Prelude Melodia Africana I by Ludovico Einaudi
Opening Words Going Down Hoping from Beyond Darkness by Cliff Reed
We’re going down.
The world is in a tailspin.
Our beautiful earth is headed for destruction,
along with us, its foolish people.
Yes, we’re going down,
going down in flames.
And yet, and yet…
we’re going down hoping.
And because there’s hope,
maybe we can catch ourselves
and our world in time.
Maybe we won’t go down after all.
Let’s hope so.
Let’s make it so!
Chalice Lighting (you may wish to light a candle in your own home at this point). Words by Yvonne Aburrow
Joy to the World
Life calls to life
Arise! Awake!
Fear no more the silence of the tomb
For the lives of humanity
are strung like pearls on the thread of the spirit
and the pearl shines in the darkness of the deep.
Life arises,
Life unending,
Life triumphant!
Spirit like a flame catching on the wick of flesh.
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 hover.
May we keep in touch however we can,
And help each other, however we may.
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 Eternal Martyr: For Good Friday from Sacred Earth by Cliff Reed
We remember today the eternal martyr: who offends the bigotry of others and threatens their selfish insecurity; who is the repressed conscience and the uncomfortable truth – integrity amidst corruption.
He is crucified, she is shot; he is gassed, she is burned; he is poisoned, she is hanged; she is raped and beaten, he is tortured and broken.
You are with your martyr, O God, in the pain and anguish, giving courage and strength; the peace of death and the triumph of the spirit’s resurrection.
We give thanks for the eternal martyr and what was bought with his death, her blood. But we confess our part in his murder and her torment.
And should we be called to martyrdom, help us to be worthy of our calling.
Prayer More in Anger from Carnival of Lamps by Cliff Reed (adapted)
God of our hearts, we come to you in anger and sorrow
at the evil in the world, at situations – maybe known to us and touching us –
where injustice masquerades as law,
where the abuse of innocents masquerades as its guardianship,
where violation of the deepest bonds masquerades as their protection:
situations where arrogance masquerades as service,
where slavery masquerades as relationship,
where malice masquerades as love.
We share the fury of Jesus at those who make an idol of imperfect law,
who impose burdens where they should bring relief,
who cause the downfall of little ones.
We seek assurance that truth will prevail,
that human suffering will be relieved,
that beyond the present darkness, there is light.
We ask for strength and endurance
for those bearing unjust burdens.
We ask for courage in standing for the right.
We ask for grace that righteous anger
will not give way to hatred.
We ask for wisdom and clear sight
to follow always the path of righteousness.
This we ask in the spirit of Jesus
and of all your messengers,
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 I Due Fiumi by Ludovico Einaudi
Address Easter Sunday 2025
For the original followers of Jesus, the first Easter must have been a truly topsy-turvy time: anticipated triumph, followed by deepest darkness, followed by amazing hope. The week before, if the Gospels are to be believed, their master had entered Jerusalem in glory and had been received by the crowd with palm leaves and Hosannas. Then, just a few days later, he was betrayed by one of his closest disciples, arrested in the middle of the night, and subjected to a perfunctory trial, by a combination of the Jewish Sanhedrin and the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, the outcome of which was never really in doubt. He was then whipped and tortured with a crown of thorns, before being condemned to hang on a cross – a peculiarly vicious form of execution, reserved for the lowest of criminals – until he died.
The transition from that triumphal entry to his ignominious death must have been hard for his followers to come to terms with. It had been a complete reversal, and seemed to be the death not only of their beloved leader, but also of all their hopes for the coming Kingdom of God.
Yet they did not have to despair for long. On the third day after Jesus’s crucifixion, Mary Magdalene (either by herself or with a variety of other women – the gospel accounts differ) went to the tomb in which Jesus’s body had been laid in order to anoint it. And found it gone. There is an encounter with Jesus and she/they return to the disciples to spread the good news (except in the original version of the Gospel of Mark, when they “said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”
For many Unitarians, the literal truth of the gospel accounts may be difficult to believe. But of course, Christ’s resurrection is the very basis of Christianity. Christians believe that Jesus was the unique Son of God, who died to save them by atoning for their sins through his suffering. As my local vicar explains in the current issue of our parish magazine, “As Christians we celebrate Easter because Jesus died for our sins and then rose again. On the third day after being crucified, Jesus’ tomb was found to be empty. He had risen from the dead. Life triumphs over death! The joy of resurrection is only possible because Christ endured death and conquered it.”
One thing I personally struggle with is the literal interpretation of the Biblical accounts of Jesus. Being brought up in a broadly Christian society, the story of his life, as told in the Christian gospels, is a deep part of my own life. Like ghosts, I think the amount of evidence for his existence is too strong to be discounted. I definitely believe that there was someone called Jesus who lived in 1st century Palestine, who was a teacher and a prophet, and whose life and teachings touched those of many. But I cannot believe that he was the divine Son of God, except in so far as we are all children of God, nor that he was begotten of a virgin, nor that he rose from death and ascended to heaven.
