Unitarian Internet Fellowship

[joanwilk]

This is another service given by Rev Phil Silk - NUF member.

Joan

************

Newcastle Unitarians
10 January 2010; 10:30am
Theme: Some New Year’s Thoughts or The Time of Our Lives

PRELUDE

WELCOME and ANNOUNCEMENTS

CHALICE LIGHTING

Welcome from me, too, to our first service in what our culture calls the new year. Life is dynamic and never stops; any day can be taken as the start of a new life. But it helps to have a specific time for specific focus and there are many such new years’ ceremonies around the world, even in the West.
Today as we light our chalice, let each one of us decide what the flame shall represent for us.

OPENING WORDS

This is a fellowship of liberal religion. Here we share in the celebration of life, seek insight and inspiration, explore problems and possibilities, and enjoy building a new community, through words, music and silence. We come from different places and stages in life, and with differing views, but all are welcome. Enter into this assembly with your whole self to the benefit of all.

HYMN 42 (Green) “A DREAM OF WIDENING LOVE”

INTRODUCTION

Are you a January baby? I am. So is Joyce. Everybody has to be born sometime, but January seems a good time to be born, despite being near Christmas and wintry. Not because of astrology, either. But I like being associated with Janus, the Roman God who faces forward and backwards, for whom our month is named.
Do you know much about Janus? I didn’t until this week, when I probed beyond the simple label of God of gateways. As often happens, scholars apparently disagree about his pedigree, but it seems he was the earliest King of Italy. Some link him to the God of sky and parallel to Jupiter, with Juturna, his wife( or Juno or Diana).Those three were goddesses of fertility and the moon. He was called Father and was associated with beginnings, or “the spirit of openings” as one writer put it. One theory is that his statue was placed near gateways to protect people from evil, looking both ways with two bearded faces, holding a club and a key to keep them safe. Another theory is that he provided Jupiter with hospitality once and was granted the gift of knowing the past and the future. In history he was honoured by a warrior’s temple, which was only open in wartime. Apparently it was only shut three times in the whole Roman era.

Let us pause now for SPOKEN and SILENT REFLECTION.

For life and what sustains it, we are grateful. Yet, before the gifts and wonders of life, we acknowledge our failures to see, appreciate and understand. Before the opportunities of life, we admit we have failed to make best use of them. Before the needs of our fellow humans, we are aware of how often we cannot or will not, or at least do not, help. We realise that even our own needs for rest, recreation and challenge often go unmet.

In moments of quiet perception, we can renew our vision of the abundant life and rededicate ourselves to improving the quality of life for all. May we find forgiveness for our mistakes and indeed forgive others for theirs. May we get inspiration, wisdom and encouragement for our souls. And may we indeed worship with all our being all the days of our lives.

Now let us pause to ask ourselves two things. First, what important things have happened in the recent past which will have a particular influence on us, as individuals, church, country, world? I will introduce the second question later…
Secondly, name some of the big changes in the conditions of our lives over the years and consider the results…. If you wish, share some of your thoughts and feelings with us….AMEN

PART ONE THE PAST

Janus-like, let us look backwards from our perspective here on the 10th of January 2010.

‘The past’. Simple expression; humongous topic: everything that has happened in the entire universe, including human thoughts and feelings. How can we ever know the truth? We can’t. Recent history, even when based on participants, is incomplete and subject to interpretation. And before human records, we are left with guesses based on physical remains and general knowledge – and intuition.

So how shall we presume?

There are many attitudes to the past. I’ll mention some of them , but are they all equally and always useful to us now?
1. We cannot escape the past. A person is what he has been.
2. We should learn from the past? Do we?
3. We should be grateful for what our ancestors have passed on to us, good and bad. Are we?
4. The past can become a prison either from nostalgia or from fear. Change is inevitable and memories are often selective.
5. You cannot just inherit a tradition, you have to earn it and practise it, which adds to it for the next generation.
6. Let us indeed recognise the importance of the past, but let us not be confined to it.

