What is #Unitarian Christianity?

Within the broad sweep of Unitarian chapels, fellowships and congregations today there are some that proudly uphold the liberal Christian tradition - from which many other Unitarian strands of thought have sprung in the last eighty years.  So whilst the scope of Unitarianism in UK did broaden in the 20th century, the baby has most decidedly not been thrown out with the bathwater.

So what is Unitarian Christianity, as understood today in UK?  The following is an extract of a sermon by Douglas Reynolds to Unitarian congregations of Kidderminster and Dudley in 2017 and 2018, respectively.
I'm grateful to the Unitarian Christian Association for making this available.  For more on UCA, see the link here  http://www.ukunitarians.org.uk/christian/

"...We see from these points of differentiation that there is a distinct Unitarian form of Christianity.  It is a Christianity that sets aside the doctrine of the Trinity, experiences God as indwelling the human, is Pelagian in that it affirms the fundamental goodness of humanity, and exhorts good deeds, not creeds.

"It is universalist, as it affirms salvation for all.  Like Christianity in general, it originated in the teachings, ministry and ethics of the historical Jesus.  It values the relationship between Jesus and God, and his faithfulness unto death.  The phenomenon of the Resurrection is left to the individual to interpret according to one's understanding of the event. 

"It also takes on board the religious insights of the evangelists, the Apostle Paul and the authors of the other documents of the New Testament, together with insights given in the Old Testament, but at the same time, it is freed from the shackles of discarded dogma.  It remains open to reason, science, the individual conscience and the insights of other faiths, and that of religious humanism."

Douglas Reynolds

#Unitarians look at Roman legend and Norse tradition to consider the moral imperative regarding conflicting demands

On 9 June a smaller group than usual met at Ringwood Meeting House, for what turned out to be, nevertheless, a heartfelt gathering.

Our hymns for the day were “Morning Has Broken” and “Joy to the World” - a rousing hymn to end on and we decided that it is too good to be kept for Christmas!

After opening words from Rev David Usher we lit the chalice candle to words by Greg Ward, notably including , "Though each of us carries forth in this world a small flame, we know that the ability of that light to brighten the world depends upon the many others who learn to walk with it in their hearts.”

Our two readings were intriguingly diverse.  The first was from Northern Tradition for the Solitary Practitioner by Krasskova & Kaldera, and it spoke of the concept of wergild.  At first glance this may look a little like the Roman Catholic idea of restitutions.  But wergild rests not on the idea of justice but of balance. The distinction is that for justice there is a person in the right and a person in the wrong and the latter has to pay the former in order to be made right again, but the idea of balance does not begin with one being in the right and the other in the wrong.  Wergild assumes that in the world, where there are conflicts of interest, some will come off better than others; and if one has come off better there is a moral duty to be aware of that and to find a way to recompense those who came off worse. The Roman Catholic restitutions concept is a making of amends; the wergild concept aims at preventing one conflict leading to another and another and another, ad infinitum.

By Hermitage Museum - http://www.arthermitage.org/Baldassare-Peruzzi/Androcles-and-the-Lion.html, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34591039

The second reading, which was our children’s story, was the legend of Androcles and the Lion, as told by Aesop.  Androcles the runaway slave is brave enough to pull a thorn from a lion’s paw, saving the lion from painful suffering and, perhaps, death through infection; and is later saved from the punishment of death in the Roman arena, because the lion he faces there turns out to be the same lion, who refuses to kill him.

After the readings we participated in our usual circle ritual, where we each offer up in our own minds, according to our personal beliefs.

We had then the opportunity

• to name what we had been grateful for in the past month;
• to spend time reflecting on our recent or past actions for the purposes of general or personal reconciliation, in silence or out loud as desired;
• to sit in stillness for our usual period of seven minutes for meditation or contemplation; and
• to offer prayers for others, including the lighting of candles.

After a musical interlude and some reflections on the theme highlighted by the two readings, our closing words were by Rev Andy Pakula.

Abiding messages from a period of lectio divina focused on life, death and neighbours

I have just completed over two years reading the words written by Rowan Williams in Silence and Honey Cakes, using the ancient discipline known as lectio divina – ‘Divine Reading’.

What is lectio divina?

What we read is divine – we encounter a passage of scripture to see in it God’s word for us – and

How we read is divine – we read prayerfully, moved by Spirit – we let the text come to us, un-queried, unedited – seeking  to be addressed by what we read, and to respond to that interrogation.

