Prelude Melodia Africana I by Ludovico Einaudi
Opening Words by Cliff Reed (adapted)
As the true prophets of God have always told us,
the Divine will is for mercy and compassion,
love and justice.
May we never suppose that vengeance and cruelty,
hatred and murder, serve the Divine purpose.
In the spirit of human solidarity and oneness,
we join in worship.
Chalice Lighting (you may wish to light a candle in your own home at this point. I will be lighting my chalice for worship at 11.00 am on Sunday morning) (words by Cliff Reed)
Jesus told us that we are a light for all the world.
As we light our chalice, let us remember that.
May we be lamps shedding light among our fellows,
humble vessels of divine radiance to our one world.
Opening Prayer
Spirit of Life and Love,
Be with us as we gather for worship,
Each in our own place.
Help us to feel a sense of community,
Even though we are physically apart.
Help us to care for each other,
In this world in which Covid has not yet gone away,
And the clouds of war and climate change overshadow us.
May we keep in touch however we can,
And help each other,
However we may.
May we remember that
caution is still needed,
that close contact is still unwise.
Help us to be grateful for the freedoms we have
and to respect the wishes of others.
May we hold in our hearts all those
Who are grieving, lost, alone,
Suffering in any way,
Amen
Reading Easter by Andrew Hill (adapted)
We look, this Easter, to rise above tombs of unreasonableness:
From the tomb which confines God to supernatural orders,
Let God rise respecting nature’s universal laws.
From the tomb of literalism and exclusivism and fanaticism,
Let rise imagination and inclusiveness and co-operation.
From the tomb where we hear nothing but our own voices’ echoes,
Let rise voices reasoning together.
From the tomb which chains human minds,
Let rise minds which test and quest without resting.
From the tomb of never ending sorrow and despair,
Let rise new beginnings and new hope.
From the tomb of conflict and war,
Let rise listening, tolerant and participatory government.
From the tomb where after-life claims all life’s meaning,
Let rise new meanings for this life.
Alternative Lord’s Prayer
Spirit of Life and Love, here and everywhere,
May we be aware of your presence in our lives.
May our world be blessed.
May our daily needs be met,
And may our shortcomings be forgiven,
As we forgive those of others.
Give us the strength to resist wrong-doing,
The inspiration and guidance to do right,
And the wisdom to know the difference.
We are your hands in the world; help us to grow.
May we have compassion for all living beings,
And receive whatever life brings,
With courage and trust.
Amen
Reading The Day after Good Friday by Celia Cartwright
What was it like? After the death?
For those who had followed?
For those who had cared?
For those who had been so close?
For his mother, who had pondered the meaning of his life for so long,
was it what she expected?
For Mary, his sister, who had followed him and loved him.
For Mary of Magdala, who had loved him, cared for him, followed him well.
Did the women who had bravely remained beneath the cross
Cling to each other?
Did they lean on one another, weep together?
Did they wonder what to do and where to go?
Did they wonder if any one would believe them
When they told of the man they loved for those who followed after.
For those left of the twelve, with doubts and fears,
rudderless now and shaken by guilt.
What was it like for them?
Did they burn with anger for the one who had told?
Did they wish they had had the strength to stay?
Did they retreat into themselves, with wounded hearts?
Did they run away in fear?
Did they cling to each other in grief and loss
Wondering where to go?
And what did they do when the tomb was open
With no sign of their beloved?
Did they believe he was come again?
That he had not truly been dead?
Did they understand something or nothing?
Did they take to the road
To leave behind the holy city
With its memories of palm leaves and death
Of wine and bread and companionship?
Somewhere in the thread of history
Something of these close companions
Whispered beads onto the thread of time
And prayerful fingers held the beads
And joyful hands passed them on,
And over time, the beads became worn
And the pattern – once so sharp,
Was lost.
But the beads of love were held and then
From hand to hand
Through all the ages in between
They came,
The remnants of their story
Still there.
And added too and amended
To fill the space that once the pattern told
Still found the hearts of those who
Reached to take the beads
To keep them holy.
And remember.
Prayer In the Breaking of Bread by Cliff Reed
‘Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked with us by the way,
And opened to us the scriptures?’
When did the fire of revelation last burn within us?
When did we last hear Jesus speak to us?
Or let him?
How often do we open the scriptures?
Or open our minds to them?
Spirit of resurrection and rebirth, walk with us
on life’s road, reveal to us its wonders, duties,
and purposes.
‘And they told what things were done in the way,
And how they knew him in the breaking of bread.’
We have walked with Jesus so many times
but have not known him.
In many guises he has explained the truth to us,
but we have been too dull to see it.