Earlier we thought a bit about the past year and what might particularly influence us in the days ahead – such as births, marriages, deaths, other major changes in our lives, in the church community and in the world. Some brought practical changes; most set up memories which enrich our lives. It is important to reflect on life as it passes and the new year is a particularly good time to do it. The media have been full of lists of things which stood out in the past year, as you have probably noticed. If anyone wants to highlight something for us all, feel free to speak up now…

The other day Joyce and I were talking about how the culture had changed over our lifetime and the ways it changes the character and probably the quality of our lives. Many of you lived through the Second World War which had far more effect on daily life than the unfortunate Iraq and Afghanistan wars (not to mention all the others going on now!) Today’s children live with the threat of terror attacks, but many of us expected nuclear war. A second shift important to her is the role of the church. It used to be the centre of social life, especially for the young. Now there are a multitude of competing and fragmented attractions. A third difference for us was tv. It was radio we had, and victrolas. No tv until the 50s.

This brings me to a conversation with Megan who taught a unit on life in the 90s and realised that her 6-7 years olds had never known a time not only without tv, but without cds, the web and cell phones, let alone computer games and ipods. The conditions of life have changed drastically in such a short time! But are we happier? Healthier?

There have always been changes, but the pace has increased. Alex was looking at old laws still on the books and found one in America –not sure which state- which said “No woman may drive a car unless a man walks in front of her to clear the way.” Now they vote, own property, run businesses, even go into space – in most cultures, but not all. Once upon a time not so long ago (until 1813), it was illegal to be Unitarian and you could not go to Oxford or Cambridge , either. There are loads of outdated laws and much controversy over others as human values evolve.

Speaking of which, and changing the time-span, the evolution of man was greatly helped by learning to cook food, which gave us more energy, smaller intestines and bigger brains, or so claims a new book.

And we know that the wheel and agriculture drastically altered the conditions of life. Boats, too. And religions, living in cities and running water, among other things.

So let us recognise and appreciate human history with a sense of empathy and wonder, as well as a sense of progress.

HYMN 128 (Green)“Heritage”

PART TWO FUTURE

Now let us put on Janus’s other face and look into the future. What do you see? Let us pause again for SILENT REFLECTION so we can begin to answer the question for ourselves…AMEN

The past we at least have some idea about. The future is much more uncertain.

As each of us contemplates what life will be like for us in 2010, a few things may already stand out – dates we have booked (Megan and I have spent hours trying to plan and coordinate our calendars). But, of course, things do not always go to plan. Still, are there some things you are looking forward to – or the opposite – that you want to tell us about? (us?)
What about beyond 2010? Anything particular?

Actually, the future never actually arrives, does it? It is the potential NOW which becomes the actual Past. People predict and plan but never know for sure what will be until it is over – and we won’t all agree about it then.

So how shall we approach the future?

1. With a grain of salt and humility. “The best laid plans /gang aft aglay”, as Robbie Burns warned us years ago. John Dewey put it this way: “Given your best effort, the final result is not up to you.”

2. With hope. Things can improve and they are more likely to if we believe it. A person is what he can become.

3. Without becoming a prisoner to it – which I used to do. You plan for one thing, focus on it, get it, then plan another and so on, losing the sacred present in the process.

Therefore, let us be concerned for the future – it will come and go whether we are ready for it or not – but let us not be slaves to it.

HYMN 191 (Purple) “We Have A Dream”

Now I come to one of my favourite topics: What interesting developments do I foresee?

We know there will be an election, if not the exact date – or the result. We expect the recession to gradually end. But what further developments do we expect to change our living conditions? People have been foretelling the end of the world over and over, but I do not expect that – in the near future, at any rate.

I could spend hours on this; in the past I have used a service called “New Frontiers”. This time I wanted a full New Year’s perspective, not just the future.

One of the hot topics today is climate change. With the UK having its coldest spell in 30 years, we may find it hard to remember that the average temperature in the world is going up, which could release the frozen water at both poles as well as all the glaciers. That could not only raise the level of the ocean on all the big continents but actually submerge complete islands. Paradoxically, at the same time there would be more droughts, causing deserts to spread; yet there would also be more drastic storms. The recent World Climate Conference made little progress towards overcoming that scenario. The Carbon Trust is promoting new technology which could produce better results, however. They have just chosen their fourth set of awards for cutting carbon waste. They had 250 entries and just four of them, properly used, would cut British emissions by 1.5%. Categories were Power, Transport, Buildings, Private Sector, Public Sector, Industry. People cannot afford to be blasé about technology solving the problems, but humans can be very creative, especially when faced with a crisis. It helps to realise something can be done, and is being done, if slowly. With more public support the politicians will also achieve more.

