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Join us at 11am Sunday mornings

(23:00 UTC Saturday evening)

Our services include a talk from a different speaker every week, often followed by a discussion. Services feature Frank Chen on piano. We always finish with morning tea and opportunity for friendly socialising.

Join us on in person or via Zoom, link below:-

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/8949163748?pwd=eU4vaXhzRXZJNkd5c3JIVmliSm1pZz09

Meeting ID: 894 916 3748, Passcode: 12345

you can also

Zoom into an 11:00am Wednesday morning tea and chat, with whoever else turns up.
Zoom details as above

Exciting Upcoming Service Themes and Speakers – stay tuned!!

Travel Tips for Spiritual Journeys

Speaker & Worship Leader:- Alix Geard

11.00am Sunday 7th June

A continuation of our series on spirituality – and lack of it – in Unitarian experience. Explores how some of us adapt and adopt cultural metaphors, including considering “a free and responsible search for truth and meaning” as a kind of journey.

What the Secular World can learn from Religion

Speaker:- Niki Harré
Worship Leader:- Rachel Mackintosh

11.00am Sunday 14th June

Niki Harré talks about her year as a self-appointed secular priest. She undertook three vows – simplicity, hospitality and pause, offered weekly services and personal conversations, and attended a Christian church. While she experienced considerable resistance, she also learnt a great deal about humility, listening to and caring for the other, and an awareness of the world as it is, rather than as we wish it was.

Diversity – its Beauty and Strength

Speaker & Worship Leader:- Maria Hayward

11.00am Sunday 21st June

What do we gain from diversity in our community?

Topic:- TBA

Speaker:- Peter Lineham
Worship Leader:- Ted Zorn

11.00am Sunday 28th June

On Matariki weekend (July 12) we will celebrate this special day in Aotearoa with the welcoming of new members to our ropu (congregation).

We will continue the year with further services that both help us to reflect on our values and principles and to consider these in action.

Follow this link to read the latest (June 2026) ANZUUA (Australia and New Zealand Unitarian Universalist Association) Newsletter. At the bottom of each newsletter is the opportunity to subscribe as an individual.

Health and safety measures: We now have working air purifiers in the church, to help reduce the spread of any nasties.

Hard Conversations for our Beloved Community

Sunday Talks / Random Musings
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In the recent service “Listening into the Difficult Places,” we explored the power—and limits—of communicating through differences. This follow-up asks how do we do that as a community?
How do we work through differences in deeply held values and beliefs?

Speaker & Worship Leader:- Ted Zorn

No recordings this week.

Read below, or download the PDF

Ted Zorn © 31 May 2026

Introduction

I suspect I’m not alone in this, but I often choose a topic for these talks because it intrigues me and not because I have a clear set of answers. That is certainly true today.

The reading I just read gives us a helpful way into today’s topic.

It reminds us that Unitarian Universalism is a covenantal faith, not a creedal one. Neither of those words — covenantal or creedal — was part of my vocabulary before joining this church. But the idea is simple enough: we are not held together by a shared doctrine about God, salvation, scripture, or the afterlife. We are held together by acovenant — promises about how we will seek truth together, how we will treat one another, how we will repair harm, and how we will hold one another accountable.

That sounds like what I signed up for.

But as Timothy Ellis points out, covenant can easily become something we talk about more than something we live. It can become a set of nice words, recited occasionally, but not truly integrated into the life of the congregation.

Continue reading Hard Conversations for our Beloved Community →

Reflections on a Spiritual Journey

Grappling with Spirituality, Sunday Talks / Random Musings
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Can spiritual journeys be something other than finding a religion or a God? A personal interpretation. My story’s a bit different – but maybe it’s yours too ….

Speaker & Worship Leader:- Maria Hayward

Reflections on a Spiritual Journey
Listen or download the MP3 – Full Episode
Listen or download the MP3 – Talk Only

Read below, or download the PDF

Maria Hayward © 24 May 2026

What is a Spiritual Journey?

