with Rev. Clay Nelson

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Clay Nelson © 3rd May 2020

This week I’ve been musing on suffering. Cheery stuff, I know. The problem is these days it is pretty hard to avoid. We are all aware of the incomprehensible number of heartaches involved. Suffering is a boat we all share.

So yes, I think I can be forgiven for musing on suffering. In my line of work such musings lead me naturally to religious thought about the subject, for all religions have something to say, but I resonate with Buddha’s teachings most. He acknowledged, “All I teach is suffering and the end of suffering.” Suffering in his teaching does not necessarily mean only grave physical pain, but rather the mental suffering we undergo when our tendency to hold onto pleasure encounters the fleeting nature of life, and our experiences become unsatisfying and ungovernable.

with Rev. Clay Nelson

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Follow this shortcut to the bottom of the page for the Opening & Closing Words, Spirit of Life, Postlude, Links shared during the chat.

Clay Nelson © 19th April 2020

My musings this week have been about the nature of reality. To my surprise I realised reality is as slippery as an eel. As the video of the woman speaking to her future self makes clear reality has no permanence. There is no guarantee that today’s reality will be tomorrow’s. Just ask Scottish author Peter May. The screenwriter-turned-novelist wrote a book titled “Lockdown” in 2005 about a global pandemic. The book was rejected by publishers at the time for being too unrealistic. Fifteen years later, that’s our reality due to coronavirus, which has so far infected at least two million people globally. That’s a million more since we celebrated Easter last Sunday. May’s book is now being published. Today’s reality has made it disturbingly realistic.

with Rev. Clay Nelson

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Follow this shortcut to the bottom of the page for the links shared during the chat, closing words, Benediction, & Postlude.

Clay Nelson © 5 April 2020

My opening words are from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Harry Potter is asked by his aunt Petunia:-

“Why were you lurking under our window?”
“Yes – yes, good point, Petunia! What were you doing under our windows, boy?” demanded his uncle.
“Listening to the news,” said Harry in a resigned voice.
His aunt and uncle exchanged looks of outrage.
“Listening to the news! Again?”
“Well, it changes every day, you see,” said Harry.”

I don’t know about you but during this time no one alive has ever experienced before it feels like the news changes every hour. Trying to keep up with the horror of the virus that shall not be named is exhausting, so last week I took time to escape into fantasy, my favourite literary genre. I binged watched all seven of the Harry Potter movies.

Links were provided by church members for discussion purposes, inclusion in this list does not signify endorsement of the linked content by Auckland Unitarian Church.

• From John Graves: Nikki Kaye – Covid-19 Special
• From John Graves: Derek Handley – What not to expect when you are expecting
• From John Graves: Derek Handley – Bridging the Gaps between Reality and Hope
• From John Graves : Do we KNOW any of the 64 current Auckland COVID cases?
• From John Graves: An echo of Clay’s fast and feast theme in this piece: COVID-19: The endgame, and how to get there
• From John Graves: The Eruption Of Krakatoa Was The First Global Catastrophe. “Global science” kicked off ~136 years ago.
• From John Graves: Coronavirus and the risks of ‘speed science’
• From John Graves: COVID-19 Virtual Summit – Note that ‘Singularity University’ is not an accredited university and does not provide traditional university qualifications.
• From John Graves: How can we slow the spread of COVID-19? – Amory Lovins on ways of improving the body’s immune and repair systems, including, controversially, Vitamin C.
• From Shirin Caldwell: Three weeks of lockdown in Italy has given us vital perspective – and small comforts
• From Nina Khouri: Suppression and Mitigation Strategies for Control of COVID-19 in New Zealand

with Hon. Nikki Kaye

Nikki was going to speak to us today specifically on the wider community reaction to the Chinese community as a result of Covid-19. Events have overtaken that and this talk now covers broader issues around Covid-19.

with Rachel Mackintosh

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Rachel Mackintosh © 8 March 2020

The seeds of International Women’s day were sown the year my grandmother was born. In 1908, 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter working hours, better pay and the right to vote. It was the Socialist Party of America who declared the first (US) national women’s day a year later.

The idea to make the day international came in 1910, at an international socialist conference of working women in Copenhagen. An attendee called Clara Zetkin suggested it and the100 women present from 17 countries unanimously agreed. The first international celebration was in 1911, in Austria, Germany, Denmark and Switzerland.

with Rev. Clay Nelson

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Opening Words are by James Luther Adams

The Meditation is ‘Attic’ by Jill Sobule.

Closing words are by Assata Shakur

Clay Nelson © 1 March 2020

I’m not sure what inspired me to focus on today’s topic. It may have been spending too much time in the dystopian world of Gilead watching The Handmaid’s Tale or reading the news from my birth country just to cheer me up. Or it could be that fascism by any other name is finding new life around the world. We should not be oblivious.