Auckland Unitarians

with Rehanna Ali, David Hines. Recorded by Auckland Unitarian Church 9th January 2022. Rehanna Ali is head of the  Federation of Islamic Associations of NZ ‘s Islamic Awareness programme and joint convenor of their Education Sector Development; and was a founder of the Islamic Women’s Council of New Zealand (IWCNZ) . For more information, including video containing the slides used in this tal...

with Rehanna Ali, David Hines, Betsy Marshall. Recorded by Auckland Unitarian Church 9th January 2022. Rehanna Ali is head of the  Federation of Islamic Associations of NZ ‘s Islamic Awareness programme and joint convenor of their Education Sector Development; and was a founder of the Islamic Women’s Council of New Zealand (IWCNZ) . For more information, including video containing the slides...

with Rev. Clay Nelson. Recorded by Auckland Unitarian Church 19th December 2021 I need to begin this musing with a warning to those who might be triggered by words like Jesus or Christianity. On the Sunday before Christmas, I give myself permission to express some of my thoughts and ideas about progressive Christianity, which are the foundation of my faith. My justification is that both of the den...

with Rev. Clay Nelson. Recorded by Auckland Unitarian Church 12th December 2021 ... her observations caused me to muse on anger and how much of it is fuelled by privilege. We all get angry. If we don’t think so we should schedule some time with a therapist. Everyone has felt antagonism towards someone or something we feel has deliberately done us wrong. For more information see https://aucklanduni...

with Rev. Clay Nelson. Recorded by Auckland Unitarian Church 5th December 2021  Buddha told a parable: A man was travelling across a field when he encountered a tiger. He began to run, and the tiger chased after him. Coming to a precipice, he slipped and was able to catch hold of the root of a wild strawberry bush, hanging in the air. The tiger sniffed at him from above. Trembling, the man lo...

with Rev. Clay Nelson. Recorded by Auckland Unitarian Church 28th November 2021  We are hearing a lot about freedom these days. Brian Tamaki holding “freedom” rallies in the Domain, violating his bail conditions in the name of personal freedom. Protestors marching down Queen Street in Auckland and gathering on the steps around Parliament in Wellington, angry about lockdowns and vaccine mandat...

With Rev. Clay Nelson Recorded 21st November 2021 by Auckland Unitarian Church As your minister one of the riskier things I do is to offer choosing a sermon title to bid on at the Service Auction. Perhaps one of the more challenging ones I have been given was concocted by Paul Henriques. He wants me to muse on “Unitarian Universalism and Philanthropy: Past, Present and Future.” I confess I would n...

with Rev. Clay Nelson  Recorded at Auckland Unitarian Church 14th November 2021  After some of my recent musings confronting the disintegration of social cohesion due to Delta and how little COP26 in Glasgow will achieve in reducing greenhouse gases, you might think I’m channelling Henny Penny AKA Chicken Little. You remember the story. After an acorn falls on her head, she panics, runni...

with Rev. Clay Nelson  Recorded by Auckland Unitarian Church 7th November 2021  To introduce my musings this morning I am turning to an 18-year-old woman who, ever since she was a child, has been teaching us how to speak truth to power. Greta Thunberg has resisted being a token voice used by governments lacking political will and by global companies seeking to monetise efforts to stop ki...

With Rev. Clay Nelson Recorded by Auckland Unitarian Church 31st October 2021 When I read the Centre for Informed Futures ’ summary of Social Cohesion in a post-covid world I wondered how they could get it so wrong. It did not describe the Aotearoa New Zealand I was experiencing. Then I noticed the date of publication. A lot has happened in the 17 months since its publication. Remembering back, it...

– social divisions on issues like the vaccine and te reo… with Derek Handley For more information see:- https://aucklandunitarian.org.nz/messengers-of-division/

With John DiLeo Recorded 17th October 2021 by Auckland Unitarian Church Well, it finally happened. On the 17th of August, New Zealand joined the rest of the world in dealing with an outbreak of the Delta COVID variant in the community. Our government’s “short, sharp” response announced that afternoon turned out not to be all that short…and, recently, has lost a great deal of its sharpness, as well...

