Friends, 2024 is coming fast!  Interested in growing your congregation in the New Year? If you are, consider joining us for Video Message Academy for Congregations 2024!

This just might be the most important cycle of Video Message Academy for Congregations ever. Yeah, I know I sound like the host of the Bachelor.

"This is the most dramatic season ever!!!" they say every single season...

Well, I feel like this is one of the most pivotal seasons in the life of many of our congregations. What about your ministry? Do you need help?

Many of you need to learn and implement new strategies if you are going to adapt to today's world, be of service, and thrive.  This training can help.

🙌 You'll learn skills and strategies to help you lead and grow congregations in today's video dominated world.

This video shares the latest program highlights.

This 2024 New Year cycle features:

• The full on-demand video ministry strategy training. The approaches I share are helping congregations of all sizes get results!
• A 2-hour live training January 9th via Zoom with full strategy overview, discussion, and Q&A.
• Program Facebook Group with six-weeks of facilitation guiding you through the program. Running Jan 1 through Feb 15.
• Ask me questions on every post in the training as well as in our Facebook group.
• Handouts to support implementation.
• Video content outlines for my top recommended videos.
• More bonuses in the works :-)

Those are the highlights. It is going to be amazing! I hope you'll join us.

Registration is open with an early bird discount through December 31st:
http://www.videomessageacademy.com

Questions
If you have questions about the program, you may contact me here.

Existing program members
You'll have full access to the training and Facebook group. If you know someone who would appreciate this training, please forward this to them.

Go team!
Peter

We are delighted to announce that Rev. Dr Rory Castle Jones will be taking up the new role of Ministry & Leadership Development Officer at the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches. Starting on 1^st January 2024, this new role will see Rory supporting ministry and leadership in the Unitarian movement – as we go through big changes in our congregations, movement and society.

This role will involve working closely with our fifty active Unitarian & Free Christian ministers, and the many more trustees and other leaders across our movement, as well as key stakeholders such as Unitarian College, Harris Manchester College Oxford, the Ministerial Fellowship, and others. We want to continue supporting our excellent ministers and leaders not merely to ‘survive’ in an environment of declining church attendance and dwindling full-time ministry positions, but to ‘thrive’ by meeting new social, cultural and spiritual realities well with the ethos of our Unitarian and Free Christian tradition.

Rev. Dr Rory Castle Jones was ordained in 2021 and is minister to Gellionnen Chapel in the Swansea Valley, south Wales, a congregation which has experienced revival and growth in the past decade. Rory has served as our part-time denominational Communications Officer since 2018, a time of big changes in how we work, connect and communicate internally and with the world. Prior to the ministry, Rory worked in Higher Education and has a PhD in History. Outside of work, he enjoys learning languages, long walks in the mountains with his husband and dogs, and travel. 

On his new role, Rory says: 

“In the past five years as I’ve progressed through ministry training and formation and spent two and a half years as a serving Unitarian minister, I’ve become a passionate advocate for the needs of our ministers and leaders. Ministry and church leadership is hard, challenging, rewarding and life-changing work. Our ministers and leaders need support and we, as a denomination, need to take a deep and serious look at our structures, networks, organisations and culture, to ensure that we are training, resourcing, developing and supporting our leaders properly for church and ministry in the twenty-first century. 

At the height of the pandemic, Rev. Andy Pakula and I led a Zoom course for Unitarian leaders called “Leading Change In The Congregation” based on the book of the same title by Gil Rendle. In my new role, I will do my best to be guided by Rendle’s advice: “We do wish for easy answers, for silver bullets, for proven programs, for implementable solutions. When paradigms shift, when deep change is needed, our very assumptions, values and behaviours are questioned. The real challenge is to re-invent the very world we live in.” 

I’m excited and delighted to be starting this new role, working with colleagues to strengthen existing support and develop new ways of nourishing, developing and supporting our leaders.” 

Chief Officer, Liz Slade says:

“Long before being in this role, I have been carrying questions around the types of leadership that we need for these times, and I often found myself looking to ministry as representing the qualities of leadership that work – being grounded in something beyond the day-to-day, valuing relationships, leaning in to uncertainty, listening carefully inside ourselves and to those around us, boldness in speaking truth, humility in recognising our own mistakes and limitations, and being oriented towards the creation of a loving world. These qualities exist in abundance in our ministers and leaders, but the toll of the challenges of covid, and of shrinking congregations means that now is a time that we must invest in strengthening our culture of healthy leadership, and supporting those who have taken responsibility for the flourishing of their community.

Rory’s position as a new minister, who has built connections and relationships with leaders across the country through his work as Communications Officer, means that he is attuned to the challenges that we are navigating together. He wouldn’t claim to have all the answers, but I know first hand that he is a brilliant person to explore the questions with. I’m excited about this new chapter.”

Rory begins his new role in the new year, and will be working as part of the central team supporting ministers and congregations with Simon Bland, our Ministry & Congregational Support Officer, and Lizzie Kingston-Harrison, our Congregational Connections Lead. 

The post Supporting our ministry and leadership –  welcoming Rev. Rory Castle Jones into a new role   appeared first on The Unitarians.

An AI driven meaning crisis is looming.  Noticing the accelerating rate of AI advancement, recently I started doing more intentional study. What I learned and what I'm expecting to unfold in the very near future has me changing my priorities, projects, and how I work with congregations and community organizations.

Join me, Peter Bowden, on November 14, 2023, at 12:30 PM EST for a live stream strategy session preparing for the coming A.I. meaning crisis for community clergy and congregations (sessions for others to follow). With AI evolving at an exponential rate, artificial general intelligence (AGI) is coming fast. What happens when AI can do any job a human with a computer can do?

That's not sci-fi, that's what companies are working on today. As these systems are able to perform the tasks previously preformed by humans, a ‘meaning crisis’ looms, challenging our notions of value and identity.

Live Stream Replay:

Listen via audio podcast: The Peter Bowden Show

In this session, I'm going to share highlights from my accidental AI "mini-sabbatical" and how I think clergy and congregations should start responding. Friends, those of us with associated expertise -- bringing people together and facilitating conversations on meaning and purpose -- need to take the lead on hosting community conversations on the issues of our time.

This, of course, includes what it means to be human in the age of AI. Specifically, I am re-arranging my schedule, projects, and priorities to fast track launching an open-source decentralized community group model any person, group, or institution can use to host conversations along with session plans and an invitation for us all - humanity - to crowdsource the development of group sessions.

THANK YOU, MO GAWDAT!
Special thanks to Mo Gawdat. I listened to his book "Scary Smart" on the way to lead a Clergy Summit last week. It is an amazing contribution to the this conversation and orientation to AI, AI ethics, AI emotions, and how we might be better parents as we raise these AI beings.

I highly recommend all of human colleagues read it as soon as possible. Gawdat's book is my favorite so far. If you like audio books or have trouble engaging with hard topics, get the audio version. He has a wonderful voice -- You said it,  Mo.

Read the book SCARY SMART:
https://www.mogawdat.com/scary-smart

RECOMMENDED INTERVIEWS
Watch Mo Gawdat conversation with Steven Bartlett on  @TheDiaryOfACEO  EMERGENCY EPISODE: Ex-Google Officer Finally Speaks Out On The Dangers Of AI! - Mo Gawdat | E252 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bk-nQ7HF6k4

Watch Mo Gawdat conversation with Tom Bilyeu on Impact Theory
MEGATHREAT: Why AI Is So Dangerous & How It Could Destroy Humanity | Mo Gawdat https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itY6VWpdECc

To inspire participation in congregational life this holiday season and New Year,  go beyond announcements!  People need more help choosing to participate.

I recommend using video to show in people's live and to be their guide and mentor BEFORE they visit or choose to re-engage.  Before.  You need to show up for them first. FIRST.  If you're waiting for people to show up in your congregation to minister to them, time for a critical strategy update!

Here's how you can use a simple video message and optional ad campaign to help newcomers and members alike choose connection, community and meaning this season.

I explain how in today's live stream:

Listen via audio podcast: The Peter Bowden Show

Example scripts

In this video I use the new ethical AI system I'm developing to generate some sample scripts.  These are to get you thinking!  You may access them using the link below.  

Google Doc with Example Scripts and Outlines
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CLr4JyFELPR6qycQ1shoSW_y3Ji9b5lKprdg-QzdYo4/edit?usp=sharing

Live Stream Highlights

Welcome! Back from AI Sabbatical

Hello friends, it's Peter Bowden. I'm glad to see you. I'm back from my artificial intelligence sabbatical, where I delved deep into ethical issues and technology. Now, I'm here to help you get ready for the holidays with specific outreach strategies you can use right now.

Video Strategy Training Announcement

I'm excited to announce the opening of enrollment for the new year cycle of my video strategy training. This program is designed to help you engage with newcomers, members, and your community using video effectively.

Video Dominates Engagement

The internet has shifted significantly towards video. If you're not using video, you're missing a crucial element of online engagement. Video helps in decision-making, showcases leadership online, and connects all the pieces of your digital strategy.

Holiday Outreach Strategies

As we approach the holidays, I recommend recording a simple video message to invite newcomers and existing members to your holiday services. This is not just about inviting them to an event, but encouraging them to think about participation beyond the holiday season.

The Heart of Your Video Message

Imagine using your webcam or smartphone to record a video. It doesn't need high production value; what matters is authenticity. As a leader, convey why it's important to gather for the holidays and beyond.

AI-Generated Script for Congregations

I'll also share an AI-generated script to help congregations develop tools and systems for using AI ethically. This script can be a starting point for creating engaging social media content to combat social isolation and model ethical AI systems.

Boosting Engagement Through Video

For the holidays, consider the impact of sharing a meaningful video invitation on your Facebook page. Boost it to reach not only your current audience but also those who've interacted with your page before. Use Facebook Ad Campaigns to expand your reach to a lookalike audience, bringing your message to a wider community.

Utilizing AI for Script Generation

This is where AI comes in handy. I've been working on customizing a system to generate scripts for congregational outreach. The aim is to use AI for good, to combat social isolation, and to advance the development of ethical AI systems. I'll be sharing more of this as we progress.

Preparing for Post-Holiday Engagement

It's crucial to plan for post-holiday engagement. Ensure your website and social media reflect upcoming events and opportunities for newcomers right after the New Year. This helps in retaining the interest of those who visit your holiday services.

Sample Script: Warm Holiday Invitation

Let’s take a look at a sample script. It's a warm holiday invitation by a minister, inviting the community to join in holiday celebrations and emphasizing the inclusivity of the congregation. Remember, it’s easier to edit an existing script than to start from scratch.

Importance of Clear Newcomer Instructions

We must be crystal clear about the best ways for newcomers to get involved. Whether it's a welcome table, newcomer gatherings, or small group programs, explicitly instructing newcomers on how to engage is key to successful integration into the community.

Refining the AI-Generated Script

I'm working on refining the AI-generated script to make it more precise and strategic. The goal is to clearly communicate the value and meaning of holiday gatherings and what your congregation offers in the new year.

Emphasizing Clear Communication

Communication needs to be clear and appealing. Videos allow you to express emotions and connect with your audience more effectively than written text alone. It's about helping people see the alignment between their life goals and what your congregation offers.

The Role of Video in Digital Ministry

In today’s digital world, leaders need to embrace video to connect with their audience effectively. Videos are essential for helping people decide to get involved with your congregation. It's not enough to just post worship services; you need to actively engage with your community online.

Embracing Digital Tools for Connection

Digital ministry is more than just online presence; it's about being an effective leader in the digital age. This includes showing up as passionate, helpful, and inspiring leaders in people's digital lives.

Conclusion and Future Plans

As we wrap up, I'd like to highlight the potential of AI in enhancing our congregational outreach. I'm working on ways to utilize AI with intention, purpose, and integrity. Keep an eye on the video description for a link to a Google document containing all this valuable content.

Sharing the Refined Script

In the shared Google document, you'll find refined scripts with effective messaging for holiday invitations. These scripts are designed to convey warmth and a sense of community, inviting people to not just attend holiday events but to also consider deeper engagement with your congregation.

Using Video to Be a Guide

Video plays a crucial role in today's digital ministry. It's a powerful tool for connecting with people and helping them decide to get involved in congregational life. We need to show up online as real, passionate human beings, actively inviting people into our community. By using these tools effectively, we can foster deep connections and community involvement.

Competing for Attention 

Remember, our congregations are competing for attention with numerous online influencers and brands. It's crucial for our leaders to be present, engaging, and authentic online. This presence helps in reaching out to those seeking community and meaning.

Priming People for New Year Engagement

In your holiday communications, prioritize vision casting for the future beyond the  holidays -- New Year engagement!   For this to work, plan events and gatherings for after the New Year, making sure they are visible on your website and social media.  This helps in maintaining the momentum and interest generated during the holidays.

We Have the Tools!

We have the tools to reach people online, to show up, to lead, coach, mentor and be of service.  If you are a leader wanting to help your congregation thrive, I look forward to assisting you on this journey.  Make sure you are subscribed to my email newsletter for congregations and consider enrolling in Video Message Academy for Congregations.

Go team!
Peter  

AI Process: After doing this live stream, I generate captions using Adobe Premiere. I then pasted the caption and time code from  theSRT file into a new chat with my custom AI. I had it generate YouTube chapters and timecode which I then added to the YouTube video with a few title edits. That took 5 minutes instead of 30 minutes. Chapters help video engagement. I then had work on an easy to scan written version of highlights.

Training Update
I'm about to re-open enrollment in Video Ministry Academy for Congregations, my comprehensive video ministry strategy training for clergy, staff, and volunteer leaders.  If you aren't on my email list yet, you may sign up to be notified and receive all the details as soon as enrollment opens later this week. Visit https://www.videomessageacademy.com.  

As we approach Christmas, our President, Vince McCully, offers this message:

“Christmas is here, a time to worship God and to offer up our voices in carols and prayers in thankfulness for all our blessings, for they are many. We go to our chapels and churches, places of light and comfort, we come into the light gladly. It is dark so early these days, it doesn’t seem so long ago that you could go outside after tea and “Do Stuff”. Alas now the nights are surely drawing in and it is cold and often wet, sometimes snowy. It’s so good to be ‘in-doors’ isn’t it? … Luckier still to be greeted by family and friends and to share the warmth and light with others.

It is right that we count our blessings and give thanks for them. Two thousand years ago in Palestine a certain Joseph and Mary were literally out in the cold and worried too about the imminent birth of Mary’s baby. You could say there was “nowt down for them” but fortunately they found cover, albeit humble, and at least there was warmth from the animals they shared the stable with.

Happy days indeed, and with such uncertain beginnings too. But what came to us on that day was a key to our salvation, in the form of Jesus. Jesus who would go on to teach us His ways of living. His teachings which were… are… and always will be, about Love. About love for our neighbours, men, women and children, in fact for all creation. His greatest command, after love for God, is to love our neighbour. Christmastide is the perfect time to simply do this, to get into the habit of doing this, without fear of ridicule or sarcasm or suspicion, for such is the world become. No, the simple message is to love our fellow man with joy, with commitment and with happiness at doing what pleases God.

There is much conflict in the world today, harrowing events that are shameful to humankind, needless and heartless killings, the soul-rending separation of families and untold suffering of the poor, the sick, the young and the elderly. We have the homeless with us today; there are those, often through no fault of their own, who find themselves out on the streets. It seems it’s going to get worse, with one economic disaster after another. Each one of us here today can make a difference, no matter how small the act, we can help. The best things we do, are those things not seen by others, but those things that we can share quietly with our God. It has been said that an ant with love for God in its heart has greater wealth than the richest people on earth (Guru Nanak Hymn 23). I wish all at home and those who can’t be with us a Christmastide of peace, of light and of togetherness with your God.”

Vince McCully

The post A Christmas Message from our President appeared first on The Unitarians.

The General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches is delighted to announce the following candidates have been offered Ministerial Training following their interviews last month: Peter Flower, Christina Smith and Lizzie Kingston Harrison.

Liz Slade, Chief Officer of the General Assembly says: “Each year I feel so grateful to the new cohort of people who step forward in response to their calling to become Unitarian ministers. The three new ministry students this year are people of such diverse talents and experiences, and are bringing real richness to our community’s leadership. I congratulate them on reaching this step in their ministry path. The work of ministry is more important than ever, as so many people in Britain are feeling the gap of inclusive and meaningful spiritually healthy communities, and I am so glad to welcome Peter, Christina and Lizzie into the next phase of their work.”

The candidates will begin their formal training at a Residential Orientation Week in February 2024. Helen Mason, Director of Unitarian College says: “We are delighted to welcome three new students to study for Unitarian Ministry. All three have the potential to become great leaders in our denomination. We are pleased to be collaborating closely with Harris Manchester College to ensure these students benefit from the best Unitarian educational offer available. We are very much looking forward to walking the path with Peter, Lizzie and Christina.”

