I remember being at some protest outside the Senedd once, and someone introduced me to someone else, and said, "Stephen is an activist."I remember thinking - am I? I don't know. What does it mean to be an activist? Who gets to use that title? Am I an activist because I turn up at a few protests? Or do I have to be one them organising the protest to be an activist? Do I have to lead? Do I have to

One of the projects I'm involved in as part of Gentle/Radical is “Doorstep Revolution” a project to collect stories of Riverside during the pandemic. This has been a fascinating and rewarding project. It's such a privilege when people let you into their lives and tell you their stories. One of the themes that has come out of this work is the importance of connection, the connections that have

The principle of needing to name a demon before you can kill it is well enshrined in magical folklore, and I know it particularly because the principle was talked about by the author Terry Pratchett. Naming demons is the first step to slaying them. Names have power. This is magical folklore - that once you name something you have a degree of power over it. You know its truth and that is powerful.

 I don't have anything wise of clever to say about the death of Mohamud Mohammad Hussan in Cardiff a few days ago. Clearly South Wales Police have a lot of questions to answer. We need truth and justice.For now, I will be trying to pray, holding the rage and the grief of it all. You're welcome to pray with me too.

Meeting the Beloved: A Time of Contemplative Prayer Tuesday 26th January 7.30pm Many of us are drawn to that sense of the divine, or the “something more”, but we don't know how to start to explore this, half the time we don't really believe it, and the idea of “prayer” seems silly and childish. But contemplative prayer is a practice that can begin to introduce us to the mysterious "something more

In many ways the 2020 pandemic is a rehearsal of the climate crisis. Indeed in many ways the 2020 pandemic is the first part of the climate crisis, the first of many global crises that are coming our way, all linked to the twenty-first century climate and ecological emergency that is upon us.And so this crisis can teach us something about the crises to come. Specifically I think it can teach us

I read a lot of books about how Christian churches should radically change, embrace the postmodern reality, get back to biblical principles, abandon old models. A lot of these books will criticise the old models under the label of "Christendom" - that European and colonial idea where power, culture, and religion are all aligned. In Christendom everyone is assumed to be Christian by virtue of

Image: Karl Stapelfe/ESA/Hubble, NASAThis is the fundamental insight of religious theism: that the reality we encounter when we encounter reality most powerfully is a Someone, is a "you". This is the insight that the universe has a quality of "youness" to it. While other religious (or nonreligious) approaches may encounter an "it", the theist encounters a "you" - a "you" that we label as "God".

There are of course many ways to practice meditative contemplative prayer. Many people want to jump straight into silence and mindfulness, but for most people this becomes dry and feels like hard work after a while (if it doesn't for you, great! But I want to talk to those who do struggle). So often there is a need for some scaffolding, some structure of words to hold the deeper silence. I use

 I recently found something out that astounded me. Martin Luther King, Thomas Merton, and Thich Nhat Hanh were supposed to go on a retreat together in 1968. This was scheduled and the only reason it didn't happen was the assassination of King on 4th April 1968.This astounds me because I feel like that retreat might just have been the start of a revolution, a spiritual revolution that might have

I've got to the stage when I'm really tired of the negativity of liberal religion, defining itself over and against conservative religion. It often feels to me like liberal religion has got nothing to say apart from saying that it is not conservative religion, and that conservative religion is wrong.For a while this is refreshing. When you move from conservative religion to liberal religion you

What's becoming clearer and clearer to me is that we're being led by a UK government which has a deadly ideology. Of course that was always true because of the government's criminal inaction on the climate crisis, but the corona virus pandemic has shown it to be true on a smaller scale of this particular crisis. I think this video of an interview with government adviser John Edmunds is really

If we want to decolonise the world, we must decolonise our nations. If we want to decolonise the nations, we must decolonise our cities. If we want to decolonise the cities, we must decolonise our neighbourhoods. If we want to decolonise our neighbourhoods, we must decolonise our homes. If we want to decolonise our homes, we must decolonise our hearts. (With apologies to Lau Tzu's (

This time is devastating. In the last few months we've seen at least 40,000 people, and probably closer to 60,000 killed by a deadly virus in the UK. Sixty thousand grieving families. Lives torn from this earth. And those who are mourning are unable to receive a comforting hand on a shoulder, unable to have a hug in their grief. This is awful. But what is almost as awful is the ludicrously

Christianity started as a Jewish sect. Despite this, or in some ways because of this, there is a strongly anti-Jewish message very early on in Christian history. What started as a debate between different Jewish communities became something different as Christianity became Gentile, and then became an imperial religion with considerably power. How Christianity shaped European antisemitism is

I don't have anything super original or profound to say about the murder of George Floyd and the eruption of Black Lives Matter protests in the States and in the UK, other than the fact that I support Black Lives Matter. That's OK I think. This doesn't need to be a time for white liberals to show off, just a time to show up. I'm trying to look out for resources and writings from black people to

So I've been thinking about being useless. I think a lot of us feel useless, and you know what? Yeah, we are useless, and that's totally OK.

