We Belong to One Another

A service titled ‘We Belong to One Another', led by Rev. Dr. Jane Blackall, with readings given by Julia Alden, John Humphreys and Brian Ellis, and music from Kiana Umali Garvey and Andrew Robinson.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 3:45

As we enter into this time of worship, let us put away the pressures of the world that ask us to perform. To put on a brave face, to pretend we're on top of things and holding it all together. To make out we're someone other than who we truly are. Silence those voices that ask you to be perfect. This is a space of compassion and hospitality. You do not have to do anything special to earn the love and care contained within this community. You do not have to be braver, smarter, stronger, or better than you are in this moment to belong right here with us. You only have to bring the gift of your body, no matter how able, your seeking mind, no matter how restless and busy. Your tender heart no matter how broken. Bring your whole self, all that you are, and all that you love to this hour as we remind each other what really matters, what is most worthy in this one life that we all share. You are so very welcome. Let's join together in worship once again. Welcome all who have gathered this morning for our Sunday service. Welcome to those of you here in person at Essex Church, all who are joining from far and wide, very wide via Zoom, and indeed anyone tuning in at a later date via YouTube. For anyone who doesn't know me, my name is Jane Blackhall and I'm minister with Kensington to Kensington Unitarians even. And forgive my slightly croaky voice this morning. Today we're holding our annual membership service when we'll welcome all the new members who have joined our community in the past year. And indeed, all members, no matter how long you've been around, will be invited to reaffirm your commitment and your belonging to this church through a responsive prayer for this ministry. I've given the service the title We Belong to One Another, after one of our favourite hymns, which of course we will be singing later on. But I want to share its opening verse, which is also on the front of the order of service today. We belong to one another. To each other we are bound as we build a world together full of joy that we have found. What we are we owe to others. When they need us, we respond. We belong to one another and we hold a common bond. Over the next hour we will reflect on this sense of belonging to each other, both in the universal sense through a kind of human kinship, perhaps even kinship with the entire interdependent web of life. But also in the particular sense of belonging to this here community of Kensington Unitarians. If we truly belong to one another, then what does that require of us in terms of responsibility and mutuality? But before we go any further, let's do what we always do and light our chalice flame. This is a moment for us to pause and arrive to take a breath and lay down any preoccupations we brought in with us. And it's also a ritual that connects us with Unitarians and Unitarian Universalists the world over, and it reminds us of that proudly yet progressive religious tradition of which this gathering is part. As we light this chalice, we rekindle our commitment to nurture and share our beloved faith, to reflect on, to deepen and embody our shared values, to proclaim the good news that all are worthy and all are welcome. That God is love and none shall be left behind as we seek true liberation for all. Our first hymn today is number one nine three in your purple book. If you're in the church, we laugh, we cry. It's an old favourite, and I always feel I should tell you in advance it's quite a long one, so brace yourself. It needs a bit of stamina. We shall be well warmed up by the time you finish. If you're on Zoom, the words will be up on screen. Feel free to stand or sit as you prefer. So let's take all of those joys and concerns, both spoken and unspoken, into an extended time of prayer now based on some words by Moran Calloran. You might want to adjust your position to get more comfortable, maybe put down anything you don't need to be holding. There might be a posture that helps you to feel more prayerful and centred. Whatever helps you to get into the right state of body and mind for us to pray together. To be fully present to ourselves, to each other, and to that which lies within us and beyond us. And the greater wisdom to which and through which we are all intimately connected. Our sense of duty or the longing for community. We're called to be together on this day to worship, to lift up that which is of highest worth, that which directs our lives. Here we are gathered. To remind ourselves of those hopes and dreams and possibilities which sometimes in the rough and tumble of this world it can be hard to hold on to. Maybe we joined together. And we call on you for insight, healing, and renewal. As we look forward now to the coming week, help us to live well each day and be our best selves using our unique gifts in the service of love, justice, and peace. Amen. Time to sing again now. Our second hymn today is the one that the service was named for. If you're in the building, it's on your bright green hymn sheet. We belong to one another.

