How to address Mystery

Sunday Talks / Random Musings
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with Rev. Clay Nelson

How to address Mystery

Audio to come

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

Clay Nelson © 9 May 2021

My first academic assignment in seminary is still very much a part of my memory. The reason is that it made me wonder if I was cut out for this new path I was taking. I was to write an essay on Rudolph Otto’s work The Idea of the holy. Otto, an early 20th century German theologian, argued that the holy was to be addressed with fear and trembling, which he called awe. I know I was a neophyte theologian but I did not get his conclusions. They did get clearer years later when George W Bush attacked Iraq with “Shock and Awe”. That was definitely an Old Testament kind of holy. But anger, vengeance, oppression, and indiscriminate genocide do not instil me with awe. Ever since then, I have wrestled with the idea of the holy.

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Help a Kid to Camp – Thank You!!

Fundraising, Glen Taylor School, Help a Kid to Camp
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Thanks to everyone for the tremendous support for this campaign! 

Through your efforts, church members have sponsored 43 Year 7 & 8 Glen Taylor School students to the school camp at Kawau Island held later this month.  Sponsorship for these students is very much appreciated, and the school’s Principal, Chris Herlihy, sends huge thanks to all! 

Read the original appeal for more about this campaign

Universal Worship

Workshops
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with representatives from the major world faiths.

7:15PM, Friday 7th May 2021

Inviting people of all faiths to join us for a special service celebrating our unity and spiritual friendship across the differences of race, culture and beliefs.

Universal Worship is an inclusive service spreading the message of the underlying unity of religion. It intends to foster harmony, respect and understanding amongst the faith communities.

Universal Worship includes sacred music and readings from the scriptures of the worlds major religions.

Maybe: Outgrowing our past

Sunday Talks / Random Musings
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with Rev. Clay Nelson

Maybe: Outgrowing our past

Audio to come

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

Clay Nelson © 2 May 2021

One of the more influential, life-shaping memories I store in my dishevelled filing cabinet of a brain, is reading King Lear when I was 16. It may have been my first in-depth encounter with the Bard of Avon. While I can give a basic outline of Shakespeare’s tragic play, it is not the story itself that haunts me, but one particular interchange between Lear and his Fool. The Fool tells him, “Thou shouldst not have been old till thou hadst been wise.”

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Crafting for the Tree Council

Craftivism
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Craftivist Companions have completed our Living Wage Campaign. There is a poster on the notice board of some of our work, and there are some “graffiti” pieces hanging in the local neighbourhood. Have you spotted them?

Our current project is in support of the Tree Council. We are making 120 brooches with the theme of celebrating trees, one for each member of parliament. We will send them with a letter to appeal to them to act to protect our trees. If you would like to make a brooch please ask Kay, Corrine or Pien for some tips.

Even better, join us at 7.30 on Thursday evenings, at the church.

Keeping the Peace

ANZAC, Sunday Talks / Random Musings
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with Rev. Clay Nelson

Keeping the Peace (Edited)
You can find the unedited livestream at https://youtu.be/UnYYf_o9COA
Listen, or download the MP3

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.

Te Raukura

Te Raukura is an important symbol to the tribes who affiliate to the Taranaki rohe.  This symbol is captured in the form of a white feather, or a plume of white feathers.  Te Raukura represents spiritual, physical, and communal harmony and unity.  It is an acknowledgement of a higher spiritual power, which transcends itself upon earth.  It is a symbol of faith, hope, and compassion for all of humankind and the environment that we live in.

There are various accounts of how the Raukura feather became such a significant symbol to the people of Taranaki. One such account refers to a gathering of people at Parihaka who witnessed an albatross landing on one of its courtyards, dropping a single feather before departing.   This feather became the Raukura, and was honoured by Tohu Kakahi and Te Whiti-o-Rongomai, the prophetic leaders of Parihaka, and its community.

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What Good are Pupfish?

Climate Action, Sunday Talks / Random Musings
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with Rev. Clay Nelson

What Good are Pupfish?
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Follow this shortcut to the bottom of the page for the various readings, videos, etc. shared in the service.

Clay Nelson © 18 April 2021

The following tale has been abridged and brutally edited by me in the interest of time. It is from a chapter in Elizabeth Kolbert’s book “Under a White Sky”.

A couple of weeks before the Christmas of 1849, William Lewis Manly climbed to a mountain pass and beheld “the most wonderful picture of grand desolation one could ever see.” Manly was standing in what’s now southwestern Nevada with an empty stomach and a dry and parched throat.” Manly found himself wandering the desert owing to a series of unfortunate decisions. Hoping to reach the gold fields in Northern California they took a detour that led into some of the most inhospitable terrain on the continent.

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School Strike for Climate – Learning from our Children

Climate Action, Inclusive Values Education (Children's Programme), Sunday Talks / Random Musings
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with members of the Children’s Committee – Joel Hildebrandt, Tess Brothersen, Ann Blyth, Judy Lightstone, and of course our children.

Inter-Generational Service
School Strike for Climate – Learning from our Children

Audio to come

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

Tess Brothersen © 18 April 2021

“We, the young, are deeply concerned about our future. Humanity is currently causing the sixth mass extinction of species and the global climate system is at the brink of a catastrophic crisis. Its devastating impacts are already felt by millions of people around the globe. Yet we are far from reaching the goals of the Paris agreement.

Continue reading School Strike for Climate – Learning from our Children →

Help a Kid to Camp

Fundraising, Glen Taylor School, Help a Kid to Camp
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The Help a Kid to Camp campaign for Glen Taylor School is a request for sponsorship to enable students in this decile 1a school to attend a school camp on Kawau Island in May this year.

You can read all about it on the sponsorship form.

If you want to sponsor a student, then we ask that you:-

  • donate to the church’s account, Auckland Unitarian Church, 02 0100 0024691 00 and reference the donation as “Kids Camp”
  • Return the sponsorship form to:- psj@aucklandunitarian.org.nz, or to Gary or Brenda on a Sunday morning.

The Peace & Social Justice Group will send the sponsorship forms into Glen Taylor School so that sponsors can be matched with a student. 

The campaign finishes Friday 7th May, and we ask that all sponsorship donations are made before that date.