Issue 8061

THE

INQUIRER £1 | Issue 8061 | 10 June 2023

Inside this issue…

Danny Crosby on grief and love Opening up to people with mental illness What did Jesus tell Peter?

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The voice of British and Irish Unitarians and Free Christians

Cherishing the Earth

New book offers a spiritual approach to the climate crisis

Shown above: A NASA composite of a Patagonian ice sheet in Chile. Displaying vegetation in red, it shows where the ice has receeded. The glacier previously reached the semi-circular terminal moraine along the left side.

Confronting our major spiritual challenge The Rev Dr Maria Curtis, editor of Cherishing the Earth – Nourishing the Spirit introduces this book written exclusively by Unitarians but not just for Unitarians.

I am proud that our small movement contains so many thoughtful, intelligent and committed people who can write with depth and rigour on a topic which constitutes the major spiritual challenge of our times.

All contributors are trying to find a way forward – looking at how to change ourselves, how to live in a better relationship with the Earth. So alongside the lamentation – for loss of habitats, loss of species, human frailty, etc.

– there is celebration and gratitude for the bounty and beauty of the Earth. We aim to restore some balance and rethink our place in the natural world.

It is also a celebration of our liberal faith, which is very well placed to question some established orthodoxies (that are behind the ecological crisis), like the capitalist growth agenda. We are aware of the interdependence of Page 2 | Issue 8061 – 10 June 2023

all life on Earth. We also set a high value on the pursuit of truth. Our writers take an honest – and sometimes painful – look at ourselves and our culture, e.g., acknowledging the many facets of our privilege in the global north. We look with a critical eye at the individualism at the heart of Unitarianism, especially the view that the human is the ultimate unit of value. We acknowledge that we have much to learn from other cultures/faiths that may be more aware of interdependence and that take responsibility for maintaining sustainable practices in their lives, maintaining a reciprocal relationship with the natural world.

I believe that in Cherishing the Earth we have co-created a substantial resource for those wanting a spiritual response to the ecological crisis.

Cherishing the Earth – Nourishing the Spirit can be purchased for £12 online via the ‘Shop’ page on the website: www.unitarian.org.uk; and also direct from Essex Hall (tel.

020 7240 2384)

To plant a seed Extracts from ‘The Space in Between’ a chapter by Rebecca Daley in Cherishing the Earth – Nourishing the Spirit: It is certainly a spiritual thing – walking every day down the same path, into the same garden. I come here to rest, to feel held by the green world. Watching the bees buzz lazily from flower to flower, wondering why they choose the ones that they settle on, and how honey made from hyacinths might taste. Bright white butterflies flutter against the lime green of the ivy-clad fence. A robin lands on the handle of my spade.

I feel my shoulders begin to relax, my breathing slows. I place my hands again into the soil, marvelling at how much the garden has changed since yesterday – new stems sprawling, buds unfurling. Taking a deep breath of cool morning air, face upturned towards the vibrant green – this is the closest I come to worship...

This work cannot be hurried – and my sense of time has lengthened. I have begun to think in weeks rather than days, years rather than months. The steady turn of the seasons which once left me frantic now holds the miraculous promise of second, third, and fourth chances to try again... I had to force myself to wait, to let things become what they would be at their own pace…

Learn by being here I also had to pay attention. Initially I tried to learn everything in advance from books and from the internet. I wanted to skip the part where I didn’t know what I was doing. But the intricacies of this place could not be learned from any book: the curve of the edge of the flowerbed, the sun’s pattern as it moves across the sky, how the light ripples through the leaves. How often to water in dry weather, when to prune, when the soil will be warm enough to sow seeds: I had to learn it all just by being here. And the more hours that I spent outside, the more I felt myself changing...

When we rest in the world, when we acknowledge our deep need for green leaves, bluebells, and bird song, when we experience the wonder of a seedling emerging from cool earth, then we acknowledge just how closely our fates are tied together. Gardening is an invitation into a relationship with the natural world: a stepping stone towards what the Norwegian environmental philosopher Arne Næss calls Deep Ecology. It underlines the idea that we are inherently part of, and interdependent with, the earth: in this way of seeing, we are all connected. Therefore, our work to protect the system that supports human life is no longer altruism, but essential to our own survival…

In all the everyday holiness of the garden, I come to understand that the delight that we experience in nature is the strongest and deepest call that we will hear to protect it...

