All Souls – 30/10/22

Musical Prelude: ‘Adagio’ – Remo Giazotto-Albinoni played by Benjie del Rosario and Peter Crockford

Opening Words: ‘We Remember’ by Simon John Barlow (adapted)

In this season of gathering-in and remembrance:

we remember, in gratitude, all those who came before
us to prepare the paths which we now tread;

we remember, in love, our family members, friends, and lovers
who, though not with us today, still guide our footsteps;

we remember, in awe, the miracles of daily life
which inspire us and raise our spirits;

we remember, in joy, the love divine and human
which surrounds us always;

we remember, in peace, the divine light within us all
which brings the strength for growth;

we remember, in acceptance, our task of sharing that
inner light with all around us wherever we go.

Words of Welcome and Introduction:

These opening words by my dear and much-missed friend Simon John Barlow, welcome all those who have gathered this morning for our Sunday service. Welcome to those who have gathered in-person at Essex Church and to all who are joining us via Zoom from far and wide. For anyone who doesn’t know me, my name is Jane Blackall, I’m ministry coordinator with Kensington Unitarians.

If it’s your first time joining us this morning, we’re glad you found us, thank you for coming to visit. I encourage you to hang around for a chat after the service, drop us an email, or come to one of our small groups to get to know us better. I hope you find something of what you need here this day. Whoever you are, however you are, wherever you are, know you are welcome, just as you are.

Today’s service is our annual All Souls service in which we take time to honour those people we love who have died. Towards the end of the service there will be a chance for us to name our loved ones in a special All Souls Ritual. I encouraged you to bring along, or have to hand, a memento or a photo of the loved ones you wish to honour, but if you haven’t got something you’ll still be able to join in. And as with everything we do together, this is an invitation, not an obligation. You can pay your respects silently without having to get up and say anything. But that’s for later in the service.

Before we go any further let’s take a moment to settle ourselves and really arrive. There’s plenty going on in the world right now, and doubtless plenty going on in each of our lives as well, one way or another. Perhaps it’s all still bouncing around in your mind or making itself felt in your body. So let’s be a bit intentional about putting that to one side as best we can – just for this hour or so – we can pick it all up again afterwards if we really need to. Let’s shake out any ‘bleurgh’ we brought in. And let’s make this hour sacred with our intention, our attention, our own authentic presence.

Chalice Lighting: ‘A Beacon of Hope’ by Christine Robinson

Let’s light our chalice flame now, as we do each week. This simple ritual connects us in solidarity with Unitarians and Unitarian Universalists the world over, and reminds us of the proud and historic progressive religious tradition of which we are a part.

(light chalice)

We gather this hour as people of faith
with joys and sorrows, gifts and needs.
We light this little beacon of hope,
sign of our quest for truth and meaning,
in celebration of this precious life we share together.

Hymn 152 (SYF): ‘Thanks Be for These’

Let’s sing together now. Our first hymn is ‘Thanks Be For These’. It’s number 152 in the purple hymn book and for those joining via Zoom they’ll be up on your screen to sing along at home. I’ll ask Peter to play the tune through once in full before we sing. Please feel free to stand or sit, as you prefer, as we sing: ‘Thanks Be For These’.

Thanks be for these, life’s holy times,
moments of grief, days of delight;
triumph and failure intertwine,
shaping our vision of the right.

Thanks be for these, for birth and death,
life in between with meaning full;
holy becomes the quickened breath;
we celebrate life’s interval.

Thanks be for these, ennobling art,
images welcome to our sight,
music caressing ear and heart,
inviting us to loftier height.

Thanks be for these, who question why,
who noble motives do obey,
those who know how to live and die,
comrades who share this holy way.

Thanks be for these, we celebrate,
sing and rejoice, our trust declare;
press all our faith into our fate;
bless now the destiny we share.

Candles of Joy and Concern:

Each week when we gather together, we share a simple ritual of candles of joy and concern, an opportunity to light a candle and share something that is in our heart with the community. So we’ve an opportunity now, for anyone who would like to do so, to light a candle and say a few words about what it represents. This time we’re going to go to the people in the building first, and take all of those in one go, and then I’ll call on the people on Zoom to come forward.

So I invite some of you here in person to come and light a candle and then if you wish to tell us briefly who or what you light your candle for. We’re asking people to keep their masks on for this candle lighting – please keep your masks on – if you use the hand-held microphone, get it really close to your mask, and SPEAK UP, people should be able to hear what you’re saying.

(in person candles)

And if that’s everyone in the room we’ll go over to the people on Zoom next – you might like to switch to gallery view at this stage – just unmute yourselves when you are ready and speak out – and we should be able to hear you and see you up on the big screen here in the church.

