with David Hines

The above include contributions from:-

Sara Passmore, NZ Humanists

Penny Ehrhardt, Secular Education Network (NZ)

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.

David Hines © 9th October 2022

Introduction

After two years of waiting, I’m excited that a government proposal for religious education in state schools is about to be revealed.

But I’m also concerned, because very important questions have still not been answered, like:

• Will it include teaching about non-religious views?
• Will it be neutral and professional, or will it be a soft-sell of our main religions.
• I know the release will include a report on the subject by Professor Paul Morris, but I don’t know whether his suggestions are going to be:
  • slashed back or
  • Whether this will be the start of a thorough public discussion. That would be my hope. But
• Releasing it on November 18 also makes me suspicious. That is just before the Christmas break … this is a favourite way of burying something controversial.

with 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 © 2nd October 2022

As I’ve mentioned a few times in the past, the themes and musings present in the services I lead tend to reflect things that are on my mind at the moment. In this case, it happens to be birthdays. Mine is this coming Tuesday. It also happens to be one of those “milestone” birthdays – I’ll be turning 55.

Worship Leader: Nina Khouri

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.

Nina Khouri © 25th September 2022

So, the government has now lifted basically all remaining COVID restrictions. We don’t have a traffic light system anymore, we have very few mask requirements, government vaccine mandates are ending and you don’t even have to isolate if a household member tests positive, so long as you monitor yourself for symptoms and do RATs.

Does anyone else feel like this is just another massive change we have to get our heads around? Another round in the whiplash of the last 2.5 years?

For the last couple of years there’s been a constantly changing regime that intrudes into our daily lives.

To be clear, I think it’s been justified and appropriate and I’m grateful for a government that has protected us this way. But it hasn’t been easy, right?

Worship Leaders: Kate Lewis and Ted Zorn

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

Ted Zorn © 18th September 2022

I’ve titled my random musings today “FOMO, Imagined Lives and Reclaiming Joy”. FOMO is an acronym for “Fear of Missing Out”.

I’ll start with a confession. I chose this topic because I suffer from FOMO and it has had a profoundly negative impact on the quality of my life and in some cases, the lives of people I care about. But I’m working on practising JOMO (the Joy of Missing Out) and my life is richer as a result.

with Max Moss

Today’s talk was a reading from “A Dead Soldier Looks at the War” by Rev. David Rankin.  Read by Rev. Max Moss.

Links

with John DiLeo

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

Today’s talk was a reading of “The Answer I Wish I’d Given” By Erika A. Hewitt

Meditation / Conversation starter:

These questions can be answered either individually; or as a Unitarian Community; or as a wider society:-

• Are we giving enough?
• Are we giving for the right reasons?
• Are we giving what’s needed?
• Do we know what’s needed?
• If not how can we find out?

with 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 © 21 August 2022

Burning Down the House was part of the soundtrack of my adolescence.

The song came out two years after the 1981 Springbok tour of New Zealand that had united a nationwide protest movement from across the political and socio-economic spectrum, where tens of thousands of us had marched together periodically in the year leading up to the tour, and twice a week from 19 July — my mother’s birthday and the day our family went to the airport at dawn to protest the Springboks’ arrival — to 12 September — the fourth anniversary of Steve Biko’s death from severe beating in custody and the date of the final test match of the tour. The second match — against the Waikato provincial team on 25 July — was called off after protesters invaded the pitch. Apart from that one match, the tour went ahead. The movement didn’t achieve its aim of stopping the tour.

The introduction to the subject of the tour on the NZ History website has the subheading, “A country divided”.

with Nina Khouri

Nina Khouri © 7 August 2022

Todays talk draws on:-
https://buddhismnow.com/2011/04/20/compose-your-minds-by-ajahn-sumedho/

Links

Welcome:- includes an adapted excerpt from “Come Whoever You Are” By Marilyn Falkowski

Opening Words:- “Be Here, in This Moment” By Chip Roush

Chalice Lighting:- draws on “Every Endeavor Begins With a First Step” By Charles F Flagg

Closing Words:- “Being Present” By Elena Westbrook