May we, in loving communion and shared fellowship,
Know him at last in the breaking of bread.
Amen
Reading The Risen Christ from Carnival of Lamps by Cliff Reed
Jesus didn’t want to be worshipped, he wanted to be listened to.
He called men and women to follow on the path he trod, not to build shrines and idols wherever his feet fell.
Jesus didn’t work miracles to prove he was divine,
he did works of love to show that we can do them too.
Jesus didn’t say, look at me, he said look to God and help me build the Kingdom
in this world and in the human heart.
Jesus didn’t go to the cross to buy back souls with blood,
he went to the cross because the path of love sometimes leads that way,
and when it does, we must take it, as he did.
The risen Christ was neither corpse revivified nor spectral counterfeit.
He is the community where compassion dwells,
with justice, truth and loving fellowship.
Time of Stillness and Reflection Easter 2020 from Beyond Darkness by Cliff Reed (adapted)
“From midday, a darkness fell over the whole land.” (Matthew 27:45)
“There was another horse, sickly pale; its rider’s name was Death.” (Revelation 6:8)
It was a time of failing hope,
a time of betrayal, despair, and darkness at noon,
a time when fear and death seemed to triumph.
There have been many such times.
Times when it seemed that the pale horse and its
ghastly rider might drive life from the earth.
Maybe we live in such a blighted time,
even though we are surrounded
by springtime flowers and bursting buds.
There is a shadow over the world,
robbing us of the season’s joy,
mocking its beauty.
But though we must not diminish
the dangers we face, let us remember
that death never has the last word.
The faith of Easter is that beyond darkness
there is light, beyond sorrow there is joy,
beyond death there is life.
[silence]
We are called to be messengers of hope
and compassion to each other,
to our neighbours and to the world.
When the crisis passes, may each of us be able
to reflect that we didn’t altogether fail the test
of love, conscience, and humanity.
We are living through a bitter, fearful spring,
but it will come to an end, and we’ll see
summer come again.
Musical Interlude Melodia Africana III by Ludovico Einaudi
Address Easter Sunday 2024
I don’t know why it is, but most of the news we read in the papers, hear on the radio, see on the television or the internet, seems to be bad news. Decent behaviour seems less spectacular and is less often reported. Why is that, do you think? Could it be because we instinctively expect such behaviour, and therefore feel it unnecessary to call attention to it? I think that this would be more the Unitarian view of human nature. Which is illustrated beautifully by Andrew Hill’s plea, which I shared as our first reading, for us to “rise above tombs of unreasonableness.” All the readings and prayers I have chosen to share today, this Easter Sunday, ask us to rise above our petty human limitations and find a better, more inclusive, more compassionate way of living in relationship with the rest of humankind, and with the blue-green planet that is our home.
I love the writings of Richard Rohr, a Catholic Franciscan monk, who is one of the most open-minded Christians I have ever known. He tells us, “Jesus never said, ‘Worship me’; he said, ‘Follow me.’ He asks us to imitate him in his own journey of full incarnation. To do so, he gives us the two great commandments: (1) Love God with your whole heart, soul, mind, and strength and (2) Love your neighbour as yourself. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus shows us that our ‘neighbour’ even includes our ‘enemy.’”
And Cliff Reed echoed that message in our final reading, saying, “The risen Christ was neither corpse revivified nor spectral counterfeit. He is the community where compassion dwells, with justice, truth, and loving fellowship.“ So the message (if you like) of this Easter Sunday address is for us to follow the example of Jesus, love our neighbours as ourselves, and do our best to make the world a more positive, happier place.
As Celia Cartwright shared in her beautiful reflection on how the women and disciples must have felt on Easter Saturday, when the one they had loved and followed had been barbarically killed, Christians down the ages have found something in the Easter story to hold onto, some fragment of hope, passed down the ages as “beads of love.” And it is up to us, here, now, today, to take up those beads and be inspired by them to lead our best lives, recognising the divine spark within our fellow human beings.
I have long believed that there is a divine spark within each of us, “that of God” as the Quakers would say. As I see it, our job as Unitarians, as human beings, is to be constantly aware of the divine influences around us, in the world, in our fellow human beings, and to recognise that there is that of God in everyone, and that we are all connected to each other, on a very fundamental level. When we are in loving relationship with others, we can form circles of love. Because being in loving relationship with others is the strongest way I know of influencing the world for good.
