It is what it is...

The photo is from a film I have probably seen too many times! The reason being is that one of my best friends got married last Saturday. At the end of the order of service they printed this poem by Erich Fried:

It is madness
says reason
It is what it is
says love
It is unhappiness
says caution
It is nothing but pain
says fear
It has no future
says insight
It is what it is
says love
It is ridiculous
says pride
It is foolish
says caution
It is impossible
says experience
It is what it is
says love.”

My gang of friends from university are as mixed a bunch as can be imagined. Some of them happen to be gay. No one would appreciate me getting too political about this, but it seems timely to be celebrating my friend's wedding the week before the marriage equality bill is passing through parliament. I hope the legislation passes and that if in time my gay friends want  to get married they have the right to do so. That way at least there's more champagne for us refuseniks on "Table 9"!
While we are on the subject, great to see Unitarians get a mention in this video by Stephen Fry.

http://www.unitarian.org.uk/info/news-Stephen-Fry-support-Equal-Marriage.shtml

Simple Gifts and the UCSA

I love living in Bethnal Green. It is a lively part of town with a lot going for it. When I returned to the east end over a year ago I concluded that I had missed the place. However it is obvious even to a partial outsider like me that for some people this is a difficult place to live. Vagrancy for instance is a visible problem- even compared with the rest of London. When I first lived here I rented a private sector flat that was somewhat grim and extortionately priced. Many people face a lifetime of this, especially as the availability of social housing declines. Although plenty of good public greenspace is only a short walk or tube-ride away, life in east London is characterised by crowdedness, poor air quality and traffic noise. East end shops are disproportionately bookmakers, pawnbrokers and fried chicken outlets. As I walked past the Whitechapel Ideas Store the other day, I saw advice sessions being offered as to how the cuts in housing allowance and other benefits would affect people's weekly budgets. All kinds of poverty can be found here- absolute, relative and cultural. In my opinion the only map on which Tower Hamlets would not be a "poverty hotspot" would be the "spiritual-poverty-map-of-London". If you are looking for a truly spiritually dead place try somewhere a little further west!

Before I became a Unitarian I tried a church where something akin to the "prosperity gospel" was preached. This encourages people to view their wealth as a blessing for virtue in this life and that by "giving to God" (i.e. the church) their "blessings" would increase. The vicar once cited the "parable of the talents" (Mathew 25: 14:30, Luke 19: 11:27- hey I looked something up!) to claim that God had pre-ordained the distribution of wealth and that it was wrong to expect equality. He also cited Jesus' saying "the poor will always be with you" (Mathew 26:11) as a proof against the idea that the state can prevent poverty. Nothing I have ever learned- either from looking at the world or learning economics seems to chime with this. Part of the attraction of Unitarianism for me is its role as a radical dissenting tradition which has at times been linked to early Christian Socialism and Co-operation in Britain.

As part of the concern for social justice, there has been a Unitarian presence in Bethnal Green since the 19th Century in some form of another. It is based in a building that was once one a domestic mission centre. The latest incarnation is the "Simple Gifts" cafe which focusses on after school activities for local children. There are also plans for a food-bank to help people who have been hit by the recession and the cuts. I attended a "Social Action Lab" for interested comers on 10th November to hear more about this. As part of the discussion some points were raised about where the concern for social justice is in Unitarianism today. Is it true, as some advocates of the "Big Society" claim, that the welfare state has "crowded out" philanthropic and church based initiatives that might have been more effective? My counter argument would be that before the welfare state, philanthropic and self-help remedies were somewhat piecemeal. However, despite the many positions that we could take on this there are obviously social needs that all people of faith and goodwill could rightly engage with. It is also perhaps the most visible way of showing what Unitarianism is about.

