I started thinking about this two years ago, when I was collecting evidence from people from different religions about religion in school. And quite a few of them said children should not be learning about religion in school at all until they are at high school. But other people said children should be learning about religion as soon as they start primary school. Continue reading You can have too much religion; but you can also have too little→
Singing is an act of creation, of bringing into the world something that wasn’t there before.
Singing is a natural expression of our spirit—at the same time it can be soothing, energising, crying, laughing, angelic or down in the dirt blues…it’s all good!
Singing is energy going out into the world to create even more sympathetic energy. It can change the world.
I’ll bet it was someone listening to music that first created the concept of heaven!
Desmond Tutu once said “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse, and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.”
Protest songs reject neutrality. They choose a side in opposition to all that dehumanises us. Through the power of song they call for resistance. Continue reading Jukebox Sunday 2018→
For someone of my generation change has been our reality. When I was born there were five billion fewer people on the planet. That alone would be enough to overwhelm, but it is hardly the beginning of what we have had to understand, process and absorb of a reality that literally changes daily. Take the idea of multiculturalism. Continue reading Finding the Common Good in Multiculturalism→
The Eight Hour Day is by Australian singer, songwriter, poet, John Warner, and is sung here with Margaret Walters.
Bread and Roses originated from a speech given by U.S. laabour union leader Rose Schneiderman; a line in that speech “The worker must have bread, but she must have roses, too.” (appealing for both fair wages and dignified conditions) inspired the title of the poem Bread and Roses by James Oppenheim. It is now most often sung to the tune by Mimi Fariña popularised by her sister Joan Baez.
I mostly avoided history at school. Too much reading. I like reading. Modern poetry. Shortish novels. Brevity is the soul of wit. History had great heavy tomes. So when Clay asked me to speak on Labour Weekend, I thought, “Labour Day. Hmmmm. Samuel Parnell. What exactly?” I do believe in considering how the past has got us to here, but I’m often hazy on the details. Thank goodness for the New Zealand Dictionary of Biography. And Google. And before Google, thank goodness for the index. So I invite you to join me on a journey out of the haze. Continue reading From Samuel Parnell to the future: working in union→
What does Amnesty do? We investigate and expose the facts, whenever and wherever abuses happen. We lobby governments, and other powerful groups such as companies. Making sure they keep their promises and respect international law. Each month we write letters in response to Rapid Action requests from Amnesty International. The October letter is written for the Nicaraguan student leaders and others who had been arrested and detained for exercising their rights to peaceful protest about the Nicaraguan authorities increasingly repressive strategies including promoting a Shoot to Kill Strategy and Repression of Social Protest in Nicaragua. One of the students arrested is a young medical student and cousin of a New Zealand citizen.
Duffy Books in Homes
Gary, Paul, Angela and Brenda were very happy to attend the Duffy Role Model’s Assembly at Glen Taylor School last month. Thanks to the PSJ Group and the Church’s congregation, our Church is able to provide 50% of the cost of new books distributed to the pupils at Glen Taylor School on an ongoing basis. The books given are ones that the children choose, and take home to keep. Quite a moving thought isn’t it, helping kids build up a Library of their own at home! The students were a delight and the staff welcoming. We look forward to building a closer relationship with the school’s management and students, with possible assistance in other areas. We hope to be able to bring some ideas for participation to the congregation early next year.
Pacific Dyslexia Programme
Paul reports that the Tongan dyslexia project ran well this year and has now finished as students are busy after school studying for their end of year exams. The tutors from the Library Trust we work with are looking forward to next year. In Samoa the Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture have restarted the dyslexia project on a small scale and have asked about our idea of developing a Samoan version of the Steps dyslexia programme.
A friend asked what I was preaching on this week. I told him “Dismantling Patriarchy.” He gave me an empathetic chuckle, “Well, good luck with that.”
I’m not sure what he meant by that. Easy peasy. It has only been around for the last 11,700 years of the earth’s history. Lots has changed since it took hold during the Neolithic age, sometimes called the new stone age. The Bronze age had not even happened yet. Continue reading Dismantling Patriarchy→
One of the challenges I face in selecting sermon topics is trying to find something new where I can venture into uncharted territory. So far it has been to no avail. The Teacher in Ecclesiastes was right when he said, “There is nothing new under the sun.” But ever hopeful I tried again this week. I bet no one has ever tried to find a sermon in the Hokey Pokey, or the Hokey Tokey as it is called in New Zealand. I guess the name was already taken for an ice cream. But a quick search of the interwebs revealed that any number of preachers from various faiths had given it a go. Continue reading It’s time to do the Hokey Tokey→
On Friday, while trying to get a handle on how best to approach the topic of “Telling your story, fact or fiction,” I was given a riveting example.
Like millions around the world, I was caught up in the drama of Dr Christine Blasey Ford telling her story to the Senate Judiciary Committee of being sexually assaulted by President Trump’s nominee for the United States Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh. I was deeply moved by her testimony and the price she was willing to pay to tell her story, even though the outcome of a questionable process had been fore-ordained by the Republican majority since day one. What good will telling her story do? some may ask. She has received death-threats, been forced from her home, been subject to cruel and unsubstantiated character assassination, and much more for having done so. No matter what the ultimate vote on Kavanaugh is, the prevalence of sexual assault has been exposed once again. The reasons for it having been under-reported in a patriarchal, misogynist society have been made prominently self-evident. And most importantly, it has given courage to a large number of women to now tell their story anyway. Telling your story can be liberating, for yourself, for others and for the common good. It can bring about change. Continue reading Telling your story, fact or fiction→
The Unitarian Universalist covenant on the wall includes:
the goal of world community, with peace, liberty and justice for all.
but there is a conflict there: If there’s justice for all, doesn’t that mean some people will have to be punished, with a bottom line punishment of jail. But if some have to go to jail that means that there would not be liberty for all. And our goal would be nonsense? Continue reading Does New Zealand put too many people into jail?→