There are many exciting challenges ahead for medical care. With the unravelling of the human genome (and the Neanderthal one, too) we have a new frontier: genetic testing and treatments. That can be scary, too, for nature took billions of years of trial and error to get us where we are. We run the risk of not only creating good results, but dangerous ones, too. But it’s worth it, if careful? What about cross-species genetic engineering?

Other medical improvements include robot surgeons, eliminating shaking hands; robot consultants, bring experts all over the world through interactive media; new operations to replace body parts with transplants (a face recently; what next? Never a brain?) or even our own stem cells, redeveloped; artificial hearing and sight; artificial blood cells; tiny cameras you can swallow to help diagnoses; even smaller devices to bring treatments exactly where needed…Who knows what else? Some are trying to end death by old age, seeking to eliminate barriers to longevity, keeping good health as well, of course.

What new developments will help us care for the growing number of fourth agers – over 80s now; over 90s soon?

When will we legalise the right to die? I do not want to be forced to live as a vegetable, nor do I want family or health professionals to be prevented from helping me if needed.

But I do not want to be frozen until medical advances might be able to help me. Not the cost in money, but the waste. I am prepared to die and let others get on with living. But I do fear wasting away. Life can be great, but it can also be awful.

Did you know some scientists claim to have created a simple form of life in the lab? With a population explosion, do we need to increase fertility? As with genetic engineering, this avenue of curiosity and power needs watching carefully.

I recently read that we could totally eliminate Aids, maybe malaria, too. How about eliminating poverty, illiteracy, inequality and illness? We’ll never eliminate accidents or ‘acts of God’, but we can improve prevention and responses.



I expect wars will continue, but more and more people realise that we all share one planet and are interconnected. Will we get enforceable chemical and nuclear disarmament? A reduction in other arms ? Will the increased cooperation between religions help us cooperate more? The Berlin Wall is down; when will the Palestinian one come down?

In the field of technology, computers are changing: now they can speak many languages, not just English and some can respond to spoken words or the wave of a hand. And broadband is coming to everyone. Even now, people with no running water can use the web. Surely these changes will influence the way we live.

What else will technology give us? We now have proof of water on the moon and Mars. We can see beyond the Milky Way. We are sure there are other life forms than on earth. Will we discover dark matter? New particles? Will we colonise space?

Did you know Google is digitising every known book so everyone has access to everything? For a fee, of course, but fancy being able to read out-of-print books…

Looking over my notes and thinking I’d better wrap this section up, I find two more items I do not want to leave out: Mind reading and artificial intelligence. Here is a quote from “The Week” in May this year: “Entrepreneurs are now marketing brain-scanning techniques that claim to be able to divine our secret thoughts and desires – and advertisers, politicians and lawyers are lapping them up.” This is called ‘the last frontier of exploration – the space between our ears.’ Certainly we want to know more about how the brain works, but mind reading? Improving such things as child care, education, the penal system and mental health treatment, yes!

As for Artificial Intelligence, how far can we, should we, go with this? Remember Arthur Clarke’s “2001”? the computer Hal tries to take over. Ever read RUR, Rossum’s Universal Robots? Written by the Czech Unitarian, Capek, in the ‘20s, it presents a robot revolution against the people who had trained them to not only work for them but to fight for them. A recent article was worrying about robot rights and robot sex. Hmmm.

One more related query, for now: How many transplants can a person have and remain him or herself?

No doubt we will experience some of these as well as other unsuspected developments, some wonderful; others, perhaps not.

