Speaker:- Rachel Mackintosh
Worship Leaders:- Ted Zorn, Kate Lewis

Our recently retired minister, Clay Nelson, died on Thursday (2 November 2023). Those of us who have known Clay are grieving.

So, we’ve changed this service to reflect on coming together in grief and the wonder of life.

Rachel MacIntosh, Clay’s wife, will present a talk that Clay wrote and presented to us a couple years back called “Welcome to Limbo. Please leave your certainties at the door.” Appropriately, it’s about how we respond to chaos, uncertainty, and the unexpected.

Read below, or download the PDF

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Clay Nelson © 5 December 2021

Buddha told a parable: A man was travelling across a field when he encountered a tiger. He began to run, and the tiger chased after him. Coming to a precipice, he slipped and was able to catch hold of the root of a wild strawberry bush, hanging in the air. The tiger sniffed at him from above. Trembling, the man looked down only to find that another tiger was waiting to eat him. He thought the bush could sustain him for a while, until he saw two mice gnawing away the vine. A tiger above, a tiger below. The man saw a ripe strawberry near him. Grabbing the vine with one hand, he plucked the strawberry with the other, and ate it. How sweet and delicious.

Speaker:- Mary Ellen Warren
Worship Leader:- Ruby Johnson

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

No text this week

Links

Opening Words:- “Determined Seed” by Laura Wallace

Chalice Lighting:- “Sacred Unknowing” By Amy Carol Webb

Reading:- “A Recipe for Resilience” by Margaret Weis

Closing Words:- are from “The Pathway to Healing” by roddy bell-shelton biggs

Speaker:- Grant Williams,
Maritime Union of New Zealand
Worship Leader:- Rachel Mackintosh

No text this week

Links

Chalice Lighting:- “Honoring Our Labors” by Florence Caplow

Closing Words:- “We Are” by K E Cummins

Speaker & Worship Leader:- Karn Cleary

The talk:- is an address from a Flower Communion service by John Midgley, an English Unitarian minister.

Links

Opening Words:- “Flowers” a poem by Albert Laighton

Chalice Lighting:- is from a UUA service “Day of Religious Freedom – 13th January”

The talk:- is an address from a Flower Communion service by John Midgley, an English Unitarian minister.

Closing Words:- Just before he was put to death in Dachau, Dr. Capek wrote this prayer, reflecting on his own life and the state of his spirit.

Speaker:- John Maindonald
Worship Leader:- Shirin Caldwell

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John Maindonald © 8 October 2023

John Donne (1572-1631), who wrote the words that I want to ponder today, lived in England in troubled times. He was born to a staunchly Roman Catholic family at a time when it was illegal to be a practicing Catholic.

Speaker:- Peter Lineham
Worship Leader:- Ruby Johnson

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Peter Lineham © 1 October 2023

I was very struck by an article in the Washington Post on 21 August of this year by Perry Bacon jnr.

Speakers & Worship Leaders:- Rachel Mackintosh & Betsy Marshall

Video to come

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Rachel Mackintosh, Betsy Marshall © 24 September 2023

Beginnings

Betsy: In early 2014, our Unitarian community was coming to terms with the fact that after only eight months, due to visa issues, we’d lost the American minister we’d contracted for two years. Fortunately the Ministerial Search Committee wasted no time in resurrecting itself to identify what we might do to support our Church’s dual strategy of working towards a full-time ministry and strengthening lay leadership.

Speaker & Worship Leader:- Rev. Clay Nelson

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Clay Nelson © 17 September 2023

Here is a factoid about your minister I hope to have kept from you for nine years. In secondary school, I was a band nerd. I wasn’t the cool one playing the sexy alto sax like I wanted. Instead, I was consigned over my objections to playing the tuba. It was even more humiliating as I was one of the smallest in the band.

Speaker:- Paul Watson of Essentially Men
Worship Leader:- Ted Zorn

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I would like to introduce our speaker for today, who is my friend, Paul Watson. I first met Paul when I decided – on the recommendation of several men in this congregation – to participate in a weekend experiential workshop put on by an organisation called Essentially Men, which some of you know well and some have heard me mention two weeks ago in my talk. Paul was one of the facilitators of that weekend. Over the last 2 years, I have gotten to know Paul much better and have grown to love and respect him — and learn from him, as I hope you will today. Paul also happens to be Chair of the Board of Trustees of Essentially Men.

Paul Watson © 10 September 2023

Kia ora everyone, and a heartfelt thanks to Ted for that beautiful introduction. When I first met you Ted around 20 months ago I instantly liked you, and I think one of the reasons is because as you presented last week ‘You’ve always had a thing for language’. I think our brains connected quickly, my Auckland spelling, speaking and debating days came flooding back as an articulate American shared his recent struggles, learnings, and pain with me.

Speaker & Worship Leader:- Ruby Johnson

Sorry, no recordings this week due to technical issues.

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Ruby Johnson © 3 September 2023

Christianity has a lot to say about fathers. Taking just Catholicism as the most extreme example, we have a God in heaven who is like a father. Then we have his representative on earth, the Pope, whose title derives from the ancient Greek word for father. Then under him, we have individual priests, who are also referred to as “Father”. Admittedly, this is balanced out slightly by the fact that Catholics venerate the virgin Mary as a holy mother, but even so, this view of religion presents us with a veritable “Russian nesting doll” of fathers.