Anyone interested in knowing more about training for Unitarian Ministry is encouraged to look at the designated page of the GA website where you will be able to contact Simon Bland, Congregational & Ministry Support Officer.

The General Assembly and Unitarian College wish to thank all the districts, congregations and individuals who support the Unitarian ministerial training process. Donations to The Ministerial Students Fund helps to cover students’ travel and living costs during their training and is a real investment in the future of the Unitarian movement. Please contact Simon Bland for further information on this vital work.

The post Welcoming 3 New Unitarian Ministry Students appeared first on The Unitarians.

Leading figures in science, academia, culture and faith have signed a letter condemning the “collective act of madness” that is driving “the destruction of life on Earth”. Unitarian Chief Officer Liz Slade signed the letter, alongside former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, scientists Sir David King and Prof. James Hansen, and many others.

The letter (which you can read in full here) and signed by more than 100 actors, authors, scientists and academics says the UK government is ignoring the scientific reality of the climate and ecological crisis, pushing ahead with new fossil fuel developments and criminalising peaceful protesters who raise the alarm.

You can read more about the letter and the context in this piece in The Guardian.

The post Unitarian Chief Officer joins cultural and faith leaders in criticising UK government over climate ‘madness’ and limits on protest appeared first on The Unitarians.

On Remembrance Sunday we were represented by our President, Vince McCully, at the Cenotaph in London. Here, Vince reflects on the experience:

“Stuck for words to describe this occasion. Wish everyone could experience both the solemnity and the celebration, I admit to a little wobble in the third verse of t’hymn. All 22 faith representatives gathered in the same room before the ceremony. Still here at Horseguards soaking up the atmosphere. Certainly the biggest parade I’ve ever been on.”

The above, my post on Facebook, written standing in ‘Horseguards Parade’, amidst all the hubbub of the returning marchers, there are two bands playing in the background and Princess Anne salutes all as they pass her. These are the men and women of all the services, the Chelsea Pensioners, children of RAF personnel (in the black and yellow scarves), Police, Scouts and Guides amongst many others. All treated with due decorum.

It is a day of remembrance in a spirit of fellowship and community, a national and international coming together, in joint enterprise. Walking to the venue in the morning and catching the eye of police, stewards, officials and marchers I noticed that every face was open and ready to be engaged, the atmosphere buoyant and uplifting, testimony to an air of ‘team spirit’. I saw no frowns – maybe I did not notice them.

On arrival at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (no later than 10am mind) and having passed through all the security I could then put away my invitation card and passport. We, the faith leaders, were all diligently shown into a spacious room for light refreshment.  Some were regular attendees and some, like me, were there for just the one time. Everyone mingled freely and I was soon chatting away and shaking hands with Andrew Copson of the Humanists, also the Baptist, Ba’hai, Muslim, Church of Scotland, Jewish, Spiritualist and Zoroastrian church leaders. Everyone spoke freely and the atmosphere was convivial on all sides.

The service of remembrance was solemn alright, parading out in pairs (I was with the President of the Spiritualists’ National Union – Minister Jackie Wright) and standing by the Cenotaph you could hear a leaf fall. A stillness, a certain timelessness encompassed all present, at times it felt unreal. A fellow parish councillor, in Rivington, attended this service some years ago, as a by-stander, and recounted that this ‘stillness and quietness’ washed over him in like fashion.

I am privileged, as President, to visit many of our congregations and I always look out for the roll of honour proudly displayed by my hosts in their Chapels and churches. I wonder at the emotions of the folk that erected them; the loss, the grief and the regret for the fallen; the relief, the gratitude and the joy for those that returned. I used the word ’celebration’ in my post above, it is a celebration of lasting peace, peace for which we must all strive and never more-so than now. Years of studying the classics taught me that war is wasteful, wasteful in the extreme, wasteful of lives, of cultures, of property all are sacrificed on the altar of a doomed enterprise and that all wars end when dialogue begins. War is a hateful, wretched and de-humanising business and we as Unitarians and Free Christians always seek ways in which we can work and pray for peace and concord, may we always continue to do so.

I wrote a prayer and made a call for peace during services days after the Palestinian conflict broke out, I wish to share them with you now:

“We pray for the people of Gaza and Israel. The very thought that such atrocities can be justified and meted out to another person, let alone that the victims are innocent civilians, is beyond comprehension. Thousands of people have already been killed, many more maimed and injured.

Dear God, in the name of all that is holy and good, please restore peace to all sides without delay. To kill is not even a last resort, it is simply a sign of humankind’s utter failure to understand anything about God’s will.“

“Our world has become so interdependent that violent conflict between two countries inevitably impacts on the rest of the world. War is outdated, non-violence is the only way. We need to develop a sense of the oneness of humanity by considering other human beings as brothers and sisters. This is how we will build a more peaceful world.” – The Dalai Lama

A Prayer – Published when we were in the midst of the Second World War:

“Eternal God, in whose kingdom no sword is drawn but the sword of righteousness, and no strength known but the strength of love; guide and inspire, we pray Thee, the work of all who seek to make peace in the world, that all nations may find their security, not in the force of arms, but in that perfect love which casteth out fear. Amen“

from Orders of Worship (Lindsey Press, 1944), pg. 14. Slightly abridged by Vince McCully

The post President Vince McCully reflects on Remembrance Sunday at the Cenotaph appeared first on The Unitarians.

From the Executive Committee of the General Assembly of Unitarian & Free Christian Churches, following their meeting on Friday 10^th November 2023:

As Unitarians and Free Christians, we observe with horror the unfolding events in Israel and Gaza since the terrorist outrages of October 7th. 

We want to express our deepest sympathy and solidarity with the victims of these attacks, which no justification can ever excuse, including those still held hostage by Hamas in Gaza, and with the Israeli people. We pray for all victims, all bereaved families and all hostages still in captivity. We note with great alarm the rise of antisemitism in Britain and elsewhere and pray for peace in our communities and amongst peoples and nations, expressing our solidarity with Jews in the UK and around the world.

While we acknowledge the first responsibility of any nation to defend its citizens, we also deeply regret the huge loss of life amongst the innocent people of Gaza and urge the international community to support measures to protect civilians and to prevent the escalation of conflict in the region. We want to express too our deepest sympathy to these Palestinian victims of war. We also note with deep concern the rise of Islamophobia in our own society at this time and express our solidarity with the Muslim community here in the UK and elsewhere.

Our deepest hope and prayer is that the hostages will be released, all acts of terror will cease, and all military conflict and violence between Israelis and Palestinians will end. No conflict, however deeply entrenched and seemingly intractable, is inevitable or unstoppable. We continue to pray and work for a world of peace – and in the meantime to do all that we can to support the civilians, particularly children, the elderly and the vulnerable, who are the victims of terror, conflict and war.

At a local level in our congregations and communities, we have been offering and supporting events and projects which bring people together in dialogue, solidarity and peace-making, such as the ‘Peace of Cake’ initiative at Lewisham Unity in south London – started by a local Muslim mum in 2015 in the wake of the anti-Muslim attacks in Paris and attended by people from the Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and Sikh communities.

Here is a prayer from Vince McCully, President of the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches, who will be representing our community at the Remembrance Sunday ceremony at the Cenotaph in Westminster:

We pray for the people of Gaza and Israel. The very thought that such atrocities can be justified and meted out to another person, let alone that the victims are innocent civilians, is beyond comprehension.  Thousands of people have already been killed, many more maimed and injured.

Dear God, in the name of all that is holy and good, please restore peace to all sides without delay. To kill is not even a last resort, it is simply a sign of humankind’s utter failure to understand anything about God’s will.

Amen

The post A Message For Remembrance Sunday appeared first on The Unitarians.

Several leaders from the UK gathered in Prague for the ‘Leading to the Future’ event, convened by Unitarian College, the Czech Unitarian Church and the Unitarian Universalist Association International Office.

Members of our global network from Brazil, the US, Canada, Bolivia, Kenya, South Africa, India, Transylvania, the Netherlands, Australia, and the Czech Republic gathered together building connection and exploring ideas about theological education.

The Prague gathering was also the first in-person meeting for the Leadership Design Team who have been meeting virtually since 2021 to develop a future vision for international collaboration.

You can learn about the ideas and share your feedback with the team at any of a series of online meetings on Monday 20th November, 3pm (UK) and Thursday 30th November, 7pm (UK).

Helen Mason, Director of Unitarian College said:

“What a joy it was to gather with Unitarians/Universalists and Free Christians from across the globe in Prague.  We engaged in deep worship, thoughtful discussion and plenty of networking and collegiality. Unitarian College is proud to have been part of the organising team for the event and we are grateful to the Hibbert Trust for a generous grant that contributed significantly to the success of the event. Focussing on how our faith will develop and grow in the next 20-50 years and what leadership we will need to thrive in our different global environments was challenging and inspiring. New working groups have been established to take the conversations forward.”

Alicia Forde, UUA International Director and one of the event’s organisers said:

“On the first morning of our Leading into the Future convening, we worshipped, our voices weaving together: “Where you go I will go, Beloved.” We were a joyful choir coming home with and to each other. Touching the past while reaching forward to shape, and be shaped by, the future.

I felt inspired and hopeful, witnessing the promise of our global faith and the sheer beauty of our voices meeting each other after such a long time. In our subsequent days together, I appreciated our dedication to a continuous discovery and weaving. Exploring new questions even as we rest on the foundation of the past.

I’m grateful for everyone’s investment. I’m grateful for the Leadership Design Team’s vision. I’m grateful for this gathering of global U/U & FCC siblings who want to press toward the future, exploring: Educational and leadership development; Funding and Sustainability; Young Adult connections; Theology & Thought and so much more.

Together we remembered that we are not alone and there is so much we have to offer to each other and the many worlds we inhabit. What a joy and inspiration this has been!”

The post Unitarian leaders gather in Prague to discuss future of Unitarianism appeared first on The Unitarians.

York Unitarians have organised a series of events highlighting the problem of modern slavery, centred around Anti-Slavery Day on 18th October. The congregation held two special services and other events including an exhibition and concert to raise awareness of slavery as a contemporary issue, not just a relic of the past.

Rev. Stephanie Bisby, minister of York Unitarians, said: “We were more surprised than we perhaps should have been at how much of a problem modern slavery is. It goes into a number of different areas like human trafficking and child labour.”

Professor Craig, an expert on modern slavery, spoke at one the events at York Unitarian Chapel, warning “slavery is here, it’s now, it’s everywhere and you can’t get away from it.”

You can read more about the events in the local press here.

Find out more about anti-slavery day here.

The post York Unitarians shine light on modern slavery appeared first on The Unitarians.

We are pleased to announce the cooption of three new members to our Executive Committee: Sarah Benfield, Simon Hall, and Sue Morrison.

The Executive Committee act as trustees for the General Assembly (GA) and Nightingale Centre and work with the Chief Officer and other staff and volunteers to develop and oversee the strategic direction and smooth running of the GA.

Sarah Benfield lives in Berkshire and is a retired solicitor specialising in family law. She is a member of Reading Unitarian fellowship. The daughter of a Unitarian minister, Sarah has been involved in the denomination all of her life, including in Sheffield, Reading, and as Chair of the Send A Child To Hucklow charity which helps children from deprived areas experience the natural world. Sarah enjoys travelling with her family, volunteering in her local park and as a National Trust guide, singing in a choir and dance exercise classes.

Simon Hall has worked in IT for the public sector for many years and is now studying a BA in Theology. He is active in both Northampton and Leicester Unitarians.

Sue Morrison lives in London and is a former GP, medical educator and life coach. Her health education work has taken her around the world, including to Bangladesh and Kenya. Sue began her Unitarian journey at Monton Unitarians, Lancashire, attending as a child with her grandmother – memories which she cherishes. She is now a leader at New Unity in north London, but remains a proud Northerner. Sue loves being an active grandmother, making patchwork quilts and choral singing.

The post Executive Committee welcomes 3 new members appeared first on The Unitarians.

On Saturday 16 September, Unitarians across the UK joined in global demonstrations against the fossil fuel industry, calling for de-investment from further fossil fuel exploration, and a rapid phasing down of existing capacity. The pictures above show Unitarians supporting actions in London, York, Cardiff and Plymouth, including some from the new ‘U4CJ’ group – Unitarians for Climate Justice.

Dr Rob Oulton, member of Unitarians for Climate Justice said: “This sense of urgency arises from the growing conviction that nothing less than an urgent transition to renewable sources of energy can prevent catastrophic, climate breakdown, which will bring in its wake, huge social and economic distress, particularly for the poorest and most marginalised of the world’s people. This has to make it an issue of real concern to Unitarians, especially with our concern for social justice. There’s not too much time left to make a difference – the time to get involved was 20 years ago, but failing that, NOW.“

If you’re interested in getting involved with the work of ‘Unitarians for Climate Justice’ get in touch with Ann Howell, our Social Action Officer and she can put you in touch with them directly.

The post Unitarians take part in climate change demonstrations across UK appeared first on The Unitarians.

As part of the LGBT+ Unitarian Voices project, the veteran LGBT+ campaigner Peter Tatchell spoke at an event earlier this month welcoming the exhibition to Golders Green, north London. Peter spoke movingly about his personal experience of the Unitarians’ role in the struggle for LGBT+ equality since the 1970s, including early same-sex blessings in the 1970s, the campaign for same-sex marriage, Dudley Cave, Integroup, the Lesbian and Gay Bereavement Project, and more.

Peter began by saying: “I would love to express my most sincere appreciation to Unitarians for all the great work you’ve done over the decades, not just for LGBT+ rights, but for the rights of women and other people who’ve suffered victimisation and oppression. You have been standards bearers of progressive thought and actions. So my huge admiration and appreciation to Unitarians… from the bottom of my heart a huge, huge thank you.”

You can watch the video of Peter’s speech in full here.

The exhibition is the outcome of an exciting project exploring the brave, inspiring, and sometimes challenging experiences of LGBT+ people in the Unitarian and Free Christian denomination. The project celebrates their stories by recording, archiving, and sharing them. You can visit the LGBT+ Unitarian Voices online exhibition here.

The post Peter Tatchell speaks movingly about “great work” of Unitarians in struggle for LGBT+ equality appeared first on The Unitarians.

Livia Kent writes in “Editor’s Note” in the July/August, 2023 issue of the Psychotherapy Networker:

We all know social media inundates teens with images of “perfect” bodies and glittering social lives, while spewing comparisons and judgments like so much toxic confetti. How much does this play into rising rates of teen anxiety and depression, or the unprecedented rates of suicide and suicidal ideation? Dare I even ask that question? It seems too simple to place all the blame on social media, which, after all, has a salutary side.

My primary care physician at my annual physical back in 2010 asked me how my practice was going and whether the recession had affected it? I said, “No, but the impact of digital media is huge.”

Ms. Kent is referring in her Editor’s note to the impact of social media on teens because the July/August 2023 issue of the Psychotherapy Networker’s theme is “Facing The Teen Mental Health Crisis”. However I find the impact of the digital media is bigger on adults than it is on teens.

Many of my adult clients have mentioned how upset they are by the constant negativity in the media and some have said they are trying to cut down on their consumption of what they perceive as a toxic stew of continuous acrimony, recrimination, grievance and outrage.

Livia Kent’s statements in her Editor’s Note struck a chord with me because I recently read Cal Newport’s book, Digital Minimalism: Choosing A Focused Life In A Noisy World. Newport writes in the introduction to the book on page xi

 “I also learned about the negative impact of unrestricted online activity on psychological well-being. Many people I spoke to underscored social media’s ability to manipulate their mood.

Newport, Cal. Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World (p. xi). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. 

As psychotherapists we often talk with clients about the main ingredients necessary to maintain wellness such as nutrition, exercise, sleep, stress management, social connections, and mindfulness. How often do we mention media consumption?

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The claim reminded me of ones I sometimes hear in Germany: my grandfather was a secret resistance hero. Like any other significant movement, the civil rights movement created longing, exaggeration, and outright lies. When the shouting is all over, who doesn’t wish they’d been a hero?

Neiman, Susan. Learning from the Germans: Race and the Memory of Evil (p. 153). Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Kindle Edition. 

After the evil behavior is over it is a common defense mechanism to assuage the guilt and shame of participating, or doing nothing, to imagine ourselves secret resistance heroes. It’s like the little girl who says to her father, “What did you do in the war daddy?”

We deal with our guilt by absolving ourselves of it by pretending we took courageous stands against the wrongdoing when at the time we were too afraid to do so. So we make stuff up or embellish what we did do to cast it in a more favorable light. 

How many people now will admit they voted for Donald Trump or one of his supporters who advocated the insurrection? The common excuse is “I didn’t know at the time.” Really? Ignorance isn’t an excuse, or is it?

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For book information click here.

Psychiatric diagnoses are notoriously invalid and unreliable. Study after study has shown this. 

