We have seen horrors unfold in Ukraine this week.  Scenes of death and destruction as Putin's forces move into Ukraine can make us feel helpless in the enormity of the challenges we face.  However, the inspirational response from so many towards those injured, fleeing and terrified has shown deep compassion and love.  Our reflection this Sunday, the first Sunday in Lent, draws on words by Jess Reynolds, Matthew ands Susan B. Anthony. A 12 minute spoken reflection.

Love Is Calling

Kent Unitarians - Fire Of Unknown Origin

These final days are neither Christmas Day nor New Year.  Both are close, yet it can sometimes seem we are in a no-man’s land between one and the other.  Stuck in the Middle, perhaps.  Neither here nor there.
But we’re not.  Today, 30th December, is the fifth day of Christmas.  Five Gold Rings as the song reminds us.
Yet even then, Five Gold Rings is the moment in that song where everything seems to stop – a drawn out moment between days 12 to 6, and 4 to 1.  Neither one nor the other.  Yet we are living at a wonderful time of the year.  We are still in 2018, within the quiet moments after the busyness of Christmas Day, and before the fresh slate of a New Year.  These are times of reminder of the past, nudges for the future.  This track is our reflection this day.

Sevenoaks Unitarians

Neither Here nor There

We are approaching Lent, a time in the religious calendar that recalls the time Jesus spent in the wilderness after his baptism.  After forty days and forty nights alone, in the dry unforgiving desert, Jesus received a vision, a revelation, that changed his life.  A similar story starts the spiritual teachings of the Buddha 400 years previously, and also Muhammad 600 years later.  Our reflection today looked at the lessons we might learn about meditation an acceptance in a personal wilderness - a far harder, yet hopefully more fruitful, approach to Lent.

A Personal Wilderness

There are times when Thoughts and Prayers are insufficient. Easter is a celebration of the emergence of light from a time of tragedy.  However, the no two Gospel stories tell the story in the same way - an indication that this is not literal, it is instead inspirational.  On a day when the tragic murders in Sri Lanka weigh heavily in our words, how might we direct the encouragement of the Gospel stories, whether true or not, to actively bring light to our world.

Love Story (Easter 2019)

Unusually, in the days around this weekend in early June, we witness the Christian festival of Ascension, the Muslim celebration of Laylat-al-Qadr, and the Unitarian remembrance of the Flower Communion.  All events that point to the existence of the Holy within each of us, of the fragments of truth within each of us.  Irrespective of tradition, we learn and reflect on Angela Herrera's voice that says we are all the utterance of the timeless word, and the name of the Holy is pronounced 
through our being.

Pronouncing the Holy

The 20 July 2019 was the 50th Anniversary of the first Moon landing - when the world gathered as one to witness and to join for hope.  It was also the 75th Anniversary of the failed attempt to assissinate Adolf Hitler.  The German Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer was involved in the plot, and subsequently executed for his part.  Bonhoeffer and Apollo are both inspirations for hope, for oneness, for pursuit of the common good.  This reflection calls on these two significant event.

A Small Step to Peace

In a moment of confusion and uncertainty, Mary, future Mother of Jesus, sings a song of praise, the Magnificat, to the all-that-is. She reflects it is through her that the proud will be brought low, the humble will be lifted, the hungry will be fed. In our current, post-election state of uncertainty, we reflected this Sunday on how we can bring this message into our daily living, recognising the power of ourselves and our own actions in the world.

Magnificat

A spoken reflection by Jennifer Sanders on the Spring Equinox and the lessons we can learn from it.  With prayers, reflection and blessings, and originally intended as a Service at Sevenoaks Unitarian Meeting House, this video has been created to enable the Service to be experienced at home, whilst our building is closed during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Jennifer is an Interfaith Minister and member of the Unitarian congregation in Brighton.

Sevenoaks Unitarians

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