While we’re keeping ‘mostly’ up to date with publishing recorded services, these ones from 2024 have gone on the back burner. We hope to retrieve them at some unknown date in the future.
“Music Sunday”, Rachel Mackintosh, 27th October “Certification of the organ”, Rachel Mackintosh, 20th October “The importance of ritual”, Barbara Thomborson, 13 October “Jain wisdom in a pluralistic world”, Claire Butler, 6 October “A language of reverence”, Ted Zorn, 29 September “Flower Communion”, Karn Cleary, 22 September
About a year ago an email dropped into my inbox from my cousin Hamish who I only catch up with at family funerals. Attached to that email was a 93 page thesis on my great, great Aunt, Annie Jane Schnakenberg nee Allen, who I knew little about except that she’d fought for women’s suffrage in NZ and was a fluent speaker of Maori, so I was very excited to find out that Randolph Hollingsworth had done a huge amount of research into Annie Jane’s life and written a thesis about her. I quickly got in touch with Randolph to find out more and was delighted to meet her as she now lives in Auckland. Randolph is now an independent scholar, who enjoys researching women’s history which is how she came to write about Annie Jane. Often in NZ we only hear about the main characters in history such as Kate Sheppard but there were many more women who helped fight for women’s rights. Now I’m going to let Randolph tell you more about this fascinating women, Annie Jane.
Death Café Comes to the Unitarian ChurchListen, or download the MP3
Death Café is an event where people discuss their understanding, thoughts, and feelings about death. Barbara Thomborson will facilitate the service to enable small group discussion of questions inspired by Death Café. They include practical considerations, experiences of death, grief and loss, and cultural aspects of death.
The Answer I Wish I’d GivenListen, or download the MP3
I’m reading a talk written by Erika Hewitt entitled; The Answer I Wish I’d Given (winner of the 2009 Stewardship Sermon Award). Erika wrote a personal, heartwarming story about ‘giving’ which for her is both a statement and an expression of her faith. This story is very relevant to the old 19th century concept of ‘deserving poor’ where government employees make value judgements about who can receive help and who should be punished by withholding this help. This is very topical as now our government has announced plans for social welfare reform in NZ.
Meditation / Conversation starter
How do you handle homeless beggars and car beggars?
Why do we light a chalice in our services? It’s a strange concept, when you think about it. If it’s a cup, then ceremonial cups are usually for water or wine, not flame. How did it get started?
Today I’m splitting my musing into 2 parts. One, now, is about what we know of the history of the flaming chalice. Later, I’ll talk through an interpretation of the lit chalice, using some of the imagery associated with it. I invite you to explore with me and find what resonates for you. This is a little long, so settle in.
Speaker:- Mary Panko Worship Leader:- Barbara Thomborson
Unitarians and New Zealand’s Choice to DieListen, or download the MP3
Mary Panko, immediate past president of New Zealand’s End-of-Life Choice Society, is guest speaker on the End-of-Life Choice Act and its upcoming Parliamentary review.
Barbara Thomborson, service leader, will share Unitarian Universalist background on this controversial topic. This service is a call to action.
“..you cannot attain spiritual intelligence through numbers..” was mentioned more than once during Barbara Thomborson’s service in May. This week Kurt looks more into this tiny facet while exploring a model of a whole person – no calculators required!
Looking at a painting of a tree
Drawing a picture of a tree we would draw a trunk, add some branches and pop some leaves on.
For an artist the gaps and space between the leaves is more important and can be bigger than the tree itself. The shadow and length of the shadow help give size and weight. Feel the shade and the coolness along the path. Imagine the birds, animals and insects living in it. Hear the sound of rustling, the smell of the sap, of the composting leaves. Source of food, provider of oxygen, of shelter and warmth as wood. A concept for family lineage, unitarians may have even had a phone tree.
This type of lateral thinking is needed when we start to look at the model of a human.
Ko Kōtirana, ko Aerana, ko Ingarangi te whakapaparanga mai
Ko Owairaka to maunga
Engari, ko Titirangi te whenua tupu
I nāianei, ko Te Onewa te kāinga
Nō Tāmaki Makaurau ahau
He Kaiako au i Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa
Ko Penman-Cooney te hapu
Ko Green-Clark te whānau
Ko Mal Green toku ingoa
I am a fifth generation descendant of Scottish, Irish, English immigrants to Aoteroa. I was born in Mt Albert, grew up in Titirangi, live now in Northcote. I teach at Massey University. I come from the Penman-Cooney extended family. My immediate family is Green-Clark. I am Mal Green.
Today I will share a bit of my spiritual whakapapa.
I was born into an evangelical Christian family – a missionary evangelical family that has produced countless missionaries and pastors. The main motif in this spiritual orientation was vindictive – if you did the right things and pleased God, you were blessed; if you did the wrong things and offended God, you were damned. So, God was judgemental; the world is evil; humans are depraved; Jesus is divine. I got involved in youth clubs, performed at and produced concerts, toured with performing arts groups, ended up in church leadership, wrote pamphlets – all to spread the message.
A More Beautiful QuestionListen, or download the MP3 Meditation / Discussion questions aren’t recorded in this audio, they can be found at the bottom of this page, in the YouTube video above, or the pdf below.
Remember the scene from Alice in Wonderland where Alice asks the Cheshire Cat: “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
The Cheshire Cat answers: “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.”
Alice: “I don’t much care where—”.
And Cheshire Cat replies: “Then it doesn’t matter which way you go.”
You could argue that Alice’s was an imperfect question, not a beautiful one. She asked a question without knowing what sort of answer she wanted, or what would in fact be a useful answer. It was a question lacking purpose.