According to AI, “a spiritual journey is a personal, non-linear quest to deepen self-awareness, connect with a higher purpose, and find inner peace”. The definition continues: A spiritual journey “involves shifting from ego-driven living to authenticity, often marked by meditation, mindfulness, and self-reflection. The process often starts at the heart, nurturing compassion and a deeper connection to the cosmos.”

I quite like that definition – although a connection to the cosmos might not be the words I’d use. And churches or religion are not mentioned. I also think that it doesn’t matter whether our spiritual journeys include a concept of God or religion or church. These are all personal worlds and we make our own decisions about which aspects of spirituality have relevance or meaning for us. It doesn’t matter that there are differences in our spiritual journeys or beliefs or credence. In my opinion, what matters is how we live our lives. And how we make decisions in our lives – what guides us? It is interesting to hear the variety of spiritual interpretations and journeys that we’ve been hearing over the last few weeks.

Today I’ll share my journey. Mine is not so much about waka jumping (or faith/church swapping) – it’s more about that ethereal thing, the development of my moral compass, perhaps, that steers or guides me in my life. This is today’s ‘take’, the theme or topic for today’s service.

Continue reading Reflections on a Spiritual Journey →

Evolution of Human Consciousness

Sunday Talks / Random Musings
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Higher Values for Ecological Economics

Speaker:- Laurie Ross
Worship Leader:- Shirin Caldwell

Listen, or download the MP3
Or Listen or download just the talk.

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 © 17 May 2026

Kia Ora, E te whanau.

I am delighted to be invited to speak to you again today in this beautiful building and in this beautiful fellowship. Tēnā koe Shirin, Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa.

Introduction:

The development of Science, Technology and Military Intelligence has not been balanced by collective development of Spiritual Intelligence. This is essential for Evolution of Human Consciousness, in order to save Humanity from Nuclear War Apocalypse and Ecological Destruction of Earth.

Continue reading Evolution of Human Consciousness →

Grappling with Spirituality, Second in the personal journeys series

Grappling with Spirituality, Sunday Talks / Random Musings
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How I came to Unitarianism and am still not sure how I define or participate in spirituality.

Speaker & Worship Leader:- Kate Lewis

Grappling with Spirituality, Second in the personal journeys series
Listen, or download the MP3

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.

Kate Lewis © 10 May 2026

A few weeks ago Ruby introduced our series of talks on personal journeys of spirituality. She titled her talk Grappling with Spirituality, which is perhaps an appropriate title for the whole series, since here we all are in the Auckland Unitarian Church, and most of us did not start our religious or spiritual lives as Unitarians.

After volunteering to do this talk I started to wonder if I am, in fact, a spiritual person. What does that word even mean? It reminded me of teaching and lecturing at the university; there’s nothing like teaching a subject to make you realise you do not understand it at all.

Continue reading Grappling with Spirituality, Second in the personal journeys series →

West Papua — Justice for our Neighbours

Sunday Talks / Random Musings
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Guest speaker Catherine Delahunty has had a lifetime of working for justice. She is an ally and champion of the people of West Papua, who live under occupation.

Speaker:- Catherine Delahunty
Worship Leader:- Rachel Mackintosh

West Papua — Justice for our Neighbours
Listen, or download the MP3

Catherine Delahunty © 19 April 2026

No text this week.

Meditation / Conversation starter

  • What did you learn today?
  • How will it affect what you do to live our values of Justice and Interdependence?

Links

Opening Words:- “West Papua: A freeman’s dream” by Krystal Selwood Juffa

Chalice Lighting:- “We Are Not Alone” Adapted from Michael DeVernon Boblett

Reading:- “The Buddha, the angry man, and the gift”

Courage to Change

Sunday Talks / Random Musings
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What if fear is not a flaw to be fixed, but an invitation to be answered? This sermon explores stories of courage – what it means to take trembling steps into the unknown and what holds us when we do. If you have ever stood at a threshold you did not choose, wondering whether you had what it takes to cross it, this one is for you.