In my experience, Unitarian congregations do not always act like "local churches". There are places much closer to me on a Sunday morning where I could go but I sadly could never really belong and for that reason my faith community is not my connection with the civic life of my neighbourhood. I often feel a frustration that despite doing "a bit" now and again there are barriers to what I do as part of a corporate Unitarian initiative based on a common vision. This is why, although these are early days, the Unitarian Centre for Social Action seems like an exciting development. An interesting question is what the "unique selling-point" of a Unitarian initiative might be. After all, there are after all plenty of secular and religious social justice initiatives out there. For one thing, our movement is able to speak to spiritual needs in an enabling but not proscriptive way. Secondly, a Unitarian intitiative would not turn away would-be volunteers if they refuse to sign a creed-based "statement of faith". Thirdly, I would expect a Unitarian initiative to bring rationality and intellectual curiosity to social problems and be a radical voice for social change as opposed to a philanthropic stop-gap.

So I will be encouraging others to take an interest in the Unitarian Centre for Social Action and look forward to seeing where the follow-up to the Social Action Lab leads. Of course, as George Carlin would say- "money.. they always need money" :). In addition, I am sure interest and enthusiasm from members of the Urban Unitarian meetup group would be welcomed.

Here is a link to the website:

http://www.simplegiftsucsa.org.uk

Iceland First Seen

Following my trip to Iceland, here is an extract from poem by William Morris. Morris loved Iceland and found the old Viking sagas "a good corrective to the maundering side of medievallism"!

"Ah! what came we forth to see
that our hearts are so hot with desire!
Is it enough for our rest,
The site of this desolate strand,
And the mountain-waste voiceless as death
but for winds that may sleep not nor tire?
Why do we long to wend forth
through the length and breadth of a land,
Dreadful with grinding of ice,
and a record of scarce hidden fire,
But that there 'mid the grey grassy dales,
sore scared by the ruining streams,
Lives the tale of the Northlands of old,
And the undying glory of dreams?"



"

Standing On The Side Of Love

The Urban Unitarians have been "on the march" again, this time in support of LGBT rights as part of London Pride 2012. Whilst I grew up in a fairly liberal Christian denomination I became increasingly conscious of LGBT issues in religious communities as a sixth-former.At this time section 28 of the Local Government Act was being repealed and I was concerned that some Christian groups were opposed to this. Fairly high on my list of reasons why I never became a member of a church was that I wanted no part of anything that would wilfully exclude anyone on the basis of their gender or sexuality. Many of the conservative Christians I met at University would claim "we are not homophobic, God loves the sinner and hates the sin". To me however, it seemed as though a value judgement was still being made.
Today, I am proud to be a Unitarian because I am part of a movement that offers civil partnership ceremonies on religious premises. Although there is proposed legislation for equality in civil marriage, full equality will come when religious marriages between same sex couples are available on religious premises. I sincerely hope, Unitarians (perhaps along with liberal Jews, Quakers and inclusive mainline Christians) will be the first to offer this.
Today was  the first time I have been on a Gay Pride march. I did not know what to expect but I had been told that the Unitarians at a similar event in Manchester were well received by the gay community, used to being remonstrated with by homophobic religious picketers. I could well understand if some LGBT people feel an aversion to any religious organisations being at their events, particularly if we were seen to be drumming up support for our own agenda rather than standing in solidarity with them. Fortunately, I perceived none of this today other than a few of the flyers I was offering being politely handed back. It strikes me that it would be great if a strong Unitarian presence at such events could grow and be sustained. For both LGBT people and their heterosexual allies, taking an unambiguous stand against the ancient prejudices of some religious communities can come at the cost of unanswered questions of identity and unfulfilled spiritual needs. Our movement should be there to walk with them.

En-FUSE-iasm

Some dialogue from a late night TV drama starring Robert Webb playing the character Jezz, who is trying unsuccessfully to impress a confused Christian called Nancy of his interest in God.

Jezz: "The only reason I don't go to church is that for me everything's a church. This room is my church, the hall is my church... Costcutter is a bloody cathedral". 

Nancy: "Oh that's really nice Jeremy, but its just not true is it". 