(zoom candles)

And I’m going to light one more candle, as we often do, to represent all those joys and concerns that we hold in our hearts this day, but which we don’t feel able to speak out loud. (light candle)

Time of Prayer & Reflection: based on words by Susan Brown

Let’s take those joys and concerns into an extended time of prayer. Although this is an All Souls service (All Souls Day is on Wednesday), this is based on a prayer for All Saints’ Day (Tuesday) by Unitarian Universalist Susan Brown, and it’s in very much still in the spirit of our service.

You might first want to adjust your position for comfort, close your eyes, or soften your gaze. There might be a posture that helps you feel more prayerful. Whatever works for you. Do whatever you need to do to get into the right state of body and mind for us to pray together – to be fully present here and now, in this sacred time and space – with ourselves, with each other, and with that which is both within us and beyond us. (pause)

Spirit of Life, God of All Love, in whom we live and move and have our being,
we turn our full attention to you, the light within and without,
as we tune in to the depths of this life, and the greater wisdom
to which – and through which – we are all intimately connected.
Be with us now as we allow ourselves to drop into the
silence and stillness at the very centre of our being. (pause)

As we honour All Saints and All Souls,
let us each call into our minds and hearts
all those sainted souls who blessed our lives:

Those family saints—spouses and partners, parents and grandparents, caregivers,
siblings, brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts and uncles, and our chosen families too —
all those saints and elders who modelled living for us, who stay with us
through the days and years and all times of need and joy. We give thanks.

Those friend saints—childhood and adulthood friends, those young and not so young,
those dear companions who listen and cry and laugh with us along the way. We give thanks.

Those work saints—colleagues and co-workers, bosses and employees,
fellow travellers, those mentors and teachers who are with us in the daily struggle,
and when trying to work with dignity and integrity seems so very hard to do. We give thanks.

Those community saints—those who serve, who stand for office, who volunteer,
those educators and creators and nurturers whose presence makes our daily life
easier and more pleasant—and for those who toil and strive to bring
a vision of justice, equality and peace to our world. We give thanks.

Those unnamed, unknown saints—those who overcome obstacles
and teach us how to overcome obstacles, those whose presence reminds us
that we are called to do more than we ever thought possible.
Those who bear burdens and let us assist them in the bearing of those burdens,
those who give willingly and unselfishly, those who demonstrate strength,
courage and wisdom in the face of pain and tragedy. We give thanks.

Today we are called to recognize all saints – therefore let us learn
to recognize the sainthood in all others and the sainthood in ourselves. (pause)

And in a good few moments of shared silence now,
may we speak inwardly the deepest prayers of our hearts —
maybe something in our own life or the life of the world is weighing heavy on us –
maybe we are feeling full of gratitude and feel moved to give thanks for our blessings –
let us lift up whatever is on our heart this day, and ask for what we most need. (long pause)

Spirit of Life – God of all Love – as this time of prayer comes to a close, we offer up
our joys and concerns, our hopes and fears, our beauty and brokenness,
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

Hymn (on sheet): ‘Undying Echoes’

Let’s sing together now. Our next hymn is ‘Undying Echoes’. This is one we hardly ever sing so once again I’m going to ask Peter to play it through once in full before we sing. For those of you present at the church in-person it’s on your hymn sheet and for those joining via Zoom they’ll be up on screen. Please feel free to stand or sit, as you prefer, as we sing: ‘Undying Echoes’.

The lives which touch our own each day
Are influenced unconsciously
By views we hold, the things we say,
Our simple acts of charity.

On earth we still receive the light
Of stars burnt out in aeons past,
The lives of those who served the right
Shine with a lustre that will last.

This life of ours can never end,
Its influence still perseveres;
For by our deeds we ever send
Undying echoes down the years.

Online Reading: ‘Immortal, Invisible’ by Victoria Safford (adapted) – read by Hannah King

Where do they go, do you think, when they die? Our mothers and brothers and lovers, colleagues, children, and friends? You turn your head and suddenly they have slipped away – but where? What’s happened? What remains?

I find myself telling a young child things I didn’t know I believe about death, things that shock me, make me wonder. We come across a small dead turtle in the road and we decide to bury it. So with a stick we scrape a space on the edge of someone else’s grass and put the little disk of shell in the hollow of the earth, and I tell what will happen to the turtle, to the muscle and the blood and the eyes and the shell. He loves this. “It all goes back to the earth,” I say, “into new soil, and new plants will use it and grow, and birds will eat the plants, or we will, and the birds will scatter seeds, which turtles might eat, round and round and round it goes.” This much I know is true. But I also say, because the child is clearly waiting to hear more, clearly he knows that this cannot be all: “And the spirit of the turtle comes out and goes back into everything, into the stars and the sun and you and me. Everything the turtle was returns to everything and it is not lost.”

We’re both a little shocked at that, and pondering, as we continue walking.