Value in failed endeavours Growing is for me a vital reminder that we are called into a deeper relationship with the world even though we are flawed, even though we will make mistakes. There is value in failed endeavours; there is peace in the process. Even if the flowers never bloom, tending the seedlings can still bring calm; hoping for growth can still sustain us…

And so I find myself again in that space between retreat from the world and engagement with it. In our Unitarian community, we talk about existing in the place where sacred meets social. We feel sure that our spirituality, far from inviting us to turn inwards and away from the suffering of the world, gives us the sustenance and the deep roots that we need in order to engage more fully with it…

As a spiritual practice, gardening has taught me how to fail, and how to be patient. It has reminded me again and again that my contribution is needed, even though it is imperfect and never really feels like enough. Put more simply, I realise, gardening has taught me how to hope...

A future we cannot imagine When we feel as if we are getting nowhere, when conversations end in misunderstanding and stonewalling, we say to each other: ‘Well – you never know, you may have planted a seed’. Perhaps, although it felt hopeless, you said something that will resonate with that person more deeply when the conditions are right…

Hope, in the garden (or anywhere), asks us to give ourselves over repeatedly to.. the future that we cannot yet imagine... To hope does not require certainty, or even optimism, but instead asks that we find the value in the in-between, in the doing something, when we cannot know the outcome… www.inquirer.org.uk | Page 3

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Inquiring Words…

Earth Mother, Our Fragile, Floating Home Earth Mother, Our fragile, floating home, We hear your weeping.

As we sit in our comfort, Help us to see how changes – large and small – Can make a difference to our suffering siblings.

Let us put the natural world At the heart of every action, At the centre of every decision, Choosing to tread lightly on the earth So that we may be good ancestors To those not yet born And good stewards Of that which is yet to grow.

May we not be bowed down By our despair for the future, But use our anger as potent fuel To energise our actions For a fairer world For all.

Kate Dean

From Cherishing the Earth – Nourishing the Spirit Shown above: Galileo spacecraft view of the Moon orbiting the Earth taken from 3.9 million miles away. NASA image.

Laura Dobson reviews Cherishing the Earth – Nourishing the Spirit

Inspiring and invigorating Our planet is sick... but on a small and local scale, at least, we can heal it … and in the process we can heal ourselves.

Catherine Robinson in the chapter titled Redeeming a Rubbish Dump: some lessons learned I am delighted to review Cherishing the Earth – Nourishing the Spirit, a timely, challenging and important contribution to contemporary writings on eco-spirituality. The writing is straightforward and accessible to everyone, but also deeply thoughtful and academically rigorous.

It showcases the unity and diversity of our Unitarian movement beautifully. I hope the book will have a wide appeal, both within and beyond Unitarian circles. As Maria Curtis says, ‘this book is for anyone who is seeking a spiritual response to the ecological crisis.’

The book follows the signature Lindsey Press structure – essays followed by questions for reflection and discussion – and is also interspersed with prayers, poems, meditations and rituals in between the chapters. This makes the book ideal for both individuals and groups seeking to engage in deep reflection. The prologues to each section, by the Revs Maria Curtis and Claire MacDonald, introducing and drawing together the themes, along with the Foreword by Alastair McIntosh, are profound essays in themselves.

Some of the chapters are deeply personal, such as Sheena Gabriel’s Owning the Shadow, Becoming Conscious, in which she describes her relationship with the climate crisis through her dreams, and the chapters in the Active Hope section, in which the writers tell of their relationships with their local patches of earth.

Some discuss wide theological perspectives, such as Jo James’, ‘In whom we live and move and have our being’: spirituality, embodiment, and an ecotheology of reverence, and Ann Peart’s Exploring Ecofeminist Theologies.

Some address the global structural problems that have led to our exploitation of the earth and suggest how, together, we might begin to heal them – carbon economy (Stephen Lingwood’s Resistance, Repentance, Resilience: a prophetic spirituality for the climate crisis), white western exploitation of indigenous peoples (Judy Ryde’s Privilege and Climate Change), and the interconnections of racism, sexism, and

economic inequalities (Winnie Gordon’s Intersectionality and Environmentalism).