While I was at the FUSE festival in Worthing a recurring theme was how our movement might be to offer people who consider themselves "spiritual but not religious" something of what they are looking for. Misguided though Jezz's view is, I would concede he is on to something. Recognising the virtue of being a freethinker,one might question the need for the outward forms of religious practice and look for God in nauture. Like Shug Avery and Alice Walker's the "Color Purple" "worship" might take the form of appreciating God in nature as opposed to the practice of churchgoing. In "The Kingdom Of God Is Within You", Tolstoy is critical of the Orthodox Church of his times, not only for its sanctioning of a brutal state's power, but for observing outward forms of religious practice in a way that he saw as contrary to Jesus' teaching: "A man of the present day need only buy a Gospel for three copecks and read through the plain words admitting of no misinterpretation, that Christ said to the Samaritan woman that the Father seeketh not worshipers at Jerusalem, nor in the mountain, but worshippers in spirit and in truth".  However, whilst there was certainly a time of my life when I might have come up with Jezz Osbourne's slightly more lame rejection of religious practice, I quickly found "going it alone"  in my heretical expression of spirituality did not get me very far. As Rev Dr Patrick O'Neill said at FUSE, there may well be some people who are self-contained enough to live a spiritual life alone, but I am certainly not one of them. Hence my weekend in Worthing gave me an opportunity to think about why despite being instinctively sceptical of institutions I almost paradoxically feel a need to be part of something that calls itself "church". There is something primal about the need for religious community that is articulated quite well in this posting by Rev Meredith Garmon entitled "Church! Huh! What is it good for":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5a7WptLlpY

A further interesting question is whether the existing model of Sunday services and the institutions of the Unitarian movement are an appropriate model of "church" for everyone who might need it. Unitarianism is no exception to the trend of numerical decline found in other Christian denominations with disproportionately low numbers of young adults and families with children. The weekend in Worthing left me with renewed high hopes of what Unitarians can offer if we make a collective effort to be able to serve the needs of people who need it. Unsurprisingly, the movement that gave the world Priestley, Wollstonecraft, Wicksteed and Capek might have a few tricks left up its sleeve! 

God Is Not A Christian: A Review

"God Is Not A Christian" is a collection of Archbishop Desmond Tutu's public statements. Throughout he makes the case for interfaith co-operation, the full inclusion of Gays and Lesbians and the social gospel of his liberation theology. As a leading opponent of apartheid and a critical friend of later south African leaders he aligns himself with the tradition of the Old Testament Prophets in speaking "truth unto power". When I was a sixth former an evangelist (to my knowledge trained and endorsed by the Church of England) told me that as far as he knew, MK Ghandi must be "in Hell" because despite his "good deeds" he had not accepted the saving power of Jesus' atoning sacrifice. This was one of many factors that explain why my relationship even with the far more liberal Methodist tradition of my youth was troubled and why I am a Unitarian today. Tutu appears to contradict this "orthodox" view of redemption defined by "right belief" in saying, "we do scant justice and honour to our God if we want, for instance to deny that Mahatma Gandhi was a truly great soul, a holy man who walked closely with God. Our God would be too small if he was not also the God of Ghandi". He also acknowledges "many Christians would be amazed to learn of the sublime levels of spirituality that are attained in other religions , as in the best examples of Sufism and in mysticism, or the profound knowledge of meditation and stillness found in Buddhism. It is to do God scant honour to dismiss these and other religious insights and delusions, which they patently are not". There is very little to differentiate what Tutu is advocating from the universalism of mystics such as Julian of Norwich. Reading this book as a Unitarian I acknowledged that it is possible to take a particular view of who Jesus is with it not carrying the implication that people who take a different view are necessarily wrong. Hence I think what differentiates Unitarianism today from what is offered by a liberal Anglican "Inclusive Church" is less about belief as liturgy and practice. There is a qualitative difference between "Interfaith" pluralism and the "Multifaith" approach that is found in the more eclectic Unitarian congregations.
In general I recommend "God Is Not A Christian"  as an thought provoking, inspiring and accessible read. Under apartheid Tutu said, "in South Africa many books are prohibited. We say to the Government of South Africa 'you are too late, because the book you should have banned long ago is the Bible, for that is the most revolutionary book in a situation of oppression'".

http://inclusive-church.org.uk/

Occupy- Mass Sing Up!

