A safe personal space for expression of deep experiences and ideas - Ringwood #Unitarians give the floor to a newcomer in April 2018

The gathering on 8th April was given as an opportunity for one of our newer participants to lead on a topic of her choosing.  When someone has shown an interest and has participated with us we feel it is right to extend that invitation, in the Unitarian ethos of spiritual exploration in the setting of a community. We make the invitation knowing that this may be the only safe space someone has experienced in which they can speak. 

A community setting intrinsically requires acknowledgement that each is on their own journey and that those journeys weave together in a narrative, a dialogue, a time for speaking and a time for listening, as well as a time for reflection, integration and - of course - rejection of ideas.  We are always grateful when someone takes the personal risk necessary to speak out, but we are under no obligation to agree with what they say.   And because we differ, it is quite likely that what one finds to be “the answer” means very little in the context of another’s life.  The responsibility, as in any conversation, lies with both speaker and listeners, to make what they will of what is being said on that day. 

On Sunday, it became clear that our speaker has the sense, after some journeying, that she has arrived at a waypoint.  She has marked that waypoint by collecting together her findings and the guidance she has received – in a website, as it happens – and it was from that store that she spoke at our gathering.

In a move unusual for our meetings, the speaker set aside the published framework for our gatherings.  In case you are wondering, groups meeting under the Unitarian umbrella are at liberty to set their own format and content, so it is not unknown for some fairly innovative forms of gathering to emerge, depending on which congregation you come across.  Generally, though, if you come to a meeting of Didymus (Unitarians in Ringwood), you can get an idea beforehand of what to expect by looking at the tab “What we do when we meet" on this blog.

March 2017 meeting for reverence - balancing individual responsibility with letting go #unitarians

We had a beautiful meeting for reverence this morning which was centred around two extracts from the book "When I See the Wild God"  When I See the Wild God : Ly de Angeles : 9780738705767  

The chalice lighting words were an invitation to stand together with all others everywhere who were meeting together today in their search for truth and justice in freedom, living a life mindful of the divine.

The readings drew to our attention the connections we have with physical creation, through our bodies, and with both the overarching and more local human cultures we live in, through narrative, knowledge and experience.  A new idea to some of us was that our bodies have lived since the beginning of time and will live after our death to this life on Earth (as every atom in our bodies has been around since the beginning of time).  The difficulty in reconciling the ideas of “the one” and “the many” were remembered, with particular reference to J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion. 

We were invited to consider the balance that has to be struck between

being part of the unending creation song (so being able to relax in the knowledge that our own pain, turmoil, joy and love do not actually stop the enduring song of creation)

and

the duty to be authentic, each moment, each decision, to the person we believe ourselves to be (no matter how hard that may be).

We sang some lovely little hymns, hidden gems in the Hymns for Living hymnbook; and were invited to spend our seven minute meditation time reflecting on how we had contributed to the creation song in the past week, and how we might attempt in the coming week to live authentically in line with who we believe ourselves truly to be.

We also lit candles for the things that concern us or which are current joys, and enjoyed a good conversation over coffee afterwards.  Our wide-ranging conversation pivoted around the concept of long-lived relationships, in family, friendship and – interestingly – commercial terms; and how modern day living seems to care little for loyalty.

We wondered how the current fashion for changing employment, leaving our family roots, and losing touch with friends from adolescence will affect society in the future.  And we concluded with the hope, if not complete trust, that people will always find a way to grace and happiness if they want to, regardless of the prevailing social conditions.

Looking for action 2015

We have been reading various posts on social media about how younger people today with a religious outlook firstly won't commit long-term to anything and secondly are looking for signs that churches and religious groups are doing something meaningful to change the world, rather than just voicing their concerns.

When you are a very small group it is hard to discern the actions to take that will make a difference around you.  In Ringwood we think we have spotted one.  We are forming a group of all sorts of people who next January will do something new for Ringwood.  This group will be standing up in the street on a cold winter's day saying that we here in Ringwood remember the millions of people killed in the Holocaust, Nazi Persecution and in subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Darfur.  We honour the survivors of these regimes of hatred and challenge ourselves to use the lessons of their experience to inform our lives today.

27 January marks the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp, and is now designated as Holocaust Memorial Day.  HMD is a time when we seek to learn the lessons of the past and to recognise that genocide does not just take place on its own.  Genocide is a steady process which can begin if discrimination, racism and hatred are not checked and prevented. We’re fortunate here in the UK; we are not at risk of genocide. However, discrimination has not ended, nor has the use of the language of hatred or exclusion. There is still much to do to create a safer future.

Perhaps the group of people in Ringwood who will stand together on 27 January will succeed only in reminding others about the ghastly possibilities in humanity - let's face it, we won't be able to mend it.  But the biblical story in the book of Genesis - the story of Adam, Eve and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil - though a legend, reminds us that once you know about right and wrong, it changes everything for you.  We know now about the Holocaust, and others may be reminded about it through us.  So that will change something in the world.

If you want to join us in Ringwood in January email us at lucyunbox.ringwood@btinternet.com

August Meeting

The August worship meeting of Didymus (Ringwood Unitarians) was on Sunday 10 August.  Darren led the meeting.

The theme was the need to engage with environmental issues as this Earth is particularly us and we it.

Happy New Direction !

New Year’s resolutions are all about new starts, and taking control of your life, your own life.  What does this coming year hold out to you and what are you going to do about it?  If your New Year resolution involves a bold new step in a life of spiritual exploration, why not come and find us?