“It is no longer I who pursue philosophy, but rather repentance that thinks through me”—A meditation on an insight of Tanabe Hajime’s
Window in St Olaf’s Church, Wasdale Head READINGS: Psalm 121 (AV) I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, he that […]
Epiphany — Walking with the three Magians between doubtful maximal belief and total secular humanism
The Nativity Set in the Cambridge Unitarian Church INTRODUCTION In my Christmas Day address I explored with you the thought that when we read the nativity stories — and, today, the associated story of the visit of the Magians (see David Bentley Hart’s translation below)— we are not reading descriptions of actual events because thanks […]
Our gift of Life in context see, a pearl of Grace in Eternity—An address in preparation for the New Year 2020
Spinoza in a window of George’s Meeting House (Unitarian), Exeter READINGS Psalm 74:16-17 The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun. Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter. Night and Death (1828) by Joseph Blanco White (1775–1841) MYSTERIOUS Night! when our […]
Christmas Day Address 2019: The Source that Beckoned
‘The Nativity at Night’ (1490) by Geertgen tot Sint Jans READINGS: ‘Lines written a few miles above Tintern Abbey, on revisiting the banks of the Wye during a tour, 13 July 1798’ by William Wordsworth (this morning we began the service by hearing the first two stanzas). Luke 2:1-20 ADDRESS The Source that Beckoned For […]
Mary ponders and a muddy pond clears—that for which, in Advent, we await (a post-election Advent address)
The nativity scene in the Cambridge Unitarian Church READINGS The Shepherds and the Angels (Luke 2:8-19) In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. […]
Scattering the proud in the imagination of their hearts; putting down the mighty from their seat; exalting the humble and meek; filling the hungry with good things — an Advent address written to outline the task before a progressive, liberal-religious, free-thinking community following Thursday’s General Election (2019)
READINGS The Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55) in David Bentley Hart’s translation (2017) And Mary said, ‘My soul proclaims the Lord’s greatness, and my spirit rejoices in God my saviour, because he looked upon the low estate of his slave. For see: Henceforth all generations will bless me; because the Mighty One has done great things to […]
Advent and Christmas for Free Spirits – The bloom and magic of things that are nearest
READINGS: Luke 2:13-14 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” From ‘History’ by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Used as the epigraph to the first edition of Nietzsche’s “The Gay Science” (1882) To […]
If anything will level with you water will—a meditation on flows, folds and fields, the material conditions of nature as she appears
Mary C. Durst, Bathing at Hunstanton Cliffs, Norfolk, 1888 READINGS Isaiah 26.4 Trust in the Lord for ever, for in the Lord God you have an everlasting rock. Isaiah 44.8 Do not fear, or be afraid; have I not told you from of old and declared it? You are my witnesses! […]
The great mutual blindness darkened that sunlight in the park—A Remembrance Sunday memorial address and prayer for all those killed in war, including those who were, or still are, our enemies
Blue skies and sun in the park opposite the church this week To see a pdf copy of the order of service please click on this link. OPENING READING Matthew 5:38-45 [Jesus said:] ‘You have heard that it was said, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” But I say to […]
Jesus’ proclamation about the need to show love, not indulgence—Dad’s Army, Knud Ejler Løgstrup and the ethical demand
The main cast of characters in Dad’s Army INTRODUCTION A couple of weeks ago I had occasion to answer a question in the conversation after the address by using a scene from an episode called “A Man of Action” from the British 1970s comedy series ‘Dad’s Army’ in which Private Frank Pike gets his head […]