Minister

Madison Crutcher—Beauty

Morgan Baumgartner & Evan Day—Beast

Karen Curnow—Storyteller

Paul Baumgartner—Father

Kati Imel—Witch

Emily Day—Flower

And other volunteers

STORYTELLER

I know a story...[pause]...a story as old as time and as new as the morning sun. And it begins the way all stories should begin, with “Once upon a time.” [Opens book]

[MUSIC: brief introductory swell]

STORYTELLER Once upon a time there was a beast...

[BEAST removes cloak, revealing a leonine mask]

...Oh, but not like any beast you’ve ever known. This beast walked like a man...

[BEAST rises and walks about in a grand manner]

... He spoke like a man...

[BEAST exaggeratedly mimes speaking]

...And he lived in a grand castle, like a man

[BEAST whirls about, arms upraised, showing off the castle]

Now, as you’ve already guessed, this beast had at one time actually been a man, in fact he had been a prince, but unfortunately he had been a prince who met a witch.

[WITCH rises and stands before BEAST, an angry look on her face]

Now, perhaps you didn’t know this, but witches just hate princes. There is something about princes that irritates witches no end. No sooner do they see a prince than they turn him into something horrible. One minute there’ll be a witch and a prince, and the next there’ll be a witch and a toad, or a witch and an ox, or a snake, or some other terrible creature.

[Looks up at audience]

It’s just something witches do.

And that’s what happened this time. The prince didn’t even have time to say, “hello, witch,” before she had turned him into a beast and gone on her way.

[MUSIC: brief transformation effect]

[WITCH makes magical gesture and exits STAGE LEFT, cackling (out loud)]

After that the prince was not as popular as he had been. Now that he was a beast, when he went into the village everyone would faint, or scream, or shout, or throw things at him and chase him with brooms.

[MUSIC: Something “sturm and drang-y”]

[VILLAGERS do all these things, chasing BEAST, who cowers and runs about the stage]

And the same thing would happen each time he went into the village—there’d be a great deal of fainting and shouting and brooming until after a while he stopped going into the village altogether and just stayed in his castle.

Now the beast was lonely and miserable, and these feelings made him bitter, and his bitterness made him hate himself, and of course hating himself made him hate everyone else. And after a while his heart shrank into a little piece of coal.

[BEAST mimes looking into mirror with disgusted expression]

Sometimes he would look into the mirror and hate what he saw. And when he did he would say something very sad: “I have nothing to love.” And sadder still: “No one loves me.” And--saddest of all: “I love no one.”

And that is how things stood for a very long time.

One day a man from the village was walking by the castle...

[BEAUTY’S FATHER rises and strolls past the garden]

...When, in the garden he saw the most beautiful flower he had ever seen. He said to himself, “I must give that flower to my wife,” and without thinking he entered the garden and plucked the flower from where it grew.

[BEAUTY’S FATHER takes the flower]

[MUSIC: one high note as the flower is picked]

Now, you must understand that the beast felt the witch had stolen his life, and he vowed that no one would take anything from him again. So, when he saw his flower stolen, the beast flew into a rage and leapt upon the man with his claws and teeth and hot breath, and roared, “You have stolen from me! And now you will die!” And he made ready to tear the trembling man into little pieces with his teeth and hot breath and claws.

[MUSIC: Clashing chords]

[BEAST stands over BEAUTY’S cowering FATHER, who drops to his knees and begs for his life]

The man wept piteously and begged the beast for mercy, “Oh, most powerful master!” he cried, “Please do not kill me, I have a wife and three daughters!”

But the beast was unmoved. “Thief!” he shouted, “You should have thought of them before you robbed me!”

[BEAST raises his paw to strike]

Now knowing that he must die, the man made one last request, “Please, oh splendid one,” he said, “If I must die, then at least let me return home long enough to say goodbye to my wife and children!”

[BEAST stops in mid-strike, considers the request, then steps back]

“Very well,” the beast relented, “You may go home for one day. But see that you return, for if you do not I will come to you, and you and your family will not be better for my visit!”

And so the man went home and told his family of his fate. And there was much weeping from pity and fear.

But one of his daughters, a strong, smart girl whose name was “Beauty” did not weep. “Father,” she said, “If the beast let you come home to us, then surely he cannot be all bad. I will go to him in your place and we will see what we will see.” And though they all begged her to change her mind the plucky girl would have none of it and straight away set out for the castle.