SPEAKER_00 21:24

I have heard that the Buddhist teacher Sharon Salzberg has a spiritual practice when she flies. Waiting to board at the airport gate, she looks at the people sitting there and says to herself, these are my people. A random, possibly ragtag set of strangers are her people. Seriously? Yes, seriously. I have begun doing this at the gate on board. For the next few hours, these are my people with weather delays even longer. And I have begun doing it elsewhere, when riding the train, attending a concert, in the grocery store. I even did it in January when I was one of hundreds of clergy who traveled to Minneapolis to march with tens of thousands for the future of our nation. Every so often, in that frigid cold, I would feel the crowd around me and think, these are my people, they are mine, and I am theirs. They weren't my besties nor my chosen family, nor even my immediate neighbors, but the ones that the universe cast as my temporary lot, random, not of my choosing. Except I choose to choose them as a spiritual practice. It stretches me. This embrace of others that I believe my faith faith asks of me, requires of me, is not necessarily logical, as well as occasionally mystical, and nearly always complicated. Does this change anything? Bring about healing or justice? I'm not certain, but I can't help wondering if this one way we get if this is one way we get closer to love at the center. Does this transform me? Hell yes. It commits me to the very nature of reality, interdependence. It reminds me that I, that we, belong to each other, like it or not. I'm thankful for the deep, so deep and real, so real, and so true ways in which we risk growing beloved community, in which we dare creating mutual aid networks beyond those besties, in which we risk creating and sustaining the necessary, complex, messy, sometimes prickly, sometimes joyful community coalitions to get us through this authoritarian nightmare. These are my people. You are my people. Spirit of life and love, ever presence of interdependence and transformation, if we shall be known by the company we keep, may that company support us in daring and risking a greater wholeness than we have known thus far. Amen.

SPEAKER_03 24:45

Thanks, Julia. So we're moving into a time of meditation now. To take us into the stillness, I'm going to share yet another poem by Rosemary Rottola trauma. I'm not on commission. It comes at this notion of belonging from a slightly different angle. And it's a slightly longer poem than usual. After the poem, we're going to hold a few minutes of shared silence, which will end with the sound of a bell, and then we're going to hear some more lovely music from Kiana and Andrew. So again, do what you need to do to get comfortable. You might want to get your feet flat on the floor if that helps you to feel grounded. You might want to close your eyes. As I always say, the words are just an offering. Feel free to use this time to meditate in your own way. For when we greet each other by Rosemary Martola Trauma. I want a new ritual for when we meet each other. Strangers or beloveds, friends or rivals, elders or children. It begins by holding each other's eyes the way we behold sunrises or the first cherry blooms. Which is to say we assume we'll find beauty there. And perhaps some display of open hands, a gesture with palms up that suggests both I offer myself to you and I receive you. There should be a quiet moment in which we hear each other breathe, knowing it's the sound of the ocean inside us. If there are words at all, let them be formed mostly of vowels, so they're heard more as song than a spitting. More like river current and less like throwing stones. Words that mean something like I do not know what you carry, but in this moment I will help you carry it. Or something like everything depends on us treating each other well. And if we said it enough, perhaps we'd believe it. And if we believed it enough, perhaps we'd live it. Treating every other human like someone who holds our very existence in their hands, like someone whose life has been given us to serve. Even if it's only to walk safely together down the street, hold a door, pass the sore, share a sunset, offer a smile, and say with our actions, you belong.

SPEAKER_01 34:44

This reading from Unitarian Universalist Minister Victoria Weinstein is the welcome she offers to new members of her own church. And it says something important about what it means to belong to a church like this one. She writes, here in this church, human beings have gathered for centuries seeking a higher purpose and deeper life than they could find alone. We are grateful today for each one of you that you have found your way here and that you have decided to make a commitment to this faith community. We hope that as members of this church you will allow yourself to know and be known, to minister and to be ministered unto, to love and be loved by this congregation. We never really know what combination of fate and friendship and good luck it is that brings certain people together in this world for any purpose. But we believe that membership in the church calls each of us here to celebrate the fate that has drawn us together and to regard each one a spiritual friend and a potential teacher, even of occasional hard lessons. The relationships we form in our church are based on needs of the soul, needs that render each of us vulnerable and therefore reliant on each other's grace and goodness and generosity of spirit. As members of this church, we pledge to be guardians of each other's spirits, to respect the ultimate privacy of each one's human struggle, and to believe in each one's inherent dignity. Finally, as members of this congregation, we know that we can always rely on the wisdom of our covenant, which reminds us of our true purpose in being together. That in the bonds of fellowship and love, we unite to cultivate reverence, to promote spiritual growth and ethical commitment, to minister to each other's needs and to those of humanity. To celebrate the sacred moments of life's passage and to honour the holiness at the heart of being. May it be for the greater good of all.

