The teaching power of flowers

Easter is around the corner, and many churches already have their flower orders placed. But before you drown the sanctuary in a sea of lilies, think through some of the symbolism of Easter and what the flowers teach.

• Note that Easter begins with the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday. If all the flowers arrive at the Easter Vigil, the unity of the Triduum as a single liturgy is disrupted. Consider beginning your floral plan on Holy Thursday, building through the day on Good Friday and Easter Saturday, and coming to a climax at the Easter Vigil.
  
  
• Also keep in mind the last day of Easter is Pentecost. All the Sundays of Easter have equal weight (with Easter Sunday and Pentecost being a bit "more equal"). Plan for a floral environment that is simple enough to be maintained for eight Sundays. A riot of white at the beginning of the season, followed by wilting or absent flowers on the latter Sundays does not catechize well about the unity of the 50 days.
  
  
• "White" is the official liturgical color for the priest’s vestments, not the flowers. Take advantage of all the diversity of spring colors to better reflect the diversity of your worshipping community.
  
  
• Be careful about creating a floral "communion rail." Because the altar is a focal point in the church, we tend to put flowers directly in front of it. Unfortunately, this creates a visual barrier between the altar and the assembly. The entire purpose of Lent has been to call the elect to the Table. During the season of mystagogy, do everything you can to emphasize that the altar is approachable and unobstructed.
  
  
• Keep the assembly in mind. Placing all of the flowers in the sanctuary teaches that that is the important area of the church. The entire worship space is holy, so spread the floral love around.
  
  
• Don’t use fake flowers. The argument that you bought high-quality silk decorations that no one can tell are fake makes them even worse. The point of using flowers is to emphasize the beauty and fragility of life. Using lifeless things that pretend to be alive teaches that we also might be able to pretend at life.

I found a few photos of flowers used in worship spaces that I think teach effectively. You can see the links to them here: tinyurl.com/churchflowers. If you have other examples, e-mail me at nwagner@twentythirdpublications.com, and I’ll add them to the list.