Some of the pieces invited me to see things from a different perspective. Some challenged me to reassess my assumptions. Some made my heart sing with joy, and some felt heartbreakingly poignant – especially the children’s contributions.

As a whole, the book reinvigorated my sense of the interconnectedness of all things, and my conviction that everything we say and do matters. In responding to the ecological crisis of our time, we need large-scale structural and cultural change, and we need individuals to take action to care for the earth and each other in any and every way we can.

I enjoyed reading every single piece in the book, but the pieces that particularly spoke to my heart were the ones in the Active Hope section, focused on hope as not something we have, but something we do, where the authors in their different ways talk of falling in love with the earth right beneath their feet. What we love we want to care for, and it is this that is key to my own understanding of eco-spirituality. As Rebecca Daley writes in The Space in Between, ‘In all the everyday holiness of the garden, I come to understand that the delight that we experience in nature is the strongest and deepest call that we will hear to protect it.’

This really is a book to help us cherish the earth and nourish the spirit. Thank you Maria and all your contributors. Please buy the book; read it; study it with others if you can. Be inspired. Be the change.

The Rev Laura Dobson is minister with Chorlton and with Macclesfield Unitarians. www.inquirer.org.uk | Page 5

Inspired by a recent Inquirer article, Paul Lindsay Dawson writes on mental health and faith

Loving community makes a difference The 1 April edition of The Inquirer touched upon our community’s response and relationship with those who live with Autism, ADHD and other neuro-divergent conditions. I would like to move this dialogue one stage further.

For many who have undergone psychiatric care – like myself following a severe brain trauma – religion and spirituality significantly influence their internal and external lives and are an important part of healing.

Mental illnesses are health about mental health conditions conditions involving significant to understand the challenges changes in thinking, emotion, an individual may be facing. It’s “How many of our or behaviour (or a combination also important to be able to deal of these). Mental illnesses are with stigma-related resistance congregations have a associated with distress and/or comfortably and confidently. How mental health firstproblems functioning in social, work, many of our congregations have a or family activities. mental health first-aider or have an aider or have an Mental health is: awareness of mental health issues? awareness of mental • The foundation for thinking, Mental illness does not discriminate. communication, learning, It can affect anyone regardless of health issues?” resilience, and self-esteem. one’s age, gender, income, social • The key to personal well-being, status, race/ethnicity, religion/ relationships, and contributing spirituality, sexual orientation, to community or society. background, or other aspect of Many people who have a mental illness do not want to cultural identity. While mental illness can occur at any discuss it. But we need to realise and respond with love, age, three-quarters of all mental illness begins by age 24. knowing that for many people the stigma about mental One-in-four adults and one-in-10 children experience health conditions, involving stereotypes, prejudice, and mental illness. It is estimated that 3.25 million people in discrimination, is a significant part of dealing with the the UK were in contact with NHS mental health services illness itself. This encompasses both public stigma (general at some point during 2021/22. This is around 5.8% of the population reaction to people with mental illness) and population, varying from 14.8% of 11–15 year olds and self-stigma (prejudice that people with mental illness 13.9% of 16–19 year olds to 2.7% of 65–69 year olds. Of turn against themselves: I should know; I can be guilty those with a mental health issue, government statistics of this). It has taken years to be comfortable enough report 20 percent have a drug or alcohol addiction – half to talk about my own brain trauma and its resulting of these people being homeless. How do we as people of changes to my neuropathy – and years in psychiatric faith respond and minister to this section of our society? care in consequence. Yet it is too easy to judge on the Do we exclude? Or do we welcome? How do we affirm, presentation of the illness, rather than the person. None or not, those with Tourette’s syndrome, or those whose of this in any way affects my faith as a Unitarian and I stress reactor is self-harm? How do we engage with have led more than 200 services, conducted half a dozen and support epileptics or autistic persons who wish to weddings and a funeral over the last decade or more. participate in our community? How do we best engage If we are to be a radically inclusive and loving community, with those with learning difficulties? congregational and faith leaders should know enough We all respond differently to stress and other external Page 6 | Issue 8061 – 10 June 2023

stimulants: a person’s reaction, their standard ‘coping mechanism’, can and does have varied presentations. As someone with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, my stress reaction can be extreme, resulting in self-abuse. This is the illness and brain chemistry, not the person. Indeed, it is part and parcel of a million or so men and women’s ‘normal life’. Do we as a community of faith shy away, and say ‘we can’t cope, go away’? Or do we open our arms and hearts and embrace the wider community?

