A Unitarian Communion

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Short Reflection (10th October 2010 at Essex Church / Kensington Unitarians)

In this short reflection I hope to say something about what communion means to me – or, at least, what it has become in my imagination – and why I am so strongly drawn to this ritual with which I have almost no history or previous personal experience. I struggled to articulate my fuzzy and nebulous thoughts in a way that might make sense outside of my own head! But I’ll attempt to explain…

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Love in Plain Clothes

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Sermon #2 (14th February 2010 at Essex Church / Kensington Unitarians)

What kind of a fool volunteers to lead the service on Valentine’s Day?!? It seemed like such a good idea at the time…

I want to set the scene for this sermon with a quote from Jacob Needleman. I think it says something that anyone who sits down to write about love (or stands up to speak about it) had better take on board.  It’s from a book entitled ‘Is the meaning of life to be found in love?’ He says:

“We divide love and classify it: we discriminate between physical love and spiritual love, between erotic love and personal love, mother love, father love, the love between friends. …but the truth is that we remain confused by it. Everyone talks about love, but the truth is that our labels are pale efforts to deal with an overwhelming force, as far beyond our control as the wind, the lightning, and the sea. When we are in love, we are in a tornado of forces, and all we can do is try to hold on to our chair.”

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Walking the Talk

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Sermon #1 (2nd August 2009 at Essex Church / Kensington Unitarians) 

 

What do I mean by ‘Walking the Talk?’

I suppose it would be a good idea to clarify precisely what I mean when I say “walking the talk”, just in case there’s anybody here who isn’t familiar with the phrase. If someone is said to “walk the talk” it means that:

– their actions match their words

– they do what they say they are going to do

– they put their professed beliefs and values into action in their everyday life.

It is a bit like “practicing what you preach”. So, I like to imagine, “walking the talk” is something that all of us here today would aspire to… (as far as is humanly possible, anyway).

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A Tentative Beginning…

I’m not sure what this is going to become… but for now the plan is to make all my writing (and maybe eventually some of my art too) available in one place.

Some of these pieces are five years old now and (I like to think) I’ve got a bit better as I’ve gone along so there was a temptation not to post some of the earlier sermons and reflections… but I think I’ll be brave and publish the lot. I am a chronic perfectionist so this is a big deal for me. Please be kind.