Which the world desperately needs at the moment. Although our headlines are filled with news of the war in Gaza (not so much about the Ukraine now, although the war there continues), there are many other places in the world where war and famine and hatred are spreading their toll of misery. Many other places which need our attention, our compassion, our action. We human beings are complex creatures. I think we have to accept that the polarity between what we call good and what we call evil is present in every individual, as well as in humankind generally, but that it is up to each one of us to make a conscious effort to choose the good over the evil, and to make of our lives a greater whole.
This might be easier to do if we understand how our human nature works.
I found Philip Hewett’s take on this, in his book The Unitarian Way, fascinating. He wrote, “Human nature, however varied the forms of expression it may take in different individuals and within the same individual, is neither a constant nor an isolated phenomenon. It is not constant because it is continually changing and growing and reflects the level in the evolutionary process that has thus far been reached. It is not isolated because human beings do not live in isolation. We are what we are as a result of continuous interaction with an environment that is not separated from our own essential nature by any impenetrable boundary. We are all of us continually being defined and redefined by the whole constellation of relationships into which we enter. … The living of my life in a spiritual sense is a continuous process of incorporating new relationships into the ever-changing pattern which constitutes my identity. … In a spiritual sense, the quality of living is enhanced by multiplication and exercise of my positive relationships to the cosmos as a whole, to the world of living things, and to other human beings.”
There is a lot of food for thought here. Unless we walk through life with our eyes, minds and hearts shut, we will inevitably be influenced and changed by the actions and words of people with whom we come into contact, whether it is a casual encounter in the street, a member of our family, or of our spiritual community. And, of course, our actions and words influence everyone else. I suppose another way of putting it would be to quote John Donne’s famous meditation, “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, … any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”
So what should we as Unitarians do about this? We are all human beings, we are all members of many communities – our families, our friends, our colleagues, our church – and we are all members of the human race. What difference can we, as individuals, make to those communities? We need to be aware that we are in a living relationship with the rest of the world, and that our words and actions can influence the fate of that world and its inhabitants, our fellow human beings, not to mention all the other living things. Whether our influence is for good or ill is up to us.
Each of us contains that divine spark, which, if we choose to pay attention to it, can prod us into positive action, which might make that difference for good, which our world, our communities, so urgently need. I loved the conclusion of Cliff Reed’s prayer, Easter 2020, which formed our Time of Stillness and Reflection. Although at the time it was written, he was probably thinking about the then new pandemic, his words are just as apposite today, as the wars in Gaza, Ukraine and other parts of the world rumble on, as the price of fuel doubles and more and more people in this country fall into poverty. Let’s hear them again and take inspiration from them: “The faith of Easter is that beyond darkness there is light, beyond sorrow there is joy, beyond death there is life. We are called to be messengers of hope and compassion to each other, to our neighbours and to the world. When the crisis passes, may each of us be able to reflect that we didn’t altogether fail the test of love, conscience, and humanity.”
It is far from easy to pass this “test of love, conscience, and humanity”. But the teachings of Jesus sum up what we should do:
“Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. … Do to others as you would have them do to you. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. … Be merciful just as your Father is merciful.”
There are people whose lives have been shining examples of putting this Golden Rule, which is shared by all the major religions, into practice. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr was one; Nelson Mandela was another; so was Mother Theresa. I could also mention the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. What all these people have in common is that whatever life threw at them, they somehow managed to rise above the natural human instincts for revenge and hate, and continued to live their lives in a spirit of love.
It’s a big wide world, and we are only little people. But we can resolve to make our little corners of the world more loving places. Let us be like Abou Ben Adhem, in the poem by 19th century poet, Leigh Hunt, with which I will close:
Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase)
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
And saw, within the moonlight of his room,
Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,
An Angel, writing in a book of gold;
Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,
And to the presence in the room he said,
“What writest thou?” – The vision raised its head,
And with a look made all of sweet accord,
Answer’d “The names of those who love the Lord.”
“And is mine one?” said Abou. “Nay, not so,”
Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low,
But cheerily still; and said, “I pray thee, then,
Write me down as who loves his fellow men.”
The angel wrote and vanished. The next night
It came again, with a great wakening light,
And showed the names whom love of God had bless’d
And lo! Ben Adhem’s name led all the rest.
May we, as incarnations of the Divine, do our best to live our lives out of a place of love, rather than judgement.
Closing Words
Spirit of Life and Love,
open our hearts and minds
to the message of Jesus –
that the Kingdom is at hand,
but that it is we who must bring it
from aspiration to reality,
by standing up for the good, and against the evil,
by acting from a place of love and integrity.
May we return to our everyday world refreshed,
may we share the love we feel,
may we look out for each other,
and may we keep up our hearts,
now and in the days to come,
Amen
Postlude Melodia Africana II by Ludovico Einaudi