Are we really here for this? - to seek paradise? Ringwood #Unitarians sit and listen in Feb 2023

At our February gathering for reverence we were privileged to welcome the District Minister for the London District, Rev Jim Corrigall, as our president for the day.  At a prayerful and heartfelt gathering we noticed, not for the first time, that as we gather in the Meeting House at the centre of the town, it can feel as though we are at the quiet centre of an ever turning world.  We sing, we read, we turn to prayer and we sit in quiet contemplation or meditation, all while the sounds carry on around us of chatting people moving past the Meeting House, shopping trolleys being collected, buses stopping and starting, and the bells from the parish church nearby.  Another sense of privilege: it can feel like we are anchoring the town in silence, for the benefit of all.

The Bible reading for the day came from the Book of Luke, chapter 17, and it reminded us that Jesus said that many would search here and there to find the kingdom of God, whereas the kingdom of God is to be found within us, among us.

Our president drew our attention to several readings from the book Seeking Paradise - A Unitarian Mission for Our Times, by Stephen Lingwood.  This is a book that several of us have read, and which is now on the list of ‘must reads’ for others of us.

It was a delight to hear Rev Jim read from and comment on Stephen Lingwood’s book — such a relevant theme for a small fellowship as we gathered on our ninth anniversary.  What are we here for?

My own take home messages from the book were slightly different from Rev Jim’s, and the rest of this blogpost reflect my own take on the book.

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This book is one which, by looking at the history of our tradition, particularly with regard to its mission in times past, suggests that our tradition needs to be clearer about what its mission, its purpose, might be today.  Lingwood is quite clear that he is putting forward a proposition, and welcomes other contrasting propositions, so that the tradition can hold a debate, and move understanding along a little.  

The basic question Lingwood is trying to address is: what does it matter if our church exists or not, or whether our church grows or not, if truth and salvation do not depend on it?  He says, “I believe it is only by answering the question of our purpose that we can begin to answer the question of our growth.”

In a book that covers a wide span, Stephen Lingwood arrives at his answer, which is that the Unitarian mission is both to discover and create 'paradise'.  He explores what this spirituality of paradise might mean, and how it might provide a sense of vision and mission. 

The word paradise is a word that almost everyone is familiar with, and uses in their own way.  It’s a word that instantly conveys a sense of well-being, peace, opportunity, richness, colour, beauty, laughter, contentment, happiness.  The symbol of paradise has a very long history.  It appears first in the Christian Bible in the image of Adam and Eve walking in the garden of Eden with God, in innocence, plenty, and peace.

Lingwood draws on other writers from our tradition, notably Rebecca Ann Parker, who have argued that in the church there is a persistent and rich symbol of paradise for salvation.  He reports their findings that “Paradise is the biblical image of a state of joy and abundance.  It is the garden of delights where there is no war, no disconnection, no suffering.....Paradise does not just mean a mythical time in the past when all was well.....a Christian spirituality that sees paradise as existing here and now, within us and all around us...both in the world and in the worshipping community...”

“The good news of paradise is that the world is beautiful, good, and overflowing with the love and grace of God.  But we have to open our eyes to paradise in order to make its full presence realised in the world.”

Moreover, says Lingwood, “Paradise points to a deep sense of beauty and love in this world, but this is not the same thing as saying, ‘The world is just lovely and fine as it is.’... I have seen evidence from people resisting extreme evil ....[and] I am provisionally hopeful that faith in paradise is not destroyed by the reality of suffering.”

Perhaps the punchline from the book, although it does not come at the end of the book, is this:

“What is our message? Our good news? That you live in paradise, and that the powers of Empire have lied to you.  In some circumstances, if we are bold enough, perhaps the message could even be that God loves you; that the fundamental reality of the world is relationship, and not isolation — but we each have to discover this for ourselves.”

Hope and purpose in hard times - Ringwood #Unitarians hear from Amos and Jesus in December 2022

We gathered again in strength after a gap of some months, which was welcome and  which in itself led to a sense of optimism.  The gathering was invited to consider keeping a purpose clear in mind in times that to many of us seem difficult, in what might yet turn out to be a winter of discontent as a result of the cost of living crisis.

The opening music was an uplifting anthem, possibly from the LGBTIQ networks, “We give thanks in these hard times,” which can be found on YouTube at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1JhiDsQNLo&list=PLuHoqBDN-aPLfCT9JMiG2AGqatHqYyC1N&index=1

(Unfortunately, the IT let us down after that, and we were unable to view the other video music that had been planned, which can be found at 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rw1j8QvtZZc&list=RDg2RBaN3uWOY&index=4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3E7QWLyDWe8  )

After the lighting of the candle in the chalice, we had a lovely story with the idea that the world can be fixed by fixing the humans within it; and then readings from the Bible.  The first was an arrangement of some words in the book of Amos, and the second was a compilation of words from the Gospel of Q and the Gospel of Matthew.

The president for the day reflected on the choice of the readings.

“Early Jewish religion may have overplayed sacrifice and ritual, because in that first reading we have a Hebrew prophet character, Amos, telling us that God does not care for rituals and offerings. In particular, we are told, God does not like them when they come out of a life of complacent luxury and indolence.

