Learning How to Live

Short Reflection (15th September 2013 at Essex Church / Kensington Unitarians)

When I was about 20 years old, in a Secret-Santa present exchange one Christmas, I let it be known amongst my old schoolfriends that I would like to get a book about birds.  I’ve no idea what brought about this urge at that particular moment in my life.  I do recall having fond memories of studying a wall-chart that mum had bought me as a child so that I could identify the birds that came to visit our caravan on holiday in Kent each year.  In fact I’ve managed to dig out the wall-chart which set me on the path to being a birdwatcher.

Read more

Sermon #7 (7th April 2012 at Essex Church / Kensington Unitarians) 

The title of this service was nicked from a great mid-90s mystical pop record by the post-punk legend Jah Wobble – maybe a few of you will remember it – when I originally chose the theme I wondered if that title might be inadvertently offensive or at least considered a bit too irreverent or even cocky from a mainstream point of view… It turns out I probably needn’t have worried – in fact once I did my research I was surprised to find that the idea is actually included in the Catholic catechism – which quotes St. Gregory of Nyssa as saying ‘the goal of a virtuous life is to become like God’.

As we heard earlier, there is this strand of thought which says that the task of humanity is to develop into the ‘Likeness of God’ by gradually perfecting our moral character through the struggles of life. A number of great philosophers and religious leaders have identified the path of virtue as a means by which we humans might come to flourish in this way. Read more

Sermon #6 (7th October 2012 at Essex Church / Kensington Unitarians)

In recent months – perhaps recent years – I’ve noticed myself using a certain phrase in conversation. I’ll be talking about some opportunity or event that’s coming up and I’ll say “I have a push-pull feeling about it” – whatever ‘it’ is. [I even noticed that I have a little push-pull gesture that usually goes along with it].  Another way of putting it might be “I want to and I don’t want to”.

And what sort of thing might bring this feeling on?  Well, I’m quite shy really, so for me it would often be situations that involve human contact, meeting new people, making small talk, having to perform in some way, anything where I might be in the spotlight and end up embarrassing myself. Like leading a service, for example… Read more

Sermon #5 (15th April 2012 at Essex Church / Kensington Unitarians) 

Some time ago I was chatting with Linda Hart, minister with Richmond Unitarians. When I mentioned the theme of this service she reminded me of something from one of my favourite books, ‘Gilead’ by Marilynne Robinson, a novel which is told from the point of view of an elderly Congregationalist minister looking back over his life. In this passage he recalls that as an (unusually pious) child he had baptised a litter of stray cats:

“Everyone has petted a cat, but to touch one like that, with the pure intention of blessing it is a very different thing. It stays in the mind. For years we would wonder what, from a cosmic viewpoint, we had done to them. It still seems to me to be a real question. There is a reality in blessing. . . . . It doesn’t enhance sacredness, but it acknowledges it and there is a power in that. I have felt it pass through me, so to speak. The sensation is of really knowing a creature, I mean really feeling its mysterious life and your own mysterious life at the same time.”

Read more

Sermon #4 (1st May 2011 at Essex Church / Kensington Unitarians) 

The last month or so has been unusually busy here at Essex Church, with the publication of our new book, as well as our annual report, and a trip to the Unitarian Annual Meetings in the middle of it all… and in the midst of all this business – in a change to the previously advertised theme (it was originally entitled ‘Up the Workers!’, to coincide with May Day, and was all about work) – all I really wanted to think about was rest.

As I mentioned earlier on in the service, I am very fond of the book ‘Sabbath’, by Wayne Muller, and I will draw on it a great deal during the course of this sermon. But first, let’s go right back to the bible, Exodus 20:v8-11: Read more

Sermon #3 (31st October 2010 at Essex Church / Kensington Unitarians)

Over the next ten minutes or so we’re going to put all the pumpkins aside for a bit and take our cue from the Pagan & Christian festivals that are coming up over the next few days.

For pagans, today is Samhain – in the old Celtic traditions this was apparently considered to be the time of year when the veils between this world and the Otherworld were at their thinnest, and when the spirits of the dead could mingle more freely with the living. In the Christian church calendar, tomorrow – November the first – is All Saints Day. This is a day when Christians are called to celebrate the lives of all the saints and martyrs who aren’t high-profile enough to have a dedicated day all to themselves. The day after – All Souls Day – is when the mainstream church remember the ‘faithful departed’ and pray for the souls of those in purgatory. Read more

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…

Read more

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.”

Read more

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).

Read more