A Dissenting Voice.

The Eternal's Healing Face.

2012-02-08T09:18:00.007Z

"O Lord my God, I cried unto Thee, and Thou hast healed me." Psalm 30:2

Over the last few days I have unfortunately been unwell with a pretty harsh cold. I had the opportunity during this time (apart from feeling very sorry for myself) to contemplate the wonder that is our body's natural ability to heal. The fever I suffered with, while very uncomfortable, was a stark reminder of my body's various strategies to defeat the invading virus, which when thought about with any depth truly fills a person with gratitude for the wisdom inherent in the way our immune systems function. And there was even more to be grateful for; the healing properties of chemicals and plants and the awesome wisdom of humanity that over time has learned to harness these properties to manufacture medicines that can cure or make bearable many illnesses. (How lucky we are to live, as James Martineau says in one of his prayers, "at the end of so many ages, heirs to the thoughts of the wise, the labours of the good). Finally and certainly not least, much gratitude towards the love and concern of our fellow human beings, which is often so clearly felt when one is unwell.

The more I mused on all this, the more I came to see the notion of healing and repairing as existing throughout our world and the vast cosmos beyond. It can be seen in the way a forest destroyed by a violent and all consuming fire, very quickly begins to replenish itself, with shoots of the new trees and plants emerging from the scorched earth. The way that plants and life return to land obliterated by flows of volcanic lava. The way that new stars are formed out of the vast gas/dust clouds left behind by other stars in their supernova death-throws. The way our skin so rapidly repairs itself when cut, not to mention the ability of some creatures to replace entire limbs. The power of sunlight to help ease some skin disorders, and the way that the sea and its wave actions slowly clean the last traces of oil spilled on its surface, allowing life to flourish once again, and so on and so forth.

My own personal theological conception of God is most similar to what is called Panentheism. A Greek word meaning All is in God. This understanding is present in many religions and the Jewish religion itself uses the word "Makom" Place, as one of the names of God, signifying that God is the place in which the universe exists. I conceive of the Eternal as present in every aspect of the created world, and yet not confined by it, but instead transcending "beyond" it. An analogy I personally find helpful is to conceive of an image in my own mind; say a man sitting on a swing in a park. That image has an existence, but it exists solely within me. I am therefore present in every single part of that image, in its shape, colour, texture and movement, it could not exist without me, I am the very fabric of that image, and yet I am not that image, my essence and existence transcend it.

It is my belief that the essential nature of God, The One, is unknowable, as it exits beyond all possible frames of human conception. The only way we can know something about the Divine, I believe, is through the world that He created and through revelation.

So as I look at the aspects of healing and mending that are present in nature, I see God, specifically God as Healer. The very properties in chemicals and plants that cure illness and discomfort, the very forces discovered by science that bring new life to where destruction ruled are the healing Hand of the Divine itself, revealing Her merciful face as a God who wants this world of ours to exist and to mend and to repair. Nature is both a veil that hides the Divine countenance and a mirror that magnificently reveals it

And so onto us, made in the image of our Father in Heaven as we are informed so radically by the Bible. Should we not also, as a religious imperative use the power of healing and mending inherent in us for the improvement and welfare of our fellow human beings, and beyond that to the other dwellers of this world? Surely religion is not only about prayers, observances, self-actualisation, personal salvation, committee-meetings and some coffee and biscuits.

For did our teacher Jesus, himself not send out his followers into the world to heal:

"And he sent them forth to preach the Kingdom of God, and to heal the sick."

I am a believer that we can all do something to bring healing to those who are ill, indeed a wonderful American Orthodox Rabbi, Rav Pam, taught his students that even telephoning an unwell person, and talking with them for a while can bring them cheer, which even if for only a few moments has the power to make them feel better. This too is healing. What do we do and what could we do, as individuals and congregations to support our local hospitals and hospices I wonder?

But there are other ways too. There are so many rifts amongst people, from the trivial to the international. What part do we play as individuals, and as wider congregations to bring together those who have been torn asunder by hatred, pain or mistrust, and heal those divisions?

We can of course never be one hundred percent sure, but I feel that if we play our part, however small, in bringing health and reconciliation to our world, we too will become living demonstrations of the Almighty's healing presence and a testimony that God is found within us as much as beyond us.

"And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace." Luke 8:48

Sensual Worship & Life As Worship

2012-01-10T22:05:00.009Z

"O taste and see that the Lord is good".
Psalm 34:8

Recently I was asked to do a reading at my church, for this past Sunday, to mark the anniversary of our minister's first year as head of our congregation. It was suggested to me, and I readily agreed, that I focus my thoughts and comments on the role of our minister in introducing a strong focus on worship to our Sunday services. Despite panicking due to 'writers block" having descended on me, I managed, at the last moment, to compose a reading that was deeply appreciated by our wonderful minister and the congregation too.

This whole episode got me thinking about worship and the differences both between individual congregations, and between ourselves and other faiths. It is quite clear that there is no such thing as a one size fits all style of service. There are those that like the traditional, "word" focused hymn sandwich and there are others who prefer worship to be constructed around more contemporary styles of music, fostering a greater atmosphere of informality. Then there are those who feel much more connected to services which include all the senses, the smell of incense, the soft glow of candles, hauntingly beautiful music.

At my chapel we have a weekly service which is in the traditional hymn sandwich style. Most of the congregation enjoy that way of conducting service, I too thoroughly enjoy it. I love the calm and reverential atmosphere it creates, the link with tradition, and the strong Englishness about it just tickles me. However I personally also yearn for a more sensual form of worship, and happily I have strong reasons to believe that our congregation will hopefully be working this year at creating additional weekday services that will provide an alternative way to worship.

The Catholic church of my youth was filled with ritual, mystery, scents, sights and sounds that have left their imprint on my subconscious. I only need to smell frankincense and I am instantly transported to a place of reverence and mystery that exits beyond words. During the Reformation there were those who, in my view correctly, saw aspects of Catholic worship and doctrine as being either non-scriptural or even contrary to Biblical ethos and instruction, and sought to bring Christian worship and practice in line with what was to be found on the pages of the Old and New Testaments supported by reason and logic. In so doing they stripped churches of all their imagery and statues, and the worship itself of much of its ritual and symbolism and succeeded in making Christian places of worship similar to Jewish synagogues. Indeed some Protestants believed that their version of Christianity, stripped as it was of non-Biblical Catholic traditions, would prove irresistible to Jews, but of course they were mistaken. Because while the Synagogue was and is largely ritual free, Jewish life is certainly not.

Judaism unlike Christianity is a religion of Laws. Laws that introduce a plethora of rituals and observances that add sanctity to every part of daily life. From the weekly Sabbath observance with its joyful family meal filled with singing, to the festival days, each with their own symbols, foods and rites that closely follow and reflect the seasons in which they fall. When the Jewish Temple stood in all its grandeur in Jerusalem, public worship was powerfully evocative involving all the senses. From the ritual clothing of the priests, to the music and singing of the Levites. The scent of incense and of the roasting meat of sacrifices would have filled the air. Even after the destruction of the Temple, the Jews still worshipped God with the totality of their lives. From eating to love-making each act was suffused with the sacred and celebrated. Truly life as worship. Christianity on the other hand, lacking a similar code of daily observed laws, has largely been a religion whose major worship activity has taken place within the church building. When the Reformation removed sensuality and spectacle from church-life a vacuum was left. Fortunately the deeply embedded need that human beings have for rites and ceremony was filled by the widespread folk religion that was to be found and celebrated across the land. I believe I am correct in saying that many of our "ancient" folklore and folk customs are derived primarily from pre-Reformation Catholicism, that were banned from the church but were adapted and kept alive by the populous at large. Births and death, the turning of the wheel of the year, were all marked and celebrated with a riot of colour and enjoyment. People felt a deep connection to the Eternal, through the beauty and harshness of nature that surrounded them and which influenced their lives so profoundly. Acknowledgement and reverence of the Divine was interwoven into daily life, sometimes in ways that created deep opposition from the Church. People became deeply connected with their neighbours and to the place in which they lived, and the joys and griefs of life had many avenues of expression. Then on Sunday people would attend their chapels and churches and worship together in simple dignity. Such a combination worked well.

Over the past 200 years or so however, life has changed dramatically. The rural, agrarian life of the majority of people, and the deep bonds of community that such a life created, as well as much of the hardship and suffering, has almost entirely vanished. Technology and urbanisation have played their part in ensuring that traditional folk-religion, rooted in time and place, became increasingly distant from the hearts of people. Today there is almost no religious ritual left in daily life, and many people have never even heard of traditions such as Gooding Day, Candlemass, Michaelmas, Grotto Day, or Mischief Night. What ritual remains is primarily materialist in focus, such as the annual Christmas shopping, or Easter egg purchase! There is a huge deficit in widely-venerated spiritual observances, and so now perhaps more than ever there are real dangers for those churches whose only worship style fails to address the need for ritual in the heart of mankind. Mainstream Protestant Christianity, and to a certain extent Unitarian Christianity have become faiths somewhat disconnected from God's presence in nature and the symbolism/ritual by which we express our souls' deepest yearnings, although I am glad to see that the Unitarian Christian Association has been exploring other approaches, such as the beautiful and popular Taizé method.

One great strength of our Unitarian community is that we are not constrained by fixed ways of doing things. Our traditions are not set in stone. We have so much room to explore different, and life-affirming styles of worship, and I believe that even the smallest congregations can experiment, even if only once a month, with different forms of services.

Once again I bring an example from the life of John Pounds. In his time he was famous for taking the children in his care for long rambles on the South Downs behind Portsmouth. He would point out the flowers and trees, teaching the children (and even the adults) their Latin names and how to identify them. He would speak constantly of the goodness of God manifested in the marvels of creation, and his gratitude to his Maker was contagious. He taught the children that in appreciation and thanksgiving for the beauty that surrounds us in life (despite life's negatives many of which John Pounds had personally suffered) we should behave well and live good lives in service of our fellow man and the Eternal that unites us all.

Surely this worship, (which has to my mind many similarities with the ethos of Celtic Christianity) conducted on the grassy hills and forest groves, was as precious and sacred as any that can be conducted inside a chapel or church. Each has its place and now more than ever we must lift both types onto their proper pedestals.

God to enfold me, God to surround me,
God in my speaking, God in my thinking.
God in my sleeping, God in my waking,
God in my watching, God in my hoping.
God in my life, God in my lips,
God in my soul, God in my heart.
God in my sufficing, God in my slumber,
God in mine ever-living soul, God in mine eternity.

Carmina Gadelica.

It Came Upon The Midnight Clear.

2011-12-24T22:46:00.009Z

"And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall thy light arise in darkness and thine obscurity be as the noonday. And the Lord shall guide thee continually and satisfy thy soul." Isaiah 58:10-11

'A Christmas Carol' by Charles Dickens is a personal favourite of mine, and of many other people too. I enjoy reading it each year, and watching the many versions of it on television or dvd, including it has to be said, the wonderful 'Muppet Christmas Carol'. To me the story encapsulates the very essence of Christian faith, especially as understood by Unitarians. So profound are the teachings of this great faith that we, even now after two millennia, pause once a year to remember and celebrate the birth of its originator, Jesus of Nazareth.

To me the fundamentals of the Nazarene's teachings are:

Love of God,
Love of Humankind
Repentance
Hope

Most of Charles Dickens' writings are rich with themes that explore these fundamentals, and 'A Christmas Carol' is perhaps the richest.

During one very beautiful exchange in the book, Scrooge's nephew while seeking to persuade his uncle of the merits of the Christmas season, and the values it embodies so eloquently deliverers a most moving of speeches:

"There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say,' returned the nephew. 'Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come around - apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that - as a good time: a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time: the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!"

It took the visit of three spirits, four if you include the ghost of Marley to make Scrooge agree with the above passage, turn his life around, and for him always to keep at the forefront of his mind the advice, given by Marley, advice that is a relevant now as when it was written:

"Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, where, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business."

We may not be as miserly and bitter as Ebenezer Scrooge was before his apparitional visitations. However, many of us can perhaps identify areas of our lives or relationships where we may profoundly lack either the love of God, or the love of our neighbour that a true love of God should engender. Do we put our needs and desires ahead of all else, or do we recognise that we share this world with countless others and an existence with the Ultimate Existence? Are we like the biblical Joseph before his descent to Egyptian slavery and imprisonment saying to others "Hear I pray you this dream which I have dreamed" or do we, also like Joseph, shortly before his assent to greatness say to others about their dreams "tell it me, I pray you".

Whatever our failings we can have hope in the Good News that Jesus' brought, that change is possible, that goodness is within our grasp, and that like Scrooge we can turn away from the negativity in our lives and reach out and take hold of that which is our true life.

One man who honoured Christmas and the message that the babe in the manger would bring to the world was the cobbler and worshipper at the High Street Unitarian Chapel in old Portsmouth, John Pounds. I heard the following reading by R E Jayne, at our chapel's carol service this evening and it spoke deeply to me therefore I would like to share it:

"John Pounds always celebrated Christmas with a feast, humble in its dishes, but lavish beyond words in its spirit of love and goodwill, at which all his neighbours were welcome. He was a famous cook, but most famous as maker of Christmas puddings. Every year he would make one tremendous plum pudding; and then on Christmas day he kept open house; anyone who cared to look in could have a taste of the pudding until it had all gone. No jovial baron of olden times, or generous hearted lord of the manor, ever dispensed Christmas fare to the people on his estate with greater goodwill than this poor cobbler, when he cut and handed round to his visitors their slices of his only plum pudding. As Charles Dickens said of the converted miser Scrooge, so it may be recorded of John Pounds. "He knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge." He did not commemorate the birth of Christ in selfishness, but in a 'a more excellent way,' by feeding the hungry who were poorer even than himself, and by bringing happiness and laughter into the lives of the people, and especially the little children of the squalid streets and alleys of old Portsmouth."

At this time of year when lights of rededication to ancient faith blaze in the windows of those observing Hanukkah, and the sounds of carols telling the story of that humble stable in little Bethlehem all those years ago drift on the evening breeze, there is a palpable magic in the air that can remind us to re-commit to our true treasure, our true gifts, and that hopefully will inspire us to share it with others now and in the year to come.

May God bless you all, and may your Christmases be filled with happiness, health and holiness.

When Business Was Good

2011-11-21T09:53:00.001Z

"In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall make straight thy paths" Proverbs 3:6

I am excitedly looking forward to Ian Hislop's programme "When Bankers were Good" this coming Tuesday evening on BBC Two, featuring as it does some wonderful, philanthropic, Victorian men and women who understood that divine service, ethics and morality apply in all areas of life including the hurly burly world of business and from whom our modern society can learn a thing or two. I believe that some of those to be featured in the programme were Unitarians which provides some added interest for me.

Reading about this programme reminded me of a biography that I have recently read, about a man who Florence Nightingale referred to as: "One of God's best and greatest sons" namely William Rathbone VI

William was born in 1819 to the prominent mercantile, banking and political Rathbone family (who had become Unitarians, albeit still valuing their Quaker heritage, since William Rathbone IV moved from Quakerism to Unitarianism). At an early age he came under the influence of the Rev J.H. Thom whose views regarding the responsibilities of the wealthy towards the poor, were to shape William's whole life thereafter. Rev J.H Thom had characteristically said:

"What we are as Christians may be judged from what we suffer the poor around us to be."

William took such teachings to heart and began a life of the greatest philanthropy and public good, the effects of which continue to be felt right down to our own age. The family's existing wealth was only augmented by William's shrewd and successful business activities opening as he did branches in Canton and Shanghai and diversifying into ship-owning. Being aware as he was, from a very early age, that people often sadly decline in generosity as their wealth increases, he set for himself a principle by which at first a tenth of his income would go to the furtherance of public good, and then at every increase of his earnings there would be a subsequent increase in the proportion of money given away, until eventually the proportion reached five-tenths, and then subsequent to this, all further increase in income should go to the service of benevolence. He himself summed up this attitude when he described surplus wealth, after a person had provided for the reasonable needs of himself and his family, as:

"a trust for which he owes an account to himself, to his fellow-men, and to God; it is not an absolute freehold which he may use solely for personal enjoyment and indulgence."

He also knew the other scourges that wealth could bring in its wake, and so he took it upon himself to continue his father's efforts to abolish bribery and corruption.

William was no stranger to the needs of Liverpool's disadvantaged citizens, and his honour and prestige did not stop him from house-to-house visits of the poor during which he saw first-hand the misery in which many of them lived, which only served to strengthen his resolve to use his affluence and influence to bring alleviation to the problems he saw.

In 1859 his life was rocked by the illness and death of his wife Lucretia. His observation of and gratitude for the care given to his wife by a nurse, Mary Robinson, led him to desire the same standard of care for the poor of Liverpool. To this end he engaged, at his own expense, a nurse to work in the most disadvantaged districts and he laboured tirelessly to establish in 1862 the Liverpool Training School and Home for Nurses which set in place a district nursing scheme which eventually spread throughout the entire country. Not yet satisfied, he investigated and became increasingly saddened by the state of care at the great infirmary at Liverpool Workhouse and successfully strove to better the nursing practices there.

In 1868 he entered Parliament as a Liberal MP where he worked at reforming local government and specifically local taxation, efforts which significantly contributed to the Local Government acts of 1888 and 1894

William's other great and generous endeavour and a central component of his lasting legacy, was his involvement in the foundation of University College Liverpool in 1882 and the University College of North Wales in 1884, now known as Liverpool University and Bangor University respectively, a natural outgrowth of his belief, a belief that was strongly held by many 19th century philanthropists and reformers, and still held today, that a good education is one of the best and most sustainable routes out of poverty.

His death in 1902 called forth many tributes from prominent people in Liverpool and led the Archdeacon Madden to refer to him as "An ideal citizen, and typical modern saint". As a result of William's devoted service to God and to his fellow human beings he became one of a dearly remembered group of people whose activities in the furtherance of civic virtue led a Baptist minister Rev. Dr. C. F. Aked to say in 1905:

"The life of Liverpool has been enriched by some Unitarians who were amongst the saintliest of God's children; the records of its public philanthropy and of its private beneficence are eloquent with stories of Unitarian goodness."

Today many in society are looking for a new way for politics and business to be conducted. Some wish to do away with the systems we currently have and replace them with something else (a 'something' which very often they find hard to articulate). However we Unitarians have past luminaries who have illuminated ways for us to conduct ourselves in our work, and in the use of our wealth. All our congregations can if we so wish, continue the legacy of our forebears, even if only in small ways, and once again join forces with those of all faiths and none to strengthen the fabric of our society, inrease opportunities for all and continue spreading a spirit of munificence throughout our land.

"For where thy treasure is, there will thy heart be also". Matthew 6:21

Facing The Night With Joy And Trust

2011-10-31T21:00:00.001Z

"I form the light and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil; I am the Lord, that doeth all these things." Isaiah 45:7

Halloween is upon us with all its symbols and traditions that help to brighten up this time of year and which give us all an opportunity to engage in a little frivolity. Halloween's observances stem, I believe, from the Gaelic festival of Samhain, a name which in both Irish and Scottish Gaelic has in time become applied to the whole month of November. Traditionally this day marked the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter, the night-half of the year. Animals that had been fattened over the warm summer months would be slaughtered and their meat preserved to feed the people over the lean and cold months ahead. A big feast would be held to rejoice in the face of the hardship and danger which the winter would likely bring. This danger and hardship was the cause of an uncertainty which drove people to devise and play divinatory games on the night of Samhain, or Oidhche Shamhna in Gaelic, to ascertain what the future had in store. The Christian festivals of All Saints and All Souls that are observed on the first and second of November introduced a focus on the departed into the existing traditional agricultural festival. People would remember all those who had died, and would in some cases go "souling" house to house asking for gifts of money or food in exchange for praying on behalf of the souls of the departed. In time costumes would be worn and the seeds for trick-or-treating were laid down.

We now stand at the gates of winter, with the landscape painted in hues of orange, yellow and red, just as the sky is illuminated with those same colours in the moments before the sun sets and ushers in the night, therefore now more than ever is the time to recognise that we don't know what the future holds, and that life does indeed have mysteries and fearful possibilities that threaten us all. Despite this we need not be bound in chains of anxiety, or search desperately for signs to reveal to us the hidden, instead we can look the coming night, with all its dangers and difficulties in the face and laugh with a spirit of joy. For we can remember the days of light and fullness and rejoice in their fruits which now follow us into the dark night to sustain us. We can look fondly on the memories of our loved ones, and of the wise men and women of the past, especially our teacher Jesus, whose wisdom still lives for those who wish to avail themselves of it. The departed do not leave us, but through our recollections continue to inform our present and shape our future.

Above and beyond all else we can place our confidence into the hands of the Creator of light and darkness, life and death, whose presence is with us always, and whose love for us is immeasurable.

Wishing everyone a Happy Halloween.

"Among the bonny winding banks,
Where Doon rins, wimplin' clear,
Where Bruce ance ruled the martial ranks,
And shook his Carrick spear,
Some merry, friendly, country-folks,
Together did convene,
To burn their nits, and pou their stocks,
And haud their Halloween
Fu' blithe that night".
Halloween by Robert Burns 1785

Inquiry and Prejudice

2011-10-09T23:01:00.003+01:00

"Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord"
Leviticus 19:18

While leafing through my copy of the Inquirer this morning I read something which I thought quite disturbing. A letter written in the magazine was expressing disappointment about the nature of previous letters by those who clearly did not share the same social/political/religious views as the author(s). A previous writer from Belfast was criticised for a letter that was entitled (by the Inquirer itself I imagine) "Islam is not as tolerant as Christianity" which calmly criticised an argument that had suggested that the atrocity committed by Aders Breivik in Norway demonstrated that Christian extremism is as significant a risk as Islamic extremism. Another writer is criticised for suggesting that; "Unitarians should be left to make their minds up" on political and social issues instead of apparently having to toe the party line as some would prefer. They also complain about those letters written over the past few months by people who feel that there could be problems with the immigration policies of our times. To top it all off the writers imply that the very appearance of such letters in the Inquirer with which they disagree could perhaps give the wrong impression about the Unitarian community, despite all those other letters that have been published challenging the above mentioned views. How very tolerant and open-minded. How committed to Inquiry the writers of this letter seem to be! But not only unsatisfied that the pages of the Inquirer contain such views, it seems that the very presence of people in Unitarianism itself, with views other than those of the authors, is cause for concern. "However we think that the fact that there appears to be such a constituency within Unitarianism is cause for concern" was the exact way they phrased their disquiet.

This to me is an example of an intolerance that is sadly not at all rare, and I have unfortunately heard from people, who while finding much of Unitarianism true and uplifting, said that they either have no desire to join a congregation or even to leave one they are already affiliated with, because of the hypocrisy they see, of a community that relishes the label of tolerance and freedom but which in practice can sometimes be as intolerant as the most closed-minded churches (who at least don't claim to be free-thinking).

I am, as perhaps can be gleaned from my blogging, a more traditionalist Unitarian, and I have deeply held (and hopefully rationally held) beliefs that don't always reflect the majoritarian view within UK Unitarianism. As an example; despite being homosexual myself, and while supporting the right of any church to conduct religious civil partnerships should they so choose, and also respecting the duty of the representatives and spokespersons of UK Unitarianism to enunciate the views of the majority of Unitarians , I don't happen to believe in same-sex marriage. I strongly feel that the issue is not one of a lack of equality at all, and I certainly do not feel that it is an issue of discrimination. (Clearly I must be part of the constituency that gives so much cause for concern). I utterly respect those that disagree with me, and always try to understand their arguments. I am not offended or upset by the GAUFCC's efforts in support of same-sex marriage, and recognise that my views are a minority amongst Unitarians. However I do expect others, while disagreeing with me, to also value my right to hold my own opinions, and not to make rash judgements about my character as a result. This is not to say that debate should be stifled or diminished in order not to offend those like myself of differing opinions, debate should be vigorous, but we should pursue the debate as friends not enemies.

Thankfully the congregation of which I am a part, happens to have people from a diverse range of social and political views, and luckily it is blessed with an abundance of genuine tolerance that creates strong friendships amongst all of us, and which does not expect us to conform to a set of preselected social or political views.

Sadly prejudice is a reality which affects us all from time to time, even the most liberal minded of people are not free from its influence. I myself learned this lesson directly at this morning's service.

Our minister is currently away and as a result we had a lay preacher from a congregation that I believe is known for its less than traditional approach to faith and social issues. (A "lefty" church would be a cheap but handy shorthand.) All week I had been somewhat less than enthused about this week's service without really having given much thought as to why. The reality on the day, however, was completely different from what I had clearly expected, and we had a service that was so traditional that it would not have been out of place in a liberal Anglican service. I have to say I was taken aback. It struck me just how easily and how unthinkingly my assumption earlier in the week had been made, and on the impact this had on the way I felt about attending worship today. I was wrong, and while ashamed of this, I shall attempt to learn from my mistake.

This is simply human nature I guess. We all pre-judge events and people, (in other words we are all prejudiced). As human beings we categorise things in our lives and assume that things that come in similar "boxes" are all going to be alike. If we meet a person and they are a little rude to us, we just assume that they will be like that the next time we meet them, despite the very strong likelihood that they might have been having a bad day when they were rude, and that normally they are a delight to know. If we have an unpleasant meal in a restaurant we may assume that all meals there will be the same. I feel the key is to be mindful of our prejudices, not pretend we don't have them, and recognising them, strive not to allow them to shape the way we feel, to think "outside the box" and with a degree of courage allow ourselves to believe that this person or this organisation or this situation might be different from what we think it might be. Those that believe they have no prejudice at all, are likely not acknowledging it, and as such may exhibit the very intolerance and bigotry they condemn others for. The words of our wise teacher Jesus spring to mind:

"And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but cosiderest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, let me cast out the mote out of thine eye; and lo, the beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye."
Matthew 7:3-5

It is also very natural to have a warmth of feeling towards those with whom we have much in common and with whom we think alike, and to be suspicious of those with whom we don't. But for us to be true to our Unitarian calling we must learn to see beyond differences of opinion and belief and instead cleave to the common humanity and dignity that we all share, as children of the same Divinity. Or as Jesus taught:

"For if you love those that love you, what thank have ye? For even sinners love those that love them."
Luke 6:32

Respect and regard for people who are different from us, in thought as much as in anything else, is what we as Unitarians should affirm, and not just to have respect and regard for those who we love for thinking the way we do.

So I hope that those who may conclude that my beliefs regarding marriage must mean that I am a raving, self-hating, homophobe, strive to recognise that a difference in belief does not equal a moral failure.

Likewise I hope that the writers of the letter to the Inquirer learn not to be so concerned with their fellow Unitarians whose freedom of thought and inquiry has led them to different opinions. Dissenters should not be in the business of striving to prevent dissent.

Finally I hope that my own prejudices continue to be challenged, on this blog as much as in life, so that I can grow in my appreciation of truth.

Joyous Introspection.

2011-09-26T17:47:00.000+01:00

"I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies" Psalm 119:59

Often the emphasis during the harvest season is one of celebration, and rightfully so. It is, however, somewhat hard for our industrialised society to really appreciate this joy. For us vegetables, grain, fruit and meat are available all year round. Only a few generations ago, the harvest was vital to survival, a matter of life and death even. How appropriate therefore is joyous celebration. But this time of year, as the crops are brought in and the nights begin to lengthen, is also a time of accounting. Farmers and communities would assess what had grown well and what had failed. What could have been done differently and what had worked perfectly. It was a time of resolutions; what to plant for the following year, what practices to incorporate into the life of the farm and what animals to purchase. It was also a time for action; ploughing the fields to prepare them for the sowing of winter wheat. Is it any surprise therefore that the Hebrew calendar, deeply tied to agricultural cycles (of the Land of Israel) has the New Year at this time of year?

Rosh HaShana, the Jewish New Year, takes all of the above themes and applies them to people. Celebration; thanking God for the year that was, and all the blessings bestowed. Self accounting; contemplation on conduct and behaviour over the previous year, with repentance for all that was done wrong. Resolutions for self-improvement over the coming year and finally action; expressed by extra punctiliousness in the performance of religious and moral obligations.

Perhaps it is not coincidental that our political parties have their annual conference during this autumnal season, maybe there is "something in the air" that lends itself to such events. (Although how much honest introspection and repentance for past wrongs goes on at these functions is anyone's guess!)

The Gospels have Jesus saying:

"For each tree is known by its own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes. The good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth that which is evil: for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh".
Luke 6:44-45

Our actions do testify to our true nature, especially the smallest, almost unconscious actions. For a stingey person can perform a very large, public act of charity, but when he receives a few pennies more of change than he is owed he may pocket the lot without a second thought thereby eloquently testifying to his true self. Many of us can conduct ourselves with the greatest refinement in public, giving an impression of humility, kindness and gentleness, but in the privacy of our homes speak with sharp, arrogant and hurtful words to our loved ones, again actions that more starkly reveal our true selves. This harvest season gives us ample opportunity to examine the fruits of our behaviour over the year gone by, to see if they match with the view of ourselves that we have or are aiming for. Like the farmer we can ask ourselves where and why did we go wrong, and identify how we were successful.

