Unitarian Sunday Reflections

(Hull and Lincoln Unitarians)

25 June 2023

Lincoln Service

11 am

Worship Leader: John Carter

Hull Service

4 pm

Worship Leader: Chris Carr

Theme

“Spiritual Explorations:

Hospitality & Mystery”

PRELUDE

WORDS OF WELCOME

Welcome to each and to all:

seekers, journeyers, questing, and content.

May our time of reflection and worship,

fill our desire for wholeness and belonging.

In this time together we are made worthy…..

REFLECTIVE QUOTE

“Everybody is a wonderin’ what and where they all came from

Everybody is a worryin’ ’bout where

They’re gonna go when the whole thing’s done

But no one knows for certain and so it’s all the same to me

I think I’ll just let the mystery be”

~ Iris DeMent

CHALICE LIGHTING

by John Carter

We light our chalice

         As we open ourselves to this spiritual journey we call life

We light our chalice

         to confess our willingness to be a light to our world,

We light our chalice

         to confirm our desire to become

                                    co-creators of passionate life

                                    and of a world of justice, love and peace.

We light our chalice

GATHERING EXAMEN (OPENING PRAYER)

Once again we gather, and we take time to reflect on our lives and living….

• For what are you this most grateful for this week?
• For what are you the least grateful for this past week?
• When do you feel connected, a sense of deep belonging, to another, to myself, to nature, to the transcendent, life, God?

May our reflections continue in this time together, as we join to reflect on the deep things of the divine, and so we pray…

“May the spirit of life, guide us today” AMEN

GATHERING HYMN

SYF 208 (CD SYF 2 / TK 25)

“When our heart is in a holy place”

words by Joyce Poley

          When our heart is in a holy place,

          when our heart is in a holy place,

          we are blessed with love and amazing grace,

          when our heart is in a holy place.

When we trust the wisdom in each of us,

ev’-ry colour ev’-ry creed and kind,

and we see our faces in each other’s eyes,

then our heart is in a holy place.

          When our heart is in a holy place,

          when our heart is in a holy place,

          we are blessed with love and amazing grace,

          when our heart is in a holy place.

When we tell our story from deep inside,

and we listen with a loving mind,

and we hear our voices in each other’s words,

then our heart is in a holy place.

          When our heart is in a holy place,

          when our heart is in a holy place,

          we are blessed with love and amazing grace,

          when our heart is in a holy place.

When we share the silence of sacred space,

and the God of our heart stirs within,

and we feel the power of each other’s faith,

then our heart is in a holy place.

          When our heart is in a holy place,

          when our heart is in a holy place,

          we are blessed with love and amazing grace,

          when our heart is in a holy place.

          When our heart is in a holy place.

REFLECTION ON THE THEME:

There is much in religious language about mystery.  In some ways it limits more than it inspires, yet when it inspires it liberates our spiritual connections and explorations.  How open are we to these moments, how hospitable, how aware.  How does this theme speak to you?

READINGS:

Hopi Spirituality

voice one: Leslie Marmon Silko (Laguna Pueblo Nation)

“The bare vastness of the Hopi landscape, in Northern Arizona, emphasises the visual impact of every plant, every rock, every arroyo.  Nothing is overlooked or taken for granted.  Each ant, each lizard, each lark is imbued with great value simply because the creature is there, simply because the creature is alive in a place where any life at all is precious.  Stand on the mesa edge at Walpai and look west over the bare distances toward the pale blue outlines of the San Francisco peaks where the Katsina spirits reside.  So little lies between you and the sky.  So little lies between you and the earth.  One look and you know that simply to survive is a great triumph, that every possible resource is needed, every possible ally, even the most humble insect or reptile.  You realise you will be speaking with all of them if you intend to last out the year.  Thus it is that the Hopi elders are grateful to the landscape for aiding them in their quest as spiritual people.”

voice two: Starhawk (Wiccan / Pagan Theologian of Jewish heritage)

“The Hopis say that we all began together, that each race went on a journey to learn its own road to power, and changed; that now is the time for us to return, to put the pieces of the puzzle back together, to make the circle whole.  Through our differences, we complete each other.  Together, we become a new whole.  Mystery is vision.”