Are we in danger of turning our backs from the world and our communities, rather than seeking engagement and understanding? In ignoring those with mental health issues, are we diminishing our communities and the gifts, those with various pathologies can bring? I believe we are.

See the person, not the illness No matter how hard it may seem, we must always be called to see the person rather than the illness first, and to understand their own religious assumptions regarding the role of the divine in their encounters with others.

Remember, the person has an illness; the person is not the illness. Mental health and illness involve multiple factors, including biology and neurochemistry, as well as both physical and psychological trauma. They are not the fault of the person, the family, or anyone else. The illness should never be used to judge or exclude: yet it is often too easy to judge, to be afraid of the addict, and those with mental health issues. We are all children of the same divine loving spirit.

Faith and congregational leaders are in unique positions to show loving acceptance to all our community. We say we are inclusive, but are we really? How many addicts are in our congregations? Persons with criminal records?

Those with mental health issues? Through loving kindness, congregations can work with those struggling to overcome the stigma and shame often associated with mental illness with understanding and acceptance.

How can we make our communities a loving and safe environment? I worked with mentally unwell and physically disabled adults and children with ‘Riding for the Disabled Association’ (RDA) between 2007 and 2020.

I taught equitation, stable management and facilitated carriage driving. The raison d’être of the charity is to facilitate engagement regardless of presentation of illness or disability. Or, to put that core value another way, ‘It’s what you can do that counts’. Surely that goes for we Unitarians as well? Based on my experience from working with the RDA as well as my own within both Unitarianism and Anglicanism: • Mental illness can be isolating for individuals and families. Ensure that they feel welcome in all

aspects of your community’s spiritual life. Create a safe environment within the place of worship by promoting an atmosphere of openness and inclusiveness.

• Understand the presentation of differing conditions, and be supportive at times of crisis. To have a greater awareness of the range of mental health, and their presentations, so as to be aware that what is normal to one person, may seem abnormal to another.

• Be aware of our language: in an extreme case it may be the last words someone hears.

• To this end, engage with mental health services.

Conduct workshops, give sermons, host lectures to reduce and eliminate the stigma of mental illness and create more acceptance in the faith community.

Invite a mental health professional to a discussion group.

• Identify congregational members who can provide support to individuals and their families or loved ones, when undergoing care and treatment either in the community or when hospitalised. The importance of individual and family privacy should be emphasised and of personal information.

• Above all, love unconditionally.

Peace, purpose and forgiveness No matter how we describe our community – religious or spiritual – a life of faith does have a positive impact on mental health: for example, prayer or meditation can help a person tolerate stress by generating peace, purpose and forgiveness. Our congregations provide a sense of structure, place of acceptance and typically offers a group of people to connect with those of similar beliefs. These facets can have a large positive impact on mental health — research suggests that religiosity and participation in spiritual gatherings reduces suicide rates, alcoholism and drug use.

Being part of a loving community renews a sense of belonging in the world; it provides a place of participation.

It inspires appreciation and awareness of a person’s interaction with the physical environment. The takeaway from of all of this, is: if presented in a supportive way, religion and spirituality can help people improve their mental health and promote recovery. What can we do to facilitate and encourage engagement with all in our community?

Paul Lindsay Dawson, a Unitarian for 30 years, attends Mill Hill Chapel, Leeds.

www.inquirer.org.uk | Page 7

Ann Howell writes of Sheffield’s Climate Day event

Connect and influence

Shown above: Prof Geoff Levermore speaks. Photo by Karen Allison

The Sheffield District recently held a ‘Climate Day’ for Unitarians and others interested in climate justice on 20 May. The flyer for the event asked, ‘How might we respond effectively to Climate Change, not just as individuals but as groups and institutions?’ About 15 minutes before the start, attendees began arriving, most members of chapels in the district, with a small contingent from ‘Plastic-free Sheffield’, a local environmental group, and a few local students.