In honesty however I have some confusion with Jesus' words on this subject. Immediately before the verse brought above he is said to say:

"For there is no good tree that bringeth forth corrupt fruit; nor again a corrupt tree that bringeth forth good fruit."

Is this really so? If I understand the metaphor correctly (and I would appreciate correcting if I am wrong) it means that a good person does not bring forth evil deeds and an evil person does not bring forth lasting goodness. But there have certainly been good people, who have done great wrongs either in a moment of passion, out of ignorance or misguidance etc, just as there have been negative people, even some of histories tyrants, who on occasion have done kindnesses for others and left legacies of goodness from which we still benefit. But in general I agree with Jesus, we are what we do, far more that what we think or what we say. (Interestingly if that teaching of Jesus is taken literally as some denominations do, then how can they deem Judas to be wicked? For according to them his betrayal of Jesus lead to the crucifixion and resurrection which was central to the salvation of mankind. If Judas was evil then how could he have created such good fruit? But I digress.)

Even for those who do not celebrate the New Year at this time, the opportunity for new beginnings is to be found. Fresh back at work, school or the domestic routine after the summer, we can all resolve to walk again the paths of the Eternal's testimonies. To lead a life that produces a harvest of good fruits in abundance.

"I can pick cherries from a tree,
Or break the branch and let it die:
For good or ill, my hands are free.
With fingers I can soothe a brow,
Or make a fist and strike a blow,
Kindness or cruelty bestow.
Then let us now this lesson see:
Like life itself our hands can be
For evil used, or charity."
John Andrew Storey

Perfection and Peace

2011-08-30T09:08:00.002+01:00

"A soft answer turneth away wrath: But a grievous word stirreth up anger."
Proverbs 15:1

During the last month our television, radio and newspapers have been filled with many tales of strife. Between peoples and their governments, between rioters and the police, and many other similar stories.

One of my favourite lines in the beautiful BBC adaptation 'Lark Rise to Candleford' is delivered by the character Dorcas Lane, the postmistress played by Julia Sawalha:

"There seems to be an attitude abroad of seeking out conflict, relishing it, to feed the worst in human nature. I am often accused of being sentimental, it's true, I cannot deny it. I just find it so much more interesting to seek out forgiveness and acceptance and those so easily mocked values such as generosity and loyalty and love. I know it is considered old fashioned in these oh so modern times, but I love my community. Write about love..I dare you".

I was reminded of these words while talking to a friend of mine whose church is somewhat afflicted by a dispute between several existing members and several ex members of the congregation. I struggled to understand how people who come together deliberately to share in fellowship, and to embrace and embody the values of forgiveness and generosity can fall into the same patterns of conflict that have torn and continue to tear communities and even whole countries apart. I am saddened by how many in our own Unitarian circles are disillusioned and turned off by the lack of tolerance often exhibited by our denomination which likes to wear its broad-mindedness and liberality on its sleeve. If religious folk who preach peace and communion are seemingly not without fault in these selfsame areas, should this cause us to give up in despair? I certainly know of those who think so.

One only has to look at all the literature ever produced by the hand of man, or even in the Bible itself to see how deeply entrenched in the human heart is the idea of discord with one's fellow man. For all our advancement and modernity we still suffer from war and ill-feeling amongst people. Should we think as does Mr Thornton in Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South:

"If only there where a mechanism to enable us all to live together. We can bring back marmosets from Mozambique but we cannot stop man from behaving as he always has."

There is, however, an alternative way and subsequently there is hope. We were informed long ago by our teacher, his words being as relevant today, that:

"Ye therefore shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." Matthew 5:48

But what is this perfection of which Jesus speaks? Clearly it cannot refer to a complete absence of wrongdoing or needs. That type of perfection is only to be found in God's own unique existence, as we are told by scripture when it says that there is no righteous man upon the earth that doeth good and sinneth not (Ecclesiastes 7:20). We all do wrong. Jesus himself taught that there is no one, including himself, that truly merits to be called good. For only the Eternal One can ultimately be known by that description.

No, the perfection of which Jesus speaks is, in my opinion, that which comes from emulating God by pouring out our kindness and love even on those whom have caused us harm. To move beyond the wrong done to us and seek the welfare of those whose choice to upset us demonstrates their deep need for repentance, improvement and healing.

Conflict may be part of the human experience and will sadly be found even in the sanctuaries of the world's faiths, however we can aspire for better. We can aspire for better in our private and communal lives, and despite the guaranteed failures along the way, we can rejoice in knowing that each step in the right direction, each temptation for strife overcome, is an emulation of the Eternal's perfection that surrounds us and our world with glory.

Perfection is not always getting it right. Perfection is found in aspiring for the good and constantly battling forward in that direction.

"Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God" Matthew 5:9.

Self-Restraint VS External Coercion

2011-08-15T13:44:00.000+01:00

"A just man that walketh in his integrity, blessed are his children after him." Proverbs 20:7

"National progress is the sum of individual industry, energy and uprightness, as national decay is of individual idleness, selfishness, and vice. What we are accustomed to decry as great social evils, will, for the most part, be found to be but the outgrowth of man's own perverted life; and though we may endeavour to cut them down and extirpate them by means of Law, they will only spring up again with fresh luxuriance in some other form, unless the conditions of personal life and character are radically improved. If this view be correct, then it follows that the highest patriotism and philanthropy consist, not so much in altering laws and modifying institutions, as in helping and stimulating men to elevate and improve themselves by their own free and independent individual action."

These words form part of the introduction to 'Self-Help' the most celebrated work of Samuel Smiles (1812-1904); a book which contains much wisdom and down-to-earth common sense.

Over the past week we have all heard the many opinions offered to explain the causes of the inexcusable orgy of violence and theft which took hold of many of our major cities early last week. Broadly (perhaps far too broadly) these arguments can be divided into two categories; the Condemnatory and the Understanding. Those who have embraced the former have spoken for a need for greater police powers, and harsher sentences for the perpetrators coupled with the loss of benefits to punish their families. Many on this side of the argument consider themselves as completely uncontaminated by and non-responsible for the moral failings of those who engaged in the wanton violence. They exhibit an Us-and-Them mentality. Good folk vs the savage underclass.

Those who subscribe to the Understanding approach have in many cases simply and transparently projected their own political ideology and discontent onto the rioters, transforming them into their personal hired-thugs to vicariously argue in favour of their own world view. A sort of "If you don't accept and implement my social/political ideology then you can expect (and deserve) similar violence" argument. I notice how many on this side of the debate very rarely express a similar desire to understand the sins and motivations of the wealthy bankers, politicians or even Murdoch and his empire! No when it comes to these wealthy sinners, it would seem they are wickedness itself.

Of course there have been plenty of reasonable, nuanced and well thought-out arguments that have gone some way to shed light onto the events that have so starkly brought to light the problems in our society and we do ourselves a disservice if we dismiss such arguments because their nuance reveals the complexity of the problem.

One motivating factor that I feel has not really been discussed enough is that of Fun. It was evident on the faces of so many looters that they were having a most exciting and amusing time. A carnival of destruction if you will. I heard many of the revellers interviewed expressing that very same motive for their acts of criminality. Why though should this come as any surprise? Anyone who has ever seen a child (and sometimes an adult) at play will know that there is great pleasure in an act of destruction. Add to this the cat-and-mouse element with the police and the sense of fun is predictably magnified. Acquisition itself produces much felicity, how many of us don't feel an increased sense of joy when we purchase an item we covet?

Problems arise when such natural, universal human instincts and desires combine with an absence or atrophy of strong moral values and self-restraint. Without these constraining bridles the worst of human kind can become unleashed, how much more so when inflamed to huge proportions in the super-charged and uninhibited atmosphere of a mob. As people we are not wholly bad or wholly good, but instead are a weave of both virtue and vice. If virtue is not placed as something to be desired and worked for, we lose the counterweight that serves to keep in check the worst in us.

While the focus of the past few days has been strongly on young people and children, it behoves all of us to realise that their behaviour during the looting was simply the extreme end of a spectrum which includes us all. Where have youngsters learned that the pursuit of fun and acquisition overcomes the verities of right and wrong? Why are notions of right and wrong themselves so abstract in the minds of many youngsters? Because that is the example that we adults have set. I could mention example after example of people (myself included) placing their own pleasure, their own wants before their duty and obligations to themselves and others. It is evident to me that we have created a society which redefines selfishness as a right and duty and restraint as repression.

How many households are in debt as a result of adults spending what they do not have? Do people really think their children don't realise what goes on? What example do adults indulging in casual drug use (and I include cigarettes in this too) give to young minds? That my moment of pleasure is far more important than the damage I do to others in my vicinity or to those in my society who may assume from my behaviour that it is OK to indulge. What lessons are we transmitting when we treat sexual intimacy as a recreational activity? That it is perfectly acceptable to reduce another human being to an unimportant vehicle of my own lustful pleasure; and then we claim to find it shocking that there are swathes of the country where young men think nothing of sleeping with girls and leaving them alone to deal with the consequences! What lesson did all those shoppers who tumbled over and crushed each other in order to grab some bargains in a Primark shop back in 2007 teach their offspring? That my desire for a new pair of shoes transcends all moral codes.

"The nation that has no higher god than pleasure, or even dollars or calico, must needs be in a poor way. It were better to revert to Homer's gods than be devoted to these; for the heathen deities at least imaged human virtues, and were something to look up to". 'Character' Samuel Smiles

Watching the news, or reading the papers last week, one could not help but be struck by the contrast of individuals throwing all decency and righteousness to the gutter in pursuit of fun and acquisition with the images of those children and adults whose lives are fading away as they succumb to the spectre of starvation and absolute poverty in the horn of Africa. What shame we should all feel at this. How demeaned has our nation become despite of its relative affluence? How unfortunately apposite are the words of scripture when they say:

"Thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art become corpulent - Then he forsook God which made him and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation." Deuteronomy 32:15

I feel that the cost in continuing along the path that Britain (and so many other countries around the world) has been travelling upon will be very high. I have no doubt that Samuel Smiles was right when he wrote about the fate of nations that are composed of people:

"Living for themselves only, and with no end but pleasure - each little self his own little god - such a nation is doomed and its decay inevitable."

It is we, collectively, who have manufactured an environment (with much assistance from governments of all stripes) where self-realisation, self-indulgence and selfishness have trumped the Divine values of self-restraint, self-respect and selflessness, and it is we again collectively who could reverse the trend; a task which everyone is, according to Samuel Smiles, equally qualified to perform and to achieve:

"Even the humblest person, who sets before his fellows an example of industry, sobriety and upright honesty of purpose in life, has a present as well as a future influence upon the well-being of his country; for his life and character pass unconsciously into the lives of others, and propagate good example for all time to come."

The opportunities for us to strengthen our individual and collective character are daily given to us. For there really is no act, however trivial, that does not have its train of consequences:

"Every action, every thought, every feeling, contributes to the education of the temper, the habits, and understanding; and exercises an inevitable influence upon all the acts of our future life. Thus character is undergoing constant change, for better or for worse - either being elevated on the one hand, or degraded on the other". 'Character' Samuel Smiles

Unitarians have traditionally valued the power of individual character, and recognised that Liberty can only be created and maintained when people are governed by the ennobling qualities of self-restraint and moral integrity in place of the coercive and ultimately ineffectual power of the state. They brought to people the hopeful and life-giving gospel of Jesus, and taught that salvation is gained through good character. Let us today, following the example and instruction of our ancestors in faith and our teacher Jesus, take up the same banner and bring dignity, respect and hope to all those who are in desperate need of them, ourselves included.

"When the time arrives in any country when wealth has so corrupted, or pleasure so depraved, or faction so infatuated the people, that honour, order, obedience, virtue and loyalty have seemingly become things of the past; then, amidst the darkness, when honest men - if haply there be such left - are groping about and feeling for each other's hands, their only remaining hope will be in the restoration and elevation of Individual Character; for by that alone can a nation be saved; and if character be irrecoverably lost, then indeed there will be nothing left worth saving." 'Character' Samuel Smiles

"Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time.
Footprints that perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again."
'A Psalm of Life' Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

The Wheel Of The Year Turns

2011-07-31T22:51:00.000+01:00

"When thy reapest thine harvest in thy field, and hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it: It shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow: that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hands."
Deuteronomy 24:19

The first of August ushers in the festival of Lammas. This festive day, the origins of which go back into perhaps ancient history, traditionally marks the beginning of the grain harvest season and autumn in general. While it was observed in many different ways around the country, a common tradition was to take a loaf of bread to church in order to give thanks to God for His beneficence and to pray for blessings upon the coming harvest. Enamoured as I am with rural life and its culture I too had the privilege today, on the eve of Lammas, of taking a freshly made loaf of bread into my chapel. Combined with some lovely jams and lemon curd brought in by a fellow member of the congregation, a delightful little repast greeted the worshippers during our fellowship time after the morning service. Inquisitive as Unitarians tend to be, there were many questions about why the bread was there, and as a result they discovered an aspect of British tradition that they might not have known about previously.

True to the season, the fields surrounding my home are now in the process of being harvested, the land stripped of its blanket of wheat which was planted earlier in the year or even last year. The wheel of the year turns and it never ceases to amaze me or fill me with an awe that is indescribable, reinforcing in my heart the awareness that our world is an ever-present witness to a profound wisdom.

This world is not chaos; it has an order inherent in every aspect of it, large or small. The seasons and all they bring are clearly purposeful, and I would go further; are clearly the work of One incomprehensible mind. The ancients regarded the many forces of nature as somewhat separate from each other, each a master of its own domain that could be petitioned, appeased and in some cases manipulated, so that the aspect of nature it was said to be responsible for could serve and not harm the interests of man. Then a new voice was heard that taught that all those apparently disparate forces, are nothing other than the expressed will of one single and Almighty God. An entirely new relationship with the Divine was born in the hearts of man, one that has utterly changed our world. The more we have discovered about the workings of the cosmos, the more the unity of the Divine has become apparent. Even those who remained uncertain as to the existence of God were not unfeeling to the mystery of creation itself:

"You find it surprising that I think of the comprehensibility of the world...as a miracle of eternal mystery. But surely, a priori, one should expect the world to be chaotic, not to be grasped by thought in any way... Even if the axioms of the theory are posited by man, the success of such a procedure supposes in the objective world a high degree of order, which we are in no way entitled to expect a priori. Therein lies the 'miracle' which becomes more and more evident as our knowledge develops."
Albert Einstein.

Last week I watched a wonderful BBC programme called The Code. In it the mathematician Marcus du Sautoy reveals the mathematical code that underpins all creation. From prime numbers that guide the, critical to survival, timing of the emergence of certain species of cicadas, to Pi which is to be found within all circles both man-made and natural. This great mystery, the nature of the spectacularly ordered, mathematically regulated laws of the Universe is outdone only by the even greater miracle, that our limited human brains are made in such a way that they too recognise the fundamental pattern of creation and can utilise it to create all the technology and know-how that has contributed so much to our collective knowledge and success:

"There is one qualitative aspect of reality that sticks out from all others in both profundity and mystery. It is the consistent success of mathematics as a description of the workings of reality and the ability of the human mind to discover and invent mathematical truths"
John Barrow, Theories of Everything.

Keeping our minds on the rationality of our universe can also help us to have trust in a future of which we do not know. We can, if we so choose, walk simply with God. For He who orders our world, who sustains all and whose wisdom lays behind the changing seasons, the ripening grain, and the harvest bounty, will also guide us along our journey, leading us on the paths we must tread. Free in the embrace of this trust we can turn our attention to our duty towards our Maker and His creations, or as our teacher Jesus taught:

"For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first His kingdom and His righteousness: and all these things shall be added unto you. Be not therefore anxious for the morrow; for the morrow will be anxious for itself."
Matthew 6:32-34

Children are now off school, families are spending greater amounts of time together, perhaps on holidays in which much money has been invested. This is an opportune time to harvest as much happiness and joy from this season of togetherness, and convert them into lasting memories that will sustain us through the winter months until the sun's warmth returns next spring. Just as the farmer is bidden, during the harvest season of abundance, to remember strangers and the disadvantaged, so too we should share our late summer happiness with those who could benefit. Perhaps some holiday money could be set aside to provide for those who lack. Perhaps an acquaintance or even an estranged family member can be invited to join a family celebration, outing or even barbecue!

May this coming month fill all our lives with happiness, peace and success, and may we make proper use of the blessings bestowed upon us, and by so doing walk our journey's road in the guiding embrace of creation's Author.

"The Lord my pasture shall prepare, and feed me with a shepherd's care;
His presence shall my wants supply, and guard me with a watchful eye;
My noon-day walks He shall attend, and all my midnight hours defend."
Joseph Addison 1712

Extinguishing the Flames of Hatred.

2011-07-25T13:14:00.001+01:00

"And let them make unto Me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them."
Exodus 25:8

Norway is in deep mourning after the terrible atrocity that took place there only a few short days ago. Much of the world looks on with immense sympathy and shock, as people struggle to understand how a human being can behave with such wanton cruelty towards innocent people.

Much of the religious Jewish world is also in mourning at the moment, at least symbolically, as the annual cycle once again arrives at the period of commemoration and mourning for the destruction of their Temple in Jerusalem and their subsequent exile, years of wandering and suffering. All too apposite is the ancient sages attribution of the cause of that destruction to one terrible sin: sinas chinam or in English: baseless hatred, as it would appear that baseless hatred was what most likely led to the loss of lives in Norway and which so often underlies the rifts in our own society which are always there in the background threatening to tear down our own temple of liberty, co-existence and tolerance.

Anders Behring Breivik, seemingly motivated by loathing and what can only be described as monumental vanity, claims to have been defending a Christian Europe and specifically a Norway, under threat from Islam and immigration. Like all totalitarians he claims that those who disagree with him are facilitators and conspirators of this threat and that they must be destroyed. How ironic that a man who claims that Islamic jihadists are the biggest threat to Norway, himself carries out the biggest act of violence on that soil since the Second World War. How telling that a man who rails against Marxists, reflects the very worst of their excesses by he himself seeking a revolution to snuff out liberty and acting towards that goal by ending the lives of those who disagree with him. Also this defender of Christendom most certainly did not have Christ's teachings in mind while he was plotting and carrying out his nefarious actions upon those whom, in his distorted mind, were his enemies. For was it not Jesus who said:

"But I say unto you which hear, love your enemies, do good to them that hate you. Bless them that curse you, pray for them that despitefully use you. To him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and from him that taketh away thy cloke withhold not thy coat also...
But love your enemies, and do them good, and lend, never despairing: And your reward shall be great and you shall be sons of the Most High; for He is kind towards the unthankful and evil. Be ye merciful even as your Father is merciful. And judge not, and ye shall not be judged: and condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned." Luke 6:27-29 35-37

But while the events of last week were the work of one man, embracing the most extreme of ideologies, elements of his thinking are to be found throughout society and similar arguments are to be found directed at different "enemies" throughout the political spectrum. It behoves everyone to think carefully about how they express their views and beliefs and to conduct themselves with the greatest caution lest their words and ideas feed into a mindset that, at its most extreme, rationalises cruelty and hatred. In this regard I am reminded of the words of the first century Jewish sage Avtalyon:

Scholars, be very careful with your words for you may be exiled (drift) to a place of evil-waters (dangerous teachings) and students will come after you and drink (learn from you) and be destroyed, and the Name of Heaven will be desecrated.
Pirkei Avos 1:3

Nothing however, should preclude the necessary debates on subjects that concern people, and neither should people rush to label as "extremist" or "bigoted" views with which they disagree or the people who hold them. Discourse that inflames or increases the often distorted view held by sadly far too many people on a variety of issues must however be challenged and revealed for what it is. The views one sometimes hears from otherwise good and decent people, about immigration for example or about those seeking asylum are frequently dispiriting to say the least, and very far from the compassionate, and humane spirit which, I believe, should characterise our nation and which I find embodied in the following words:

"Take the stranger. Trustful does he enter your country, your city, your community, confident of finding people who will respect him as their fellow-man and not begrudge him a place among themselves where he can live, and live like a human being; he has no other letter of recommendation than his human countenance, nobody to introduce him but God, Who presents him to you as His child, and says: 'He is like you, may he do as you do - grant him equal rights- he is My child, My earth is his home; I have called on him, just as I called on you, joyfully to fulfil his task as a human being; do not curtail that right of his do not spoil his joy of life, do not abuse his helplessness; show that you feel that your soil is God's soil, and that man is God's child."
Horeb Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch 1837

There are of course issues that surround immigration that must be resolved in the interests of both those that have chosen or been forced by circumstances to settle here, and the host nation. These should be debated without fear or recrimination, in a calm and rational fashion free from passion or zeal. I myself am personally delighted and heartened to hear that the sentiments, so eloquently expressed by Rabbi Hirsch, are alive and well in the work that Reverend Bob Pounder of Oldham Unitarians, is doing in assisting asylum seekers. May his efforts be blessed with much success.

Sorrowfully it would seem that the temptation to engage in vituperation against anyone that does not share the same beliefs, be they political, social or religious is very strong. It can be seen in the way that bankers are regarded and spoken of routinely as the epitome of greed, selfishness and wickedness. It can also be seen in the language and conduct on display during protests against President Bush or Tony Blair. It is graphically manifested in the contorted faces and rage filled cries of participants of English Defence League protests and most tragically it was displayed in the ravings of Anders Breivik who regarded young people associated with the Norwegian Labour party as traitors. And it can often be seen in the snide remarks, put-downs and gossip which we all engage in. It would seem that we have all much to learn about the true meaning of human dignity and liberty and that an argument is lost the very moment it becomes about the person/people instead of the issue.

As Unitarians we often pride ourselves, and certainly present ourselves, as the paradigm of tolerance and liberal thought. This is certainly a good goal for us to aim for and one that is worked hard at, but we are still I feel, far from achieving it. Indeed this very claim is often used by us to wrap ourselves in a mantel of self-righteousness in order to pour scorn on others whose faiths or attitudes are not (on paper) as magnanimous as our own. I know of one congregation that is on the verge of collapse due to the inability of its members to accommodate each other's ideas and beliefs. I also know a person who was an avid contributor (and still wishes to be) to the musical life of her congregation until a controversy arose because several people found her use of "He" in reference to God, to be unacceptable! I am sure many Unitarians have experienced or know of those who have experienced a degree of intolerance from their fellows in the faith. It is relatively easy to argue for tolerance on the big political and social issues of the day, but much less, so it would seem, to embody tolerance in the mundane life of our communities.

Now, as always, our world is riddled with divisions and hatreds, some bigger and more violent others smaller and parochial but both ultimately destructive. We whose name speaks of unity, which testifies to the unity of humankind under the unity of God, must truly exemplify it in everything we do and in how our chapels, churches, meeting-houses and denomination conduct themselves internally and externally. With endeavour, co-operation with others and God's help, we can surely play a part in softening the edges of human interaction, creating a society of kindness, benevolence, grace and liberty. A society which will be a shining temple, a sanctified abode in which the Almighty may dwell forever in our midst.

"Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!.....For there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore."
Psalm 133

Men Who Stare At Goats

2011-07-17T13:10:00.010+01:00

"And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, even all their sins; and he shall put them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a man that is in readiness into the wilderness." Leviticus 16:21

There has always been present in human nature a desire to project all its negative aspects onto some external, usually powerful, other. By so doing it allows the individual or the group to comfortably express anger and rage at the very aspects of their own nature that they find troublesome, and also helps to remove the shackles of personal responsibility. Ambrose Bierce in his "Devil's Dictionary" succinctly expressed this reality in the following way:

"Responsibility: A detachable burden easily shifted to the shoulders of God, Fate, Fortune, Luck or one's neighbour. In the days of astrology it was customary to unload it upon a star."

Traditionally, Christianity shifted such burdens onto the devil, a character that in order to gain some scriptural legitimacy was grafted somewhat clumsily and unconvincingly onto the Hebrew Bible's Satan. Ironically that same Hebrew Bible is very aware of this predilection of human psychology and in page after page it refutes this manner of thinking. The issue is clearly of some significance as the Bible refers to it very early on; Adam seeks to blame Eve (and God) and Eve blames the serpent for their sin. Cain goes even further and famously denies the very concept of moral responsibility altogether:

"Am I my brother's keeper?" Genesis 4:9

In the New Testament our teacher's brother in addressing this very subject, has the following words attributed to him:

"Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, and He Himself tempteth no man: But each man is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed. Then the lust when it hath conceived beareth sin." James 1:13-15

Very often the figure that is held responsible for the wrongdoing inherent in each of us, is often endowed with incredible power, and in the case of the devil, traditional Christianity came close to creating a dualistic theology! All evil actions and harmful events are seen to have the hand of the evil-one behind them, either directly or through the armies of its wicked servants. In the last century this self-serving irrationality was clearly evident in the demonisation of the Jews by Nazi Germany, in which the very victims of Nazi racism and oppression were accused of wilful corruption of the German "race", oppressing Germany and subsequently blamed for all that nation's difficulties.

And now yet again we see this growth-stunting mindset in action in the response to the Phone-Hacking scandal. Having read and heard much commentary on this subject (which apparently is of greater importance, to judge by the attention given, than the crisis in the horn of Africa or any other event) it would appear that Mr Murdoch and his News International are the new Beelzebub! If we are to believe what many would have us believe Mr Murdoch has some truly Voldemort-like powers of sorcery often deployed which enslave politicians and which successfully control the collective mind of our nation! As a result politicians suddenly (and conveniently) finding their courage are taking upon themselves the role of exorcists as they seek to "break the spell" of the media mogul's satanic influence and have him cast into the outer darkness. This is in my opinion all tosh!

No one forced politicians of all parties to flatter, fawn and entertain Mr Murdoch and co (or for that matter the BBC, Guardian etc). They chose to do so as they thought that it might help them advance their careers. They were quite happy to set aside or adapt their principles if they thought that the newspapers would promote them and their policies in a favourable light. Not all politicians however were willing to do that, and those dissenters (such as John Mann (Labour) and Ann Widdecombe (Conservative) for example are a living reproach against all those that did, if your pardon the phrase, "dance with the devil". Neither was it Murdoch's fabled power that led many MP's to behave with less than perfect propriety in regards to their expenses. (Oh I'm terribly sorry, that was if I remember correctly the fault of "The System").

Nor did anyone cast an enchantment onto the police that stripped them of their free will and forced them, if the allegations are true, to accept many thousands of pounds in exchange for information and then seek to obstruct (?) this reality from becoming known.

And what of us, the Great British Public, what about our outrage at the wrongdoings of the media set. Was it not we who hungered after more gossip and more scandal and stripped the shelves clean of newspapers that provided it? Did we not collectively derive pleasure at the revelations of the sordidness in the private lives of those that we ourselves have elevated to the heights of celebrity status. Have we not filled cyberspace with speculations and disclosures? Is it not us that fuel the popularity of television shows that derive their fame from presenting human misery and degradation for public entertainment? Would we be right to blame the mythic powers of News International for all this or might we look inwards at ourselves? I feel that we could certainly benefit at this moment from heeding the words of Jesus:

"And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?" Matthew 7:3

The disturbing allegations of phone hacking that began this drama are appalling, however not that surprising, and anyone truly responsible for this law breaking should be dealt with appropriately. Beyond that, this is an opportunity for us all to look at the nature of the society that we have created and specifically our individual role in it. We should not allow any individual or organisation to be scapegoated for aspects of our culture that we find distasteful and the same is also true on the micro scale, in our families, in our chapels and churches and in our workplaces.

The media scandal and the underlying issues it exposes will not I feel be fundamentally resolved by the passing of more laws or with expression of synthetic outrage. It can only be remedied if our nation and we as individuals come to realise and work actively towards a truth so beautifully expressed by Samuel Smiles:

"That which raises a country, that which strengthens a country, and that which dignifies a country - that which spreads her power, creates her moral influence, and makes her respected and submitted to, bends the heart of millions and bows down the pride of nations to her - the instrument of obedience, the fountain of supremacy, the true throne, crown, and sceptre of a nation; this aristocracy is not an aristocracy of blood, not an aristocracy of fashion, not an aristocracy of talent only; it is an aristocracy of Character. That is the true heraldry of man. The crown and glory of life is Character.
"Self Help" Samuel Smiles 1859

This is something that with God's grace and assistance we can all work at and hopefully achieve some measure of success in our own lives.

