Greetings from Emmanuel Road, 17th July 2021, a note about how our Wednesday Evening Conversations are going to proceed, and a reminder about the church Slack site
Greetings.
As in all previous weeks, I trust things remain as well as can be expected with you all.
Please remember that if you would like to speak with me during the week simply reply to this email and we can arrange a suitable time to talk properly either by telephone, Zoom or on a socially distanced one-to-one walk/talk. More people are getting in touch with me to arrange this kind of thing so please do be in touch if you’d like to do this.
Last Wednesday evening, fifteen of us had what seemed to me to be a worthwhile conversation about how to structure our Wednesday Evening Conversations in the future. The next Conversation, and the last before September, will take place on 28th July, 7.15pm for 7.30pm and finishing at 9pm. I’ll send a Zoom link out to you next Saturday.
The decision was taken to make the opening half of the conversation centre on any questions that people may have which have arisen in response to my weekly blog/podcast. As some of you will know this is currently exploring an essay by the mid-twentieth century philosopher Paul Wienpahl called “An Unorthodox Lecture.” To read or listen to them please follow the usual links below my signature at the bottom of this post.
The second half of the conversation will centre on a general religious/philosophical/ethical topic proposed by one of the participants which has been previously posted on the Wednesday Evening Conversations thread found on the church SLACK site.
Remember this site is private and is only accessible to church members and attenders who are on our mailing list. It is not a forum open to the wider public. As such it acts as both a church message board and a forum for any ongoing conversations we are currently having or wish to start. Here you can easily share with others all kinds of useful information, thoughts, ideas, photos etc.. Given the very disturbing increase in COVID-19 cases everywhere this means that for a considerable while yet, even if we are able to restart some kind of face-to-face and live-streamed meeting in September as we are currently planning, we are clearly going to continue to need a virtual “place” where we can share information with each other quickly and freely. I fully realise that some of you simply won’t wish to join this. Naturally, that’s fine. However, you will be missing out on things that may be of interest to you and which, just perhaps, might bring a little church-related joy and connectivity into your life.
And, lastly, as always, if on reading this you decide you would like to join us for the Sunday Morning Service of Mindful Meditation and time of conversation following and do not have the necessary Zoom link then please either reply to this email or contact our Church Secretary, Brendan Boyle, via the contact page of our website. Just look through the dropdown tabs to find “Secretary”:
<https://www.cambridgeunitarian.org/contact/>
Please log in between 9.45 and 10am. The meditation starts at 10am sharp, and finishes at about 10.50. There will then be a short break to allow you to stretch your legs, compose your thoughts, or put the kettle on. The ‘Time for Conversation’ will start at about 11am, and if you aren’t taking part in the meditation, feel free to sign in during the break for the conversation.
To get the most from the meditation, you will find it helpful to either print out the order of service, or display it in a second window. Here is the link:
Order of Service for the Mindful Meditation:
<https://www.cambridgeunitarian.org/…/Evening-Service.pdf>
You might also wish to have a small candle or tea-light to hand to light at a certain point during the meditation.
A representative recorded version of the service is available for download via my podcast site here
<https://www.buzzsprout.com/1378024/7314817>
A homespun video introduction to the service can be found on YouTube at this link
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfmVH34meck&t=904s>
With love and best wishes as always,
Andrew
Andrew James Brown
Minister, Cambridge Unitarian Church, Emmanuel Road, Cambridge CB1 1JW
07305 089 951 (Church Office)
07477 462 110 (Mobile)
http://andrewjbrown.blogspot.com/ (Blog)
https://footprints.buzzsprout.com (Making Footprints Not Blueprints Podcast)
https://twitter.com/caute (Twitter)