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Sermon #57 (3rd April 2022 at Essex Church \/ Kensington Unitarians)<\/strong><\/p>\n So, as I mentioned earlier, between January and March of this year we had held a six-part course on \u2018How to be a Unitarian\u2019. We had far more people sign-up than I\u2019d ever anticipated, loads from this congregation, but because it was online we had people joining us from up and down the land, including ministers from other congregations, and the chief officer of the General Assembly, our national Unitarian organisation, Liz Slade. So it turned into a big deal!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This was a course that I\u2019d first developed and run in 2018, with help from Sarah Tinker, so a few of you might have experienced an earlier incarnation, either the full six-parter or the very condensed one-day version. In an ideal world I think we ought to be running something like this at least annually because there are always new people coming along to our churches and it\u2019s not that easy to explain \u2013 in a nutshell \u2013 what it is that newcomers are getting into! It\u2019s complicated. So this is sort-of an orientation course. But, in truth, there might be some of us who have been attending for years without necessarily having been required to think about it all that hard. For good reason we don\u2019t spend too much time on Sunday mornings navel-gazing about our tradition. But it\u2019s important to make time for some serious self-reflection once in a while.<\/p>\n Each week of the course had its own theme and focus \u2013 starting with an invitation for each of us to reflect on our experience of Unitarianism, then on to issues of theology, history, and values, looking at the wider national organisation, and how our independent congregations work, how our Unitarian involvement meshes with our own personal spiritual journey, and how our shared values might play out in terms of social justice and changing the world \u2013 but that barely begins to cover all the stuff we covered in those twelve hours and all the great conversations we had. However, I\u2019m not just telling you this to make you kick yourself and say \u2018I wish I had signed up\u2019! It seems important to bring a little of what we covered on the course to a Sunday morning audience, for the benefit of those whose lives didn\u2019t really allow them to sign up for a big commitment, so that we can all join in with this important conversation with a few shared reference points.<\/p>\n So, in less than ten minutes now, I\u2019m going to give you the digest version of what we covered. At the end of each session I picked out three \u2018take aways\u2019 \u2013 key points to remember \u2013 and I\u2019m going to take you through them now, at relatively high speed, to give you a bit of context for the reflections offered by course participants this week and next. Bear in mind that some of these bullet points are distilling incredibly nuanced discussions into relatively few words so if any of it makes you raise your eyebrows slightly that\u2019s surely an invitation for you to hang around after the service this week or next and have a chat about what it all means. I\u2019ll put the text of these \u2018take aways\u2019 up on screen but if anyone wants a slightly expanded version of this to reflect on at your leisure please send me an email or put your details in the chat box later.<\/p>\n \u2022 Unitarianism is a Religion\u2026 we gather in community for a sacred purpose.<\/p>\n \u2022 Unitarians are Free to Believe\u2026 what their own life-experience tells them is true, and what the promptings of their conscience tells them is right, based on deep reflection and reasoning (it\u2019s not just \u2018anything goes\u2019).<\/p>\n \u2022 Unitarianism is Full of Contradictions\u2026 as individuals and as a denomination we can be both rational and intuitive, humanistic and theistic, scientific and mystical (we find it healthy to hold these in balance).<\/p>\n \u2022 Unitarians are Open to Insights and Wisdom from a Wide Range of Sources\u2026 including direct experience, the collected wisdom of the world\u2019s religious traditions, reason and science; we often say that \u2018revelation is not sealed\u2019.<\/p>\n \u2022 Unitarians Take Responsibility for Working Out their Own Personal Theology\u2026 with freedom comes responsibility; we must do our own \u2018work\u2019.<\/p>\n \u2022 Unitarians Share some Core Shared Principles and Values\u2026 which play an important part in holding us together in community given the diversity of personal theologies (freedom, reason, compassion, equality, justice, etc.)<\/p>\n \u2022 Unitarian Congregations are Independent\u2026 so local expressions will vary hugely in terms of theological leanings, worship style, and resources.<\/p>\n \u2022 Unitarians are Strengthened When We Work Together\u2026 the GA (General Assembly) is our national umbrella organisation which acts on our behalf and coordinates projects and services which are of benefit to us all.<\/p>\n \u2022 Unitarians are part of a Continuous Tradition characterised by an ongoing Search for Truth, Goodness & Meaning\u2026 process rather than dogma unites us; we build on the insights of those that have come before.<\/p>\n \u2022 Our Congregation at Essex Church is Descended from the first Avowedly Unitarian Congregation in Britain\u2026 and our current transition is the latest in a long line of changes since our founder first left the Anglicans in 1774.<\/p>\n \u2022 Unitarian Communities Only Survive and Thrive Because of the Efforts of Committed People (Like You)\u2026 community depends on commitment and the church is only here for as long as people show up for it in various ways. The ongoing existence of our congregation depends on people \u2018mucking in\u2019.<\/p>\n \u2022 Congregational Life is Challenging (and not just for Unitarians) but Worthwhile\u2026 community life is inevitably messy and frustrating yet the connections we form with others on the spiritual journey are essential.<\/p>\n \u2022 Unitarians Take Responsibility for doing their own Spiritual Work\u2026 we can each deepen our spiritual life by working on our own religious literacy, building our own theology, and tackling any \u2018baggage\u2019 that holds us back.<\/p>\n \u2022 Going to Church supports our Personal\/Spiritual Transformation\u2026 being part of a religious community helps to keep you honest, supports you in \u2018sticking at it\u2019 when the going gets tough, and exposes you to new ideas, challenge, and encouragement; the spiritual life is about transformation.<\/p>\n \u2022 Belonging to (and Regularly Participating In) a Unitarian Community is Counter-Cultural\u2026 church is where we strengthen the things that matter against the prevailing influence of neoliberalism and consumer culture.<\/p>\n \u2022 The Pursuit of Social Justice is a Core Part of the Unitarian Way\u2026 one phrase beloved of Unitarians is \u2018deeds not creeds\u2019; living a life of kindness, compassion, peace, and justice is more important than what you believe.<\/p>\n \u2022 Unitarians \u2018Own\u2019 their Faith and Speak Freely About It \u2013 It is Possible to be a Unitarian \u2018Evangelist\u2019 without Proselytizing\u2026 if we Unitarians are shy about our faith commitments and never speak about it to our friends then we concede the public space to more religiously conservative voices. We need to let it be known that we exist \u2013 then people can take it or leave it.<\/p>\n \u2022 Unitarians are Perfectly Imperfect\u2026 the list of \u2018take-aways\u2019 might seem a bit daunting but the intention is to give you a wider and deeper view of Unitarianism than you might get simply by coming along on Sundays. There are loads of ways you might enrich your experience of Unitarianism.<\/p>\n And I added a final point: reflecting on \u2018How to be a Unitarian\u2019 isn\u2019t primarily about signing up more people to Unitarianism; it\u2019s about changing lives and changing the world. Yes, really.<\/p>\n So that\u2019s a very very abbreviated account of what we covered in the last three months! Later in the service you\u2019ll hear what Charlotte and Patricia made of it, and next week it\u2019s Rachel\u2019s turn, but I wonder what leaps out for you? What challenges you? What intrigues you?<\/p>\n Sermon by Jane Blackall<\/strong><\/p>\n An audio recording of this sermon is available:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n