I remember way back in the 80s when the DSM III came out, a study was done when the same case example was given to multiple diagnosticians in the US and the UK and something like 65% of US diagnosticians  diagnosed schizophrenia while 65% of diagnosticians in Great Britain diagnosed BiPolar. I thought that finding was a hoot. There are few psychiatric diagnoses where a differential diagnosis has a bearing on treatment, but Bipolar is one because Lithium just came into common use and was pretty effective.

One of the models of psychotherapy where external factors are taken seriously and incorporated into treatment is Narrative therapy which Michael White and David Epston pioneered. One of the key concepts in Narrative therapy is externalization. The person's not the problem, the problem is the problem. Externalizing the problem leads to "externalizing conversations." I start each one of my psychotherapy sessions asking, "What's happened to you since we last met?"

I remember Michael White consulting on a case where a 10 year old child suffered from significant symptoms of ADHD. The parents had taken him to therapist after therapist and tried all kinds of medications to no avail. Finally they wind up in Michael's office as kind of a last ditch effort. 

After saying hello to the parents and the boy and listening to their story about how they had wound up in his office, when the parents tell Michael their son has been diagnosed with severe ADHD, Michael asks with a straight face, "That's very interesting. What kind does he have?" 

The parents were quite taken back, and said, "We didn't know there were different kinds." 

Michael says, "Oh, yes," and looks at the boy and asks, "What kind of ADHD do you have?" 

The kid says, "The kind that gives me headaches and keeps me awake at night."

And a wonderful externalizing conversation goes on from there that left the boy and the parents hopeful that there were things that could be done to interfere with the nasty things the ADHD was doing to their lives.

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The Matel toy company makes the Barbie doll and all the outfits and other paraphernalia. The toy has become a cultural icon with multiple generations of girls having played with the doll since its launch into the American toy market in 1959.The Barbie doll is loved and much sought after but also the target of multiple feminist and cultural critiques.

In the movie the stereotypical Barbie is the main character who travels between the world of toyland and the human world. She goes through a crisis of identity entailing whether she wants to stay in perfect toyland or the imperfect human world.

This is not a kid’s movie. It is intended for an adult audience presenting a cultural critique in a colorful, comedic, and thoughtful way. The question of whether Matel’s Barbie toy dynasty is a force for good or evil or both is explored throughout the film in a playful way (no pun intended.)

The main point seems to be that Barbie has empowered women to be more than housewives and mothers of the 50s to independent, self assured, empowered people in a slowly atrophying patriarchal society of today.

The movie might be required in a sociology course which uses cinema to demonstrate social norms and attitudes and how they develop and evolve over time. It could be recommended to people struggling with issues of authenticity, genuineness, self worth and self esteem. Barbie was a social icon of sorts which fueled the imaginations of millions of American girls who created all kinds of stories of social and personal identity in their play. The movie is also of interest to people who care about cultural history and how its knowledge can be used for self and social understanding.

Barbie earns a 4 out of 5 on Markham’s cinematherapy scale.

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It’s impossible to reconcile that sense of gentleness with the knowledge that more people were lynched here than anywhere else in the country, and lynch is a word that hides more than it shows. They were hacked to pieces, burned to death slowly, fingers and teeth sold as souvenirs to the mobs who drove for miles to witness and jeer. Mississippians’ beloved Jesus, mocked as he hung dying, did not suffer more. It’s hard to square with any definition of gentle I know.

Neiman, Susan. Learning from the Germans: Race and the Memory of Evil (pp. 139-140). Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Kindle Edition. 

Neiman is describing the lynching that occurred in Mississippi in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century and I say to myself, “Who are these people who do such things to other human beings?” What is the thought system and value system that contributes to people doing such things to other people? To what extent do these thought and value systems still exist in the US? We still see this kind of brutality today in the cases of Trayvon Martin, George Floyd, Tamir Rice, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Aubery, Sandra Bland, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Freddie Gray, etc.

These situations have been dealt with as if they were cases of "bad apples" rather than part of a pattern of behavior condoned by administrative and political power perpetrated by people voted for office by the citizens of their communities.

When we point the finger at the people in Germany who perpetrated the anti-semitic holocaust, we should remind ourselves of the people of America who continue to support the racist policies and practices targeted toward BIPOC people.

Where does responsibility lie for the continuation of this behavior, attitudes, and values? These behaviors, attitudes, and values are baked into our culture and it is forbidden now in some states such as Florida to even mention it in school and university settings.

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One of the points of Critical Race Theory is that even those who didn't own slaves did benefit from slavery. For example slaves were used to grow cotton in the south. That cheap cotton was shipped north where it was woven into thread which was woven into cloth which was made into clothing which was worn by people all over the country. All along the supply chain the various components benefited by cheap cotton produced with stolen, uncompensated labor.

All the components of the supply chain were parts of the economic system in which the whole country participated. It would be very few who could say they were immune to participation in this economic system.

The conservatives hate it when this participation is pointed out because it makes them feel guilty and they don't like the uncomfortable feelings of guilt so they project them on others. Most people participate in this system unconsciously and not intentionally and until their participation is pointed out and when it is  they have to make a choice: to continue to participate or not.

The saying "ignorance is bliss" applies in these situations because life is so much easier and simpler when my inadvertent participation is unknown. So in the Southern Slave states they ban the teaching of CRT because it does make people feel guilty and unconscious people should be spared the distress of becoming conscious. However, the conservatives are not exercising compassion but rather are attempting to keep people in the dark so that the economic system from which they benefit is not disrupted. These conservatives would rather that people be kept blind and stupid because then they are much more easily manipulated and, as they say, "everyone is better off." It seems that there are a lot of people who support this as books are banned and curriculums are censored.

Ignorance is bliss. And so it goes..............

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Do you need to relaunch, rebuild or start a new program this fall?    

In this live strategy session, I share tips and strategies for rebuilding programs especially when you are starting over from scratch.

How do you gather people and get them excited when you have NOTHING??!!   

How do you avoid having people see they are the only ______ (young adult, young family, etc...) and run for the door? 

How do you communicate honestly about having nothing while gathering people to form a new amazing ministry, program, or community? 

I've worked across areas of congregational life and have started many programs over the years including programs for children, youth, young adults, and adult small group programs.

This session shares successful approaches plus some of the latest from my hands-on work with congregations.

Listen via my podcast.

I know things are challenging but I want you to pause and ask yourself an important questions.  Are you vision-casting or manifesting a congregational death spiral? If you have a budget problen, gloom and doom talk is going to make it worse!  Here's a live stream on this topic followed by a shorter 5 minute version.

Full 28 minute live stream:

Listen via my podcast.

I’ve been reviewing congregational fundraising communications. Many communicators are so caught up in their challenges, the congregation’s vision has been lost. In this session, how gloom and doom communication can undermine your fundraising capacity especially with newcomers and how you might approach it instead.

🚀 KEY TAKEAWAY:
The last few years have left most congregations with fewer members than before the pandemic. This is driving widespread budget deficits.

As leaders and communicators you get to choose how you frame the challenges you are facing. You can frame pandemic re-building challenges with a gloom and doom "gap" approach or a rocket "relaunching" vision, growth, and innovative approach. Which do you think is going to energize newcomers and your donors?

ROCKET LAUNCH!!! 💰

Again, the same goal. Same budget challenge. Two ways to frame and tackle it = 💀 🚀

🤩 You can change how you communicate and, in turn, how people respond with your very next email, video, sermon, or donor meeting.

⚡ We also have amazing digital tools that can help you reach new people in your community in record time! We have incredible digital tools. I'm teaching new and updated digital ministry approaches online and via team strategy sessions all the time. If you are not using these tools and strategies, time to upgrade your approach!

UPDATE:

5 Tips for Congregations Facing Budget Deficits (in 5 minutes)
After discussing this topic in a live stream I was asked to make a five minute version to share with leaders. Here it is!

Our LGBT+ Unitarian Voices exhibition was in Brighton this month for the city’s famous Pride weekend. Beginning with a launch event on the evening of Thursday 3rd August, the exhibition at Brighton Unitarian Church was open to the public from Friday to Monday over Pride weekend, with a special event for sharing stories on Wednesday 9th. Brighton Unitarians had this message of inclusivity for their city: “We are proud to be hosting this exhibition as part of the Pride festivities in our city and look forward to seeing you!”

The LGBT+ Unitarian Voices exhibition is the outcome of an exciting project exploring the brave, inspiring, and sometimes challenging experiences of LGBT+ people in the Unitarian and Free Christian denomination. The project celebrates their stories by recording, archiving, and sharing them with the world. The exhibition was launched at the Unitarian Annual Meetings this Spring and then began a tour of the UK, starting at Ipswich and Norwich, before heading to Brighton. It will also be appearing in London, Manchester, Liverpool and many other places, so watch this space!

View our online LGBT+ Unitarian Voices exhibition here.

Interested in hosting the LGBT+ Unitarian Voices pop-up exhibition in your venue, church or community space? Get in touch.

The post LGBT+ Exhibition at Brighton Pride appeared first on The Unitarians.

UU A Way Of Life as of 08/16/23 has moved back to blogger. You are encouraged to follow the UU A Way Of Life posts there. uuawayoflife.org

You are not free to give up freedom, but only to deny it. You cannot do what God did not intend, because what He did not intend does not happen. Your gods do not bring chaos; you are endowing them with chaos, and accepting it of them. All this has never been. Nothing but the laws of God has ever been, and nothing but His Will will ever be. You were created through His laws and by His Will, and the manner of your creation established you a creator. What you have made is so unworthy of you that you could hardly want it, if you were willing to see it as it is. You will see nothing at all. And your vision will automatically look beyond it, to what is in you and all around you. Reality cannot break through the obstructions you interpose, but it will envelop you completely when you let them go. T-10.IV.5:1-10

A Course in Miracles (p. 347). Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. 

We are not free when we have been lied to, and we have been lied to continually by the world of the ego which tells us that its idols will make us happy. Once we get these idols of the ego out of the way we become aware of our freedom in the unconditional love of God.

In Unitarian Universalism some of us join together to affirm and promote the acceptance of one another and the encouragement to spiritual growth. This encouragement focuses on giving up the idols of the ego in favor of the unconditional love of God. This involves a rising above the things of this world of the ego so that we can dwell in the peace and bliss of the Divine. Jesus put it very accurately when He said, “Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.”

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God’s laws will keep your mind at peace because peace is His Will, and His laws are established to uphold it. His are the laws of freedom, but yours are the laws of bondage. Since freedom and bondage are irreconcilable, their laws cannot be understood together. The laws of God work only for your good, and there are no other laws beside His. Everything else is merely lawless and therefore chaotic. Yet God Himself has protected everything He created by His laws. Everything that is not under them does not exist. “Laws of chaos” is a meaningless term. Creation is perfectly lawful, and the chaotic is without meaning because it is without God. You have “given” your peace to the gods you made, but they are not there to take it from you, and you cannot give it to them. T-10.IV.4:1-

Schucman, Dr. Helen. A Course in Miracles (pp. 346-347). Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. 

There is the world of God, non dual Oneness and unconditional love, and the world of the ego, separation and conditional love. The laws of God’s world provide peace and bliss and the laws of the ego provide bondage and chaos. We cannot have both and in actuality the laws of the ego do not exist but are beliefs conjured by our imaginations. The imaginary laws of the ego can never give us peace and bliss because they are not real, not being based on truth.

In Unitarian Universalism some of us join together to affirm and promote justice, equity, and compassion in human relations. These are imaginary qualities in the world of the ego which are made up and are part of the laws of chaos. Compassion is based on forgiveness and forgiveness involves giving up making the world of the ego responsible for our unhappiness. Happiness will never come from the world of the ego because the world of the ego is based on illusions. Happiness can only come from turning our will over to the will of God. We would do well to stop looking for love in all the wrong places and instead turn our attention to the world of God.

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The fourth principle of Unitarian Universalism is to join together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. Pilate wasn't interested. He would not have been a good UU.

Pilate would have been a great member of the Trump administration which deals according to Trump’s spokesperson, Kellyanne Conway, in “alternative facts.”

Pilate scoffs as other government officials who tell the media, “What is truth?” The media tells their audience it is “fair and balanced” as if there is another side to the truth.

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After a fitful start, late ’80s West Germany seemed to have achieved a consensus: Nazi crimes are incomparable to any others, and any attempt to compare them is an attempt to get the Germans off the hook. One-half of Todorov’s principle—Germans should focus on the singularity of the Holocaust—was accepted.

Neiman, Susan. Learning from the Germans: Race and the Memory of Evil (p. 87). Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Kindle Edition. 

A primary defense to avoid taking responsibility for wrongdoing is to play the game of “what aboutism” in which the accused party points the finger at someone else to deflect the accusation and avoid taking responsibility.

Neiman writes that in the late 80s the West Germans decided not to play that game and take responsibility for what Germans did committing the holocaust. The first step in restoration of right relationship is to take responsibility for one’s own behavior.

In our current time, playing what aboutism is a favorite game of the GOP in defending itself from accusations about all of Trump’s lies and the insurrection and our news is full of stories about Hunter Biden’s lap top.

Children start playing this game at a very young age, about 4, when they cry, “He did it first!” as if this pointing the finger at others dissolves one’s own responsibility. As a couple’s counselor, I have witnessed this game played by couples very often when they face divorce as the mutual recriminations fly.

The Sonship cannot be perceived as partly sick, because to perceive it that way is not to perceive it at all. If the Sonship is One, it is One in all respects. Oneness cannot be divided. If you perceive other gods your mind is split, and you will not be able to limit the split, because it is the sign that you have removed part of your mind from God’s Will. This means it is out of control. To be out of control is to be out of reason, and then the mind does become unreasonable. By defining the mind wrongly, you perceive it as functioning wrongly. T-10.IV.3:1-7

Schucman, Dr. Helen. A Course in Miracles (p. 346). Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. 

The prime concept in A Course In Miracles is that God is the non dual Oneness of which we are a part if we choose to be aware of this. When we give up our separate egos we are filled with peace and bliss. When we remain separate,  we suffer. Some of us want it to be both ways, to be one with God and also to retain our egos. This passage teaches that we can’t have it both ways. It’s one or the other. Either we are One with God or we stay in our ego. There is no such thing as being partly in our ego and also One with God. This idea, the Course teaches, is unreasonable and doesn’t work that way. It’s all or nothing.

In Unitarian Universalism some of us join together to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person. This inherent worth and dignity comes from our Oneness with God and has nothing to do with our egos. Most people who call themselves UUs don’t seem to understand this. They continue to seek social justice for their egos and have forgotten what religion is for, the Atonement, healing the separation. Were they healed, social justice would become moot.

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Neiman writes in Chapter Three, Cold War Memory, in her book Learning From The Germans “There are crucial facets of any successful attempt to work off a nation’s criminal past.” p.84 Then she lists five of these facets:

1. A coherent and widely accepted national narrative.

2. Narratives start with words and are reinforced by symbols, and many symbols involve remembering the dead.

3. Narratives are transported by education.

4. Words are more powerful when set to music.

5. Things like prison cells and cash.

I would add a few things from moral psychology:

1. Naming the crimes and sins.

2. Providing an opportunity for an offender - victim reconciliation meeting

3. Taking responsibility for engaging in the harmful behavior by giving those harmed their say about what happened to them, engaging in a good faith explanation of the factors that contributed to the behavior occurring, expressing a heartfelt apology, making amends to repair the harm.

The most difficult hurdle to restoration of healthy relationships is step one and often must be initiated by a third party.

God said to Adam and Eve in the Garden Of Eden when they ate the forbidden fruit, “What have you done?” At this point, self awareness was born in the human psyche. Sometimes the tree described to children as an apple tree is called the “tree of knowledge of good and evil.” It might better be called the tree of self awareness.

The memory of evil is the first step in restoration or redemption. If it can’t be named it can’t be redeemed.

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Reality can dawn only on an unclouded mind. It is always there to be accepted, but its acceptance depends on your willingness to have it. To know reality must involve the willingness to judge unreality for what it is. To overlook nothingness is merely to judge it correctly, and because of your ability to evaluate it truly, to let it go. Knowledge cannot dawn on a mind full of illusions, because truth and illusions are irreconcilable. Truth is whole, and cannot be known by part of a mind. T-10.IV.2:1-6

Schucman, Dr. Helen. A Course in Miracles (p. 346). Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. 

The bumper reads, “Reality cares nothing about your beliefs.” Most people’s minds are clogged with bullshit. How can one be aware of reality when their mind is clouded over? Until one wants to clear the clouds of bullshit away, reality can’t be apprehended.

In Unitarian Universalism some of us join together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. This search involves recognizing, acknowledging, and discarding bullshit. So much of what UUs study, teach, and pursue these days is bullshit and is it any wonder that the denomination is so small and not growing? The denomination has great intentions of searching for truth and meaning, but it has no idea where to search and what it takes to discern the Truth.