Walking into the lovely, tiled hall, with its vaulted beamed ceiling, intricate curved windows, and lovely retro brass hanging lamps, it was easy to imagine the space being filled with long-skirted suffragettes campaigning for the vote, or Edwardian politicians speaking about workers’ rights.

The Rev Andi Philips welcomed us, and the Rev Maud Robinson began the proceedings by introducing the speakers, local Labour MP Olivia Blake, Unitarian General Assembly President Prof Geoff Levermore, former member of the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and Matt Carmichael, teacher and author of Spiritual Activism: Leadership as Service.

Poorer families feel the impact Ms Blake gave us an overview of her work in Parliament and reminded us that climate decisions that we make now will impact how we live in our lifetimes, as well as future generations. She pointed out that climate change impacts poorer families locally (poor air quality, fewer affordable healthy eating choices, etc.) and in the global south (heatwaves, floods, drought).

She pointed out that the most disenfranchised globally do not profit from a ‘green economy’.

Lastly, she talked about the Climate and Ecology Bill she has authored that is currently in front of ParliaContinued on page 9 > Page 8 | Issue 8061 – 10 June 2023

Matt Carmichael introduced three key challenges: Decarbonising, Democracy and Life Narratives Decarbonising: He introduced the concept of Carbon Shadow as a more nuanced way than Carbon Footprint for assessing impacts of carbon emissions. The Carbon Shadow allows for the complexity of ethical choices, balances personal and structural responsibilities and emphasises the political nature of key decisions. Matt emphasised the importance of examining where our money is invested. Friends of the Earth and WWF found that UK investments have double the carbon footprint of the UK, hence the importance of the global movement for organisations to disinvest from fossil fuels.

Democracy: This includes educating people about the crisis, seeking solutions together (not imposing them), advocating so that the community is heard in all its diversity and working with hard-to-persuade groups.

It also includes grappling with the facts that heating solutions are disruptive and costly, transport solutions are controversial, and agriculture solutions would raise shopping bills.

Life Narratives: Matt introduced this final section with the arresting quotation: ‘The most religious people on Earth don’t know whom they worship.’ Consumerists don’t even know that they are engaged in the worship of Mammon. It is important to provide alternatives to consumerism, to inspire people to explore the questions: What makes life fulfilling? What builds community? What gives life?

Maud Robinson

Climate Day inspired, challenged Continued from page 8 >

ment (https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3460). This bill would require the United Kingdom to achieve climate to halt and reverse loss of nature.

Next up was Geoff Levermore, who gave us a scholarly overview of the current science surrounding climate change, followed by some thoughts on the spirituality of nurturing the planet, as well as each other.

CO2 levels up since industrial revolution Using diagrams and charts, he demonstrated how since the beginning of the industrial revolution in the late 18th century, humans have raised CO2 levels as well as surface and sea temperatures at an alarming rate. The goal is to keep the temperature rise to no more than 1.5C, but that will require drastic measures.

Shown above: Climate Day participants consider the cost of what’s in their pockets. Photo by Karen Allison

One important statistic is that 26% of all greenhouse gas emissions come from food production. Reducing meat consumption (specifically beef and lamb) and implementing sustainable farm management strategies are big parts of reducing that number.

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‘Miracles of creativity’ Geoff concluded his segment with a brief talk on ‘eco spirituality’. He mentioned the three ‘miracles of creativity’ that led us to life as we know it: the big bang, life evolving on Earth, and the evolution of the human brain. He left us with this final conclusion: that the greatest moral good is that which benefits the ‘unseen person’ or ‘benevolent creation’, and in doing so will, by default, reduce carbon emissions and the effects of climate change.

After a brief lunch break where some of us enjoyed the late spring sunshine in the sculpture-laden courtyard in front of the chapel, we concluded the day with a series of group exercises, led by Matt Carmichael. These exercises were designed to get us all thinking about the biggest causes of climate change and how we can do our best to campaign for meaningful improvement.

