The twists and turns of colourful language are there for inspiration, not fact - Ringwood #Unitarians 8 Mar 2020

At this gathering we opened by musing a little on our respective religious denominational backgrounds.  That was entirely congruent with the theme the president for the day had chosen, based on his own experience: “Inspired, not dictated to”. (We use the phrase “president for the day” as an apt label — our gatherings are led by anyone we invite to lead, so there is no assumed leadership role; and those individuals ‘preside’ over the gathering on that day.)

Our opening hymn included the words by John Andrew Storey: “Confucian wisdom, Christian care / The Buddhist way of self-control / The Muslim’s daily call to prayer / Are proven pathways to the goal. / From many lips, in every age / The truth eternal is proclaimed / By western saint and eastern sage / And all the good, however named.”

The president then suggested that it is necessary now and then to hear from one person as to their life experience, leaving open how commonalities or recognised points of reference may be related to by the other participants.

The bidding words from Rev David Usher called that we be bound in compassion, love and understanding to other human beings and the interdependent web of all living things; and affirmed that we came together to renew our faith in the holiness, the goodness, the beauty of life and reclaim the vision of an earth more fair with all her people one.

Two readings had been chosen.  The first was a rich extract from Phaedrus, written by Plato as part of his record of what the teacher Socrates had taught.  It spoke quite deliberately in figurative language, with Socrates developing a comprehensive metaphor for the experience of humankind — each person as a charioteer, struggling to control a mismatched pair of chariot horses; one divinely oriented, the other dropping ever downward to earth; the metaphor being robust enough to also accommodate the experience of the gods, as contrasted with human experience.  

The Charioteer represents intellect, reason, or the part of the soul that must guide the soul to truth; one horse represents rational or moral impulse or the positive part of passionate nature (e.g., righteous indignation); while the other represents the soul's irrational passions, appetites, or concupiscent nature. The Charioteer directs the entire chariot/soul, trying to stop the horses from going different ways, and to proceed towards enlightenment. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chariot_Allegory

The second reading was a surprising contrast — it was the version of the parable Jesus had told about the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37 NRSV).

While we were wondering what the interplay between the two readings could be made to be, we sang another hymn, ideally linked to the first reading: “It was the eager wish to soar / That gave the gods their wings. / … / The restless wish, the instant need / Still drove us up the slope.”

Then we were invited to give thanks for the gifts, challenges and blessings of the month that had passed since we last met, and to consider those aspects of our lives that we would most like to be washed away in healing and forgiveness.  We spent seven minutes in silent meditation, then lit candles for our hopes for others known to us, and for our absent friends.

And then we heard directly from the president of the day about his own path through faith and the denomination he had been raised in, and how that colours his life of faith today.  He explained from that context why he had chosen the two readings.

Looking at one person’s path as an example of how positions evolve, our president said that his experience had taught him the use of metaphors as a richer way of communication than mere transfer of information.  Something extra, which cannot be easily defined, is conveyed, when we use language that is figurative.

Having been raised in a Roman Catholic environment, our president had relatively recently come to see that the word parable applies twice-fold to the New Testament.  The routine use would be to use the word “parable” to point out the teaching stories ascribed to Jesus of Galilee.  But the word “parable” may also be applied to the narratives in the New Testament about Jesus himself.  For there was never the intention of the writers of the various books to merely convey information about the life of historical Jesus as he appeared in the common life: the writings were, right from the start, intended to evoke the passion of the hearer or reader.  The books were intended to inspire, as those who had walked alongside Jesus had, in their turn, been inspired.  It was very helpful for us to understand how his RC background had aided our president with this standpoint: this is in the latest version of the RC Catechism, at paragraphs 109-111:

109 In Sacred Scripture, God speaks to man in a human way. To interpret Scripture correctly, the reader must be attentive to what the human authors truly wanted to affirm, and to what God wanted to reveal to us by their words.⁷⁵

