Islands of Strangers?

Sunday Service, 18 May 2025

Led by Rev. Sarah Tinker

Musical Prelude: Sonata for violin & keyboard in D,1st Mvt, ‘Affetuoso’ by G F Handel

Opening Words and Welcome: ‘We Bid You Welcome’ by Richard S Gilbert

We bid you welcome, who come with weary spirit seeking rest.

Who come with troubles that are too much with you,

Who come hurt and afraid

We bid you welcome, who come with hope in your heart.

Who come with anticipation in your step, who come proud and joyous.

We bid you welcome, who are seeker of a new faith.

Who come to probe and explore, Who come to learn.

We bid you welcome, who enter this hall as a homecoming,

Who have found here room for your spirit. Who find in this people a family.

Whoever you are, whatever you are, Wherever you are on your journey,

We bid you welcome.

Good morning everybody and welcome to Essex Church and to this our gathered community of Kensington Unitarians. If we’ve not before my name is Sarah Tinker and I’m here whilst your minister Jane Blackall takes a well-deserved break. Each week these doors are opened and this building welcomes many different people in. We travel from the places in our own individual lives and gather here, together creating a space in which to be. In this space may each of us feel free to be who we truly are, may each of us feel safe to face what we need to face, may each of us be strengthened to explore new heights and new depths. Let us declare this day that we are resting on holy ground, that the earth herself holds us and that the living energy of our planet and indeed of our universe is flowing through us as it flows through all that exists.

Let’s take a conscious breath and let go of all that we are ready to let go of and breathe in all that we wish to welcome into our lives as I welcome you here this day. … (light chalice) Our chalice is lit, connected us with progressive religious communities the world over. And if you have our hymn sheet to hand or can read from the screen here in church or at home, perhaps you’d like to join me in a shared reading of words written by A Powell Davies a Unitarian minister in the States, originally from Wales, who became prominent in the civil rights movement of the 1940s and 50s. He speaks of the strange and foolish walls that we humans use to separate one from another.

Chalice Lighting: ‘These Strange and Foolish Walls’ by A Powell Davies

The years of all of us are short, our lives precarious.

Our days and nights go hurrying on and there is scarcely time to do the little that we might.

Yet we find time for bitterness, for petty treason and evasion.

What can we do to stretch our hearts enough to lose their littleness?

Here we are – all of us – all upon this planet, bound together in a common destiny,

Living our lives between the briefness of the daylight and the dark.

Kindred in this, each lighted by the same precarious, flickering flame of life,

how does it happen that we are not kindred in all things else?

How strange and foolish are these walls of separation that divide us!

Hymn 130 (purple): ‘Ours is a Town for Everyone'

Our first hymn is 130 in the purple hymn book and is called ‘ours is a town for everyone’ – words written by Cliff Reed, for many years the minister with Ipswich Unitarians.

Ours is a town for everyone

who wants to play their part

in making it a better place

to practise living’s art.

Ours is a town where every faith,

all creeds of hope and peace,

can worship freely, yet recall

we are one human race.

Ours is a town where we must care

for those whose lives are hard,

for whom bright mornings turn to tears

and all once fair seems marred.

Ours is a town where, side by side

in friendship and goodwill,

we’ll build a place where all can be

respected and fulfilled.

So let us celebrate our town

and pledge ourselves to be

the ones who make it beautiful,

safe, prosperous and free.

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. We’ll go to the people in the building first, then to Zoom.

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. I’m going to ask you to come to the lectern to speak this time as I really want people to be able to hear you and I don’t want to keep nagging you about getting close to the handheld mic. And if you can’t get to the microphone give me a wave and I’ll bring a handheld mic over to you. 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: 

Let’s join now in a time of prayer and reflection as we each connect with something greater than simply ourselves, be that the god of our hearts and understanding, a sense of oneness with all that is, our higher self, aware of each of us in this room and the common humanity that we share, aware of the individuality within which we live, yet able in times such as this perhaps to melt a little, to know that we are part of something greater than ourselves; our little lives part of something infinitely greater, comforted perhaps by a whispered message from that which we hold to be divine, a whispered message that tells us ‘you are not alone’.