The conventional Christian view of Jesus is an interesting one. The Apostles Creed is used by many denominations throughout Christendom, but it says very little about what Jesus did, as opposed to what he represents. Let me share it with you:
“I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried, descended to hell, on the third day rose again from the dead, ascended to heaven, sits at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty, whence He will come to judge the living and the dead.”
As Forrest Church, late minister at All Souls UU Church in New York, points out, “What does this creed affirm about Jesus’ life and teachings? Not one thing. It states merely that he was born in an unusual way and died in an unusual way, telling us nothing about the fact that Jesus lived in an unusual way. This is what was important about Jesus. … The power of his love, the penetrating simplicity of his teachings, and the force of his example of service on behalf of the disenfranchised and downtrodden are what is crucial. The Apostles Creed … entirely miss[es] this point. It seems to suggest ‘if you believe in Jesus, you can live forever,’ not, ‘if you believe in Jesus, you can live well.’”
I completely agree with this. What matters to me are the teachings and message of Jesus that have come down through the centuries, that have inspired so many to live better lives by following his example. I don’t believe in him, as my saviour or whatever, but I do reverence him, or at least reverence the Jesus depicted in the gospels. The more so if he was fully human, as I do believe. His example is one I would strive to follow, all the days of my life. The readings and prayers by Cliff Reed that we heard earlier show how important the teachings and message of Jesus can be, inspiring us to become our best selves, and to fight against the bigotry and hatred so prevalent in the world these days.
Historically, Unitarianism grew out of Christianity. The early Unitarians still believed in Jesus as divine, but not equal with God. By the end of the 18th century, Theophilus Lindsey, the first Unitarian minister in England, could write, “the holy Jesus was a man of the Jewish nation, the servant of this God, highly honoured and distinguished by him.” I like Alfred Hall’s reflection on the humanity of Jesus, “Unitarians believe that in regarding Jesus as a man, they pay him the loftiest tribute possible. If he had been God, there would have been nothing to wonder at either in his life or his words, for all things are possible with God. But when we say he met temptation to evil and conquered it with the strength of a man; when we say that, by the diligence of his search and the purity of his heart, he discovered truth which has helped millions of his fellows, we render him the highest praise.”
Today there is a wide spectrum of beliefs about Jesus within the Unitarian movement. Some Unitarians have rejected Jesus completely – won’t even say the Lord’s Prayer – and are distinctly uneasy if the readings in today’s service include a passage from the New Testament. Their belief in the oneness of God (or the Spirit of Life) is so strong that they view anything that smacks of Christianity with deep suspicion. At the other end of the scale are the Liberal Christians, who cheerfully take communion, sing many Christian hymns with only minor word changes, and reverence Jesus above all other teachers. Yet others regard Jesus as one teacher among many and look equally to the prophets of other faiths for inspiration and guidance. And that’s great – it is one of the strengths of our Unitarian tradition that such a diversity of belief can not only be tolerated, but wholeheartedly accepted.
As I said, the most important things for me about Jesus are his teachings and example. This man, born over 2000 years ago, somehow saw to the heart of things. To quote Alfred Hall again (pardon the non-inclusive language), “Jesus has shown what spiritual heights are possible to man when he is faithful to the noblest ideals. … In the teachings of Jesus there is a note of joy, the belief that life is good and the provision which God has made for it generous, if men would use it aright, and the definite, ringing message that God cares for every human being, and loves each one with a love that will never let him go. … He has also taught us that the basis of human society must be that of generous good-will. He emphasised this so strongly that he urged men to love their enemies. In other words, he declared that each individual is to have the highest motives in his dealings with his fellow-men, and every group in its relationships with other groups must be perfect as the Father in heaven is perfect.”
It’s quite a message.
For me, this message of Jesus – love God, love your neighbour and don’t forget to love yourself, and transform your love into loving actions to make our world a better, happier, more kindly place – is a crucially important one in this mad world of ours. We need to remember the wise words of Unitarian minister, Henry Gow, who wrote, “There is nothing in the Unitarian belief in the pure humanity of Jesus to prevent us from believing that he was right in feeling his divine mission. We may think of him as… a divinely-appointed Teacher, … as an Ideal of self-sacrifice, love, devotion, and courage, making us realize what it is possible for a man to be, what it is possible for a man to do.”
If Easter reminds people of these great truths, then I’m all for it.
Closing Words
Spirit of Life and Love,
May we be inspired by the teachings
and message of Jesus, to work towards
a better, kinder world for all.
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 Stella del Mattino by Ludovico Einaudi