AT FIRST glance, a General Synod motion about church flowers might seem a little like something out of The Vicar of Dibley. It is too easy to reach for lazy clichés about fisticuffs over the flower rota. And a small number of those in the chamber expressed reservations that the debate was on the agenda. Surely, the argument went, there were more pressing issues — such as the dire situation in Palestine — that merited the time and energy of the Synod. The mood of the debate, however, appears to have been largely appreciative of this grass-roots initiative, and the Synod voted to embrace the principles of the Sustainable Church Flowers (SCF) movement. In practice, this means promoting the use of local, seasonal, biodegradable, or compostable flowers and foliage; encouraging churches to source them locally; and eliminating the use of floral foam (often known under the brand name of Oasis) and other such products.
The vote was the culmination of a long campaign that began around a kitchen table in Worcestershire. As the Bishop of Dudley, proposing the motion, explained, it had sprung to life in the tiny parish of Harpley, back in 2019 (Features, 5 August 2022). The SCF movement is the brainchild of a married couple, Shane and Candy Connolly; while Mr Connolly is a professional florist of some renown, his wife is a churchwarden in a rural parish. They realised how little thought was generally being given to sustainability in church flowers when their church began exploring the possibility of becoming an Eco Church. Much was made in the presentation last week about the carbon footprint and high-energy use of imported flowers, and the worryingly destructive leakage of microplastics from floral foam into the environment. Many churches can bear witness to piles of decaying green Oasis dust, abandoned fruitlessly on the compost heap. Others are embarrassed by piles of pristine floral foam, bought in bulk, stacked reproachfully in the flower cupboard.
The motion matters for several reasons. First, because flowers and foliage are examples of God’s bounty and speak to the heart: they are a colourful reminder of the seasons that help to shape our worshipping life. The motion encourages us to consider the lilies — and to treasure what is naturally around us. As one speaker said, what we place above our altars says something about what we value. It is a matter of witness. Taking a sustainable approach to flower-arranging is one more step on the road to embedding care for creation in the life of parish churches. It is about the fifth mark of mission: to strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth. Importantly, to steer the motion through the Synod successfully is a heartening example of the persuasive power of the local. Where so often Synod can be divided, it is heartening to see a consensus of this kind on an issue that has struck a chord with people in all wings of the Church.
