Seeking refuge in hope

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Rev. Clay Nelson

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Opening words are A Portrait of a Dog as an Older Guy, by Katia Kapovich.

Rev. Clay Nelson © 10th December 2017

When I first arrived in New Zealand there was a kiwi-ism that greatly troubled me… “She’ll be right.” It threw me as I can’t think of an equivalent aphorism from my native tongue. Of course, in a country that could make Trump president, that’s not so surprising.

What I like about it is its optimism. Continue reading Seeking refuge in hope →

What are we waiting for?

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Rev. Clay Nelson

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Opening words are First comes the waiting, by Erika A. Hewitt.

Rev. Clay Nelson © 3rd December 2017

Christians are celebrating the First Sunday of Advent today, one of the four Sundays before Christmas. As Unitarians, it is fair to ask, why do we care? Well, because Advent is all about celebrating waiting. Continue reading What are we waiting for? →

Counting for nothing

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Rachel Mackintosh, Vice-President, New Zealand Council of Trade Unions – Te Kauae Kaimahi.

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Opening words: The Black Unicorn – Audre Lorde

Rachel Mackintosh © 26 November 2017

“When we speak we are afraid our words will not be heard or welcomed. But when we are silent, we are still afraid. So it is better to speak.” Audre Lorde

In 2012, a woman called Kristine Bartlett had been working as a carer in the aged care sector for 19 years. Her pay rate was a whisper above the minimum wage. She had this in common with tens of thousands of care workers throughout New Zealand. So far, so ordinary.

She describes herself – in retrospect – as having been a quiet person at the time. She didn’t consider that she had too much to say.

Nevertheless, she went to court and she spoke. Continue reading Counting for nothing →

How many atheists does it take to change a lightbulb?

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David Hines

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David Hines © 19 November 2017

I’m relatively new to being an atheist. I took that step in my mind back in 1986 …. but it was mixed in with my Christianity….. and I didn’t join an atheist organisation till five years ago … so I’m speaking today as a learner. And I want to focus on what difference it makes to our lives. Because atheists, Christians, humanists, Jews have a lot in common, which is possibly more important than the things where they are different. Continue reading How many atheists does it take to change a lightbulb? →

Reclaiming the Common

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Rev. Clay Nelson

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Rev. Clay Nelson © 12th November 2017

This week has been an uncommon one for me. I spent the first three days as a guest speaker at the Sea of Faith Conference in Upper Hutt. I was joined by six members or friends of this congregation. The focus was on the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. The structure was for each of the four keynote addresses to be followed by small group discussions of the questions raised by the talk. Continue reading Reclaiming the Common →

Flower Communion

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Rev. Clay Nelson

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Rev. Clay Nelson © 5th November 2017

Introduction to the Flower Communion Service

In 1870, in the last days that Czechoslovakia was ruled by the Austrians, a poor village tailor and his wife lived with their only son. They named him for the saint’s day he was born on, Norbert. The couple having little money for proper food or schooling, sent him to live with his Uncle Victor in Vienna. Continue reading Flower Communion →

Media Coverage

Indian Students fighting for Justice, Media Coverage
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Indian Weekender

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Día de los muertos

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Rev. Clay Nelson

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Rev. clay Nelson © 29 October 2017

Decades before he was diagnosed with cancer, the late, great Unitarian preacher Forrest Church described religion as “our human response to the dual reality of being alive and having to die.”

Día de los muertos is a celebration of that reality. Continue reading Día de los muertos →

2017 ANZUUA CONFERENCE

ANZUUA, Unitarian Universalist Association - International
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Unitarian Church of South Australia. Unitarian Meeting House, 99 Osmond Terrace, NORWOOD SA 5067
Unitarian Church of South Australia. Unitarian Meeting House, 99 Osmond Terrace, NORWOOD SA 5067

The 2017 ANZUUA Conference was held in Adelaide, South Australia, over the weekend of 20-22nd October.

The theme of the 2017 conference is ‘How Unitarianism flourishes and grows in Australasia’. The keynote address “Religion in Australia: Decline or Quiet Revolution?” was given by Dr Hugh Mackay, a social researcher and the author of sixteen books – ten in the field of social psychology and ethics, and six novels. His latest book, Beyond Belief was published in 2016, and his sixth novel, Infidelity, was published in 2013.

  Continue reading 2017 ANZUUA CONFERENCE →

How many white lies is too many?

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David Hines

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David Hines © 22 October 2017

Introduction

I got a surprise recently to count how many white lies I had told in a single week, or deliberate evasions to keep people in the dark and my score was five. I should add a couple to that for the times when other people said things that were wrong; and I zipped my lip, and deliberately left them with a false impression, because the truth was not something I was not ready to talk about with those people.

And of course there have been dozens of these white lies in the media over the couple of months of the election campaign. Continue reading How many white lies is too many? →