‘Soul Restoration for the World Weary’ – 12/03/23

Musical Prelude: by Abby Lorimier and Peter Crockford

Opening Words and Chalice Lighting:

To live content with small means;
To seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion;
To be worthy not respectable and wealthy not rich
To study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly;
To listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart;
To bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never.
To let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the every day existence.
This is to be my (our) symphony.

Words from William Henry Channing, a 19th century Unitarian, welcome you all to this morning’s Sunday gathering here with Kensington Unitarians at Essex Church – both here in London and those of you joining us online from around the world. It’s good to have you with us this morning. If we’ve not met before I’m Sarah Tinker and as a retired minister I have the luxury of visiting different congregations around the country and even abroad. For ours is a worldwide movement – a beacon for all those who seek a spiritual community: a community that will encourage finding our own path in life in good company with others. Here nobody will tell us what we must think – but the invitation is to go a little deeper, to consider a wider picture, and to support one another when the going gets tough. Our chalice flame is lit, shining a beacon of welcome and reminding us that we are part of something greater than our small selves – one people living one life on this, our one and only planet earth home.

Hymn 142 (purple): ‘Shining Through the Universe’

Our first hymn today can be found in the purple hymn book, number 142 and words will appear on screens for folks online. It’s called ‘shining through the universe’, the words are written by Roger Mason, a member of our Golders Green congregation, Roger spent many years as a geologist in China and his words describe a Taoist concept of there being a thread of gold for each of us to follow in life, a thread that connects all life. And as the tune may not be familiar we’ll hear it all the way through once before we start to sing.

Shining through the universe
runs the golden thread;
woven in along with white,
black, yellow, green and red.

Cooling water, burning fire,
metal, wood and clay;
in the earth’s five elements
the gold thread marks the Way.

If we try to pick it out
from the fabric fair,
when the threads are pulled apart
the gold’s no longer there.

Under heaven, over earth,
north to southern pole,
if you trace the golden thread
the Way will calm your soul.

“Turn your feet along the Way”,
sages taught of old;
live life well and tread the path
marked by the thread of gold.

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 the invitation now, is for anyone who would like to do so, to light a candle and say a few words about what it represents. 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.

If you want to come up and share a joy or a concern we ask you to go to the free standing microphone. Take your mask off to do this if you want to, and I’ll light the candle for you over here. Please do still get up close to the microphone as that will help everyone hear (including the people at home). You can take the microphone out of the stand if it’s not at a good height for you – it’s still going to be important to speak up – and have the microphone pointing right at your mouth. Thank you.

(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:

Which of us has not known at some point in our lives experienced a sense of soul loss, a certain apathy and listlessness, a disinterest in life, a feeling that joy has deserted us, that all effort is pointless. How human it is to experience such a lowering of the spirits, a sense that the sun has hidden from us, behind a cloud for a while and all is grey and dull. May the spirit of life and love be with us now and with all who struggle in life this day. (pause)

For some people this lack of joy is a habitual state that they find themselves in, some people live in a gloomy world that rarely brightens. And for some the weight of poverty, illness, aloneness are too much to bear. Let us think for a moment with love and compassion of all those who must live with such burdens, and pray that such burdens be lifted and eased. (pause)

Some of us are only occasional visitors to such a grey world but we know the landscape and perhaps fear it. We may also find our spirits lowered by our concerns for our world and all its inhabitants. May we have love and compassion for ourselves in those times. (pause)

We also are aware that the world itself goes through times when it feels as though its soul has become lost and confused, taken over by darkness, swept by tyranny and strife. And yet again and again in the history of the world love and good sense have prevailed once more and the struggles of individuals and groups have secured freedom and justice.

May the sun that is shining outside now on this Sunday morning, even if the light is masked by clouds, may light shine throughout our world and bring a message of hope and love once more to all beings, may all spirits be lifted, may all souls feel brightened and lightened, by the comfort offered by those around them and by the comfort that can be found within – may sources of comfort be there for all, those day and all days. Amen

In-Person Reading: ‘Everything Falls Away’ by Parker J. Palmer

This poem is written by Parker J Palmer, a highly regarded educator, writer and social activist. He founded The Center for Courage and Renewal in the States and is a member of the Society of Friends, a Quaker. The poem is called ‘Everything Falls Away’ and it begins with a quote from William Stafford – who writes that: There’s a thread you follow. It goes among things that change. But it doesn’t change.