That same child was told not long ago by a well-meaning relative that her dead cat (the relative’s dead cat) is happy now in “kitty heaven.” And the fact is, though I roll my supercilious eyes and make derisive noises, I don’t know now and never will whether “kitty heaven” is real (or “kitty hell” for that matter). The child and I, and all the poets and philosophers, the scientists and scholars, are equal in our ignorance on this and equal in our expertise when someone asks, “What will happen to the turtle?” – or to us. Bowel and blood and bone change into other things – dust and drop and molecule – but what about the soul? The heart is water and flesh; it decomposes fast, or burns. But what of the heart’s contents?

What we know for sure when someone dies is loneliness. What we know is the lifelong struggle to remember. What we know, beyond biology and chemistry, what we know forever and ever are the questions: what remains of him, of her, what remains of you… in me?

Words for Meditation: ‘I Want to Believe that When You’ by Joan McIntosh

Thanks, Hannah. We’ve come to a time of meditation. I’m going to offer just a few words from Joan McIntosh which echo the last story. These words will take us into a few minutes of shared silence which will end with the sound of a bell. And then we’ll hear some music from Benjie and Peter. So let’s each do what we need to do to get comfortable – adjust your position if you need to – perhaps put your feet flat on the floor to ground and steady yourself – maybe close your eyes. As we always say, the words and music are just an offering, feel free to use this time to meditate in your own way.

I want to believe that when you
remember something I did
or something I said in a place
we were together – I want to believe
I’ll be there – a sigh, a stir
of wind, molecules in a leaf or dust.
I want to believe this easeful
theology: when we are long gone,
no one to recall us anymore,
we are still the ghosts
in everything – atom or molecule –
the small disturbances,
the details that run the world.

Period of Silence and Stillness (~3 minutes) – end with a bell

Musical Interlude: ‘Après un rêve’ – Gabriel Fauré played by Benjie and Peter

In-Person Reading: ‘Immortality’ by Leslie Takahashi (read by Antony Bunsee)

In the daily weave of our lives, those who have died are still strong, guiding threads.
Theirs is the golden glimmer or perhaps the brilliant red or the melancholy blue—
still they are part of the whole cloth of our lives.
They are the ancestors: the “goers before.”
Through this, we know immortality.

In the hour-to-hour rush of our daily tasks, they travel with us
through something they taught us which is now ours to do;
through something they loved which is now ours to carry out;
through something we shared which is now ours alone and yet not.
Through this, we know immortality.

In the minute-to-minute grasp of where we are, we remember
the joys our departed gave us which opened us up to hope,
the sorrows we knew together which taught us strength,
the life shared which is now ours to steward.
Through this, we know immortality.

In the second-to-second pulse of life,
we sense the spirit of those we have loved and lost.
This presence is too shy for naming, too amorphous for full knowing
and yet as real as the days we shared.
Through this, we know immortality.

They are more than remembered, they are memory itself.
For what we love lives on in the way our beloved dead accompany us through our life—
their words and wisdom our guide, their humour our relief,
their restless concern for the world our charge.
Through this, we know immortality.

All Souls Ritual: an opportunity to name and honour our loved ones who have died

We’ve come to a time in our service to mark All Souls Day (which actually falls on in a few days (on Wednesday) with a simple ritual to honour the memory of those we have loved and who have died.

UU minister Carl Seaburg put it like this: ‘[All Souls] Day is set apart in many churches for the commemoration of those ‘holy souls’ who have graced our lives and passed from our living circle. Their radiance, their works, their memories, are still with us – and on this day we meet to celebrate them fondly. And thoughtfully, too, remembering that we also someday shall follow where they went.’

So this morning let’s remember the lives of those who have given us inspiration, strength, comfort, and love. Let us give thanks for those whose presence is always with us and honour their memory with a ceremony of remembrance. I suggested ahead of time that you might bring a photo or a memento of a loved one you wish to remember today. If you’ve come prepared – that’s great – if you haven’t – you can still join in – and if you don’t want to join in – you absolutely don’t have to – all participation is voluntary. We’ve got about ten minutes for our ritual and we’ll do this in a similar way to the Candles of Joy and Concern – I’ll invite the people in the room first – then the people on Zoom. By default we will leave this bit in the recording of the service, so if you join in but don’t want to be included in the video that goes on YouTube, please have a word with me or drop me an email to let me know straight after the service and I’ll make sure to edit you out.

So for the people in the room, please come up when you’re ready, take the microphone, speak the name of the person you want to remember, and say how you were connected to them in a word or two. Sadly we won’t have time to hear more of your shared story during the service today but these conversations can always continue afterwards. As always we ask you to keep your mask on and speak right into the microphone so we can hear you. If you’d like to hold up a photo or memento please do that but you might just want to hold on to it. And we’ll light a tealight candle for each person named.

