Reignite

I just found these great pictures on Small Fire from a worship at Greenbelt . Very cool, I like it a lot. I really want to go to Greenbelt next year. I'm trying to get a BUYAN trip to Greenbelt. I think a lot of Unitarian young adults would get a lot out of it, if some of them could get past their hostility to Christianity. I don't think there's many better places for finding dynamic diverse Christian faith. This I think is a good example of combining radical social justice with radical worship, something that rarely happens very well. Sigh. I'm not going to be able to get away with anything like this any time soon. I'm leading the service this Sunday, but I think the regular congregation will think that the fact that I'm including a candle lighting ceremony too radical for them! How much I'd love to get a naked young man and write 'faggot' all over him in worship. One step at a time, dear, one step at a time.

Our tradition has articulated and emphasized the notion, not only of the priesthood of all believers, but also of the prophethood of all believers. This means especially the capacity and the right to participate in the shaping of the congregation. This prophethood belongs not merely to the clergy: It belongs to the congregation and to the individuals in the congregation. But authentic prophecy does not appear very often within the churches; therefore it had to appear in nonreligious, or even antichurch communities. James Luther Adams Adams' insight that prophetic witness often comes from places seemingly hostile to the church is illustrated by a band who's name is Faithless yet has lyrics that are deeply prophetic and deeply theological. I just got their greatest hits album for Christmas and I thought I would share some lyrics. Mass Destruction - Faithless Whether long range weapon or suicide bomber Wicked mind is a weapon of mass destruction Whether you're soaraway sun o...

This was a letter written to the Inquirer a few weeks ago (edited): A message to the denomination from Stockton-on-Tees Unitarian Church: Stockton Unitarians believe that all Unitarians understand the denomination to be in numerical decline... We at Stockton believe that everyone wants to experience numerical growth and feel sure that it is necessary to seek a GA Resolution that will encourage every Unitarian to begin to address the need. This is our proposal: 'That this General Assembly etc... acknowledges that, in order to survive, there is an absolute need for numerical growth. It urges every individual and every organisation to prioritise Numerical Growth. It requests them to declare it. It requests the GA Executive Committee to set up an organisation and process that will bring together those who seek to promote numerical growth, where ideas, proven or not, can be exchanged, discussed, and acted upon... We look forward to receiving and reading comments. Observations may be dif...

As same sex civil partnerships come into force in the UK I keep coming back to the question - is this equality? Living in Massachusetts for two years and seeing marriage equality coming into force there, I'm decidedly uncomfortable with the compromise of civil partnerships. I seem to be the only one in this country who is not happy that civil partnerships are not exactly the same thing as marriage. But perhaps I am wrong, maybe this is equality, just with a different name (that seems to be what the news coverage is saying). Am I being silly and ungrateful for not being happy with civil partnerships? Maybe they are giving exactly the same rights as marriage so its being pedantic to complain this isn't marriage. I think what bothers me is phrases like 'gay marriage' and 'gay weddings' with their inverted commas. There's something about putting the phrases in inverted commas that says - these aren't real marriages or weddings, but silly, fake 'gay...