We went to the Unitarian Church in Prague today. I enjoyed being in a Unitarian church where I didn’t speak the language. The liturgy was much the same to that of a smaller congregation in the United States and I was able to understand what was happening. I didn’t get the sermon at all but someone was kind enough to explain it to me afterwards. It focused on Lot’s wife and the idea that sometimes looking to the past isn’t such a good idea. Other times it is good to look to the past. The trick is to know when to do which. 

The congregation was a good mix of young adults and elders. Largely missing were people in their 40s and 50s. Instead the congregation seemed to be about 2/3s people in their 60s, 70s and 80s and 1/3 people in their 20s and 30s. During coffee hour we spoke with some of the young adults and one of the congregation’s elders. It sounds like some of the struggles that the Prague congregation has are not dissimilar to the struggles I have seen in other congregations. There are a fair number of young adults active in the congregation but after a few years they leave the congregation and the city to attend school, for a job or for a relationship. We were told that this regular churn of young adults makes it difficult to integrate them into the congregation’s leadership. 

Visiting the church was a sort of pilgrimage. The congregation’s founding minister Norbert Capek was killed by the Nazis. He is responsible for starting the Flower Celebration service which is part of my congregation’s, and many other’s, liturgical calendar. A couple of his hymns appear in Singing the Living Tradition. During the service we got to hear one in Czech and I bought a copy of their hymnal to take back to the States with me. I figure I’ll pass it along to the choir and see if they’re brave enough to attempt one of Capek’s hymns for the Flower Celebration next year.