The gathering on 8th April was given as an opportunity
for one of our newer participants to lead on a topic of her choosing. When someone has shown an interest and has participated
with us we feel it is right to extend that invitation, in the Unitarian ethos
of spiritual exploration in the setting of a community. We make the invitation
knowing that this may be the only safe space someone has experienced in which
they can speak.
A community setting intrinsically requires
acknowledgement that each is on their own journey and that those journeys weave
together in a narrative, a dialogue, a time for speaking and a time for listening,
as well as a time for reflection, integration and - of course - rejection
of ideas. We are always grateful when
someone takes the personal risk necessary to speak out, but we are under no
obligation to agree with what they say. And because we differ, it is quite likely that what
one finds to be “the answer” means very little in the context of another’s
life. The responsibility, as in any
conversation, lies with both speaker and listeners, to make what they will of
what is being said on that day.
On Sunday, it became clear that our speaker has the sense, after some journeying, that she has arrived at a waypoint. She has marked that waypoint by collecting together her findings and the guidance she has received – in a website, as it happens – and it was from that store that she spoke at our gathering.
On Sunday, it became clear that our speaker has the sense, after some journeying, that she has arrived at a waypoint. She has marked that waypoint by collecting together her findings and the guidance she has received – in a website, as it happens – and it was from that store that she spoke at our gathering.
In a move unusual for our meetings, the speaker
set aside the published framework for our gatherings. In case you are wondering, groups meeting
under the Unitarian umbrella are at liberty to set their own format and content, so it is not unknown for some fairly innovative forms of gathering to emerge,
depending on which congregation you come across. Generally, though, if you come to a meeting
of Didymus (Unitarians in Ringwood), you can get an idea beforehand of what to
expect by looking at the tab “What we do when we meet" on
this blog.