Nature's Song

2011-06-27T11:27:00.001+01:00

"The flowers appear on the earth; the time of song is come, and the voice of the turtle dove is heard in our land. The fig tree ripeneth her green figs, and the vines are in blossom, they give forth their fragrance. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the covert of the steep place. Let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice. For sweet is thy voice and thy countenance is comely." Song of Songs 2:12-14

There are moments when the majesty and beauty of nature simply take your breath away and the awesomeness of creation envelops you. Moments where all the pomp and spectacle of humanity seem as nothing in comparison. Or as Jesus put it:

"Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one these". Matthew 6:28-29

Yesterday I had one such moment

After a very long, tiring and trying day (except for the beautiful couple of hours in chapel during the morning) I finally had time to sit in peace for a little while, and enjoy the sunshine and that special tranquillity that only a summer evening can bring. After watching a little cricket on the village green I started across the fields heading home. Walking along cool wooded hedgerows, views of a wide, gently rolling landscape framed by brambles and trees, I approached a flat area, nestled gently in the valley of a stream. The fields that stretched out in all directions, their golden/green colour illuminated by the golden warmth of the sun, were stained with multiple patches of red from the many poppies scattered amongst the grain. The heavens, the wide, cloudless, deep blue sky was magnificent in its scale and colour, a huge canopy-like expanse providing as much space as needed for the swifts to weave and dive. The sounds of crickets and birdsong were the musical accompaniment to this symphony of nature. I was transfixed to the spot, my eyes drinking every sight and my heart bursting with joy, awe and gratitude as the past and future disappeared leaving me only in the present. In moments such as these God is seemingly never as close and the sweet voice and comely countenance of our Divine beloved are there to be experienced.

This went on to remind me of something I once heard from the Chief Rabbi, who pointed out that such an experience is only one of several ways in which we encounter God. The sound of someone crying out in pain or fear, the sight of someone in need or more accurately our response to these things, are also encounters with the Divine and no less significant. These are clarion calls summoning us to take an active role, to be partners with Him in creation.

In a world as immense and complex as ours, surely the inquisitiveness of our own minds, authored by the same Designer of nature, cannot be artificially limited without negative consequences. Those that feel that they can protect what they regard as true, by shackling and stifling the minds of others, commit what can only be termed an atrocity against the human spirit, and perhaps even a degree of blasphemy. For truth needs no supports, requires no underhand methods to maintain itself. It is its own justification. The overwhelming magnitude, complexity and beauty of our world, should be matched only by our willingness to expand our minds, deepen our understanding and to grace our lives with the beauty of a life lived always ready to hear and respond lovingly to the still small voice of God.

The earth, and all the heavenly frame, their great Creator's love proclaim.
He gives the sun his genial power, and sends the soft refreshing shower.
The ground with plenty blooms again, and yields its various fruits to men;
To men, who from his bounteous hand. Receive the gifts of every land.
Nor to the human race alone; is His paternal goodness shown.
The tribes of earth, and sea, and air, enjoy His universal care.
Thomas Gibbons 1720-1785

A Nightingale Gives Pause For Thought

2011-06-20T09:26:00.002+01:00

"Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: But woe to him that is alone when he falleth, and hath not another to lift him up." Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

Last week the issue of assisted suicide made the news, after the BBC broadcast a programme on the subject. The issues surrounding this controversial subject are far too important and far too complex to be given adequate attention in a small blog such as this. However during the week while listening to the discussions of friends and acquaintances, one principle thought entered my mind and persisted there, and I have decided to articulate it here. If it contributes anything to the discussion in any way whatsoever then I will feel that I have achieved something worthwhile.

Before I begin I feel that it is important, for the sake of honesty, to elucidate my own position regarding this subject. For a variety of reasons I myself am not in favour, and not supportive of assisted suicide. This unquestionably influences what I will subsequently write. However I feel I understand the reasons why its advocates support it, and I strongly believe that those in favour are genuinely motivated by mercy, compassion and empathy. I only hope that those who disagree with my position also recognise that I too am motivated by these same values.

Amongst the arguments in favour of assisted suicide I heard this week, one strongly perturbed me. Several people said that they would wish if possible to end their lives, or have their lives ended, in order to spare their children or others the burden of caring for them in their infirmity, a situation they dreaded. Some were very frightened of being in a situation where they would have to be cared for in such a way. In both cases it was clear that fear was a strong motivator, a fear of what they might inflict upon their loved ones, and a fear of having to be cared for. This fear was significantly greater than their fear of illness and even of death itself. This put me in mind of something that Florence Nightingale once said:

"How very little can be done under the spirit of fear."

I remain deeply concerned by what effect on our society assisted suicide might have, when that selfsame society more often views care as a burden and not a blessing. The appalling and heartbreaking manner in which some frail and elderly people had been treated in some of our nation's hospitals, nursing homes and homes, an abomination so graphically revealed over the past several weeks, including a damning report just out today, testifies to a profound chasm in the ethic of care even amongst some of those professionally charged with its fulfilment. Many elderly and vulnerable people, and we may all know personally at least some of them, are rarely visited even by their own families let alone strangers, and I would be unsurprised if some are left in no doubt that they and their needs are viewed as a burden or inconvenience. It is soul-destroying to imagine that instead of remedying this sorry state of affairs, we may instead acquiesce to the sadness and sometimes despair and fear it creates and bring to an early end, lives which could have grown in purpose and happiness even as they reached their end. Hopelessness and purposelessness are surely some of the darkest emotions and should be healed not reinforced.

Modernity has brought us many gifts. So much has been invented and developed to make life easier for all of us; labour saving devices are present in every home, and the hardships and efforts that were the daily lot of our ancestors in the not so distant past, now only exist in memories and history books. For these advances and for this blessed progress we should sing paeans of praise to the Most High, who implanted in our minds the wisdom to accomplish all of this. However even blessings can have their darker sides. We are now so accustomed to ease that difficulty is seen as a curse to be avoided at all costs. Just as Jesus taught that one cannot serve God and Mammon, likewise the same can probably be said of serving God and Ease! No one can doubt that caring for others, especially those who are in the most need of it, can be very arduous on both mind and body. People who care for the most disabled and distressed people often have to struggle with exhaustion, stress and unsparing hardship. Who would not wish to spare someone, especially their loved ones, from this?

But what is often not appreciated and certainly not championed enough, is that ministering to the needs of others can be the greatest of life's blessings. To know that you have used your strength, your whole self, to improve the life of another, to diminish their pain and suffering and to lift their spirits, can be the greatest of all possible joys. Many mothers and fathers could testify to this. And while we may all wish to avoid being placed in such a situation, if it should sadly occur then the option to perceive it as a privilege and a sacred entrustment should always be seen as possible.

Caring and its ultimate realisation in the nursing of the sick and dying is a precious art, a sacred task that deserves the highest acclaim, or as Florence Nightingale said:

"Nursing is an art: and if it is to be made an art, it requires an exclusive devotion as hard a preparation, as any painter's or sculptor's work; for what is the having to do with dead canvas or dead marble, compared with having to do with the living body, the temple of God's spirit? It is one of the Fine Arts: I had almost said, the finest of Fine Arts. "

Can we honestly say that our culture, our commonwealth, has elevated care, support and nursing onto the pedestal they deserve? Are our youth inflamed with a passionate desire to extend themselves, to sacrifice their personal physical and emotional comfort, for the sake of those most at need? Are those professionals who dedicate their lives to the care of others, sometimes in the most unpleasant circumstances, duly honoured and acknowledged? Do we vigorously chase the opportunities to bestow care and support? If the answer is no, then is this the correct atmosphere the correct time in which to introduce the concept of assisted suicide?

I feel that it is not. Others will conclude otherwise and the debate will have to be had, appropriately, sensitively, honestly and carefully before true conclusions can be made.

Florence Nightingale has left us with yet another pearl of wisdom:

"You ask me why I do not write something... I think one's feelings waste themselves in words, they ought all to be distilled into actions and into actions which bring results."

She was right, and those who feel as I do have an added duty to work actively to strengthen the care-ethic in society. To put into action our doctrine, and to draw as many people as possible into a work so universally relevant that all considerations of creed, colour and culture are set aside. As the words of Holy Scripture with which I began this post make clear, all such efforts can only succeed, when we support one another and lift each other when we fall.

Whatever position the wider Unitarian denomination adopts on the issue of assisted suicide I hope and pray that despite any differences, we will be at the forefront of resurrecting the sacred virtue of care for others. And remove the need for anyone to contemplate ending their precious life, for fear that they may be any sort of burden. I pray that we play a leading part in transforming the attitude of society, so that caring will be seen as a privilege and those who are in receipt of it will be in no way diminished as a result. And I pray that we do all we can to celebrate, support and encourage those who devote themselves to care for others.

"If your soul, with power uplifted, yearn for glorious deed,
Give your strength to serve your neighbour's every need.
Have you borne a secret sorrow in your lonely breast?
Take to you your sorrowing neighbour for a guest.
Share in full your bread of blessing, sorrow's burden share;
When your heart enfolds a neighbour, God is there".
Theodore Chickering Williams 1885-1915

True Worship.

2011-06-10T17:00:00.001+01:00

"Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: what manner of house will ye build unto me? And what place shall be my rest? For all these things hath mine hand made, and so all these things came to be, saith the Lord: But to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth in awe at my word."
Isaiah 66:1-2

This week I came across an essay written by the 19th century champion of German Jewish Orthodoxy; Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch 1808-1888, which has impressed me considerably. These are his words:

"Houses of God, Divine Services, are of secondary importance; for what is generally known as Divine Worship has in the sphere of (God's) Teaching neither the same meaning nor the same aim. The Divine Service of (God's) Teaching, is life itself, and to worship God means to obey the laws of God. Not by the manner in which you build His House, decorate His Temple, chant hymns and pray unto Him will God recognise you as belonging to Him, but by the manner in which you build and sanctify your own homes, serve Him in your everyday life, in your marriage, in the education of your children, in your family, your whole social relationship; whether and how you serve Him with your thoughts and feelings, your speech and your actions, your business life and your enjoyment; whether you fulfil in all these spheres the revealed Will of God - that is how God will judge you to see whether or not you are His servant. Temples, Houses of God, Divine Service do not testify anything to God, they exist in order to act as witnesses for you, to remind you of your God, to declare to you your task, to save you from the vicissitudes of life, to collect your thoughts as you appear before your God, to make you reflect upon your own self, to re-create for you again and again a true conception of your own self, your destiny and your whole relationship to God. The....houses of worship exist in order that (man) should prepare himself within them for the service of God in life. They are thus not for God but for man. For God is only there - and He is always there - where you allow Him to be Master and Father; where you submit yourself with a joyful heart to His rule, leadership, and teaching; where you are His servant, His disciple and His child."
Collected Writings Sivan 1

These compelling, reasoned and well written words remind us that the religious and spiritual life is to be lived holistically, and should not be confined solely to the house of worship.

Chaya Sara Kramer, a survivor of the Holocaust, when asked if she had been angry with God while in Auschwitz replied that she had not. "About the Holy One, Blessed be He, I didn't think anything except good, He created man and He sustains him. How can anyone doubt His goodness?" She then went on to reveal that in Auschwitz she, with The Eternal always in mind, strove to exercise the only power she had; the power to choose good, in her case by observing as many Jewish laws as she could, and assisting her fellow prisoners in all their needs as much as she could. With the perspective of this amazing women every theatre of life can be seen to contain opportunities to engage in worship. According to her biographer and friend, Sara Yoheved Rigler, Chaya Sara's world-view held that "a person reclining in the luxury spa of a five-star hotel who insults the waitress who brings her a glass of iced tea is in a far worse place than a girl keeping the Sabbath in Auschwitz".

How strongly all this reminds me of the words of our teacher's brother:

"What doth it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath faith, but have not works? Can that faith save him?.....Even so faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself.
James 2:14-17

There is nothing at all wrong, or so it seems to me, in working to craft beautiful and uplifting services, to relish our shared times of worship, or to beautify our churches. All these things are important. But our relationship with the Divine does not begin when we enter through the doors of our chapels and churches, nor does it end when we leave. Rousing hymns, elegant music and candle/chalice lightings are of no value if our behaviour at home or at work fails to sanctify the name of God, or fails to honour His image in those around us. For as Jesus taught:

"But go ye and learn what this meaneth, "I desire mercy, and not sacrifice."
Matthew 9:13

I shall certainly try to keep in mind these lessons as I journey to chapel on Sunday, and will try to use the time in shared worship to rededicate myself to and remind myself of, my task and responsibilities as a child of God, to both my Maker and all His creations.

"Dearly beloved brethren, God, in whom we live and move and have our being, never leaves us, day or night. But the very nearness and custom of His presence hide Him from our infirm and sinful hearts; and under cover of this darkness, our inner discernment becomes dim, temptations gain a shameful power, and the good that is in us droops and fades. To clear such blindness away, and recover the pure wisdom of a Christian mind, we are called to this day of remembrance and this house of prayer."
James Martineau Home Prayers With Two Services for Public Worship

Pentecost Reflections: Courage and Commitment

2011-06-06T12:12:00.001+01:00

"It hath fully been shewed me, all that thou hast done unto thy mother in law since the death of thine husband: and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore. The Lord recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to take refuge." Ruth 2:11-12

This week sees the arrival of the Jewish festival of Shavuos, or "Weeks" in English. It is the culmination of the festival of Passover that occurred 7 weeks or 50 days previously. The number of days also reveals a link to the Christian feast of Pentecost, 50 days after Easter, which is celebrated this coming Sunday. Shavuos is one of Israel's harvest festivals, which Jews have piously observed even when distanced from the agricultural cycles of their Holy Land. Additionally and more importantly the festival marks the date which tradition claims as the anniversary of God presenting his revelation to Israel on Mount Sinai. Over one thousand years later and on the same date, according to Christian tradition, occurred the revelation and descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples of Jesus, infusing them with renewed inspiration and commencing their mission of proclaiming the Gospel. Just as fire descended on Mount Sinai so flames were said to descend upon the heads of the disciples. Both these festivals are pregnant with meaning and merit greater study and respect.

For me one of the nicest observances of Shavuos, (other than the consumption of lots of yummy cheesecakes and other assorted dairy products) is the reading of the Book of Ruth, perhaps one of my favourite books in the Bible. Not only is it a beautiful and moving story, I find it inspires me to emulate its core themes of commitment, kindness and devotion (even if I am not always so successful in putting these themes into practice.)

The story is replete with many selfless acts of kindness. Naomi, a stranger in a strange land, who having lost her husband and her two sons and resolving herself to return to Bethlehem, pleads with her daughters-in-law (her last connection with her sons) not to accompany her into a life of poverty and loneliness but to return back into the bosom of their families and societies. Thoughts of her own loneliness and vulnerability are set aside in the interest of others. Boaz, whose words of praise opened this post, was willing to set aside his own love and admiration for the titular heroine, in order to observe God's will, and to honour the rights of others.

But above all, the greatest sacrificial kindness on display is that of Ruth herself. She sets aside her own heritage, future and comfort in devotion to Naomi, her mother-in-law and utters her famous words:

"Intreat me not to leave thee, and to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God" Ruth 1:16

While the trait of loving-kindness is perhaps the most obvious aspect of Ruth's character (so much so that people not exhibiting this trait are held to be ruthless) I feel that another of her virtues is often overlooked; Courage. It may seem that Ruth is a victim of circumstance, a lone women lost in a world dominated by men, forced to labour tirelessly in the fields, gleaning for survival and at the mercy of the goodwill of others. But of course it did not have to be this way. She chose to give up her life in her homeland and embrace life with Naomi, whatever the consequences. Placing her trust in God she, like Abraham before her, walked bravely forward into an uncertain life. She made a commitment to Naomi and to God, and all commitment requires a good dose of courage.

Every relationship and every endeavour has risk, nothing in life is guaranteed and despite all the methods which people have invented for prognostication, the future remains uncharted territory. So when we commit ourselves to someone or something we too act with courage.

Ruth could not be dissuaded, she knew what she had to do, she knew what was right and she set herself on the path necessary to fulfil it. Like all of us, she no doubt heard that familiar inner, incredulous voice that questioned the sanity of her decision. Naomi herself was pleading with her to stay among her people, and yet her moral fortitude won out. Can it be any wonder that royalty would in time descend from her?

It is not always easy to stand by our decisions or our beliefs. Sometimes self-doubt or external criticism forces us to veer off the path we believe to be true. In the interest of an "easy life" we conform to peer pressure and expectation, and in so doing we sacrifice an aspect of our human dignity for as Ruth demonstrated it is exceedingly more noble to gather scraps of grain in a foreign field and be committed to that which you know to be true, than to sit in luxury knowing that you have betrayed your conscience.

A couple of weeks ago in chapel, I heard a Hindu story which illustrates the danger of relinquishing the courage of conviction. I shall broadly outline it:

Some thieves notice a wealthy man returning from the market with a grand sheep. They decide amongst themselves to steal it and eat it, but are divided as to how to go about it. Two of the thieves suggest various ways of physically attacking and disabling the man in order to make off with the animal. The third brigand suggests that they trick the man into handing the sheep over, a suggestion that is accepted by the others. As the man walks along he comes across the first thief who asks him if he is going hunting. When the man replies that he isn't, the thief questions him as to why he has brought a hunting dog with him! "A hunting dog" replies the man "What are you talking about this is a sheep!" The thief continuing his act insists that it is a dog. Convinced that he is talking to a person devoid of sanity, the wealthy man walks on. Soon he comes across the second thief, "Please please sir, keep that dog away from me, I'm terrified of dogs" he yells. Struck by the madness of the situation the sheep's owner insists that the "dog" is in fact a sheep, but to no avail. Finally he comes across the third thief who begs to be allowed to pet the "dog" as he loves them so. At this point the man questions himself. "I thought this was a sheep, but it seems I must have been wrong. It looks as if I must have been deceived in the market, and sold a worthless dog for the price of a sheep. What do I need a dog for, I have five at home?" And with that he releases the sheep and storms off back to the market. The criminals set upon the sheep, kill it and eat it.

The message of Shavuos and Pentecost presents us with challenges. To embrace God and to walk trustingly in His ways is not always easy, just as it is not always easy to sustain a relationship in the face of difficulties. But if we are confident that this way is true (with the humility to always be open to the wisdom of others and to the possibility that we might be wrong) we must courageously walk that path even if the whole world stands against us, safe in the knowledge that it is a blessing in itself to do so.

"Blessed are they that have been persecuted for righteousness' sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when men shall reproach you and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake." Matthew 5:10-11

Many have risen to such a challenge, and one day I will have to dedicate a post to the story of one such individual: Emily Hobhouse, who suffered accusations of treachery and disloyalty for her advocacy of Boer women and children, victims of the brutal British policy of that time, and her staunch opposition to the First World War. She knew the truth that she had to pursue. She, like Ruth, was committed to it and would not be dissuaded.

These upcoming holy days can reinvigorate our resolve and convictions and strengthen us to continue our journeys, faithful to God and to the service of our fellow human beings, always aware that commitment is very much like Shakespeare describes love:

"Love is not love, which alters when it alteration finds.
Or bends with the remover to remove:
Oh no! It is an ever-fixéd mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken."
Sonnet 116

The Individual and Society

2011-05-30T11:10:00.000+01:00

"The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul: The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes."
Psalm 19:7-8

I shall let you all into a little secret; I love Beatrix Potter books! Yes you read correctly, I am fully grown man who gladly confesses to becoming lost in the innocent and evocative words and pictures of Beatrix's Edwardian era children's books. One of my favourites is "The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse". For those of you not fortunate enough to have read it I shall quickly outline the story. The tale concerns two mice, one known as Johnny Town-mouse born in the cupboard of a house in town, and the other mouse answering to the name Timmie Willie, born in the garden of a house in the country. One day Timmie sneaks into a hamper full of vegetables destined for town and falls asleep. He awakens to the sound of a busy town and before long arrives at his destination where he is discovered by a housemaid as she empties the hamper of its contents. Running for his life he darts into a hole in the skirting board only to land slap bang in the middle of a smart dinner party being hosted by Johnny Town-mouse. At this point the culture-shock begins. The town mice work diligently to make Timmie feel at home, and to initiate him into the mores of town life, but unfortunately Timmie just cannot get accustomed to the noise, fear of the cat, or the food consumed by his urban cousins. With some disappointment that their country friend has failed to enjoy town life and perceiving that Timmie is becoming ill, Johnny informs his friend that he can return to the country by way of the empty hamper which returns to the farm each Saturday. Finally back at home he happily glides into the comforts of his own world and yet often thinks of his town-mouse friend, periodically visiting the hamper to see if he has fulfilled his half-promised intention to visit. And needless to say, one fine day Johnny does indeed decide to pay his rustic friend a visit. Despite Timmie's best attempts at showing Johnny the best that country life has to offer, the town-mouse just cannot adjust to the quiet pace or many of the other peculiarities of rural living. In the end Beatrix Potter concludes "One place suits one person, another place suits another person. For my part I prefer to live in the country, like Timmy Willie" a sentiment, I must confess, I too share.

At the heart of this cute, and beautifully illustrated little story, is a sentiment summed up by the modern phrase "different strokes for different folks." It speaks of our individual natures and personal preferences. Each of us has our own personalities, with unique quirks and proclivities. We each approach life very personally and see the world ever so slightly differently from our neighbours. This human individualism is deeply important for our sense of self, and for providing us with the wherewithal to contribute something special, however small, to the greater human project. Its expression is often deeply implicated in human happiness. Many philosophies and movements have sought to repress this individuality, to their detriment. Others have encouraged it. To this day Unitarians strongly value the contribution and freedom of the individual, and some have had and continue to have deep theological foundations for this perspective. I personally am always inspired by the Rabbinic dictum that traces the importance of human individuality back to the scriptural account of the creation of humankind being centred on the creation of one individual.

But that really is only half a picture.

"And the Lord God said, It is not good that man should be alone." Genesis 2:18

I think it eminently reasonable that to regard the human person solely as an individual is to harbour a myopic reductionist view that does a great disservice. Man is a social being. We exist within and are shaped by the society in which we live. The countless daily acts of informal and formal interaction with those around us shape how we think, how we act and how we perceive ourselves and are perceived by others. By necessity our own individuality and freedom must have certain restraints if we are to play a constructive and healthy part in society, and for this reason we have rules, laws and principles to which we are all expected to conform. In addition we generally exist within a particular set of cultural assumptions drawn from the environment and history of the place in which we live, and this provides us with a common language, both linguistic and cultural, that allows us to know each other better than we know others outside our sphere.

Many wise and informed people have pointed out that in Britain a hyper-individualism has developed which has led to an erosion of our common values and identity, which in turn has atomised our society and left the most vulnerable without the protection that should be theirs. Some find the origins of this problem in the hedonism of the 60's and others localise the origins in the materialism and selfishness of the 80's. Most likely it is a mixture of the two, and maybe the origins go as far back as the Enlightenment. Either way there is a certain view out there that views morality as simply an issue of personal preference. Not so much what is right or wrong, but more what is right or wrong for me. But surely something is right regardless of whether or not it is convenient or pleasant to the individual. Likewise something that is wrong, is wrong irrespective of how much a person may find it pleasant or suitable for themselves. Why is such hostility displayed towards the authority of moral rules from time to time? Why is the accusation of "judgementalism" so easily deployed to silence moral debate? Is not morality in principle similar to ecology? Moral Ecology if you will. Just as we understand that in order to safeguard the cleanliness and vitality of our environment we must control our behaviour, even if it inconveniences, surely the same applies to our protection and maintenance of the common good.

"While Unitarians maintain the moral responsibility of every individual, they acknowledge that society as a whole must bear the shame of many iniquities. They hold that individual life should be shaped out of consideration for the larger life of humanity, and that it is the duty of every man to ask himself whether he would consider the course of his action and the mode of his life, if seen in another person, beneficial to the community".
Alfred Hall's The beliefs of a Unitarian.

This is not to suggest that issues of morality are simple. Not at all, they are often highly complex with many subtleties requiring a great deal of thought to comprehend. Neither is morality simply something to be imposed by an authority against the conscience of the individual, after all ultimately it is the individual who makes the decision to accept his or her obligations or not. But bearing all this in mind, the reality of an objective right or wrong and the reality of a system of duties and responsibilities towards God and our fellow man, is in my opinion, central to human flourishing and civilisation.

It is this objective moral reality, existing beyond ourselves and appealing to our conscience, and which for me is rooted in my belief in God, and learned from His revelation in the words of the Bible and Jesus, guided by reason, that leads us to go beyond ourselves and become part of a greater human existence. Paradoxically when we thus limit our own desire and will, in order to play a full part in society, we maximise our uniqueness and individuality. The same can be seen as true in personal relationships. When a monogamous couple forsakes all others, sexually and romantically, in order to create that exclusive bond, they limit themselves as individuals, however at that very point they maximise their individual importance, for without either one of them, there is no couple. A little piece of wire in a pacemaker may have no intrinsic value, but without it serving its small role, in a specific and limited place, the device would not work, and life would be threatened.

This past week we heard of the terrible treatment of elderly patients in a few hospitals. Sadly not for the first time are we aware of such news. Perhaps many of us have heard impatient and even scornful comments about the elderly in general, and I have personally seen and heard the elderly being spoken of derogatorily in public. In general I don't think that this country of ours deals well with both ends of life, the young or the old. But why is this? I feel that the slow individualisation of morality, which has led to a degree of selfishness, that does not wish to extend itself too much in the service of others, is significantly implicated. Children and generally the elderly are those who need the most care, and are as such the first and most hard hit victims of the changes in our cultural life. The sacred value of care, even in unpleasant circumstances, is being dethroned. Words such as "undignified" or "demeaning" are sometimes heard in reference to caring and being cared for. An ethical NIMBYism is on display when sentiments such as "it's not my responsibility" and "I'm not cut out for it" are articulated. And as a result the vulnerable are becoming increasingly so, and the scope of human greatness is becoming truncated.

This situation, combined with an ever growing distance from any organic, place-specific culture in Britain, particularly in England, also leads to the elderly, who in other countries are regarded as the source of wisdom and traditional knowledge, being overlooked by a society that feels that they have nothing to learn from them.

Many thinkers today are searching for ways to unite our society, to heal its divisions while promoting common values and identity, and yet converting the aspiration into reality is proving more difficult than some expected. I strongly believe that Unitarian Christians, and the wider Unitarian community, despite being hampered by our small numerical size, have something unique to contribute to the effort. We have had much practice in creating loving, welcoming and uniting fellowships while allowing for a wide range of belief and understanding. We both value the individual and the communal. We assist individuals to think for themselves and live full lives, while simultaneously advancing the cause of self-discipline and altruism. Unitarian Christians in particular, deeply rooted in this country's Christian heritage, culture and belief, while being broad enough to reach out to those whose own backgrounds stem from outside Christendom, have a strong advantage in helping to develop common values and shared identity.

It is therefore of great importance that congregations involve themselves in the life of their local communities, becoming part of the warp and weft of its society, as we once were. Religion like life itself is nothing unless lived for others.

"Not everyone that saith unto me lord, lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he who doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." Matthew 7:21

It is the will of God that we should rule our spirits, bear with each other's infirmities, and live in charity towards all men; that we should endeavour to be of service to others not absorbed in our own interests and pleasures; that we should seek in all things to overcome evil with good and do our part to redeem the world from sin pain and sorrow".
Unitarian Orders of Service.

"We believe that the really good man is in the way of salvation, whatever may be his outward form of religion. Mere surface morality, not rooted in principle, we do not call goodness. But whoever seeks to do the will of God, and to be faithful and just to man, whether he be heathen or Christian, we believe will be accepted by God, the Father of all mankind".
James Freeman Clarke's Manual of Unitarian Belief.

The Day Without Rapture That Affirmed Life.

2011-05-22T23:16:00.000+01:00

"Bless the Lord O my soul....who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be moved forever. O Lord how manifold are thy works! In wisdom hast thou made them all; the earth is full of thy riches." Psalm 104

My father regaled me with a reminiscence from his childhood in Galicia - Spain. In a small fishing village near to where he lived there was a preacher who, much like Cassandra in Troy, was predicting the soon to occur end of the world. (Fortunately unlike Cassandra this prophet of doom was not blessed with correct foresight!) Very few people were convinced by this prediction and continued their daily lives unchanged. However one day, while my father and his family were spending a day at the beach an event occurred which would be seared onto his memory. A helicopter flew over the village! What is so shocking about that you may ask? Well in the Galicia of those days such flying machines were not often seen, in fact never seen. With the sight and sound of this modern contraption tearing up the sky a panic swept through the people. Scattering in every direction, screaming-out in terror at the imminent demise of the world, running into the nearest church to beg God for deliverance, the streets and beach were cleared of people most of whom were now convinced that the end-times had arrived. Now accepting that Galicians are historically a superstitious people surrounded as they are by the Atlantic rains and mists that often shroud the ancient landscapes of this Celtic corner of Spain, I was amazed to hear about the reaction of these people, people I remind you, who had not believed the warnings of their local doom laden seer. If nothing else, this story shows that what we hear and what we see influences us, even if we think otherwise, and who knows if in a moment of stress such irrational beliefs could rise up in the most reasoned of minds.

This leads me to wonder what might have happened in the minds of many, if yesterday at 6pm some innocent yet rare natural phenomena had struck, might the reaction have been larger than if it had occurred on any day other that May 21st?