110 In order to discover the sacred authors' intention, the reader must take into account the conditions of their time and culture, the literary genres in use at that time, and the modes of feeling, speaking and narrating then current. "For the fact is that truth is differently presented and expressed in the various types of historical writing, in prophetical and poetical texts, and in other forms of literary expression."⁷⁶

111 But since Sacred Scripture is inspired, there is another and no less important principle of correct interpretation, without which Scripture would remain a dead letter. "Sacred Scripture must be read and interpreted in the light of the same Spirit by whom it was written."⁷⁷

https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p1s1c2a3.htm

So summing up, our president said: “Words that inspire are never as simple as just a long or fancy way of saying something simpler. It's more and other than sharing information: it's igniting a passion.”

After some more music, the closing words were by Rev Andy Pakula:

Deep within you

Rev Andy Pakula

There is a place of peace

A place of wisdom,

A place of love.

May this sacred centre be your guide 

May it be you strength for the journey

May it fill you with hope when all seems hopeless

And may it lead you to know the sacredness in all.

And we raised our voices to one of our favourite hymns, which is usually sung at Christmas but which we enjoy all year round:  “Joy to the World, for peace shall come / Let this be our refrain! / In every heart, in every land / Let peace and freedom reign! / Let peace and freedom reign! / Let peace and love and freedom reign!”

Ringwood #Unitarians - Feb 2020 - Sixth anniversary service reflects on the weave of personal journeys into community with purpose

This was the gathering on the sixth anniversary of the founding of this group so we held the annual roll call.  The gathering wove together themes of community and personal journey, in which the readings were about communities, in various ways; with the reflections of the president for the day being about personal journey.

Opening

Some poetic words by Frank R. Clabburn opened the gathering and the first reading was a tale by Aesop as retold by Bill Darlison - reminding us that a bundle of sticks is stronger than individual sticks.  And by implication, people together are stronger than each of an isolated group of individuals.

We then carried out our little, silent ceremony, in which we share a candle flame, a piece of bread to eat, and water to drink, all in silence, without insisting on any specific meaning —except that the circle in which we sit is explicitly important to our gathering.

Naming, Knowing, Listening, Loving

We took a time of naming: being thankful today for the community that we have become over six years and how it has weathered so far; for the opportunities ahead, and how we can contribute; thankful also for being able to link across time with the Unitarians who had gathered in the Meeting House since the eighteenth century, and link across time with contemporary Unitarians and others who had provided some of the material we heard today.

The second reading was from Sailing the Worldly Winds by Vajragupta and it reported on some recent research that showed that — rather disappointingly — happiness seems to be determined by comparison against others.  A cautionary note about how we look at ourselves and others.

The third reading was from We Are One by Simenon Honoré and in it we heard a new word that had been coined by Milovan Djilas, a former leading Communist in Yugoslavia: Djilas suggested we need to think of humans as being not perfect or imperfect; but rather, as unperfect.

Djilas suggested that Utopianism insists on perfecting society, and can create a great deal of human suffering in an attempt to attain this impossible aim.  Better that we give ourselves permission to be unperfect, to make mistakes and to take responsibility for them.

Then we took some time for prayer and reflection.  In that time we aimed at some knowing: we each reflected on what a community of people — of spiritual explorers — is for; and how each of us as persons might fit within this community.  At this point the roll call was taken so that we know who is included in our community during the next twelve months.

As a segue to our meditation time, aimed at being a time for listening, we heard some words by Tony McNeile.  After our silence we lit tea light candles as we spoke of our recent concerns and joys, after which we chanted to a music by David Kent: Do what most kindles love in you, representing our engagement with loving.

Reflections of the day

Our president for the day noted that culturally our society is still visibly rooted in Christianity, and that it may be all very well and good throwing out the big idea of Christianity — that God and human can be one, were in fact one, uniquely so, in Jesus — but then where and what is the new big idea to replace it with?