The Path of Hospitality, no 141:

reflections on Celtic wisdom & lore by Carl McColman

“A few years back I attended a workshop featuring the Celtic author Caitlin Matthews.

During the worship, attended mostly by neopagans, the question of religious tolerance came up.  Caitlin spoke for a minute or two about the many Christians who attend her workshops, and even the Christian Centres who host her events.  She finished the little discussion with a sentence I found the most memorable of the entire weekend: she said

‘I’m willing to speak anywhere where a spirituality of hospitality is practiced, whether Christian, Pagan, or whatever.’

Her words electrified me, and gave me a clear sense of how Celtic wisdom transcends religious boundaries.  After all, in the consciousness of hospitality, religious and any other form of difference, are not erased or eliminated.  But they cease to become the defining factor of who we are. 

If I am focusing on how you and I are so different from one another, then community becomes strained if not impossible.  But when we choose to place our attention instead on our hospitality and the spirituality of shared resources and open hearts, then our differences are reduced to the simple ways in which we embody diversity and distinctiveness – lovely qualities, after all, for they have their roots in nature.”

HYMN

SYF 58 (CD1/TK 9)

“Grant us, God, a mind to know you”

words by Peter Sampson

Grant us, God, a mind to know you,

let us feel you stir in our hearts;

fill our lives with your abundance

show us how to play our parts.

In this changing world, in which we make our way,

keep us in your love ever true.

Help us to be kind to each other,

value people’s thoughts and needs.

Human hearts can give so much loving,

human flesh for mercy pleads.

In this warring world in which we would survive

why should we not give peace a chance?

Keep our spirits young and lively,

teach our children how to flower.

When our limbs begin to weaken

send your comfort, let us know your power.

In this jostling world in which we strain and strive

let us hear your still small voice.

READINGS

Be Still and Know

words from the Essene Gospel of Peace

“Be still and know

Be still and know that I am

Be still and know that I speak to you.

Be still and know

Be still and know that I am

Be still and know that I spoke to you

          when you were first born,

          at your first sight,

          at your first word,

          at your first thought,

          at your first love,

          as you sang your first song.

“Be still and know

Be still and know that I am

Be still and know that I speak to you.

          through the grass of the meadows,

          through the trees of the forests,

          through the valleys and the hills,

          through the Holy Mountains,

          through the rain and snow,

          through the waves of the sea,

          through the dew of the morning,

          through the peace of the evening.

“Be still and know

Be still and know that I am

Be still and know that I speak to you.

          through the splendour of the sun,

          through the brilliant stars,

          through the storm and the cloud,

          through the thunder and lightening,

          through the mysterious rainbow.

“Be still and know

Be still and know that I am

Be still and know that I will speak to you.

          when you are alone,

          through the Wisdom of the Ancients,

          at the end of time,

          when you have seen my Angels,

          throughout Eternity….

I will speak to you.

Be still and know

Be still and know that I am

Be still and know that I speak to you.

Be still and know

GOD.

Credo

by Cliff Reed

“I believe in God, the Divine Unity,

origin and sustaining power of the universe.

I believe that the man, Jesus of Nazareth,

was our brother; that he knew God as Father,

lived and died in Palestine,

and walked the Way of love for us to follow.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the breath of God,

through which we are given life itself,

and the inspiration to love our neighbours as ourselves.

I believe that truth and wisdom have been found

and revealed by many great souls, prophets,

and messengers of the Divine.

I believe that the Divine is also revealed

in the courage, compassion, and simple kindness

of countless men and women.

I believe that humanity is One,

that all life is One,

that all of nature is One;

a Divine Unity.”