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All magic is an attempt at reconciling the irreconcilable. All religion is the recognition that the irreconcilable cannot be reconciled. Sickness and perfection are irreconcilable. If God created you perfect, you are perfect. If you believe you can be sick, you have placed other gods before Him. God is not at war with the god of sickness you made, but you are. He is the symbol of deciding against God, and you are afraid of him because he cannot be reconciled with God’s Will. If you attack him, you will make him real to you. But if you refuse to worship him in whatever form he may appear to you, and wherever you think you see him, he will disappear into the nothingness out of which he was made. T-10.IV.1:1-9

Schucman, Dr. Helen. A Course in Miracles (pp. 345-346). Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. 

Bullshit is not lying but rather not caring about the truth and just saying things to impress and manipulate other people with no regard for the truth whatsoever. Magic is what the Course calls bullshit. Bull shit and the truth are irreconcilable and religion, spirituality, realizes that a person can’t have both. You can believe the bullshit or believe the truth. My friend, Jim, told me “You can’t bullshit a bullshitter.” We both laughed but he was wrong. A bullshitter can bullshit a bullshitter. It also is called “the blind leading the blind.” And once the bullshit has all been produced, and spread, and deteriorates , what is left? The Truth.

In Unitarian Universalism some of us join together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. However, even given this principle, there is a tremendous amount of bullshit in UU. The problem that UUs have is that they have no way of discerning the Truth from the bullshit. There is no one text or synod of authority to appeal to. UUs believe that each congregation on its own can discern bullshit from Truth and so each congregation does its own thing which has led to disastrous results similar to the biblical story of the Tower of Babel.

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Beliefs, opinions, values, and practices are the components of a psychological legacy which is transmitted down through the generations in thought, word, and deed.

Do the sins of the fathers contaminate the children? And if so, for how long? It’s a question that quietly underlies German discourse, from sociological tomes to tabloids, since the late 1960s. The fear has overshadowed so many German lives that it’s hard to find anyone who’s entirely free of it. This is psychology, not piety. It’s not easy to feel touched by what your great-grandfather did; chances are, you never knew him. It’s another story if his sins continue down another generation or so, and that is indeed the problem. None of us can entirely escape the residues of attitude transmitted from mother to daughter, father to son, unless we are bitterly scrupulous. Even then, those who make an effort to reject those attitudes are likely to retain their traces.

Neiman, Susan. Learning from the Germans: Race and the Memory of Evil (p. 65). Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Kindle Edition.

This month the Allnonfiction book discussion group is reading Learning From The Germans by Susan Nieman. There will be some posts in August, 2023 about this book.

Here is a brief discussion of a topic, working-off-the-past posted to the list today, 08/08/23.

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Americans love private property. Nobody goes to the beach when they have a swimming pool in their own backyard.

I learned a lot from Poverty, By America by Matthew Desmond

Poverty is one of those dynamics of culture that affects everyone in the culture. Most people are unaware of its function in the society in which they live. The thought system operating at the stage of modernity upholds the belief in free markets, private property, zero sum capitalism, and reductive cause and effect. This belief system has improved the welfare of humanity but also has contributed to a social Darwinism which supports the survival of the fittest economically. This view has contributed to a cruelty and even sadism that is very destructive for the society and which risks the end of the very society which has supported it.

Some of us have learned the toxic effects of free market capitalism based on it zero sum belief system and have called upon the members of the society to awaken from their belief in it so that the society that benefits from it can become aware of its limitations and move on to the next stage of human evolution which is the understanding that to survive human sapiens must appreciate and nurture the commons.

I live in Hilton, NY where, while Lake Ontario is only 6 miles away, few people go to the beach any more because they are in the backyard with just a few selected others swimming in their pool and barbecuing as the climate deteriorates around them,

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A code is a set of rules and regulations which govern behavior. In sociology they are called “norms and attitudes.” These codes are often unconscious and are understood simply as the “way things are done,” and “the way things are.” The beliefs, values, and practices of the cultural code are held as the “truth” by those utilizing that code for living their lives in the society they find themselves conditioned and socialized in. Usually, people socialized at lower level codes are not even aware that other cultural codes and stages of psychosocial development exist.

Understanding the cultural code is the expertise of one of the authorities in the culture. This authority figure understands what makes the culture tick. They use this knowledge for their own benefit and for their class. Outsiders are marginalized and dominated by those who know. An important form of power is to “keep people in the dark.” Knowledge and skills are only provided on a “need to know basis.”

Unlocking the secret of cultural codes is what we intend to do. Currently, only a few people deeply involved in human development really understand the cultural codes that inform the ways we think and the values we live by. But that is changing. It is time for all of us to gain entry to understanding our own humanity.

Beck, Don Edward; Hebo Larsen, Teddy; Solonin, Sergey; Viljoen, Rica; Johns, Thomas Q.. Spiral Dynamics in Action: Humanity's Master Code (p. 24). Wiley. Kindle Edition. 

Donald Trump said during the 2016 presidential campaign to the people fearful of their perceived helplessness and sense of victimization, “I alone can fix it.” And they voted for him to save them from the doom they falsely apprehended.

Donald Trump provided a message to people at the egocentric level of psychosocial development who believe in the strong warrior code where might makes right. Trump’s promise to unlock the secrets of the cultural code that resonated with them led to their choosing him to lead them out of their experience of fear caused by their ways of thinking which are no longer relevant to current planetary circumstances. The egocentric way of thinking in this era of American history being at a lower level of development than required in the time of global interdependent way of life on planet Earth led to harmful consequences for the people of the United States and other countries.

Understanding codes of psychosocial development and how they are facilitated and sustained by societies in which individuals participate is fundamental to being an aware, wise citizen at our current stage of human development.

The age of the strong warrior and egocentric thinking is past if homo sapiens are to survive as a species.

In the next article the characteristics of the various cultural codes will be described.

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Be mindful of what you want to learn.

A Course In Miracles teaches a curriculum that we all must learn sooner or later which is about the unconditional love of God. There are many ways to learn this; ACIM is only one. There are many roads to Rome and many ways to skin the cat. Having investigated many paths to learning the unconditional love of God, ACIM, for me, seems to be the best supplemented by others.

The Course teaches that we learn what we teach and we teach what we want to learn. Whether we are consciously aware of it or not, and probably not due to the conditioning of the world of the ego, we are teaching all the time by demonstrating who we think we are to ourselves and to others. We also are constantly teaching others what they are to us.

The Course teaches that life, at its ultimate basis, is very simple: do we teach the thought system based on unconditional love or conditional love? It is important to remember that we learn about the thought system we teach. Be mindful of what you want to learn.

This commentary is based on The Manual For Teachers.Introduction. Paragraphs 1 and 2.

Questions for reflection and possibly discussion:

1. What do you think about the idea that sooner or later all human beings have to learn about unconditional love?

2. What paths have contributed to your learning about unconditional love, if any?

3. What do you think about the idea that we always are teaching what we think about ourselves and others by how we act?

4. What do you think about the idea that we have two basic choices about how we live our lives: teaching about the unconditional life of God or the conditional love of the world of the ego?

5. When, if ever, did you realize that you have a choice about what you learn based on what you teach?

6. Based on this lesson to what extent has your awareness been raised about your choices in what you want to learn and the influence in learning that by teaching.

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Among the most accomplished and fabled tribes in Africa, no tribe was considered to have warriors more fearsome or more intelligent than the mighty Masai. It is perhaps surprising then to learn the traditional greeting that passed between Masai warriors. “Kasserian ingera,” one would always say to another. It means, “And how are the children?”

It is still the traditional greeting among the Masai, acknowledging the high value that the Masai always place on their childrens’ well-being. Even warriors with no children of their own would always give the traditional answer. “All the children are well.” Meaning, of course, that peace and safety prevail, that the priorities of protecting the young, the powerless are in place, that Masai society has not forgotten its reason for being, its proper functions and responsibilities. “All the children are well,” means that life is good. It means that the daily struggles of existence even among a poor people, do not preclude proper caring for its young. I wonder how it might affect our consciousness

Degruy, Joy . Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America's Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing (p. 14). Kindle Edition. 

This month my nonfiction book discussion group has been reading Poverty, By America by Matthew Desmond. It is an excellent book and has taken me back to my roots in Social Work when I and others cared about poverty and its devastating effects on human development and well being.

Desmond is a Sociologist and focuses on the structural aspects of poverty and the function it serves in a capitalistic and semi-democratic society. This perspective has encouraged my thinking about mental health in America from a public health perspective and led to my re-appreciation of the fact that mental health is not simply a clinical problem to be managed at the micro level.

I picked up Dr. Joy DeGruy's book Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome  in a used book shop which has added more fuel to the fire burning in my mind and heart about what my life's work has been about for the last 55 years. So please join me as I explore mental health from a sociological and public health perspective on my substack at davidgmarkham.substack.com. You will find a series of articles on the topic of mental health from a public health and sociological as well as clinical perspective.

Social Workers are trained in systems theory and to view human problems at a micro, mezzo, and macro level. The idea is that we do a disservice when we focus on the problem at only one level without including the others.

The Masai greeting is one that perhaps we should practice in the U.S.

So I greet you, "How are the children?"

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This makes the country’s stalled progress on poverty even more baffling. Decade after decade, the poverty rate has remained flat even as federal relief has surged. How could this be? Part of the answer, I learned, lies in the fact that a fair amount of government aid earmarked for the poor never reaches them. To understand why, consider welfare. When welfare was administered through the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program, almost all of its funds were used to provide single-parent families with cash assistance.[12] But when President Bill Clinton reformed welfare in 1996, replacing the old model with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), he transformed the program into a block grant that gives states considerable leeway in deciding how to distribute the money. As a result, states have come up with rather creative ways to spend TANF dollars. Nationwide, for every dollar budgeted for TANF in 2020, poor families directly received just 22 cents.

Desmond, Matthew. Poverty, by America (p. 28). Crown. Kindle Edition. 

One of the big reasons that poverty continues to exist at the scale it does in the US is corruption. Most of the money intended to help poor families gets siphoned off by state legislators and executives for things like Brett Farve’s volleyball stadium at his daughter’s college in Mississippi, the state with the highest rate of child poverty.

What kind of a thought system contributes to this kind of mismanagement and immorality? What kind of thinking leads to human suffering and harm even when resources are available to ameliorate the situation?

The thinking that leads to this kind of dysfunction is based at the egocentric/exploitive stage in the Spiral Dynamics model which is about dominance of the strongest for the benefit of self and one’s immediate group. This way of thinking is considered normal around ages 3 - 7 when adults attempt to teach egocentric children the skills of cooperation and sharing for mutual benefit and facilitate their development to the next stage which is ethnocentric thinking which champions the welfare of the group with which one  identifies and belongs. 

Poverty exists in the United States because the developmental level of the majority of the population has been arrested at this egocentric stage. The thinking and behavior is about “me and mine” rather than “us and ours.”

The egocentric thought system can be thought of as narcissistic and in the US is admired and supported by the majority of the population who elected in 2016 a sociopathic narcissist to be their president. He immediately gave tax cuts to the richest 10% of the population and denigrated poor people as rapists, drug dealers, and people who came here from “shit hole” countries. It is this kind of thinking which leads to the poverty in the United States which is concentrated in the southern states where human enslavement has been the basis for their economic development from the founding of their state and continues today.

The likelihood of poverty rates changing in these states is low as long as the thought system of the people who elect their governmental leaders does not mature to higher levels. The esteem for the rich and disdain for the poor must change if the belief system and consequent behavior is to change. 

As we have learned from the civil rights era, the best way to bring about social change is not in changing beliefs but in changing behavior. Behavior is changed when the consequences for behavior changes with new sets of rewards and punishments. Behavior often has to change before beliefs change because new behavior facilitates the development of new thinking. 

Corruption often is rewarding and therefore there is an incentive to engage in it. Martin Luther King, Jr. said he realized that he could not change the attitude of racists. What he was attempting to do was make discrimination illegal. Social change occurs when the incentives for behavior changes. Poverty exists because those in power make money exploiting human resources. This exploitation takes many forms but the dynamic is the same based on a thought system which thinks that dominating others for one’s own benefit is desirable.

Editor’s note: This is one of several articles on poverty and the social welfare system in the United States.

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Today's headlines are just revealing the symptoms – not the cause. 

We each have many ways of seeing things – lenses that color our perception of the world. We don't all think alike. We don't all have the same values. We don't all see the world through the same lens. That is what makes the twenty-first century so complex and dangerous. 

We now have more than six billion humans with different world views connected by migration, air travel and the internet into one intermingled whole. Most of us are convinced that our view is right, our values are right. We are pushing and shoving and growling and threatening and carrying banners that say, “My way or no way.” Some of us are even killing each other.

Beck, Don Edward; Hebo Larsen, Teddy; Solonin, Sergey; Viljoen, Rica; Johns, Thomas Q.. Spiral Dynamics in Action: Humanity's Master Code (p. xvii). Wiley. Kindle Edition. 

I struggle to make sense out of all the bullshit. The bullshit is constant in our post truth world where we all deal in "alternative facts" as Kellyanne Conway, Trump's spokesperson told the media, meaning that there is no truth. She was asked by a reporter if "alternative facts" are lies and she bullshat her way out of that saying that "alternative facts" is just a difference in perspective. She might have said that there is no truth, no accuracy, no validity, no reliability, any line of bullshit is okay because as the ex President said about the White Supremacist rally at Charlottesville, "There are good people on both sides."

Harry Frankfurt the philosophy professor who wrote the now classic book "On Bullshit" back in 2005 defined bullshit as different from lying because liars care about what the truth is while bullshitters have no regard for any truth at all.

So now that we are living in the age of bullshit with no moral compass, no "guard rails" as the pundits like to call them, how is one to orient themselves in the sea of narcissistic nihilism? Spiral Dynamics provides us with a map to guide us through this treacherous terrain of incoherence.

I encourage my readers to get a copy of the book Spiral Dynamics In Action: Humanity's Master Code by Don Beck and others and study this model with me. It will restore you to sanity.

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Northern Florida is cold in January and I walk fast for warmth but also because, though the neighborhood is antique—huge Victorian houses radiating outward into 1920s bungalows, then mid-century modern ranches at the edges—it’s imperfectly safe. There was a rape a month ago, a jogger in her fifties pulled into the azaleas; and, a week ago, a pack of loose pit bulls ran down a mother with a baby in her stroller and mauled both, though not to death. 

It’s not the dogs’ fault, it’s the owners’ fault! dog lovers shouted on the neighborhood email list, but those dogs were sociopaths.

When the suburbs were built, in the seventies, the historic houses in the center of town were abandoned to graduate students who heated beans over Bunsen burners on the heart-pine floors and sliced apartments out of ballrooms. When neglect and humidity caused the houses to rot and droop and develop rusty scales, there was a second abandonment, to poor people, squatters.

Groff, Lauren. Florida (p. 2). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. 

The last paragraph describes what happened to Brockport, NY, but it was in the 60s. The slumlords bought up these old beautiful Victorian houses, cut them up into apartments, filled them with college tenants on semester long leases, and let them disintegrate. Destroyed the charming, family friendly village I grew up in.

Life goes on and just leaves us grieving for the beauty and goodness that existed before profit making came to town and exploited it,

I wrote a little book about it way back in 2014.

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Sheepish is about a married lesbian couple who start and maintain a sheep farm in Minnesota. The book describes mostly raising sheep and what is done with the wool produced. It also describes the author's ambivalence about farming, her marriage, and her purpose in life. The book describes the struggles and joys of working a small family farm that brings one back to nature. The chapters are short, informative, descriptive, and witty.

I learned alot about sheep and wool. I also learned about how to tolerate and manage ambivalence in one’s life. The story also describes a connection with nature and a back-to-the-earth  way of life.

I recommend this book to people who are stuck in a mid-life crisis or looking for purpose and meaning in life. The book earns a 9 on a 10 point scale.

To remember is merely to restore to your mind what is already there. You do not make what you remember; you merely accept again what is already there, but was rejected. The ability to accept truth in this world is the perceptual counterpart of creating in the Kingdom. God will do His part if you will do yours, and His return in exchange for yours is the exchange of knowledge for perception. Nothing is beyond His Will for you. But signify your will to remember Him, and behold! He will give you everything but for the asking. T-10.II.3:1-7

Schucman, Dr. Helen. A Course in Miracles (p. 340). Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. 

When we are incarnated into our physical body at birth we forget from whence we came and are socialized into the world of the ego. This socialization is based on a conditioned faculty of perceiving. This perception seems true enough to us that we forget about our ultimate reality which is our non dual Oneness with God. 

The experience of Transcendent Oneness is the eleventh skill out of twenty-one in Cindy Wigglesworth’s model of Spiritual Intelligence. To what extent have you experienced cosmic consciousness, a oneness with the Universe: never, once, a few times, many times, whenever I focus on it? This ability to become aware of our cosmic Oneness is that spiritual traditions call “awakening,” and “enlightenment.” We can wake up when we become aware that our ego perceptions are illusions and are not real in the realm of cosmic consciousness. Jesus said that we should give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that our God. So while we are here in our bodies, we live in two worlds. We are living in parallel worlds. Which one do you prefer?

