Another creed

 It is often passed off as the case that the Unitarians have no creed.

As we have often remarked here, that is not the case.  Every Unitarian has a creed (in fact, we would argue that every person has a creed - a philosophy or set of values that they live by, whether they recognise them in that way, or not).

We have recently published here, in serial form, a take on the Apostles' Creed by one of our members.

This has set another one of our members thinking, about their own personal creed. And they are now happy to publish it here.  It's a photograph of the front page of their daily office (service) book and journal, ready and waiting to be seen and reiterated every morning, as a measuring stick for the previous day and a goal for the day to come.

....and in the community that is the Church.... concluding our look at the Apostles' Creed

That all might be one (John 17:21)

‘… the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting..’

That movement of the Spirit, that flow of call and answer where the God we cannot see breaks into the world we can, like breath upon the waters. That God, which cannot be approached as a thing to be held in the mind, any more than in the hands.  That God we can look towards, but not at.  That God we can tell of, where God broke through and how that God promises to break through again but that God we can never pin down in any given moment, always just beyond, always just outside.  It is of that, which this final part of the Apostles’ Creed speaks, as surely as the Creed speaks in every other part.

The Church, or Gathering, or Community, is holy because it is a place where the Spirit moves, and it is ‘catholic’, meaning ‘universal’, because it encompasses everyone.  It is the community of all people. Each and every one of us that place where the water ripples.  What we experience as our congregations, or our families, or our neighbourhoods, is just one part of that wider Community that we can never wholly encompass, not because others are deep down ‘the same’ as us but rather because in all our diversity we are nevertheless united as the place where the waters ripple. That which we experience in the name of God is experienced within this Community.

The communion of saints and the forgiveness of sins are flipsides of the same dynamic.  We rise and fall together; our choices are made within the warp and weft of the choices of others.  We build each other up and we tear each other down; no single heroic act or act of villainy is the final word in this tale we tell together.  As the ripples on the water spread out and mingle with other ripples just as new movements begin and others fade, there is always God’s Might, Maybe, Perhaps, that opens the space for a new beginning, a new better. 

The resurrection of the body and the life everlasting reaffirm that ripple on the waters, that movement of the Spirit.  Just as there is no knowing anything of any one of us apart from through our physicality, through what we do in a physical world, so there is no knowing anything of that which we call God save through the divine breaking through into our actual everyday reality.  The body, the flesh and blood and bone, is not lost in our discovery and celebration of God.  No, it is raised up, exalted as the essential element or condition of that discovery and celebration.  I do not make claims about special knowledge of what lies beyond the horizon of the life that we know.  But as the God we have explored through this reflection on the Apostles’ Creed is that which is beyond the horizon; that call that we move towards; that More, which opens up a space for different and other; that Might which could be, which may be; then I dare to say “Perhaps.”  And while there could be nothing, I will embrace the risk, and live like the ripples on the water of a pool I cannot see the end of.

I believe.  I believe.  Not because I hold certain ideas, and not because I hope for certain things.  I believe because I live a life in Community, striving to listen to that call to let the Might (the Maybe, ‘may be’) of God break into the ‘is here now’ of our everyday life.

13 May 2020 - In the Beginning, I believe 

16 June 2020 - We believe

28 June 2020 - In God

7 August 2020 - The Father

11 December 2020 - The Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth

27 March 2021 - And in Jesus Christ

28 March 2021 - In the Holy Spirit

28 March 2021 (this post) - the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting

I began looking at the Apostles’ Creed as a loving, excited dialogue that brings out but never encompasses the whole of what is going on.  And that is where I have come back to, and I’m grateful you stayed with me for the journey.

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.

Ringwood #Unitarians experiment in April with the “heart & soul” service using some key movements identified by @revwik

At our April gathering we for the first time took advantage of a new format of service.  We had experienced the format first hand at the Festival of Unitarians in the South East (FUSE) in Worthing, Sussex UK, in February.

