Sacred beauty, flower power and a different sort of courage

“During the Vietnam War days, at the height of the protest movement against it, a rally was held  [in Australia] to discuss strategies. The hall was packed with people who regarded themselves as the leading social activists of their day. Grim analyses were delivered of the situation in Vietnam, several leaders proposed tough action to challenge the Australian government amid murmurs of approval. Then a brave man rose and suggested that we buy hundreds of baskets of flowers and hand them out in the streets as a sign of a peace which had not yet come. There was a stunned silence. This is not what peace activists did – hand out flowers? Come on! The money for flowers would be better used to help people in Vietnam. As a minor member of the movement there, I felt deep in my heart that flowers would be a great sign of a sort of grace, something beyond grim activism. I didn’t say so be-cause I lacked the courage. Many years on, I associate those flowers with a Christ who invites the spreading of perfume over the world, the entry into and the connec-tion with a sacred beauty as well as money for the poor.”   Ian Price from Words for Worship 2001,