Learning How to Live

Reflection #71 (28th May 2023 at Essex Church / Kensington Unitarians)

These days, people quite frequently ask me to explain what Unitarianism is, and how it relates to the Christian tradition, and other better-known religious paths. All sorts of people ask; often in settings where we don’t have a lot of time to talk and we know we’ll probably never meet again.

On days when I get a taxi home from church the cab driver will almost invariably ask “what sort of church is that then?” (and often they’ll follow up with something that amounts to “is it a proper church or just one you made up?”… which is a conversation for another day perhaps).

And just this week we had a bunch of medics from the Physician Response Unit in our living room – this is the mobile A&E team which more usually follows the air ambulance around as a ground crew – they were sent out to give my dad, who is in the midst of immunotherapy, some treatment at home (so as to avoid taking him into hospital where he would be at increased risk of infection). And while they were doing their thing – marvellously, miraculously taking care of my old man – one of them struck up a conversation which rapidly took us deep into the same territory. Remarkably, this paramedic had heard of Unitarians, he had some thoughtful questions to ask about our way of doing things, and (without prompting) he noted the similarities between our outlook and his own.

Reflection #70 (23rd April 2023 at Essex Church / Kensington Unitarians)

There’s a short quotation, by the author Annie Dillard, which I first heard many years ago. It floats through my mind every now and then, though it’s one of those sayings where the more I think about it, the less certain I am what she actually meant by it. See what you think. As I said at the top of the service, this is the quotation which inspired today’s theme. Annie Dillard said:

‘How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.
What we do with this hour, and that one, is what we are doing.’

(repeat) ‘How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives’.

I wonder what reaction arises in you as you hear those words? I find it’s a saying that can strike me as being either quite challenging, or quite comforting, depending on the mood I’m in.

Mini-Reflection #69 (11th March 2023 at for the LDPA AGM – London & South East District)

On this, the day of our district AGM, I thought it would be fitting to reflect on ‘Our Place in the Scheme of Things’. I wonder what that little phrase evokes for you? When I think of the phrase it can take me in a number of different directions. Sometimes it makes me think of my interconnection with all-that-is – my personal place in the world, in community, having an impact on those I am up-close to and living alongside, and being affected by those around me in turn – and the infinite reach of those interconnections. The ripple effects that spin out from my actions (or inactions) and the ripples that touch me. You might think of this as a kind-of ecological sense of our place in the scheme of things – this is the sense that the poem ‘Wild Geese’ evokes, for me – ‘our place in the family of things’ –that deep knowing that we are interdependent with all creatures in one giant ecosystem.

Sermon #68 (5th February 2023 at Essex Church / Kensington Unitarians)

I’ve given today’s service the title ‘Inquiring Minds’, largely as a nod to The Inquirer, our Unitarian magazine which comes out once a fortnight. We always leave a little pile of copies out in the foyer – enough for everyone – and you’re welcome to take one home for free. Or, as I’m sure the editor and the Inquirer board would like me to remind you, you can subscribe to receive it direct to your doormat or indeed view electronic copies online at inquirer.org.uk.

Sermon #67 (15th January 2023 at Essex Church / Kensington Unitarians)

I wonder how many among us gathered here this morning – whether in-person, or via zoom – are already familiar with the practice of Spiritual Direction? Perhaps it’s a completely new concept to some, maybe for others it’s something you’d heard of but only had a vague sense of what it’s all about, and I know of at least a few who are seeing Spiritual Directors or who have done so in the past. I can’t quite remember when I first came across the idea but I think it was when I heard of a fellow Unitarian going through the training to become a Spiritual Director about a decade ago. I remember thinking ‘ooh that sounds cool’ and then in the next breath thinking ‘I have no idea what it actually is though’ and having to go and look it up.

22nd August 2022 – Theme Talk for Hucklow Summer School Online – jointly with Rev. Sarah Tinker

This talk is in six sections alernating between Sarah (in italics) and Jane (in regular type).

Sarah: Surely the Summer School Panel have come up with the ultimate topic this year – Right Relationship. It’s all in there isn’t it? Life, the universe, the whole caboodle – expressed in that pleasingly brief concept.

We searched to find the origins of this terminology and though we can’t be sure, it does seem to have appeared first in writings connected with the Society of Friends. Not surprising, as Quakers have long encouraged one another to reflect on their relatedness to other human beings, as well as to God. We have them to thank for the ever useful injunction – ‘recognise something of God in everyone you meet’, which some of us use as a guiding principle to this day. In Unitarian circles I’ve heard that re-stated as ‘recognise the spark of divinity in all that exists’ – widening this circle beyond simply human beings. And the Sufi guidance of ‘this too is me’ is one I’ll come back to later on.

21st August 2021 – Opening Worship for Hucklow Summer School Online

So my job tonight is just to introduce our theme – we’ve got five fantastic speakers lined up – and I’ve only got fifteen minutes – but I’m going to offer a few preliminary thoughts on this topic of ‘Why are we here? Discerning our Unitarian mission in an upturned world’.

I think it’s important to start with an unflinching acknowledgement that to say we’re living in an ‘upturned world’ is a bit of an understatement. Many of us feel overwhelmed, right now, both with grief at the sufferings of the world and all her people, and our own daily struggles. Many are traumatised and exhausted, navigating loss, uncertainty, conflict, and hardship. Covid is not over. Climate catastrophe is beyond denial. Intersecting injustices are being unveiled every way we turn, and it’s becoming clear how baked-in to the fabric of our society they are, how comprehensively things need to change if we’re to right these wrongs. The modern media landscape renders knowledge of all the world’s suffering inescapable.

Sermon #66 (4th December 2022 at Essex Church / Kensington Unitarians)

So: Why are we here? There are various ways in which you might choose to take this question. In the first reading, the one Brian gave for us earlier, the question was directed at the individual: ‘Why do you come, John?’ In the sense of: ‘why do you faithfully show up here every week, and muck in to help, when your life is already full-to-bursting with other commitments, and there are plenty of other fun things you might choose to do instead on any given Sunday morning?’

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Sermon #65 (27th November 2022 at Essex Church / Kensington Unitarians)

I wonder what comes to mind, for you, when you hear the phrase ‘Be Prepared’? Personally, it makes me think firstly of the boy scouts (and the girl scouts). Baden-Powell, the founder of the scouts, wrote over a hundred years ago that to Be Prepared means ‘you are always in a state of readiness in mind and body to do your duty.’ And more recent versions of the scouting handbook unpack this for the modern day by saying the idea was that ‘Scouts should prepare themselves to become productive citizens and strong leaders and to bring joy to other people. He wanted each Scout to be ready in mind and body and to meet with a strong heart whatever challenges await him.’

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Sermon #64 (16th October 2022 at Essex Church / Kensington Unitarians)

Prayer is a subject we come round to periodically at church – and that’s as it should be – prayer is a core part of what we do together as a religious community and, as such, it’s important to reflect on what it is we’re doing (or not doing), and the hows and whys of it too. Also, prayer is such a big topic, and such a varied practice, that it’s good to come back and approach it from different angles from time to time. So, with the help of a few distinguished poets, I’m just going to add a few thoughts to the ongoing exploration of prayer this morning.

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