Revisiting an old but constantly renewing form of worship gathering – Unitarians in Ringwood experiment with Iona liturgy

We were delighted to welcome Angelica from the Chapel in the Garden (the Unitarian Church in Bridport https://thechapelinthegarden.com/services/  ) as our president for the day.

Angelica chose to structure the event around the liturgy for Morning Prayer used worldwide by those connected with the Iona Community.  The full words are available for purchase here Iona Books  and an example of how it can be participated in by people world wide is available here (a daily YouTube broadcast) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NCiw2S6fss

(  What is the Iona Community?  )

A regional Unitarian Minister remarked recently that accessing the beating heart of any community of faith – and in fact any attempt at spiritual progress –  must begin with contrition.  And so it was interesting that we found ourselves invited,

“Trusting in God’s forgiveness, 

Let us in silence confess our failings

And acknowledge our part in the pain of the world…..”

Further, this acknowledgement involved turning, not inwards, not to a priest, not to an altar, but to one another, to confess our failings in turning away from God, our wounding of our own lives, and our wounding of the lives of others, and the world.

We were invited to see God’s goodness at the heart of humanity planted more deeply than all that is wrong.

There were three Bible readings, set out in the Revised Common Lectionary for the fourth Sunday of Easter (21 April 2024)

– Acts 4:5-12


– 1 John 3:16-24

– John 10:11-18

Two readings were dealing with the ever whirling question about who Jesus was – who he said he was, who his disciples said he was.  And the third dealt with what a suitable response to Jesus is.  You will not be surprised to hear that we are advised to love one another and to abide in the instructions that he gave.

We were also adventurous enough to sing along with some worship songs new to us, and there was space and time for us to light candles and name what was in our hearts and minds that day.

Everyone felt able to participate in this service, which was refreshingly short by our standards, allowing plenty of time after the formal proceedings to talk further about what we had experienced, and to get to know each other a little better.