We have chosen to try the new “heart and soul” format so that we are one of several UK Unitarian congregations now experimenting with it. Knowing that others are also trying it connects us a little bit more; on social media we can have conversations with others who are familiar with it; and it also means that visitors from other congregations may more readily recognise what is happening in our gatherings. In a widely scattered community like the Unitarian movement, even tenuous links like that can help to glue us all together.

The “heart and soul” format is more about experience than words or knowledge, and it was easy to fit our traditional, simple, experiential ritual into it.  The overall topic was “What is church?”, and no prescriptive answer was given.  As with all things Unitarian, it was anticipated that participants would place their own interpretation on what was offered.

We framed our time together using hymns, contemplative words from Unitarian leaders sourced from the www, a children’s story from the Brothers Grimm, and an extract from Plato ALCIBIADES I.  There was an exercise in selecting at random a line of poetry or a question, so that these could be explored together.

At the very heart of the “heart and soul” service there are four aspects: 

• Naming: an opportunity to give thanks 
• Knowing: a gentle reflection on our own day  
• Listening: a time of silent meditation
• Loving: offering prayers for others 

We first came across these aspects around 1999 when they were first set out by Rev Erik Walker Wikstrom @revwik, in an essay published in Everyday Spiritual Practice - Simple Pathways for Enriching Your Life, editor Scott W. Alexander  https://www.bookdepository.com/Everyday-Spiritual-Practice-Scott-W-Alexander/9781558963757. A wonderful book, highly recommended, which we hold in our library for anyone to borrow.

The people who took place in our first “heart and soul” gathering are now reflecting on how they feel about the new format, and it will be tried again in May.

“Heart and soul” has the benefit that there is more of a group collaboration in curating the safe space for reverence, and less pressure on the ‘president for the day’ to craft a coherent and intellectually satisfying gathering.  We always look for meaningful ideas, but we know it can feel daunting to be asked to lead, if leading requires a homily to be prepared.  Small groups without trained ministers can - and must - minister to each other, and as many people as possible must be given the chance to try.  A group that does not rely on one or two strong leaders will be more resilient in the long term.

October 2017 - our gathering for reverence on “the pitfalls of suggesting solutions for others” #unitarians

If you want to know more about Unitarians in UK here’s a good place to start:

https://www.unitarian.org.uk/pages/leaflets

As for us Unitarians in Ringwood, here’s what we did yesterday.

We lit our chalice to some words by Dr Norman Pittenger:

"Give me a humanist or agnostic who cares.  In him or her I can see the charity of God working anonymously.   Whenever and wherever I see self-giving love, I shall know it is of God."

Our opening prayer had been sourced from the World Community of Christian Meditation, the community associated with John Main and Laurence Freeman.

We welcomed a visitor from the Quaker community, who professed to have no expectations beforehand, and who said afterwards that the ritual aspects of our gathering for reverence were interesting, and that she intends to come again sometime.

Our readings were from Dan Millman and Rowan Williams, and they both reminded us that the path every person takes is necessarily different, but the paths taken by everyone all ultimately lead to the same end. The learning along the way is different and arises in relation to the personal need.

Our president for the day built on this theme.  She spoke frankly about the pitfalls she gets into sometimes; those times when she falls back into the pattern of acting and speaking to others as though her own solutions and models would be better for them, than their own.  Her conclusion was that we’re not there to fix it for each other; we are there to accompany each other as we each struggle with our own battles and burdens.  And that as the kingdom of God, the realm of reconciliation and peace, lies within, thus personal solutions are provided personally not generically. All we can – and must do – is attend to each other by really listening.

