Speaker & Worship Leader:- John DiLeo

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John DiLeo © 26th March 2023

Today, I’m reprising – nearly in its entirety – a service I led in September 2019. At that service, our guest speaker, Jean McElhaney, presented a talk titled “How can awareness of death enrich life?”

We reached out to Jean, to see if she might be willing to join us again today, but we were unable to get in touch. I considered simply playing the recording of her talk from our website, but ended up going in a slightly different direction: I’ll be playing a recorded TED Talk from 2016, on a similar topic.

Links

Welcome:- “Sanctuary of the Soul” by David R. Chapman

Opening words:- “Spirit of Life and Hope” by Clarke Dewey Wells

Chalice Lighting:- “In the Mystery of Life About Us There is Light” by George Kimmich Beach 

Time for all ages:- “The Invisible String” by Patrice Karst

Meditation:- “Living Brings Us Closer to Dying” , by Helen Lutton Cohen

Closing words:- “The Purpose of This Community is to Help Its People Grow” by Erik Walker Wikstrom 

Speaker & Worship Leader:- Rachel Mackintosh

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Rachel Mackintosh © 12th March 2023

A father and son are in a horrible car crash that kills the father. The eight-year-old son is rushed to hospital in critical condition. ED staff prep him rapidly and take him to an operating theatre where the surgical team is waiting. Just as he’s about to go under the knife, the surgeon says, “I can’t operate — that’s my son.”

How can this be?

I opened the service with this riddle. 

You may have heard it before.

You may have been confounded or you may have found the answer obvious.

Speaker & Worship Leader:- Vivienne Allen

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Vivienne Allen © 5th March 2023

I have always been drawn to trees. Until I turned 10 I spent most of my spare time climbing trees on our farm. Back then I divided all trees into two categories; good and bad; the good ones were those great for climbing such as Pohutukawa, some Lawsons, oaks and others with wide low branches. The bad ones which were not good for climbing were trees like Lombardy poplars that were too upright or didn’t have low branches. Luckily our sharemilkers had 7 children for me to play with and our favourite activity was to climb trees. We even used to enjoy climbing the nectarine trees in the orchard in summer, sitting up in the branches munching nectarines on a hot day.

Speaker & Worship Leader:- Ruby Johnson

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Ruby Johnson © 26th February 2023

I think that a lot of people are attracted to Unitarianism because they were cast out by, or have left, other faith-based communities. The fourth principle of Unitarian Universalism is that we engage in “a free and responsible search for truth and meaning”. Those of us who have come to this church as cast-offs from other faith traditions will attest that free inquiry is not necessarily a hallmark of organised religion.

Speaker & Worship Leader:- Alix Geard

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Alix Geard © 19th February 2023

Sometimes you choose a theme for a service and then life throws you complications.

I had planned to take my text today from that most varied and human of sources, the microblogging site Tumblr. Every so often in my craft or philosophy groups some words turn up from the person known on Tumblr as higgsboshark:

The thing about knitting is it’s much harder to fear the existential futility of all your actions while you’re doing it.

Like ok, sure, sometimes it’s hard to believe you’ve made any positive impact on the world. But it’s pretty easy to believe you’ve made a sock. Look at it. There it is. Put it on, now your foot’s warm.

Checkmate, nihilism.

From <https://www.tumblr.com/higgsboshark/179475660451/the-thing-about-knitting-is-its-much-harder-to>

There are several hashtags that follow this. My favourites are #the sock is not a metaphor for anything #it’s just a sock #that’s all it needs to be.

with Jonathan Mason

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Jonathan Mason  © 12 February 2023

The question of whether there is life in the universe is one of the big questions of the 20^th and 21^st century. Movies such as ET, Contact, Arrival and Interstellar have explored these issues along with alien invasion movies such as Independence Day. I remember growing up watching the night sky with a sense of wonder, In my search for the mystery in life, Unitarian Principle #4, I have found the question of whether there is other life in the universe to be one of the profound mysteries that I reflect on. The answer to this question may also impact Unitarian Principle #7, on the interdependency of humans with our world, in ways that I’ll discuss later. In the following talk, I’ll go over the prevailing science on Extra terrestrial life and then discuss its implications for our world and Unitarianism. This is a personal talk giving my views on issues, apologies for those who have different views.

with John DiLeo

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Todays sermon:- a reading of “Getting Through the Night” By Mary Wellemeyer

Meditation / Conversation starter:

• Do you think I’m being overly pessimistic, or will things really get that bad?
• However bad things do get, how can we prepare – individually and as a congregation – to get through it?
• What can we do – again both individually and as a congregation – to help others get through it?
• What should we be doing to break this cycle?

Links

Welcome:- includes “Welcome Home” By Rachel Rott

Opening Words:- “Call from Beyond” By Susan Maginn

Chalice Lighting:– “This Chalice Is Lit for You” By Tara Humphries

Todays sermon:- a reading of “Getting Through the Night” By Mary Wellemeyer

The New Yorker article referenced in the sermon is: “Eviction: The day they came for Addie Polk’s house,” by Peter J Boyer, published 24 November 2008.

Closing Words:- “We have a calling in this world” By Jean M Rickard

Speaker and Worship Leader:- David Hines

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David Hines © 22nd January 2023

My original subject for today was Gonna lay down my sword and shield, which was about concentration camps in World War 2, and how this appalling story was the background to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

But it was such a complicated story I couldn’t get my head around it. And I was looking for a new topic.

And then Jacinda came up with the idea of resigning …. And it was obvious.