Rapture day, however has passed, and the elect do not seem to have launched into celestial orbit leaving the rest of us to face disaster and destruction. Although it does seem that Harold Camping's reputation (the existence of which astounds me) as an accurate forecaster of such events, seems to have been struck down by a spectacular non-event. Well perhaps I too risk misreading the present and inaccurately predicting the future, as it seems that some of his followers are already striving to reinterpret events in order to save themselves the pain of having to reassess their beliefs. As a wise person once said "you can't reason someone out of beliefs they were never reasoned into in the first place".

The saddest thing in this whole saga is not the bitter disappointment of those who had prepared themselves, financially, socially and psychologically for imminent rapture, bad as that might be, but the fact that these people ever believed the abject nonsense expounded by Harold Camping in the first place. I doubt that Camping's numerological speculation, devoid of substance as it was, could have been the prime reason for such belief in his prophecy. It seems that what convinced people was their desire to be convinced, (A phenomena that is a risk to us all). But why would people wish to be convinced of such a negative and dark viewpoint; that of the salvation of a Divinely approved minority and the destruction of billions of innocent human beings? Well perhaps a Mr Bauer's comments on the BBC are representative:

"I was hoping for it because I think heaven would be a lot better than this Earth,"

These 17 words should strip from us the desire to mock these believers and instead cause us to pity them for what seems to be a hopeless sadness in their hearts. A sadness that faith should assuage not pander to.

A few of those who most rejoice in mocking the end of the worlders are themselves guilty of breathtaking irrationality in pursuit of their own faith. I have grown a little tired of some professed atheists claiming that this episode is representative of the stupidity of religion. Did the fact that the overwhelming majority of religious believers throughout the world took no stock in the claims of this California preacher pass these critics by? Does the fact that no mainstream Christian church endorses Harold Camping's view sway the opinions of these anti-theists? Seemingly not. Indeed it is a special irony that other than Harold Camping's minuscule number of followers the only other group of people making such a fuss on May 21 were atheists falling over themselves to use this episode to pour scorn over all those who believe in religion of any kind.

Nor have some secular ideologies been free from such eschatological speculation. Do people remember when Prince Charles in 2009 warned that mankind's survival was in peril with a mere seven years remaining before the "levers of control" over Anthropogenic Climate Change would be lost? Dr James Hansen, head of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies was even more alarmist than his Royal Highness when he said, also in 2009, that President Obama had "only four years to save the world from imminent peril". This Mr Hansen, like Harold Camping, had previously gotten his predictions a little bit wrong, predicting as he did that 2007 would be the hottest year on record. (It wasn't). Then again perhaps Mr Camping and his Family Radio group were motivated by the same idea as motivated Stephen Schneider, a professor of environmental biology and global change at Stanford University to say; "We need to get some broad-based support, to capture the public's imagination. That of course, entails getting loads of media coverage. So we have to offer up scary scenarios, make simplified, dramatic statements, and make little mention of doubts we might have." It would seem that for some "The End of the World is almost here, the Bible guarantees it" slogan, might be rewritten as "The End of the World is almost here, Science guarantees it". The lack of humility of ideologues of all colours eventually harms them and their causes.

Very much in the spirit of the second century Rabbi Shimon Ben Zoma who said;

"Who is wise? He who learns from all men"

the minister in my chapel reminded us this morning, that there is something significant to be learned from Mr Camping and his fellow believers. (He also had us all giggling at the thought that perhaps those members of the congregation not present this morning could have perhaps been raptured yesterday but that's another story :-)

He reminded us that we are all survivors! That's right, we have all survived "the end of days" (could that be a new T-shirt slogan?) and awoke this morning to a new day. This is not a facile comment, for after all yesterday at 6pm some of our fellow Britons and many people around the world would most certainly have breathed their last breath. When we went to bed last night none of us had any guarantee that we would awake this morning. None of us has any certainty that we will be alive the next moment. How grateful we should be therefore, for all the blessings in our lives, for the gift of life itself, bestowed upon us every second of the day and how much should this awareness provoke us to infuse each moment of life with meaning, sanctity and virtue.

And on the other hand how tragic are those beliefs that demean the life of this world in pursuit of the world to come. How tragic are those who see only the negative in this world of blessings and who see contentment and happiness as existing only in the life beyond the grave. How wasteful are those who allow the life in this world to go un-enjoyed in the pursuit of a future life, the nature of which we can never know with any certainty. Such beliefs seem to turn their back on the face of the God of life, whose creativity has given us a world of unparalleled beauty and sanctity, and who privileges us, above all creatures, with the minds and hearts to appreciate it to its full. And how sad that some Christians, seemingly so desperate for the destruction of this world, and the majority of its people who do not share the same views as themselves, have in turn embraced a world view that unintentionally turns its back on the life giving teachings of our master Jesus:

"Or what man is there of you who, if his son shall ask him for a loaf will give him a stone? Or if he shall ask for a fish will give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is heaven give good things to them that ask him?" Matthew 7:911

"That ye may be sons of your Father which is in heaven for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust." Matthew 5:45

Our society often takes a jaded view of life, and yet in our midst we have millions of exemplars of a different way of seeing our world. Those exemplars are children! While retaining our maturity our reason, our sense of duty and propriety, how much more beautiful our lives would be if we could only learn to see and feel the sheer joy and excitement of life through childlike eyes. Only then can we open our hearts and mouths in praise of the Author of all that exists and the glories of His Kingdom.

For the order and constancy of nature; for the beauty and bounty of the world; for day and night, summer and winter, seed-time and harvest; for the varied gifts of loveliness and use which every season brings:
We praise thee, O God

For all the comforts and gladness of life; for our homes and all home-blessings; for our friends and all the pleasures of companionship; for the love, sympathy and goodwill of men:
We praise thee, O God

For all true knowledge of thee and the world in which we live; for the life of truth and righteousness to which thou hast called us; for prophets and apostles and all earnest seekers after truth; for all lovers and helpers of mankind, and all godly and gifted men and women:
We praise thee, O God.
Orders of Worship for use in Unitarian and Free Christian Congregations 1932.

Poor, Yet Making Many Rich

2011-05-09T12:27:00.000+01:00

"Unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a memorial and a name better than of sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off." Isaiah 56:5

"Philanthropy and real Charity in a humble life - died on Tuesday last, aged 72 ... a man whose good deeds performed within a humble sphere of life are worthy of admiration and lasting remembrance." These were the eulogising words written in 1839 in the Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle for that giant of kindness John Pounds.

Born in Portsmouth on the 17th June 1766, it seemed that John Pounds was destined for a life in shipbuilding, however there was another Will in store for him which guided him in the task of building lives and letting them set sail on the sea of self-respect and success.

At the age of 14, within weeks of his father's death, John fell into a dry dock while working and was left badly crippled for the rest of his life. In those years such an outcome was nothing less than a catastrophe, with work for young men of his class geared almost exclusively to manual labour. Something of John Pound's faithful attitude to life can be seen from how he used a long period of convalescence and recovery as an opportunity for self-education through the reading of many books on various subjects. By the time he was able to resume walking he had amassed a wealth of knowledge, one of his favourite subjects being that of natural history.

To support himself he learned enough of the trade of shoe-mending which, considering the number of people involved in the busy labour of both Portsmouth and Langstone harbours, provided him with plenty of work. While earning more than he could ever had done at the docks, his income was not particularly generous, however he earned himself enough to purchase a dwelling (calling it a house would be to overstate reality) in which to live and work. Consisting of two rooms, nothing bigger than an overgrown garden shed, the downstairs was used as his workshop/living room.

Another tragedy, the birth of his nephew Johnny with inwardly turned feet, would further guide John down the path of greatness. Realising that the boy's mother could not cope with the needs of her disabled child as well as those of all her other children, and aware that doctors were planning to break the boys ankles in an attempt to rectify the disability, John pounds asked to be allowed to care for the boy. Applying his knowledge he developed a basic pair of orthopaedic boots, which eventually cured the child's affliction.

John Pounds was the proverbial communitarian, caring deeply for the community he belonged to, always seeking ways to help the many destitute families that filled the streets. People knowing this about him, would seek him out to solicit help for themselves and their families and would always receive it to the best of his abilities. Many orphans and destitute young people would be drawn to his workshop, where ever cognisant of the words of our exemplar Jesus:

"Suffer the little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven" Matthew 19:14

John would entertain them with a story and other fruits of his educated mind. Also providing them with warm food from his own scanty provisions, to assuage their hunger.

Slowly but surely he began to gather more and more children around him to educate them, on occasion 40 or so children could be found, sitting on old boxes and benches in his tiny workshop as he filled their young minds with knowledge, while at the same time carrying out his work as a cobbler. He was known to search out the neediest children, offering them hot potatoes and inviting them back to his workshop schoolhouse. He would teach them from as many old school books as he could lay his hands on and provided slates for them to practice their writing and arithmetic as he could not afford copy-books. He taught them a wide range of academic subjects, but also taught them how prepare food for themselves and how to mend their own shoes. He took them on field trips to the hills outside Portsmouth to collect flowers and all the while teaching them how to identify animals, insects and trees . Unsatisfied with just teaching the children, he would care for them when they were ill and fashioned toys for them for play and sport.

John was also insistent that the children receive a good religious education and to this end visited a local Anglican church to petition the vicar for some Bibles to be used in his school. The vicar told him he would be happy to help, and as soon as the children saved up the tuppences and threepences he would be happy to sell them the Bibles. John Pounds questioned the Vicar where exactly these destitute children were to get the money, and then decided to seek help elsewhere. He went to the Unitarian chapel (today John Pounds Memorial Church, Unitarian) and again asked for Bibles. The minister, Revered Russell Scott, handed him several Bibles and told him that the chapel would provide him with as many as he needed. Indeed the chapel and its congregation provided much more than just Bibles, and they actively helped John in his mission to educate and care for the poor youth of Portsmouth.

Each Sunday John, a rather dishevelled and unkempt man, would smarten up and take his "children" to the Sunday-school attached to the chapel. He himself relished attending his chapel and would sit in his pew quietly and faithfully worshipping his Maker.

He received valuable aid from Portsmouth Unitarians, however he never accepted any for himself, instead directing everything for the use and benefit of his charges. He remained to his death in the same humble station. A woman once said to him:
"Mr Pounds I wish you were rich, you would do so much good!" to which he responded: "Well, I don't know, if I had been rich, I might perhaps have been much the same as other rich people. This I know, that there is now not a happier man in England than John Pounds, and it is better as it is."

His life ended suddenly on New Year's Day 1839 and was buried in the grounds of the chapel he loved. His funeral was attended by large numbers of people of all religious and political opinions. Many people contributed to the fund to create a memorial stone for him, which can be found to this day in the grounds of the church.

Dr Guthrie, a famous Edinburgh Calvinist preacher and philanthropist said about John Pounds:

"When the day comes when honour will be done to whom honour is due, I can fancy the crowd of those whose fame poets have sung, and to whose memory monuments have been raised, dividing like a wave, and (passing the great, and the noble, and the mighty of the land) this poor, obscure old man stepping forward and receiving the especial notice of him who said, "inasmuch as ye did it to one of the least of these, ye did it also to me".

John Pounds' story should serve as an example and a warning to us. Each day of life presents us with opportunities to become the best we can be, we must not let excuses or fear or indolence prevent us from reaching our potential, always remembering the words of the hymn:

Come, labour on:
Away with gloomy doubt and faithless fear!
No arm so weak but may do service here;
By hands the feeblest can our God fulfil
His righteous will.
Jane L Borthwick 1859

John Pounds demonstrated that everyone has some skill, some gift, which can with willpower and faith, be a source of assistance to all those around us. Each of us can be great, or at least come part of greatness. The vicar that John Pounds approached for Bibles, squandered his chance at playing a part in this most glorious of achievements, let us not make the same mistakes.

The cobbler from Portsmouth set in motion a movement that would shortly thereafter be called the Ragged School movement which in turn led to education becoming available to every single child in the country, and yet even today there are many children, victims of circumstance, family breakdown etc, that are struggling. Unitarian congregations up and down the country must strive to be present in the lives of these children, assisting them and their families and keeping alive the legacy of a man who in the most reduced circumstances educated hundreds of children and kept them far from lives of crime, sadness and hopelessness, that is the sort of church we were and should be again.

"I dream of a church that joins in with God's loving
as she bends to embrace the unlovely and lost;
a church that can free, by its sharing and daring,
the imprisoned and poor and then shoulder the cost.

God make us a church that joins in with your living
as you cherish and challenge, rein in and release;
a church that is winsome, impassioned, inspiring:
lioness of your justice and lamb of your peace.

Kate Compston

Speaking Truth to Power

2011-05-01T18:30:00.004+01:00

"And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book, out of that which is before the priests the Levites: And it shall be with him and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the Lord his God to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them: That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren , and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children, in the midst of Israel". Deuteronomy 17:18-20

This extended weekend has been one of much happiness. The Royal wedding on Friday was a lovely celebration of love and marriage and a beautifully organised and executed spectacle that allowed people to celebrate the love between Prince William and Catherine Middleton, together with our common history and allowed us to relish a little bit of our national splendour.

One of the moments that made the greatest impact on me, was during the address given by the Bishop of London, Richard Chartres. Certain aspects of course did not mesh with my own Unitarian theological position, however the guidance he gave the royal couple on how to conduct their married life in the spirit of God was beautiful and moving. Perhaps something not so much appreciated is the quite radical sight of monarchy being reminded that they themselves are answerable to something greater, more regal, more illustrious than themselves. That they as much as the lowliest person, are subject to the same law of the Divine. How strongly this image was contrasted by the events taking place that selfsame day in Syria; a government that believes itself to be the absolute pinnacle, that answers to no-one and crushes with unjustified force those who point out to them, "our right to freedom, and your obligation to respect that, is greater than your desire to rule". Of course many have fallen by the sword of rulers unwilling to hear that they too are subject to the Eternal's constitution.

"For John said unto Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife. And Herodias set herself against him, and desired to kill him."
Mark 6:18-19

God reveals in His scriptures that a ruler is to serve his subjects, and to constantly be aware that morality, ethics and law are not his to make or his to do away with, but they are to be before him always, informing everything he does.

"The kings of the Gentiles have lordship over them; and they that have authority over them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so, but he that is the greater among you, let him become as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve."
Luke 22:25-26

We ourselves may not be kings, but we are challenged in the same way.

God's reality is immense and the magnitude of His glory is incomprehensible, He truly is above all, and we are all subject to His will, including the mightiest kings. No wonder this testament of faith has been seen as so subversive and threatening down the ages to those in power. But God is also to be found within us and never more as when we share our love, kindness and concern with others. Which is why in our journeys through life and faith, the support of a sympathetic and loving community is so invaluable.

Which is why the growth of our Unitarian movement is so necessary. For those who are not as lucky as those of us who have congregations to belong to, are missing the fuel that can help propel them to ever greater closeness to our Heavenly Father who is most often found between those arms stretched out in fellowship.

Easter Renewal.

2011-04-24T01:00:00.001+01:00

"They that sow in tears will reap in joy. Though he goeth on his way weeping, bearing forth the seed; He shall come again with joy, bringing his sheaves with him" Psalm 126:5-6

Easter day dawns and Christians everywhere of all different denominations celebrate the resurrection, whether that is understood as a literal, historical event, or conceived of as a powerful and inspiring allegory.

With the discovery of the empty tomb a process began, which saw a remarkable strengthening of resolve in the hearts of Jesus' followers who only a few days earlier were consumed with grief, guilt and fear.

This day of Easter gives us all a priceless opportunity to begin anew,to put fear and lethargy aside, to regain our inspiration and dedicate ourselves once more, to a life lived by the lessons taught so very long ago, but still so relevant today. And what better way can there be to celebrate Easter that to cleave to the following words attributed to Jesus:

"A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; even as I have loved you,
that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples,
if ye have love one to another."
John 13:34-35

May our Divine Father grant you all a peaceful, holy and joyful Easter.

Happy the souls who first believed,-
to Jesus and each other cleaved,-
Joined by the spirit from above,
In mystic fellowship of love.

On God they cast their every care,
Sheltered beneath the wings of prayer
They all were of one heart and soul,
And only love inspired the whole.

O what an age of golden days!
O what a choice and holy race!
Where shall we wander now to find
The faithful they have left behind?

Ye different sects, who all declare
Lo! here is christ, or christ is there!
Your claim alas! ye cannot prove;
Ye want the genuine mark of love.

Scattered, O Lord, thy servants lie,
Till Thou collect them with thine eye,-
Draw by the music of Thy name,
And charm into a beauteous frame.

Join every soul that looks to Thee
In bonds of perfect charity;
Greatest of gifts, Thy love impart,
And make us of one mind and heart.
Charles Wesley (From James Martineau's collection "Hymns of Praise and Prayer".

Good Friday Inspiration.

2011-04-22T02:36:00.000+01:00

"The Lord redeemeth the soul of His servants: And none of them that trust in Him shall be condemned." Psalm 34:22

Today marks the day that Jesus of Nazareth was sentenced to a criminal's death, and died on a Roman cross, with the mocking legend "Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews" nailed above his head, in order to ram home to the people the idea; "This is what happens to your Kings, so don't get any ideas". Darkness and grief descended upon his family and his disciples, it seemed as if the dream was over.

While, generally speaking, the crucifixion does not have the same meaning to Unitarian Christians as it does to our more orthodox brethren, this does not mean that the day is any less significant or that it is any less poignant.

Jesus' death is an embodiment of the literal meaning of the word martyrdom; Witness.

He witnessed with his execution, before the eyes of his brethren, that he loved God more than his life, and he demonstrated that no power was able to force him into disloyalty to his God. His death mocked the strength of an empire that would in time expire, while his message would go on to shape the world including Rome itself!

Life itself is often seen as the ultimate purpose of creation, providing its own reason for being, "I live so that I can live". But perhaps life is itself only a means to an end? Perhaps an additional purpose is what infuses life with its reason to exist? "I live in order to fulfil a purpose". If life was its own ultimate purpose then martyrdom would not only be futile, but would indeed be a horrific waste of life and a rejection of all that is good and purposeful. Jesus however believed that there is a fundamental purpose, that gives meaning to life, and his belief is affirmed by Unitarian Christians and many others. "I live to serve God by living a good and righteous life, helping my fellow man, working on improving my character and keeping God always before me".

This conception of life led to Jesus' insistent drive towards reaching out to his fellow countrymen and brining them back into a life of balance, connected with their Heavenly Father, and resulted in him guiding them to live lives of simplicity, devotion and service. This earned him enemies as is known, but his belief that the time had come for God's Kingdom to become manifested on earth and his conviction of his own special role in that Divine aim, earned him even more, and increasingly dangerous, enemies in the temporal and mighty rule of Rome, and of their lackeys in the Temple precincts. Eventually they saw the "risk" posed by him and his vision of society as too great, and ended his life. Many, especially amongst his own nation, have fallen after him, persecuted by those who will not countenance an allegiance higher than the state, or its understanding, (or abuse) of religion. By his death, willing as he was to risk his own life to bring greater purpose and happiness to the lives of others, Jesus demonstrated a powerful love for his fellow man that transcended the strength of powerful empires and the icy grip of fear, the memory and impact of which has lasted down the years even to our own times.

"Greater love hath no man than this; that a man lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13

His love for his fellow human beings was made shockingly apparent when despite the cruel and unjust suffering that some where heaping upon him he uttered the famous words:

"And Jesus said "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" Luke 23:34

How utterly ashamed these words must make many of us feel, and how they awaken the conscience, when we are struck by the level of forgiveness people can reach! And to think we find it hard to forgive the smallest slights! Jesus demonstrates what can be achieved when one's love for God leads not to a distance but to a love of His creations. One cannot love the Creator by trampling the creation, made in His image, underfoot.

Others throughout history have also bravely faced the challenge presented by tyrants; to give up their commitment to God, truth and faith in exchange for their lives. And in so doing have elevated themselves to beacons of that higher purpose which fills all life with meaning. The expression "if you have nothing to die for you have nothing to live for" seemingly sums this up.

Unitarians have had their share of historical martyrs who perished for affirming the Unity of God.

However, for all the majesty achieved by Jesus and other martyrs down the ages, I feel we must never relish what ultimately remains a great tragedy. After all, God created us to live and not to die for him.

"I am the Lord your God. Ye shall therefore keep my statues and my judgements: Which if a man do, he shall LIVE in them: I am the Lord." Leviticus 18:5

While in our day and age the chances of any of us actually becoming martyrs in the old sense is thankfully greatly reduced to almost nothing, we should still avoid however, placing ourselves deliberately in the path of opposition or acting provocatively, often motivated in large part by pride, in ways that are guaranteed and even designed to cause others to rise up against us. We do not have to court controversy. Those preachers both Christian and Muslim that one sometimes sees on street corners, denouncing the sinful ways of all those around them, who seem to thrive on the anger and opposition of the shoppers and walkers, are exceedingly far from the example of Jesus:

"And he keeled down and prayed saying; "Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me." Luke 22:42

Life is a gift and we should not search out ways to put it in jeopardy. Peace and co-existence are precious and we should always seek to preserve them as much as possible.

There is one way however, that we can all emulate, on a daily basis, our teacher's final passion on Golgotha, and to discover how we can do so, we need only listen to the words uttered so long ago amongst the olive trees of Gethsemane, with which Jesus concluded the verse in Luke 22:42;

"Nevertheless not my will, but Thine, be done."

Every day our desires clash with the morality that God has communicated to us via scripture, reason or our consciences. The moment when our tiredness and frustration urges us to scream at our children, partner, or parent can be an opportunity to reach beyond ourself. A transcendent opportunity to sanctify the name of the Divine, by instead substituting His will for our own, and speaking with words of kindness and calmness. Likewise the moment our self-regard or desire for belonging urges us to share some juicy gossip, or our inclination to vengeance goads us to make suffer they who have made us suffer a heavenly ladder descends, presenting us with the ability to bring God's light into the world by simply setting aside our will, for that of the Divine.

So if nothing else, as Friday afternoon arrives and the time of Jesus' death 20 centuries ago comes to my little corner of the world, I will pause, perhaps shed a tear, and think of the lessons of the cross, and I will pray to his Father, our Father, my Father, that by these lessons, Jesus' cross will raise me up nearer, nearer my God, to thee.

In the cross of Christ I glory,
Towering o’er the wrecks of time;
All the light of sacred story
Gathers round its head sublime.

When the woes of life o’ertake me,
Hopes deceive, and fears annoy,
Never shall the cross forsake me,
Lo! it glows with peace and joy.

When the sun of bliss is beaming
Light and love upon my way,
From the cross the radiance streaming
Adds more luster to the day.

Bane and blessing, pain and pleasure,
By the cross are sanctified;
Peace is there that knows no measure,
Joys that through all time abide.

In the cross of Christ I glory,
Towering o’er the wrecks of time;
All the light of sacred story
Gathers round its head sublime.

John Bowring 1825

The Week That Changed The World

2011-04-17T23:45:00.000+01:00

"For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations."
Isaiah 61:11

This week the Jewish and Christian faithful celebrate the most important festivals in their calendars. The events commemorated with great love by the respective communities, were and continue to be hugely influential in creating the world that we all live in, and are largely thankful for, today. They have shaped the world view of billions of individuals and entire societies the world over.

Monday evening sees the beginning of the Jewish festival of Passover, which recollects, and relives, the resurrection of the Jewish nation after centuries shackled in Egyptian bondage. Jews gather around the family table to transmit to the next generations the memory of the genesis of their nation and to give thanks to God for their spiritual freedom and for the eternal and solemn covenant between themselves and He who intervened in history and delivered them out of slavery and who led them to their own land, in which they were to create a holy and righteous society that would instruct the whole world in the meaning of a national and personal life devoted to the will of our Heavenly Father.

Today Christians celebrated Jesus' entrance into Jerusalem which begins the commemorations of Easter that recollect the events of that tumultuous week, culminating in his death and resurrection. For his whole ministry Jesus had been preaching about the imminent appearance of the Kingdom of God, in which God's will would become manifested on earth as it is in heaven. To this end he strove to reach out to those amongst his nation that had distanced their hearts from God, and to bring them back into a life of righteousness under the loving presence of the Divine. It is clear that by the time he arrived in Jerusalem he was convinced that the time had arrived for all that the prophets had announced in the past to come to fruition.

As he, his disciples and presumably many other pilgrims, made their way over the Mount of Olives towards the holy city, the following words of the prophet Zechariah were in his mind;

"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout O daughter of Jerusalem: behold thy king cometh unto thee: he is just and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, even upon a colt, the foal of an ass." Zechariah 9:9

Jesus asks his disciples to go and fetch for him the colt of a donkey from a nearby village, and then proceeds to ride into the city, surrounded by his followers and crowds of people rejoicing with him and reciting words from Psalm 118 that Jews to this day recite on Passover as a hymn of praise.

"Save now*, we beseech thee O Lord" (*hoshiana in Hebrew, a phrase known to Christians as hosanah). "Blessed is he who comes in the Name of the Lord".

In addition they expressed a faith they shared with Jesus, that the time for the fulfilment of prophecy was at hand:

"Blessed is the kingdom that cometh, the kingdom of our father David" Mark 11:9

In order to stress the point that the messianic age had finally dawned Jesus went into the temple and proceeded to overturn the tables of the money changers, driving out from the temple precincts, the traders that were selling to the pilgrims the required sacrificial animals, while expounding;

"Is it not written "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations" but you have made it a den of robbers." Mark 15:17

No doubt Jesus had the words of Zechariah 14:21; "and in that day, there shall be no more a merchant in the house of the Lord of hosts" at the forefront of his mind.

The significantly symbolic entrance into the city and the disruption in the Temple did not go unnoticed by the authorities. Passover, the Jewish festival of independence, was a tense time in Roman occupied Jerusalem. The city was swollen with thousands of Jews from all over the known world on their annual pilgrimage, or as they called it in Hebrew; Chag HaPesach, think Mecca during Hajj to get some idea of the event, (Chag and Hajj incidentally stem from the same Semitic linguistic root). The Romans concerned by the sentiments of the feast were present in ever greater numbers to keep things under control, and even the Roman procurator would relocate to Jerusalem from the coast for the duration of the festival to keep his eye on the events. And now appeared a man seemingly presenting himself as the foretold King of Israel, with much support from the people, creating havoc in the Temple! For a modern parallel imagine a Jew, declaring himself the sovereign of Israel, entering the Temple mount during Ramadan and evicting the Muslim worshippers from the mosques on that site! The outcome of such an action would be disastrous. As today, also yesterday.

The Sadduceean authorities, most certainly pressured by the Romans, strove to annul what they saw as a real threat to the stability of the city, and before the week was out, a great shock gripped the city, Jesus of Nazareth was dead on a Roman cross and the prophecy of Zechariah was left unfulfilled, even to this day:

"I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off....there shall be no more curse but Jerusalem shall dwell safely"9:10-14:11

When Moses came, at God's command, to the Egyptian Pharaoh and demanded the release of the Hebrew slaves everything must have looked very positive. Moses came with the absolute conviction that God was to fulfil His promise and redeem His people. The people themselves must have held their breath in hope that finally the promise made to their ancestors was about to be fulfilled and a new life was set to begin and yet we are told:

"And the same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their officers saying, ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore: let them go and gather straw for themselves. And the tale of the bricks which they did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon them, ye shall not diminish aught thereof: for they be idle; therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God." Exodus 5:7-8

Things got worse, much worse as a result of Moses' intervention and subsequently the people lost all spirit. What followed was months of catastrophes in Egypt with seemingly no end in sight and then suddenly the nation was free! Free and finally taking their place on the stage of history. So sudden was their salvation that to this day the symbol of the festival is unleavened bread, dough given no time to rise. From great disappointment emerged great joy and hope. Likewise the horrific event on the Friday after Jesus' arrival in Jerusalem was not the end of his story. From bitter disappointment and grief emerged a speedy and meteoric spread of Jesus' teachings and faith which took the philosophy and morality and some of the theology of the nation redeemed from slavery, and delivered it to the farthest reaches of the earth and eventually to most of the world's cultures and peoples, ensuring that the world would never be the same again.

This for me will be my main meditation during this Passover and Easter. Despite how often we see our attempts to do what is right end in failure, or see our strivings to govern our lives by the righteous ordinances of the Master of creation fail before any evidence of success, we are never to give up. No matter how many times we fail to improve the society in which we live, we are never to be despondent. For our Heavenly Father is always present with us as He was with His people Israel in Egypt and as He was with our teacher Jesus, and from our assumed failures He can bring out seeds of great success. Both the spring season with its flourishing of new life and the lessons of those events that happened in those days thousands of years ago at this time, can fill us with a renewed conviction to live our lives rightly and thereby attain that salvation promised to us by the word of God, the teaching of Jesus and the conscience divinely placed within us.