Unfortunately, it is much easier for humankind to be creative with the physical sciences and technology than it is with the personal, social and spiritual aspects of life. Fifty-six years ago, my high school graduation class had the motto: “Knowledge is Power”. In my leaver’s speech, I chose ‘Knowledge Of Peace’ as my theme. I used BARTLETT’S QUOTATIONS as a source and found the following words which seem relevant here: “We have learned to fly in the air like birds; swim in the sea like fish; but we still have not learned to live on land humanely.” I wish we spent more time, energy, money and creativity on the quality of life than we do on profit and war. As the hymn says, “All are architects of Fate”. Let us continue to do our bit to help – the planet, the people and ourselves.

PART THREE The Present

There is one problem with using Janus as our new year’s image: He only has two faces; he needs a third, swinging one. He looks back at the past or forward to the future, but does not follow us through the gateway between. Join me in the Responsive Reading for an overview of the time of our lives.

RESPONSIVE READING “ Time” by Kenneth Patton

This is a week of our lives; this is time.

ETERNITY WILL NEVER BE ANY MORE THAN THIS MOMENT.

Time is not something in itself; time is the passingness of things.

TIME IS THE FACT THAT WE WERE, THAT WE ARE NOW, AND THAT TOMORROW WE WILL NOT BE.

The present is the water running by us in the stream.

THE PRESENT IS THE WIND, ALWAYS ON US AND ALWAYS LEAVING US.

We live, not in yesterday or tomorrow, but only in now.

NOW IS SO BRIEF THAT WE WOULD SAY IT IS NOT, IF WE DID NOT KNOW THAT NOW IS ALL THERE IS.

All that ever was or is lives in the ever-perishing now.

IF WE LOITER, NOW WILL LEAVE US BEHIND, FOR TIME IS TIRELESS AND MERCILESS AND WILL NOT WAIT.

Some day we will be the yesterday and others will be the now.

BUT AT THIS MOMENT WE ARE ALL THAT EVER WAS AND THAT WILL EVER BE.

Without the seed of our memories and prophecies, without us to send children into tomorrow, time and tomorrows would stop.

FOR WHAT CREATURE, OTHER THAN PEOPLE, CARRIES WITHIN IT THE FEELING AND KNOWLEDGE OF TIME?

We can live as many lifetimes in these days as we have the strength and courage to live.

LET NO ONE TAKE THIS WEEK FROM US.

We can live centuries of the past in memory, in the histories which are the memories of the race.

NOW CAN BE FOR US YESTERDAY.

We can live thousands of years into the future in our ideals and visions.

NOW CAN BE FOR US TOMORROW.

This is our week, our time.

THIS CAN BE, IF WE WILL KNOW IT, AS MUCH AS ETERNITY.

There are many good readings on the subject of living now; previously I have led a service with this very title and there are some in our hymnals. I have asked several people to read the four passages I have chosen.

1. “The Eternal Now” by John Andrew Storey (Green book no.259)
The ceaseless flow of endless time
No one can check or stay;
We’ll view the past with no regret.
Nor future with dismay.

The present slips into the past,
And dream-like melts away;
The breaking of tomorrow’s dawn
Begins a new today.

The past and future ever meet
In the eternal now:
To make each day a thing complete
Shall be our New Year Vow.

2.Wealth? anonymous

If you had a bank that credited your account each morning with $86,000,
That carried over no balance from day to day,
Allowed you to keep no cash in your account,
And every morning cancelled whatever part of the amount you had failed to use during the day,
What would you do?
Draw out every cent every day, of course, and use it to advantage!
Well, you have such a bank – and its name is TIME.
Every morning it credits you with 86000 seconds.
Every night it rules off as lost whatever of this you have failed to invest to good purpose.
It carries over no balances.
It allows no overdrafts.

Each day it opens a new account with you.
Each night it burns the records of the day.
If you fail to use the day’s deposits, the loss is yours.

There is no going back.
There is no drawing against ‘Tomorrow’.

3. “A Very Happy New Year” anonymous

I may never see Tomorrow
There’s no written guarantee
And things that happened yesterday
Belong to history,
I can’t predict the future,
I cannot change the past,
I have just this present moment
I must treat it as my last.

I must use this moment wisely
For it soon will pass away
And be lost forever
As part of yesterday,
I must exercise compassion,
Help the fallen to their feet,
Be a friend to the friendless,
Make an empty life complete.

