with Rev. Clay Nelson

and the occasional comment from Waldo.

Read below, or download the PDF

Follow this shortcut to the bottom of the page for the Spirit of Life, Time for All Ages, Opening & Closing Words, Postlude, Links shared during the chat.

Clay Nelson © 24th May 2020

I’ve been musing on how long-range planning has become nothing more than wondering what might happen next week. Certainly, one vocation that has little future is that of futurist. Wikipedia defines a futurist as someone whose speciality or interest is futurology or the attempt to systematically explore predictions and possibilities about the future and how they can emerge from the present, whether that of human society in particular or of life on Earth in general.

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.

What callings or signals have you been hearing, in amongst the stillness of recent weeks, that you would like to make more of an effort to honour instead of perhaps brush aside?

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!

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.

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.

with Rev. Clay Nelson

Read below or download the PDF

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.