Whatever grief or joy you carry this day, whatever secret hope or shame is yours – know that it is not yours alone. Whatever you carry that is burdensome – offer it up – offer it up to the spirit of all that is or to the earth or to the universe itself – do not suffer from the illusion that you carry a burden alone or that any experience is unique to you. Every path has the footsteps of others upon it. Only the particular step, the gait, the movement in the dance – only that is uniquely yours – the particular gift and flavour you bring to this remarkable banquet called life.

And as we allow ourselves to be who we truly are, let us be people who go beyond the external, who do not judge books by their covers but by their inner possibilities.

Let us be people who maintain an open heart for those we do not know or understand. May we find ways to reach out to others rather than shrinking back in the face of the as yet unknown.

And as we offer up our own life issues let us offer too the issues of our world. Let us hold in our hearts and offer up to a power greater than ourselves the unbearable suffering of people in our world – all those caught up in conflicts – this day we might think of those in Gaza, those in both north and south Sudan, in Ukraine and all places where war and fear and injustice rule. May we do what we can to ease such suffering and work towards peace.

May this day all beings find peace within our hearts and an understanding of the part we each can best play in this mysterious thing called life, amen.

Hymn (on sheet): ‘Song of Peace'

Our next hymn is number 271 – another traditional harvest hymn – ‘Give Thanks for the Corn’.

And with that yearning for peace in our hearts let’s sing our next hymn, an old favourite for aome of us, sung to Sibelius’ tune Finlandia – the sound so often associated with Finnish yearning for independence, back in 1900. The words are on our hymnsheet in on screens, feel free to stand, sit, sing or simply enjoy listening to this moving tune.

This is my song, O God of all the nations

A song of peace for lands afar and mine;

This is my home, the country where my heart is,

Here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine;

But other hearts in other lands are beating

With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.

My country’s skies are bluer than the ocean,

And sunlight beams on clover leaf and pine;

But other lands have sunlight, too, and clover,

And skies are everywhere as blue as mine.

O hear my song, thou God of all the nations,

A song of peace for their land and for mine.

Reading: adapted from Luke’s Gospel 14:15-24

Then Jesus said unto them, A certain man made a great banquet, and bade many to join him: and sent his servant at supper time to say to his guests that they were invited, ‘Come; for all things are now ready’.

And they all began to make excuses. The first said unto him, ‘I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray you, have me excused’.

And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I must break them in: I pray you, have me excused’.

And another said, ‘I have just married a wife, and therefore I cannot come’.

So that servant came, and told his master these things. Then the lord of the house being angry said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor, and the maimed, and the weak, and the blind.

And the servant returned and said, master, it is done as you have commanded, and yet there is still room.

And the lord of the house said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedgerows, and invite all you find to come in, that my house may be filled and that all may be welcomed to the feast.

Meditation:

Jesus’ message that all are welcomed to the feast can be interpreted in many ways but I like to think of it as a message of acceptance to us all, a reminder that everyone is welcome to the feast of life, that only human beings themselves exclude one another or limit the guest list, to those who fit our limited view of who is acceptable and who is not. So as we ready ourselves now for a time of meditative quiet, you might like to adjust your position and get comfy for some silence, which will then lead into a lovely piece of music composed by Austrian composer Heinz Provost who in later life moved from Austria to Sweden.

And let’s imagine being welcomed and accepted in life, just as we are. Let’s breathe in that sense of belonging and all that might mean to us ….. and as we enter the fellowship of silence together let’s imagine what it would mean to extend such a welcome to all, for there to be a space at the table for everyone, that all may be welcomed to the feast.

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

Interlude: Intermezzo, ‘Souvenir of Vienna’ by H Provost

Reading: ‘Island of Strangers' a poem by Michael Rosen

for Keir Starmer and his ‘Island of Strangers’

I lay in bed

hardly able to breathe

but there were people to sedate me,

pump air into me

calm me down when I thrashed around

hold my hand and reassure me

play me songs my family sent in

turn me over to help my lungs

shave me, wash me, feed me

check my medication

perform the tracheostomy

people on this ‘island of strangers’

from China, Jamaica, Brazil, Ireland

India, USA, Nigeria and Greece.

