with David Hines

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David Hines © 23 August 2020

For my sermon I’d like to start off with Plato’s comment that democracy is NOT a perfect system of government, because it encourages people who are selfish and irresponsible, and politicians who have to bribe them to stay in power.

with Rev. Clay Nelson

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Clay Nelson © 16 August 2020

Years ago, in a very different world than this one, I had a poster in my office of a care-free panda happily munching bamboo. The caption on it read, “Who says worrying doesn’t help? Nothing I ever worried about ever happened.”

with Rev. Clay Nelson

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Clay Nelson © 9 August 2020

One of the challenges I have faced in both of the religious traditions I have served is when some criticise my sermons or talks or musings or whatever as too political and not spiritual enough. In my defence I try to explain my view that they are all spiritual. This generally only annoys them. It certainly doesn’t mollify them and I suffer heartburn. Perhaps if I could be less defensive it would help.

with Rev. Clay Nelson

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Clay Nelson © 2 August 2020

I confess I’m having a crisis of faith. Our first UU principle affirms and promotes “the inherent worth and dignity of every person”. Reverence and respect for human nature is at the core of Unitarian Universalist faith. It is a noble thought, but my problem is the overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

with Rev. Clay Nelson

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Clay Nelson © 26th July 2020

Considering the dust-up in Parliament over the bad behaviour of some of its ministers this week, resulting in demotions, firings, and the decision by some not to stand in the next election, it is perhaps not surprising that the story of the woman caught in adultery from the Gospel of John came to mind.

with Rev. Clay Nelson

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Today’s service also included the latest Report from the Peace & Social Justice Group

Clay Nelson © 19th July 2020

It is difficult to deny that hope is hard to find in 2020 as the increasingly out-of-control pandemic keeps knocking at our door. For nearly all of us, inside or outside our unique bubble, life has become dire or at least more challenging and fearful. But while hope is in short supply, magical thinking seems to be having a banner year. On that basis alone, they are clearly not the same.

with Rev. Clay Nelson

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Clay Nelson © 12th July 2020

Some things bear repeating. Most of this musing is from a talk on racism I gave over a year ago. Sadly, it has not passed its use by date.

And this talk itself was also repeated in the Winter 2020 issue of Quest – Journal of the Australia New Zealand Unitarian Universalist Association.

Racism is like the Covid 19 virus, if it can be cured it will be a challenge. Scientists are working on it, but they aren’t there yet. But they do know a few prerequisites. Racism is what Rudyard Kipling coined as “the white man’s burden” — not just for colonisers, not just for Trump supporters, not just for people who dress up in bedsheets, not just for Americans, but all white people, even for Unitarians in their predominantly white faith movement with their first three principles which are the antidote to racism. Recognising the inherent worth and dignity of every person; seeking justice, equity and compassion in human relations; and accepting one another and encouraging spiritual growth in our congregations.

with Rev. Clay Nelson

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Clay Nelson © 5th July 2020

We are in the midst of living the ancient curse: “May you live in interesting times”. Unless we are over a hundred years old, no one alive has been through a pandemic quite like what we are experiencing now. We are still learning about the virus and its spread. What will treat it? How do we prevent it? Will a vaccine be discovered? It is most assuredly impacting economies, but it is also changing how we relate to each other, perform our work if we still have a job, our politics, the social contract and, of special interest to me, the church. What does the future hold for Unitarianism in Aotearoa? Will its values still be voiced for future generations? If so, what will the vessel of those values look like? Will the present assumptions about being a church hold or will we come to see and experience church in totally new ways? Let me be clear, I have no idea what the answers are to these questions. I hope I’ll live long enough to find out. Call it spiritual and intellectual curiosity. The best I can do is offer a suggestion as to how to discern different paths we might take in a time of uncertainty, where the ground beneath us is shifting minute to minute.

with Rev. Clay Nelson

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Clay Nelson © 28th June 2020

When I was twelve I was inspired like many Americans of my generation by John F Kennedy’s words at his inauguration: