Harvest-time – a time of fruition – remembering the sacred meal #unitarians

The time of fruition came, the crowning glory.

The all, complete entirety, the dance, the great unfolding, the source and rule of all that is, radiant and breathing through the great teacher Jesus, said this to humankind, to us:

I am realized, I am embodied.

Take, eat: this here, this now – this is my Body which is given for you.

Remember thisness as often as you eat; set your self down – as you would set down a plate on a table – to clear the way for me to claim you and nourish you.

All of you, drink of this: this here, this now –

 this is my Lifeblood which is given for you.

Remember thisness as often as you drink; hold out your self – as you would hold out a chalice to the jug – to clear the way for me to claim you and fill you.

Set your self down and offer your self up,

And I will claim you.

Different Religions, Different Approaches at our gathering in March 2019 - #Unitarians mustn't sideline studying different faiths - thinking as well as experiencing has its place

At our gathering on 10 March we held a service designed with children in mind, though the children’s story was - like the best stories - multi-layered, with several messages for adults to unpick during the week to come.

Our gathering picked up on an aspect of the life of communities of faith that seemed to have been missing from the recent Festival of Unitarians in the South East, which we had attended as a group.  That aspect was a journey into comparative religion, or comparison of different theological perspectives from different world faiths.

We started with a Pagan creed, written by one of our own number, then heard readings from the Baha’i and Hindu faiths. We considered several points.

The first point was the particular theological difference highlighted in the two readings, namely that the Baha’i faith considers God the Creator to be completely distinct and separate from the created universe, with the two not in any way to be equated.  By contrast, the Hindu faith sees the ultimate creating principle, Brahman, to exist as Atman inside all that is created; and that a person who realises the Atman within has also realised Brahman, so may in all seriousness declare, “I am God.”  This may chime with some of the sayings of Jesus and other mystics, whose words are recorded in such a way sometimes to be unclear as to who is speaking.

Shrine of Bahā'u'llāh, the prophet of the Baha'i faith, in Acre, Israel

We also heard that whereas Western Christianity as known during the late Middle Ages seemed to stand definitively with the Baha’is on this issue, St Francis of Assisi challenged this with his reverence for all things created; and his legacy has come through to the present day.  Franciscan teachers such as Richard Rohr and those likeminded in his community feel able to make statements such as this, in the present day (the link below the image is to the source website):

https://cac.org/gods-body-2019-03-03/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2019-03-09%20DM%20Weekly&utm_content=2019-03-09%20DM%20Weekly+CID_a784b5dcb22d7cdb73902e25b33211c0&utm_source=Campaign%20Monitor%20Google%20Analytics&utm_term=Sunday

The second point considered was that when people of two theologies come into contact with each other, there are (at least) two possible reactions.  Religious people who are conservative in their approach may set up barriers in order not to dilute their message for the sake of certainty, and to keep their identity clear.  Religious people who are liberal (progressive) in their approach may seek to include both theologies in order to prevent boundaries being set up and to include more people.  We explored that as well as benefits, there are costs associated with each approach.  The actions of religious conservatives may instigate conflict.  The actions of religious liberals will require change within the group to accommodate new ideas, which is hard work, and can give rise to uncertainty regarding identity and who belongs.  We owe these ideas to Jonathan Haidt.  https://www.ted.com/talks/jonathan_haidt_on_the_moral_mind#t-185395

The third point we looked at is the idea that being conversant with a range of different world faith theologies and concepts makes one multi-lingual in terms of religion.  As with languages of the world: some things can be said in one language that simply cannot be said in another language.  People who can only speak one language find this hard to grasp, but bilingual families will recognise this very well.  For much more on this fascinating subject see David Bellos Is That A Fish In Your Ear? Translation and the meaning of everything https://www.bookdepository.com/Is-That-Fish-Your-Ear-Professor-French-Studies-David-Bellos/9780865478763?ref=grid-view&qid=1552404573799&sr=1-2

If we can speak the lingo of another faith then, even with people whose theologies we cannot share, we can have some extremely interesting and civilised conversations. And more personally, in having a variety of different ways of speaking about faith we have a richer vocabulary in which to speak about the religious experience.