"When we say we believe in "salvation by character" we affirm a truth of spiritual experience: we assert that salvation does not depend upon any external scheme, such as that of vicarious suffering, but on the moral co-operation of the human spirit with the Divine Spirit. It is the assertion that the means of grace are always present, if man will make use of them. It is a declaration that every noble aspiration, thought, wish, word and act assist in upbuilding the spirit: and it is a call to perseverance in the ways of truth and righteousness with the help and by the grace of God.
Alfred Hall "The beliefs of a Unitarian."

Rejecting A Church of Hate

2011-04-05T23:36:00.000+01:00

"The Lord is good to all; and His tender mercies are over all His works. All Thy works shall give thanks unto Thee, O Lord; and Thy saints shall bless Thee." Psalm 145:8-9

This past Friday I saw listed in my television guide, a mention of the soon to be shown programme, portraying the return visit by Louis Theroux, to the Westboro Baptist Church of hate in Kansas. I wasn't planning to watch it, as at heart I feel that the more attention this tiny group of prideful damaged souls receives, the stronger the delusions become entrenched in their minds. (In addition I just didn't fancy a session of yelling at the screen with frustration at the madness and sadness of it all.) But like in many areas of life I failed to resist temptation and I ended up watching it today on the BBC iPlayer. (And yes yelling at the screen with frustration at the madness and sadness of it all.)

While it can almost go without saying that the Westboro Baptists' behaviour is diametrically opposed to that exemplified by Jesus of Nazareth who they claim to follow, and while I think that it is accurate to say that the entirety of the Christian world rejects both them and their hatred, it can't be ignored that everything they do is rooted in Christian theology.

The fashion these days by some, is to pretend that the word's great faiths are sweet and lovely and that abhorrent behaviour by any of their followers is simply the work of people hijacking religion, sometimes denying wholesale the scriptural or theological roots of those whose expression of faith is less than agreeable. This, in addition to being a dishonest and unhelpful approach, only strengthens the equally false arguments of those who argue that religion is only a force for untruth, obscurantism and evil, whose apologists have no recourse but to resort to denial.

The Westboro Baptist church's theology is deeply rooted in an uncompromising form of Calvinism. I must stress, all other Calvinists reject Fred Phelps' church and want nothing to do with it. Their theological beliefs do not lead them to behave in the immoral and cruel way that Westboro do, and no negative judgements can be made of contemporary Calvinists as a result of the preaching or actions of the above named Kansas cult. But the reality is that Calvin's Five Points influence all that this hate-promoting church thinks and does.

This fact reminded me of something I once read in the writings of the 19th century Unitarian William Ellery Channing, himself brought up in a Calvinistic home, in his essay on Unitarian Christianity 1819.

"Now, we object to the systems of religion, which prevail among us, that they are adverse, in a greater or less degree, to these purifying, comforting, and honourable views of God; that they take from us our Father in heaven, and substitute for him a being, whom we cannot love if we would, and whom we ought not to love if we could.... This system indeed takes various shapes, but in all it casts dishonour on the Creator. According to its old and genuine form, it teaches, that God brings us into life wholly depraved, so that under the innocent features of our childhood is hidden a nature averse to all good and propense to all evil, a nature which exposes us to God's displeasure and wrath, even before we have acquired power to understand our duties, or to reflect upon our actions. According to a more modern exposition, it teaches, that we came from the hands of our Maker with such a constitution, and are placed under such influences and circumstances, as to render certain and infallible the total depravity of every human being, from the first moment of his moral agency; and it also teaches, that the offence of the child, who brings into life this ceaseless tendency to unmingled crime, exposes him to the sentence of everlasting damnation. Now, according to the plainest principles of morality, we maintain, that a natural constitution of the mind, unfailingly disposing it to evil and to evil alone, would absolve it from guilt; that to give existence under this condition would argue unspeakable cruelty; and that to punish the sin of this unhappily constituted child with endless ruin, would be a wrong unparalleled by the most merciless despotism.

This system also teaches, that God selects from this corrupt mass a number to be saved, and plucks them, by a special influence, from the common ruin; that the rest of mankind, though left without that special grace which their conversion requires, are commanded to repent, under penalty of aggravated woe; and that forgiveness is promised them, on terms which their very constitution infallibly disposes them to reject, and in rejecting which they awfully enhance the punishments of hell. These proffers of forgiveness and exhortations of amendment, to beings born under a blighting curse, fill our minds with a horror which we want words to express".

Whether or not you agree with his characterisation of and conclusions about Calvinistic theology in the next part of his essay I am certain that many will see in it a description of the Westboro Baptist Church in all but name:

"That this religious system does not produce all the effects on character, which might be anticipated, we most joyfully admit. It is often, very often, counteracted by nature, conscience, common sense, by the general strain of Scripture, by the mild example and precepts of Christ, and by the many positive declarations of God's universal kindness and perfect equity. But still we think that we see its unhappy influence. It tends to discourage the timid, to give excuses to the bad, to feed the vanity of the fanatical, and to offer shelter to the bad feelings of the malignant. By shocking, as it does, the fundamental principles of morality, and by exhibiting a severe and partial Deity, it tends strongly to pervert the moral faculty, to form a gloomy, forbidding, and servile religion, and to lead men to substitute censoriousness, bitterness, and persecution, for a tender and impartial charity. We think, too, that this system, which begins with degrading human nature, may be expected to end in pride; for pride grows out of a consciousness of high distinctions, however obtained, and no distinction is so great as that which is made between the elected and abandoned of God."

This miniscule congregation thrives on attention and opposition. Every time good people organise counter demonstrations to their desecration of funerals or to their other outrages, it only serves to further their belief in themselves as the persecuted elect of God. The best thing that can be done is to completely ignore them, no TV documentaries, no appearances on radio, no counter demonstrations, no hate-mail, simply nothing! Perhaps without the oxygen of opposition they will simply fade away and disintegrate, thereby sparing themselves and those that they harass from further pain.

How can one find the time to list the many many verses in the Bible that explicitly contradict the teachings of the "God Hates You"? However I will list a few of my favourites:

"And the Lord said, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night: And should not I have pity on Nineveh, that great city; wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand." Jonah 10-11

"The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life...Hatred stirreth up strifes: But love convereth all transgressions". Proverbs 10:12

"The Lord is full of compassion and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy" Psalm 103:8

"Judge not lest you be judged" Matthew 7:1

"Now when he drew near to the gate of the city, behold there was carried out one that was dead, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow...and when the lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, "weep not". Luke 7:12-13

"He that loveth not, knoweth not God; for God is love" 1 John 4:8

I leave the last words of this post to William Ellery Channing:

"To give our views of God in one word, we believe in his Parental character. We ascribe to him, not only the name, but the dispositions and principles of a father. We believe that he has a father's concern for his creatures, a father's desire for their improvement, a father's equity in proportioning his commands to their powers, a father's joy in their progress, a father's readiness to receive the penitent, and a father's justice for the incorrigible. We look upon this world as a place of education, in which he is training men by prosperity and adversity, by aids and obstructions, by conflicts of reason and passion, by motives to duty and temptations to sin, by a various discipline suited to free and moral beings, for union with himself, and for a sublime and ever-growing virtue in heaven."

Season of Inspiration and Blossom.

2011-03-27T22:21:00.000+01:00

"For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; The flowers appear on the earth, the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle-dove is heard in our land. The fig tree ripeneth her green figs, and the vines are in blossom, they give forth their fragrance. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away...Let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice".
The Song of Songs 2:11-14

Everywhere one looks, especially here in the south, one sees and feels the beauty of spring as the strengthening sun streams over the landscape and in through countless windows. Trees becoming heavy with blossom, fragrant flowers appearing as if overnight in gardens and parks and the bleating of lambs and birdsong drifting over fields fill our hearts with happiness. The world is being reborn after it's winters rest. And likewise we are speedily heading towards Easter and its celebration of the resurrection, however it is understood. Now is a perfect time to rededicate ourselves to our Father in heaven, to crucify our own base, negative and selfish desires and in their place embrace, to the best of our ability, the Divine Will. It is a time to refocus our attention on those around us and make our religious life, in the words of the minister of Cross Street Unitarian Chapel, William Gaskell 1805-1884:

"Not something to cover the earth with a cloud but (instead) the light of life touching it with hues of beauty and sending gleams of sunshine into the depths of its darkest shadows".

This exiting time of year is designed to infuse us with the potential for rapid and strong growth and as with the Children of Israel all those years ago, it can suffuse us with the power to break free of the shackles with which we are imprisoned, and with which we often imprison ourselves, and to embrace the eternality of a life lived connected to the love and majesty of the Infinite One.

The challenges are huge as unfortunately our world is still mired in hatred, greed and conflict, but with God's help we can play our part, however small, to make this world a place befitting of the Divine presence. In the moving words of a hymn by William Gaskell:

"O God! The darkness roll away
Which clouds the human soul
And let Thy bright and holy day
Speed onward to its goal.

Let every hateful passion die
Which makes of brethren foes,
And war no longer raise its cry
To mar the world's repose.

How long shall glory still be found
In scenes of cruel strife,
Where misery walks, a giant crowned,
Crushing the flowers of life?

O hush, great God, the sounds of war,
And make Thy children feel
That he, with Thee, is nobler far
Who toils for human weal.

Let faith, and hope, and charity
Go forth through all the earth,
And man in holy friendship be
True to his heavenly birth.

As a new week begins I hope to keep in my mind the potential of this season and the words of my teacher Jesus:

"Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called sons of God".
Matthew 5:6-9

Infinite Guilt vs Transcendent Kindness.

2011-03-20T23:12:00.006Z

"Yet say ye, "Wherefore doth not the son bear the iniquity of the father?" When the son hath done that which is lawful and right, and hath kept all my statutes, and hath done them, he shall surely live. The soul that sinneth, it shall die: The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. But if the wicked turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die". Ezekiel 18:19-21

This past week the Rotary club in my home-town were appealing for donations for the people of Japan after the horrific earthquake, tsunami and nuclear troubles that they have suffered. It appeared to me that many people were contributing generously and this spirit of generosity is something that is to be celebrated. Later that day my other-half's mother while in town shopping, also came across the same scene but with a difference. An elderly couple came along and began to castigate the Rotarians for having the temerity to raise money for the Japanese, which according to their argument they did not deserve as a result of the depraved manner with which they treated British troops in Burma during the second world war. When I heard about this I was shocked and appalled, a feeling I no doubt shared with those Rotarian men and women who had given up their time to help others. However for all I know this couple may have had some personal experience of the atrocities committed by the Japanese during the war, which might account for their opinion and so for me to judge them negatively would be unfair.

At the heart of their argument seems to have been the contention that the Japanese nation today, over 80% of which are not old enough to have even been able to take part in ww2, are in some sense guilty of the crimes of some Japanese in the war generation, and as such should not be helped. It is unfortunately not a big step from that idea to ultimately regard the suffering of the Japanese in the recent disaster as a positive thing, a view that disturbingly I have personally seen expressed. It seems axiomatic to me that children are not to be held responsible for the sins of their fathers, or for that matter that no one is to be held responsible for the sins of others, and yet it would seem that not all would agree. In North Korea for example the children of political dissidents are punished for their parents "crimes", and on the very day of the Japanese earthquake, the world was witness to a horrific example of such twisted thinking. Palestinian terrorists broke into the house of an Israeli family in the West Bank, and brutally murdered both parents and three of their children; Yoav aged 11, Elad aged 4 and Hadas the 3 month old baby girl. Heaven only knows how anyone can consider the deliberate murder of children, for any reason whatsoever, to be acceptable. Disgracefully in Gaza the Hamas regime thought the occasion worth celebrating, and made quite a show of doing so. It is a pity that they do not follow the following sage advice:

"Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth.
And let not thine heart be glad when he is overthrown :
Lest the Lord see it, and it displease Him."
Proverbs 24:17-18.

The Unitarian rejection of doctrines such as original sin and vicarious atonement, partially originate in the strongly held principle, that the innocent do not bear the guilt of, and are certainly not punished for, the sins of others. (Some eastern understandings of karma, which posit that some of the sufferings of people, including children, result from sinful acts of previous lives, would presumably also be rejected by those who do not accept original sin.)

"More unreasonable than the doctrine of inherited sin is that of inherited guilt which underlies the doctrine of original sin. The guilt of any action can fall only on the person who by an act of will commits it or intends and plans it. But this doctrine places on the newly-born infant the burden of a sin committed before he was born and in which he had no part."
The Beliefs of A Unitarian by Alfred Hall.

We might also note that our teacher Jesus clearly stated;

"Forgive us our trespasses."

He did not say "Forgive us our trespasses and those of Adam etc. Whose guilt we bear". For most of us the belief that an innocent man (let alone God himself) had to die on a cross to allow God to forgive us our sins, is not one that we feel is supported by reason, morality or scripture.

"Unitarians maintain that the theory of satisfaction, which makes necessary the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross as an expiation of the sins of the world, is contrary to the teaching of Jesus concerning the love and forgiveness of God. Further to inflict on the innocent, punishment due to the guilty does not satisfy any principle of justice with which we are acquainted."
The Beliefs of A Unitarian by Alfred Hall.

Our sins are our own, we are each responsible for our own transgressions, this is the price of our human freedom.

Another teaching of Jesus comes into my mind when people suggest that we should not help the Japanese as a result of their history:

"He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone." John 8:7

There are very few countries in our world that do not have dark chapters in their history, especially when viewed from the vantage point of modern times. If God forbid, a tragedy on the scale of what has happened in the far-east were to occur here, I only pray that countries all around the globe would not condition their assistance of us, on our not having behaved badly in the past! While recent British history does not equate in scale to the terrible actions of other nations, we can hardly claim to be innocent of wrong doing. Our behaviour in India before partition and our disgraceful treatment of Boer women and children during the conflicts in South Africa are two of many episodes that spring to mind as severe blemishes on our national narrative. I assume that those Britons staining the Japanese with the eternal mark of guilt, do not do likewise to our nation. They might pause and consider if their hypocrisy is sustainable.

Finally, even if it were the case that the current generation of Japanese were guilty of past wrongs, does that in any way diminish the suffering visible on our screens and newspapers? Should it force us to poor the ice of vengeance onto our hearts and snuff out the embers of empathy? Of course not. We would still be obligated to open our hands and reach out to help in any way we can, for any other approach would shrivel our humanity.

"If thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again." Exodus:23.

Even when we have every reason to dislike someone, even when we have genuine enemies nothing testifies to the Divine presence in the heart of humanity, than to reach out over the divide with kindness, charity and mercy.

This past Wednesday, Jewish paramedics and residents of a settlement in which surviving members of the slain Fogel family were mourning their loss, reached beyond anger, grief and hatred and struggled to save the life of a Palestinian baby that suffered life threatening complications during birth. The baby's life was saved and the happiness shared by all involved, has removed at least one drop of mistrust and hatred from that troubled land, in the same way that the efforts of a Palestinian man to search for and return an Israeli child who had become lost after wandering from the settlement in which he lived, built bridges of mutual respect and kindness.

"But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you, bless them that curse you, pray for them that despitefully use you...And if ye love them that love you, what thank have ye? For even sinners love those that love them. And if ye do good to them that do good to you, what thank have ye? For even sinners do the same...But love your enemies, and do them good and lend...Be ye merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
Luke 6:27-36

Hidden Providence, Revealed Duty.

2011-03-13T23:00:00.001Z

"The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but the things that are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law." Deuteronomy 29:29

The Jewish festival of Purim (Lots) will soon be making its annual appearance. This joyous celebration commemorates the deliverance of Israel from the genocidal intentions of the Persian second-in-command, Haman. It is a day that centres on giving food parcels to friends and neighbours, giving much charity to the needy, and feasting and drinking, in fact it is the one day a year that Jews are permitted to get a tad pickled!

One of the principle observances, both during the evening and daytime of the festival, is the reading of the scroll containing the Book of Esther, the biblical book that contains the Purim story.

The Book of Esther contains a history of the most serendipitous coincidences that thwarted a tyrants plans. The story opens with the refusal of the Persian King Ahasuerus' wife to attend the royal banquet, and her subsequent execution. Feeling melancholy at this turn of events the King's advisers suggest a nation-wide search for a new, beautiful young wife for him. The king settles on a sheltered young woman called Esther, who is advised by her uncle Mordecai to hide her Jewishness from her husband-to-be and his court. Shortly after this, Mordecai "coincidently" happens to hear a plot to kill the king being forged by two royal servants. Communicating this to his niece she reveals the plot and as a result the king's life is saved. Then the whole event, and Mordecai's role in it, is written into the Persian book of chronicles. Time passes and the King selects a new prime minister, the infamous Haman. This individual filled with unlimited arrogance is enraged by Mordecai's refusal to bow down to him, and decides to ask permission from the king to have all the Jews in the Persian Empire (most of the world's Jewish population at that time) killed. The king grants his minister this wish. When the decree becomes known by the Jews they are filled with fear and Mordecai asks Esther to intervene on behalf of her people. She agrees and asks Mordecai to tell all the Jews to fast and pray as her mission is one fraught with danger. One night the king is unable to sleep and asks one of his servants to read to him from their book of chronicles. "Coincidently" the servant reads the account of Mordecai's role in having saved the king's life several years before and realising that he had never rewarded Mordecai, he asks Haman (who coincidently at that moment happens to arrive at the palace to ask the king's permission to hang Mordecai) how he should go about honouring Mordecai. Haman, believing that the king is talking about him, cooks up a very extravagant pageant, only to suffer the humiliation of having to be the one who implements it to the honour of Mordecai. Finally Esther reveals during a meal with the King and Haman, both the plot to kill the Jews, and her own identity. The king retires to the garden in anger and Haman falls on Esther pleading for his life as things are clearly not looking good for him. The king returns at that moment and misconstruing what he sees has Haman hanged on the very gallows that had been intended to be used against Mordecai. With the death of Haman the Jews are saved.

The sages of old brought to their disciples attention the interesting fact, that the book of Esther is the only biblical book that does not contain a mention of God. But this should not come as a surprise as the primary theme of Purim is the hidden nature of God's providence, so again perhaps unsurprisingly, the very name Esther has at its root the Hebrew word for "hidden".

Is there a significant difference between nature and miracle? I believe that nature is as miraculous as any miracle, the only difference being that God's face is hidden behind the mask of nature's regularity and its seeming independent existence. But the Almighty's providence works quietly in nature as much as in any splitting of seas or raising of the dead.

The well known expression "can't see the wood for the trees" conveys real truth. Many of us have experienced that reality. When in the midst of some crisis or situation, we are often unable to see the full picture, usually having to rely on a neutral advisor to help us view things as they truly are, with a broader perspective. How exponentially greater is humanity's narrow vision apparent when considering the work of the Almighty? How can we possibly presume to fathom His plans, or the purposes behind the events He brings into being? From our vantage point as limited beings dwelling within our infinitesimally small part of creation, bound as we are by the arrow of time, it is simply beyond our ability to comprehend the ways of the Only True, whose glance takes in all existence simultaneously.

We can only imagine what Esther thought as she was taken against her will into the harem of King Ahasuerus, what purpose could she have seen in her sufferings? What could the Jews have understood about the Divine intentions behind the wicked machinations of Haman? Very little. How could Mordecai have known the nation-saving significance of his having overheard the plot against the king's life? I think it is clear from the Book of Esther, and from the events of our own lives, that it is pointless to delve too much into the reasons why bad (or good for that matter) things happen to us, instead we should focus on our obligation to respond to all of life's events in a way that honours ourselves and assists our fellow man, while ever remaining obedient to the commands of our Father in heaven.

"Eternal God, who committest to us the swift and solemn trust of life; since we know not what a day may bring forth, but only that the hour for serving thee is always present, may we wake to the instant claims of Thy holy will; not waiting for tomorrow, but yielding today."
Home Prayers: James Martineau.

This past week we have all seen or heard about the horrific and incomprehensible tragedy suffered by the people of Japan as the result of a powerful earthquake and devastating tsunami. Time spent on pointless speculation about the role of providence in this disaster is time taken away from the actions, small or large we can all engage in to provide help to those suffering. For as King Solomon instructed us:

"Withhold not good from them to whom it is due,
When it is in the power of thine hand to do it". Proverbs 3:27

But while we must offer our help and our prayers at this time, let us also give thanks for the many significant stories of survival such as this, and marvel at the strength of human beings to cling onto life in the midst of destruction. We can all also afford to learn from the Japanese strength in working together in calm, supportive and determined unity.

When I read that some people in California, thought it appropriate to use the arrival of the then thankfully diminished tsunami, as an opportunity to surf I was simply shocked. To derive pleasure, fun even, from the effects of the event that brought death and grief to thousands, is a demonstration of a lack in empathy and understanding that must be fought against. One of the lessons of Purim teaches that it is better to spend money on charity for the poor than on the festive meal, for how can one enjoy such pleasures when others go without? Minds suffused with this mindset would never have thought to make sport with the effects of this devastating earthquake.

Eventually we may come to see, in retrospect, the reasons behind the events of this world as Jesus taught:

"For there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed; and hid that shall not be known." Matthew 10:26

But until that time comes we can only but trust that all events in this world are guided by our merciful God, and that while such events may bring pain, grief and fear, it is our divine work in God's name to struggle to alleviate, if not remove, all these effects, peacefully secure in the quiet confidence that our Father will bestow upon us that which we need to do our work.

"Be not therefore anxious, saying. What shall we eat? Or, what shall we drink? Or, wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek; for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first His kingdom, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you". Matthew 6:31-33

Lenten Optimisim

2011-03-06T18:45:00.001Z

"What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You consider him? For You have made him little lower than the angels and You have crowned him with honour and glory." Psalm 8:4-5

"The goodness of the best man is nothing, compared with the goodness which the worst man is capable of attaining. This is a point in Christianity which we are slow to comprehend. We overvalue present attainment; we undervalue inherent capability. The small house suited to our present convenience, and finished in a year, we value more than the vast palace, the enormous cathedral, the metropolitan city, whose great plan it will require centuries to execute. Esau, selling his birthright for a mess of pottage, is the type of those who despise the common human nature which is in every man, and idolize the talents of this or that brilliant person, here or there. Jesus did not so. Jesus reverenced the great nature which he saw in the soul of every man. Therefore he reverenced the child whose unpolluted soul still beheld the face of God. Therefore he looked with tenderness on the sinner, —spoke words of loftiest truth to the most humble and called upon the common crowd to be perfect, as their Father in heaven was perfect. Therefore he demanded of all, as the only essential thing, to turn their faces the right way in faith, to have courage, to believe in God and in themselves. In this conception of the possibilities of man, the roots of all great Christian ideas find nourishment. Love to God is strengthened when our love is not abject, but hopeful, flowing from the consciousness of what he has made us to be. Love to man is possible only when we see in every man the capacity of goodness, beauty, and power. We can love the sinner when the actual sin appears superficial, and the possible goodness radical. We can forgive an enemy when we see that this enemy, by means of our forgiveness, may not only become our friend, but the friend of God. We can look on ourselves with humility and yet with hope, on the prosperous without envy, on the sufferer without too sickly a sorrow, on our trials with patience, and our successes without elation, when we consider how little all these things are in comparison with the universal soul which is in all, with its boundless capacities, with its glorious destiny."

These wonderful words written by James Freeman Clarke, which I found on the "Boston Unitarian blog" are so redolent of the optimism present in Unitarianism throughout its history. It is so very easy to focus on the unpleasant in man and the world and loose site of the magnificence and goodness to be found in both.

The two prevalent views of mankind throughout history can best be summed up by the phrases "Grandeur of man" and "depravity/lowliness of man". In the case of the ancient Zoroastrians these two views were to be combined within the person of man. Noticing that human beings have much in common with animals and pursue "earthly" bodily needs and pleasures, and yet have a mind that reaches for spirituality and holiness, some in the religion of ancient Persia saw man as a creation of two "deities". They saw this as an explanation of the contradiction built into human nature. An example of this thinking is mentioned in the Jewish Talmud, where a Persian Magi says to a Jewish sage "The upper half of man belongs to Ahura-Mazda (god of Goodness), the bottom half belongs to Ahriman (god/force of evil)."

Such a dualistic understanding of human kind is, I believe, also to be found in the teachings of Plato who saw a clear body-soul divide. These conceptions must have been very prevalent and influential in the ancient world for they certainly found their way into Christianity, seen clearly in the doctrine of Original Sin which often led to a conception of man as a holy soul, trapped in a sinful body, that could only be saved through the redemptive power of Jesus' death. The strong monastic presence in early Christianity which has persisted to this day is again testament to a view of man being in the grip of an evil nature that must be escaped from as much as possible through a life of asceticism.

The pinnacle denunciation of man was to be found after the Protestant reformation, especially amongst Calvinists with their doctrine of Total Depravity. Now man was to be seen as so flawed, as so caught in the grip of sin, that nothing he can do can save him, not even his belief could save him, but only the Grace of God made possible, according to this view, by God having had himself killed on a Roman cross.

Even today there are those for whom mankind is to be regarded as sinful and depraved. There is a strong stream of this thought running through many in the environmental movement who view man as a curse on an otherwise perfect world, some going as far as sterilisation to "save the world". Of course there have been many, especially since the Enlightenment who hold the opposing Rousseauesque view of man's inherent perfection, not always with happy results!

While not forgetting mankind's capacity for wrongdoing, Unitarians have approached the issue of man's nature in a more positive way, again James Freeman Clarke:

"Unitarians commonly believe that in all men there are religious capacities, by which they may come into communion with God. These are reason, conscience, freedom, love of truth, of beauty, of goodness, the sense of the infinite, the capacity of disinterested love; and the kindred sentiments of veneration, awe, aspiration etc. These are found, more or less developed in all men and where properly educated and unfolded make the true dignity and worth of human nature."

He saw in many passages of scripture, and in many of the teachings of Jesus proof that:

"That man in his natural state has the power to do right and that such right-doing is well pleasing to God"
Manual of Unitarian Belief 1884

What are the causes of our positive view of humankind? I think the strong belief in the inherent dignity of every person, in everyone having been made in the image of the Divine, has played a central part in shaping our attitude. Also an intense focus on God's Unity reinforces the notion that everything stems from Him, and that our fellow man, being His creations, are precious to Him and endowed by Him with all we need for righteousness. This was explained briefly by Alfred Hall, when he wrote:

"There is a divine element in every man, and could he only be brought to believe in its power, what aspirations he would have and what a noble life he would attain! Beloved, now are we children of God...our nature is richly endowed. God has put such inspiration into the soul, that if we will only exercise it, evil will become powerless to overcome us"
The Beliefs of A Unitarian 1947

Our rejection of the Orthodox doctrine of "Original Sin" has also played a part. Unlike Calvin who said

"Though newly-born infants have not yet produced the fruits of their iniquity, they have still the seed enclosed in them".

We prefer to follow the instruction of our teacher and guide when he said:

"Except ye become as little children, ye cannot enter into the Kingdom of God" Matthew 18:3

Our non-acceptance of another Orthodox doctrine, that of the Trinity, has also propelled us into viewing the human condition through such positive lenses. If we were to regard Jesus as God, then there would be nothing to wonder at either in his example or his teachings, for all things are possible with God. It is only with his simple humanity, that we can see him as our guide and template. From his overcoming temptations, from his diligence in serving his and our God, from his willingness to sacrifice himself to testify to the truth, we too can learn the extent of human potential.

Ultimately reason shouts loudly at us that human beings are not born stained with the guilt of their parents or of some original transgression. We all perceive infants and children as completely innocent, which is why the harming or abuse of children rightly raises such anger and grief. The existence of morality, itself dictates that we are born with the potential for goodness, and even a type of perfection.

"According to the plainest principles of morality we maintain that a natural constitution of mind, unfailingly disposing it to evil, and to evil alone, would absolve it from guilt"
William Ellery Channing.

The former Chief Rabbi, Lord Jakobovits in his 1969 Rosh Hashanah broadcast on the BBC contemplated the moon landings and recalled a sermon published a decade earlier about an imaginary account of what the first man to set foot on the moon would see and experience. In this sermon the spaceman, gazing in wonderment at the overpowering solitude around him heard a message in the silence of his soul;

"You, Astronaut of Earth, are now standing upon an uncontaminated celestial body. Across these dusty plains and in these towering mountains there is not, and never has been, the slightest stain of sin or evil. No lie has been told in this silent world. These rocks are unstained by the blood of war. This is the purity of the universe as it was when it left the mighty hand of God"

The Chief Rabbi then went on to contrast this contemplation with what an astronaut suffused with a Jewish ethic would have thought. He would view the empty wastes of the moon no so much unstained by any sin or vice, but rather as wastes unsanctified by any virtue or noble deed. True no lie had yet to be told, but more to the point neither had any truth ever been told or proclaimed in that lifeless world. No stone in those barren surroundings has ever borne witness to a feat of heroism or to an act of self sacrifice, no site has been hallowed by prayer or love and no grandeur of human creativity testifiers to the partnership between God and His creatures in perfecting the universe He created. That Jewish ethic, is also the optimistic ethic of Unitarianism.

