I’m a sucker for a good romantic movie. One of my all time favourites is An Officer and a Gentleman. It was here in 1982 I first heard the word “bodacious.” One wannabe gentleman used it to describe particular body parts of a voluptuous woman attractive to nursing infants. Seven years later the word made a revival in Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. Bill tells Ted at the end of their adventure, “You and I have witnessed many things, but nothing as bodacious as what just happened.” Continue reading Being Bodacious: Recreating Ourselves Daily→
One of the paradoxes Unitarians live with is our acceptance of people of all faith perspectives including those who claim none while maintaining a deep suspicion of the faith that gave birth to Unitarianism—Christianity. The reasons are understandable. Most Unitarians didn’t start life as Unitarians. They are mostly refugees from the dominant faith in western culture—Christianity. They were drawn here to escape what they experienced as toxic, such as being judged and condemned as sinful for just being who they are. Continue reading Why the Church killed Christ→
This week in Adult Religious Education I was given a gift—an “Aha” moment. We are looking at “Saving Jesus from Christianity.” This week we asked the question, “Who was Jesus?” There were many answers offered: a wisdom teacher, a prophet, a healer, a mystic, but then one scholar said Jesus was a conversationalist. I had never had that insight before, but he’s right. The gospel is full of conversations Jesus has with a wide variety of people. When I reflect on those conversations he converses with me as well. Continue reading What Is At The Root Of Everything That Is Wrong?→
Tomorrow is the 100th observance of ANZAC Day. The first was one year after 2779 New Zealanders, 8500 Australians, 44,000 from France and Britain and their empires, and 87,000 Turks died at Gallipoli. It is a day of remembrance for those sacrificed on foreign soil for “King and Country.” It is as popular as it ever was. Thousands will rise early to attend the Dawn Parade. They will hear prayers, sing Lest we forget, listen to Laurence Binyon’s fourth verse from his poem For the Fallen:
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
I hope a few of those stirred to tears during the playing of The Last Post will also remember those 2600 brave souls who in the face of tremendous public scorn opposed the folly of war. Conscientious objectors paid a high price. They lost their civil rights, including being denied voting rights for 10 years and being barred from working for government or local bodies. At least 273 were imprisoned for failing to serve, some of them Unitarians. Continue reading War against peace hidden in Panama Papers→
UK prime minister Harold Wilson famously said, “A week is a long time in politics.” Well, it has been two weeks since I expressed my concern that Donald Trump was not being taken seriously enough and that IF he got the nomination his particular set of gifts and the current mood of the electorate could possibly end with him winning in a landslide against Hillary Clinton.
One news site that sends me a daily email has been measuring the likelihood of Trump becoming president in terms of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Two weeks ago they were giving it one and a half horsemen. Today they are giving it only one. What has changed? Continue reading The Trumpocalypse: How did we get here?→
When I was 10, I saw a terrifying programme on TV. I recall a scene outside a secondary school, kids milling around, in school uniform, jumpers, schoolbags, looking normal, waiting for their buses … kids living their lives, friendships, fears, jealousies, exams, misunderstandings, understandings, learning, growing up.
The programme was about how these kids, unlike their parents — who would have been in a scene pretty much the same at the same age — could expect to have trouble finding work when they left school. It was predicting unemployment. Continue reading The Future of Work→
Sixteen years ago there was an episode of The Simpsons where Bart is shown his life 30 years in the future. Not surprisingly he learns he will become a beer-swilling bum. On the other hand Lisa is shown behind the desk in the Oval Office as the “first straight female President” telling her staff “As you know, we’ve inherited quite a budget crunch from President Trump. How bad is it? The country is broke.”
One of the few difficulties I’ve had as a refugee from the Northern Hemisphere is celebrating Easter with autumn’s chrysanthemums and not spring’s lilies. It was ingrained into me that Easter had to be a spring holiday. After all, Easter takes its name from the Saxon Mother Goddess, Eostre, which means spring. But recently I read about the northern autumn festival celebrated by Hindus, Divali. It changed my perspective. As with Easter, Divali’s date is determined by the moon. It is a great festival of light—burning candles set floating out on the water along the banks of rivers and candles in people’s homes and in temples, dazzling fireworks, gaily coloured greeting cards, family visits, the giving of gifts. On Divali Eve, Laksmi, the goddess of wealth and fortune is said to ride across the land astride a giant owl just at dusk, scattering her gifts to all who deserve them. To us Divali seems to be a strange admixture of Christmas (lights and gifts), Guy Fawkes (fireworks), and Halloween (flying witches and owls). To the Hindu it is a celebration of the victory of good over evil, light over darkness, of humanity’s never ceasing effort to achieve a true and harmonious relationship to ultimate reality.
Mark Twain toured New Zealand in 1895 as part of his world speaking tour. At that time, he was one of the most readily recognized personalities on the world stage. His programmes brought his social comment to audiences using wit, sarcasm, irony and straight humor. This Sunday, member David Rohe reprises his role as Samuel Clemens sharing some of Twain’s observations of the human condition that speak to us today.