Well I am now a member of the Occupy Choir! I will be singing on the steps of St Paul's on 21st December between 6.30pm and 7.30pm as part of a mass "sing-up". The rehearsal took place in an abandoned building owned by UBS which is known as the bank of ideas. It was quite an odd rehersal space. It was like visiting the set of a film in a dystopian future in which society is disintegrating. I can see why some of the protesters style themselves as the character from "V for Vendetta". Most of the songs we hope to sing are taken from oppressed people around the world including the African American spirituals "Children Don't Get Weary" and "Find The Cost Of Freedom". There are also the songs that were popular from the anti-apartheid movement in the 1980s such as "Azikatale namojaya boshwa ze ze mitze linke loule ko" which means "we do not care if we go to prison, it is for freedom we are fighting now". Fortunately I do not have to think to hard about whether I can sing that with conviction living in a liberal democracy, but it is appropriate to evoke the spirit of people who are struggling across the world struggling against economic oppression. Some of the more secular leftists I sing with are a little jittery that we appear to be singing even "mildly Christian" songs but the choir facilitator told us the story of how she went on a trip to Bosnia to get a cross-community choir to sing a song uniting Christians, Muslims and Jews who had previously been in conflict. She described the act as "subverting religion to use as a force for good". I quite agree! :)

Well, when I am out singing on Wednesday evening I expect it will be cold so renewed respect for the people camping out every night in London and the other occupy locations. You think you know these old Christmas songs, but as time goes on I find that this one by Jona Lewie is not so much about warfare as the human state!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hVEdE0O5tA

Take Rest

We all have ways of finding rest and recovery. Some people know exactly what to do to help their minds and bodies relax. For others it takes a while to work out how to settle and it's not always in the same way. 
   In an art class I attended where we were asked to express different words. One young man chose the word 'relaxation' and created a wreath of dried leaves, suggesting that kicking through autumn leaves was his way of relaxing. The tutor was surprised; he was expecting an artwork related to meditation, or perhaps a hot bath! Resting the mind may not require the same actions as resting the body. However, it is vital - if we are to maintain a balance in our lives - for us to have a chance to recharge the batteries of the soul. 
   I like this quotation by Ovid 'Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.' and I am sure we have all had times when we have been rushing from one thing to another without a chance to stand still. We know, in those snatched moments of clarity, that it won't be long before the lack, of sleep, of slowing down, will affect the way we do things. No-one can 'run on empty' forever.
   'Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.' May we be fertile fields, rested and ready to produce our bounty.
   I realise my own ways of resting and relaxing all include an element of conscious action; whether it is drawing buildings in London or walking in countryside, the act of noticing my surroundings and feeling fully connected to them allows my mind to rest and my soul to be at peace. 
   There is a Chinese Proverb which says 'Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are.' 


   Spirit of Life and Love, help us to recharge the batteries of the soul this weekend, and to find those quiet moments of peace throughout the coming week. 

The News From Nowhere

I saw a quote by Alan Bennett on the tube yesterday about how when you read something that is a true expression of what you feel it is as if a hand is been held out to you......

Concerning Love: Chapter XI

So we shake off these griefs in a way which perhaps the sentimentalists of other times would think contemptible and unheroic, but which we think necessary and manlike. As on the other hand therefore we have ceased to be commercial in our love matters, so also we have ceased to be artificially foolish. The folly which comes by nature, the unwisdom of the immature man, or the older man caught in a trap, we must put up with that, nor are we much ashamed of it.; but to be concentionally sensitive or sentimental- my friend I am old and disappointed but at least I think we have cast off some of the follies of the older world.
(William Morris)

Or as Rev Jim Robinson says:

There is a proverb which goes, "you cannot get enough of what you don't really need." If we were driven to need more sex, more money, more control., more chocolate, more anything in order to be happy then we will never be able to get enough of it. We will destroy lives in a frantic effort to get more and more of what cannot make us happy. Fortunately, (sooner or later) our bad habits inevitably meet the midnight hour. When our house of cards collapses, when we no longer avoid the pain in our shadow, when our obsessions reveal themselves as the dysfunctions the are, then we have a chance to do something different. We may discover a happiness which is not grandiose or addictive but arises from spiritual understanding.

