Reignite

So I've been thinking about being useless. I think a lot of us feel useless, and you know what? Yeah, we are useless, and that's totally OK.

Part of 'Being Together: A Three Day Virtual Gathering for Spiritual Connection' (7-9 April 2020) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/3903470056344901/ Website: https://www.unitarian.org.uk/beingtogether Join Jo James in conversation with author and pioneer minister Stephen Lingwood to discuss his new book 'Seeking Paradise: A Unitarian Mission for Our Times'. What might the future of the Unitarian movement look like? That depends, this book argues, on how its members envision – and enact – its mission. Stephen Lingwood urges that Unitarians can evangelise, with a message of hope for a “beloved community” in this world: the Paradise of the title. He proposes the possibility of a mission to revive Unitarianism not only numerically, but also spiritually. He takes the reader through the progressive stages of this idea and illustrates theory with examples from his practical experience as a Unitarian minister. He also presents new ways of thinking about the Kingdom ...

So, I've written a book! It's actually something I've been working on for a long time, on and off, (like more than ten years), so I'm really happy to finally get it out there. It will be officially launched at the Unitarian Annual Meetings in Birmingham in April. It is an exploration of whether and how a liberal and pluralistic church can do evangelism. It explores a Unitarian theology that is committed to a self-transcending sense of mission. I argue that we cannot try to grow a church only because we are seeking our own institutional survival. We must have a sense of overarching mission that is cosmic and theological. That mission, I argue, is seeking paradise, seeking a beloved community on earth where we overcome alienation with ourselves, our neighbours, the earth, and God. We then take that mission of seeking paradise into our neighbourhoods and practice dialogue, solidarity, and connection to make paradise real. It's a journey through theology, history...

Fe’ch gwahoddir i wylnos gweddi a myfyrdod y tu allan i’r Senedd, Caerdydd ar brynhawniau Gwener dros y Grawys. Gwener 28ain Chwefror tan Gwener 10fed Ebrill, rhwng 2yp a 6yp Byddwn yn cofleidio’r bobl a’r blaned i’n calonnau ac yn gweddïo i’r ddynoliaeth fagu’r ddoethineb a’r cryfder i oroesi’r argyfwng hinsawdd. Ar y cyd ag eraill yn gweddïo y tu allan i San Steffan, rydym yn gweddïo am drawsffurfio ein gwleidyddiaeth a chreu byd ôl-carbon llawn cyfiawnder a thangnefedd. Mae croeso i bobl o bob ffydd a heb ffydd i ddod ar un neu fwy o’r dyddiau Gwener. Fe fydd yna gyfnodau tawel, ac amserau ar gyfer siarad/canu/defodau. Os hoffech offrymu gweddi, arwain myfyrdod, cân, côr, araith byr, defod, neu unrhyw beth arall addas, rhowch wybod i ni. Neu dewch atom beth bynnag. Mae hwn yn achlysur heddychlon, di-drais a gweddigar, wedi’i drefnu gan Christian Climate Action Cymru, ond yn agored i bob ffydd ac agwedd ysbrydol. YOU are invited to a multi-faith prayer and meditation vigil o...

One afternoon a woman was gardening in her front garden, when she was approached by a stranger. "Excuse me," he said, "I'm thinking of buying the house for sale in this street, I was just wondering if you could tell me - what are the neighbours like around here?" The woman stood up, stretched, and then said, "Well, tell me, what are your neighbours like where you live now?" "Oh, they're terrible people," he said, "Rude, unfriendly, selfish, trouble-makers, I hate them." "Well, I think you'll find the people around here are much the same," replied the woman. The man thanked her, and then left, and she went back to her gardening. An hour later she was interrupted again by a different man. "Excuse me," he said, "I'm thinking of buying the house for sale in this street, I was just wondering if you could tell me - what are the neighbours like around here?" Again, she asked, "Well, t...

When I started my work in Cardiff in 2018  I really had a blank slate. I knew that my job was to be present in Cardiff and to see what happened. As I look back at 2019 I can see the work coming into sharper focus, but it is still early days. But I'm much clearer about what my work is. My work is to find places where community, spirituality, and activism are happening, and to join in the work others are doing towards promoting community, spirituality, and activism. Plus, to find the spaces where community, spirituality, and activism intersect , and to nurture those spaces. I'm also much clearer about where my work is. It is, primarily, in Riverside, a small multicultural neighbourhood, nestled next to the city centre, beneath the shadow of the Principality Stadium. I do get a sense of the work getting smaller and smaller, more and more concentrated on just a few streets, and that seems really important. Specifically what has developed for me in 2019 is a...

(EDIT: January 2020. Since writing this I realised I got the phrase "things are so urgent, so let us slow down" from philosopher Bayo Akomolafe . I must have heard the words, thought about them, then decided to write my own thoughts on this, forgetting what started the process. But I'm happy to acknowledge my indebtedness to Bayo Akomalafe, and I encourage you to go and look up his stuff, because it's very good) We are in an age of urgency. Many people, myself included, have talked about how urgent the climate crisis is. We have twelve years, or eleven years, or two years on some estimations, to avoid a climate crisis that will kill millions. Unless government policy changes right now we will be heading to a disaster. Given that, it's completely understandable that climate activists are operating out of a sense of urgency. We need the government to act now and we will keep acting now until they do. This has made Extinction Rebellion, in my experience, into a v...