“We get a picture of God from this. We see that perhaps God is not looking for empty gestures but for our empathy for the sufferings and oppressions experienced by others in our midst. Looking for us to walk past our own comfort to relieve suffering and to root out injustice. ‘Let justice roll on like a river; And righteousness like an ever flowing stream.’”

the shepherd Amos as depicted
 by Gustave Doré
(public domain image from Wikipedia)

She went on by commenting on the recent COP27 climate conference, and how so little impact would be felt in the real world from the pitifully superficial nature of the agreements reached.  Unlike the prophet Amos, who spoke in terms of justice being a task that would roll on for ever, our speaker suggested that we will only have to carry the burden of this task for a few centuries more.  

We heard that many scientists estimate the breakdown of civilisation as we know it will be in about eighty years.  The threat is more from nuclear war than directly from temperature extremes; this because water and food scarcity will cause mass migrations on a scale so far not imaginable, and together with that, conflict and violence.  There has been almost nothing about planning for us to reduce instead of increase our demand, to use less energy, to want to use less energy.  Almost no recognition that in a finite ecosystem economies cannot grow without limit.  To be sustainable, civilization probably needs to operate at about 20% of the current energy usage levels — 80% less than we currently use. 

Our president said, “The end is rushing up much quicker than we ever thought it would. Though even a proportion of activists are in denial: we are in the end years, the decline years.

“When we truly recognize this, we have a choice. We can eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die. Or we can wail in hysteria, and wither away in despondency. There are many, many people who now suffer from what is becoming termed eco-anxiety. Or we can loot and pillage, knowing there will be none to come after us to hold us to account. Or, we can stand up straight, centre ourselves, and stand fast to the principles we stood for before we knew the painful truth.

“If the end of human civilization as we know it is getting closer and closer, isn’t that an even better reason to make those days which are left to us, the best days that have ever been? 

“Let us take inspiration from Amos and work even now to let justice roll on like a river, right up to the point where the river is no longer identifiable. Let us work to show those with eco-anxiety that there is a point to living, even in the end days. Let us live in hope beyond all reasonable hope, and live as well as we can.”

So much for the first reading.  And so far, it didn’t seem like much help was being given with what that hope or purpose in hard times might look like, on a daily basis.  Thankfully, our president didn’t leave it there, but went on to discuss the second reading.

“Realistically, what effect can we really have? What difference can we really make? Well: nothing can emerge on the human scene without it first appearing in the human imagination. Meaning that our first imperative is to use our imagination. Failure will be certain if we undergo a failure of imagination. And where do we hear about imagination? Well, in the gospel stories. We have words of Jesus, as Jesus was re-imagining Judaism.

“In the second reading, though we ourselves may be familiar with the words, they were new to those listening. Jesus is providing new and even shocking metaphors in order to re-imagine the kingdom of God. Look, he said, I know the prophets of old compared the realm of God to the famed Cedars of Lebanon, which were used to build the temple of Solomon in Jerusalem. Big; strong; solid; powerful; lasting; awesome, even. Actually the realm of God can also be like a tiny mustard seed which grows into a scraggly plant that most of you farmers consider a weed; but it’s a weed that provides shade and shelter for birds. The realm of God can also be like a yeast that seems insignificant but which changes the whole character of water and meal when you mix them all together.  

“And don’t think for a moment that you who seek the realm of God are unimportant just because you are as ordinary as salt. Without salt how would we preserve food, how would we live? Don’t you dare lose your essential character — if the salt stops being salty, if you stop being so ordinary, how would any society survive?

“Look, it’s hard keeping hold of your sense of direction, said Jesus, it’s hard sticking to this narrow path, and you mustn’t expect ever to be many in number because plenty will fall by the wayside as you go.  But you really are a light to light up the darkness. It doesn’t take many of you to do that. Just keep on keeping on.”

lamp on a stand and the
 growing mustard seed, by 
Johann Christoph Weigel
(image in public domain
 from Wikipedia)

We were reminded that Unitarians in the UK do all sorts of things that might not look very much, and we may not be very visible in our towns and cities, but for those who do come into contact with us we do make a difference.

“We are a gentle, angry people, highlighting injustice when we see it. But also we make provision for ‘mums and tots’ sessions. We house community fridges. We send disadvantaged and deprived children out into the wilds of the Peak District for life-changing adventures. We put a spotlight on the iniquities of the penal system. We fund some activities of the British Red Cross. We travel to Calais to speak with and provide practical support to migrants. We champion religious freedom in all its forms. Not so long ago we worked for greater equality regarding marriage. We make allies across boundaries and remind those we come into contact with that neither we nor they have the entire picture.”

We were then reminded that people in general very rarely fail in their endeavours.  More often, we just stop trying.  In looking for hope and a steering light in these times, we can use these ideas from Jesus to keep alive our imagination of what we can do, to keep us keeping on, working for the purpose of God as we understand it, as expressed by Amos: ‘Let justice roll on like a river; And righteousness like an ever flowing stream.’  Even unto the end of the stream itself.

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.