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In the July, 2023 issue of Psychology Today magazine there is an article entitled “Pulling No Punches” by Tyler Woods which is an interview he does with Deontary Wilder who held the heavyweight boxing title from 2015 - 2020.

Here are some disturbing quotes from the article:

It’s rare to see a boxer cry out of compassion after a match. What were you feeling after the Helenius fight? 

Being a fighter, you go in there and put your life on the line for others’ entertainment. I was speaking also of another fighter, Prichard Colon. [Colon is currently in a vegetative state after an injury suffered in the ring.] Prichard was the breadwinner of his family. Now, he can’t feed himself. To see this young man, his life all of a sudden changed, seemingly in the snap of a finger, that saddened me. Doctors always tell me, “The head is not meant to be hit.” This is a cold business.

Editor’s note - It is more than just a “cold business.” It is immoral. In this sport one person is deliberately trying to injure their opponent by concussing them. If this happened anywhere outside of the sport it would be considered criminal.

You’ve said that the mental health of boxers is visible only behind the scenes. What should people know that they don’t know?

A lot of fighters don’t want to reveal what’s going on with them. They try to be tough, to keep that persona up. But PTSD is very common among fighters. Mental illness is a big thing in boxing. I think a lot of fighters should get checked out.

Editor’s note - To engage in a sport where the object is to concuss an opponent is immoral, and requires an immature thought system which valorizes this kind of egocentric behavior which some might say is psychopathic.

In a mature society that has achieved a higher level of spiritual intelligence, gladiatorial combat would no longer be acceptable for any reason let alone entertainment. As Wilder says “you go in there and you put your life on the line for other’s entertainment.” Who are those “others” who pay for such a spectacle? Is this enjoyment a form of sadistic schadenfreude? Should such entertainment be made illegal?

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More and more the issue of phone tracking has come up in therapy. Parents are tracking their kids and romantic partners are tracking each other and employers are tracking their employees and marketers are tracking customers.

It is easy to download tracking apps for phones and other electronic devices and simply to monitor a phone's location when the app is turned on which many websites request and sometimes every require.

Placing people under surveillance and stalking raises questions such as: Are people with certain types of personalities more likely to surveil and stalk than others? When is surveilling and stalking another appropriate? To what extent is stalking an indicator of the qualities of trust and security in a relationship?

Surveilling and stalking others electronically is a generational thing. It was not unheard of but very difficult before the advent of cell phone technology. Now the practice is ubiquitous. Some have called it putting others on an electronic leash.

Coupled with the ability to tract is the ability to text which many insist calls for an immediate response. A person who resists this is considered rude, guilty, uncaring and contributes to conflict.

People who are insecure and rejection sensitive suffer the most from the availability of this technology. The desire for reassurance and contact is often insatiable unless there are clear, consistent limits placed on the need to surveil, stalk and obtain immediate connection.

In general the use of this technology to surveil, stalk, locate, and contact others may have more disadvantages than advantages and should be used only with clear understanding of the purpose and consent of the parties involved.

In most cases, especially in romantic relationships the use of surveillance technology is a bad idea because it erodes the trust and peace of the parties involved.

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George Orwell warned us of this kind of silencing by the government in his novel,  1984, where the government of Oceania tried to control people's thoughts by censoring their use of language. The allowed language was called "Newspeak".

The actions by the Georgia State Education commission to forbid the use of words like “equity” and “inclusion” in public school teachers lesson plans are a further symptom of totalitarianism which is infecting the people of the United States.

The infection of totalitarian thinking is much more pervasive in some states than in others. The fact that Newspeak has infected the Georgia State Education Commission is noteworthy because of their power to infect all the public school teachers in the State of Georgia who can then pass the infection on to their students and students' families.

As this infection of Newspeak spreads throughout the South, how will the citizens of those states be able to collaborate and cooperate with others in the current world where equity and inclusiveness are ever important principles in creating our mutual life together on this planet?  

Unitarian Universalists have seven principles which they covenant together to affirm and promote. The second principle is equity, justice, and compassion in human relations. You can read more about this here.

The Georgia State Education Commission’s policy is not only in violation of the Unitarian Universalist second principle, it diminishes the development and strengthening of several of the skills of spiritual intelligence such as “awareness of worldview of others,” “awareness of the interconnectedness of life,” “awareness of the limitations of human perception,” awareness of spiritual laws regarding love of one’s fellow humans”, etc.

This policy of the Georgia State Education commission is indicative of the low level of spiritual intelligence of the people in  leadership in the Georgia State government. In the future the level of spiritual intelligence of the candidates for political office should be taken into consideration for whom to cast one’s vote.

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This is the first of many, many planned posts on spiritual intelligence. Please join us in our spiritual intelligence discussion group. You can sign up here. https://groups.io/g/SpiritualIntelligence

Socrates said that an unexamined life is not worth living. How many people do you know that live examined lives? Are you one of them?

What makes you tick? Do you understand why you think what you think, why you feel what you feel, why you do what you do, why you want what you want?

To what extent do you think you can influence the creation of your life or are victimized by it?

The first skill in spiritual intelligence is thinking about what you think. In spiritual practice this is called “contemplation.” Contemplation is thinking about what you think and understanding what you think about what you think. This skill of contemplation is also sometimes called “meta-cognition”. Another term is “mindfulness”. 

On a scale of Low, Medium, High how would you rate your level of self understanding? 

To what extent do you understand what makes you tick?

To what extent can you explain the factors that make you tick to a nonjudgmental person?

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Please join me in discussing spiritual intelligence on the Spiritual Intelligence discussion listserv.

We will be discussing what spiritual intelligence is and how to nurture it.

If you subscribe, your first two messages to the group will be moderated to ensure that the messages are coming from a human and not a robot. After the first two messages to the list are determined to be of human origin your posts will not be moderated.

You can subscribe here: spiritualintelligence+subscribe@groups.io

Thank you for your consideration, and possible joining us,

David Markham

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Today our daily postings of the A Course In Miracles and Unitarian Universalism is being discontinued.

The postings henceforth will be periodic and depend on reader request.

If you have questions, concerns, comments, forward them to davidgmarkham@gmail.com.

If you have been following this thread, thank you for reading it.

Eternity is one time, its only dimension being “always.” This cannot mean anything to you until you remember God’s open Arms, and finally know His open Mind. Like Him, you are “always"; in His Mind and with a mind like His. In your open mind are your creations, in perfect communication born of perfect understanding. Could you but accept one of them you would not want anything the world has to offer. Everything else would be totally meaningless. God’s meaning is incomplete without you, and you are incomplete without your creations. Accept your brother in this world and accept nothing else, for in him you will find your creations because he created them with you. You will never know that you are co-creator with God until you learn that your brother is co-creator with you. T-9.VI.7: 1-9

A Course in Miracles (pp. 329-330). Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. 

One for all and all for one forever is one way of summarizing the above passage.

In Unitarian Universalism some of us join together to affirm and promote the love for the interdependent web of existence of which we all are a part.

Today it is suggested that we consider that the world is bigger than any one of us and can be described as the “eternal now.”

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Miracles have no place in eternity, because they are reparative. Yet while you still need healing, your miracles are the only witnesses to your reality that you can recognize. You cannot perform a miracle for yourself, because miracles are a way of giving acceptance and receiving it. In time the giving comes first, though they are simultaneous in eternity, where they cannot be separated. When you have learned they are the same, the need for time is over. T-9.VI.6: 1-5

A Course in Miracles (p. 329). Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. 

The miracle, according to A Course In Miracles, is when the shift in perception from the world of the ego to the nondual Oneness occurs. When we experience a miracle, time stands still. We experience what the Course calls a “holy instant.”

In Unitarian Universalism some of us join together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. The only true thing is the miracle state. The miracle is not magic and an alteration of natural events, it is an experience of cosmic consciousness.

Today it is suggested that  we stop what we are doing, take a deep breath, and momentarily become one with everything.

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You are not yet awake, but you can learn how to awaken. Very simply, the Holy Spirit teaches you to awaken others. As you see them waken you will learn what waking means, and because you have chosen to wake them, their gratitude and their appreciation of what you have given them will teach you its value. They will become the witnesses to your reality, as you were created witness to God’s. Yet when the Sonship comes together and accepts its Oneness it will be known by its creations, who witness to its reality as the Son does to the Father. T-9.VI.5: 1-5

A Course in Miracles (p. 329). Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. 

To awaken simply means that one overcomes their social conditioning and becomes aware of their essential self. Sometimes it is easier to see past other’s ego conditioning to their Divine Spark within than it is our own. When we see the Divine Spark in another person we remember who we, essentially, are.

In Unitarian Universalism some of us join together to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity in every person. When we perceive the inherent worth and dignity of each person we encounter, we become more aware of our own inherent worth and dignity.

Today it is suggested that we look for the Divine Spark in each person and connect with it and experience it within ourselves (plural.) Jesus said that the Kingdom of God is within us beneath our social conditioning.

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God is more than you only because He created you, but not even this would He keep from you. Therefore you can create as He did, and your dissociation will not alter this. Neither God’s light nor yours is dimmed because you do not see. Because the Sonship must create as one, you remember creation whenever you recognize part of creation. Each part you remember adds to your wholeness because each part is whole. Wholeness is indivisible, but you cannot learn of your wholeness until you see it everywhere. You can know yourself only as God knows His Son, for knowledge is shared with God. When you awake in Him you will know your magnitude by accepting His limitlessness as yours. But meanwhile you will judge it as you judge your brother’s, and will accept it as you accept his. T-9.VI.4:1-9

A Course in Miracles (pp. 328-329). Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. 

The Buddhist monk said to the hot dog vendor “Make me one with everything.” and we laugh, but supposing this scene and request is not seen as a joke, but a serious request? Could the hot dog vendor actually help the monk to become one with everything? The answer to this question in today’s passage is “Yes!” The hot dog vendor and the monk are already one with everything, they just don’t realize it. And this Oneness is what we are.

In Unitarian Universalism some of us join together to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person and this inherent worth and dignity comes from our Oneness with each other and with God.

Today it is suggested that we meditate, let go of all our ego thoughts, and become one with everything.

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If your brothers are part of you, will you accept them? Only they can teach you what you are, for your learning is the result of what you taught them. What you call upon in them you call upon in yourself. And as you call upon it in them it becomes real to you. God has but one Son, knowing them all as One. Only God Himself is more than they but they are not less than He is. Would you know what this means? If what you do to my brother you do to me, and if you do everything for yourself because we are part of you, everything we do belongs to you as well. Everyone God created is part of you and shares His glory with you. His glory belongs to Him, but it is equally yours. You cannot, then, be less glorious than He is. T-9.VI.3:1-11

A Course in Miracles (p. 328). Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. 

The saying is “All for one and one for all.” Another saying is “United we stand and divided we fall.” Jesus said that the Kingdom of God is within you (plural.)

In Unitarian Universalism some of us join together to affirm and promote the acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth. Unitarian Universalism is a religion of inclusivity not exclusivity. God loves all of God’s creations unconditionally. Any other belief is of the ego.

Today it is suggested that when we say we love certain people we should become aware of who we are leaving out and choose to include them.

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It seems to you that the Holy Spirit does not produce joy consistently in you only because you do not consistently arouse joy in others. Their reactions to you are your evaluations of His consistency. When you are inconsistent you will not always give rise to joy, and so you will not always recognize His consistency. What you offer to your brother you offer to Him, because He cannot go beyond your offering in His giving. This is not because He limits His giving, but simply because you have limited your receiving. The decision to receive is the decision to accept.T-9.VI.2:1-6

A Course in Miracles (p. 328). Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. 

One of the paradoxical principles taught by A Course In Miracles is that you learn what you teach. A corollary principle is that you receive what you give. If you would have joy, give joy for it is in the giving that joy is generated. These principles are not the way of the world of the ego but the say of the Spirit.

In Unitarian Universalism some of us join together to affirm and promote the acceptance of one another and the encouragement to spiritual growth. It is in this acceptance and encouragement that joy is manifested.

Today it is suggested that we reflect on what we want to receive and if it is loving, give it.

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How can you become increasingly aware of the Holy Spirit in you except by His effects? You cannot see Him with your eyes nor hear Him with your ears. How, then, can you perceive Him at all? If you inspire joy and others react to you with joy, even though you are not experiencing joy yourself there must be something in you that is capable of producing it. If it is in you and can produce joy, and if you see that it does produce joy in others, you must be dissociating it in yourself. T-9.VI.1:1-5

A Course in Miracles (p. 327). Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. 

People who are aware of the Holy Spirit working through them often report that the experience is mysterious to them and they have no idea where the inspiration comes from, how it is manifested, or how the influence it has is produced.

In Unitarian Universalism some of us join together to affirm and promote the acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth. How this works seems ephemeral at best and yet we understand what Jesus meant when he said, “Where two or more are gathered in my name, there I will be.”

Today it is suggested that we watch for the impact that the Holy Spirit has on those we interact with and then consider how this was manifested through us and thus become more aware of God’s unconditional love within ourselves.

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This course offers a very direct and a very simple learning situation, and provides the Guide Who tells you what to do. If you do it, you will see that it works. Its results are more convincing than its words. They will convince you that the words are true. By following the right Guide, you will learn the simplest of all lessons: By their fruits ye shall know them, and they shall know themselves. T-9.V.9:1-6

A Course in Miracles (p. 327). Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. 

There are many roads to Rome and many ways to skin the cat. We can ascend the mountain on multiple sides and still attain the same peak. A Course In Miracles is only one spiritual path. It assures us that it works, and the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

In Unitarian Universalism some of us join together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. The search takes many of us in different directions but the destination is the same: the non dual Oneness.

Today it is suggested that we review the many different paths we have taken which have led us to the one we are on now and how our journey at present is going. Then tell someone.

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Remember that you choose the guide for helping, and the wrong choice will not help. But remember also that the right one will. Trust Him, for help is His function, and He is of God. As you awaken other minds to the Holy Spirit through Him, and not yourself, you will understand that you are not obeying the laws of this world. But the laws you are obeying work. “The good is what works” is a sound though insufficient statement. Only the good can work. Nothing else works at all. T-9.V.8: 9-16

A Course in Miracles (p. 327). Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. 

How do we know if what we believe and say is helpful or not? Is it from the Holy Spirit or from the ego? If our beliefs and speech is from the ego, it will not help. But if our beliefs and speech is from the Holy Spirit it will. How to tell the difference? If it is from a place of conditional love, it is from the ego. If it is from the place of unconditional love, it is from the Holy Spirit.

In Unitarian Universalism some of us join together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. Does this search take us to the realm of the ego or to the realm of the Holy Spirit?

Today it is suggested that we be mindful of the place in which we place our faith: the world of the ego or the world of the Holy Spirit.

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A therapist does not heal; he lets healing be. He can point to darkness but he cannot bring light of himself, for light is not of him. Yet, being for him, it must also be for his patient. The Holy Spirit is the only Therapist. He makes healing clear in any situation in which He is the Guide. You can only let Him fulfill His function. He needs no help for this. He will tell you exactly what to do to help anyone He sends to you for help, and will speak to him through you if you do not interfere. T-9.V.8:1-8

A Course in Miracles (pp. 326-327). Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. 

As teachers of God we are conduits and extenders. God’s unconditional love passes through us to others. In order for this to occur we must be aware of it ourselves. We can’t share what we are not aware that we already have.

In Unitarian Universalism some of us join together to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person which arises from the unconditional love of their Transcendent Source.

Today it is suggested that we recognize, acknowledge, and accept God’s unconditional love for us and pay it forward.

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Ministers are spiritual leaders, who provide care, guidance and inspiration to our communities – and to the world. We believe in the importance of visionary leadership for our communities and offer training for ministers at Unitarian College and Harris Manchester College, Oxford. 

Applications for ministry training beginning in 2024 are now open. Apply online here. Click here to download the application guidance and declaration.

To find out more contact Simon Bland, our Ministry & Congregational Support Officer.

Deadline for applications: 12 September 2023

The post Apply for ministry training appeared first on The Unitarians.

Friday 14^th July saw the launch of the LGBT+ Unitarian Voices exhibition at the stunning and recently renovated Ipswich Unitarian Meeting House in Suffolk. The event included chalice lighting and a reflective introduction from Dr Lizzie Kingston Harrison, on of the exhibition’s creators, on the importance of lifting up the voices of marginalised groups within our movement, the moving ways in which storytelling can help us understand others and find acceptance ourselves, and an overview of the actions that prominent Unitarians have taken to change the cultural story around LGBT+ inclusion.

With plenty of time to explore the in-person and online elements of the exhibition and plenty lots of drinks and nibbles, the evening was a positive and exciting way to launch the touring exhibition banners and encourage people to share their own LGBT+ Unitarian stories.