SPEAKER_03 37:35

Thanks, John. We've got a bonus hymn this week. Again, it's on your hymn sheet, and to a well-known tune Church is more than just a building. And last week I put a general call out to members of the congregation and asked them to say, in a sentence or two, what being a member means to them. And thanks to everyone who responded, I got a lot of responses, more than I can share in this moment. But I've put all of the responses in the service text at the bottom of the service on the website. They're more or less more or less anonymised, but inevitably there are some identifying features. We're going to share a few fragments of those responses now. I'm going to ask Brian up to help me out. Just to give a sense of the variety of things people have said about their sense of belonging as members of this community.

SPEAKER_04 41:46

Essex Church has been a home for me since 1983. It has given me a sense of continuity in my life throughout its ups and downs. I have made many friends. Sadly, some are now deceased. The church has been through ups and downs too, and it still remains my home.

SPEAKER_03 42:14

It's important to me to have a place where I have time and space to work through how to be a better person and to be encouraged to do that. And to think more of others and how to make the world a better place.

SPEAKER_04 42:30

Sundays are reserved for Kensington Unitarians. They're how I start and end the day each week, and I look forward to them all. Pitting my tent in the virtual space of Essex Church, sitting around our chalice flame, singing loudly, reflecting quietly, and laughing together.

SPEAKER_03 42:58

I'm grateful for the opportunity to come and share spiritual community with people in a gentle, simple way. I can be joyful, tearful, exhausted, open or closed, and know I still have a place.

SPEAKER_04 43:19

This church and the Unitarian faith is a place of refuge and stability in my life. I can relax, breathe, and belong, knowing I am in a community of openness and care.

SPEAKER_03 43:37

Each service has given me food for reflection afterwards and a sense of kinship with everyone there. It's been by joining other activities like the weekly heart and soul online that I feel closeness to individuals and the group.

SPEAKER_04 43:55

The Sunday service has become an anchor in my work.