Speaker & Worship Leader:- Keola Whittaker

Courage to Change
Listen, or download the MP3

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.

Keola Whittaker © 19 April 2026

I. INTRODUCTION

Now picture the crowd in this story.

Jesus is passing through Jericho, and the whole city has come out to see him. It is loud and pressing and alive with anticipation. And somewhere at the edge of that crowd is a man named Zacchaeus — a tax collector, a collaborator, a man who has made himself comfortable by extracting money from his own people. Everyone knows who he is. Everyone knows what he’s done.

And this man wants to see Jesus. But he cannot get through. He is short, and the crowd — the very people he has harmed — are standing between him and what he is reaching for. So he does something that must have looked absurd: he runs ahead and climbs a sycamore tree.

I want you to hold that image. One of the most compromised men in town, up in a tree, alone above the crowd that has every reason to keep him out. Straining toward something he is not sure he deserves to see. Not knowing whether the door is open. Not knowing whether, if he came down, anyone would make room for him.

Continue reading Courage to Change →

Building Virtuous Circles

Fundraising, Sunday Talks / Random Musings
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As a community, we have momentum that we want to build on and ultimately be able to hire a new minister. This talk focuses on the power of our community striving together, building on success, and creating virtuous circles.

This service marks the start of our annual pledge drive.

Speaker & Worship Leader:- Ted Zorn

Building Virtuous Circles

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 © 12 April 2026

Now, for my main talk – my random musings, as Clay used to say — Building Virtuous Circles.

When I agreed — yet again — to lead a service at the start of the annual pledge drive, one immediate challenge for me – given my business school background — was branding.

How exactly do you make ‘please help us meet the budget’ sound spiritually uplifting?

You can’t really call the sermon ‘Cash Flow for the Kingdom’ — especially not in a Unitarian church.

And ‘Friends, let us now contemplate deferred maintenance and operating expenses’ does not have quite the same inspirational quality as, say, resurrection.

So this year I was grateful to land on the title Building Virtuous Circles, because it sounds much nobler than ‘Ted Talks About Church Finances Again.’

Continue reading Building Virtuous Circles →

Resurrection 2026?

Easter, Sunday Talks / Random Musings
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How do we continue to love now?

Speaker & Worship Leader:- Rachel Mackintosh

Resurrection 2026?
Listen, or download the MP3

Read below, or download the PDF

Rachel Mackintosh © 5 April 2026

In the Monty Python film, The Life of Brian, set in the time of Jesus, Brian’s mother confesses to Brian that his father was not Jewish, but was, in fact, a Roman. She reminisces: “Promised me the known world, ’e did.”

This is funny.

Although it is generally fatal to a joke to explain it, I now risk killing the joke by pointing out that it is funny because it plays on the catch-cry of disappointed lovers, “… promised me the world”. But is also calls us to contemplate our own known world.

The Life of Brian is about Brian, not about Jesus, although Brian does almost get the gold, frankincense and myrrh in a brief moment of mistaken identity, because he and Jesus are born at the same time in the same neighbourhood in the Jewish homeland, and so even wise men can get confused. So the known world of Brian is also the known world of Jesus.

In this context, the Easter story occurs — in a world of Imperial Roman occupation.

Continue reading Resurrection 2026? →

Grappling with Spirituality

Grappling with Spirituality, Sunday Talks / Random Musings
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Speaker & Worship Leader:- Ruby Johnson

Grappling with Spirituality
Listen, or download the MP3

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.

Ruby Johnson © 29 March 2026

Opening Words:

Today’s service is part one of what we are aiming to be an ongoing series on spirituality, and addressing the question of what the spiritual needs of our congregation might be. I wanted to launch this series, because I think that a lot of us have a complicated relationship with spirituality, with religion, and with the concepts and language that surrounds them – I include myself in that group. Some people here are longtime members of either this congregation, or of other progressive religious traditions. Others, like myself and several of the other service leaders, come from backgrounds where religion was a painful and oppressive part of life.

Continue reading Grappling with Spirituality →