(in person ritual)

And if that’s everyone in the room we’ll go over to the people on Zoom next – we’re going to do this slightly differently than usual – when you’re ready to speak please put your hand up and Jeannene will spotlight you when she sees you. When it invites you to unmute please do so and please go ahead and speak – say the name of the person you want to remember, and how you were connected to them in just a word or two. And we’ll light a tealight candle for you here.

(zoom ritual)

If that’s everyone… thank you for joining in with our All Souls Ritual. To bring it to a close, I invite you to join in with a responsive reading, by Heather K. Janules. For those present in the church these words are on the back of your order of service and for those at home they’ll be up on your screen.

Responsive Reading: ‘This Sacred Thread’ by Heather K. Janules

They once dwelled among us, the people of memory.
They who knew us, they who taught us,
They who hurt us, they who loved us.

They touch our lives time and again,
through their presence and their absence.
Through familiar scents and favourite songs,
Through old stories and renewed sorrow.

As the earth turns and leaves fall,
We reach back to renew the bonds between us.
With hearts and hands open
We hold onto to love,
Ever-stronger than death.

We reach back in gratitude and understanding –
Without our time together, the pain and the joy,
We would never be who we are today;
We would have little to pass on ourselves.

Without fear, with thanksgiving
and with hope for all that awaits,
We remember those who have gone before,
We honour the circle of life and death,
And our place within this sacred thread. Amen.

Hymn 44 (SYF): ‘Give Thanks for Life’

Time for our last hymn, and it’s a favourite of mine to a stirring tune, ‘Give Thanks for Life’. It’s on your hymn sheet and the words will also be up on screen. Feel free to stand or sit as you feel moved. Let us sing.

Give thanks for life, the measure of our days,
mortal, we pass through beauty that decays,
yet sing to God our hope, our love, our praise:
Alleluia, Alleluia!

Give thanks for those whose lives shone with a light
caught from the Christ-flame, gleaming through the night,
who touched the truth, who burned for what is right:
Alleluia, Alleluia!

Give thanks for all, our living and our dead,
thanks for the love by which our life is fed,
a love not changed by time or death or dread:
Alleluia, Alleluia!

Give thanks for hope that like a seed of grain
lying in darkness, does its life retain
to rise in glory, growing green again:
Alleluia, Alleluia!

Sharing of News, Announcements, Introductions

A few announcements: Thanks Jeannene for tech-hosting and Hannah for co-hosting, to Hannah and Antony for reading, Benjie and Peter for playing for us. For those of you who are at church in-person, Patricia will be serving coffee, tea and biscuits in the hall after the service, if you want to stay for refreshments – thanks to Patricia and thanks to Marianne for greeting. We are still looking for more people to help out with coffee and greeting so please speak to Marianne if you can volunteer for that. For those of you who are on Zoom today there will be virtual coffee time afterwards so do hang around for a chat.

We have various small group activities during the week for you to meet up. Coffee morning is online at 10.30am Wednesday. There are still spaces left for our Heart and Soul gatherings (online Sunday/Friday at 7pm) and this week’s theme is ‘Protest’. You’ve still got time to sign up for the Samhain GreenSpirit gathering which will take place on Zoom this Tuesday 1st November at 7pm (email Sarah for that) or for the in-person poetry group on Wednesday 2nd Nov (email Brian). Our service next Sunday will be hybrid once again; Sonya and I will consider ‘The Joy of Movement’.
Details of these and all our events are on the back of the order of service and in the Friday email.

Our own Heidi Ferid and and Roy Clark are about to have an exhibition of their artwork. it’s called ‘Terrain: A Testimony to Nature in a Time of Change’ and it’s at the Peggy Jay Gallery in Hampstead with a private view on the 8th November from 6pm. You’re all very welcome – details in our email.

Looking further ahead – next month we’re planning to have a congregational service on the theme of ‘Simple Pleasures’ – that’ll be on the 20th November – if you might like to offer a short reflection on something that gives you enjoyment or a little uplift in daily life please do get in touch – we’ll have some slots for people to speak in person at the church, some live via zoom, and some short pre-recorded ‘show-and-tell’ videos where you can share the things that you enjoy with us all.

The congregation very much has a life beyond Sunday mornings; we encourage you to keep in touch, look out for each other, and do what you can to nurture supportive connections.

I think that’s everything. Just time for our closing words and closing music now.

Benediction: based on words by Leia Durland-Jones

For those who came before us, we offer gratitude and thanks.
May their memories be a blessing.
May we feel surrounded by their love.
As we go forth from this time and place,
let us be inspired by their courage, their wisdom, and their dreams.
Let us honour them by doing the work
of living boldly, loving mightily,
and creating heaven on earth.
Amen.

Closing Music: 1st movement from ‘Fantasiestüke’ – Robert Schumann performed by Benjie del Rosario and Peter Crockford

Rev. Dr. Jane Blackall

30th October 2022