[BEAUTY leaves her family for the castle]

When she arrived she was brought before the beast. She thought him the ugliest thing she had ever seen.

“And who are you?” He growled

[BEAUTY stands before the BEAST afraid but standing tall]

Although Beauty was afraid, she was also strong and proud. She threw her head back and looked him in the eye, saying, “I am Beauty, the daughter of the man who took your flower, and I am here in his place. You may kill me now if you like.”

But as the clever girl had suspected, the beast had no thought of killing her. Indeed, at first he seemed not to know what to do with her, but then he said, “This is how you shall repay me for your father’s theft. For one year you shall be my housekeeper and in my garden you shall replace the one flower with many new ones. At the end of the year you may return home.” Beauty agreed to this and for the next year she worked in the beast’s castle and garden.

[BEAUTY mimes housekeeping and gardening duties...]

[MUSIC: busy work theme]

In the house she cleared and cleaned and swept and steamed and washed and wiped and pushed and polished until everything shone like diamonds. And in the garden she tilled the soil and whacked the weeds and clipped the leaves and sewed the seeds until it was more beautiful than every garden you have ever seen.

[Smiling FLOWER enters garden]

And she took very special care of one plant in particular; a large pink flower she had raised from a seed. Its big silky petals glowed like the sunset, and it grew happily in her presence.

[FLOWER smiles and sways from side to side]

When the year was over, Beauty had so transformed the castle that no one remembered what it had looked like before, and the garden was now like no garden before it.

And the beast looked at the wondrous changes Beauty had brought to his life, and he realized that he could no longer imagine being without her. And so one day he took her hand in his paw and asked her to marry him.

[BEAST down on one knee...]

Now, in her time with him Beauty had come to appreciate the beast’s kindness and the good heart that he kept hidden from everyone but her. She had come to know him, and knowing him made him beautiful. “A life with him might be rather nice,” she thought, and she asked, “Do you love me?”

[MUSIC: sudden startled chord]

[BEAST, suddenly drops her hand and turns his back to her, and crosses his arms]

Beauty’s question so frightened the beast that without thinking he turned away from her and sneered, “Of course not! I love no one!”

Beauty’s face fell, and in a quiet voice she said. “Then I cannot marry you.”

[The disappointed BEAST slumps].

“But,” she said, “Since you spared my father’s life and mine, I will remain as your housekeeper for as long as you wish. I ask only that I be allowed to return to my family for a week.” The beast agreed and Beauty went back to her village.

But when she left, a petal fell from her flower.

[MUSIC: sad, short trill]

Beauty’s family was overjoyed to see her again, and they made much of her adventure and had many questions about the beast and her life at the castle, all of which she answered truthfully. He was not as bad as everyone believed, she said. In fact, she said, “He’s actually rather nice when you come to know him—and very sad,” she looked down, I wish that he were not so sad,”

The week passed quickly and pleasantly for Beauty, but things had gone badly at the castle. Each day her flower had lost a petal, and the beast had fallen ill.

[FLOWER slowly begins to pull off her petals]

When her week came to an end Beauty’s family urged her to remain a bit longer. “After all,” they said, “You will be away at the castle a long while and this may be the last we ever see of you!” And so, reluctantly she agreed to stay another day, and then another, and then another.

When Beauty had been gone two weeks the flower had lost most of its petals and the beast barely had the strength to rise from his bed.

[BEAST is lying on the floor]

The beast knew that he and the flower were dying, and dying for the same reason: because Beauty had left their lives. And now, finally, the beast realized what he had lost, and with his last bit of strength he roared out the truth:

[BEAST struggles to a sitting position and raises his arms to the sky]

“BEAUTY!” he cried, “WHERE ARE YOU? I LOVE YOU!” [BEAST collapses]

[MUSIC: something brief and appropriate]

At that moment Beauty felt a tiny flutter in her heart, a little like a moth in a cage, and somehow she knew that she must return to the castle immediately. “I have to go home!” she said, not realizing what she had said, that she had just admitted that the castle was now her home.

[MUSIC: something brief and appropriate to her journey]

[BEAUTY runs about the stage toward the castle...]