We sang a couple of hymns from the Hymns for Living Unitarian hymnbook and heard a haunting, profound song, sung by Hayley Westernra, from New Zealand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPBPimxlUnw

After our candles for joys and concerns we concluded with these words by Rev. Johanna (Jopie) Boeke, Unitarian Minister emeritus:

SOMETIMES by Johanna Boeke

Sometimes we are so filled with ourselves, that we only see ourselves, and not the person next to us or opposite us.  May we enlarge our souls, and make room for others.

Sometimes we no longer have hope for each other or for ourselves, or for the future.  Sometimes we ignore each other, speak only words of pain and separation.

May we be given new words, words of peace, words which create community, words which bring healing and blessing and belief in the future.

May we open our doors and invite others in, feeling safe in spite of our vulnerability.

May we learn to live with each other and for each other.

April 2016 meeting for reverence

Not Ringwood! - but a large gathering of Unitarians in 2012

Our meeting built on the theme of Community, which was last aired in January.  Once again it was noted that one of the richest sources of advice about how to form, live in and sustain communities is the Christian tradition.  Moreover, the Christian tradition explores why communities are essential to our wellbeing and are crucial to spiritual growth.  It seems to be necessary for us to reconcile our deep need to be true to ourselves (which seems like a very self-contained function) with our other needs to love and be loved; to be seen; to be listened to; to be accepted at face value on our own terms (all of which require us to have people around us whom we connect with).

We had two readings from contemporary Christian writers (Esther de Waal and Ian Adams) examining togetherness, solitariness, loneliness, and the repeating habit of religious people to first come home to themselves and then go out to connect with others.  We also heard about some of the key factors that will sustain communities in the longer term, especially the relationship between the life of the community and the lives of the members within it.

And bearing in mind the pivotal role of communities in keeping us balanced and whole, we asked why it seems to be so hard for us, living in the 21st century, to prioritise participating in community life - why we so resist joining groups and making commitments.

We had the same hymns as in January, partly so that we begin to get to know them better, and we also included a guided meditation after we had lit our candles of concern.

March 2015 meeting

Our March meeting for reverence and worship took the theme TRANSFORMING OURSELVES IN FAITH THAT BY DOING SO THE WORLD IS CHANGED TOO

We lit the chalice today with the words:

At any moment I could choose to be a better person.

But which moment should I choose?

We had our usual ritual of sharing bread, water, light, and fire.  Our only formal prayer for the day came from the Nadder Valley Inclusive Worship Service http://www.lulu.com/shop/lucy-harris/the-nadder-valley-inclusive-worship-service/ebook/product-17386813.html

Unseen Power and Pattern,

We live this life through You.

By Your laws and Your grace we meet in You here today

With our hearts, our minds, our bodies.

May this holy inspiration keep us in awareness of You in all times and all places.

We then carried out an exercise in which we set down on paper, privately, a list of people who had angered or irritated us recently.  At various stages in the service we came back to this list and reviewed it in the light of the readings we had been listening to.

Our scriptural reading today was not actually from sacred texts but was an accessible form of Buddhist instruction on evoking compassion, including words by the Dalai Lama.  This came from The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, by Sogyal Rinpoche  http://www.bookdepository.com/Tibetan-Book-Living-Dying-Sogyal-Rinpoche/9781846041051  .  Our secular reading was from a book by Dan Millman, The Laws of Spirit  http://www.bookdepository.com/Laws-Spirit-Dan-Millman/9780915811939 and it focused on choosing the perspective we wish to take - and how that affects how we see ourselves as either separate or as part of a unified, one consciousness.

Both the readings we heard were about changing the way we look at people; about transforming the way we look at people.  This is primarily to help ourselves to be happier; because if we change the way we look at people we are able to let go of many destructive attachments we have.  We begin to learn to let go of hate, revulsion, anger and violence, all of which destroy our own balance, clarity of vision, and well-being. 

 We also heard these sayings:

 By an unknown Tibetan Buddhist master :

“Give all profit and gain to others.

Take all loss and defeat on yourself.”