When we begin a relationship we are always so very careful to present the best of ourselves, and only after some time do we relax enough, in the confidence of our partners love, to be able to let them see our faults. Likewise, it is only when we have internalised our goodness, our nearness to God, our human grandeur, that we can then turn our attention with confidence to our flaws and sins, and work to improve ourselves.

In a sermon reaffirming the essential Unitarian beliefs of God as One not Three in One, in Christ as a real true and noble man, in the Bible as being the only creed, and reminding his listeners of our rejection of Original Sin, William Gaskell demonstrated that Unitarians are inspired with a more generous confidence in human nature and concluded with;

"We are created capable of good, and it is our duty to promote it".

As life begins to wake and emerge after its winter's rest, let us focus on broadening our view of humanity, focusing on and promoting the good, and giving thanks to the Only True for his endless gifts to us all.

Fatal Arrogance

2011-02-28T11:37:00.001Z

"The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground? Even if thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and even if thou set they nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down saith the Lord." Obadiah 1:3-4

I was blessed to be born and raised in the UK because both my parents and grandparents escaped the limitations and stagnation of a dictator's rule to live a life of freedom and opportunity. Listening to my grandfather talk about his life under the brutal General Franco, and following as I have been the appalling situation in Libya reveals to me, certain parallels. Both these dictators (and indeed all dictators) seem to be defined by the negative character trait of arrogance. Ostensibly they all start out their "careers" with the aim of improving their nation, and for the melodramatic amongst them, "saving" their nation. When in power they promise that they shall shortly hand over power to others or to the people, a promise that soon vanishes into the ether. In all they say, in speech after speech, they communicate that they see themselves as the realisation of the nation. Gaddafi is Libya, Mugabe is Zimbabwe, Castro is Cuba. Or to use Gaddafi's own words "Gaddafi is (Libya's) glory". Soon enough criticism of the dictator is treated as treason, as unpatriotic, a logical view, no doubt, in the twisted mind of these autocrats.

It seems that Gaddafi, like many before him, especially Hitler, would prefer to see the destruction of his country before power is taken from him. No doubt his reasoning goes something like; "I am Libya, without me there is no Libya, so who cares if the country is destroyed, without me it is destroyed anyway".

The sages of Israel had quite a bit to say regarding the evils of haughtiness, best expressed by their saying;

"The Holy One, Blessed be He, says: "I and he (the arrogant person) cannot live together in the same world".

This dictum is perhaps currently realised in the happenings in Tripoli. There certainly is not much godliness surrounding Mr Gaddafi at the moment, and what's more, he clearly doesn't see it in those around him, willing as he is to end their lives to protect his power.

In the spirit of the worlds of scripture such as King Solomon's words:

"The haughty of heart are abominable before the Lord" Proverbs 16:5

Or in the words of King David:

"The arrogant of eye, and the broad or heart-him I cannot bear" Psalm 101:5

It is perhaps unsurprising that the sages of Israel declare arrogance as nothing less than idolatry. In essence the arrogant worship themselves and view themselves as the pinnacle of creation. What room is then left for God?

This being the case it is truly tragic that arrogance has often found its worst expression in the behaviour of those in the religious world. This is not to say that arrogance is absent from the non-religious world, it is of course a human phenomena and no segment of humanity is free from it. Sadly even in our time we see the fruits of religious imperiousness, for example in the oppressive theocracies of Iran, Gaza, and Saudi Arabia, and in the insults and demonisation of homosexuals by Christians in Uganda.

Religious arrogance seems to exist in two main forms.

The first is the "I have the truth, and you're all evil and going to hell because you don't have it" argument. These self-satisfied individuals have an immense sense of God being on their side in every situation. They rarely ponder if their own behaviour lives up to the standards they set for others. I often feel that this has roots in the individual's formation of God in their own image. In life we seldom agree wholeheartedly with another person, there is always the phenomenon of conflicting wills, and this means that concession and compromise are the stuff of life. Why should this be any different in our relation to the Divine? Surely our relationship with God should be challenging, as we try to adapt ourselves to His will. If you find that the God you believe in and worship, likes all the things you like, and hates all the things you hate, and approves wholeheartedly of all the things you do, you may in fact discover that the god you are adoring and prostrating yourself before, is yourself.

The second type of haughtiness comes from those genuinely pious people, who struggle daily to serve God and make His will their own. These otherwise good and well-meaning people, can sometimes find themselves looking down on all those others who seemingly have failed to live faithful, holy lives. Our teacher Jesus had a parable to illustrate the failings of this attitude.

"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, "God I thank You that I am not like other men - extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even this tax collector. I fast twice weekly; I give tithes of all I possess." And the tax collector, standing far off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, "God be merciful to me a sinner!" I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted" Luke 18:10.

I think the antidote to this second malady is to meditate on two things. The immensity and majesty of God, and the endless challenge to improve our devotion to him. Moses himself, about whose greatness we are told;

"..My servant Moses; in my entire house he is the trusted one. Mouth to mouth do I speak to him" Numbers 12:7-8

"Never again has there arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom the Lord has known face to face" Deuteronomy 34:10

Is described, despite his elevation, as the most humble of men. From this surely we learn that the closer one is to God, the more we should realise our own smallness, the closer we are to God, the more we should value His children upon whom His image is stamped.

It might be assumed that Unitarians, both those who hold to the more classical Christian variety and those of the less theologically defined school would be more free from faith-based haughtiness. The openness to other's beliefs and understandings, and the strong belief in freedom of thought and faith seem almost guaranteed to diminish arrogance in the hearts of Unitarians. Is this however really the case? I think it clear that there is a prominent "group-think" if not on theological grounds, then certainly on social and political grounds, that on occasion emerges as an arrogance, which pours undisguised scorn on those not as "enlightened". How open and tolerant are we really?

I shall myself while praying that the Almighty pull down the dictators from their prideful thrones, look inward at my own heart and see if there is not, deep down, some small Gaddafi, motivating me in my relationship with my Heavenly Father and with all those around me.

"He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted the lowly."
Luke 1:51-52

Lessons From Lark Rise.

2011-02-20T11:54:00.003Z

"You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surly rebuke your neighbour and not bear a sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbour as yourself: I am the Lord" Leviticus 19:17-18

Quite unbelievably for me, considering my love for period dramas, I have only this week become familiar with the BBC adaptation of Flora Thompson's "Lark Rise to Candleford". I have become captivated by the series.

A significant difference between the 19th and early 20th centuries in which Lark Rise is set and our modern age it seems to me, is our fear of involving ourselves in the lives let alone the moral choices of others, even of our friends. The powerful anti-judgementalist approach which surrounds us, was quite absent from the world our recent ancestors inhabited.

The character of Dorcas Lane, the Postmistress, is synonymous with the classic stereotype of the Victorian do-gooder, one of the famed "army of busybodies." She displays genuine concern for the happenings in the lives of all in her circle and even those of strangers that come to her attention. In a quiet and subtle fashion she hints, advises and works wisely behind the scenes to resolve the personal problems and conflicts of the people of Candleford, and it's poorer relation the hamlet of Lark Rise. She also does not refrain from honest plain speaking when the need arises to give criticism and reproof, always of course, delivered with the tenderest of voices, simply oozing kindliness. Her approach is quite different from the devout Thomas Brown, her head postman, whose sharp and scripture laden reproofs, often raise heckles and rarely achieve their desired results, quite understandable really, as he is often motivated more by his personal dislike of a given behaviour instead of a deep regard and concern for the recipient of his censure, a malady of thought that afflicts us all much more than we care to admit.

This willingness to become involved in the lives and moral choices of others, and to express disapproval for wrongdoing, as portrayed in Lark Rise, and explicit in the many letters and accounts that have been preserved from those times, was not all good of course. The down side was intense nosiness and its unpleasant relation; gossip. (Although let's not judge that era too harshly as we can get our fix of other people's problems and happenings from our soap-operas or reality tv shows, they had none of this). Reputations could be destroyed and lives ruined by the willingness of people to broadcast and then judge each other's actions. But the plus side was powerfully positive. The sense of community and common duty to one's neighbour was constantly reinforced, creating a warm and supportive environment. One knew that people cared and had your best interests at heart, and that when the tarnished ball of misfortune came rolling at your feet, you had those on whom to rely. This sense of communality was strengthened at least in rural society, by the lack of movement from local to local and the need to work together. Only a few places in modern Britain can boast of such bonds of unity between neighbours. Sadly the majority of us live in rather dissociated societal company. Perhaps this itself is the prime appeal of depictions of earlier times, a longing for lost community.

In addition there was another significant benefit of people's involvement and judgement. Rabbi Moshe Ben Nachman (Nachmanides) the 13th century Spanish-Jewish scholar wrote in a letter to his son:

"Anger is a most serious character flaw which causes one to sin, whoever flares up in anger is subject to the judgements of Gehenna"

One of the principle reasons that anger leads to sin and divine judgement the commentators explain, is that when one is prone to outbursts of fury, others will cease to offer instruction or reproof out of fear, instead choosing to walk on egg shells and remain silent. And without such reproof and guidance a person is almost certainly doomed to sin.

We are all subject to biases, and very rarely see our faults as easily as we see the faults of others. Without the criticism, guidance and reproof of those who have our best interests at heart, it will be considerably difficult to regulate and improve ourselves. Our modern fear of being judgemental combined with the assumption that to think that one knows what might be good for someone, is akin to unacceptable arrogance, denies each of us a tried and tested tool for personal elevation. However, it is not only an ideological resistance towards judging the deeds of others that prevents us from doing so, it is also fear. Fear has led to some of our communities becoming increasingly distant from fulfilling the well known African proverb;

"It takes a village to raise a child."

I was once returning home by train, and having stopped at a railway station to transfer to another train, I became aware of a couple of children, I would say about 12 or so years old, openly trying to steal a bike from the opposite platform and when this failed, vandalising it instead. While what they were doing was visible to the several people on my side of the platform, nobody said a word or challenged them, all of us struck by the brazenness of what we were witnessing. I too, am ashamed to say, remained silent, mainly as a result of fear of what could happen if I did intervene. I can't have been the only one to hear and read about innocent people ending up seriously injured or worse for having become involved and to have had that image remain in the mind.

Clearly in this, as in many other areas of life, what is necessary is not always easy. And only wisdom combined with a little bravery will be successful. Is courage in short supply in our pampered times?

However, as followers of Jesus, do we not have some quite strong injunctions against judging the actions of others? Several teachings of our master would seem to confirm this:

"Judge not lest you be judged, for with what judgement you judge, you will be judged and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you" Matthew 7:1-2

"He who is without sin, cast the first stone" John 8:7

Verses expressing the same sentiment can be found throughout the Hebrew Bible also.

Are we to understand from this, that we are never to form or make known an opinion that judges the actions of our fellow man, let alone act on such an opinion? Is it wrong for us to sit in judgement, is this solely the prerogative of the Ultimate Judge, the Sovereign of creation? Surely this cannot be the case, as both reason and scripture testify for the need of human judgement and mutual improvement. Did the Nazarene himself not say:

"Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear take with you one or two more that "by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established". And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church (congregation). But if he refuses even to listen to the church let him be to you like a heathen or tax-collector" Matthew 18:15-17

And Jesus practised what he preached, for he constantly went out amongst the sinners, reaching out to them, and bidding them to "sin no more".

So how do we reconcile this seeming contradiction? In my opinion it is reconciled with one single word; Humanity.

Whenever we look upon our fellow and his/her actions we must ever be cognisant of their basic humanity. People are complex and driven by emotions and responses that are often far from rational. We can never overlook the human context in which wrongdoing takes place, to do so is to commit a terrible injustice. While an action or behaviour may indeed be immoral or even wicked, the person who commits it may perhaps not be either. We have a duty to try and see ourselves in their situation and to honestly consider how we would act given the same circumstances. Ultimately we can never really know the heart of another, only He "who knows the heart of man" can judge a person. We must focus our reproof and disapproval on the actions that are wrong, attempting to guide the individual away from them. We must not be frightened from stating that we view certain things as wrong. But we must always, always be rooted in our love for our neighbour and not in a selfish, base desire to feel better about ourselves or to inflict pain through the criticism of others. There is very little else as ugly and abominable as hatred wrapped in the mantle of religious reproof, as I was reminded this past week while watching a documentary about the treatment of homosexuals in Uganda. The approach and language of some of the pastors of Ugandan churches, that of demeaning the image of God in man, resulting in the denigrating of the very Word of God and creating an environment in which violence and even murder takes place, is one clearly born of ignorance. But the scar it leaves on the face of religion is not an easy one to heal.

With our duty to reprove our fellow comes another duty should our reproof fail to elicit a change of behaviour. Namely tolerance. We must accept the freedom of others to ignore what we have to say, and follow their own path. Of course if we cannot accept what others do, we have the choice to distance ourselves from them and the negative influence that their deeds may pose, but ideally we should be there, always waiting for their return and in the event that their choice of action brings only sadness upon them we must swallow our desire to lord it over them with "I told you so's" and instead comfort them. If you feel that you have some wisdom to offer, why hold back? Share it, sensitively and respectfully.

A questions that has specific resonance to Unitarians is, should we attempt to offer reproof/instruction to others regarding matters of belief? Other denominations would answer yes as to them the correct belief is as important to a good life as correct action. But for Unitarians and others who put great emphasis on the freedom of thought, interpretation and belief, this issue is less clear. Robert Aspland 1782-1845 Minister of the Unitarian chapel in Hackney and head of the Unitarian fund, wrote a letter on receiving news that a minister in a General Baptist (Unitarian) congregation had, on refection of the scriptures, become convinced of the truth of Trinitarian Christianity, and as a result desired to separate himself from the Unitarian Fund. His words offer a valuable guidance and insight as to what approach we might take.

"Dear Sir, Your letter..I have read with very mixed emotions of mind; though, I assure you, with no angry or unfriendly sentiments towards yourself. So far, my dear Sir, from blaming you for your manly avowal of your dissent from the principles of the Unitarian Fund, I applaud your integrity and courage. While our society is intended for the promotion of what we consider the most glorious, but long-lost, truths of the gospel, we are not so inconsistent as to attempt to remove the fetters of reputed orthodoxy from men's minds, solely to put on our own chains in their stead. Our object is in part accomplished, if we set the human mind upon inquiry, whether inquiry lead to us or from us; and you, I conceive, will ever thank us, even if you retain your new and, as I must think, unscriptural and erroneous notions, for having incited you to think for yourself, and supplied you with the means of forming a rational judgement upon the gospel. We shall assuredly never disesteem you for using the liberty, which we are so forward to claim for ourselves, of free inquiry and independent judgement. With regard to ourselves, therefore, you may set your mind at rest; but there are higher obligations which you are under to Truth, and you are, I am persuaded, solicitous that you may not be negligent of these." (What follows are a long list of arguments in favour of the Unitarian position vs the Trinitarian).

We need not be ashamed of having beliefs which we regard as true, nor feel coy about sharing them with others if we feel that they would benefit them. In fact if you have a belief which you understand is true and which you feel could benefit someone, it is your duty to share it.

Jesus reminded us to remove the beam in our own eye before attempting to remove the splinter from someone else's eye. How very true, this must always be remembered. I like to think that our "own" eye, also applies to those causes and organisations we make our own. So let us embark on a journey of self-improvement while reaching out to those around us, strengthening the bonds the bind us all.

And then perhaps we can slowly recreate our society as one of unity, support, liberty and truth.

From Lark Rise to Candleford and then.....well beyond.

Bury Me In A Free Land

2011-02-06T18:33:00.000Z

"Moreover I have heard the groan of the Children of Israel whom Egypt enslaves and I have remembered my covenant. Therefore, say to the Children of Israel: "I am the Lord, and I shall take you out from under the burden of Egypt, I shall rescue you from their service; I shall redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgements. I shall take you to Me for a people, and I shall be a God to you; and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who takes you out from under the burden of Egypt." Exodus 6:5-6

This past week, our screens and newspapers have been filled with images of mass protests in the name of liberty in the land of the Nile, and the refusal of a modern day Pharaoh to relinquish power. Much has been said about this struggle and the possible results and consequences for Egypt, the Middle East and the wider world it may bring about. It brought to my mind a poem I had found on a link on the Unitarian Ministries International website's section on Black History Month. The poem is entitled "Bury Me In A Free Land" and was penned by Frances Harper 1825-1911 an indefatigable struggler for freedom. The poem is beautiful and the life of the amazing woman who wrote it is even more inspirational.

Frances was born in Baltimore to free African-American parents. Orphaned at an early age she was raised by her aunt and uncle, a minister who was a passionate abolitionist and campaigner for civil rights at a very difficult time in US history. She found work as a seamstress when young, in a Quaker home whose religious principles clearly influenced her later in life, but her mind at that time was focused on writing and indeed she wrote her first poetry at the age of 20. In less than a decade her writing had become very popular and her reputation began to grow throughout the United States. Following a worsening situation for black people in Maryland, she moved to Ohio where she resolved to use her talents to educate others and ended up teaching at the Union Seminary. Her mind always on the suffering of her fellow black Americans, she joined the American Anti-Slavery Association, an organisation that bravely braced hostility and significant violence in its campaign for emancipation. While living in Pennsylvania she and her husband helped many escaped slaves flee to safety in Canada on the Underground Railroad, (the network of informal and secret routes and safe-houses) and it was during this time that she came to know of Unitarianism, a denomination that was known for its pursuit of abolition. Frances travelled around the country giving talks and lectures to strengthen the resolve of abolitionists and to open minds closed with prejudice and fear. Abolition was not the only controversial cause she supported and advocated. She believed strongly in women's suffrage and urged women to think beyond the limitations placed upon them by society as in powerful writings such as:

"Talk as you will of woman's deep capacity for loving, of the strength of her affectional nature. I do not deny it; but will the mere possession of any human love, fully satisfy all the demands of her whole being? . . . But woman—the true woman—if you would render her happy, it needs more than the mere development of her affectional nature. Her conscience should be enlightened, her faith in the true and right established, and scope given to her Heaven-endowed and God-given faculties."

She was also a supporter of prohibition, believing as many people of faith did that alcohol was the source of far too much harm to the poor and vulnerable. And of course she was also a committed, proud and faithful Unitarian, cleaving to her faith in the Divine Unity, and striving to emulate and follow the teachings of the man Jesus. During this time she continued with her writing and in 1892 she published the highly successful "Iola Leroy/Shadows Uplifted" one of the first African American novels. Throughout her career much of the money she made from her writing was used to assist the freeing of slaves. Such was the regard she was held in for her political advocacy that she was made vice president of the "National Association of Colored Women", whose objective was to "furnish evidence of the moral, mental and material progress made by people of color through the efforts of our women". In her role she worked with the association in its battle for women's suffrage and in its campaigns against the Apartheid-like Jim Crow laws. This woman, engaged as she was in the struggles of so many in her nation, was no Dickensian Mrs Jellyby caricature. Despite her heavy responsibilities she still found time to help feed the local poor and work to bring the young people in her vicinity out of delinquency. She died a heroine of Civil Rights and Unitarianism on February 22 1911 having invested for herself a great treasure of the type that Jesus taught us:

"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust corrupt, and where thieves do no break through or steal:
For where you treasure is, there will your heart be also."
Matthew 6:19-21

Throughout her life Frances was deeply moved by the biblical figure of Moses, and wrote poignantly about him in several of her poems, speaking about him in many of her lectures. The story of the exodus from Egypt resonated with her struggle to bring African-Americans out of slavery into a land that honoured its creed of liberty. I find the following words of hers deeply moving, speaking directly as they do to my own deeply held beliefs:

"Had Moses preferred the luxury of an Egyptian palace to the endurance of hardships with his people," she asked, "would the Jews have been the race to whom we owe the most, not perhaps for science and art, but for the grandest of all sciences, the science of a true life of joy and trust in God, of God-like forgiveness and divine self-surrender?"

She saw Moses as an example of leadership that could be beneficial for the release from servitude of her own people languishing under the fetters of slavery and prejudice. I think it more than fair to say that she herself lived the words that she placed into Moses' mouth in her poem "Moses: A Story on the Nile":

"Let me tell thee, gracious princess, 'tis no sudden freak nor impulse wild that moves my mind,
I feel an earnest purpose binding all.
My soul unto a strong resolve, which bids me put aside all other ends and aims,
Until the hour shall come when God - the God our fathers loved and worshipped - shall break our chains,
And lead our willing feet to freedom."

One cannot downplay the success and strength of this woman, to have achieved so much when state and much of society where actively working against people of colour. Following on from my post of last week, how narrow we imagine our potential to be! And how Frances Harper and the many like her inspire us to be more than we are, to broaden our perspectives and not feel that our environment prevents us from actualising our potential.

Our press and other media have been filled with opinion as to whether or not the events in Egypt are good or not. Ironically those who were silent when the pro-western people of Iran rose up against the obscurantist and totalitarian religiously criminal regime ruling their country recently, and who where even less supportive of the calls for freedom in the "Cedar Revolution" in Lebanon are some of the most eager celebrants of the ever developing revolution in Egypt. And equally ironically, those who were vociferous defenders of the ousting of the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and who offered justification for the war in Iraq on the grounds of freedom and democracy, are now some of the harshest critics of America for "abandoning" such a useful ally in the form of Mubarak! Truly confusing times of political and ethical cross-dressing.

Personally I only hope that dictators everywhere tremble in their extravagantly wealthy homes, and lose sleep over the prospect of their abused and suffering people rising up against them. I also hope that both the protesters in Egypt and those of other countries heed the words of Martin Luther King uttered in that most moving and history-defining speech in Washington 1963 when he said:

"In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force."

There are people of bravery and integrity in country after country ruled by despotic dictators and it is our duty to help them as much as is possible for us to do, even if only to write them a letter or email of support, to show them that what they do is valued by people around the word. To this end we should take seriously the words of Isaiah:

"Is this not the fast I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness
to undo the heavy burdens
to let the oppressed go free.
And that you break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out:
When you see the naked, that you cover him and not hide yourself from your own flesh?"
Isaiah 58:6-7

One such courageous individual is Catherine Buckle from Marondera in Zimbabwe. After having her farmland and property stolen in 2000 by Robert Mugabe's so called War Veterans, she has been writing and blogging about the troubles of her beloved country. She dedicates herself to making known the wrong that was done and continues to be done to millions of Zimbabweans, both black and white, by a government that cares nothing for those to whom it is responsible. I highly recommend her blog, if nothing else to remind us of what is going on and to inspire in us courage to deal with the thankfully much smaller problems in our own land and communities.

In these times of great change may the Almighty, in whose Hands are the hearts of Kings guide the nations to a more peaceful, united, respectful and holy future.

Make me a grave where'er you will,

In a lowly plain, or a lofty hill;

Make it among earth's humblest graves,

But not in a land where men are slaves.

I could not rest if around my grave

I heard the steps of a trembling slave;

His shadow above my silent tomb

Would make it a place of fearful gloom.

I could not rest if I heard the tread

Of a coffle gang to the shambles led,

And the mother's shriek of wild despair

Rise like a curse on the trembling air.

I could not sleep if I saw the lash

Drinking her blood at each fearful gash,

And I saw her babes torn from her breast,

Like trembling doves from their parent nest.

I'd shudder and start if I heard the bay

Of bloodhounds seizing their human prey,

And I heard the captive plead in vain

As they bound afresh his galling chain.

If I saw young girls from their mother's arms

Bartered and sold for their youthful charms,

My eye would flash with a mournful flame,

My death-paled cheek grow red with shame.

I would sleep, dear friends, where bloated might

Can rob no man of his dearest right;

My rest shall be calm in any grave

Where none can call his brother a slave.

I ask no monument, proud and high,

To arrest the gaze of the passers-by;

All that my yearning spirit craves,

Is bury me not in a land of slaves.

Breaking The Chains Of Low Expectations

2011-01-30T23:12:00.005Z

"They brought forth to the Children of Israel an evil report on the Land that they had spied out, saying, "The land through which we have passed, to spy it out is a land that devours its inhabitants! All the people that we saw in it were huge! There we saw the Nephilim, the sons of the giant from among the Nephilim; we were like grasshoppers in our eyes and, so we were in their eyes" Numbers 13:32-33

Let me embark on a little light speculation. What was Zacchaeus, mentioned in the Gospel of Luke, like? What can we make of his personality? Well all we are told is that he was small in stature and that he was a wealthy tax collector in Jericho, actually he was chief tax collector in Jericho. Now that last piece of information tells us quite a bit about his personality. Perhaps his small physical stature gave rise to "small man syndrome" and led to him having an insatiable desire to succeed? The political situation of his time, Roman occupation of the Land of Israel combined with highly corrupt local lackeys, most of whom wintered in Jericho, provided him with an opportunity to increase his wealth and status. Yes he would be considered a traitor by the overwhelming majority of his people and perhaps even by his family but the people who matter would rely on him and reward him handsomely. He would be an important somebody. What must he have felt the first time he knocked on the door of a poor family and demanded the exorbitant taxes demanded by the ruling powers? No doubt he would have had some pangs of guilt but then inevitably he must have overhead someone calling him a scoundrel, and subsequently the pangs of guilt were crushed under the weight of indignation, rationalisation and the false flattery of false friends. As time went on, and as he became more and more successful and as he took more and more money from the people to line the pockets of the despotic king and emperor and a little extra no doubt to line his own pockets, his name in the close knit community of Jericho became synonymous with wickedness and crookedness ultimately the very opposite of the name Zacchaeus (innocent). Having been labelled as a traitor and cheat he probably became trapped in that identity, a classic example of a "self fulfilling prophecy", or in the more ancient wording of King Solomon:

"For as he thinks in his heart, so he is" Proverbs 23:7

And then came that fateful day that Jesus of Nazareth came to Jericho on his way to Jerusalem. A crowd formed in eager anticipation of seeing a man whose reputation for goodness and healing preceded him. Our friend Zacchaeus having heard that Jesus was in town wanted to catch a glimpse of him and see what he was like. He probably did not particularly esteem Jesus' reputation for goodness, and no doubt assumed that such a holy man would want nothing whatsoever to do with a sinner like himself. No doubt all the good and pious men of Jericho had already made it clear to him, that the God-fearing keep a great distance from wickedness, and presumably he assumed Jesus would also want nothing to do with a reprobate like him. But still curiosity got the better of him and being of small stature he climbed the tree as we are told:

So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today" So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. All who saw it began to grumble and said, "He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner". Zacchaeus stood there and said to the master, "Look, half of my possessions, lord, I will give to the poor and if I have defrauded anyone of anything I will pay back four times as much". Then Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the son of man came to seek out and to save the lost" Luke 19:4-10

What exactly happened to lead to such a turn-around of Zacchaeus? I believe that it was two principle factors. Firstly he was inspired by Jesus' example. Here was a man, a good and righteous man, who was prepared to be tarred by association. Who was prepared to have his reputation sullied as a fraternizer with sinners, all for the sake of showing kindness to a man whose life as lived up until now, was the very opposite of all Jesus stood for! And he, Zacchaeus, could not even refrain from stealing from the poor in order to increase his wealth and the wealth of a corrupt and illegitimate leadership. This contrast no doubt struck him and inspired him to change. Being in the presence of greatness often has a way of shaming us into improvement.

But even more importantly than this, the sudden turnaround was to my mind, the product of Jesus having changed Zacchaeus' self image. And he did this through love. If this holy man thought him so worthy as to wish to be invited to his home and spend some time with him, then perhaps he is not as irredeemably beyond the moral pail as others thought! Jesus' actions smashed a hole in Zacchaeus' self image, allowing him to glimpse his potential for goodness and true greatness. And seeing that opportunity he immediately took this inspiration and made it real by promising to give away to the poor much of his wealth and pay back what he had taken. Someone showed faith in him and he rose to demonstrate that he was deserving of such faith.

Self image is hugely powerful. As King Solomon pointed out in the verse I mentioned earlier, in a very real sense we are what we label ourselves as being. This self-perception is immensely powerful and can lead to huge success or terrible pain. Having read some of the works of the celebrated psychiatrist Aaron T Beck, the father of Cognitive Therapy, I see that this very idea is also a strong factor in clinical depression and anxieties including phobias. A person suffering from depression has often at root a self perception of themselves which is very low which leads quite naturally to feeling of sadness and deep desperation. Likewise a faulty self-perception can lead someone to feel incredibly vulnerable and frightened. This was the situation of the spies sent by Moses to scout out the Land of Israel. In their eyes they viewed themselves (incorrectly) as weak as grasshoppers, and as a result were viewed as such by others.