I sat on the edge of my bed

and four people came with

a frame and supported me

or took me to a gym

where they taught me how

to walk between parallel bars

or kick a balloon

sat me in a wheel chair

taught me how to use the exercise bike

how to walk with a stick

how to walk without a stick

people on this ‘island of strangers’

from China, Jamaica, Brazil, Ireland

India, USA, Nigeria and Greece.

If ever you’re in need as I was

may you have an island of strangers

like I had.

Address: ‘All Sorts of Islands, All Sorts of People' by Rev. Sarah Tinker

I’d like to say here and now that one of the many jobs in this world I won’t be applying for is leader of this country, leader of any country, in fact. Poor Keir Starmer our Prime Minister. He has my complete support. I know him to be an intelligent, thoughtful and caring man. But he is certainly not winning many popularity contests at present. Though I find myself suspicious of most political leaders who do seem to be popular – popular with all the wrong people so far as I’m concerned. It’s not easy being a leader. 

This week in Britain our Prime Minister attempted to sound tough on the complex issue of immigration and numbers and said that our diverse nation risked becoming an island of strangers if we didn’t find a way to cap immigration numbers. Anyone who heard those words will have had their own response – but it’s certainly started some interesting and difficult conversations this week. And if you look at the title of our service today, I’ve subtly indicated this complexity by turning it into to ‘islands’ plural and adding a question mark at the end.

These concerns about immigration are worldwide. These concerns are part of the human story, just as migration, human movement about our planet, is part of the human story and specifically the story of our island homes. For these British Isles have only been continuously occupied by homo sapiens for around 12,00 years, since the last ice age. By that reckoning, every single one of has migrant ancestors.

And now with our world population of 8.2 billion people and with nation states and borders, and huge economic disparity – between nations and parts of the world, as well as the growing gap between rich and poor within a nation like ours – concern about migration will not go away and is emboldening a right wing narrative of fear and scarcity.

So we need to ensure that other voices are heard. And I’m going to mention three varied voices this morning – the voice of poet Michael Rosen, the voice of an ancient prophet called Jesus and the voice of Iranian-American writer Dina Nayeri.

What a delight this week to find that our national treasure of a poet Michael Rosen had speedily written a poem for Keir Starmer giving a very different value to our so-called island of strangers. Michael Rosen was in hospital for months during the covid pandemic and credits his survival and recovery to the many strangers from many lands, working in that north London hospital.

Who ‘taught me how to use the exercise bike

how to walk with a stick

how to walk without a stick

people on this ‘island of strangers’

from China, Jamaica, Brazil, Ireland

India, USA, Nigeria and Greece.’

I can imagine Michael Rosen saying his last line not just to Keir Starmer but to any politician who seemingly devalues people from other lands.

‘If ever you’re in need as I was

may you have an island of strangers

like I had.’

What better way to express the value that migration brings to a society.

Earlier on we heard a version of Jesus’ parable, known as The Great Banquet. This story is found in Luke’s Gospel – Luke the Gospel writer who emphasised the universality of Jesus’ message – for all people of the world. This message is not just for the rich and the well to do, it’s for everyone.

Jesus’ parable of the welcome feast would have seemed funny to his listeners because they knew their world, much like ours today – was a world where people are judged according to who they are and what they own, judged by the look of their clothes, how clever they sound and by the colour of their skin. We most of us engage in some of that kind of judging.

The great banquet is a funny story but it’s also an uncomfortable story. We humans are social animals and we live under considerable pressures don’t we, many of which we are not consciously aware of, to fit in, to conform, to be part of the pack. And some of us will have had really painful personal experiences of exclusion in our lives. And that’s why Jesus’ message that everybody is welcome at the feast touches something deep in us, a yearning to be welcomed, to find that we belong after all – that we’re wanted here in life, accepted as we are.

The final voice I want to bring to us today is one I only heard for the first time this week whilst searching the internet for the stories of refugees and I came across the writings of Dina Nayeri. Dina is an Iranian-American writer currently teaching here in Britain at St Andrews University. She has an excellent website and you can read some of her work online as well as buy her books, which express so clearly the many varied experiences of those who leave one country in search of safety in another. She describes the casual cruelty of school children  towards someone who does not speak their language fluently yet.  She tells of the frustration she felt when people assumed that she and her family ‘should be grateful’. Yet they had been forced to leave a life a plenty and beauty and were now facing a life of limitation. Her mother had been a doctor in Iran and was now working in a pharmaceutical factory. Dina tells of a kindly woman in an Oklahoma church remarking ‘well I sure do get it. You came for a better life.’

