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
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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.

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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.

Intergenerational service celebrating Earth Day

Inclusive Values Education (Children's Programme)
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We invite people of all ages to join us for our intergenerational service:-

this Sunday, 18 April, at 10.00am at the church, to celebrate Earth Day.

The children will perform and lead us in a sing-along and there will be a few surprises — ways for us all to honour and celebrate our home planet. So come and join in the fun!

Update:- Follow this link for the video, text, and more about this service.

More about Earth Day    Background image by purwakawebid

Time travel 101: Does the past and the future reside only in the now?

Sunday Talks / Random Musings
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with Rev. Clay Nelson

Time Travel 101:
The past and the future reside only in the now
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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 © 11 April 2021

The Sankofa Bird

Sankofa comes from the Twi language of Ghana in West Africa. A common English translation is “go back and get it.” The sankofa bird is an example of adinkra. Adinkra symbols make up a highly symbolic language—similar to Egyptian hieroglyphics. They are common among the Akan people of Ghana, and have made their way into the wider African diaspora. The symbols express complex thoughts and proverbs. The sankofa bird’s head faces backward as it attempts to catch its lost egg in its mouth. Its feet face forward. One translation is, “It is not wrong to go back for that which you have lost,” or “that which was taken.” Learn your past so that it may guide your actions in the present for the purpose of shaping the future. Another translation: “remember the past to protect the future.”

Whether it is a story about Rip Van Winkle or A Wrinkle in Time, sentient and self-aware beings cannot escape their enchantment with time. It wasn’t only Unitarian Charles Dickens who used time travel as a device to offer Scrooge redemption by visits to his Christmas’ past, present and future. Time like threads woven into the warp and weft of our lives connects us and all that followed the big bang. Tracing those threads as we seek to know where they lead has been a human endeavour since the ancient past.

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Whānau day – Easter 2021

Easter, Inclusive Values Education (Children's Programme)
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We have decided to hold regular Whanau/Family Gathering Days throughout
the year and invite you to join us. Unitarian spirituality is all about
connection and building community.

Our first Whanau Day was held this Easter Sunday, 4 April 2021 (see slideshow below). The whole congregation were invited to a nearby member’s home and in the park behind their house, to play, share food, music, conversation, and, of course, to hunt for eggs.

Adults having fun tooAdults having fun too
Hunting for Easter EggsHunting for Easter Eggs
Adults having fun tooAdults having fun too
Hunting for Easter EggsHunting for Easter Eggs
Adults having fun tooAdults having fun too
Hunting for Easter EggsHunting for Easter Eggs
Adults having fun tooAdults having fun too
Hunting for Easter EggsHunting for Easter Eggs
Adults having fun tooAdults having fun too
Hunting for Easter EggsHunting for Easter Eggs
Adults having fun tooAdults having fun too

Great fun, great weather, great company, a great day was had by all.

Coming up soon we will have an intergenerational service in honour of Earth
Day on 18 April at 10 am. All are welcome. Please join us!

The Emptiness of Easter

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

The Emptiness of Easter
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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.

Clay Nelson © 4 April 2021

There is no getting around it. Our rationalist faith doesn’t “get” Easter. We get Christmas. Jesus was born. We get Good Friday. Jesus died. We don’t get Easter. If we think about it at all, we struggle with the idea of resurrection. Our first reaction is to dismiss what we don’t understand or can’t relate to. Even if we know the stories about Jesus’ last week in Jerusalem, what Christians celebrate as Holy Week, they can feel old, dusty and irrelevant to our lives. Too much suspension of disbelief is required to take them any more seriously than fairy tales. As a result, many Unitarians find Easter as empty of meaning as the tomb. Why bother going to the effort to roll back the stone? There is nothing to see … or is there?

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