The unkindest thing I do today,
May never be undone,
And friendships that I fail to win
May nevermore be won.
I may not have another chance
On bended knee to pray
And thank God with humble heart
For giving me this day.

4. “Paradox of Time” by a US high school student

The paradox of our time in history is that we have
taller buildings, but shorter tempers;
wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints;
we spend more, but have less;
we buy more, but enjoy it less.

We have bigger houses and smaller families;
more conveniences, but less time;
we have more degrees, but less sense;
more knowledge, but less judgement;
more experts, but fewer solutions;
more medicine, but less wellness.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values.
We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.
We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life;
We’ve added years to life, not life to years.

We’ve been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbour.
We’ve conquered outer space, but not inner space;
We’ve cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul;
We’ve split the atom, but not our prejudice.

We have higher incomes, but lower morals;
We’ve become long on quantity, but short on quality.
These are the times of tall men, and short character;
Steep profits, and shallow relationships.

These are the times of world peace, but domestic warfare;
More leisure, but less fun;
More kinds of food, but less nutrition.

These are the days of two incomes, but more divorce;
Of fancier houses, but broken homes.
It is a time when there is much in the shop window and nothing in the stockroom:
A time when technology can bring this {e-mail} letter to you,

And a time when you can choose either to forward this message and make a difference
****or
***just hit delete.

Time now for some Organ Music, while we prepare ourselves for the rest of our lives. Then we shall sing and share the closing and the collection .

HYMN 42 (Purple) Light of Days Remembered”

UNISON CLOSING (Purple, 240) LOOK TO THIS DAY

Look to this day –
For it is life, the very life of life.
In its brief course lie all the verities
And realities of your existence:
The bliss of growth,
The glory of action,
The splendour of beauty.
For yesterday is but a dream,
And tomorrow is only a vision,
But today well lived
makes every yesterday
a dream of happiness
and every tomorrow
a vision of hope.
Look well, therefore, to today.
(Ancient Hindu source)


POSTLUDE AND COLLECTION

Leader: Phil Silk
Organist: Robert Hall
Hymnbooks: HYMNS FOR LIVING and SING YOUR FAITH


WORDS TO PONDER

A New Year’s Prayer

When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
Then the work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild nations,
To bring peace among brothers,
To make music in the heart of man.
Howard Thurman

It is never too late to be what you might have been. Michael Dadson

For most of us the past is a regret, the future an experiment. George Eliot

Yesterday returneth not.
Mayhap tomorrow cometh not.
There is today; misuse it not. Sybil Marshall

Yesterday is a cancelled cheque.
Tomorrow is a promissory note
Today is ready cash. Use it. Anonymous

We are guest of the past and hosts of the future. Anonymous

Heirs of the past,
Children of today,
Makers of the future. A Kent school motto

Hug the past – and blow a kiss to the future. An octogenarian



To live in sacramental time means to live in right relationship with others and with the natural world.
Thandeka

When I loved myself enough
I quit reshaping the past
And
Worrying about the future
Which keeps me in the present where aliveness lives. Kim McMillen

Time is
Too slow for those who wait,
Too swift for those who fear,
Too long for those who grieve,
Too short for those who rejoice;
But for those who love, time is eternity
Henry van Dyke



Look not back in anger nor forward in fear
But around in awareness. James Thurber

My wish for you in [2010]

May peace and calm come to your home and thieves break in and steal your debts and your worries.
May the pockets of your trousers become magnets for £50 notes.
May love stick to your face like Vaseline and may laughter assault your lips!
May your clothes smell of success and may happiness slap you across the face and may your tears be that of joy.
May the problems you had forget where you live.
In simple words…

MAY [2010] BE THE VERY BEST YEAR OF YOUR LIFE
(anonymous; sent by a long-standing friend last year with the following introduction: Friendship contract for 2009
After serious and cautious consideration…your contract of friendship has been renewed for the New Year of 2009.
It was a very hard decision to make. So please try not to screw it up!!!)

All the best for 2010!
_________________
Joan
www.yorkshiregirl.org.uk