“Since when is living in an apartment block for the destitute and the disenfranchised better than living on a farm surrounded by a fertile and abundant land. Garden and paradise are synonymous with the magnificence of Isfahan” – the historic Iranian city where Dina Nayeri was born.

Andrew Robinson our lovely pianist, chose pieces to play in this service by musicians who migrated to other countries from the place of their birth. That emphasises the value that migration brings to a society. But I recommend to you Dina Nayeri’s book The Ungrateful Refugee which brings other perspectives and a reminder that we cannot simply value human beings according to what they contribute. We have to recognise the inherent worth of each and every one of us, simply for being who we are. We don’t have to bring something in order to be welcomed at the table of life. We bring our unique selves. We bring our unique stories.

You and I are not going to solve these complex social issues our societies are facing. But by being interested in the stories of other people’s lives we might do a little bit of repair on our sometimes frayed social fabric. So let’s listen out for the stories others tell – especially the stories that make us uncomfortable and that shine a sharp light on our own particular prejudices or concerns. Then we really will be sitting at a truly diverse welcome table, spinning along on our shared blue boat home.

Hymn (on sheet): ‘Blue Boat Home'

Our closing hymn now – another favourite with words on our screens or on the hymnsheet – blue boat home tells of our common humanity here on earth.

Though below me, I feel no motion

Standing on these mountains and plains

Far away from the rolling ocean

Still my dry land heart can say

I've been sailing all my life now

Never harbour or port have I known

The wide universe is the ocean I travel

And the earth is my blue boat home

Sun, my sail, and moon my rudder

As I ply the starry sea

Leaning over the edge in wonder

Casting questions into the deep

Drifting here with my ship's companions

All we kindred pilgrim souls

Making our way by the lights of the heavens

In our beautiful blue boat home

I give thanks to the waves upholding me

Hail the great winds urging me on

Greet the infinite sea before me

Sing the sky my sailor's song

I was born upon the fathoms

Never harbour or port have I known

The wide universe is the ocean I travel

And the earth is my blue boat home

Announcements:

Thank you to everyone who has made this service possible, especially our pianist Andrew Robinson and the singing support of Margaret and Edwin and everyone who has read for us today. And the technical support from Lochlann online and Ramona here in church is much appreciated.

Do stay online for a chat if you would like after the service and here we’ll be having refreshments, all are welcome to stay.

Maragaret is offering her free and delightful ‘finding your voice’ singing class here at 12.30 to 1.15. It’s available to everyone who wants to breathe and make a sound, a great way to build our confidence in our voice.

And from 1-3pm we’ll be holding our monthly art and craft hang out time – everyone welcome, materials provided.

There are online Heart and Soul sessions this evening and next Friday evening – the theme is ‘caring’. Or this Wednesday Brian will be hosting the in person Heart and Soul session at 7pm – a lovely gentle way to spend time with others.

This coming Sunday’s online Better World Book Club is on a book called Reading Lessons and just contact Jane if you’d like to join that – and I think we have a few copies of the book to loan out.

And time now for our closing words that will be followed by a particularly lovely piece of closing music – written by composer Bela Bartok, a Hungarian who had to leave his homeland and seek refuge in the United States in 1940. Bartok was a Unitarian composer and is considered to be one of the foremost composers of the 20th century, with a particular love of folk music, from which he gained much inspiration.

Benediction: 'Hospitality enables you to joyfully make room for another inside your open heart’ by Daniel Holman

And so as we leave this place which has welcomed us, let us be welcoming to others, offering a hospitable place in our open hearts to all these we encounter on life’s highways and byways, knowing our own yearning for acceptance, and therefore offering a place at life’s banquet for all those fellow travellers we meet on the journey. Amen, go well and blessed be.

Closing Music: A Romanian folk dance by Bela Bartok

Rev. Sarah Tinker

18th May 2025