The topics of our gatherings in Ringwood range across a broad canvas of influences, as you would expect for a Unitarian group. We have strengths in the areas of classical philosophy and living according to the Christian monastic traditions, both in community and in secular life; as well as an interest in natural religion, Buddhism, Earth Spirit and Pagan traditions, and Hinduism. But funnily enough, we rarely talk very much about Jesus the rabbi and wisdom teacher.
Nonetheless, one of our number has volunteered the following little piece that broke in on her while she was attending and participating in a Church of England service for Palm Sunday. It seems particularly relevant given the turbulent times we are currently living in, and the demands that are now surfacing for reform of the British political environment. “May you live in interesting times,” goes the old Chinese saying, and it is meant as a curse!
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“I am not a traditional, trinitarian Christian but I do find some meaning, in an unconventional way, in a Communion service. So I participate in Church of England services in my own way, and if asked I am always honest and say I am there in an interfaith capacity. Being asked why I am there, I have to say, is a very rare event. Like most churches, I think they are glad to get the numbers up and they are also sensitive to the fact that no one expects to talk very much about their own personal faith after services.
“Many of the assumptions in the prayers and usually some of the sermonised explanations I have to set aside; but there is always something for me there, if nothing more than a safe space in which to worship God in my own way.
“At the Palm Sunday service I went to, the preacher developed some queries about the fig tree cursed by Jesus, and how it was that a colt could possibly have been made available for him without his disciples being involved. (Mark, Chapter 11). At the point where the preacher started talking about the very stones crying out if the people were silenced, I was suddenly apart from the rest of the congregation as a thought broke in on me, like a lamp being switched on. And it was this:
Jesus taught how to live compassionately and all inclusively, in the service of an intimate relationship with God, in a religious and political framework that was unjust and which needed reform.
And he was obedient to his way of life, no matter the shame threatened upon him, and the pain, torture and death done to him.
That seems highly relevant today.
And I would do well to think about Jesus more often.
"So I have come back from that service with the clear intent of making the next book I read The Arian Christian Bible published in 2010 by the Institute of Metaphysical Studies, USA. In the foreword to that book, Charles D Levy says: “It is the Arian contention that the only place the spirit of Jesus exists is in his words and in the hearts of people who read those words.”
