Past Services
2009
May 24 Rev. Steve Wilson. Shams and Rumi- Friends in Love: Rumi Persia’s most famous poet did not become the Rumi we know until he took a chance on an unlikely friend. Come greet the esteemed Rumi and the homeless and questionable Shams. Their friendship is a soap-opera of intrigue that costs both a lot, and oddly enough saves them both.
May 31 Rev. Steve Wilson. Transcendentalism 101- An Idiot’s Guide to Emerson: The Transcendentalism of Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Henry Hedge, Thoreau, etc is the philosophical movement most associated with New England and Unitarians. If I were King their story would be on the standardized testing. Come bring your #2 pencil for this catechism lesson on New-England Unitarianism.
June 7 Rev. Steve Wilson. The Pursuit of Happiness: Freud says we all want to be one thing, and that thing is happy. With a wealth of psychological studies at our disposal we travel the world like detectives on a crime show hunting for happy. Like every good reporter we will ask the where’s, what’s and why’s it takes to find happiness.
June 14 Rev. Steve Wilson. Re-Educating Isaac: A female friend turned to me and said, “Men You can’t live with them, and yet the hunting season is so short!” This sermon looks atmasculinity with clear eyes. On Sunday we will honour the virility men bring to the table of humanity and we will challenge the socialization that leaves so many men disconnected and violent.
June 21 Rev. Steve Wilson. What Would Buddha Do? On Letterman
WWJD “What Would Jesus Do?” It is a great question. It is in reality oddly a very Unitarian Christian one to come from fundamentalist circles. Today we switch up this great question to ask what would happen if we switched gurus and refine the question to What Would Buddha Say if he was invited on to a late night talk show.
June 28 Ross McLuckie. “The Ultimate Investment”.
At the time of “Global Financial Crisis” we’re thinking about our financial investment, but how about that “ultimate investment” – in yourself !
July 5 Laurence Gormley. “In the quiet of this place”.
The address looks at some reasons why we come to Fellowship on Sundays and why we celebrate our lives in the simple rituals of our faith
July 12 Candace Parks. “A Sense of Wonder”.
Wonder is inseparable from religion. Apart from dogma or creeds or institutions or belief systems, religion is an experience of the eternal, the boundless, the infinite, the unsearchable. Unleashing our sense of wonder brings us closer to the divine.
July 19 Janet Horton. “Human Seasons, Religious Needs”
(To read the entire talk, please see the weblog of the same title here)
Have your belief systems changed over the decades? It’s no secret that human beings change as we gain life wisdom and experience. In fact, psychologists have been able to plot our adult development and have shown that how we move through this development impacts the way we make meaning and sense of the world. But what does this mean for our religious needs? This session will explore how our adult development impacts what we believe and which beliefs we are willing to put into question as we develop. How can religion support us as we change?
July 26, Linda Horton. “Our Religious Sources”.
As Unitarians we turn to many sources to develop our religious belief systems. American Reverend Kendall Gibbons has created poetry to honor these sources, and the Reverend Jason Shelton has set that poetry to beautiful music in his Sources Cantata. We will have the opportunity to experience these words and recorded choral pieces.
http://www.uua.org/visitors/6798.shtml
August 2, Jan Tendys. “Beyond Right and Left”
Rev. Jim Wallis has been called a “progressive evangelical” and he’s influential in Australia as well as in the US. Let’s take a close look.
August 9, Candace Parks, “Peace is Every Step”.
Is the peace movement really peaceful? Only if we as individuals know and are peace.
August 16, Geoff Matthews, “Unity in Diversity—What holds Us
Together?”.
A facilitated discussion.
August 23, Eric Stevenson, “Revelation, Self –evolution and
the New Sacred Myth”.
Using the natural environment as our sacred text, participating in our own evolution and adopting the billion year history of the cosmos as our Garden of Eden story.
August 30, Martin Horlacher, ” Tomorrow’s Song”. (read the entire talk on our blog here)
A meditation on changing moral norms, the shortcomings of religion, and faith for the future.
September 6, Ross McLuckie, ” Nothing”.
There are so many items we deal with each day and they are all put in a box “positive” or “negative”. Are these the only alternatives ?
September 13, Laurence Gormley, ” Should We have Unitarian Saints?”.
To our modern eyes Saints seem like a relic of past, perhaps even primitive, religious practice. But are Saints important, and if so what sort of Saints should Unitarians have?.
September 20, Jan Tendys , “Civil Society — Why is it Necessary?”.
A thriving democracy needs a strong civil society. The view from Canada and Australia.
September 27, Janet Horton, ” The Pursuit of Happiness”.
Philosophers write about it, religions promise it, musicians sing about it, and psychologists study it. But what is it and is it really possible to pursue something that is so elusive?
October 4, No service because of ANZUUA.
October 11, Candace Parks, ” Flower Communion”.
First written and delivered in Prague in 1923 as “a new experiment in symbolizing our liberty and brotherhood”, everyone is asked to bring a flower to symbolize their individual character. Flowers are placed in the vase as a symbol of belonging together as one spiritual community. At the end of the service, everyone takes one flower without making any distinction where it came from and whom it represents, to confess
that we accept each other as brothers and sisters without regard to class, race, or other distinction.
October 18, Geoff Matthews, ” We are the Meaning Makers”.
This interactive session will explore the sources of meaning for religious liberals – an opportunity for each of us to consider our purpose in life.
October 25, Colin Whatmough, ” Practising the Art of Loving”.
The Bible speaks much about “Love” – none more elegantly than that of Corinthians 13, an inspirational reading that beautifully illustrates the paramount importance of love in connecting humanity. Today we will analyse the concept of love from the discipline of psychology – enlisting the help of Erich Fromm – the leading social psychologist of the 20thC.