It seemed to her that it took hours to reach the castle. When she arrived she found the beast lying still on the floor. She fell to her knees by his side. “Please don’t die!” She cried, “I love you. I will be your wife!”

BEAUTY [in her only spoken line, sobs and cries out,] “OH, PLEASE!

[FREEZE STAGE ACTION ON STAGE]

[MUSIC: choral group sings BEAUTY AND THE BEAST]

[During the song, BEAST, his back to the audience, surreptitiously removes the mask]

[When the song has ended, BEAST stirs a little, then a little more, then weakly sits up and becomes aware that BEAUTY’ is with him. They embrace]

[MUSIC: brief and appropriate]

STORYTELLER

And the beast, now a prince once more, grew stronger each day and each day loved Beauty more. And when he was fully restored they were wed--and here is how all stories should end--and they lived happily ever after.

EPILOGUE

STORYTELLER [closes book]

That’s the end of the story. But a story without a lesson isn’t much of a story, and this one has two. The first is that we must have Beauty in our lives. If we don’t then we must call to it until it comes to us. The second is even more important: love can re-grow even the most shrunken heart. It is love that makes us who we are meant to be.

Sharing the Flowers: Alison Wilbur Eskildsen, Director of Religious Education

The Flower Festival is a uniquely Unitarian ritual. The founder of Unitarian churches in Czechoslovakia, Norbert Capek, began this tradition in 1923. His parishioners consisted of those who rejected the prevailing Roman Catholic beliefs. But Capek felt the Unitarian religion they were practicing had lost much of its spirituality when they rejected all forms of Catholic ritual and trappings. To enrich their spiritual lives, Capek wanted to introduce a symbolic ritual that would deepen the bonds of the community. He found the perfect symbol growing in their fields and gardens.

On the last Sunday of June before the church’s summer recess, he invited the congregation to bring a flower to church that morning, just as you were invited today. He set out vases and members placed their flowers in them, just as you did today. He stressed that each person should place their own flower in the vase, to not let another do it for them unless they were unable to. He wanted each person to experience freely adding their flower with others to symbolize our free tradition, just as you did today. Capek said, "Just as [the flower] comes without making any distinction where it came from and whom it represents, [we] confess that we accept each other as brothers and sisters without regard to class, race, or other distinction, acknowledging everybody as our friend who is human and wants to be good."

Our American Unitarian churches learned of Capek’s Flower Festival twenty years later when his wife, Maja Capek, also a Unitarian Minister, presented the Festival to the Unitarian Church of Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1940. Before she could return to Czechoslovakia, her husband and daughter were arrested by the Nazi Gestapo. Their independent religious and political views were deemed heretical so they were sent off to Dachau Concentration Camp, in Germany. Unitarians were sent off to the camps, because, like Jews, we weren’t wanted in the Nazi motherland either.

After the war ended Capek’s wife learned he had died in the camp. Fortunately, when surviving prisoners returned home her daughter was among them. She and other survivors told Maja how her husband’s courage and support kept their spirits up, despite the horrors of the camps.

So today we celebrate our Flower Festival. We do this in memory of Norbert Capek who died for his beliefs and who gave us a rich symbol of community that is now celebrated across Unitarian Universalist churches nationwide. May we follow Capek’s example and live our lives with strength, courage, and compassion.

Now I invite you to come forward, row by row, and reverently select a flower to take home with you. Be sure to take one you did not bring. In this exchange, we symbolize our freely walking the journey of life together; rising above all that might divide us.

When you’ve selected a flower, let’s begin forming our congregational circle for our Closing Hymn and Words. As we wait for everyone to join in the circle, please consider your flower and its unique qualities. Note its shape, its colors, its marks of beauty. Breathe in its remarkable perfume. And remember that you have freely chosen to be part of this community and we are blessed by that choice. Together we do make a beautiful bouquet! ###

And now let us sing

Closing Song: #402, “From You I Receive” (Sing twice)

From you I receive, to you I give Together we share, and by this we live.

Closing Words: Karen Curnow, Lay Minister

George G. Brooks

May the love that gives to life its beauty, the reverence that gives to life its sacredness, and the purposes that give to life its deep significance be strong within each of us and lead us into ever deepening relationships with all of life. Amen. (From the 1997 UUMA Worship Materials Collection)