{"id":439,"date":"2020-10-04T16:38:38","date_gmt":"2020-10-04T15:38:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rebelrebel.org.uk\/?p=439"},"modified":"2020-10-04T16:38:38","modified_gmt":"2020-10-04T15:38:38","slug":"why-are-we-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rebelrebel.org.uk\/?p=439","title":{"rendered":"Why Are We Here?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"zoom27thSept2020janeservice\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Sermon #43 (27th September 2020 at Essex Church \/ Kensington Unitarians)<\/strong><\/p>\n

I’ve got something a little bit different for you in the sermon-y bit this morning. A few weeks ago, as part the requirements of my ministry training, I had to give a short presentation on the history of this congregation. I\u2019m about to give you a very abridged summary of it (in about 6 \u00bd minutes, I think) and afterwards I\u2019ll tell you why. I think at least a few people here today will be familiar with the story of Essex Church (otherwise known as Kensington Unitarians) but in truth \u2013 London being what it is \u2013 and given our newly broadened \u2018catchment area\u2019 since we\u2019ve been meeting on Zoom \u2013 the turnover of people coming to our services is pretty high and it\u2019s likely many of you haven\u2019t heard the story before. I\u2019m going to show some slides of our illustrious forebears and their impressive hair and beard arrangements to keep it lively! But I will also keep it brief.<\/p>\n

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Let me introduce you to this fine fellow (and his bouffant hair): Theophilus Lindsey. He\u2019s a very significant figure in the history of this congregation and Unitarianism in general. He started out in the Church of England, was ordained in the 1740s, but over the decades that followed his conscience began to nag at him, particularly in relation to the requirement that all clergy subscribe to the Thirty Nine Articles, a statement defining Anglican (i.e. Trinitarian) doctrine. He\u2019d started coming round to a unitarian-ish position, and though he tried to reform the church from within, by 1773 he resigned as vicar of Catterick (Yorkshire) and came to London. This was a big deal! He was giving up his livelihood to do something pretty radical at that time. His friends egged him on to start a new congregation of like-minded people down south. He rented a room from an auctioneer in Essex House, near the Strand, and held the first service in 1774.<\/p>\n

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This is approximately what it would have looked like (though this picture is of a later event). There were 200 people at that first gathering, including Benjamin Franklin, Joseph Priestley, and a number of other big political and legal names of the time, even though at this point openly anti-Trinitarian preaching was still technically against the law. Supposedly government agents were present to keep an eye on things but the press generally reported sympathetically. Theophilus Lindsey\u2019s well-off supporters chipped in to buy the freehold of Essex House and a chapel \u2013 the Essex Street Chapel \u2013 was built on the site and flourished for the next half century. However, over time, the demographics of the city changed, and people moved to the suburbs. By the 1880s the congregation was in decline and they were thinking about closing altogether.<\/p>\n

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But there\u2019s more than one strand to our story! Meet Robert Spears (less hair; more beard). Another very significant figure in Unitarian history. He came from the north-east, was largely self-taught, started out a Trinitarian with the Methodists but became convinced that the Bible was thoroughly Unitarian and went about vigorously spreading this bible-based Unitarianism. He also ended up down south and founded several congregations including one in west London. The Kensington congregation started off meeting in rented rooms in 1867 and moved around a bit but within seven years they\u2019d picked up enough momentum to move to a settled site.<\/p>\n

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James Clark Lawrence, later Lord Mayor of London, bought some land in what was known as the Kensington Gravel Pits and a temporary \u2018Iron Church\u2019 made of corrugated iron was put up. By the 1880s the congregation was well on the way to raising funds for a new, larger church. And \u2013 this is where the two strands of our story join together \u2013 this is the point where Lindsey\u2019s original Essex Street Chapel was shrinking due to the population moving out of central London. So to cut a long story short, the two congregations decided to merge on the Kensington site, which hastened the move to demolish the old Iron Church and build a fancy new gothic building.<\/p>\n