"It's me or Jesus"

Well this one came up sooner than I thought!

Dear Anxious Anglican,

No names will be used here and because what I know about your situation is light on specifics I can only go through what I imagine to be a number of different angles. I suspect you are far from alone. All I really know is that you are married to a husband  who resents your commitment to Jesus so much that he has made an ultimatum- choose Jesus or me. In desperation you have come the way of the Quakers and our liberal faith in search of a way of connecting with God that does not alienate him. Perhaps we can help, but I am not sure.
I can only hope that the route of this problem is that the man in your life is a "big softie" like me.You mentioned your love of the Anglican liturgy. I have to say it did not really work for me although I appreciate beautiful liturgy and meaningful services so long a they are accompanied by Ira Gershwin's pinch of salt. Maybe like Jude in the Thomas Hardy novel and Bertrand Russell it aggravates his laudable sensitivities to see you seemingly berating yourself for being a "miserable sinner" every week. And all that about there being a "narrow path" which apparently casts him as a doomed heretic in need of your outreach. I can well imagine how a sensitive man might respond to this. And I know how pushy some less liberal Anglicans can be when it comes to giving which is bound to be problematic for couples of mixed religious backgrounds, particularly in a time of recession. 5% to 10% of your disposable household income? Forget it. All we ask for is what you can spare and rightly so. By analogy, a woman might reasonably ask a man to curb his passion for football if he comes back from an away loss having lost sight of the spirit of the "beautiful game".
However, to confront you with an ultimatum like this is alarming. Why does he feel so compelled to curb a passion and an interest within you. If he were truly a humanist he would acknowledge your human need for a sense of connection, intellectual stimulation and the psychosematic benefits of prayer and singing to be found in an Anglican service. Instead he appears to be resorting to emotional blackmail to keep you to himself. I do not want to alarm you but a good friend of mine was nearly killed by an abusive partner who scalped her by setting her head of hair alight. This behaviour begins with "if you loved me you would...", "it is either me or (something or someone precious to you)" and "how can you be so selfish abandoning me, what about my needs".
Don't forget that the right to free religious expression is there in the United Nations charter of fundamental rights for a reason and your rights are not eroded once you part of a married couple. Do not be confused by the idea that Christianity is ultimately about love and the seriousness of the vows you have taken. If as I fear you are in an abusive relationship and any suggestion of professional help is dismissed, then when the time is right you need to call his bluff and assert whatever religious affiliation seems right for you as an essential part of what you are. Everyone, from the most conservative believer in "sanctity of marriage" to DH Lawrence would agree that you are doing the right thing. If you suffer the fallout then your religious friends will consider it their duty to assist you.

All the very best,

You know where to find us.

Zola's Germinal- Part VI

Father Ranvier tries to reach out to the striking miners.....
"Listening to him La Maheuda heard echos of Etienne's voice, when he had sat up late at night during the autumn, announcing the imminent end to all of their problems. But she had never trusted a man in a cassock.
"That's all very well, the way you tell it Father", she said, but it's only because you don't get on with the bourgeois .. All our other vicars used to dine with the manager, and threaten us with hell fire as soon as we asked for bread".
He continued the argument, speaking of the deplorable misunderstanding that had arisen between the Church and the people. Now in veiled phrases he attacked the city priests, bishops and ecclesiastical dignitaries who were bloated with pleasure and sated with power, supported by the liberal bourgeoisie in their imbecile blindness, not realising that it was the same bourgeoisie that deprived them of their influence in the world. Deliverance would come from the country priests, who would all rise up together to re-establish the kingdom of  Christ, with the aid of the poor; he seemed already to see himself at their head, and straightening his bony back as if he were an outlaw chief, or an evangelical revolutionary, his eyes filled with the light that they lit up the dark room around him. He was carried away by his own ardent preaching in a spate of mystical language, which the poor folk had long since given up trying to grasp.
"We don't need all those words" Maheu grumbled roughly. "You had better start by bringing us some bread""