We have seen this past week the power of altered self-images in the events unfolding in Egypt. The events in Tunisia opened the eyes of millions of Egyptians. Whereas before they saw themselves as frightened victims of a powerful despotic dictatorship, the events in a fellow Arab country, caused them to see themselves as powerful and in charge of their own fate. They saw their regime as vulnerable, and with this change of perception fear was lost and the protests began. This new self image will not be easy to shift and up against this powerful force I doubt that even Mubarak will be successful. Positive self perception can lead to spectacular endeavours such as in the case of Richard Wright. This amazing man was the leading light of the Unitarian Fund, the missionary society set up by Robert Aspland in 1806. He travelled many hundreds of miles all over the country, many times on foot, in order to bring the Unitarian Gospel to towns and villages far and near. In many places he was passionately opposed by ministers of orthodoxy who were terrified that members of their congregations might be drawn to the Unitarian "heresy". He put up with all these hardships because he was convinced that he was in his words a "soldier of Christ". He understood himself to have as his prime purpose in life, the spreading of the simple truths of the Gospels, and this drove him on even when undoubtedly he like us had a little voice in his head saying "why bother, you are only one man what can you achieve".

I was saddened this week to hear during a radio debate concerning education, person after person reinforce the culture of low-expectation that has plagued our teaching establishment and our wider society for many years. The discussion centred around the English Baccalaureate, and a feeling by many that it will lead to a devaluing of the humanities and arts. One lady said that as children today are from the "gameboy" generations they have very small attention spans, and therefore to focus on academic subjects would be wrong, instead education should focus on those subjects that are more easily grasped. We must, apparently, adapt education to the "reality" of short attention spans! What ever happened to trying to elevate children's knowledge? If attention spans are a problem why, instead of resigning ourselves to this situation, do we not try and remedy it? What exactly is wrong with trying to give all children a basic grasp of academic subjects that will be useful to them all? Voice after voice was extolling the value of vocational learning in opposition to academic learning, which in the opinion of one caller, would lead to more kids becoming bankers which is something that apparently we don't want!! But surely even vocational work requires the basic skills of good communication and maths. Providing children with good knowledge of the 3 R's gives them choice. With this knowledge should they wish, they can enter the academic field and attain careers that subsequently become available. And if they choose to enter into vocational training, they will be well equipped to excel in this area too. Youngsters who lack these basic education skills are denied choice. Why are we allowing a diminished understanding of our children's abilities to take root?

This low-expectation also applies to behaviour and moral conduct. It is assumed that youngsters will just behave in unruly ways, that they will drink excessively etc. Suggestions that children should be properly disciplined and that efforts should be undertaken to prevent unruly behaviour and under-age drinking and sex, are dismissed as unrealistic and sinister by educationalists and social theorists. The mockery that is often pored onto those (religious) parents and youngsters who advocate abstinence until marriage demonstrates a low-expectation mindset. Young people amazingly can refrain from drugs, booze and sex. They can exceed in learning and concentration each at their own level. To believe otherwise let alone to intimate to youngsters that one believes otherwise will forge the chains of a collective self image that will condemn young people to mediocre expectations and increase behaviour that is decried as regretfully inevitable.

The same goes for us as individuals. How often do we sell ourselves short? How many of us have justified our laziness, our selfishness, our grumpiness and a host of other acts of wrongdoing by saying "That's just how I am, I can't do anything about it"? How many of us have felt unable to reach out and help others because of a feeling of "I'm not brave enough to do that", or failed to take on a project at work or in the community because of arguments like "I am not able, clever, interesting, popular or talented enough"? We should all be aware that the potential for growth and improvement is always with us, and that we can become much more than we are now. This is not to say that we should have an inflated self-image. We should be truthful with ourselves about our abilities, strengths and weaknesses.

To assist us we should keep before our eyes the example of those who have excelled in personal, moral, religious conduct. Many of us have relatives or friends to whom we look up to in admiration, many of us have had our lives touched by inspirational people. And even if not, then one can turn, as did Zacchaeus, to the example of our teacher Jesus. By meditating on the goodness in others, we can develop a desire to emulate it.

In our interactions with others we must be sure to always broaden their self-perception and not God forbid limit them. Recognition and praise for the success of others should be on our tongues. Feelings of jealousy must not prevent us from celebrating the success of those around us, and we must try not to fall into the trap so particular to Britain, of finding pleasure in the bringing down of the successful. For after all, others failing does not make us more successful. When the need arises in our role as parents, employers or even good friends to rebuke, we should do so in a way that does not create the ingredients for negative self-fulfilling prophecy. Jesus himself had harsh words to say about those who diminish a person in his own eyes;

"And whosoever shall say to his brother "raca" (empty one) shall be in danger of the council, but whosoever shall say; "you fool" shall be in danger of gehnenna " Matthew 5:22.

Ultimately our potential can be seen in the grace and love of our Creator who bestows upon us all that we need to triumph in our own personal journey to greatness. The Jews have a custom to recite a prayer at the very moment of awaking in the morning:

"I thank you Living and Eternal King, for you have mercifully restored my soul within me. Great is your faithfulness"

How beautiful and how useful it is to start each day by reminding ourselves of The Only One's faith in us! Yes yesterday we might have failed, yes yesterday we did not make the most of those gifts God had given us, but in His mercy our Father gives us another day of life, trusting that today we will do better. Being aware of this how can we not but strive to do better? If you read nothing else, I suggest you read the Chief Rabbi's essay on the book of Job, which so eloquently and convincingly demonstrates that the prime question of faith is not our faith in God, but His faith in us.

Let us start the week by aiming high remembering that while it is no indictment of man not to be perfect, it is an indictment of man not to want to be perfect, and that all the Supreme One expects of us is our best effort.

The Happiness Agenda

2011-01-23T15:59:00.004Z

"What gain, then, has the worker by his toil? I have observed the task which God has given the sons of man to be concerned with: He made everything beautiful in its time, He has also put an enigma into their minds so that man cannot comprehend what God has done from beginning to end. Thus I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and do good in life. Indeed every man who eats and drinks and finds satisfaction in all his labour - this is a gift of God." Ecclesiastes 3:9-13

I am glad to see that The Moral Maze has finally returned to the airwaves after its Christmas hiatus, and am also glad that the subject under discussion this past week was "happiness", in particular our Government's stated ambition to measure the happiness/welfare of our nation the results of which will shape the direction of their public policy. Despite much of the discussion having drifted off the theme of measuring and responding to happiness statistics, and onto the promotion of happiness by government, some good and thoughtful arguments were made by both sides.

I suppose the question we must ask, even if we can not adequately answer it, is what is happiness? The definition offered by Professor Richard Layard "feeling good and wanting to go-on feeling good" is not perhaps too far off the mark. A sense of contentment with a positive view of oneself and one's life is pretty much the long and the short of it. Some of the contributors to the debate held the view, shared by many, that there is a clear distinction between pleasure and happiness. And in the words of Philip Hodson "euphoria and ecstasy" are to be considered different from happiness. This seemingly neo-platonic, division between the earthly, physical sensation of pleasure and the elevated spiritual reality of happiness is also a concept that many religions, especially Christianity, have embraced and promoted. The most extreme associating pleasure with sin and even the devil.

Well I am sorry to have to disagree with this weight of opinion. As far as my observations of myself and those around me go, happiness is a mixture of both inner contentment and pleasure. Life is filled with many pleasures from the physical to the psychological, and these contribute immensely to the happiness of human kind. By themselves they are rarely sufficient for any sense of lasting happiness, and those devoid of that transcendent inner contentment, will often find that an endless chase after transient pleasure only leads to an increase of sadness. But likewise to achieve immense happiness in the absence of life's pleasure is also a task that so few are able to achieve. But certainly that inner happiness, is what gives each and every one of us the ability to find joy and peace in even the most trying of circumstances. God has filled our world with pleasures for us to enjoy, let us not ungratefully reject the gifts we have been given, instead let us rejoice in them, always cognisant of, and ready to bless He who bestowed them upon us. So too we should recall the boundaries He Himself has set for the enjoyment of the pleasures that He created, and not chase after those wants that in the words of James Martineau, God "wilt never bless."

This leads on to a point that was made during the radio debate, most specifically by Claire Fox. She correctly pointed out that many people who actively seek to promote happiness often have other, value based world-views that they are seeking to transmit or even impose. Matthew Taylor himself made the argument that it is the "moral duty" of our political leaders to point out to us the "systematic errors" we hoi polloi make when it comes to our own happiness. Apparently we only think we are happy, and we need the state to come along and tell us how to actually be happy! Also despite studies indicating that religious people are by far happier than their secular counterparts, few in the Action for Happiness brigade actually advocate religion! Instead they search for secular alternatives. This patronising attitude is not new for even that powerful and intelligent advocate of utilitarianism John Stuart Mill himself believed that the simple pleasures and happiness of the uneducated majority were lesser than the supreme pleasures and happiness of those people....well those people much like himself. The same argument of course is used by religious advocates themselves, who often preach a message that suggests that "you are not really happy it is an illusion, but convert to our faith and you will be blissfully happy forever" often accompanied with personal testimonies about how life became so happy with the embracing of the faith. What many of these secular and religious advocates of happiness have in common is that they are not actually seeking and promoting happiness for its own sake, and really they should be more honest about their motivations.

It seems to me that there are many things that make people happy. The idea that there is only one type of happiness and that the rest is illusory or of temporary duration is simply wrong. There are many people living lifestyles which if I were to embrace would cause me not a small amount of misery and yet they are brimming with happiness. Can the libertine who lives a life of happiness and pleasure really be happy living the strict and demanding life of your average Plymouth Brethren or Amish? Could many people in those said religious communities really enjoy the almost meaningless excesses of hedonistic libertarianism? Most certainly not. And yet both exist, the hedonist and those that sacrifice much of temporal life for God, and many in both camps live happily. We are told that more and more education is a guarantee of happiness, yes to many it is, but not to all. Some live completely happy lives with a simple naiveté, did not Solomon himself say that:

"For in much wisdom is much grief. And he who increases knowledge increases sorrow" Ecclesiastes 1:18

Some people yearn to go to work and get depressed as bank holiday follows bank holiday so eager are they to return to the office. Others find the greatest happiness in not working, but having a day or week or year why not, free to enjoy a long walk, a quiet meal or even a sit-down in front of the telly.

However I, as many readers may already know from my previous posts, am not a relativist. I do believe that there is an ideal sort of happiness. Upon what is this ideal based? On that which to me is more important than happiness itself, goodness. Righteousness and virtue are to me the foundations of a life well lived, and the happiness that living a life of righteousness and virtue creates is supported by these pillars whose only support is the Creator who's will gives them existence.

This is one of the problems (but not the main one) I have with the idea of government using surveys of happiness to decide public policy. Does the fact that something makes people happy make it correct? Does the fact that something makes people unhappy make something wrong? In our own lives we know that not to be the case. We know that often we become incredibly unhappy (and a few of us even become grumpy, sulky and downright mean on occasion) at others even when they did nothing wrong, and the fault lay with our selfishness, arrogance or simple stupidity. Feeling upset does not mean someone wronged you.(A lesson fast disappearing from our blame society). Also we know that people, ourselves included, have garnered great pleasure and happiness when doing something we know to be wrong, such as when a person succeeds in revenging themselves, when a person is enjoying the thrill of marital betrayal, or when a person sits gossiping and mocking. Many people in our own country would have been awash with happiness if they had succeeded in lynching the children who murdered Jamie Bulger, but would that have been right?

Policy should be decided on two grounds: ethical/moral legitimacy and efficacy. A government should work at constructing policies that are good and just, and that work, and if these bring happiness then that is a very welcome bonus.

Of course if government is going to have at its heart a desire to advance the good and discourage the bad, then surely these two concepts also need defining. In theocratic societies or in those in which there is one dominant religion this answer is often easy. Good is what God says is good as was revealed and bad is what God says is bad. In muscled secular societies this answer can also be quite easy. Good is what a small yet powerfully influential clique of people define and promulgate as good and bad is what they define as bad. In a society where there is a mixture of faiths, both religious and secular, such as ours, the definition of good and bad is not quite as neat. While I think it is good and necessary for individuals to hold onto clearly understood principles of good and bad (preferably rooted in the transcendence of God) no one individual or group can or should impose his views on everybody else. So clearly the best option is for each political party to put out their own understanding of what constitutes a good and moral society, and let the public decide, while remembering as much as possible the hard won rights of dissenters to disagree. To our misfortune, our political parties tend to shy away from any moral issues as much as possible until after they win if at all, and these decisions are instead often foisted onto a nation by the courts of the European Union or by politically motivated unelected judges at home. This is not good for democracy or society.

My second and main problem with this government involvement in the happiness of the nation is more of an ideological one. I simply do not believe it is the duty of the government to involve itself in those areas which are the provenance of the informal and personal structure called society, and especially into the private emotional lives of individuals. I see the state as having the role of protector of society by doing its best to prevent those anti-social elements from harming society and the individuals of whom it is made up. I also see its role as restricted to ensuring that those institutions set up for the benefit of society are run effectively and fair. Its final role is to ensure (not necessarily to provide) every individual with the basic requirements to live a productive and safe life. The highly emotional and subjective personal reality of happiness, is best left to the individual alone, and those people and institutions in society which he/she cares to voluntarily attach him/herself too. I have to agree with those who feel that they are not at all that willing to take lessons in good living or happiness from our political leaders some of whom are hardly the best models for either!

Again, could this be yet another example of the failure of our churches, both the established one, and all the others, to address a widespread yearning for guidance and happiness? Would our political masters have even considered entering into the happiness agenda if the churches were addressing this issue in a coherent and passionate manner? Who knows?

There is a great deal on unhappiness in our society, and we should all be playing our part in alleviating it.

It should spur us on as people of faith to reach out to others and to demonstrate by example the happiness that living a life devoted to the Almighty can bring. Without falling into the trap of falsehood in promoting our happiness as the only real happiness, we can certainly provide people with an alternative to the choices that are so often sold as panaceas to permanent happiness. As Unitarians we are wonderfully placed to allow people to explore in supportive atmospheres, what indeed makes them happy and what changes can be made to their lives to increase their share of happiness. We can be there for people when the inevitable unhappiness of life come upon them, we can shy away from the approach of Job's friends and instead seek only to empathise with them and to alleviate their unhappiness. We can also as so many of our Unitarian forebears did allow the sadness we feel when we look at the injustice, cruelty, indifference and yes immorality of our society and world, spur us on to instigate changes that will increase the happiness of the nation while keeping it rooted in what we believe to be truth.

For me happiness can be found in a life entrusted into the hands of the Almighty, reliant and grateful of His compassion and goodness. On an eye focused on the good of any situation and a heart rejoicing in even the smallest pleasure. And on an eye focused on the needs and feelings of others.

We should walk in the footsteps of our teacher Jesus who spent very little time in talking about happiness and instead went out and strove to remove the causes of people's unhappiness by healing them and turning them away from sin back into the arms of their ever awaiting Father in heaven.

"Those who are well have no need for a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance" Mark 2:17

Our approach can be summed up so concisely by the hymn inspired by the words of the prayer of Francis of Assisi.

Make me a channel of your peace,

Where there is hatred let me bring your love,

Where there is injury your pardon Lord,

And where there's doubt true faith in you.

Make me a channel of your peace,

Where there's despair in life, let me bring hope,

Where there is darkness, only light,

And where there's sadness, ever joy.

O Master grant that I may never seek,

So much to be consoled as to console,

To be understood as to understand,

To be loved as to love with all my soul.

Make me a channel of your peace,

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

In giving to all men that we receive

And in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Eternal Leson Of The Good Samaritan

2011-01-16T18:29:00.008Z

"When a stranger dwells among you in your land, do not taunt him, The stranger who dwells with you shall be like a native among you, and you shall love him as yourself." Leviticus 19:34

The tragedy that unfolded last Saturday in Tucson Arizona was truly heartbreaking, however I found things began to get progressively worse as commentator after commentator attempted to put the blame for the atrocity on those of the political right, and specifically Sarah Palin. Prior to any evidence regarding the murderer or his motivation becoming known, these people sought to make political capital out of the suffering of those killed and injured, in a desperate bid to create ill feeling towards their political enemies and discredit them. That American politicians and pundits would stoop so low was bad enough, but that voice after voice on the BBC joined in such speculation with such relish was more than a little distasteful and made a mockery of its fabled (or should that be mythological) impartiality.

Subsequently we learned that in addition to US Representative Gabrielle Giffords, the victims of the shooting spree included a federal judge appointed by President Bush, an aide to Mrs Giffords and an 11 year old girl. It also became clear that the murderer's political views could hardly be called conventional or Tea Party, embracing as they do, aspects of far right and far left ideology which reveal little of his motivation. By all accounts he is a highly unstable individual, whose psychological problems were no doubt exacerbated by the large amounts of cannabis he was said to have smoked (something quite underplayed by the same BBC that invested so much time in speculating if Sarah Palin's rhetoric was influential in causing the shooting). Finally and thankfully however, President Obama gave a wonderful speech in which he tried to bring to an end the cynical abuse of the tragedy, by eloquently instructing his nation to come together to grieve and to pray for the victims and their families and warned them not to use the events as a reason to turn on one another. I add my own prayer for Gabrielle Giffords recovery to his.

During this week I have also been learning about the plight of Zimbabwean refugees. I was struck by the contrast between their reception in South Africa and that in Botswana. During 2008 at least 68 Zimbabwean immigrants were murdered, some in the most horrific ways imaginable, by enraged South African mobs who believed that the Zimbabweans were taking their jobs and causing a rise in crime, while in Botswana, despite the widely held belief that small increases in crime were also the result of increased immigration from Zimbabwe, the attitude of the majority of Batswana was to extend the hand of friendship and understanding to those fleeing Mugabe's wicked regime. Some took to the airways to inform their fellow citizens of the situation in Zimbabwe so that they could better understand the plight of those left with little choice but to cross the border. Many Zimbabweans have testified to the good and kind treatment they have received in Botswana.

What I came to realise is that both the political opportunism in the US and the welcome offered to strangers in Botswana both are opposite examples of the way tribalism can manifest in positive and negative forms.

It is a fact of human nature, that humanity will always self-divide into small groups. We cannot live as individuals completely removed from our fellow man and so form bonds of association with others, naturally we feel greater affinity and ease with people with whom we have more in common, or with those with whom we live in greater proximity and therefore share the same conditions of life as ourselves. This is also central to human identity, central to how we understand who we are and what role we have in life, after all the majority of us do enjoy having a label that identifies us however much we insist we don't, in reality we generally just don't like anyone other than ourselves labelling us. Sometimes that label might be a religious one at other times it might be political, sexual, national, geographical and among many the label of choice is dependent on a chosen sports team, its colours and symbols embraced passionately as marks of identity and pride. What's more we all have multiple identities encompassing those matters of central importance to our lives.

There is nothing wrong in any of this. Sharing a common identity and affinity with a larger group of people is important for a healthy life and for preserving culture and memory and ultimately it enriches our world and the cultural life of the broader human family.

So why has such "tribalism" so often led to conflict, hatred and sadly violence and murder? Why does pride in one's own group often lead to hatred of the other group? A simple answer that can go some way to explain this reality is that of the competition for resources. Sometimes groups of people clash over land which both sides believe to be theirs. Sometimes revenge for historical wrongs is the cause for the fires of hatred. Looking at many of the conflicts in today's world, one or more of these reasons could be used to provide a reasonable explanation, but there is something else, some concept that I think is fundamental to the mix, and that is arrogance.

As with individuals, group arrogance in my opinion, is often fuelled by deep-rooted self doubt and even low self-esteem. Just as an individual seeks to mitigate his feelings of inadequacy by striving to convince everybody just how great he is and by demeaning others to feel better in himself so too groups can attempt to demean the other. Just as the arrogant individual can not allow criticism, for at heart she/he is terrified that what is said might be true, and so strives to silence or discredit the critic, so too are the actions of many groups. I feel this is perhaps the primary cause of inter-religious conflict. At the heart of many a religious believer or community is the doubt that they might be wrong and that those others might be correct. Sarah Palin called the speculation about her and the Tea-Party movement a "blood libel". The actual Blood Libels that haunted the Jewish people down the ages are to my mind a clear example of the self-doubts of Christendom at that time. It was hard for many Christians to deal with the rejection of Jesus as the Messiah, by the Jewish people. Jews as a community didn't and don't accept Jesus as the Messiah simply because they believe that he failed to achieve the necessary requirements of the Messianic role laid down in the Bible. They also can't accept the Trinitarian understandings of the nature of Jesus as it conflicts with the fundamentals of their faith, also laid down in the Bible. But the Christians of yesteryear could not accept this reality, as it spoke directly to their doubts regarding their doctrines and the support claimed for them in Holy Scripture. So instead they convinced themselves that Jews did actually accept the Messianic and/or divine nature of Christ, but rejected it due to their evil natures and wickedness. This led directly to the blood libels, as in these paranoid minds it was believed that Jews sought to receive the benefits of Christian salvation without embracing the Christian faith, by killing Christian children and consuming their blood, in some sort of horrific re-enactment of the crucifixion and last supper.

Sadly the same hateful and deluded outlook is present in parts of the Muslim world today, which in addition to actual blood-libels also believes that Jews in Israel plant Gharqad trees to protect themselves from the fulfilment of a Hadith that teaches that the time will come when even the trees will call the faithful to come and kill the Jews hiding behind them. This Hadith informs the reader that only the Gharqad tree will not divulge the Jews location. For such people it is inconceivable that others do not believe in their religion, so again they assume that everyone believes it but that some ignore the truth because of their wickedness. The assumption of conspiracies against one's faith by unbelievers is a symptom of self doubt, and often fuels the vanity which leads to attempts to impose one's faith on all others. Perhaps the naked attempt to discredit the Tea-Party movement by associating it with the atrocity in Arizona, is symptomatic of growing doubts in the minds of those critics of their own political position.

Our teacher and guide, taught us to go beyond these limited horizons, to reach out beyond the limits of our circle. Many people feel that to reach out to and associate with sinners would taint them. Aware of our own faults and sins we would rather forget them and would prefer others never to know of them, and so to be seen with sinners terrifies, instead we would rather condemn with passion the sinners as much as to say "see I am not like them" than from a genuine dislike of sin. Jesus was confident enough to go beyond this mental restriction and by so doing he taught us to do the same. However he was not some sort of universalist. On occasion he felt the need to tell his disciples to limit their mission to the people of his nation and refrain from association with those of other nations. But when people are in need, whoever they are, it is our duty to reach out. And to this end he taught us his Parable of the Good Samaritan:

"Teacher what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" He said to him, "What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?" "So he answered and said "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbour as yourself" "And he said to him "You have answered rightly: do this and you will live" (Then the man asked) And who is my neighbour?" Then Jesus answered and said " A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him and departed leaving him half dead. Now by chance a certain priest came down that road and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite when he arrived at the place came and looked, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him he had compassion. So he went to him and bandaged his wounds pouring on oil and wine and he set him on his own animal brought him to an inn and took care of him. On the next day when he departed he took out two Denarii, gave them to the innkeeper and said to him, "Take care of him and whatever more you spend I will repay you." "So which of these three do you think was neighbour to him who fell among the thieves?" And he said "He who showed mercy on him" Then Jesus said to him "Go and do likewise" Luke 10:25-37.

Samaritans and Jews were not the best of neighbours. Both viewed themselves as the true People of Israel and while there were and are many similarities between the two peoples, the differences were regarded as intolerable by the other. Jews were angered by Samaritan attempts to thwart Jewish observances, and attempts on the sanctity of the Jerusalem Temple. They were unhappy that large regions of their land had become no-go areas leading Jewish pilgrims from Galilee to take circuitous routes on their journey to Jerusalem to avoid Samaritan territory. Samaritans nurtured hatred for Jews mainly for the Jewish role in the destruction of the Samaritan Temple on Mount Gerizim. Into this hostile theatre, Jesus placed his most memorable parable. The Samaritan of the parable had every reason to turn away from helping his Jewish enemy. He could so easily have argued "I didn't harm him, and if I were in a similar position he would not help me. There are more than enough of my own people in need of help and so I am not going to waste my time on helping him. Let his fellow Jews help him". That certainly might have been the argument presented to him by his fellow Samaritans had he consulted them for their opinion. But he did not conclude that. He realised that this injured and desperate person was a fellow human being, and as such he transcended the borders of faith, nation and tribe. Jesus taught that this Samaritan was the definition of neighbour. Now the way that Luke has recorded this parable implies that we are to consider as a neighbour, only those that help us! Clearly this is not the case, and it flatly contradicts Jesus' teaching:

"For if you only love those who love you what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?" Matthew 5:46

What he clearly was saying is that the only one who regarded the injured man as a neighbour and behaved in a neighbourly way was the Samaritan. In other words, who is your neighbour? Anyone and everyone especially those who need your help.

The people of Botswana embodied this teaching regarding their treatment of their neighbours from Zimbabwe. The people who tried to pin the blame for the murders in Arizona, on their political enemies sadly did not.

I end with a true story of human kindness transcending divides, that the Chief Rabbi, Lord Jonathan Sacks records in his book "To Heal a Fractured World". In 1966 an 11 year old African American boy Stephen Carter, moved with his family to a white neighbourhood of Washington DC. It became obvious very quickly that the inhabitants of that neighbourhood wished not to confer any welcome or recognition on the black family. Passers-by would look at the family sitting on the porch of their home, but would not say anything and would not greet them. The family had an overwhelming sense of not being welcome. Then one day a white woman, Sara Kestenbaum, came over to their home with trays laden with drinks and sandwiches and greeted them with a broad smile. At that moment they were made to feel completely welcome, and they never forgot the actions of that woman, bravely breaching the walls of division to reach out to her neighbours in need.

There are many strangers around us, perhaps this week we can each reach out to one of them and extend the borders of our own lives.

Honesty With Yourself And Others.

2011-01-09T19:29:00.005Z

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not rely upon your own understanding. In all your ways know Him, and He will smooth your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord and turn away from evil." Proverbs 3:5-7

Happy New Year to all in blog land. I very much hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and that your New Year has begun on a positive note. May the Almighty bring you all much happiness.

Just a moment what was that noise? Oh not to worry, I think it was the sound of several resolutions breaking, for I am sure that I once read that a large number of New Year's resolutions are broken, or are well on the way to being broken, by the end of week one. If this is true is it such a problem? I would say that considering the nature of the majority of New Year's resolutions, it is not a problem at all.

Apparently the top 10 resolutions for this year are:

1) Stop smoking
2) Get into the habit of keeping fit
3) Lose weight
4) Enjoy life more
5) Quit drinking
6) Organise yourself
7) Learn something new
8) Get out of debt
9) Spend more time with family
10) Help people.

On the website on which I found this list there was a voting facility, and of these resolutions the majority voted for "losing weight" as their top resolution. Helping people or spending more time with family were picked first by only 4% and 4.7% respectively. Does this tell us something about our society?

The first thing I notice, that to my mind spells failure from the outset, is the non-detailed nature of the resolutions. If one really wishes to work at changing behaviour, then detailed and incremental steps are often the best path to success. So not "lose weight" but "lose 5 pounds by the end of two months" is more likely to achieve the desired results. I sometimes feel (having learned from personal experience) that making sweeping resolutions instead of detailed plans for change, stems from the absence of a genuine desire for change. How many of us make a resolution because we feel that it is what we ought to want to do, when in reality we would rather continue the activity. Not likely to succeed with that sort of mindset, but hay-ho at least for a small while you can enjoy the pleasure of the pretence. (And then enjoy the guilty pleasure of breaking your resolution!)

What saddens me the most about that list, is how lacking in inspiration it is. Have we really become a society that is focused on the physical and material to the detriment of the spiritual and ethical? Don't get me wrong, each of the resolutions has value, for some more than others, and living a healthy life is important, but why have so many people opted not to change their behaviour for moral reasons? Why does the list not include ideas such as;

I will avoid raising my voice in anger to my spouse or children.
I will set aside a sum of money each month to help the needy.
I will try to avoid the use of bad language.
I will cease my affair and be faithful to my spouse/partner.
I will thank God for at least one good thing in my life every day.

And why did spending time with family and helping others come so far down the list?

As an aside I have to ask what is this obsession with weight? I may be biased as I am not overweight, but I have to agree with Precious Ramotswe of The Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency fame, when she argues that a "traditional build" is far better as people who are not starving themselves and torturing themselves with diets are simply happier, and happiness increases health and extends life! Interesting argument, and if it works for fictional Batswana female detectives perhaps it can work for real folk back in Blighty. Also have you ever wondered about the contradiction between claims that being overweight is unhealthy and the claims that the Mediterranean diet is the healthiest, when one considers the plumpness of many mature ladies and gentlemen relaxing in the shade on many a Greek island or in the café's of southern Italy, France and Spain? Maybe all that good food and sunshine gives them a big dose of that happiness medicine. Quite ironic that resolution number 4 on that list "to enjoy life more" would in the eyes of some be quite difficult if several of the other resolutions on the list were achieved :-)

On a more serious note, I do feel that there is a unfortunate separation in the lives of many Britons between the material and the spiritual. The view that holds that aspects of a single life can be kept in separate boxes and need not be mixed, especially matters concerning religion. The caricature of the British, summarised by Alastair Campbell, of "not doing religion" is certainly based in reality, but then again it is fair to say this has not always been the case. I doubt a month goes by without some comment in a newspaper or on the radio stating that religion is fine, but it should keep its nose out of the public sphere and certainly politics. Any religious person who brings his or her faith to the office, market or parliament is looked at with great suspicion and often greeted with some degree of mockery. Religion apparently should be kept in a box marked "private and confidential". As a phenomenon this is experienced primarily by Christian believers, but of course Muslims have to contend with another set of presumptions if they attempt to bring their faith into a wider setting.