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And from this point the congregation became known as \u2018Essex Chapel\u2019, later \u2018Essex Church\u2019, as a way to assert continuity with the first Unitarian congregation that Lindsey had started. Only bits and pieces of records from this time have survived but in his book telling the history of our congregation Raymond Williams looks back to the 1880s, and makes a significant comment: \u2018it appears that most lived within walking distance of the church\u2026 but it is equally evident that, even in those years, many left the district after a few years, and the area was even then assuming its modern character as a dormitory for birds of passage.\u2019 Not many of us live in walking distance any more but I was surprised to hear that even ~150 years ago the turnover of people was high. Still, they expanded their activities in the early 20th century, and had a huge Sunday school, but after the war the numbers started to decline again, and the building started to show its age. The church was a bit too big for the congregation so they decided to demolish and redevelop in the 1970s. For a few years the congregation met in hired rooms again. The theological centre of gravity started to shift \u2013 not quite so Christian-centred \u2013 gradually more humanist influences.<\/p>\n

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And here\u2019s the present-day building which many of us know, and love, and currently miss. It was opened in 1977 and is a beautiful, flexible, quirky space, with an annoyingly leaky roof. Now to squeeze this story of our history into 6 \u00bd minutes of course I\u2019m going to leave a lot out. From being here 21 years myself, I\u2019m already conscious of all the history of the church that has unfolded before my eyes, all the devoted and influential figures who\u2019ve passed through this congregation over the years and given so much of themselves to keep the show on the road. And that made me start to think a bit about all that doesn\u2019t get written down for posterity.<\/p>\n

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We had a jolly good party back in 2017 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the building. But that\u2019s one of the things I found strange when I was reading up on our congregation\u2019s history: So much of it was about the buildings. And a fair amount about ministers and notable figures. But on the whole, I read that list of names, and didn\u2019t feel that I knew much about them really. It\u2019s harder to get a sense of the real people, the congregational life, the deeper stuff that actually draws us together, and which has presumably drawn people to Essex Church for 246 years now. Because as much as we love our church building \u2013 that\u2019s not primarily what we come for, is it? And we can say that with some confidence now, having been mostly \u2018in exile\u2019 for the last 6 months.<\/p>\n

\"history8\"<\/a><\/p>\n

So I really wanted to include one more slide. To affirm that even while we\u2019re not meeting in our beloved building we\u2019re still in continuity with that first congregation from Essex Street, and the Iron Church, the Gothic Church, and the rented rooms. This is part of the same story. Us mucking about with our comedy vegetables on Zoom last week for our virtual harvest festival.<\/p>\n

Now, you might wonder why I\u2019ve given you that whistle-stop tour of our church\u2019s history. Here\u2019s why. In today\u2019s service we\u2019re just beginning to explore the question: \u2018Why Are We Here?\u2019 And it occurred to me that one significant part of the answer to this question is: \u2018We are here because, when we \u2013 each of us here today \u2013 when we went in search of a spiritual home, this church was just sat there waiting for us. Ready for us to discover\u2019.<\/p>\n

Someone founded this congregation \u2013 Theophilus Lindsey broke away from the mainstream to gather that very first Unitarian chapel on Essex Street \u2013 and a continuous chain of hands has sustained it ever since, kept it alive over the last 246 years, most of them not recorded in the history books, they remain unheralded and anonymous, but faithful stewards all the same. And because of them \u2013 their vision, their labour, their care \u2013 the congregation has survived so that when each one of us went looking for a progressive religious home, whether that was 40 years ago, or 40 minutes ago, or somewhere in-between, it was still here for us to stumble across. For some of us \u2013 me, at least \u2013 that\u2019s been a life-changing gift, a treasure handed down the ages. And now it\u2019s our turn. It\u2019s up to us to be custodians of this church, this congregation, this Unitarian tradition, and keep it in good nick for the generations yet to come. Like \u2018John\u2019, the character in the story that Antony read for us earlier, it\u2019s up to us to show up and be here to welcome the next person that needs us \u2013 that needs this progressive religious community \u2013 and whose life might be changed by it.<\/p>\n