The Mayor of Ipswich and local councillors were in attendance and left with a deeper understanding of our inclusive movement and the positive influence that Unitarians have had, especially during the campaign for same-sex marriage. 

Rev. Cliff Reed followed up the launch of the LGBT+ Voices exhibition with a Pride service the following Sunday. Ipswich Unitarians have a long history of standing up for LGBT+ rights, have attended local pride events for many years and are delighted to be licensed to carry out same-sex weddings.

View our online LGBT+ Unitarian Voices exhibition here.

Interested in hosting the LGBT+ Unitarian Voices pop-up exhibition in your venue, church or community space? Get in touch.

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On Wednesday 21 June, Shrewsbury Unitarian Church hosted a sell out performance by Shabaka Hutchings – his pre-Glastonbury warm up!  Shabaka is a MOBO award winning  jazz musician, composer and bandleader. He leads the band Sons of Kemet. He played to a rapt audience and left to a standing ovation!

Unitarian churches, chapels and meeting houses right around the UK host a wide range of spiritual, cultural and community events. Find congregations and spaces near you here.

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We are looking for three new people to join our Executive Committee. Could this be you – or someone in your congregation?

The Executive Committee of the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches is seeking applications for three members to be co-opted to fill vacant positions arising following the recent election process. The co-opted members will serve from July 2023 until the end of the Annual Meetings in April 2025.

The role of the Executive Committee is to work with the Chief Officer and staff team to lead and serve the Unitarian and Free Christian movement.

As Liz Slade, Chief Officer, wrote in a recent issue of the Inquirer: “This is an exciting time to be part of this leadership group, because of the nature of the challenges we are facing. Covid brought closer to home the fragility of many of our congregations, but also displayed the creativity and care they hold. We know that ‘more of the same’ could lead to chapels closing in the not-too-distant future, and we know in a movement like ours, the path to the future must be found locally, not imposed from the top down. So the work of leadership from Essex Hall is akin to that of gardeners – tending the soil, nurturing the seedlings, supporting the mighty oaks, taking care of the compost, having an eye on the weather, and the keeping the whole ecosystem in view.”

Executive Committee members represent the movement and are democratically elected by members across the country. They bring experience from within our movement and from their professional and voluntary work elsewhere. This may be in management, finance, communications, change management, charity governance, or some other experience that you would like to use in service of our denomination.

They meet around six times a year, usually in person in London, with dinner together the evening before a 9am to 5pm meeting. They also try to get together for a longer two-day meeting, and at times will have video conferences or make decisions over email.  

Who can stand for election?
Candidates should have been part of the Unitarian community for at least three years and have experience as a member of either their congregation’s governing body or similar committee, or have been a trustee of another charity. They will also need to fulfil the Charity Commission’s legal requirements for trustees.

How do I apply?
Applications need to be received by 13 July 2023. By following these links you can find further information, the application form, and declaration.

Questions
If you would like to know more about the work of the Executive Committee, or whether you should consider putting yourself forward, please do get in touch with either Liz Slade (Chief Officer) or Rev. Jo James (Convenor).

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Shrewsbury Unitarians have hosted a ‘Human Library‘ – a collection of individual human beings, drawn from different minority or marginalised groups in the community, that have somehow been exposed to stigma, misunderstanding or discrimination.

Each Human Library event is designed to facilitate interactions that challenge stereotypes and prejudice through conversation. During each 30 minute conversation, members of the public as ‘readers’ can access, encounter and engage with the life stories of each human ‘book’, by asking questions and by listening to the answers.

Attendees very much enjoyed the experience saying they appreciated: 

• “The invitation & permission from both books to take elements of what they shared and apply it to my own life and situation”
• “The openness. Moving the stories of people who have made a choice in their life much challenged ‘norms’ and expectations”
• “Loads of insights to process!”
• “Warmth/personality of book!”
• “That we all share the same basic experience of grief”

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Dover Unitarian Church in Kent has become the first in Dover to offer same-sex marriage ceremonies, joining three other Unitarian places of worship in Kent, and over a hundred in the UK.

Rev. Daniel Costley, minister of Dover Unitarians, spoke to BBC Radio Kent, about this great news on Sunday. You can listen to the programme here (from 2:11, for around 10 minutes). Rev. Daniel says: “I am delighted the congregation has endorsed this move so willingly. The authorisation by the General Register Office enables us to provide a religious wedding to all couples that truly love each other, to provide a spiritual and religious beginning to this step in a couple’s life together for those that wish it.”

Find out more about same-sex marriage ceremonies in Unitarian churches here.

Find Unitarian churches offering same-sex marriage ceremonies near you here.

Unitarians have long supported lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights, and we are proud to provide marriage ceremonies for all couples. In fact, we were one of the the first churches to offer same-sex marriages. Find out more about Unitarian LGBT+ history here.

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Gellionnen Unitarian Chapel has made the headlines in the Welsh media this month for its LGBTQ inclusion, with the congregation featuring on ITV Wales’ 6 o’clock news, Wales Online, and the South Wales Evening Post.

Gellionnen Chapel, near Pontardawe in the Swansea Valley, is the only place of worship registered for same-sex marriage in Neath Port Talbot, and one of only a small number across Wales, many of which are Unitarian. The chapel is proudly LGBTQ inclusive – taking part in Pride marches, organising a monthly LGBT+ multi-faith gathering, and welcoming LGBTQ people into its congregation.

The chapel’s minister, Rev. Rory Castle Jones, who himself married his husband at the chapel, told ITV Wales: “I grew up attending various churches of different denominations. As a teenager, like many LGBTQ teens, I didn’t feel welcome in those places. It was only a few years ago when I came to Gellionnen that I found an inclusive church. I had given up to be honest, and I think that’s true for many LGBTQ+ people. It’s important to me to say that there are places where you can be welcome as an LGBT person in a church or a chapel.”

Sean Walker, a regular attendee said: “When you come to this church, you see a pride flag as you walk in, we do pride special services. In the past I’ve been to a church that did try to change me and didn’t accept who I was. After that I wanted to walk away from religion. When I found this place it restored my faith.”

Sandra Beynon, Gellionnen’s Authorised Person for weddings, said: “It’s a very modern chapel and welcomes everybody. Love thy neighbour is our motto.”

Find out more about same-sex marriage in Unitarian churches here.

Find out more about the Unitarians’ LGBT+ history here.

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Learn how "meet the minister" videos on congregational websites support the visitor research process and membership development.

Have you ever heard someone say they chose to visit the congregation after meeting the minister somewhere? This happens all the time. After getting to know the minister at a wedding, funeral, protest, or elsewhere in the community people feel comfortable visiting.

Today, we can help people get to know the minister on-demand when they land on your website, through social media, and if you choose, advertising. It is part of building a digital path into the life and heart of your congregation.

This session introduces strategies from my Video Message Academy for Congregations program. 

The Unitarians have joined others from across the faith and belief spectrum in urging Lloyds of London to do more to tackle climate change.

Writing in the Times on 24 April, 23 faith leaders called on the world’s largest insurance market to “show leadership” by ending insurance for all new fossil fuel projects.

“Those who back new fossil fuel projects have a moral responsibility to change course,” they wrote.

Signatories including Nicola Brady, general secretary of Churches Together in England and Ireland, and Kamran Shezad, director of the Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Sciences, urged Lloyd’s to commit to not providing (re)insurance for the East African Crude Oil Pipeline.

They should also phase out existing fossil fuel insurance, signatories including the Bishops of Reading and Selby, Hindu Climate Action, Eco Judaism and Quakers in Britain said.

Lloyd’s members, who insure around 40 per cent of the global energy market, have a decisive role to play in preventing climate damage but lag behind other insurance companies.

Since March last year, Swiss Re, Munich Re and Allianz have all announced new policies moving away from oil and gas. The signatories urged Lloyd’s to follow their example at its impending AGM.

The ten most expensive climate disasters in 2022 cost a combined $168 billion, mostly in insured losses, with the true cost being much higher.

And in the first few months of 2023 there has been flooding and landslides in Brazil, Mozambique and California, cyclones in Vanuatu and Madagascar, and an unprecedented winter heat wave in Europe.

The letter welcomed Lloyd’s introduction of phasing out insurance for coal and tar sands, but noted that these guidelines remain voluntary, and that the market has no policy on conventional oil and gas.

The full letter has been sent to Lloyd’s of London Chairman Bruce Carnegie-Brown and Chief Executive John Neal, asking for a meeting to discuss the issues raised.

This letter and list of signatories can be found here.

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Rosslyn Hill Unitarian Chapel in Hampstead is holding a Coronation Coffee morning and food bank drive on 8 May, in partnership with Mitzvah Day, the UK’s largest faith-led day of social action, organised by the Jewish community. Rosslyn Hill’s minister, Rev. Kate Dean, writes in The Jewish Chronicle, that the event will be “a chance for everyone to learn about volunteering opportunities in the area and to make a pledge to give their time in the future”. Click here to find out more.

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On Saturday 22 April 2023, ‘Unitarians for Climate Justice’ took part in Extinction Rebellion’s ‘The Big One’ peaceful protests in central London.

‘Unitarians for Climate Justice’ is a newly formed group for Unitarians concerned about climate change. Around 25 of them travelled to London to take part in today’s protests alongside other faith groups, from Unitarian congregations across the UK including London, Brighton, Cardiff, Bristol, Hinckley, Horsham, Godalming & Framlingham.

The March included singing and chanting and culminated in a “Die In” outside the Houses of Parliament. You can view more photos on Facebook here.

To find out more about the group, please contact Lizzie Kingston-Harrison, our Congregational Connections Lead.

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At our Annual Meetings this month we were delighted to welcome Vince McCully as this year’s President of the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches.

The Presidential team travel the length and breadth of the UK (in person and via Zoom!), connecting with our congregations and sharing their vision for the future. They also represents us at official events like Remembrance Sunday at the Cenotaph and on official bodies. The President and Vice President are elected annually, serving a 12 month term.

Vince has been a Unitarian since attending a service in 1996, at Rivington Chapel in Lancashire, and instantly finding a strong spiritual bond with the faith. Vince, brought up as Roman Catholic, spent six years as a seminarian, however, in search of answers he left there to study comparative religion and politics at Manchester University.

These days Vince divides his time between being the Lay Person in Charge at Rivington chapel, treasurer of the Manchester District Association, taking services around the north-west of England, being a parish councillor, and running an electronics company he formed in 1989.

There’s not much time for his hobbies, what with organizing the annual village festival and helping with the triennial Rivington Pilgrimage to Civil and Religious Liberties, but when he does it’s over to repairing tools and furniture.

Vince says: “I am deeply honoured by being appointed as GA President for 2023-2024 and hope to fulfil this role in a way that fully reflects the freedoms tolerance and inclusivity I find to be the back-bone of our faith. I earnestly want Unitarianism to be fully accessible to all on their faith journey. As it says on the President’s jewel: “Freedom, Tolerance, Reason”.

You can find out more about our Presidential Team, Executive Committee, Chief Officer and how we work as an organisation here.

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A much-loved Yorkshire chapel is to share in a £351,500 heritage funding boost from the National Churches Trust. 

A £25,000 National Churches Trust Grant will help to pay for urgent repairs to the Grade II* Listed Wakefield Chapel, replacing failing mortar and  rebuilding a wall, ensuring the church building can thrive today and tomorrow. 

The church also receives a £10,000 Wolfson Fabric Repair Grant from the Wolfson Foundation on the recommendation of the National Churches Trust. 

Broadcaster and journalist Huw Edwards, Vice President of the National Churches Trust, said: “I’m delighted that Westgate Chapel is receiving funding for urgent repairs. This will safeguard the unique local heritage of this fascinating place of worship, and keep the building open and in use for the benefit of local people in Wakefield.” 

“Whether seeking quiet reflection, access to community services or as a place to worship, the National Churches Trust helps hundreds of churches each year and with the support of local people, keeps them thriving today, and tomorrow.” 

Paul Ramsbottom, Chief Executive of the Wolfson Foundation said: “As well as being places of worship and buildings of beauty, churches sit at the heart of the community. In many ways they stand between the past and present. We are thrilled to continue our partnership with the National Churches Trust to support the preservation of these significant, much-loved historic buildings across the UK.” 

Help for churches

Twenty-one churches across the UK will stay open and in good repair thanks to £351,500 of funding awarded and recommended  by the National Churches Trust in this latest round of grants.  In 2022, the National Churches Trust made over 255 grant awards to churches throughout the United Kingdom, with funding totalling more than £1.95m.

In 2023, grants continue to be available churches of any Christian denomination that are open for regular worship to fund urgent repairs, maintenance, installing loos or kitchens and feasibility studies to develop projects. Full details are available here.

The chapel

Westgate Chapel is a fine red brick Georgian building, Listed Grade II*. The architect is likely to be John Carr of Horbury and York. It is the oldest nonconformist chapel still used for worship in the local region. 

It possesses many fine features including its pulpit, first erected in an earlier chapel, an interesting Booths organ manufactured in 1847, and a bell tower with a bell is said to date from 1799. Under the chapel are the first set of catacombs for public burial in the north of England, completed before the chapel. Amongst those interred in its catacombs are industrialists, innovators, merchant princes, members of Parliament and political radicals.

Memorial windows by Heald & Co of Wakefield commemorate Mary Gaskell, wife of Daniel Gaskell MP; Mary Ann Milnes of Flockton who ran a colliery and iron works; Rawdon Briggs of Halifax, banker and merchant and James Milnes, MP for Bletchingley. A pre-Raphaelite window in the style of Morris & Co was erected in 1881 to the memory of Thomas Wood, a wealthy draper.

The project

The grant from the National Churches Trust will facilitate replacing failing mortar and rebuilding wall where it is destabilised.

Spokespeople for the Chapel said: “We, at The Board of Trustees at Westgate Unitarian Chapel are absolutely delighted about the success of the funding application to National Churches Trust.  This money will ensure that not only will the building be made good but that the different communities we serve, the historical and heritage stories we tell and the vibrant cultural offering we have, will continue to benefit everyone for years to come.“

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On 11 April 2023, Rev. Phil Waldron and the congregation at Ullet Road Unitarian Church, Liverpool, welcomed the family of Sir John Brunner (1842-1919) to unveil a memorial to the late Liverpudlian industrialist, political reformer and philanthropist. Sir John was a leading figure in his day, a lifelong Unitarian, and a liberal politician, in favour of trade-unions, welfare, and other reforms. Read the full story on Ullet Road Church’s website here.

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Catrina Knox and Charlotte Harris tied the knot at New Unity Unitarian church in Newington Green, London, last year. In an interview with East London Lines, they reflect on their special day, same-sex marriage, and more:

“Queer Love is Magic”, reads the banner draped across Charlotte Harris and Catriona Knox’s living room in Stratford. This sums up how Harris and Knox feel about their own marriage. “It’s about radical love,” Harris says. “Even though great strides have been taken, marriage still feels like a radical thing to do. It is something that has been denied to us, we have to make it our own.” The couple felt the Unitarian church perfectly matched their vision for their wedding. Harris says, “I really like what New Unity stands for and its values. I think that queer marriage is political, so it felt important to be in a political space.”  Read the full piece here.

Find out more about getting married in a Unitarian church here.

Find out more about LGBT+ Unitarian history here.

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Unitarians have voted at their recent Annual Meetings to oppose the UK government’s Illegal Migration Bill and called on the government instead to establish safe and accessible routes for all those seeking asylum, urging Unitarian and Free Christian congregations across the country to write to their MPs before the third reading of the bill on 25 April 2023.

The emergency resolution passed by the Annual Meetings states that “the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches is concerned that the provisions of the Illegal Immigration Bill will remove rights to protection in the UK for vulnerable adults and children seeking safe haven”. Our Chief Officer will join with other Church leaders in publicly opposing the Bill as it stands and our General Assembly “calls on Unitarian congregations and individuals to raise these concerns with their MPs before the 3rd Reading of the Bill on 25 April 2023”. The resolution also “calls on the British Government to establish safe and accessible routes for all those seeking asylum.”

Our Social Action Officer Ann Howell is coordinating our campaign. Please email her for more info.

Background information provided by the proposers of the emergency resolution can be found below:

On April 4th 2023, representatives from the United Reformed Church, Baptist Union and Methodist Church, as well as from Churches Together in Britain and Ireland and Churches Together in England handed in a joint signed statement to 10 Downing Street. Over 1,500 church leaders signed this statement calling on the government to withdraw the legislation, ‘appalled’ by the proposals of this Bill.

Revd David Hardman, Methodist Public Issues Team leader, said: “If ever there was a contemporary example of ignoring our neighbour and walking by on the other side, this is it. On a moral level, these proposals lack compassion and respect for people’s dignity. On a practical level, they fail to see that punishing people who cross the channel in small boats without offering alternative safe routes will only cause pain and increase the backlog of people who are stuck in unfit accommodation here in the UK.”