Then there are those believers who themselves make a clear distinction between their faith and their life in general. Who feel that their religion is exemplified by ritual, meditation or prayer but who don't give it a second thought when at work or when relaxing in the pub. This can range from the most liberal "new age" type believers who see no reason why their beliefs should impact on their behaviour, to the deeply conservative religious orthodoxies of the word's great religions, who on occasion behave with great rudeness and plain nastiness to their fellow man, and yet brim with indignation at others who are not punctilious in those observances that only affect the relationship between man and God and not man and man. Jesus was highly aware of such an attitude amoungst some in his day, and was not shy in condemning them.

But surely any religion or even any set of moral principles, should be lived in a holistic way.

The Hymn written by Thomas Toke Lynch 1855-1871 is a majestically eloquent plea for people to take to heart the teachings and values of their faith, and to embody them, not to view them as separate to a life well lived;

Where is thy God, my soul?
Is He within thy heart?
Or ruler of a distant realm
in which thou hast no part?

Where is thy God, my soul?
Only in stars and sun?
Or have the holy words of truth
His light in every one?

Where is thy God my soul?
Confined to Scripture's page?
Or does His spirit check and guide
the spirit of each age?

It is the epitome of misapprehension for one who professes belief in the One sole Creator and Master of creation, to see God's hand in every being and phenomenon, to see the orchestra of creation playing out its song of service to the Almighty, and yet feel as if somehow, the divine Will plays no part in how he or she should live their life. But I humbly suggest we all make this error, and daily!

It is considerably unfair for people to say that they are in favour of others having religious beliefs and then working with considerable passion to prevent them living their faith in society. That is the antithesis of religious freedom. Every free person in our society has the right to express their views and play their part in shaping our nation in ways they feel are beneficial. Religious believers should not be disqualified from the pursuit of a better society. And what is there to fear? Are our secular fellow citizens so unsure of their own doctrines and viewpoints that they must silence or stigmatise those that are held by people of faith? A common fault-line that brings this conflict into stark relief is over the issue of Homosexuality.

It has become the default belief of many that homosexual sexual behaviour is as moral as heterosexual sexual behaviour. That Gay men and women should have their relationships recognised and validated as equal with heterosexual relationships. Anyone who expresses doubts about these views is exposed to not a little amount of scorn and sometimes naked hatred, and is almost always vilified as a bigot. Those (nearly always Christians) whose faith leads them to disapprove of homosexual sexual conduct are exposed to calumny and are frequently compared to racists. It seems as if on this issue there is only one view allowed.

Now as a homosexual man myself, I find this attitude deeply unpleasant. I have known many people of several faiths who strongly believe that sexual relations between two men are deeply wrong. I may not share all their views, but I try to understand where they are coming from. I have experienced great kindness and genuine friendship from such people, and have never felt the need to force them to validate that which their conscience tells them is unacceptable, and in fairness they have never attempted to prevent me from living my life the way I chose. By getting to know me, I feel that they have understood that I am a normal human being who happens to have a certain set of attractions and desires that I have not chosen, and that while they correctly regard me as having the ability to chose to behave in accordance with or against my desires, they now have a better understanding of the nature of that choice they feel I should make. After all how many straight people could pledge themselves to a life of celibacy, not many and so I hope they understand the nature of what they expect from me and exhibit tolerance and compassion when I fail to live up to the demands of their faith. Being open to others beliefs, in a spirit of mutual respect, can bring about greater changes in the long run than belligerent approaches rooted more in identity politics than in any meaningful desire to improve the lot of everyone in society. I am though perhaps fortunate, as I have never experienced any hatred towards me due to my sexuality. However I have seen a less tolerant attitude towards individual homosexual persons, exhibited by some who feel that not signing up fully to the views of gay activism is a fundamental act of betrayal of the gay community (whatever that is).

It is reasonable, however, to find unpleasant the shrill voices of some religious believers who demand that others follow their moral code, and offer nothing by way of explanation, except that their scripture commands it. What sort of argument is this? Does this not reveal an arrogance that loudly proclaims, "I believe that this scripture is truth and you better had too, and if you don't, you are evil". Very often these same people are avid violators of their own moral/religious code and use outrage towards others as a way of assuaging their guilt. Such people see only words in a book and not the hearts and minds of God's creations. Also how many countries have been torn asunder by those who are not content with the use of shrill voices to convince others, but who have resorted to the gun or bomb. Recent examples of this are the attacks against the Coptic Christians of Egypt and the continued persecution of Christians in Iraq. Fear of this religious coercion has encouraged some otherwise liberal people to engage in the deeply illiberal attempt to silence the public voice of faith in our country.

Those of us, who have deeply held religious convictions and who try to express them in every aspect of our lives, must feel confident to play our part in the wider conversations of our land. We must, if we have any real desire to improve our world, attempt to convince the wider community of the value and importance of our approach by presenting rational and well thought-out arguments and better still by demonstrating a positive living example. We must strive to have a well-rounded faith, that does not ignore human nature or human needs or feelings but considers them with the respect they deserve. As important is to always consider that what we understand as true, may indeed not be so for after all are we not all fallible and prone to error, and as such should we not be open to the thoughts and views of others. Let us not let fear keep us from examining if what we believe is true or not. Truth as the Sages of Israel point out, has a sure and strong foundation. (They saw that the Hebrew letters that spell the word truth are the first, middle and last letters of the alphabet (as such not immediately obvious) but have firm foundations which will last, while the 3 letters for the word "lie/untruth" are next to each other (easier to see) but stand only on 1 leg and as such have shaky foundations".

Many modern Unitarians feel a great need to stress the "non-creedal" nature of their religion and their openness to a multiplicity of doctrines. "Many beliefs, one faith" goes the tag line of the General Assembly Of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches. But in reality is this really the case? I speak with little experience, and of course congregations differ considerably from one another, but it seems to me that some members of modern Unitarian congregations are quite dogmatic on social and political issues, almost to point of being creedal about them. These views are assumed to be axiomatic not to mention virtuous and those who don't share them sometimes feel (rightly or wrongly) that they are not all that welcome. Even certain theological views find themselves a tad unwelcome in some congregations. This may be completely understandable as people with similar mindsets naturally tend to flock together, and if a common theological or religious belief is not the unifying element of a church, other views naturally develop into the glue that binds one to another. But should there not be some deeper honesty about this, some analysis of what non-creedalism actually means and its sustainability? Honesty in ones one heart will surly go together with a happy and pure heart, just as is written in the words of that Welsh classic Calon Lan.

If I have learned anything in this regard is that it would appear that even professed relativists have their own hierarchy of beliefs and dogmas.

So perhaps the number one resolution of 2011 should be something like this:

"I will strive to be more tolerant of others who think or behave in ways that I disapprove of. I will listen carefully and with respect to their arguments and not immediately close my mind to what they have to say. Even if I still disagree with what they believe or do, I will try and see their inherent humanity and their value in the eyes of God, who created them as well as me. I will not attribute to them false motivations in order to discredit or humiliate them. And above all I will strive when confronted by someone who I am convinced is thinking/behaving in ways that I regard as wrong to remember the words of Jesus of Nazareth who taught:

"Judge not lest you be judged. For with what judgement you judge, you will be judged and with the measure you use it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye".
Matthew 7:1-5

Two Songs, One Christmas Message

2010-12-19T18:11:00.006Z

Then Hannah prayed and said: "My heart exults in the Lord, my pride has been raised through the Lord, my mouth is opened wide against my antagonists, for I rejoice in Your salvation. There is none as holy as the Lord, for there is none besides You, and there is no Rock like our God. The bow of the mighty is broken, while the foundering are girded with strength, the sated ones are hired out for bread, while the hungry ones cease to be so. The Lord brings death and gives life, He lowers to the grave and raises up, the Lord impoverishes and makes rich, He humbles and He elevates. He raises the needy from the dirt, from the trash heaps He lifts the destitute, to seat them with nobles and to endow them with a seat of honour, for the Lord's are the pillars of the earth, and upon them He set the world" 1 Samuel 2:1-9

There is an interesting similarity between Hannah and Mary. Both women gave birth to children whose names would become known down the ages, Samuel and Jesus, and both would respond to this with a song of praise to the Almighty that would be deemed worthy of inclusion in Biblical cannon. (I personally think that Mary's song most likely was inspired by Hannah's and then attributed to the mother of Jesus by the writer of the Gospel of Luke). These are not the only Biblical songs attributed to women, a fact that perhaps can be understood by the emotional maturity and emotional awareness of the fairer sex, that lend themselves to such profound words, so beautifully expressed.

Hannah in her song paints an awe inspiring and broad picture of the Divine. In her composition God is not limited to some "bearded bloke in the sky" but is revealed to encompass wide and seemingly contradictory phenomena. Even at a time of great personal joy she is nevertheless cognisant of the Almighty's role in bringing death and impoverishment, humbling human arrogance while elevating the lowered. Other nations recognising these same realities, and being unable to understand them as the works of a single mind, attributed them to multiple deities or as in the case of Zoroastrians, to two supernal powers. Here Hannah says that God and only God is the source for all we see, He exists in a unique holiness, unique because nothing in creation bears any similarity to His essence, and yet this Divine Majesty, this unfathomable Mystery, this ever present Reality, is also her and our personal God, who cares for the needy and destitute and who answered her prayers and sent her the child she longed for.

For those who simply cannot except the reality of a personal God, then let this idea if nothing else teach them, that no matter how important, how grandiose a person or his status is, he should always lower himself to the pit, if necessary, in order to raise his disadvantaged fellow man to improved heights. Nothing is below oneself, when the goal is the honour and benefit of others.

I however do believe in a personal God, and if the report I read in today's Sunday Telegraph, regarding the growth in Anglican, Catholic, Pentecostal and Baptist congregations is correct, so do a growing number of Britons.

The God of Hannah and Mary is what we all, like it or not, accept it or not, have in common with each-other. My Creator is your Creator however He is understood/misunderstood by you or I. A friend of mine sent me an essay he wrote on Sikhism and Judaism in which he writes how God's Unity is seen by Sikhs as a unifying force for humanity. He wrote:

This concept of “Oneness” developed from Guru Nanak in the 15^th Century CE. Guru Nanak said: “There is no Hindu, there is no Muslim, God is only one”. Asserting this monotheistic concept whilst respecting all faiths and embracing them as one, is what I particularly admire about the Sikh religion. Caste then, is, by implication, eradicated as is the religious tension between religions of differing or even similar beliefs. In the Gurdwara, (a Sikh Temple), all are given prasād, a sweet tasting, buttery food, as a reminder that all are welcome, all are one, everyone’s God is embraced as One, and is One.

That too is the message of Unitarian Christianity.

Christmas is soon upon us, one can almost feel the excitement in the air as the advent candles reach their end, and advent calendars leave only a few windows to be opened (and emptied of their yummy chocolates). Mince pies and mulled wine send up their festive aromas into many a home, and sweet carols and laughter drift through our streets, which this year are to my great joy bedecked with snow, (apologies to those who hate the white stuff). A spirit of good-will fills many a heart and propels those heroes of our society out into the world to provide sustenance and happiness to the lonely and infirm. And yes of course not to forget, there are also the usual voices decrying the lack of that "true spirit of Christmas" that wasn't always found even amongst our Victorian forebears who pretty much invented Christmas as we now know it, but still taking all things into account I think it fair to say, thank God for Christmas.

Unitarians have had a mixed relationship with Christmas over the years. A minority, exemplified by Rupert Potter (the father of Peter Rabbit's creator) were and are of the opinion that Christmas should be a day like all others. For them there was little merit in Yuletide observances, much to the disappointment it has to be said of Beatrix Potter who relished visiting her friends' homes, were Christmas was observed in all its Victorian splendour. Other Unitarians, such as Dickens himself, were and are great lovers of the Feast of the Nativity and even composed some of the carols that are still sung today. I personally think that Christmas can be a deeply meaningful celebration for Unitarian Christians, and one that should be embraced.

I have great sympathy with those who feel that they cannot sincerely embrace a festival that is based around what is viewed by them as a myth. Yes Jesus was born, but all the mangers, angels singing on high, shepherds and visiting Magi were pure inventions, or so goes this argument. I know of this argument because it is my argument!

I remain completely unconvinced (as were many of the earliest Christians) about the nativity narratives in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, and see them, massive contradictions and all, as retrospective stories designed to impute extra importance and mystery around the birth of a man whose importance in life and especially after his death cannot easily be exaggerated. I find Matthew and Luke's clumsy attempt to place the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem unconvincing. (Why did Joseph have no relatives in Bethlehem with which he could stay if it was his ancestral town? Why would the Romans create chaos by asking people to return to their ancestral towns when surely for purposes of tax it is better to know where they are now not where they came from?) I find the accounts of heralding angels and guiding stars pretty but unconvincing. (Why would everybody, even Jesus' own mother quickly forget the angels heralding the birth of the Messiah, and display such scepticism of the adult Jesus' actions? Why did Jesus' nation not remember he was the Messiah whose birth was announced with such splendour that even foreign dignitaries knew about it?) And I think it goes without saying that I cannot accept notions of God becoming human to "share our sufferings". To some Christians, Christmas without the Nativity story and especially without the incarnation is not only a horrific heresy, but also a festival not worth the tinsel used to celebrate it. But why should this be so? The nativity story can still be treasured and loved for its heart-warming narrative and symbolic meaning. One can focus one's celebration on thanksgiving for the birth of Jesus, whose example and teachings provide one with a source, that when drunk from will never again allow for thirst. And why not in the manner of our deliverer's mother, direct our thanksgiving towards He who bestowed on Mary and Joseph a son, just as He did for Hannah and Elkanah.

And Mary said:
"My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour.
For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant, for behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.
For He who is mighty has done great things for me and holy is His name.
And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has put down the mighty from their thrones and exalted the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things and the rich He has sent away empty.
He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy.
Luke 1:46-54

Just like Hannah, Mary sings about God's Majesty but also His concern to raise the lowly and needy. This at heart is the same idea behind the incarnation doctrine that inspires faith in the hearts of our Trinitarian brethren. The only difference is that Mary, Hannah, myself and many others, celebrate God's nearness to us, without subscribing to that particular "Orthodox" doctrine. The Rabbis of Israel (also not known for their dedication to the doctrine of the incarnation), found ample inspiration and evidence of "God among us", in the scriptures:

"Rabbi Yochonon said "Wherever you find mention of the Holy One's, Blessed be He, greatness there you will also find mention of His humility. This is written in the Torah, the Prophets and the Writings.

The birth of a child is always a time of great celebration and the hopes and dreams of parents and friends are focused on the child, peacefully sleeping in the arms of its mother. A newborn child represents potential for a future that while unknown is hoped to be glorious. Hindsight is better than foresight, and we know what Mary could not know at the moment she gave birth to her son. We know that while his life would be short in length, but sadly not short of hardship, he would serve as the vehicle for perhaps the greatest transformation human society has ever known and that he would fundamentally change empires. We also know that his importance would be such, that two millennia later little children in villages in the heart of England would dress up with tea-towels on their heads to recollect that event, I bet Mary never envisioned that! Now while Christmas commemorates that birth all those years ago, it can still be seen like all births as a time of potential for now, which if properly actualised can lead to a hopeful future so beautifully expressed in the song "Do you hear what I hear." To me the fact that countless individuals give up so much of their time and money in country after country to devote themselves to the needs of others because of a dedication to the example and teaching of Jesus, is reason enough to celebrate that birth and to be hopeful for the future and to deepen my love for the heavenly Father whose will set it all in motion.

Well now has come the time to wish all those of you who have taken time to read my musings, which I began back when skies were sunnier and you could walk on pavements without slipping, a very happy and meaningful Christmas. May God shine countless blessings upon you and your families, and may He guide you in His ways. May your celebrations be filled with family, joy, good food and love, (and not to worry if you get a bit tipsy or your waistline expands over the festive season, after all was not Jesus himself accused of liking food and wine a little too much? Matthew 11:19)

I shall end my last post before Christmas with the words of our teacher when he was asked what one should do to inherit eternal life:

(Asked Jesus) "What is written in the Law? What is your reading of it?
So he answered and said "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind" and "your neighbour as yourself"
And he (Jesus) said to him "You have answered rightly, do this and you will live"
Luke 10:26-28

Let us dedicate ourselves to this teaching during this Noel and may it stay in our hearts and minds deep into the year to come.

Merry Christmas.

The Liberty of Choice

2010-12-12T18:03:00.013Z

"So now appoint a king to judge us, like all the nations". It was wrong in Samuel's eyes that they said "Give us a king to judge us" and Samuel prayed to the Lord. The Lord said to Samuel, "listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for it is not you whom they have rejected, but it is Me whom they have rejected from reigning over them" Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people...He said "this is the protocol of the king who will reign over you; He will take away your sons and place them in his chariots...he will confiscate your best fields, vineyards and olive trees and present them to his servants...He will take a tenth of your sheep and you will be his slaves" 1 Samuel 8:5-17

Well what a week it was for politics. Some have gone as far as saying that our entire political system has been changed as a result of the vote to raise tuition fees. I am unsure if this really is the case, if anything, what has happened this week has only served to clarify a situation that has been present for many years now, the unfortunate reality that all our political parties are more or less just differing shades of the same colour.

I can well understand the anger of many Liberal Democrat voters who feel that the party they voted for has betrayed them by reversing clearly stated electoral promises, and this anger of course is not only to be found amongst Nick Clegg's voters but can also be found amongst those who voted for Britain's (supposedly) Conservative party. This I am sorry to say is what coalition politics is all about, a situation that would most likely become a permanent fixture of our public life if the voting reforms that the Liberal Democrats (and Cameron?) wish to bring about become a reality.

The state is a looming enemy of human liberty. As the passage from 1 Samuel illustrates, ideally there should be no rule other than the rule of God in the heart of man. It is this self governance that is the Kingdom of Heaven in our midst, a Kingdom of conscience which Jesus is alleged to have declared as being;

"not of this world" John 18:36

As soon as human beings exercise dominion over their fellows, the faint spectre of enslavement appears on the distant horizon. Democracy however is a defender of political liberty by limiting the power of the state and empowering its citizens, but for democracy to thrive then authentic choice must be present. And for choice to be possible then there has to be differences and divisions.

It is stating the obvious that people have fundamentally divergent views about pretty much everything. It has, however, taken millennia for us to find ways to deal with this simple and obvious reality, and history shows us that we have, during times in our past, tried killing those who differ in opinions, branding such people heretical, removing their civil rights, finally settling upon creating a society where everyone has their say, with the will of the majority governing, with protection for those who dissent from the majority. This system is not perfect but it is the best we have. Sadly over the last few years the range of views represented by our political parties have diminished ever further so that now there is very little difference between them, and the burgeoning social trends that strive to shut down debate around issues as unrelated as Global Warming to same-sex marriage, is a further diminution of choice, and a great concern.

Who shapes our political landscape? We have the Tories, whose leadership have come to believe that in order to gain power the party must be "of the left", and which has fallen over itself to distance itself from conservatism. Only recently senior Tories have expressed their desire to continue their unholy matrimony with the Lib Dems even after the next general election as clearly they find a great deal of commonality with them.

We have the Liberal Democrats, who have been prepared to junk their stated promises and principles, in order to get their feet under the political table from which they have been absent for a good many decades, and who now argue with a great deal of conviction and with a straight face in favour of policies that only a few short months ago they would have denounced as "reactionary" and "right-wing" with equal passion.

We have the Labour party, which simply doesn't know what it believes in anymore, and half heartedly opposes policies with which it actually agrees and would not undo if it were in power, simply for the sake of opposition and the courting of easy popularity.

On issue after issue the leaderships of these parties agree with each other, differing only on minor details and thereby leaving themselves with no coherent vision to offer the nation, and reducing their campaigning to giving us bribes of our own money to convince us to vote for them. The age of idealistic or even utilitarian politics seems to be well and truly over. Although it is important to point out that there are still principled voices in each of the parties whose examples offer us hope.

Scipture tells us that when God created the world He did so by making many distinctions; day from night, upper waters from lower waters and sea from land, which is something we ourselves can witness all around us in nature. There are distinctions in all aspects of life and each and every day we come across them. Latter in the Bible's narrative we meet the commandments of the Almighty which give rise to a moral vision that makes ethical distinctions, that makes clear the fact that there are actions that are good and actions that are bad, and then we are told in words so powerful in their eloquent simplicity that we as human beings in the image of an unconstrained Divinity have freedom to choose:

"See - I have placed before you today the life and the good, and the death and the evil, that which I command you today, to love the Lord your good, to walk in His ways, to observe His commandments, His decrees, and His ordinances.....therefore you shall chose life" Deuteronomy 30:15-20

Freedom to choose is at the heart of our humanity and fundamental to our relationships with God, our fellow human beings, and ourselves. With great danger do we walk a path that seeks to limit the freedom of choice of our fellow human beings. Only when there is a strong consensus that a choice is fundamentally over the moral line, or that it poses undeniable threats to others should we dare to prohibit other's freedom. It is no surprise to me to see that those regimes that fear human choice the most, tend to have the largest amounts of blood on their hands, for despising something so central to our humanity inexorably leads to hatred of humanity itself. I see this trend even in the Green Movement, whose intolerance of differing beliefs and human choice itself, has lead to a growing anti-mankind sentiment eloquently illustrated in the disgraceful advert produced by green activists, that had people including children being blown up for not burning with enthusiasm for the green faith.

Differences and divisions so necessary for human choice and liberty have themselves been targeted by the well-meaning in a bid to increase unity and equality. Moral relativists have strongly undermined moral systems based on conceptions of a division between right and wrong. Educationalists have sought to obfuscate the natural difference of abilities between students in order to ensure that "all can have prizes". Supra-nationalists seek to erase valuable differences between nations in the hoped for desire to bring an end to conflict. Then there are those who in the name of tolerance seek to be all things to all people. Of course all these attempts have largely failed to bring about the huge improvements imagined.

We need difference! It is only when we make space for difference, and recognise it for what it is, that we allow unique voices to contribute to the human conversation which boosts our collected wisdom. We must not fall into the trap that Howard Jacobson expressed, of celebrating everything that makes other cultures and beliefs what they are while disparaging the difference and uniqueness of our own. If we lack a unique voice, a unique message then we can hardly expect people to listen to what we have to say. This I believe is one possible explanation for the lack in growth of UK Unitarians in our present era. It is one thing having a multiplicity of beliefs, but if there are no unifying elements then you have nothing. Principles such as tolerance and openness are, without concrete expression, too nebulous to serve as a unifying structures, and can often be found in the wider society thereby removing the need to attend a church to experience them. What are we offering people that they can't get from a multi-faith group of friends? What is our message of faith? Our numbers will not grow until we seek to answer these and other questions.

As with all things however, there is a darker side of difference and division, one which is all too apparent in the conflicts of our world and the bigotries that often fuel them. How easy it is for differences to become the ideological and emotional crux of hatred and total separation. "Us and them" mindsets are the universal outcome of the deep human recognition of difference that is present in the very youngest of children. So how do we safely embrace and validate difference without falling into the ever prevalent traps of rejection and hatred? Again an answer is in my opinion offered in the creation narrative of Genesis. Despite all the division and separation manifested in the acts of creation, the mind behind the process was One. It was the same One who created the darkness and the light, the sea and the land, life and death, health and illness, strength and weakness, thereby revealing that all the divergent forces in creation are ultimately the realised will of One God. (This is the reason for the use of the Hebrew word Elohim literally "powers") as one of the appellations for the Divine. Likewise the genuine differences between the members of mankind should not lead us to forget that we are all children of one Father, who loves each and every one of us. It was to teach us this revolutionary truth say the Sages of Israel, that the Bible informs us that originally God created one human being. Despite our differences we all come from the same source. A consciousness of difference is only safe were there exists an over-arching unifying identity. The nation of Israel was only given the instruction to march as individual tribes, complete with their own unique tribal banners, after the construction of the Tabernacle was completed. Only when the nation had a focus and centre, could individual differences be celebrated without such a focus the probability of fracture becomes too high. This is one of the reasons I am a supporter of our constitutional monarchy. Our Queen, separated as she is from the tribal battles of party politics, can serve as a unifying focus of our national identity.

But with the freedom to choose must come an equal awareness of the responsibility of choice. The whole scientific method is predicated on what appears to be the causal nature of the created world. One action leads to another. If you find the cause then you can have a good chance of knowing the effect. (Of course there is an element of uncertainty and Providence also plays a part.) Such a world, which the Hebrew philosophers teach is illusory, is the way it is because it gives us the ability to be responsible for our choices. When I throw a brick at a window, I know that the window will smash. Nature's regularity strips from me the ability to say "I didn't know what would happen". It seems to me that responsibility and culpability for our actions are written into the fabric of the universe. Albert Einstein even defined sanity and madness based on the reality of a mostly predictable Universe:

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results"

This week we have seen wholesale abdications of responsibility and culpability. So many of the students and assorted fellow travellers who again went on the rampage through London, have sought to "wash their hands" of their childish and thuggish behaviour. "Self defence is no offence" I heard one student spokesman say on the TV. Yes because the treasury building was threatening their lives hence they had to smash its windows, the statue of Winston Churchill was posing an intolerable threat to life and limb that justified its vandalism. And Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall were so hazardous to student safety that the attack on their car and persons was completely justified under the principle of self defence! Such self serving excuses have no place in public discourse, and are hopefully dismissed by the majority who recognise naked hooliganism for what it is. It was not the fault of the police, the politicians or the royals, that some individuals chose of their own free will to engage in a spree of destruction, which clearly by the smiles on their faces, was greatly enjoyed by those who engaged in it, and the many students that chose not to involve themselves in such negative behaviour are testament to that. At the same time our coalition Government must own up to their own responsibilities. Instead of making claims that they have no choice but to increase tuition fee limits, they should accept that it is one of several possible solutions to the funding problems, and accept that it is their choice to go for that particular solution. As such if all goes wrong, they will have to face the electoral defeat that such mistakes can bring about, after all they themselves never tired of telling us that Gordon Brown was personally responsible for the current financial crisis. What is good for the goose is good for the gander.

Also this week we have heard Ken Clarke say things which indicate a view that perceives criminality as a disease and offenders as victims, which therefore seemingly removes personal responsibility from the equation. Again over many centuries excuses for human transgression have been offered that transfer culpability variously onto the enemy, the devil, one's upbringing and poverty. Instead of recognising that while outside factors play a part and must be dealt with compassionately and seriously, in essence human wrongdoing is rooted in the desires hidden in the heart of man as was taught by the brother of he who's instruction and example redeems us from lives of transgression:

"Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God", for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed." James 1:13-14

The difference in attitude between someone who recognises his innate freedom to chose, and someone who feels that he has no choice but to act the way he does, is beautifully illustrated in one of the episodes in the life of King David. King Saul felt he had no choice but to destroy David, he would not see that jealousy and denial were the originators of the rationalisations that led him to think of David as a mortal threat to him and his progeny and therefore serve as justifications of his murder. David on the other hand when presented with the opportunity to bring to an end the genuine threat to his life posed by Saul did not succumb to the argument posed by those around him, that he had no choice but to kill Saul:

"Then the men of David said to him, "this is the day of which the Lord said to you, Behold I will deliver your enemy into your hand, that you may do to him as it seems good to you" And David arose and secretly cut off a corner of Saul's robe. Now it happened afterwards that David's heart troubled him because he had cut Saul's robe. And he said to his men "The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my master, the Lord's anointed." So David restrained his servants with these words, and did not allow them to arise against Saul.....And David said to Saul "look this day your eyes have seen that the Lord delivered you today into my hand in the cave, and someone urged me to kill you. But my eye spared you and I said I will not stretch out my hand against my lord, for he is the Lord's anointed." 1 Samuel 24:4-10

As Christmas approaches we are all reminded of both the freedom and the choices that the Gospel of Jesus presents us with. Now is the time to celebrate and recognise our heritage and the fact that his teachings of our duties to our Creator and fellow man, have made us the unique civilisation we are. We should celebrate this with unapologetic joy.

Eternal Ruler of the ceaseless round
Rule in our hearts that we may ever be
Guided and strengthened and upheld by thee.
One with the joy that breaketh into song
One with the grief that trembles into prayer:
One in the power that makes thy children free
To follow truth, and thus to follow thee.

John White Chadwick 1814-1904