There are four movements to lectio divina:

• We  read – slowly and unedited
• We meditate – we enter deeply into the meaning of the text
• We pray – we respond to God in the light of this meaning
• We contemplate – we simply rest in the presence of God without further words

Looking back over this long exercise, these rather random and not very coherent snippets (slightly adapted in places) will be the abiding messages for me:

“…. a person who is wholly self-consistent, whose identity is completely bound up with the calling to live in God…..”

“…..because of our baptism into life, we are bound to the patient, long-term discovery of what grace, life, will do with us…..”

“Do not take short cuts around the processes of real personal exchange.”

“Intimacy with God is both the fruit and the course of living together.”

“The goal is reconciliation with God by way of truth and mercy.”

“At the moment when we reveal a sibling’s fault, God reveals our own.”

“Withdraw from everything that helps imprison the neighbour.”

“The problem of myself will not just go away or solve itself or get solved by a new environment.”

“….. the temptation to think that going somewhere else will make things easier….”

“Becoming vulnerable before God is the heart of transformation, which we are by no means sure we want, if that is what it costs.”

“Without silence we shan’t get any closer to knowing who we are before God.”

Hosting the Southern #Unitarian Association gathering on 1 June in the New Forest

Last Saturday, 1 June 2019, we were delighted to host the quarterly gathering of the Southern Unitarian Association.  At Burley Village Hall, nearby in the New Forest, we held a worship service and a drumming workshop for people who came from far and wide to be with us.  

The service was a flower communion, and it started with a Jewish anthem calling people to praise.  Everyone brought themselves to the circle of worship with a flower, which early on in the service was placed in a vase on the centre table.  We had words of gathering from Rev Andy Pakula and lit the Unitarian chalice candle while singing to a recorded chant by David Kent.  Our scripture for the day was from the Isha Upanishad v 1-6, speaking of the fullness of reality, the nearness of the ultimate reality, and the unity of reality.

We were reminded that our heritage as Unitarians means that we recognise there is no single, complete, entire, correct way to God.  The variety of the flowers in the centre was used as a metaphor for that.  And the meditation on the Names, shown elsewhere on this blog, was read aloud.

After some minutes of silence to listen to what was in our hearts, we had some readings.  The first was a piece by Rowan Williams on the need for stability, combined with the gifts of many different talents, if a church is to do the work of God.  The second was a poem (translator unknown) by Rainer Maria Rilke, suggesting the words God speaks to each of us as we are made.  We heard the song “Love, Serve and Remember” written and sung by John Astin, which is based on eastern teachings. (For more on John Astin and his associates see http://www.integrativearts.com )

We were invited to discuss with the person next to us our personal style of activism in the world, using the parable “Six Monks” (see here https://www.patheos.com/blogs/fieldnotesonliving/2019/04/29/the-six-monks/  )

Then we turned our minds to what the Southern Unitarian Association is - an association of congregations. So the SUA is nothing if there are no congregations.  We heard, responded to and reflected on the hopes, wishes and dreams for the SUA listed by those who were at the preceding SUA gathering.  And we were challenged by the following questions:

Why do we keep coming here?

Why do we keep going to our congregation’s gatherings

 and services?

Is it because we hope?

Is it because we get satisfaction? - if so, how and why

Is it because we get purpose?

Is it because we get clarity and order? - if so how and why

Is it a running away?

Is it a running towards?

Why do we keep coming?

Think about these questions yourself

Take them back to your congregations

Ask the same questions there

Only by sharing openly these big questions will we properly connect at a deeper level with each other

Only by sharing openly these big questions will we develop

 our congregations.

The worship closed with a meditation by Rev Tony McNeile, after which everyone collected a flower - a different flower - from the vase in the centre to take away with them.  We finished with a hymn from the green hymn book “Our Kindred Fellowships”.

Between the service and the drumming workshop there was a Climate Emergency lunch, all vegetable based, which was much enjoyed by all, whether or not they had previously eaten much vegan food.  Some of the food had been bought in from a vegan cafe in Christchurch https://www.goodintentionscafe.co.uk   There was also the opportunity to take a quiz online to assess one’s personal carbon footprint  https://footprint.wwf.org.uk/#/

The drumming workshop was led by Heike from Southbourne, and it fully lived up to its promise.  Getting absorbed in the rhythm, we found we really did stop using our thinking minds and instead went back to being creative in some unexpected ways.  Most enjoyable and thoroughly recommended. https://www.heikedrumshare.com

People felt they needed to express their appreciation for the day, so a collection was taken for the Ringwood Foodbank.