Speaker & Worship Leader:- Ted Zorn

Video to come

Audio to come

Read below, or download the PDF

Follow this shortcut to the bottom of the page for the various readings, videos, etc. shared in the service.

Ted Zorn © 14 July 2024

I’ve entitled my talk today, “A More Beautiful Question”.

I borrowed the title from a book by the same name, written by former Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court Warren Berger. More about him later.

Remember the scene from Alice in Wonderland where Alice asks the Cheshire Cat: “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”

The Cheshire Cat answers: “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.”

Alice: “I don’t much care where—”.

And Cheshire Cat replies: “Then it doesn’t matter which way you go.”

You could argue that Alice’s was an imperfect question, not a beautiful one. She asked a question without knowing what sort of answer she wanted, or what would in fact be a useful answer. It was a question lacking purpose.

Speaker & Worship Leader:- John DiLeo

Read below, or download the PDF

Follow this shortcut to the bottom of the page for the various readings, videos, etc. shared in the service.

John DiLeo © 7 July 2024

The Thursday just past was US Independence Day – the annual celebration of that country’s declaration, and eventual winning, of independence from English colonial rule.

That occasion got me thinking about freedom, in the patriotic, “land of the free and home of the brave” sense. This eventually brought me to a few questions: What freedoms do I really have? Which ones matter most to me? What would I be willing to do to preserve them?

Speaker & Worship Leader:- Rachel Mackintosh

No text this week.

Meditation / Conversation starter

• What have you learned about Matariki and how does it resonate with you?

Speaker:- Barbara Thomborson
Worship Leader:- Karn Cleary

No recordings this week.

Read below, or download the PDF

Barbara Thomborson © 23 June 2024

Our Christmas traditions came from ancient Nordic and Celtic pagans. You already knew that, right? To this native of the northern hemisphere, New Zealanders use those traditions at the wrong time of the year. The British are blessed with numerous ways to celebrate the winter solstice because the Vikings and Romans, then French, brought their traditions to England and Scotland. These pagans’ earth-based deities and celebrations came from their agricultural lives and dependence on nature. They had to live in tune with nature, and nature inspired all of their holidays.

Speaker & Worship Leader:- Rachel Mackintosh

Read below, or download the PDF

Follow this shortcut to the bottom of the page for the various readings, videos, etc. shared in the service.

Rachel Mackintosh © 16 June 2024

It’s 1944.

It’s Hell.

Speaker:- Laurie Ross
Worship Leader:- Shirin Caldwell

Read below, or download the PDF

Follow this shortcut to the bottom of the page for the various readings, videos, etc. shared in the service.

Laurie Ross © 2 June 2024

‘Two things fill the mind with ever increasing wonder and awe, the more often and the more intensely the mind is drawn to them: (they are) the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me’ Immanuel Kant ‘Critique of Pure Reason’ [1724-1804]

Let us start with 3 Questions: What are ‘higher values’? Why do we want or need them? How do we develop ‘Higher moral values’ for living a good life?’

Simple answers are:

1. Higher Values are the ideals, beliefs and principles for living a good and moral life, as individuals and as societies.
   
2. We want Values because it is in the nature of being Human for our intellectual, emotional, social and spiritual Well-Being.
3. We develop Higher Values through philosophical inquiry into ‘what is true and good’ within Ourselves and in Humanity. It is a lifelong journey of Inner reflection upon our experience, study, knowledge, dialogue and questioning what we think and why.

Speaker & Worship Leader:- John DiLeo

Read below, or download the PDF

Follow this shortcut to the bottom of the page for the various readings, videos, etc. shared in the service.

John DiLeo © 26 May 2024

After today’s service, we’ll be holding our Annual General Meeting. In three weeks, Jonathan Mason will be leading our service and kicking off our annual pledge drive. The fact these events were coming up got me thinking about our church’s finances, and more particularly about what we’re doing with what we have and what our members give.

Speaker & Worship Leader:- Barbara Thomborson

Read below, or download the PDF

Barbara Thomborson © 19 May 2024

Today’s service is brought to you by our third Principle, Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations, and our fourth Principle, A free and responsible search for truth and meaning.

The topic of spiritual intelligence is huge and fairly new in academic circles. This talk barely scratches the surface of thought on the subject.