Auckland Unitarians

Speaker:- Dan Te Whenua Walker,
Worship Leader:- Ted Zorn.

Recorded at Auckland Unitarian Church 19th March 2023

https://aucklandunitarian.org.nz/walking-together-in-relationship-a-personal-journey-of-integrating-te-tiriti-values/

 Speaker & Worship Leader:- Rachel Mackintosh

Recorded at Auckland Unitarian Church 12th March 2023

A father and son are in a horrible car crash that kills the father. The eight-year-old son is rushed to hospital in critical condition. ED staff prep him rapidly and take him to an operating theatre where the surgical team is waiting. Just as he’s about to go under the knife, the surgeon says, “I can’t operate — that’s my son.”

How can this be?

I opened the service with this riddle.

You may have heard it before.

You may have been confounded or you may have found the answer obvious.

For more information see:-

https://aucklandunitarian.org.nz/making-the-invisible-visible/

Speaker & Worship Leader:- Vivienne Allen

Recorded at Auckland Unitarian Church 5th March 2023

have always been drawn to trees. Until I turned 10 I spent most of my spare time climbing trees on our farm. Back then I divided all trees into two categories; good and bad; the good ones were those great for climbing such as Pohutukawa, some Lawsons, oaks and others with wide low branches. The bad ones which were not good for climbing were trees like Lombardy poplars that were too upright or didn’t have low branches. Luckily our sharemilkers had 7 children for me to play with and our favourite activity was to climb trees. We even used to enjoy climbing the nectarine trees in the orchard in summer, sitting up in the branches munching nectarines on a hot day.

For more information see:-

https://aucklandunitarian.org.nz/my-passionate-journey/

With Ruby Johnson

Recorded at Auckland Unitarian Church 26th February 2023

I think that a lot of people are attracted to Unitarianism because they were cast out by, or have left, other faith-based communities. The fourth principle of Unitarian Universalism is that we engage in “a free and responsible search for truth and meaning”. Those of us who have come to this church as cast-offs from other faith traditions will attest that free inquiry is not necessarily a hallmark of organised religion.

For more information see:-

https://aucklandunitarian.org.nz/a-still-small-voice/

with Alix Geard

Recorded at Auckland Unitarian Church 19th February 2023

Sometimes you choose a theme for a service and then life throws you complications.

I had planned to take my text today from that most varied and human of sources, the microblogging site Tumblr. Every so often in my craft or philosophy groups some words turn up from the person known on Tumblr as higgsboshark:

There are several hashtags that follow this. My favourites are #the sock is not a metaphor for anything #it’s just a sock #that’s all it needs to be.

For more information see:-

https://aucklandunitarian.org.nz/socks-and-songs/

with Jonathan Mason

Recorded at Auckland Unitarian Church 12th February 2023

The question of whether there is life in the universe is one of the big questions of the 20th and 21st century. Movies such as ET, Contact, Arrival and Interstellar have explored these issues along with alien invasion movies such as Independence Day. I remember growing up watching the night sky with a sense of wonder, In my search for the mystery in life, Unitarian Principle #4, I have found the question of whether there is other life in the universe to be one of the profound mysteries that I reflect on. The answer to this question may also impact Unitarian Principle #7, on the interdependency of humans with our world, in ways that I’ll discuss later. In the following talk, I’ll go over the prevailing science on Extra terrestrial life and then discuss its implications for our world and Unitarianism. This is a personal talk giving my views on issues, apologies for those who have different views.

For more information see:- 

https://aucklandunitarian.org.nz/is-there-other-life-in-the-universe-implications-for-unitarians/

with Tunisia Set Ārena, 

Worship leader:- Nina Khouri

Recorded at Auckland Unitarian Church 5th February 2023

For more information see  https://aucklandunitarian.org.nz/decolonising-decolonisation/

with John DiLeo

Recorded at Auckland Unitarian Church 29th January 2023

Todays sermon is a reading of “Getting Through the Night” By Mary Wellemeyer

For more information see  https://aucklandunitarian.org.nz/getting-through-the-night/

with David Hines 

Recorded at Auckland Unitarian Church 22nd January 2023

My original subject for today was Gonna lay down my sword and shield, which was about concentration camps in World War 2, and how this appalling story was the background to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

But it was such a complicated story I couldn’t get my head around it. And I was looking for a new topic.

And then Jacinda came up with the idea of resigning …. And it was obvious.

 For more information see  https://aucklandunitarian.org.nz/election-wishlist-2023/

Recorded at Auckland Unitarian Church 15th January 2023

If you think about the vastness of space, and how enormous our galaxy is, and how big our planet is, and how small we are, I’m not really eating all that much cheese.

Thanks to Kay for finding and sharing that.

For more information see