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Speaker plants seeds of Scripture through interpretive floral designs
COLUMBIANA — Roberta Myers touches the hearts and minds of her audience through outright humor, plain talk and unabashed admiration for women in the Bible. And she has a unique way of paying tribute to them.
Myers recently presented the program, Women of the Bible Told Through Flowers, at Christ the King Anglican Church, 202 E. Park Ave., where she is a member. Teas followed the two presentations held this month.
Myers, a retired nationally accredited flower show judge at the master level and owner of Roberta’s Gallery of Fine Arts, 8 S. Main St., said the flower arrangements are “my interpretation of Scripture.” Her “interpretations” smell wonderful and look appealing. The programs mesh with the Anglican belief that the senses are involved in worship — music to hearing, surroundings to sight, flowers to smell and experience of Holy Communion to taste.
At a presentation Wednesday, Myers invited the audience of 43 “to walk along” with her in Scripture and “to share the word of God.” “The Bible gives us everything necessary to live,” she said.
Myers doesn’t focus on specific plants mentioned in the Bible but builds the floral arrangements as a visual and aromatic interpretation of stories involving women of the Bible. “I think people are touched by the stories,” Myers said. “But it’s not me. God does it.”
She noted that the programs are a “painless witness,” that is, an easy and entertaining way of hearing some Scripture but not in a formal setting.
Myers began in the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve lived an idyllic life and could eat the fruit of all trees save one. Though first couple fell from grace, Myers said Eve learned something. “Don’t trust a snake in the grass,” she said.
An arrangement with a red antherium, a tropical flower, in a rocklike ceramic container accented by weathered wooden serpentine-like branches, complemented by a red apple, symbolize the story.
Moving on, Myers talked about Sarah and Abraham, though aged, had a child, Isaac. For this story, she used a vase made in Israel and yellow Fuji chrysanthemums. “I collect containers and then use them to represent what I’m talking about,” she said.
Talking about Moses, Myers pointed out, “He survived because of women.” His mother, Jochebed, put him in a basket and hid him on the river during a time of tribulation for the Israelites when the king of Egypt enslaved them and killed male children. The pharaoh daughter’s discovered Moses in his “ark of bulrushes” and she took him as her son. Myers created a unique “ark” from palm spades accented by yellow and white daisies.
A silver pie holder, turned on end, decorated with an array of purple irises and peacock feathers was a fitting tribute to the Queen of Sheba, who had a romance with King Solomon.
Another love story, Myers said, involved the relationship among Naomi and her daughters-in-law, Ruth and Orpah. When Naomi’s husband and sons died, she was charged with the care of the family and faced hardship. Naomi sent Orpah back to her family, but Ruth wouldn’t desert Naomi, The women went to Jerusalem, where Ruth eventually married Boaz, a relative of Naomi’s husband’s family. Naomi had sent Ruth to glean the leftovers of the harvest in Boaz’s fields. “God has a way of healing our hearts,” Myers said, referring to the story of Naomi, who was upset about her circumstances, and changed her name to Mara, which means bitter. Mara. “All the bitterness in her heart left.” From this line, Myers said, came King David. For this arrangement, Myers selected alstromeria, a long-lasting flower, accented by wheat in a menorah-like holder.
Moving to the New Testament, Myers talked about Mary, the mother of Jesus. “Mary was a young girl,” Myers said, and noted she had free will. When the angel told her what God wanted of her, she thought of it a privilege. Myers created a towering arrangement with baby’s breath and pink roses in honor of Mary.
Discussing sisters Mary and Martha, Myers used a loaf of bread as her base, adding palms and white daisy mums. The bread is a symbol of Martha’s caregiving ways.
“There are a lot of legends about Mary Magdalene,” Myers said. “I think of her as an older aunt whom Jesus could talk to.”
She was at his tomb, Myers said, and it was she, a woman, who spread the word of his Resurrection.
“We owe the women of the past the knowledge we have as modern women,” Myers said.
She concluded her talk by assembling an arrangement in an abstract metal holder with three lilies. “It symbolizes the modern women ... who draw on the past ... and how life goes ’round and ’round.
“I hope my audience goes away with a better understanding of the word of God,” Myers said.