SPEAKER_03 46:19

Like I said, all of the contributions are not in the following on the on the website on the page for this service. Hopefully those few excerpts will give a flavour of what belonging is all about. A few common themes emerge. There's a sense of stability, continuity, and commitment. Support and solidarity, care and companionship, shared values and purpose, and a sense that we're exploring and joining in something that is bigger than ourselves. Earlier in the service I asked another question. If we truly belong to one another, as members of this particular congregation, Kensington Unitarians, aka Essex Church, then what does that require of us in terms of responsibility and mutuality? What do we owe to each other? This is, after all, our church and nobody else's. As Unitarians, we're very proud of our independence, but that means this church business is entirely up to us. We need to take ownership of it. We us, we need to take ownership. We are the grown-ups that have to keep the show on the road. This community's ongoing existence and flourishing requires us all to be invested in showing up and doing what we can so that the community is still here for us next month, next year, and for future generations. Don't forget we only have this church now. We can only rock up on a Sunday morning and join in. Because a continuous line of people have pitched in and showed up over many centuries since Theophilus Lindsay founded the original Essex Church back in 1774. So many people down the years have done their bit in keeping it going. And now it's our turn. We haven't all got the same capacities or skills or aptitudes. We won't all be able to contribute in the same way, and that's a good thing. In this ecosystem, there are many niches, but diversity is an asset. But I ask you to ask yourselves how can I help? If you're here on a Sunday morning, whether that's in person or online, that might mean looking out for newcomers and striking out conversation, asking what brought them here, showing interest and nurturing those connections that I keep going on about. It might mean noticing if extra chairs need putting out after the service has started, or helping after the service with cleaning tables or washing up. It might mean letting Liz know that you're ready to join the rotors for greeting or making coffee, or letting Charlotte know that you might want to help out with the co-hosting online. It might mean taking responsibility for some of the work of church governance, or perhaps being a representative for our community at national Unitarian events. Crucially, it might mean signing up and showing up for our small groups, which is where a lot of the connection, a lot of the spiritual deepening happens, and where all these supportive and nurturing connections best grow. Showing up for each other and for this community is a truly vital aspect of belonging, and it's how we're going to grow this congregation and make a difference in the world. And speaking of growing this congregation, each year in our membership service, we welcome new members, and we encourage all members old and new to inwardly and outwardly reaffirm their belonging and their commitment to this church community. So I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome eleven new members, eleven this year who have joined since last April. Aisha, Sally, Teresa, Lily, Harvey, Linda H, Vita, Lussie, Akiko, Linda R, and Margaret. That brings us up to 65 members in total. And we haven't been that big for a while. We are growing. And if anyone who attends regular, whether that's in person or online, if you've not joined yet and you'd like to, it's not too late. But as I keep saying, membership is not about money. There's no subscription fee. It's about showing your support for this congregation and what we stand for. And it's good for morale for those of us who keep the show on the road when people sign up and join in. We have a tradition of sharing a responsive affirmation, a prayer each year at our membership service. So I'm going to invite you to join in with that to inwardly affirm your membership, or if you're not a member, to offer your good wishes for the work of this church. This is a prayer we wrote for my induction service a few years ago, based on the congregationally collectively sourced values, which set out our intentions for this ministry and all that we do together here. And we revisit each year as a reminder of our mutual commitment. So the words are in your hymn sheet and they'll be up on screen in a moment. And I invite you to join in with the responses that are printed in bold. We ask for your blessing on this congregation and our shared ministry and mission. Help us to flourish and thrive. Empower us to fulfil our calling. May this be a community of spiritual commitment. Somewhere we go to reconnect with what matters most in life. Encourage us to seek your daily guidance. Inspire us to pray always. May this be a community of care and compassion, a safer, softer, kinder space, a holy house of sanctuary. Grant us the spirit of generosity in our listening and speaking. May this be a community of authentic connection and realness where we can show up as our true selves and share our stories. Help us to open our hearts to each other. Reveal our common humanity. May this be a community of learning, growth and transformation, in which we are encouraged to use and develop our own unique gifts. Guide us towards new horizons. Call us on to the greater heights and depths. May this be a community of resistance and liberation, a church where we speak and act for equality and justice. Awaken in us the insight, strength and courage to serve the greater good. Spirit of life, God of all love. We commit ourselves to this shared ministry. Bless the work of our hearts, minds, and hands in the years to come. Amen. Time for one last hymn, also on your hymn sheet, it's becoming a bit of a theme tune, and it's a great statement of intent for the kind of community we aspire to be. The church where love lives. Please don't dash off. We've got our AGM at half past twelve, and we'd appreciate it if members could stay on for that. I hope it will be relatively short and painless. There's a lot of work that keeps this show on the road, and we'd appreciate it if you take the time to read the annual report and come along to the AGM to engage with our efforts. Tonight the Better World Book Club is talking about Finding the Mother Tree by Suzanne Simard. If you've read the book and don't yet have the link, let me know and I will send it to you. Next month we're reading Is This Working by Charlie Colner about the varied working lives that people experience in this day and age. I've got a couple of copies left. If you want to borrow that, let me know. And indeed, all the books for the rest of the year have now been announced, and that flyer is in the foyer if you want to take one. On Friday, we've got our online heart and soul contemplative spiritual gathering. But this week it's on the theme of consideration, I think. I've got slightly confused about the order we're running in. John's taking care of that in the part this Friday, minding the shop while I'm away. Sonia will be leading her near dance class Friday lunchtime. And uh yeah, I'm about to go on holiday, uh sort of. We'll have guest worship leaders for the next few weeks. Next Sunday it will be led by Reverend Stephanie Bisbee, my mate from Doncaster Unitarians on the theme of early adopters. Please support the people leading stuff while I'm away. You will see me popping up here and there, but maybe if someone else wants to bring cake next week, that wouldn't go amiss. All these activities are on the back of your order of service, they're in the Friday email, they're in the newsletter. The congregation's very much got a life beyond Sunday morning, so do what you can to look out for each other and nurture all those supportive connections. It matters that we come together when we can, not just for what each may gain, but for what we each may contribute through our presence and participation. Remind us in our heart of hearts that if we want our church to be there for us, then we must also be there for our church. And remind us that if we want others to be there for us in our times of need, then we must be there for them in theirs. So in the week to come, as we go about our daily lives, may we feel a sense of lasting connection to this beloved community. And may we truly know this church as a place where we belong, our spiritual home.