All posts by Guest Post

Evolution of Human Consciousness

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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.

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West Papua — Justice for our Neighbours

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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
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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

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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.

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Nonbinary, Nondualist, Nonreductive

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Speaker:- Dr. Tof Eklund
Worship Leader:- Rachel Mackintosh

If you find nonbinary gender(s) confusing, want to understand what it means to be nonbinary, or are nonbinary, this one’s for you. Dr. Tof Eklund (they/them) speaks about being nonbinary, the challenges and prejudices nonbinary folks face, and the profound implications of nonbinary thought and spirituality.

Dr. Tof Eklund, (they/them), is Lecturer in English and New Media Studies @ AUT.

Nonbinary, Nondualist, Nonreductive
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Read below, or download the PDF


A Reflection on Rainbow Flags

Maria Hayward © 15 February 2026

Kia ora koutou katoa. I am going to read a personal reflection on this month’s Pride theme, and then I’ll introduce our guest speaker, Dr Tof Eklund.

I thought I’d talk about flags.

I had intended to open the Pride month services with brief explanation of the rainbow flags we’ve been displaying, but I didn’t manage to get around to it. Then, with the occasion of Tof speaking today, I wondered if there was a non-binary flag – and there is, so I’ll talk about that soon, but this gives me an opportunity to also talk about the rainbow flag in general.

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The Stones That Testify

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Speaker & Worship Leader:- Keola Whittaker

Instead of preaching about queer folks as people who need support, I’m inverting it to what can queer and trans people teach the rest of us about being fully human? Especially now, when authoritarianism and even AI are trying to flatten us all into simple categories. I’ll be weaving in the story of the Kapaemahu stones in Waikiki – four healing stones connected to mahu (Hawaiian gender-diverse) practitioners that were literally buried under concrete for decades and then uncovered in the 90s.

The Stones That Testify
Listen, or download the MP3

Read below or download the PDF


Reading 

Our reading today comes from Hawaii. It is the ancient legend of the Kapaemahu Stones, which I will talk about in my sermon. Here is the story:

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The Grinch Who Found Christmas Anyway

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Speaker & Worship Leader:- Keola Whittaker

Feeling a bit Grinchy this year? You’re not alone. This sermon is for everyone who has ever wanted to skip Christmas, escape the forced cheer, or hide from a holiday that asks too much. It’s also about what happens when love finds us anyway, in forms we didn’t expect, and in places we didn’t think to look.


The Grinch Who Found Christmas Anyway

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 © 21 December 2025

The Grinch and Scrooge are my favorite Christmas characters. Not in spite of their cynicism, but because of it. They’re the only honest ones in their stories. Everyone else is performing joy, pretending Christmas magic just happens naturally. But the Grinch and Scrooge?

They’ve done the math. They’ve weighed Christmas against their pain and built excellent walls to protect themselves from a holiday that demands vulnerability they can’t afford.

And here’s what I love most: they’re not wrong. They’re not villains. They’re survivors. And they do what survivors do.

Until, of course, they’re visited.

Continue reading The Grinch Who Found Christmas Anyway

It happens here; Trafficking in Aotearoa New Zealand

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Speaker:- Marieke Jasperse
Worship Leader:- Maria Hayward

Dr Jasperse is a consultant cross-cultural psychologist, and survivor of modern slavery, dedicated to destigmatising distress and strengthening responses that restore dignity and determination. She has consulted for the United Nations, the NZ and Australian governments, and anti-trafficking NGOs, and looks forward to sharing her personal and professional insights on trafficking in Aotearoa New Zealand.


No recording or text this week

Merge Café – Making a community-minded third space

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Speaker:- Margaret Lewis
Worship Leader:- Shirin Caldwell

Merge Café – Making a community-minded third space
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A third space is neither home, school nor work but a space where people can be themselves, be with friends. A café, a bar, a museum, even a park. may be places where many of our most vulnerable communities do not feel welcome or feel they need to be out of sight. Similar to a church, Merge Community and Café is a space where all communities are welcome. Find out our Kaupapa, how it works and some of the impacts. Meet Margaret Lewis from Lifewise/Merge whose role is to help build capability and capacity within the many communities Merge works with. Also see below for how you could contribute.


Peace and Social Justice Project – Merge Café

The management committee has approved a new project with two parts:

Providing $25 meal cards for local people experiencing homelessness
Each card provides 5 free lunches. We are inviting the congregation to contribute towards the cost of these cards, with the PSJ offering matched funding of up to $250.  If you would like to contribute towards a meal card, please make your payment to the Auckland Unitarian Congregation Incorporated account: 02-0200-0156552-00,
Particulars: Your Name
Reference: Merge Café

Collecting food items for Merge Café
We are seeking donations of food items that can be used in the café, such as flour, oil, pasta, rice, lentils, tinned food, and any surplus fruit or vegetables you may have. Other suitable food items will be used to create small food parcels for their clients. Please place items in the plastic box on the left as you enter the church.

Navigating Neurodivergence and the Neurodiversity Paradigm

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Neurodivergence. What does it mean – what are the challenges faced, and how can neurotypical individuals assist in mitigating these challenges and ensuring neurodivergent people are included, respected and accommodated?

Speakers:- Nikki Smith-Eklund (she/they) M Hum Rts
& Dr. Tof Eklund (they/them)
Worship Leader:- Rachel Mackintosh

Navigating Neurodivergence and the Neurodiversity Paradigm

Nikki Smith-Eklund & Tof Eklund © 23 November 2025

No text this week

Links

Opening Words:- from Gargoyle” by thesilentpoet50

Closing Words:- La Terre Est Bleue” by Paul Eluard, English translation (not linked) by Rachel Mackintosh.