November 1, Jan Tendys, “Are Pagans Acceptable?”
November 8, Ross McLuckie, TBA
November 15, Laurence Gormley, “Lulu and the interdependent web of existence”.
November 22, Janet Horton, “Worshipping Together vs Worshipping Alone”.
November 29, GUEST SPEAKER: Dr Elizabeth Watson (Adjunct Research Fellow, University of Western Sydney), “With Fire in the Belly “. (Dr Watson has had a long time interest in social justice issues)
6 December, Candace Parks: “Church Shopping, a consumer’s guide”
For many, the faith they grew up with has lost its meaning. That doesn’t mean they have necessarily lost their spirituality. When they are shopping for something to fill the void, why might they consider Unitarianism?
13 December, Geoff Matthews: “Should Drugs be Legalised Globally?”
Come and have your say.
20 December, Christmas Party.
Members will present items to interest, delight and amuse. Contact Janet if you wish to present an item.
Lunch will be extra special.
2010
7 February, Ross McLuckie: “Recognition and Appreciation”
We are all aware of what we do, but do we recognise the real meaning of what is happening and see the benefit in it?
14 February, Laurence Gormley: “Evolution and Valentine’s Day”
The weekend has been designated Evolution Weekend by the UU movement in the US. More popularly, today is Valentine’s Day. What do these antithetical celebrations have to do with each other?
21 February, Jan Tendys: “Mindfulness/Reducing Stress”
We will do a mindfulness exercise and talk about stres and ways of reducing it
28 February, Janet Horton: “Finding Meaning in Music”
How our iPods and gadgets can play a part in our search for meaning
7 March , Candace Parks: “The Power of Connection”
Power–the ability to get things done–lies in numbers and organization. Throughout history, power based on domination and control has made its mark. But there is another kind of power, too, call it people power. It comes about mainly through a change of consciousness, an altered perception of what’s possible.
14 March, Special Guest Speaker Mary-Lou Johnson: “Faith and Reason” 500 years ago we emerged from the Dark Ages into the Enlightenment–the age of reason and of science. It has taken us to the brink of destroying our planet. Where do we go from here and how do we achieve balance?
Mary Lou Johnson is visiting from Canada where she is the chair of the worship Committee at the Unitarian Fellowship of Kelowna in BC. She was the founder of the Canadian Holistic Nurses Assn. and has spent much of her life on the front lines of psychosocial change.
21 March, Colin Whatmough: “Marcus Borg and Liberal Christianity”
28 March, Martin Horlacher “A Way of Life”
4 April, Ginna Hastings: “Jesus was a liberal.”
11 April, Guest speaker Rev. Bill Lawton: “When an open heart to the socially marginalized becomes a central life value.”
18 April, Ross McLuckie: “Solitude”
25 April, Janet Horton: “The Tao of iPod.”
2 May , Ginna Hastings: “The Gospel according to Elner Shimfissle.”
9 May, Candace Parks: “All I really need to know I learned in kindergarten .”
16 May, Geoff Matthews: “Is the projected population growth for Australia sustainable.”
23 May, Dr. Julian Droogan, Guest Speaker : “Working for nothing?”
How true is it that Buddhists strive towards nothingness and self-extinguishing in their quest for enlightenment? Is it fair, in this case, to call Buddhism an atheistic or even nihilistic philosophy? In this discussion we will look at the classic Buddhist concept of Nirvana and no-self, and compare it with the mystical experiences of the Hindus, Gnostics and a mysterious text from the Nag Hammadi library.
30 May, Colin Whatmough:”Three Ages of Christianity”
The Age of Faith, the Age of Belief (from Constantine, about 387 AD, to the present) and the new era, the Age of Spirit.
6 June, Jan Tendys: “The Doctrine of Original Sin—any relevance for today?”
The Cophenhagen talks were disappointing, Penny Wong’s emissions trading scheme is in limbo, climate change denialists are all over the internet. Why is humanity blundering in this crisis? Are liberals simply wrong in having an optimistic attitude towards human nature?
13 June, Ross McLuckie : “Letters”
To understand the personality of some Australians by reading their published letters.
20 June , Laurence Gormley:”A Year of Mixed Blessings“.
A personal take on the pending end of the financial year 2010.
Disappointment and frustration are unavoidable parts of life, but aiming low is what constitutes real failure. When we dream together our shared aspirations lift us up, giving flight to our common goals.
4th July, Janet Horton: “Authoring your own Beliefs”
Independent thought: As Unitarians, we like to say that the end religious authority lies not in a book or person or institution, but in ourselves. But, what does it really mean to be the authors of our own beliefs? This talk will introduce the concept of self authorship as a a natural stage of adult development and then pose questions about what it means in a religious context.
11 July, Claire Morgan, “Living the Charter for Compassion” (Debut talk.)
This is Claire’s debut talk for our group. Last November a multi-faith coalition launched the Charter for Compassion. It calls upon people “to make compassion a clear and dynamic force in our polarized world”.In this interactive session we will explore whether compassion for self comes before compassion for others and how the Charter can bring about positive change in the world.
18 July, Janet Horton: “The Church on the Other Side of the World”.
25 July, Colin Whatmough: An open discussion on Marcus Borg’s thoughts on Liberal Christianity…
…arising from Colin’s talk on this topic on 21 March,2010. (Published in May 2010 Esprit).
1 August, Geoff Matthews: “Horses’ Birthday Today”.
In this talk, the significant relationship of horses to the history and heritage of Australia will be covered, together with the impact of horses in our society, such as in the racing industry, equestrian, show jumping and people with mental and physical difficulties, and relating this to our connection with our society as Unitarians.
