Good Friday Inspiration.

"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

"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

"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.

"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.

"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.

"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

"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.