And by the Jewish teacher Jesus who, like all his people, was steeped in the Jewish tradition that there can be no justice without love, and no love without justice:

“Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.”

It was suggested that if we properly followed either this Buddhist or this Jewish teaching, we as persons would be radically transformed.

We lit candles of joys and concerns and had our habitual 7 minutes’ of silence for prayer or meditation, according to personal practice.

We closed with these words by the internationally renowned physicist, David Bohm:

 “A change of meaning is necessary to change this world politically, economically and socially.  But that change must begin with the individual; it must change for him or her .... If meaning is a key part of reality, then once society, the individual and relationships are seen to mean something different, then a fundamental change has taken place.”

In the service we also sang hymns 172 and 35 from the green hymn book, in which we welcomed all people and remembered that there are many paths to God.

Unitarians learn to listen in Ringwood

What do we do in our meetings?  Well, we carry out some simple sharing rituals, in which we share silence, candle lighting, and passing small items from hand to hand, and most often, a small amount of food too.  These are all to represent our interconnected nature and may hold extra, private meanings for participants, depending on their personal faith.

We also share the leadership of the meetings.  We make this easy by having a simple but fixed format, which includes space for private contemplation (which may be used for prayer or meditation), listening to music or singing a couple of Unitarian hymns, and most importantly, two readings.  We think of listening to the readings as lectio divina, which means "sacred reading".

Often, lectio divina is a solitary activity, but it can be used very successfully in a small group.  The listening silence that emerges becomes very prayerful, and trust and strong bonds between the participants develop.

Traditionally, the reading activity focuses on scripture.  Scripture is a word whose meaning has changed.  When Paul was writing in the early days of the Common Era, it used to mean anything written down, but more recently the word `scripture` has come to mean the venerated texts from religious writers of various faiths.  Traditional Christians would most often use the Bible, augmented by writings by saints or early Christian mystics.  But as Unitarians we are not constrained by that and a wide range of texts can be used.  Scientific writings can be as important to us as poetry and traditional writings, from whichever faith system has drawn our attention.

As everyone is given the opportunity to select the texts to be read, this arrangement also has the benefit that we can hear the texts and subjects that hold meaning for everyone individually in the group.  So if you are looking for a spiritual community that is interested in your own path and your own belief system, give us a try.  In return, we will give you a good listening to.

April 2014 Meeting

The April worship meeting of Didymus (Ringwood Unitarians) was on Sunday 13 April (Palm Sunday for western Christians).

Our meeting was linked with imminent Jewish festival of the Passover, which occurs in what western Christians call Holy Week, the week leading up to Easter.  It was to celebrate the Passover that Jesus went to Jerusalem, commemorated on Palm Sunday.  The Passover marks the pivotal event for the Jews, in which God granted them freedom from slavery to the Egyptians.  This freedom came with the specific instruction that it was given in order that they could make study of the law, i.e. the life of the spirit, a defining focus of their lives.

In our meeting we read texts from the prayer book, and combined Taizé-style chant with periods of silence, as well as sharing bread and water.  The Passover was a violent affair involving animal sacrifice and death of many Egyptians in the face of protection and release of the Israelites, and we reflected on it as both hope and dread.  And we also considered the value of sharing it with others even if the outcomes can't be changed.

"Didymus" March Meeting 2014

The March worship meeting of Didymus (Ringwood Unitarians) was on Sunday 9 March.  We had readings and contemplation around the topic, "What is truth?", with reference to the death sentences placed upon Jesus of Nazareth and Socrates by their peers, who apparently found the truth described by each of them too much to bear.

The ruling culture dominating the lives of these two great souls both felt the truth exposed by them, and feared it.

What Unitarians are saying in 2013 in Ringwood coffee houses

So if you have stayed with this blog so far, what's first then?  Well, let's do what humans always want to do when there's something to be talked about - sit down and have tea or coffee together.

We need, probably, to have some start point for our conversation.  What is the Unitarian message?