The United Nations Human Right Council has called this bill ‘an effective asylum ban’ in breach of the Refugee Convention. It breaches the European Convention on Human Rights.

On this the Holy Week for Christians, it feels like a betrayal of our British values that we as a country would allow a Bill that betrays our Christian Values of love and support of our neighbour. This bill proposes to detain and remove those who arrive in the UK in breach of immigration control (irregular routes) without consideration for human rights claims and wish for protection claims to mitigate their case. This Bill proposes to ‘forcibly’ remove children under the age of 18 years in detention with and without family members, and without recourse to protection of the law nor appeal, and return them to the country they are escaping.

The Bill fails to recognise the limited availability of legal routes open to those leaving their country seeking safe haven. Entitlement of protection under the law of those who have been victims of modern slavery or human trafficking would also be denied, possibly mitigating sections of the Human Rights Act 1998.  Those who make the dangerous journey to our shores have had a campaign of vilification against them, often lead by uncared words by our leaders. They are refugees, asylum seekers, migrants but most importantly, they are human beings.

Our Unitarians principles calls us to account and to act with responsibility in upholding our values and the inherent worth and dignity of all people. This motion recognises our stance of standing in solidarity with other faith traditions to call our government to account and require of them to act with responsibility and compassion to those in need of our care and consideration, especially when they have risk their lives escaping conflict, oppression, climate disaster, torture, poverty and exploitation.

This motion calls on our EC and Chief Officer to stand in solidarity with the other faith leaders and sign petitions against this Bill on the behalf of the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches.

The motion calls on all Unitarian congregations, and congregants, to contact their representatives to put pressure on their MPs to call for this Bill to be withdrawn.

In addition, the motion adds to the voices of other faith leaders calling on the UK government to ‘establish safe and accessible routes’ for those seeking asylum, and for the UK to ‘honour our moral and international obligations… in welcoming people in need of safety.’

We also request that if this motion pass, that the Chief Officer writes to all congregations immediately with the details of the Resolution and Background Note, in order to ensure MPs can be contacted in a timely manner. 

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Over £7,000 has been raised in memory of Welsh Unitarian minister and veteran campaigner, Rev. Cen Llwyd, who died aged 70,  having been diagnosed with Parkinson’s and Motor Neurone Disease. The money raised will be donated to Parkinson’s UK Cymru, the My Name’s Doddie foundation and the Motor Neurone Disease Association.

Cen’s widow, Enfys, said: “We are very grateful to everybody that contributed money in his memory. We wanted to donate the money in his memory to Parkinson’s UK, My Name’5 Doddie foundation and MND Association as these charities do amazing work in funding research to find new treatments, medication and perhaps one day, a cure for these diseases.”

Read more about Rev. Cen Llwyd here.

Read more in The Cambrian News here.

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Back in January Framlingham Unitarians helped to launch an Ecological Information Board in a much-loved local park. Sponsored by Framlingham Unitarian Trust and the town council; the board is made from recycled materials and was put up by a local Residents’ Group to encourage everyone to celebrate and protect the rich and biodiverse local habitat.

Rev. Matthew Smith pictured here with Lizzie Kingston Harrison, members of the Oak Tree Corner Residents’ Group, and representatives from Framlingham Town Council. 

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We are very excited to announce the publication on 4 April 2023 of ‘Cherishing The Earth – Nourishing The Spirit’, edited by Maria Curtis and published by the Lindsey Press. Buy the book here.

This new book presents a range of Unitarian responses to the global environmental crisis. Contributors include ministers, lay people, and children, writing from diverse theological and ethical perspectives, exploring what it might mean to live in right relationship with the Earth. Their insights range from the prophetic and political to the practical and intensely personal, but all share a sense of gratitude for the sacred gift of life.

As the Quaker writer and activist Alastair McIntosh says in the foreword he has contributed to this book “Some will ask: “What use is spirituality now? What is the practical use of a book like this?” My short answer is: because we need to reconsider how to live.”

Maria Curtis asks what changes we need to make in ourselves and in our society if we are to work towards healing the Earth and restoring balance to the global ecosystem: “We need to re-imagine what a healthy relationship between humanity and the natural world might look like, one conducive to the flourishing of all beings on Earth.”

The chapters are interspersed with poems, prayers, and short rituals. Each chapter ends with questions for reflection and discussion, providing a resource for study by individuals or small groups.

Rev. Dr Maria Curtis is a Unitarian minister with a background in education and psychology. On retiring from congregational work, she joined the team at Unitarian College, training students for ministry. Maria believes that the ecological crisis presents us with the major spiritual challenge of our time.

264 pages. £12.00. ISBN: 978-0-85319-098-1.

Published on 4 April 2023 by The Lindsey Press, London for the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches.

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Cavendish Primary School in Didsbury marked International Women’s Day on 8 March with a mural of Margaret Ashton (1856-1937), a celebrated Unitarian women’s rights campaigner.

Read the full story in the Manchester Evening News here.

You can find out more about Margaret Ashton in the book ‘Unitarian Women: A Legacy of Dissent’ by Rev. Dr. Ann Peart, available in our online bookshop.

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Huw Edwards has unveiled a blue plaque to mathematical genius, political writer and minister, Rev. Dr. Richard Price, at his former home in Newington Green, north London. Price was the minister of Newington Green Meeting House, today part of New Unity, and New Unity’s current minister Rev. CJ McGregor was also in attendance, as well as Unitarian Chief Officer Liz Slade.

The English Heritage blue plaque is a tribute to Price’s hugely influential life and work and is part of celebrations to mark his 300th birthday in London, in his native Wales, in the USA, and elsewhere.

You can read more about this story in the Evening Standard, Hackney Gazette, and BBC Cymru (Welsh language).

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Yesterday morning severe winds brought down a tree onto the roof of the Nightingale Centre in Great Hucklow, Derbyshire, and caused a lot of external damage to the centre. They have had to close the centre to guests, and at present have no internet or phone connection.

The Nightingale Centre is a much-loved venue in the Peak District for retreats, and for groups like the long-standing Unitarian charity ‘Send a Child to Hucklow’, offering stays to disadvantaged children who would otherwise not have a holiday.

While the Nightingale Centre team await a visit from their insurers and in the meantime ask for forbearance if they are slow to respond to enquiries. For those who have booked a stay with the Nightingale Centre, we ask for patience while the team assess the situation.

We are grateful to the deep commitment and care of the Nightingale Centre management committee and staff, and keep them in our thoughts as they deal with this situation.

For more information about the Nightingale Centre and how to support them, please visit their website.

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Pictured: Rev. Kate Dean and Rev. Sue Woolley at Buckingham Palace

Unitarians were among faith and civic leaders who visited Buckingham Palace last week to offer a “‘loyal address” to the new monarch, King Charles, in a tradition filled with pageantry, symbolism and history. The Unitarian delegation was made up of Rev. Sue Woolley (President of the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches), Rev. Kate Dean (Rosslyn Hill Chapel, Hampstead), and Rev. Dr. Rob Whiteman (Dundee Unitarians).

They presented a “loyal address” to King Charles, as a historic ‘privileged body’. The address congratulates the new monarch and speaks of social needs at “this time of complex change and crises” when “the need for spiritual support and loving communities has not been greater”. You can read the address in full here.

Rev. Dr. Rob Whiteman has written a personal reflection about the experience, which you can read below:

“I was immensely honoured to represent Unitarians as part of the Free Churches delegation at the Presentation of Loyal Addresses to His Majesty King Charles on 9^th March at Buckingham Palace. It was a remarkable occasion for a number of reasons. We were among the 27 Privileged Bodies who presented their Loyal Addresses to The King, serving to emphasise and reaffirm their loyalty to the Monarch to mark His Majesty’s Accession. Obviously an occasion that happens rarely and has happened since the 17^th century. The bodies cover various Churches, Universities and civil authorities in London, Edinburgh and Windsor.

The pageantry of the event was a wonderful spectacle – slick, seamless and impressive. The event was in the Palace Ballroom with a following reception in the Picture Gallery – recognisable spaces from the TV but more impressive in reality. However there was a subtle understatement despite the surroundings, presence of a Beefeater guard and many uniformed staff. Around 400 people attended, many of them wearing formal robes befitting their offices; many of them well known faces.

All the bodies presented their addresses with a wide variety of speakers before His Majesty replied. In those addresses many marked and reflected on the great service of Queen Elizabeth II, paid tribute to His Majesty’s work in many fields and wished him a long and gracious reign. Only a couple jarred with overt attempts to push their own agendas. The place of faith in the tributes was noticeable. In his reply the King noted: “Whether in the fields of education, science, or the arts, or whether as representatives of the faith communities or of civic organisations, you advance our knowledge and our understanding of how we relate to each other and the world about us. You underpin the very foundations upon which our country is built and help to construct a framework of excellence and achievement within which our civil society functions and our national narrative can be formed.

In doing so, you are admired around the world for your contributions to public life.  You remind us of an essential truth – that a nation’s wealth and strength can be found, beyond the size of its economy or its place in the geopolitical landscape, in the values that it embodies – mutual respect, diversity, tolerance, fairness and friendship. These are values that have been at the core of British life throughout our history, and which, with your dedicated support, I trust will remain so for centuries to come.”

Those words echoed in my reflection on the day. We may live in a world of twitter spats, 24 hours and whipped up outrage but what lies beneath that is far more important, enduring than permanent. Those gathered represented some core of the civil society at the heart of our country: a warm, generous, hard working and inclusive people. Let me illustrate with a couple of examples of the first and last people that I spoke to. There were no set seats and I found myself sitting next to the Succentor of St George’s Chapel at Windsor, a man charged with part of the musical life at that chapel. I said where I was from and he said that he had recently been in St Andrews so that his son could look at the University and meet up with his godfather. His godfather turned out to be a good friend of mine and we talked of his former work in housing.

The last people that I spoke to at the reception were the Lord Provost of Edinburgh and his partner. He and I looked at each other and recognised each other. The task was then to work out where we knew each other from. He had been Chief Executive of a Housing charity while I had been working for a Refugee charity that rented a desk in their offices. In between I had made many other such connections with people in the room, the degrees of separation were astonishingly small, perhaps aided by their being a large number of people from Scotland in attendance, at least a fifth and perhaps more.
Meeting the only full time clerical member of the Royal Household was another fascinating encounter. When I said that I was a Unitarian he showed great interest and said that he often visited Unitarian chapels. He grew up in the northwest and said that Unitarians had a fascinating history of which we should be rightly proud. I suspect that some Unitarians will have mixed feelings about our participation in this event. I do not share them. It was a great privilege on a number of levels. Some may wonder about the Unitarian values of inclusion. It may have been the metropolitan constituency from which the attenders were drawn and the care with which the various Privileged bodies had chosen their delegations but the gathering was far more diverse than any Unitarian gathering that I have attended. I am not going to elaborate on that but most people were simple, ordinary people getting on with their jobs, representing their Body and embodying the values of  “mutual respect, diversity, tolerance, fairness and friendship” of which His Majesty spoke. I was honoured to be there and we are fortunate that those “values… have been at the core of British life throughout our history.” That remains true whatever the political froth may suggest.” – Rev. Dr. Rob Whiteman

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Image (Left to right ): Members of the festival organising team Siân Evans and Laura Davies (Gellionnen Unitarian Chapel), poet Benjamin Zephaniah, festival founder Andrew Webb (Evesham Unitarians), Miriam, and Gavin Howell (Unitarian Youth Officer).

Unitarians have once again taken the lead in the organisation of renowned Malvern Festival of Ideas, a multidisciplinary festival of ideas that takes place in Malvern, Worcestershire. It is a themed weekend of talks, discussion and activities. The founder and organiser of the festival is Andrew Webb of Evesham Unitarians and Unitarian youth group Malvern Transformers and both Siân Evans and Laura Davies on the festival organising team are members of Gellionnen Chapel and #Blessed young adult group.

This year’s festival welcomed poet Benjamin Zephaniah, author Michael Rosen, former First Minister of Wales Carwyn Jones, Professor Alice Roberts, and many more. Many Unitarians from around the UK also took part, including Danielle Wilson with a session on “White Privilege & Me”, Rev. Mark Hutchinson (Evesham Unitarians) and Josh Johnston (Dublin Unitarians), the Gamechangers youth group, and #Blessed young adult group.

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A message from the Executive Committee:

We are writing to update you on the outcome of the recent consultation on the flaming chalice logo.

We want to reassure those concerned that there is no intention to abandon the use of the flaming chalice as the symbol of British Unitarianism. Whilst the design of the symbol used by headquarters at Essex Hall will of course evolve and change over the years, the flaming chalice symbol and all that it represents remains constant. In response to the many interesting and helpful responses concerning the history of the symbol, we are creating a new page on our website telling the story of the flaming chalice and showing the diverse range of artistic interpretations available worldwide.

We would like to thank everyone who has been in dialogue with us on this subject since the re-branding in February 2021. The strong feelings we have heard expressed are a welcome reminder of the passion of the many people who play a role in stewarding this community. We hope that as we move forward, this passion for the ideas and values that we stand for can help us find our way forward so we can be sure the flame will be passed forward for many generations to come.

Back in November we wrote to all 152 of our congregations asking for their views and received responses from a total of 32 congregations, a response rate of 21%.

The responses can broadly be categorised as: 

• 19 preferred the old (2007) chalice logo (13% of our congregations, 59% of responses)
• 4 preferred the new (2021) chalice logo (3% of our congregations, 13% of responses)
• 5 were neutral or contained a range of individual views (3% of our congregations, 16% of responses)
• 4 were unclear and needed further clarification (3% of our congregations, 13% of responses)

The most common themes we heard were:

• A dislike of the style of the new chalice
• A lack of a sense of connection and meaning with the new design
• A wish for unity across the denomination
• A concern about a lack of consultation

Among those who supported the new look, the main themes were:

• Support for a bright and modern new look
• Appreciation of the aim of reaching new demographics

The Executive Committee have carefully examined the responses and discussed them at their meeting on 17th January, along with the feedback received at the listening circles we hosted in September 2022.

Balancing the views of the 32 congregations who responded to the consultation with the wider context, the EC would like to acknowledge to all our congregations and members that the communication and consultation around the change to the flaming chalice logo did not meet everyone’s expectations, and apologise to those who have felt upset, confused or left out of the process. We are committed to learning from this experience for the future.

The priority behind the rebranding, including the adoption of a new style chalice design, has always been to reach new people, beyond our existing, declining membership. Therefore, the new designs may not always appeal to those who have been Unitarians for many years – but we ask for your patience and trust that we have the best interests of the Unitarian movement at heart in our decision-making.

We will retain the design work adopted in 2021, including the new style chalice for use in the GA’s communications. However, we remind all congregations that it is their right to use any logo or symbol for their own purposes.

With best wishes,

Rev Dr Rory Castle Jones, Communications Officer

Liz Slade, Chief Officer

on behalf of the Executive Committee

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“We are sure that our Unitarian Community looks on with a deep sense of horror and hopelessness as we see the aftermath of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria. Over the years we have supported the British Red Cross in their work of disaster relief, knowing how valuable their contribution has been. We would encourage you to help once more, by making a donation to their Crisis Appeal.” – Rev. Sue Woolley, President of the General Assembly of Unitarian & Free Christian Churches

Please help people affected by these earthquakes.

Following the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria the British Red Cross has launched an emergency appeal. On Monday at 4:17am local time a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Gaziantep in southern Turkey, devastating parts of Turkey and Syria. It was followed by a series of powerful aftershocks. Then at 13:24 local time a second earthquake (M7.7) hit the Elbistan district around 80 miles north of Gaziantep.

Reports suggest that over 33,000 have been killed as hundreds of buildings collapsed and many more have been injured. These figures continue to rise. Right now rescuers are racing to save people in Turkey and Syria who are trapped beneath the rubble and get shelter and support to those who have lost their homes or are afraid to return inside. The Turkish Red Crescent has launched a crisis response operation and mobilised teams in more than 10 regions across the country.

The Syrian Arab Red Crescent is delivering medical and other humanitarian aid and support to those in need in the regions of Hama, Aleppo and Lattakia. Together with the Turkish Red Crescent and Syrian Arab Red Crescent the British Red Cross is providing emergency first aid, medical treatment and evacuating people to safety.

You can make a donation right now to the British Red Cross to help people in Turkey and Syria affected by the earthquakes. Please donate to the British Red Cross Turkey-Syria Earthquake Appeal today if you can.

You can donate online here.

By phone: 0300 004 0339

By post to: British Red Cross, 44 Moorfields, London EC2Y 9AL

Please make cheques payable to the British Red Cross and earmarked for the British Red Cross Turkey-Syria Earthquake Appeal.

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The General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches is delighted to announce the following candidates have been offered Ministerial Training following the interviews last month: Kieren Mardle-Moss, Tina Gandhi, and Janine Sim.