Sooner or later, everything falls away.
You, the work you’ve done, your successes,
large and small, your failures, too. Those
moments when you were light, along-
side the times you became one with the
night. The friends, the people you loved
who loved you, those who might have
wished you ill, none of this is forever. All
of it is soon to go, or going, or long gone.

Everything falls away, except the thread
you’ve followed, unknowing, all along.
The thread that strings together all you’ve
been and done, the thread you didn’t know
you were tracking until, toward the end,
you see that the thread is what stays
as everything else falls away.

Follow that thread as far as you can and
you’ll find that it does not end, but weaves
into the unimaginable vastness of life. Your
life never was the solo turn it seemed to be.
It was always part of the great weave of
nature and humanity, an immensity we
come to know only as we follow our own
small threads to the place where they
merge with the boundless whole.

Each of our threads runs its course, then
joins in life together. This magnificent tapestry—
this masterpiece in which we live forever.

Hymn (on sheet): ‘Bells of Norwich’

Our next hymn is an old favourite of mine but not one we often sing here. It’s written by Sydney Carter and is based on the words of Julian of Norwich, ‘all shall be well’. Carter uses the imagery of daffodils peeping through the snow to remind us that spring eventually returns. Perhaps we can sing it with compassion for all those who are still snowbound up in the north of Britain. I suggest we remain seated to sing this hymn and Peter will play the tune all the way through for us first. Words are on screens and on the hymn sheet here in church.

Loud are the bells of Norwich
And the people come and go,
Here by the tower of Julian
I tell them what I know.

Ring out, bells of Norwich,
and let the winter come and go;
All shall be well again, I know.

Love, like a yellow daffodil,
is coming through the snow.
Love, like the yellow daffodil
is lord of all I know.

Ring out, bells of Norwich,
and let the winter come and go;
All shall be well again, I know.

Ring for the yellow daffodil,
the flower in the snow.
Ring for the yellow daffodil
and tell them what I know.

All shall be well, I’m telling you,
let the winter come and go:
All shall be well again, I know.

Meditation:

Author, mythologist and storyteller Michael Meade writes that ‘This world is essentially a place of mystery and what looks darkest at the beginning can have bright threads hidden within’ and the invitation as we move into a meditative time is for us to consider some of the bright threads that have emerged for you in life when things were tough. I’ll say a few words to guide us into silence, and that time will end with a chime from our bell and be followed by music from Abby and Peter.

So let’s do what we need to do to be as comfortable as we can be for the next few minutes, taking one of those breaths that help us relax and deepen, softening our bodies and especially our eyes and our facial muscles that can hold so much tension. Let’s be aware pf our feet resting on the floor connecting us with mother earth. Maybe give your shoulders a bit of a stretch, up towards our ears and then letting the shoulders drop downwards and backwards, as our backs slowly lengthen and our sternums and chests gain a sense of opening to what is, willing to face life and to hold always the comforting awareness that life and ‘this world is essentially a place of mystery – and what looks darkest at the beginning can have bright threads hidden within’. And as we enter the fellowship of silence together let’s remember some of the bright threads we have found in the course of our lives.

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

Musical Interlude: played by Abby Lorimier and Peter Crockfrord

In-Person Reading: from ‘World Worry’ by Elias Amidon

‘A disturbing litany of disasters confronts us in most woke writings these days, and for good reason: our planet and human civilization are encountering conditions in which the earth’s capacity for nourishing life is endangered at a magnitude unknown in human history. You know the litany: polar bears lost on melting ice floes, songbirds vanishing, soil depleted, poisons in the air and our bodies, countless trillions of plastic fragments floating in all the oceans, forests burning and diseased, extractive industries gouging into mountains, a fierce ambition in human economies to grow past all limits, populations of refugees fleeing from social and climate disruption, and ever-increasing injustice, distrust, polarization, and domination of the many by the few. All of this is stirring in us world worry, a sense of foreboding that is draining the vibrancy of human culture as well as our physical, psychological, and spiritual health. We see a menacing cloud over the future and feel helpless to do anything about it.

