with Chris Herlihy
No text this week.
Continue reading Glen Taylor School
Glen Taylor School
Continue reading Glen Taylor School
Continue reading Glen Taylor School
Self-Reliance
with Derek Handley
No text this week.
Follow this shortcut to the bottom of the page for the Welcome, Spirit of Life, Opening & Closing Words, Postlude, Links shared during the chat.
Breakout
As we slowly begin to emerge from this pandemic lockdown, we have chances to think and behave anew when we get back out into the world.
We can choose to return on autopilot. Or we can choose NOT to do things we typically would do. We could choose to BE or NOT BE in ways we would not typically be.
Links
Words of Welcome are from the Mother’s Day Proclamation by Julia Ward Howe
Opening words are from Self-Reliance an 1841 essay by Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Closing words are A Prayer among Friends by John Daniel
Shared Links
Links were provided by church members for discussion purposes, inclusion in this list does not signify endorsement of the linked content by Auckland Unitarian Church.
- None this week!
Dead People’s Goals
with Rev. Clay Nelson
Read below, or download the PDF
Follow this shortcut to the bottom of the page for the Welcome, Spirit of Life, Opening & Closing Words, Postlude, Links shared during the chat.
Clay Nelson © 3rd May 2020
This week I’ve been musing on suffering. Cheery stuff, I know. The problem is these days it is pretty hard to avoid. We are all aware of the incomprehensible number of heartaches involved. Suffering is a boat we all share.
So yes, I think I can be forgiven for musing on suffering. In my line of work such musings lead me naturally to religious thought about the subject, for all religions have something to say, but I resonate with Buddha’s teachings most. He acknowledged, “All I teach is suffering and the end of suffering.” Suffering in his teaching does not necessarily mean only grave physical pain, but rather the mental suffering we undergo when our tendency to hold onto pleasure encounters the fleeting nature of life, and our experiences become unsatisfying and ungovernable.
Continue reading Dead People’s GoalsAmnesty International Rapid Response Letters – April 2020
Pakistan: Letter sent 22nd April 2020 to chief minister, Punjab.
Expressing concern for prisoners in overcrowded, unsanitary conditions, especially in a time of COVID.
Bangldesh: Letter sent to 18th April to Mr. Asaduzzaman Khan, MP, Minister of Home Affairs.
Concerning Shaifqul Islam Kajol, a Bangladeshi newspaper editor and photographer, who has not been seen or heard from since the day police registered a case against him and 31 others, under the highly repressive Digital Security Act. He was last seen leaving his newspaper off ice on the evening of 10 March 2020, and his family has not heard of nor seen him since then. The police have denied having him in custody, and his family fears that he could be a victim of enforced disappearance.
Russia: Letter sent 16th April 2020 to the Military Prosecutor.
Concerning Server Mustafayev, a human rights defender from Crimea, who is currently standing trial before the Southern Region Military Court and facing up to 25 years in jail if convicted. He and two of his co-defendants, Memet Belyalov and Seyran Saliyev, have recently developed the symptoms of a viral respiratory infection (VRI). Despite this, they were brought to the court and forced to spend there several hours, suffering from their medical condition and without food or water, while their hearing was ongoing. They are being denied adequate medical care.
So much to muse on, so little time
with Rev. Clay Nelson
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Follow this shortcut to the bottom of the page for the Opening & Closing Words, Spirit of Life, Postlude, Links shared during the chat.
Clay Nelson © 26th April 2020
This has been a full week.
On Monday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced that our Level 4 lockdown would drop to Level 3 in a week. The reason is most of our nearly five million citizens did their essential work: staying home in their bubble, washing their hands and when they did go out for the limited reasons allowed, kept social distance. The result is that, as of Thursday of this week, there were only 3 new cases of infection identified, 8 people in hospital and only 370 active cases.
Continue reading So much to muse on, so little timeTwo Realities
with Rev. Clay Nelson
Read below, or download the PDF
Follow this shortcut to the bottom of the page for the Opening & Closing Words, Spirit of Life, Postlude, Links shared during the chat.