It was sobering, but thought provoking, and highlighted the fact that even the smallest congregations can connect with other like-minded groups to influence local leaders and organisations.

Ann Howell is the Social Action Officer for the Unitarian General Assembly. www.inquirer.org.uk | Page 9

Danny Crosby writes of the intertwining of grief and love

Choosing life every day I recently attended the funeral of my friend John, who died tragically. I saw many friends I have known over the years there, and remembered times we shared together. I am very quiet at funerals I am not involved in. I think some people take this the wrong way, but I think it is a mark of respect. As I was driving home I remembered something I used to say to John when he was going through a bad time following the end of a relationship. I said to him to not see it as the end, but as a new possibility, ‘that all bets are open’.

It helped him at the time and he time. I stood by the wind telephone. would often say it back to me. ‘All I was going to sit there for a bit and bets are open’. Yes, all things are be quiet before going to pick up possible; there is always time to Molly. I was thinking about a few “So many people have change. Sadly, this is no longer the souls that have been lost in recent sat in that space and case for John. times. I stood in front of it and was I had left my pup Molly with friends looking directly at it while talking connected with those while at John’s funeral, and had to the young man. Then I noticed they have lost. The lines returned home to change before something that broke my heart. going to collect her. My phone The phone wasn’t there. Someone are back open again.” rang. It was a young man at a similar had ripped it from its bracket. This age and crossroads as John was happened once before. This time, when I first met him. The young though, they had not only damaged man was suffering with fear and it, but they had also taken the olduncertainty, unsure about life and style phone away. I finished my which direction to go. I listened for a while and I told him phone call and sat down and wept for a while. I took a about John. I told him, ‘All bets are open.’ That he was picture and shared about the vandalism on social media free to choose whatever direction he wished. I also told before going to collect Molly. I stayed for a while at my him whatever choice he made, mistakes would happen, friends’, had tea and chocolate hobnobs and then we went things would go wrong. There might even be the odd for a walk. When I returned, I checked my phone. My disaster. But this was OK. He would be OK, as long as goodness me. I was overwhelmed by the loving response he could learn from the mistakes. He was about to go on from so many people. So much loving support and some holiday for two weeks and would return to begin his next anger. By the end of the evening different friends had journey. I told him to enjoy himself and then I quoted gone to extra lengths and three new versions of the phone good old Moses, I said, ‘Choose life’. I even gave him the had been ordered. A dear friend came and fitted one a few full Deuteronomy 30:19: days later and we have two spares if it ever happens again.

I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that The phone means a lot to so many people in the I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. community, as do the gardens at the chapel and myself Choose life so that you and your descendants may live. too. So many people have sat in that space and connected It is a favourite! with those they have lost. The lines are back open again.

I had moved outside into the gardens at the chapel by this I went to bed that night touched by so many people I Continued on page 11 > Page 10 | Issue 8061 – 10 June 2023

Wind telephone

Shown above: Danny Crosby tries out the new wind telephone, installed to replace a stolen one.

All bets are open Continued from page 10 >

know, by their loving care and friendship; touched by how people will go out of their way at times; touched by how, in general, people choose to making loving decisions, decisions that are primarily about life. I also smiled as I found I had done the same. I had chosen life, in all its joy and suffering, in all its blessings and curses. I also thought of John and those words ‘All bets are open’.

It seems a bit of no-brainer to choose life. Who wouldn’t?

Well, sometimes we do choose to stay in fear and avoid life. Whenever we turn from our God-given gifts or fail to live authentically, I suspect we are refusing life. Not that we should give ourselves too hard a time for this, as we can always turn back to life again; we can turn back down the path of life again. No one lives perfectly without ever being held back from life by fear.

To choose life is to accept life in all its joys and troubles.

At John’s funeral there were many people who have courageously come through difficult challenges including two who have recently come through severe and lifethreatening forms of cancer. They carry their scars, both physical and emotional. But they were there and they were choosing life in every sense. One asked me if I was

When the Japanese garden designer Itaru Sasaki lost his beloved cousin in 2010, he found a unique way to come to terms with his grief, to call his loved one by telephone.