With David Hines. When I agreed to preach at this service a couple of weeks ago, I had to pick a topic off the cuff, so I said I’d talk about how we can help people who are especially hard hit by the lockdown. In our Prime Minister’s words “Be kind”. But eight days ago that story was overtaken by Brian Tamaki running his protest against the lockdown …. So I’ve changed the topic a little: Be kind,...

With David Hines. In July I was surprised to get a call from a member of the Association of Rationalists and Humanists asking if I had written a submission on the government’s new hate speech proposal. I hadn’t, but I was grateful for the suggestion. I had written a a similar article a couple of years ago – taking a free speech approach, and found my thoughts had shifted a little in between. Find...

Before Mohammed, before Jesus, before Buddha, there was Zoroaster. Some 3,500 years ago, in Bronze Age Iran, he had a vision of the one supreme God. A thousand years later, Zoroastrianism, the world’s first great monotheistic religion, was the official faith of the mighty Persian Empire, its fire temples attended by millions of adherents. A thousand years after that, the empire collapsed, and the...

In a letter to Robert Hooke in 1675, Isaac Newton wrote: “ If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants ”. The phrase is understood to mean that if Newton had been able to discover more about the universe than others, then it was because he was working in the light of discoveries made by fellow scientists, either in his own time or earlier. I stand on the shou...

Find out more:- https://aucklandunitarian.org.nz/conversion-practices-prohibition-legislation-bill/

Last week in my musings about conspiracy theorists I relied on my pastoral training to encourage you “to respect their human dignity and listen to them. Ask questions about their fears. Remain connected to them. Love them.” What the hell was I thinking? This is a case of do as I say, not as I do. Those who spread conspiracy theories that endanger people, enrage me. Find out more:- https://auckland...

Ever since the pandemic began the tin hat brigade has been out in force, spreading misinformation and, worse, disinformation. The former is “false information that people didn’t create with the intention to hurt others,” and the latter is “false information created with the intention of harming a person, group, or organisation, or even a country.” They have always been around, but this time, thank...

Prompted by a conversation I had with someone feeling confounded about how to respond to someone who wanted to relitigate an altercation that was years ago. This is the kind of imposition that can blow a fuse when we can barely handle all that is happening now. So, this is another message from your Minister for Spiritual Health on how to use a lockdown to your spiritual advantage. Find out more:-...

As we once again find the virus an unwelcomed guest in our midst, I pondered what to share with you today. The Ministry of Health is doing a great job, considering the enormity of the task, trying to keep us physically healthy. Our Prime Minister is doing her job of keeping us mentally sound with her calm assurance, clear messaging and kind manner. But I can’t find a ministry for assisting us with...

Our peace and social justice committee is doing some wonderful work on key areas of need in our community and in Oceania, but I would like to propose that we create in addition a climate action team. We have both expertise and passion to contribute. They would be focused on education both within and outside our community, creating alliances with other faith groups, treaty partners and NGOs that sh...

What would reality be like without fantasy? Would you want to live there? Can you really imagine a place not inhabited by Gandalf and Frodo, Harry and Albus, Sparrowhawk and Vetch; Lucy and Aslan? Thanks to fantasy literature, we can live in an extensive travel bubble. We are exempt from quarantine when we visit Alice in Wonderland, Peter in Neverland, Ged in Earthsea, Harry, Ron and Hermione at H...

I’m always surprised by where my musings begin and where they take me. This week they began with gymnast Simone Biles’ withdrawal from team and individual Olympic events to protect her physical and mental health. While many have applauded her decision despite global expectations she would win gold in all of them, many others have criticised and condemned her for lacking courage and the appropriate...

Religion is often singled out for the evil it is responsible for in the world, from the Crusades to 9/11. Jonathan Mason has used his opportunity from winning the Service Auction item to select the following sermon topic: Considering religions’ responsibility for wars and intolerance, explain the positive elements of world religion and spirituality. He and I have a friendly repartee about a variet...