So this OLSX thing. Take it from Zola, we've been there before....
1) "Godless lefties" will not come to us. We are out primarily to "indoctrinate" them with "false consciousness" and make them feel bad about sex remember!
2) Even an encyclopedic knowledge of Monty Python's "The Life Of Brian" does not cut as much ice as it used to. What you know about Isiah, Amos and Judas Maccabeus... all in good time Rev!
3) Follow Linda Hart et al's example and bring cake!

See you at St Paul's and on the picket lines on 30th November!
Consider this a shot across the bows Cranmer. This reformation will be on the blogosphere.
http://archbishop-cranmer.blogspot.com/

Passive Resistance

Apologies for the unusually disturbing image! When I first read that monks in Tibet were immolating themselves in protest against what the Dalai Lama describes as "cultural genocide" I was shocked and disturbed. Seen through the lense of Richard Dawkins' critique, actions like this appear to blur the distinction between a peaceful and humane religion and the worst excesses of suicide cultism. The imagery of burning appears frequently in Buddhism and Hinduism as a symbol of the impermanence of all things.
As a child growing up in Manchester I have memories of running away from IRA bomb threats with my mother during the Christmas shopping season. Perhaps there are analogies between the Tibetan Buddhist's struggle against the onslaught of the Chinese state's philistinism and the "leftish" nationalism and Roman Catholic identity politics that led to my home city being bombed in 1996. Would we feel differently about the IRA if they had taken the route of passive resistance, advocated by Ghandi? (Bobby Sands springs to mind). In the end I am heartened that no one in Unitarianism would want anyone to be a martyr- I am sure Norbert Capek in particular would agree. But there is a time to demonstrate peacefully and resist passively. In some extreme scenario, which I hope never to see in this country, there might even be a case for armed struggle. Looking at the comforting words of an old sermon, "it is not always easy to practice kindness. What happens if a person is treating us badly? Are we supposed to be kind and just take it like a martyr? Of course not, we have every right to set boundaries - to practice what is sometimes called tough love. The important thing is that out intention is to encourage human dignity for everyone whether we are practising soft love or tough love".  

On a related point it is with great reluctance that I will be joining other public sector workers in strike action on 30th November. As the Minister for Communities and Local Government said recently, "the big society is not all sitting on bean bags and singing Kum-Bah Yah. It is red in tooth and claw". Quite! You've sort of done the job for me there Mr Pickles.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3JKcExmQlA&feature=related

Ruskin In The Guardian

Just a quick one to post the link to this Guardian article by David Barnes. It is like the article I wanted to write myself but for various reasons stopped short of. There are some comments about anti-semitism at the bottom from someone who seems to know there stuff which I would also point out.

There was also an article on John O'Farrell's Newsbiscuit which made me laugh. I feel sorry for whoever that was aimed at! I suppose an occupational hazard of being a liberal do-gooder is being easy to lampoon and Ruskin undoubtedly had his fair share of that- to be fair Tom Hollander did not play him that unsympathetically. As Ian Hislop said in "The Age Of The Do-Gooders", "they are easy to mock and as a satirist I will not fail to do so, but I also take my hat off to them".

http://www.newsbiscuit.com/2011/11/06/anti-capitalist-protester-starts-anti-capitalist-events-management-company/

So I will take that as a green light. One thundering voice coming up!

Wealth and Wisdom

Victor Meldrew picking up the phone...

"Hello. What?.... No I don't want to subscribe to Which?"