Clay Nelson © 19th April 2020
My musings this week have been about the nature of reality. To my surprise I realised reality is as slippery as an eel. As the video of the woman speaking to her future self makes clear reality has no permanence. There is no guarantee that today’s reality will be tomorrow’s. Just ask Scottish author Peter May. The screenwriter-turned-novelist wrote a book titled “Lockdown” in 2005 about a global pandemic. The book was rejected by publishers at the time for being too unrealistic. Fifteen years later, that’s our reality due to coronavirus, which has so far infected at least two million people globally. That’s a million more since we celebrated Easter last Sunday. May’s book is now being published. Today’s reality has made it disturbingly realistic.
Continue reading Two RealitiesA Unitarian Easter
With Rev. Clay Nelson
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Follow this shortcut to the bottom of the page for the Opening & Closing Words, Spirit of Life, Postlude, Links shared during the chat.
Clay Nelson © 12 April 2020
One of the blessings of now being a UU minister, having moved on from Anglicanism, is I don’t have to begin an Easter talk by explaining that the events of Passover and Easter are not history. They are stories, albeit powerful ones. They are not literally true. The blood of the lamb did not protect the Hebrew people from the plague killing Egypt’s first born. The bodily resurrection of Jesus did not take place. That means I can skip right to why the stories have been told for millennia. I can jump in with both feet as to why Unitarians should still tell them, even those of us who are dyed-in-the-wool humanists who have exchanged divinity for reason. Are we open to the possibility that these stories can draw us in and transform us anyway? Are these stories just old, dusty accounts from the past or might they still have some contemporary relevance if we can just shed, even if only for today, our disbelief?
Continue reading A Unitarian EasterVirtual Random Musings
with Rev. Clay Nelson
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Follow this shortcut to the bottom of the page for the links shared during the chat, closing words, Benediction, & Postlude.
Clay Nelson © 5 April 2020
My opening words are from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Harry Potter is asked by his aunt Petunia:-
“Why were you lurking under our window?”
“Yes – yes, good point, Petunia! What were you doing under our windows, boy?” demanded his uncle.
“Listening to the news,” said Harry in a resigned voice.
His aunt and uncle exchanged looks of outrage.
“Listening to the news! Again?”
“Well, it changes every day, you see,” said Harry.”
I don’t know about you but during this time no one alive has ever experienced before it feels like the news changes every hour. Trying to keep up with the horror of the virus that shall not be named is exhausting, so last week I took time to escape into fantasy, my favourite literary genre. I binged watched all seven of the Harry Potter movies.
Continue reading Virtual Random MusingsWelcome!
The Auckland Unitarian Church is an open, progressive and welcoming faith community. We walk diverse spiritual paths to find purpose and meaning in our lives, but we are united in our belief in the inherent worth and dignity of every person.
Whatever your spiritual journey, you are welcome here.
Rev. Clay Nelson is our minister. Some Sunday sermons are delivered by members and guest speakers.
Continue reading Welcome!Virtual Morning Tea – 29th March 2020 – Shared Links
Links were provided by church members for discussion purposes, inclusion in this list does not signify endorsement of the linked content by Auckland Unitarian Church.
- From John Graves: Nikki Kaye – Covid-19 Special
- From John Graves: Derek Handley – What not to expect when you are expecting
- From John Graves: Derek Handley – Bridging the Gaps between Reality and Hope
- From John Graves : Do we KNOW any of the 64 current Auckland COVID cases?
- From John Graves: An echo of Clay’s fast and feast theme in this piece: COVID-19: The endgame, and how to get there
- From John Graves: The Eruption Of Krakatoa Was The First Global Catastrophe. “Global science” kicked off ~136 years ago.
- From John Graves: Coronavirus and the risks of ‘speed science’
- From John Graves: COVID-19 Virtual Summit – Note that ‘Singularity University’ is not an accredited university and does not provide traditional university qualifications.
- From John Graves: How can we slow the spread of COVID-19? – Amory Lovins on ways of improving the body’s immune and repair systems, including, controversially, Vitamin C.
- From Shirin Caldwell: Three weeks of lockdown in Italy has given us vital perspective – and small comforts
- From Nina Khouri: Suppression and Mitigation Strategies for Control of COVID-19 in New Zealand