November 2015 meeting for reverence

It is both an advantage and a disadvantage of being a small group that sometimes, with few participants turning up, the meetings can be quite intimate.  This allows for lots of close listening, and the freedom to spend more time developing ideas and voicing them out loud – perhaps for the first time.  But we never forget that a very small group could feel quite daunting to a first time visitor to our meetings.  Normally, though, we have enough participants to allow anyone who wishes to stay quiet to do just that.  And in any case, the various leaders of the meeting are able to adapt their prepared material to suit the people who come.

Few of us were able to be at our meeting on 8 November and that allowed close inspection and discussion of the chosen texts.  And what an eclectic mix they were: Epicurus, Tolkien, and Pratchett, all on the theme of death. The reflection was around not fearing it, whatever our ideas of what may be after it.  For once we didn't stop for coffee as people had to get off to other commitments.

We enjoy the flexibility that we build into our practice.  We are aware that in 21st century Britain the fixed and predictable format associated with more traditional faith-based gatherings may not appeal to the interior search many people are embarked upon.  We are all on a search; and in Ringwood, we Unitarians welcome insight from many sources, as we cross many boundaries and move in interlocking circles.  We expect people to have many irons in the fire, even – or perhaps, especially – when it comes to their interior explorations.  We have chosen the timing of our monthly meeting so that there is time to do something else before Sunday lunch, and would never be surprised or disappointed to hear that participants were going on to other places of worship, in other traditions, after having been with us.  Instead, what we would hope is that when people come to practise reverence with us, they contribute to our meeting by bringing the insights they have gathered from their other sources.  In a Unitarian internet forum, some years ago, it was said that some had brought to their Unitarian congregational practice a lot of insight gained from their “Twelve Steps” programme, run by Alcoholics Anonymous.  The models adopted by organised religions are different from each other, but bundled together they remain only one way of articulating the human experience.

Whatever your experience, whatever your path, if your model of how it all works, and the way you live, bring you to us in openness to other views and respect for personal lives linked in community, you will find us doing our best to welcome you.

October 2015 meeting for reverence

Our meeting for reverence on 11 October was a lovely service with a fruit and symbols of harvest sharing element, led by a Unitarian from Southampton.

Everyone remembered to bring something to share!!  The singing was all in fine voice and the readings were taken from a mix of traditions ranging from Christian to native American.

A visitor was brought to the meeting by some of our previous participants. This promises a further enrichment of our gatherings, and we look forward to seeing them again.  One of us was away, but despite that the number present was towards the top end of our attendance so the signs are that we really are growing.  What an optimistic time!

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