He built a white telephone booth, in the style of the old red ones that were once all over this country. Sasaki placed the phone box in his hilltop garden. In it was an old Bakelite dial phone, unconnected to any earthly telecom system. He spoke into the wind, and his words were carried off like prayer flags, blowing in the wind. He did this to keep the memory of his cousin alive, by calling him and speaking to him regularly.

As he told the Japanese public broadcasting network NHK, ‘Because my thoughts couldn’t be relayed over a regular phone line, I wanted them to be carried on the wind.’ He called it the ‘Wind Telephone’.

Two years ago, the congregation created one in the chapel gardens at Dunham Road Unitarian Chapel, Altrincham. Created amidst the grief of pandemic, it’s a place for anyone grieving to remember and think of their loved ones.

FROM NOTHING TO EVERYTHING

By Danny Crosby

going to the wake afterwards, I said not. I often prefer not to. They were going, but primarily to ensure that John’s ex-partner was OK. Another decision based on love and care, despite their own suffering.

Choosing or refusing life is a decision that we all make. It is not always obvious which one to take; fear in its many forms can often paralyse us in our decisions. So much so that we make no decision and thus do not choose life at all. Like the young man I was talking to after John’s funeral there is a fear that we could get it wrong, that all bets are not open, that all bets are in actual fact closed.

There will always be some indecisions in life, fear we will get it wrong. The truth is that we will get things wrong.

Every day I say or do something, or fail to do or say something I should have. This though does not cause paralysis. Every day we have to make decisions about little things and sometimes monumental things. In so doing we choose life. www.inquirer.org.uk | Page 11

Bob Park considers Jesus’ intentions for the church

The wrong rock?

You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church. (Matthew 16:18) This saying of Christ is so well known. It is often quoted in support of the authoritative structure of established Christianity. Yet in my opinion it seems to be one of the most widely misunderstood, and hence pernicious, passages of the New Testament.

When Christ asked the disciples he suggested building shelters ‘Who do you say that I am?’ Simon when Christ encountered Moses “What Christ most Peter replied, ‘You are the Messiah, and Elijah on the mountain the Son of the living God.’ This (Matthew 17:4) and when he denied likely meant when he answer brought from Christ the knowledge of Christ after promising responded to Peter statement of praise. However, only to support him (Matthew 26:33; five verses on, when Peter said he 69-75). I can only think that what was ‘I will build my would fight to protect Christ from Christ most likely meant when he community on the arrest, Christ told Peter ‘Get behind responded to Peter was ‘I will build me, Satan! You are a stumblingmy community on the ordinary ordinary people like block to me; for you are setting your people like you’. you’.” mind not on divine things but on If I am anywhere near correct human things.’ This contrast shows in this then the whole concept that Christ did not think Peter was of authority given to Peter and worthy of authority over others. then continued by transfer from pope to pope down the Let’s think a bit more about the statement. Christ ages collapses. All the justification for the hierarchy of did not say ‘church’. The gospels were written 40+ years cardinals, bishops and other Christians claiming spiritual after Christ’s death. He probably used the word which authority over others disappears. I am not denying that translated into Greek as ecclesia. This meant legislative organisations need administrators and other workers. meeting of citizens but could also be a translation from The point I am making is that the Unitarian approach the Hebrew for the religious fellowship of chosen people. of the respect for diverse opinions and the readiness to Only after Emperor Constantine embraced Christianity debate with reverence so as to gain understanding of one as the ‘official’ religion for his empire, and temples to the another’s views and learn from them is precisely what Roman gods became places for Christian worship, did Christ was meaning. We should ponder these thoughts ‘church’ come to have the dual meaning of a community when we consider how over the years so many people have of Christians and also a physical place which was an been sacrificed for expressing and holding to views that instrument of the state. differed from those of ‘authority’, and give thanks for the ethos of Unitarianism and for the freedom to embrace it.

With those thoughts in my mind I considered Christ’s statement again. Peter is portrayed in many places in Bob Park is a member of Hastings Unitarians. the New Testament as a very human person, with human Shown above: Christ Handing the Keys to St Peter by Pietro faults and senses of discomfort, as for example when Perugino (1481-82) Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons www.inquirer.org.uk | Page 12