The church hasn\u2019t stayed the same over all that time \u2013 of course it hasn\u2019t. We\u2019ve been through all those church buildings \u2013 and times without a building. The emphasis of the theology has shifted \u2013 and although we\u2019ve kept the name \u2018Unitarian\u2019 \u2013 we\u2019ve come to draw on a much wider range of sources than the bible-based faith of our forebears. The shape and the style of the worship has changed radically \u2013 and it is still evolving. Despite all these changes, though, there\u2019s something constant and enduring that remains. If you look back through our story, some key values emerge, some principles and purposes. Many of those values are directly inherited from the Christian tradition we came out of, even if the religious language we typically use has changed a bit over the intervening years.<\/p>\n

Maybe we don\u2019t make reference to the commandment to \u2018love God and love our neighbour\u2019 \u2013 but I\u2019d suggest that the spirit of this commandment, the Spirit of Love itself, is still at the very heart of all we do \u2013 even if some of us might prefer to substitute \u2018Good\u2019 for \u2018God\u2019, and talk about the very human acts of kindness and solidarity that are an expression of our faith. Maybe \u2013 in this congregation, at least \u2013 we Unitarians don\u2019t talk about the \u2018Kingdom of God\u2019 so much these days (though personally it\u2019s still a phrase I love) but we might speak instead of the \u2018Beloved Community\u2019 when referring to the better world we dream of, a better world which is \u2018at hand\u2019, we can catch glimpses of, whenever acts of love and justice are carried out.<\/p>\n

Why Are We Here? I could summarise with three \u2018Ps\u2019: Place, People, and Purpose. When I say PLACE I mean: there was somewhere \u2013 either a building or virtual space \u2013 for us to gather. For you and me to walk in, or log in, to for the first time. A place that was waiting for us. When I say PEOPLE I mean: there has been a continuous community of those who were willing \u2013 like that faithful chap \u2018John\u2019 in the reading that Antony gave for us earlier \u2013 to give their hearts to a particular community \u2013 offering care, and mutual support, and keeping the show on the road. And when I say PURPOSE I mean: the church is more than just a social club for \u2018people like us\u2019. There is something we are called to do in the world, values we share, a love that we embody. Personally, there are reasons why I came here, and not to the Anglicans, or the Buddhists, or a Philosophy class (worthy as all those gatherings are). It matters what we stand for, what our particular mission is. And each week, when the PEOPLE are gathered in the PLACE, we call each other back to this greater loving PURPOSE.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot more we could say about why we\u2019re here \u2013 as individuals and collectively \u2013 and as this is just part one of a two-parter I\u2019ll leave you to ponder that question for yourself in the week ahead (before we hear more from Jeannene, Charlotte, and Roy next Sunday). But for now I\u2019ll end with an echo of our opening words by Kimberlee Anne Tomczak Carlson:<\/p>\n

It is not by chance that you arrived here today.
\nYou have been looking for something larger than yourself.
\nInside of you there is a yearning, a calling, a hope for more,
\nA desire for a place of belonging and caring\u2026
\nAnd so, you began seeking a beloved community:
\nA people that does not put fences around love.
\nA community that holds its arms open to love\u2019s possibilities.
\nA heart-home to nourish your precious soul and share your gifts. Welcome home. Amen.<\/p>\n

Sermon by Jane Blackall<\/strong><\/p>\n

An audio recording of this sermon is available:<\/strong><\/p>\n\nhttps:\/\/www.kensington-unitarians.org.uk\/pod2011\/KU_jane.blackall_zoom_sermon_27.09.20.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

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A video recording of this sermon is available:<\/strong><\/p>\n