She suggested that Unitarians long ago threw out the last part, about the uniqueness of Jesus, but are still contemplating oneness.  Unitarians are about oneness; and many Unitarians would still be content to affirm that a person is a nexus between the concrete world and the eternal realm.

The president spoke of her own journey of “there and back again”: away from her childhood home of traditional Anglican Church doctrine and practice, into what for her was a long wilderness of happy, adventuring aloneness; and back again, but back to a new home; a home in the Unitarian movement.  Of how she had studied other wisdoms along the way, and found them very satisfying, especially some of the Hindu teachings.

All this is full.  All that is full.

From fullness, fullness comes.

When fullness is taken from fullness,

Fullness still remains.

Isha Upanishad

Our president quoted another regional Unitarian, who has recently said:

“For me there is the rigour of asking myself is what I’m saying true; true to shared experience, true to the constellation of other things I hold, true to the yearning of my heart?  I can talk in the language of different traditions but accept that there is a cultural and historical prominence of one in my life and in my part of the world.”

But the “there and back again” of her journey, said the president, meant that although she would not expect ever to belong to a Christian church again, she does go home to some ideas of Christianity, which means that she is able to visit Christian churches and worship there, and happily talk with Christians about faith and how to make it live.

Among the ideas that our president said she retains are these (with traditional Christian references indicated thus):

That there is at one and the same time both ‘oneness’ and ‘relatedness’ at the core of ‘all that is’ and in the ground of truth on which ‘all that is’ is constructed.	(The Holy Trinity)
That, in the round, everything is all alright — our mis-steps are catered for in the universe — and we are wanted in the universe or we wouldn’t be here.	(We are loved, and loved unconditionally, by God. God has dealt with the dread consequences of our sin.)
That all human persons are equally wanted and the mercy and justice of God works through the body of divine humanity — us — so we need to work for equality and justice.	(The mercy and justice of God works through the body of Christ.)
That the human person straddles the concrete world and the eternal realm, and the Christ archetype is the logos of the human person.	(Reserved in Christianity to Jesus the Christ, uniquely.)
That interior work is needed if justice and well-being is to be secured for all.	(Keep the Commandments and follow the teachings and example of Jesus; narrow is the way.)
That the most important interior work is to learn to love what irritates or persecutes us, as by doing this we can transform the barriers, isolation and stuckness of ‘twoness’ into the wholeness of ‘oneness’.	(Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.)
That there is always the possibility of change for the better, if only we take the first step and turn.	(The new covenant of repentance and forgiveness, fulfilled in Jesus the Christ.)
That at least one person — Jesus — has demonstrated that it is possible to be so trusting of life that it is possible to make, and gain fulfilment from, the ultimate sacrifice, without losing that trust in life.	(Jesus’ crucifixion)

Closing

After a chant from the Northern Cheyenne Nation, for pow-wows and inter-tribal dances of welcome, the gathering closed with the poem Desiderata by Max Ehrmann, and a hymn from the green hymn book.

Individuals and Community; Journeying and Homecoming - gathering for reverence by #Unitarians in Ringwood and their friends on Sunday 9 Feb 2020 in Ringwood Meeting House starting at 10am

The next gathering for reverence of Unitarians in Ringwood, and friends, will be on Sunday 9 February, arriving around 9.45 a.m. for a 10 a.m. start, in the Ringwood Meeting House on Meeting House Lane, BH24 1EY.  The gathering will be led by Lucy.

Car parking is opposite (fees apply); and the Meeting House is also opposite a set of bus stops served by X3 buses from Bournemouth and Salisbury, as well as local buses.

We welcome first time visitors, as well as those who have been coming before.  Children's activities available.

This gathering is our sixth birthday and we will be looking forward to our seventh year together.  The topic will be "Individuals and Community; Journeying and Homecoming".  Come as you are, exactly as you are; and expect to be have been changed by the time you leave.

As part of this gathering, people will be invited to consider their relationship with this group and to take part in the annual roll call.