Rev Bill Darlison (a Unitarian Minister) has also touched on the idea of one’s early received religion as one’s mother tongue, in his book of essays The Penultimate Truth and Other Incitements https://www.bookdepository.com/The-Penultimate-Truth-and-Other-Incitements-Bill-Darlison/9781846858062

Woven into all this thinking in our gathering, we also did some experiencing.  We experienced our usual silent ritual of making a circle with a candle, bread, water, and a fan of feathers.  We sang a couple of hymns from our green hymn books, held a seven minute silence for meditation or prayer as we each needed, and lit candles of joy and concern.

Just what IS the Good News, which the Bible speaks of? - #Unitarian view based on Isaiah and Mark

At our gathering last Sunday we were led by the president for the day to consider change to be the source of our hope for the future.  This report is one response to what was presented.

After gathering words by Rev Dr Linda Hart, and prayer based on words from John D Caputo, we had two readings, a musical interlude, a time of silent meditation and a simple ritual for those who wanted it.  And we sang two hymns.

But for me, this time, it was the readings that made it a gathering to remember.

First, there was a short reading from the Old Testament of the Christian Bible, Book of Isaiah chapter 52 verses 7 to 15, starting with: ‘How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion: “Your God reigns!”’

And the second reading came from the New Testament of the Christian Bible, Book of Mark chapter 1 verses 1 to 15, ending with: ‘Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God.  “The time has come,” he said.  “The kingdom of God has come near.  Repent and believe the good news!”’

Now I was immediately engaged with this combination of readings. I have long been told that “gospel” means “good news”, but for me all sorts of churches have been very woolly about exactly what the good news is.  For the most part, churches seem to say that the arrival of Jesus himself was the good news.  But when reading the New Testament I feel short-changed on that.  Whilst Jesus speaks several times of the Good News, he did not ever say anything like that.  Verses in the New Testament are more along the lines of ‘Jesus and his disciples went around preaching the good news’, without actually saying what that good news is.  The closest I have ever got to understanding it is in the Book of Luke, chapter 10, in which Jesus gives instructions to his followers to go out and spread the message.  He says (verse 9) that they are to say to people that “the Kingdom of God has come near to you.”  And in a reinforcing teaching in Luke chapter 17 verses 20 and 21, Jesus says:

`20 Some Pharisees asked Jesus when the Kingdom of God would come. His answer was, “The Kingdom of God does not come in such a way as to be seen. 21 No one will say, ‘Look, here it is!' or, ‘There it is!'; because the Kingdom of God is within you.”’ 

What happened on Sunday was that at last someone was giving me a clear idea about what the good news actually is.  It felt to me that the idea being put to us was that the good news is about God, not about Jesus.  That Isaiah was saying that the good news is that God is in charge and will comfort ruined people and redeem the brokenness.  And that, moving forward in time, when Jesus was talking about spreading the good news, he was repeating the news of Isaiah - that God is in charge and will mend brokenness - but over and above what Isaiah said, what Jesus said was that actually there’s no special time nor place for that, because that action of God is available all the time, inside each person.

What our leader for the day has helpfully provided me, for this report, is this:

"Essentially: we are living in a world where bad things happen, unjust things, terrible things.  For all the good and the beauty that we see, there is a constant threat of it all coming to a sudden and sticky end. And that is all we have ever known.

Yet right there with that, there is a voice saying that this isn't the way it is meant to be. Right there with all the misery, there is that relentless call to make things better, to change ourselves and the world we live in.  Sometimes it is gentle and sometimes it roars in the thunder.

The Good News we are called to believe in, right here, right now, is that, despite all the evidence to the contrary, things can be better, we can be better; and that no matter how often we fall, how often we fail, we can get back up.

That call, to a place where the voice that demands better is heard and made real, is the Kingdom brought near.  

And experiencing change in ourselves, and believing in that Good News, is ‘that which we call God’ happening in us, and to us, and through us."

I’m really grateful for the connections of thought that we heard on Sunday.  Wisdom teachers through the ages have taught us that there is always a way back from knots and disorder, to order and peace.  And that the changes we may experience in ourselves as we travel that way back may often look and feel like behaviours of compassion, humility, renunciation and attentiveness; attentiveness to the needs of those around us as well as to our own.  But surely these come later: the first step is to act on what Jesus and others have said: to trust the Good News that “change is possible and that things can be made better.”