I have only recently realised that David Renwick's character Victor Meldrew, consumed by his personal war with the brutality and short sightedness of the modern world might have been missing a trick. I had Which? magazine all wrong. I had wrongly assumed Which? was a product of the 1980s obsession with misguided consumer "empowerment" that stemmed from the privatisation of public utilities. Instead it was founded in good old Bethnal Green by a man called Michael Young who had the far sighted idea of producing objective advice to consumers as an antidote to "consumer culture".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Which%3F
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Young_(politician)

In my youth I took a dim view of middle-class "penny pinchers" who took a pious view of how thrifty they were without having really experiencing poverty and maintaining a sense of entitlement to the wealth they did have. To an extent a misguided application of liberal (as opposed to radical) feminism might explain why skills of household management might have been lost. Expectations concerning control of household expenditure and finance in heterosexual relationships can be highly "gendered"- although this need not be the case.

Fairly recently I "rubber-necked" at a Diwali celebration in Trafalgar square and was interested to hear how in Hinduism there is an emphasis on the combination of wealth with wisdom. I know George Orwell characterised Eastern religions as "death worship" but I think he might have had the same concerns/layman's prejudices I had about the caste system. As "religious types" are often characterised as unworldly people it is interesting to think that even my trip to the shops might be an opportunity for spiritual practice. Informed consumption by those of us with resources to spare might be the answer to many of the world's problems as well as our own.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakshmi#Respect_for_money

Horray for Giles Fraser!

Now don't get me wrong! Some of my best friends work in the City of London and some of them were more committed Christians or for that matter supporters of the Labour movement than I ever was as a student. Can you throw the money changers out of the temple and then ask them for corporate social responsibility and philanthropy? In any case what is quite surprising is the variety of unlikely sympathisers that the St Paul's occupation has gathered. Martin Wolf of the Financial Times for instance has acknowledged that "the left does not know how to replace the market. But pro-marketeers need to take the protests seriously". So when I heard the news about Giles Fraser's resignation I thought I would throw my two-pennyworth in. Althougn everyone is welcome to speak their truth with love, part of the attraction of Unitarianism for me is the historical link between rational dissent and the radical cause of social justice. Examples include the Rev John Trevor and his establishing of the Labour Church. Imagine a church where the Hymns were written by William Morris!
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/REtrevor.htm
Because of this I have been motivated to get singing outside of chapel with a political group. I might well swing by the camp at St Paul's where I can. If they do turn the sprinklers on them, perhaps I will show up with a towel in hand?
Giles Fraser's stand does indeed echo the story of Oscar Romero, another advocate of liberation theology and non-violent protest. "The violence we preach is not the violence of the sword, the violence of hatred. It is the violence of love, of brotherhood, the violence that wills to beat weapons into sickles for work". Even in socialist utopia the skills of good bankers will be necessary to run social investment boards, credit unions and mutuals. So it is not about "banker bashing" per se. If that sounds hopelessly idealistic, then it is not for nothing that William Morris called his book the "News from Nowhere". Socialist Utopia has also gone by the name "Christian Commonwealth" or should you care to go back that far "The New Jerusalem".
Giles- there are many Christian Socialists in the good old CofE. But if like me you reluctantly find there is no compromising with the other wing of your church.... you know where to find us!

Interesting times friends. It's good to be back!:)

I came across this beautiful poem which I hope you enjoy too :)

Broken Dreams

As children bring their broken toys

With tears for us to mend,

I brought my broken dreams to God

Because He was my Friend.

But instead of leaving Him

In peace to work alone,

I hung around and tried to help

With ways that were my own.

At last I snatched them back and cried,

"How can You be so slow?"

"My child," He said, "what could I do?

You never let them go."

by Lauretta Burns

A poem to reflect on

And God Said, "No"

I asked God to take away my pain.

God said 'NO. It's not for me to take away. It's for you to give it up.'

I asked God to make my handicapped child whole.

God said 'No. Her spirit is whole. Her body is only temporary' So love her whole.

I asked God to grant me patience.

God said 'No. Patience is a by-product of tribulations. It isn't granted. It is earned.'

