On 21 July we were delighted to welcome Mary Jones, Lay Leader in Training with Portsmouth Unitarians, and to have Mary lead our gathering.
Mary had been commissioned to go to the Annual Meetings of the General Assembly of Unitarians and Free Christians in Northampton in April, as the delegate for the Southern Unitarian Association. And in leading our gathering on 21 July, Mary brought back the messages from the Annual Meetings, and specifically from the Anniversary Service, which is always the high point of the whole event.
The theme of our gathering was “The Ring of Hope”, and it included a story adapted from Jewish tradition regarding the strength of belief and how it can warp our vision; a poem from climate activist and author Claire Rousell, “Being Good Ancestors”; a blessing from Maori tradition; and a discussion in the round regarding what we can see of the future facing our grandchildren and their children. We also had a number of hymns from our purple hymnbooks (thanks to the Portsmouth congregation for the loan of them), and a beautiful rendition of a song by Sir Elton John, taken from the film Moulin Rouge.
It was Mary’s optimistic view that when we see good change in our own lives, we can have hope for good change in other’s lives, and she took great pleasure in taking much inspiration from the Address given by Rev Ant Howe at the Anniversary service. It was a rich homily and hard to précis, but if you are prepared to do a little work (and make a small donation, if you like?) you can download a magazine that includes a brilliant write up of Ant’s Address, at Issue 8081 of The Inquirer, here https://www.inquirer.org.uk/pages/samples (cover shown in image below).
The take home point was : for those who crave a space to contend with life’s big problems, a way to connect with their spirituality, and a community with which to do that, they can still find that with us. Within our Unitarian faith, there is a way of being religious and a community to share the journey with, that can be thing some souls are searching for — and we are not dead yet. The task now is to wake up, strengthen what remains, and move forward, because people do need our faith.
And with that in mind it was lovely, afterwards, to recall that the next regional gathering of Unitarians and their friends will be on Saturday 7 September 2024, at the Unitarian Meeting House, High St, Newport (Isle of Wight). Everyone is welcome (email lucyunbox.ringwood@btinternet.com for further information).