World worry is not something we can avoid. Even if we try to shut it out and just devote ourselves to the demands and pleasures of our personal lives, the storm gathering over us and over our children and their children is a portent we can’t ignore for long. While we may realize that world worry is sapping the energy from our lives, at the same time we feel if we don’t worry about what’s coming down, we’ll take no action to forestall it. Releasing our world worry would mean giving in, giving up. How can we be with this? What is our responsibility in this fateful time? What is asked of us?

And then there’s this troubling question: Can we be awake to the enormous ecological and social disruption that’s happening now and that’s ever increasing — disruption that, I repeat, is on a scale that no generation before us has had to face — can we be awake to it and still live happy, beautiful and fulfilled lives?

There are no easy answers to these questions, and no easy fixes. As the days and years pass, each of us will have to contend with this intractable challenge in a manner suited to our own lives. Here are a few thoughts of my own in response to these questions — culled down to three basic “principles” — offered not as definitive answers, but more as a starting point for your own contemplation and questioning.’ Words from Sufi teacher Pir Elias Amidon. And I will now pass you over to Sarah who hopefully can tell us some ways to ease these worries and our world weariness.’

Address: ‘Not as Expected’ by Rev Sarah Tinker

I wish you could all meet Elias Amidon, Spiritual Director of the Open Path Sufi Way, whose essay entitled World Worry we’ve just heard an extract from. Elias came and spent an afternoon here with us at Essex Church some years ago now and his gentle and deep listening and teaching touched us all. In the essay he goes on to offer all of us who worry about the state of our world three steps we can take to counterbalance our gloom and anxiety. These are:

To keep an undefended heart.

To find what matters.

To do the beautiful.

And I’m going to explore these in a little more depth in this address.

But before I do that I want to mention another teacher who really speaks to my needs at present. I’ve used several quotes already from Michael Meade in today’s service and I’d like to thank him for the generosity of material that he makes freely available online, through his Mosaic Voices website. He also offers courses that we can join in for a small fee. Michael tells stories and delves into mythology to help shine a light on the struggles of today. And I have him to thank for telling me about an ancient papyrus, thought to be at least 4500 years old. This papyrus is only a fragment. But on it is found what is considered to be one of the oldest pieces of personal writing. Both the beginning and the end of this writing is lost but what still remains is remarkable. It is the voice of a very unhappy Egyptian, who despairs of the society in which he lives. It has become known as The Lament of the World Weary Man. Although his voice comes from thousands of years ago, in many way it could be contemporary to our own concerns. Society is fragmented, the ruthless prosper. The unknown writer is in despair. He no longer wants to live. ‘He questions whether living has any meaning, whether life has any genuine purpose in a world gone wrong.’

And as this world weary man from thousands of years ago reaches what seems might be the end of his ability to cope he turns inwards and calls upon his soul – and the soul answers him. And the soul’s answer? Well, in modern language it could almost be telling him to get a grip, stop complaining, be grateful for life itself. ‘Make offerings on the altar of life’. And most importantly to know that death will come both for the human individual and for the soul when they will follow together the thread to lands unknown.

Michael Meade writes further that ‘The heart of the human drama concerns whether we are becoming greater vessels for the flow of life. Spirit calls us to a higher sense of self, while soul would connect us more deeply to the heart of nature and the soul of the world. When in touch with soul’s inner thread we can find the arts and practices that allow our spirits to awaken and our hearts to open. To be fully alive, making more soul and incarnating spirit is the only thing that satisfies the longings seeded in our heart’s inner garden.’

