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Jamila Cranston-Buckley © 17 January 2016
Jamila Cranston-Buckley, is lineage holder for the Inayati Sufi Order Aotearoa New Zealand.
Introduced by: Sally Mabelle.
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Kurt Payne © 10 January 2016
Opening words.
Before time began, we are told, there existed one Eternal Being, perfect in every way and beyond the power of human thought to comprehend. He existed alone. But although alone, he was not lonely. For not only was he one, he was also in a mysterious and incomprehensible way three, three persons in one god, the glorious and blessed trinity of Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
God, being perfection, needed nothing beyond himself. But as an act of divine will, or love, he began the process of creation by which other things were called into existence. Vast multitudes of spiritual beings were created, including Lucifer who ended up banished from heaven, the abode of God, to a domain of his own, a place of torment called hell.
At this point, therefore the universe was divided into two parts, heaven and hell. But then God began further acts of creation. He created light, inhabited by the sun, moon and stars. He created a firmament or atmosphere, inhabited by the birds. He created great waters, inhabited by fish. He created dry land, inhabited by plants, animals and men.
Man was the last created being, and was made by God in his own likeness.
My personal take would be that as a divine being, I should continue this process of creation, within my means, as acts of divine will and love.
Creativity and Spirituality.
As a designer and an employee in the fashion industry, evolution looks a lot like what we see as creation. Products are developed and popped out into the world, the weakest being put on clearance, never to be made again, the strongest put on repeat order and developed further into new patterns and styles, a type of natural selection.
My learning to weave last year has followed a similar process of evolution. The first piece I wove had uneven edges and the unmatched yarns shrunk at different rates, creating something that shouldn’t see the light of day. Continue reading Creativity and Spirituality
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Rev. Clay Nelson © 13 December 2015
I confess I am sometimes subject to flights of fancy. I had an episode a few days ago. I wondered what Jesus would think if he actually came back as some Christians believe he will some day. “Came back from where?” is a question that comes to mind. But never mind. It would be especially intriguing to hear his reactions to what he would find if he came back at this time of year. What would he think? Continue reading Christmas: A Holiday without Borders
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Rev. Clay Nelson © 6 December 2015
Sometimes the beginning of a sermon has an unlikely beginning. At the Living Wage Office where I work three mornings a week, in the break room there is a sign with a familiar look. It is red with a white crown at the top. Underneath it says “Keep Calm. Fill the dishwasher, not the sink.” It made me think about the original sign of which it is a parody, “Keep Calm and Carry On.” We see it everywhere these days affixed to signs, greeting cards, tea towels, coffee mugs, and the like. Over my morning tea I wondered where it came from and why. Continue reading Keep Calm and Carry On
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Rev. Clay Nelson © 29 November 2015
Making sense of the world is not easy. Psychologists explain that to do so it is necessary to organise incoming sensations into information that is meaningful. They think we do this by perceiving individual sensory stimuli as a meaningful whole. The brain creates a whole image from individual stimuli.
Sometimes what we see is really there but we see different things like the optical illusion of a duck that also can be a rabbit. Continue reading Does the Kingdom of God need God?
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Henri van Roon and Paul Henriques © 22 November 2015
For more about the projects mentioned here, see our Social Justice and Action page.
Also
Follen Community Church, Lexington, MA, USA.
Shady Hill School, Cambridge, MA, USA.
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Henri van Roon © 15 November 2015
Text to come.
Follow this link to learn more about the other Unitarian Universalist organisations mentioned in this talk.
Follow this link to learn more about Wealth and New Zealand by Max Rashbrooke mentioned in an unrecorded comment from Sally, responded to by Henri near the end of the talk.
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Rev. Clay Nelson © 8 November 2015
I have to confess that like many of us I am left daunted by the scope of the problems being created by global climate change. Other than an occasional reference to the fact that there is a problem, I have never devoted an entire sermon to the eco-disaster we face. I can feel myself retreat into uncertainty about how to proceed even as I begin. What can I say that will make a difference? What can any of us do to save the planet? Continue reading What Would the Goddess Do?
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Rev. Clay Nelson © 1 November 2015
Today is All Saints Day. There is a phrase in the Apostles Creed, which is possibly the only phrase I really like – the Communion of Saints – what does the Communion of Saints mean? Well it essentially means that when a Christian receives Communion, they are not just having Communion with people in that congregation, they’re having Communion with everybody else in the world who is having Communion, and having Communion with everybody who has ever had Communion in the history of the church, and they’re having communion with everybody who will ever come to receive Communion. To me it is a symbol of the interdependent web of existence of which we are a part, It reminds us 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.
So I thought today for our new members it would be good to give them a family tree, so that they know what they are being grafted to. I’m going to give you a whirlwind tour of some of the people who have gone before in this congregation. Continue reading The Communion of Unitarian Saints