I asked God to give me happiness.

God said 'No. I'll give you blessings. Happiness is up to you'.

I asked God to spare me pain.

God said 'No. Suffering draws you apart from worldly cares and brings you closer to me.'

I asked God to make my spirit grow.

God said 'No. You must grow on our own. But I will prune you to make you fruitful.'

I asked for all things that I might enjoy life.

God said 'No. I will give you life so that you may enjoy all things.'

I asked God to help me love others as much as he loves me and God said 'Ah, finally you're getting the idea'.

By Claudia Minden Weisz

Prayer

'To be at peace with ourselves, we need to know ourselves'

Caitlin Matthews

This prayer it intended to be spoken aloud....

MY SPIRIT FINDS COMPANIONSHIP IN MANY FORMS

I allow myself to be guided and comforted by the Universe. I allow people and events to gently lead me to my good. I ask for help in all of my affairs and I accept the help that is offered me from many quarters. I do not walk alone. I do not call in vain. Even my whispered dreams are heard by an attentive Universe. I am alert to the help which comes to me for their unfolding.

From Heart Steps by Julia Cameron

So Long Jim!

Well, all good things come to an end and this Sunday the Urban Unitarians of Hampstead were sorry to see our good minister Rev. Jim Robinson give us his final sermon. Personally, I am very grateful for the day Jim met me when I walked into the LDPA's meeting, having heard about it due to my short visit to the Reading Unitarian Fellowship. This was during a difficult episode of my life when I was living in Henley-on-Thames. I had a feeling that somehow, when I got out there and made it to London, Rosslyn Hill would be the place where I would go. Thanks to Kate and Jana's efforts we now have some of Jim's addresses to keep for posterity. However, for me the final words of wisdom I will try and remember will be the ones he used on the Palm Sunday sermon: "Love in the personal sphere is called compassion, love in the public sphere is called justice, love in the religious sphere is called God".

Posted by Scott

(PS- For those of you who missed Sunday, the link is to a setting of Randall Thompson's arrangement of Frosts "Choose Something Like A Star")

The "Lift Pitch"

"It doesn't matter whether you're selling Jesus or Buddha or civil rights or 'How to Make Money in Real Estate With No Money Down'. That doesn't make you a human being; it makes you a marketing rep. If you want to talk to somebody honestly, as a human being, ask him about his kids. Find out what his dreams are – just to find out, for no other reason. Because as soon as you lay your hands on a conversation to steer it, it's not a conversation anymore; it's a pitch. And you're not a human being; you're a marketing rep."
(The Big Kahuna- Roger Rueff 1999)

It is often said that Unitarians do not “do evangelism”. On one hand it is an attraction of our sensible and humane liberal faith that we are not compelled to go out and proslytise in the streets. On the other hand, part of the purpose of our Urban Unitarian group is to make the case for growth and outreach in our movement. Whilst Rosslyn Hill is a thriving community, the message we hear from other unitarian congregations is that standing still is not an option. For this reason, General Assembly meetings now have a specific focus on Growth and Renewal. One of the initiatives that came out of the 2009 annual meeting was the idea of a “lift pitch” to take our message to our friends and colleagues. The idea is as follows:
1) Wear you “chalice logo” badge into work.
2) If anyone is curious and asks what it is, come up with an articulate, one-sentence reply that encapsulates what it means to you. It needs to be short enough to be able to communicate in a journey in an office lift- hence a “lift pitch”. Examples include.

It's my personal guiding light that connects me to all other Unitarians in the world. A symbolic shared flame of light, love and hope for a better world.

The Chalice is the symbol of the worldwide Unitarian movement. It is our caring community holding and nurturing the living flame of our spiritual lives.

In the spirit of learning to articulate and share our deepest beliefs, the Urban Unitarians invite everyone to have a go at writing their “lift pitch”. If you forward them to urbanunitarian@googlemail.com we will put them up on our weblog.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PkOc-B64dY

http://www.unitarian.org.uk/info/growth.shtml