Speaker & Worship Leader:- John DiLeo

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

At the end of October, I travelled to Washington, DC, to present training at and attend the OWASP Global AppSec Conference. On the Sunday before the conference, I had the opportunity to attend the first ThreatModCon, a one-day mini-conference focused on threat modelling.

At that event, I was privileged to hear a presentation by Avi Douglen. Avi is a leader of the OWASP Israel Chapter, and a member of OWASP’s Global Board. He’s a security consultant and threat modelling practitioner, and is one of the signatories of the Threat Modeling Manifesto, created and published in 2020.

Avi’s presentation is titled “The Threats to Our Community,” and I’m going to share with you much of the content from that talk.

As I listened that day, it became clear to me that the threats he spelled out – and the countermeasures he recommended – would apply to any community that relies on mutual trust and respect to function. Communities like ours. So, I asked for a copy of his slide deck, to use in a future talk at my church – he was surprised by the request, but agreed immediately.

In October, Avi spoke for an hour – I’m going to try to do his ideas justice in less than 20 minutes. We’ll see how that goes.

Before I begin, I need to provide a general content warning. While I won’t be going into details of any, I will be naming many abusive behaviours. If this could be triggering for you, I welcome you to remove yourself from this space to protect your well-being.

(John talked impromptu to the slideshow, so no script this week, the slideshow is available in this PDF).

Meditation / Conversation starter

• Taking into account all aspects of our life together, what can we do to identify and respond to threats to this community’s well-being?

Links

Welcome includes:- “As We Proclaim Worth” by Dan Lambert

Opening words:- “Being Sanctuary“ by Jo VonRue and Linette Lowe

Chalice Lighting:- “We Come Together without Creed” by Maureen Killoran

Closing Words:- “Be About the Work” by Andrea Hawkins-Kamper

Speaker & Worship Leader:- 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 © 14 January 2024

Alice laughed. “There’s no use trying,” she said. “One can’t believe impossible things.”

“I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”

“Through the Looking Glass”, Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson)

We know, because of science, the enlightenment, telescopes, that compared with us, the universe is big. We may have seen that meme that shows two photos of the Milky Way, one taken before, and one taken after we have made a mistake: clue, it’s the same photo.

My musing today has as its starting point, not Alice, actually, but the quote: “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.”

My sermon topic “Bending the arc of the universe” has taken liberties with the quote already, and may seem arrogant – how could we bend the arc of the universe? – but I am aiming rather for audacious. As Paul said when I sent him my title, “May as well aim big.”

Speaker & Worship Leader:- Alix Geard

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

Alix Geard © 31 December 2023

Good morning, community of Auckland Unitarians. Kia ora koutou! As we gather on this last Sunday of the year, New Year’s Eve, we find ourselves between times, standing on the bridge that connects the past and the future. Today, our theme is “Reflections and Resolutions” – a time to look back at the footprints we’ve left on the path of the past year and to gaze forward with hope and intention into the uncharted territory of the coming year.

There are cliches at this time of year. We might at well make use of them. Janus, the 2-headed god of doorways, transitions and January looks both back and forward.

I encourage us all to take some time to think, to feel, to breathe, to examine… and to gather ourselves together as we move into the new year.

Speaker:- Jonathan Mason
Worship Leader:- Phebe Mason

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

Jonathan Mason © 17 December 2023

Each year, as we celebrate Christmas, I have wondered what really happened in Bethlehem. The Nativity Scene is embedded in our seasonable culture. In our Unitarian hymn book, we have about 25 hymns that refer to Bethlehem, the Star, and the manger scene. So this year, with the request for sermons, I thought I would review the historical evidence for the Nativity before Christmas. Now the good news is that for events that occurred 2000 years ago, you can believe whatever you wish. And I’ll skip over the Immaculate Conception, which Unitarians and even many Christians don’t believe.

Speaker & Worship Leader:- Betsy Marshall

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

Betsy Marshall © 3 December 2023

Today we gather to celebrate the opening of this building on 4 December 1901 – exactly 122 years ago tomorrow.

As Clay Nelson said in his service for new members in 2015, the anniversary of the building is a time to be reminded that “we didn’t get here out of nothing, we are connected to those who came before, and others in the future will be connected to us, a reminder of our oneness”.

The focus of today is not just on the past but also on our aspirations for the future – hopefully a future in which Auckland Unitarians continue as a vibrant faith community as well as a force for social and political good.

Speaker & Worship Leader:- Kate Lewis

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

Kate Lewis © 19 November 2023

I’m very aware that this is the first service since Clay died that we’re not using one of his talks. I’ve been on the calendar for months, and Ted and I decided that this would be an alright topic for today since we’re hurting and I hope that some of these words may be useful for all of us in dealing with grief.

I also feel the need to give a disclaimer because I’m an academic, and this isn’t my field. I am talking about self-compassion because becoming more compassionate towards myself and others is a path that I am on and something I’m striving for. I have become interested in the psychology behind it and have done some reading, and I’m convinced that most of us can benefit from an increased dose of self-kindness.

Viv Allen led a service centred around a reading of a Clay Nelson sermon from February 2020

Speaker & Worship Leader:-
Viv Allen

Meditation / Conversation starter

• What piques your curiosity?