Part of 'Being Together: A Three Day Virtual Gathering for Spiritual Connection' (7-9 April 2020) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/3903470056344901/Website: https://www.unitarian.org.uk/beingtogetherJoin Jo James in conversation with author and pioneer minister Stephen Lingwood to discuss his new book 'Seeking Paradise: A Unitarian Mission for Our Times'.What might the future of the

So, I've written a book! It's actually something I've been working on for a long time, on and off, (like more than ten years), so I'm really happy to finally get it out there. It will be officially launched at the Unitarian Annual Meetings in Birmingham in April. It is an exploration of whether and how a liberal and pluralistic church can do evangelism. It explores a Unitarian theology that

Fe’ch gwahoddir i wylnos gweddi a myfyrdod y tu allan i’r Senedd, Caerdydd ar brynhawniau Gwener dros y Grawys. Gwener 28ain Chwefror tan Gwener 10fed Ebrill, rhwng 2yp a 6yp Byddwn yn cofleidio’r bobl a’r blaned i’n calonnau ac yn gweddïo i’r ddynoliaeth fagu’r ddoethineb a’r cryfder i oroesi’r argyfwng hinsawdd. Ar y cyd ag eraill yn gweddïo y tu allan i San Steffan, rydym yn gweddïo am

One afternoon a woman was gardening in her front garden, when she was approached by a stranger. "Excuse me," he said, "I'm thinking of buying the house for sale in this street, I was just wondering if you could tell me - what are the neighbours like around here?" The woman stood up, stretched, and then said, "Well, tell me, what are your neighbours like where you live now?" "Oh, they're terrible

When I started my work in Cardiff in 2018 I really had a blank slate. I knew that my job was to be present in Cardiff and to see what happened. As I look back at 2019 I can see the work coming into sharper focus, but it is still early days. But I'm much clearer about what my work is. My work is to find places where community, spirituality, and activism are happening, and to join in the work

Depending on where you're coming from this might be blindingly obvious or something you've never thought about before. But here's what I want to say: one of the strongest predictors of whether a church will grow or not is simply whether that church believes and acts like God is real. God is a church growth principle. This is something liberals don't seem to get. Liberals look at growing

"We believe that the future of Unitarian Universalism depends upon becoming a transformative spiritual force committed to leading people out of the wilderness of individual prosperity and into the joy of communal intimacy and solidarity. This movement begins by reimagining our faith communities as sites of spiritual transformation committed to healing the world rather than as sanctuaries tucked

In the conversations around climate activism there's often accusations of hypocrisy. I've been trying to think about what this is all about. I think it goes something like this: People think that the message of climate activism to ordinary members of the public is “You're doing terrible things that are destroying the planet, you're a terrible person. We're protesting against you.” Ordinary

This is the tweet that encapsulated for many what is wrong with Extinction Rebellion. Someone who was arrested sent flowers to Brixton Police Station, where they had been held, and then released. And someone pointed out that this is a station where black men have died in the cells. But this lovely, we presume white, person was treated well enough at the police station to make them send flowers.

Inevitably there is always a lot of debate about the tactics of Extinction Rebellion. Of course as people concerned about the climate crisis this isn't what we want to be talking about - we want to be talking about the climate crisis and the government's inaction. We want to tell the truth about the mess we're in and for the government to start acting on the emergency. But it is also

I am an ecumenical and pluralistic type of bloke. I experience profound inspiration and wisdom, not only from a variety of Christians, but also from people of many other faiths, both in my everyday life, and in books. For example, I get a huge amount from listening to Richard Rohr, and would thoroughly recommend you checking him out if you never have. But, with someone like Richard Rohr, I

I've been thinking about a comment I heard recently from Richard Rohr - that we have to go from order to disorder to reorder. This is the spiritual journey. But a lot of us get stuck along the way. Order is the first instinct that everything should be neat, tidy, clear, in proper categories. It is the dualistic thinking that things are right or wrong, true or false; that people are saved or

July saw a new wave of action from Extinction Rebellion, after the successful rebellion that happened in London in April. The idea was that the action in London would “mushroom” in four other cities as well as more action happening in London (this time concentrated on the Royal Courts of Justice). So the Summer Uprising broke out in Cardiff, Bristol, Leeds, and Glasgow as well. I've been

Describes my principles pretty well too: 

This week I went to a climate action meeting. Over fifty people gathered and there was an organised conversation for two hours about the climate crisis and environmental issues. The discussion covered so many different things: food waste, recycling, vegetarianism, nuclear weapons, education. But what does it add up to? A list of things that "we" could do, or that "someone" could do. The trouble

I want to write about how it's possible to know the reality of God's love. I find this challenging as for a long as I can remember I have had a relationship with God. Growing up going to church I discovered God amidst the music, the hymns, the ritual. I talked to God and I always felt God was there. This is not to say that it's always been plain sailing and there's not been times of doubt