Chief Officer Liz Slade: “Ministry is the kind of leadership our world needs more of right now, and so I am excited and grateful to see Janine, Kieren and Tina begin their training towards becoming Unitarian ministers. As demonstrated by these three new students, people from all walks of life and professional backgrounds find themselves called to serving the spiritual health of communities and align their vocation to the greater good. I applaud their courage and integrity in committing themselves to this journey and look forward to working with them.”

Helen Mason, Director of Unitarian College: “We are delighted to welcome Janine, Kieren and Tina as our 5th intake of ministry students at Unitarian College, joining the 13 others who have or are undertaking ministry training with us. We are are very excited about the potential of these three excellent new students.”

Rev. Ant Howe, Ministry Tutor: “It will be my honour to journey with these three new students as they build on the calling that they have been bold enough to answer. All three bring passion and commitment to our Unitarian movement, and I know that they will go on to become excellent Ministers”

Supporting our General Assembly’s Interview Panel is one of the tasks handled by Simon Bland, Congregational & Ministry Support Officer. Along with Sarah Tinker, who chairs the Panel, Simon is keen to thank all those Districts, congregations and individuals who support the ministerial training process. 

Anyone interested in knowing more about training for Unitarian & Free Christian ministry is encouraged to talk to Simon or Sarah, and to our college tutors – Rev. Claire MacDonald at Harris Manchester College, Oxford and Rev. Ant Howe, at Unitarian College. 

The Ministerial Students Fund is always in need of donations, large and small, helping to cover students’ travel and living costs during their training, and is a real investment in the future of the movement. Please contact Simon Bland for further information on this vital work.

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We are pleased to announce the election of two new members to our Executive Committee: John Bates and Rev. Wyn Thomas. The Executive Committee act as trustees for the General Assembly (GA) and Nightingale Centre and work with the Chief Officer and other staff and volunteers to develop and oversee the strategic direction and smooth running of the GA. John was nominated by New Unity CIO and Wyn by Cheltenham & Gloucester Unitarians.

As there were four vacancies on the EC and two candidates, both are elected unopposed and the remaining vacancies may later be filled by co-option.

John Bates is a retired Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at London Business School, with forty years’ experience in business and education. He joined Cambridge Unitarians in 1991 and later was a member of Islington Unitarians. John became Chair of New Unity when it was formed in 2015, before stepping down last year.

John says: “I wish to serve on the EC because I want to help more people find the Unitarian way of celebrating and reverencing life, love and community. Our message as Unitarians is right for the times. I feel we need to come together and use our resources of money, buildings, and skilled people towards communicating that message and achieving our agreed goals of love and justice for all.

A challenge for faith-based organisations with deep historical roots is that they can become hostage to their past. Aligning the movement’s resources and capabilities with an agreed goal may require some hard decisions. I can help us make those decisions in a collaborative way, without compromising our spiritual purpose.

We should strive to be greater than the sum of our parts, retaining all the vigour of our diversity and our localised autonomy, whilst working together towards a common vision of growth. I can listen, lead and inspire. I can contribute in strategy, finance and governance, and I understand the legal responsibilities of Charity Trustees. Unitarianism has much to offer the modern world. I would be proud to help the movement grow and thrive today and prepare it for a relevant future.”

Rev. Wyn Thomas is a Unitarian minister based in Ceredigion and is Chair of Unitarians Wales. He works as a Complex Case Officer and Engagement Project Leader for Tir Dewi, a Welsh rural support charity.

Wyn says: “As a lifelong Unitarian, and having served as a minister for 19 years, I am firmly grounded in the Unitarian heritage of which I feel both proud and blessed to have experienced and loved. As a leader in a rural mental health charity, I have seen the practical impact of living our values. I am passionate about developing a vision for the future of our movement. A future where all voices are heard, respected, and appreciated, in keeping with the inclusive embrace of our faith.

Our faith needs to evolve, and I consistently seek opportunities to learn, reflect, and adapt. I firmly believe that as a national movement we must respond to the enormity of the challenges society and our congregations face over the coming years.  Within these challenges lie opportunities for renewal and transformation.

I pledge to be honest and open in what are often difficult discussions, and to always welcome diversity of thought, ideas, and experiences in the process. Our Unitarian faith is important – I believe we have a uniquely valuable contribution to make to the world. Our General Assembly is important – I will serve it to best of my ability.”

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Unitarians have written to the Prime Minister in opposition to the government’s attempts to erode the right to protest in the UK with a new Public Order Bill.

Fifty-eight Unitarians – including ministers, lay people, the General Assembly President and Chief Officer – are signatories to the letter, which expresses alarm that “instead of arresting climate change, this government seems more interested in arresting climate change protesters.”

“Many of the rights we now cherish – including the vote – were achieved by protest” they write, “and history has shown that jailing protesters simply delays change and reflects badly upon the law makers.”

The letter, drafted by Rev. Jo James and Ed Fordham, calls on the government “to review this legislation and reflect upon the principles at stake. And please, hasten the protections and measures needed to protect our planet from climate abuse and fossil fuel degradation.”

You can read the letter in full here.

Unitarian Chief Officer Liz Slade is also a signatory to a separate letter by various faith leaders which calls on the government to abandon the new Public Order Bill, which they warn will criminalise ordinary citizens who engage in peaceful protests, including prayer vigils, public acts of worship, and community events. You can read this letter here.

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As the Church of England has once again make the headlines by refusing to offer same-sex marriage ceremonies or equal treatment to LGBT+ people, many Unitarian ministers and leaders have been publicly critical of the CofE – and have once again been shouting from the rooftops that many churches, including the Unitarians, proudly affirm LGBT+ equality and offer same-sex marriage ceremonies.

Rev. Robin Hanford, minister of Hinckley Unitarians in Leicestershire, made the headlines in the Metro newspaper when he took to Twitter to express his sadness, frustration and dismay with the Church of England’s treatment of LGBT+ people:

Rev Robin Hanford, a Unitarian Minister, responded: ‘How much longer will the lives and relationships of my LGBT+ friends in the Church of England continue to be sacrificed on the false alter of “unity” in order to try and keep homophobes happy?’

Rev Hanford, who lives and works in Leicestershire, told Metro.co.uk his first reaction to this morning’s news was one of ‘profound anger.’

He said: ‘I have a lot of LGBT friends in the Church of England who have been waiting patiently for change and have been actively working for it for years by diligently going through the proper channels and laborious process.‘

‘Now Bishops, which should have pastoral care at the very core of their being, have effectively slapped my friends around the face.‘

‘As a Unitarian Minister, I proudly marry same-sex and opposite-sex couples at my chapel in Hinckley, Leicestershire‘

‘But the Church of England has so much visibility as the national church, and I know I will inevitably be tarred with the same brush in the eyes of the public due to this decision from the Bishops.’

Rev Hanford added that while the Church of England ‘seems determined to cling to outdated homophobic theologies and practices’ many other churches and denominations ‘have moved on and are far more affirming of LGBT people’.

You can read the full story in the Metro here.

Find out more about LGBT+ Unitarian history here.

Find out about our ongoing LGBT+ Unitarian Voices project here.

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Unitarian HQ staff members Simon Bland and Lizzie Kingston-Harrison talk to The Village Halls Podcast about the Warm Space being offered in Framlingham in Suffolk by local groups and spaces, including Framlingham Unitarian Chapel, where Lizzie is a member. Click here to listen to the podcast in full (Episode 22).

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The Unitarians’ Chief Officer Liz Slade spoke recently about “maintaining a spiritual tradition that doesn’t have a rule book” at the Festival of Maintenance 2022, a day of fascinating talks with world-class practitioners, maintaining everything from technology to culture, democracy to the environment. The video of Liz’s talk is now available online to watch for free.

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We are looking for new candidates to stand for election to join our Executive Committee.

Who do you know who might be an asset to our movement in this role? Candidate applications close on 23 January 2023, so now is a great time to have a quiet word of encouragement with potential candidates!

The role of the Executive Committee is to work with the Chief Officer and staff team to lead and serve the Unitarian and Free Christian movement.

As Liz Slade, Chief Officer, wrote in a recent issue of the Inquirer: “This is an exciting time to be part of this leadership group, because of the nature of the challenges we are facing. Covid brought closer to home the fragility of many of our congregations, but also displayed the creativity and care they hold. We know that ‘more of the same’ could lead to chapels closing in the not-too-distant future, and we know in a movement like ours, the path to the future must be found locally, not imposed from the top down. So the work of leadership from Essex Hall is akin to that of gardeners – tending the soil, nurturing the seedlings, supporting the mighty oaks, taking care of the compost, having an eye on the weather, and the keeping the whole ecosystem in view.”

Executive Committee members represent the movement and are democratically elected by members across the country. They bring experience from within our movement and from their professional and voluntary work elsewhere. This may be in management, finance, communications, change management, charity governance, or some other experience that you would like to use in service of our denomination.

We meet around six times a year, usually in person in London, with dinner together the evening before a 9am to 5pm meeting. We also try to get together for a longer two-day meeting, and at times will have videoconferences or make decisions over email.  

Who can stand for election?
Candidates should have been part of the Unitarian community for at least three years and have experience as a member of either their congregation’s governing body or similar committee, or have been a trustee of another charity. They will also need to fulfil the Charity Commission’s legal requirements for trustees.

How do I apply?
Applications needs to be received by 23 January 2023, with support from the candidate’s congregation or other Unitarian organisation. You can find all the information you need, including nomination forms, here.

Questions
If you would like to know more about the work of the Executive Committee, or whether you should consider applying, please do get in touch with either me or Marion Baker, our Convenor.

Elizabeth Slade
Chief Officer – Prif Swyddog
General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches

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After another unpredictable and challenging year, our President Rev. Sue Woolley, offers this Christmas message.

There is a very neat meme which does the rounds on Facebook at this time of year, which sums up the true spirit of Christmas for me. It is a Christmas Bucket List, with six items, partly crossed out, and substituted with other words, so I’ll have to paraphrase for it to make sense:

1. Instead of buying presents, be present.

2. Instead of wrapping gifts, wrap someone in a hug.

3. Instead of sending gifts, send love.

4. Instead of shopping for food, donate food.

5. Instead of making cookies, make memories.

6. Instead of seeing the light, be the Light.

And yes, I get it, but in my opinion, it should be both/and, rather than either/or. I have bought presents for the people I love, but welcome the reminder to be present in the moment, day by day, instead of getting lost in the busyness. I will be wrapping the gifts I have bought next weekend, but will also be wrapping a lot of people in hugs, during the next few weeks (and being wrapped in hugs also, I hope!).

I will be sending gifts, but also sending love to all those people who make my life so blessed. Including you. I will be shopping for food, but not going overboard, and have already paid a visit to the Northampton Food Bank, with a donation. This Christmas, sadly, I won’t be making or eating cookies, or mince pies or many other sweet Christmas treats, because most of them contain gluten, but I will surely be making memories, particularly on Boxing Day, when the whole extended Ellis family gets together at my sister’s house. Finally, as well as seeing (and enjoying) all the beautiful, colourful Christmas lights, I will be striving to be the Light for those that I love.

It is a good reminder about the things which really matter at Christmas – not the tangible things one can buy, and consume, but the gifts of love and awareness, which cannot be bought, and always renew themselves. The things we can look back on with fondness, when the food has been eaten, the presents have been opened, the paper recycled, and the decorations taken down.

I also want to acknowledge what I think should be the true spirit of Christmas, “the spirit of good will and peace, … [the] spirit that bids us renew our hopes amid the gathering darkness, that kindles our generosity and our concerns, that attunes our ears to the ever-renewed angelic chorus” as the late Unitarian Universalist minister Max Gaebler put it. Because that is here too, in our minds, and in our hearts.

The Christian message, the message of Jesus – love God, love your neighbour and don’t forget to love yourself – is a crucially important one in this mad world of ours. If Christmas reminds people of this great truth, which is common to all religions, then I’m all for it. If it is just an excuse for over-consumption, a couple of days off work and some good films on the telly, then why bother? But the very fact that we are people of faith, who get together in our chapels, churches and meeting houses to celebrate the real meaning of Christmas, shows that it means more to us than that.

So let us celebrate Christmas as a time when the Christian message of love and peace and goodwill to all people is brought to the front of people’s minds, and our bit of the world grows a little bit more charitable and more kindly. This is the true spirit of Christmas.

I wish you a blessed, peaceful and merry Christmas, and a bright and hopeful New Year.

Rev. Sue Woolley

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Does your congregation have very few or no visitors?  Talking with leadership teams in small congregations, I'm finding some are waiting for visitors to come BEFORE they establish or re-start their process for welcoming and connecting with visitors and COMMUNICATING what that visitor experience will be like. 

In this episode, I explain why we can't wait for the visitors to show up before we map out how we are going to welcome, greet, and connect with them AND to communicate "the plan" to potential visitors.

For many, to feel comfortable visiting, they need to know what to expect. 

What's it going to be like?  Where do I go?  How do I connect with people when I visit so I don't have to suffer through an awkward and painful experience?  Is it going to be okay?  Can I do this or should I just stay on the couch watching Netflix?  I have a lot of shows waiting for me... What's the plan?  

Watch Episode 23 // Subscribe on YouTube

Listen to Episode 23 // Subscribe to Audio Podcast
 

If you do not have many visitors and want more, I recommend the following:

1) Agree on a simple process
Set a clear process for how you will welcome, greet, and CONNECT with visitors when they show up.  This includes creating a facilitated space to connect when they visit.   I discuss options for making casual opportunities to connect after your weekly services in this episode.  

2) List the process on your website
When visitors land on your visitor page, they should be able to read about the process and RSVP to participate.

3) Share via social media
Every week, when you share what's happening in your congregation via social media, also include this visitor opportunity with a link to your visitor page with RSVP form.  

4) Share via email 
Every week, when you share what's happening in your congregation via email, also include this visitor opportunity with a link to your visitor page with RSVP form.

Video Helps!  Adding a video that welcomes and orients newcomers to your visitor page including a description of "the plan" for visiting can help them feel comfortable making the decision to do so.  I explain how to implement this strategy and as well as other video content for visitors in my online training program Video Message Academy for Congregations. 

We are excited to announce the launch of a new website Worship Words, a collaborative online space sharing resources for worship from across the UK Unitarian community and beyond.

Worship Words hosts a collection of beautiful, inspiring, and meaningful readings for worship, bringing together new work alongside much-loved favourites from the Lindsey Press.

It is fully searchable by keyword, category, or theme making it easy to access high quality readings for use in your services. The site is free, open to all, anyone is welcome to use it and to submit their own resources. We already have our first 120 readings, and the collection is growing all the time.

With huge thanks to the team of volunteers from across the movement who made the site possible and to the ministers and lay leaders who have submitted readings so far.

Join us online at 7pm tonight (Wednesday 23 November 2022) for our official ‘Worship Words’ launch event.

Click here to visit the new ‘Worship Words’ website.

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The Unitarians have joined others from across the faith and belief spectrum in calling on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to stand by his pledge to govern with integrity.

In a letter signed by 19 different faith and belief groups, signatories highlight how democracy has been weakened by the repeated undermining of integrity, and the failure of existing structures to hold politicians to account. It asks the Prime Minister to strive for a culture of truth and integrity in government and parliament.

The full letter was published in The Times on 18 November 2022. Read the letter in full here.

Find out more about the context here.

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BBC Radio 4’s ‘Sunday’ programme welcomed Rev. Cody Coyne onto the programme this weekend to talk about wayside pulpits – those attention-grabbing posters outside churches. Rev. Cody is minister of Cross Street Unitarian Chapel in Manchester city centre, which was the first church in Britain to have a wayside pulpit back in 1919.

You can listen to the programme (from 8 min 50 secs in) in full here.

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Longtime LGBT+ rights campaigner Ed Fordham has publicly condemned the Church of England’s continued discrimination against LGBT+ people as “fundamentally wrong” and called for it to be disestablished in England, as it is in Wales and Scotland.

Ed Fordham, who is a local Unitarian leader at Great Hucklow Chapel in the Peak District, and a Liberal Democrat councillor in nearby Chesterfield, wrote that: “The C of E is currently exempt from the equality laws that apply to all other institutions and employers in the UK ” adding this meant the church could “ignore the progress being made to enable all couples who love each other to marry. Further, this also empowers the church to bully, sideline and ultimately sack clergy who exercise their legal right to marry.”

“It is time to disestablish the C of E, it is time to reassess the role of the church in the work of CBC and it is time to enable each mayor to choose the location and content of their civic service to reflect their own faith or indeed their secularism. What is not an option is for the council to support and enable the practise of homophobia through these historical partnerships. It is time to end the hatred and the exclusion and separate church from state.”

The Unitarians are proud to be longstanding advocated of LGBT+ equality and were among the small number of faith groups who campaigned for equal marriage in the 2010s. Click here to find out more about Unitarian LGBT+ history.

For more coverage of Ed Fordham’s comments, see The Derbyshire Times and The Derby Telegraph.

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