HYMN 

SYF 64 (CD 1/TK 10)

“How can we confine”

words by Andrew Pratt

How can we confine

God within our mind,

held within a creed

humanly designed?

How can we be sure

that the way we know

is the only path

that this God might show?

Surely such a joy

cannot be contained

by a single plan,

humanly explained?

People of all faiths,

let us all conspire;

source and ground of life,

answer our desire.

As we long to know

answers to our plight,

take us, lead our quest,

dancing to the light.

REFLECTIONS & CONVERSATION

“Listening for the Mystery”                 

by John Carter

For today I have chosen the harder path,

gone is the way of definition,

gone is the way of explanation,

all the ways that we pick, study, parse are gone

all that is left is the sense of senses.

There once was a boy

who lived for a while in a time and place of enchantment

each corner brought a new surprise

a new sense of something wondrous.

One day this boy and his best mate

went across the fence

into the forbidden land

to explore, discover, to simply play.

Even the danger was wondrous.

while they dug in the sand

nestling there was a den of rattlers

quickly covering the uncovered

they beat a hasty retreat

back over the fence into safety

excited and happy

even the danger was wondrous.

Years have come and gone

the boys have moved on

yet the wonder of the time

has continued,

not with the same intensity

not with the same exuberance

not without the parsing moments.

Now it is glimpses

remembrances

flashes

times when it comes

a joy discovered

a gratitude as the only response.

The orthodox define some things as mystery,

words which are foreign to our Unitarian ears,

in a way our understandable response is to question, to wonder for the reason, and ask why?

Is mystery a way to avoid the hard questions?

Is mystery a easy way to explain?

Is mystery simply a way to dictate without being questioned?

I would suspect a yes is the only answer to give….

yet I would turn our reason on us and ask

Is there a way that mystery could push our explorations?

Can mystery open us to a greater and lived welcome?

As we live in our existential now would mystery open us to recognise or to live with that in which we cannot define nor understand? 

It may be that all we are observing

whether we say mystery or existential

is that at times there are things that happen

within or with out that spark a moment

a joy

a ah ha

that we don’t want to parse, dissect, dice up or even question…

we just want to experience it as it is

to let it stand

And simply to experience

a mystery

an unknown

an moment of joy.

***

PRAYER

words from the Chinookian peoples of North America (Pacific Northwest of US)

“How lovely are thy holy groves

Great Spirit of heaven and earth.

My soul longs and faints

for the circle of thy trees.

My heart and my flesh

sing with joy to thee

O Spirit of life.

May all things move and be moved in me

all know and be known in me

May all creation

Dance for joy within me.”

HYMN 

SYF 42 (CD SYF 2/TRACK 1)

“from the light of days remembered”

by Jason Shelton & Mary Katherine Morn

From the light of days remembered burns a beacon bright and clear,

guiding hands and hearts and spirits into faith set free from fear.

          When the fire of commitment sets our mind and soul ablaze;

          when our hunger and our passion meet to call us on our way;

          when we live with deep assurance of the flame that burns within,

          then our promise finds fulfilment and our future can begin. 

From the stories of our living rings a song both brave and free,

calling pilgrims still to witness to the life of liberty.

          When the fire of commitment sets our mind and soul ablaze;

          when our hunger and our passion meet to call us on our way;

          when we live with deep assurance of the flame that burns within,

          then our promise finds fulfilment and our future can begin.  

From the dreams of youthful vision comes a new, prophetic voice,

which demands a deeper justice built by our courageous choice.

          When the fire of commitment sets our mind and soul ablaze;

          when our hunger and our passion meet to call us on our way;

          when we live with deep assurance of the flame that burns within,

          then our promise finds fulfilment and our future can begin. 

BLESSING

words from the St Hilda’s Community

As we leave this sacred time and place

May the power and the mystery

          go before us to show us the way,

          shine above us to lighten our world,

          lie beneath us to bear us up,

          walk with us and give us companionship,

May that power and mystery glow and flow within us

          and bring us to Joy.