(I'm republishing this essay on here as it's another one of those important historical documents that I believe is only on one website, and I want to make sure it stays available to all - SL) The Five Points of Calvinism and the Five Points of the New Theology by James Freeman Clarke (1885) (With a few minor updates to the language by Mercy Aiken) "And thou shalt make . . . five pillars

As I have thought about the development of my Unitarian tradition I have come to the conclusion that there was a point when it took the wrong pathway. The point was 1838. In 1838 Ralph Waldo Emerson preached his Divinity School Address - a seminal sermon in the history of Unitarianism. In that sermon Emerson preached a religion based not on repetition of the stories of the Bible, but on an

One of the great differences I have noticed between Christians and Buddhists is how much more confident Buddhists are in their faith - and more specifically their practices. I read a lot of books about church planting, mission, fresh expressions of church, etc, etc. There's always a new book about how the Christian church should change to become more relevant, more post-modern, more this,

The two Unitarian theology booklets, based on two conferences in 2016 and 2017 are now available and free to download. Click here to download the 2016 booklet, including my talk on "Some Foundations for Unitarian Theology". Click here to download the 2017 booklet, including my talk on "Dialogues of Faith: An Adamsian Approach to Unitarian Evangelism."

Press release from Cardiff Extinction Rebellion:  Extinction Rebellion Cardiff welcomes Cardiff Council's decision to declare a Climate Emergency, but warns that urgent action is needed more than words. An emergency requires an emergency response. Missing from the motion is the sense of urgency the situation demands. The following amendments could have been put forward to rectify this: a).

There is about climate change, but it's also about a lot of other things. The greatest barrier in dealing with climate change is not climate change denial, but climate change gradualism. Most politicians, most business leaders, heck most leaders in the fossil fuel industry say, "Yes, climate change is important, and we are dealing with it, and here's the plan for dealing with it, slowly

This video was part of an installation (see below) at an event called "COMMUNION" at Shift Cardiff, curated by Lumin Journal. It was an event "responding to communion, communication, language and text-art bringing together the city's radical/poetic/dialogue-driven agitators of the arts scene."

(I'm reproducing this here, as it looks like the full text of this is only on one other website, and if that got taken down the text would not be easily available on the internet. I wouldn't want this text not to available to everyone, especially as it's now the 200th anniversary of the sermon) "Unitarian Christianity" by William Ellery Channing Preached at the ordination of Rev. Jared Sparks

People in relationships do not always need words to communicate. Lovers stare into each other's eyes; a suckling baby looks contentedly to its mother. There is the silence of bodily communion. This is what contemplative prayer is like. Prayer is to see the Beloved and allow the Beloved to see you. Hindus have a word for this - darsana - to allow yourself to be seen and beheld by God. There is

For a long time I've been of the opinion that the heart of religion is religious or spiritual experience. I find that both religious and anti-religious writers tend to assume that beliefs are what it's all about. But I'm more interested in religious experience. But when I read books about religious experience I tend to find they concentrate on peak religious experiences - the kind of thing that

It's been a year since I moved to Cardiff. In that year one of my key tasks has been to answer the simple question: what is Cardiff like? I remember my first official day working in Cardiff, I thought how amazing it was that my "commute" involved walking past a castle. But the castle is just one of the most obvious things about Cardiff. Today when I walk past it I always notice all the

(I'm reproducing this sermon here just because I worry it might be lost if it's taken down from other websites, and I think this sermon shouldn't be lost, because it still says it all for me. It was delivered at the Unitarian Annual Meetings in 2008) "Reasonless Hope and Joy" Art Lester There are some things I'd like to tell my friends and companions on this odd pilgrimage we are making

When I was in prayer a few years ago I found myself stumbling across an image that has stayed with me - the image of the womb of God. While trying to meditate I was concentrating on my breath. In and out. In and out. Then I began to try to experience that every breath was a gift from God, every breath an expression of love, every breath the holy spirit going in and of my lungs (I think I

The following words are a slightly extended version of the words I spoke as part of a performance event called "A New Mecca" marking the eightieth anniversary of the opening of the Temple of Peace and Health in Cardiff on 23rd November 2018. If there's one thing that struck me about the opening ceremony of the Temple of Peace in 1938 is that it's basically a Christian service. There's

It seems to me that believing in God is totally nuts. I mean, it's totally nuts, isn't it? It sort of surprises me that "religious" people don't admit this, but talk like "oh yeah, this religion stuff totally makes sense, how silly to be an atheist." But it really, absolutely doesn't make sense. I mean, "religious" people talk like there's this person in their life, who's in charge, and who has

As has been reported this week, we have twelve years to keep climate change below a 1.5 degrees increase. Twelve years to stop a climate catastrophe that will kill millions. Twelve years to turn things around. This will require a "unprecedented transitions in all aspects of society" - in other words it will require the kind of sacrifice, massive effort, and pulling together we last saw in the