So two spiritual teachers were reminding me this week to keep an undefended heart, an open heart. I wonder what that imagery evokes for you. Do you sense when your own heart closes down defensively? I feel it when I am anything other than loving in response to individuals and situations. I sense it when overwhelmed by the news I’m hearing. Elias Amidon makes the wise suggestion that our very worry for the world may itself be a kind of defence – when we anticipate the awfulness and close down to protect ourselves. He suggests that instead we stay open-hearted to the difficulties other human beings face and feel their suffering, acknowledging our own powerlessness and all the anxiety that provokes in minds that yearn to be in charge of this frighteningly chaotic world in which we live our days.

Elias’ second suggestion for those of us who are world weary and filled with anxiety is to find what matters, what truly matters. He describes this as a process that can become second nature to us. For if we live with undefended hearts we start to understand the essential truth that we are not separate from this world, we are an integral part of all that is. And from that perspective, at every moment of choice or uncertainty we can ask ourselves ‘what is right for now? What matters here?’ This is the ‘following of the golden thread’ from the Taoist tradition that we sang of in our first hymn this morning. The ancient Egyptian papyrus text would remind us to consult our soul before we make choices in life. Will this path be for the highest good of all concerned?

And Elias’ third suggestion is ‘to do the beautiful’. This a Sufi principle and describes actions that fit the circumstances we find ourselves in, actions that arise spontaneously and feel ‘right’ in the situation at that time. Rumi the Sufi poet reminds us ‘Let the beauty you love be what you do’. We are called to create beauty in the living of our lives – finding and doing what is beautiful, that which feels right for us.

Not all of us are world weary. Thank goodness. I know many people who are living fulfilled and creative lives, who are happy and at peace. But for those who do despair of the state of our world and of our own society, let’s take this advice – to work on the restoration of our own souls, to work on deepening our connection with our own soul, our inner sense of something greater than ourselves – whatever name we might give to that, that we might find this hidden thread in life that can help us regain our sense of meaning and purpose – whatever storms rage about us, whether the sun is shining or hidden by the clouds. Together then we can explore the beauty and the mystery of our precious world and of our remarkable and unique lives, may it be so, Amen.

Hymn 70 (purple): ‘I Wish I Knew How’

A few weeks ago it would have been Nina Simone’s 90th birthday and I’ve been really enjoying listening to various Radio 3 programmes about her life and music. I heard a particularly soulful rendition of the old gospel song – I wish I knew how it would feel to be free – and then remembered that we have it in our purple hymnbook – number 70. So let’s sing and remember a black woman who was stopped from studying at the top classical level of music education, which she was more than able to achieve. She went on to have a challenging but hugely accomplished career as a singer and pianist and who improved life in our world both through her music and through her social activism – especially in the civil rights movement.

I wish I knew how it would feel to be free.
I wish I could break all these chains holding me.
I wish I could say all the things I could say,
say ’em loud, say ’em clear
for the whole world to hear.
Say ’em loud say ’em clear
for the whole world to hear.

I wish I could share all the love in my heart,
remove all the bars that still keep us apart.
I wish you could know what it means to be me,
then you’d see and agree
everyone should be free.
Then you’d see and agree
everyone should be free.

I wish I could give all I’m longing to give.
I wish I could live like I’m longing to live.
I wish I could do all the things I can do,
though I’m way overdue
I’d be starting anew.
Though I’m way overdue
I’d be starting anew.

I wish I could be like a bird in the sky.
How sweet it would be if I found I could fly
I’d soar to the sun and look down at the sea,
then I’d sing ’cause I’d know
how it feels to be free.
Then I’d sing ’cause I’d know
how it feels to be free.

Announcements:

With thanks as always to our tech team Maria online and Ramona here in church, to our musicians Abby and Peter and to Jane who does so much behind the scenes even on a Sunday off.

NB special mention that this weekend marks three years of Heart & Soul online – still some spaces for Sunday evening or next Friday or Sunday evenings. Also mention The West London GreenSpirit invitation to join a spring equinox gathering for lunch and a workshop on Monday 20th March, here at the church. Let us know if you want to come along.

Closing Blessing:

May the courage of the early morning’s dawning and the strength of the eternal hills and the peace of the evening’s ending and the love of all that is great and good be in our hearts and accompany us all in the week ahead. Amen, go well everyone and blessed be.

Rev. Sarah Tinker

12th March 2023