Landscapes of our Lives

Sunday Service, 12 October 2025

Led by Rev. Sarah Tinker and Heidi Ferid

Opening Music: ‘Ruddier than the Cherry’ by Handel (played by Abby Lorimier and Andrew Robinson)

Opening Words: ‘A Spacious Welcome’ by Shari Woodbury (adapted)

1: Welcome, who come in friendship who long for genuine community...

2: May you be graciously received here as your authentic self.

1: Welcome, who come in curiosity, full of questions or simply open...

2: May you embrace wonder and encounter new delights.

1: Welcome, who come heavy with fatigue, weary from the troubles of the worldor the troubles of your particular life...

2: May you rest and be filled in this sacred space.

1: Welcome, who come with joy for flowing rivers and gentle breeze, for changing skies and great trees...

2: May the grace of the world leave a lasting imprint in you.

1: Welcome, who come with thanks for the altruism of the earth and the gift of human care...

2: May your grateful heart overflow and bless those around you.

BOTH: Come, let us celebrate together the wondrous and varied landscapes of life.

Words of welcome & Introduction

These words from Shari Woodbury bid a warm welcome to you all, here with Kensington Unitarians for our weekly Sunday gathering. Welcome to those of you here in person at Essex Church, welcome to all who are joining us on Zoom this morning and welcome to all who tune in to this service at some future time, through a podcast or our YouTube video channel. I hope life is treating you well.

I’m Sarah Tinker, a sort-of retired Unitarian minister. Our service today has the title ‘Landscapes of Life’ and we’ll be thinking about landscapes as part of the earth, and landscapes in art, as well as our own, inner, emotional and imaginative landscapes. Lots to pack in there, so I’m glad to be joined in this endeavour by Heidi Ferid-Hands, friend, artist and longtime member of this congregation.

So let’s take a quiet moment to tell ourselves we have arrived at this time and place, wherever we are, taking time to consider our own inner landscape and to allow ourselves to settle now for this hour together, with a few calming, or enlivening breaths – whatever we need the most.

Chalice Lighting: and our chalice flame is now lit, this small yet meaning-filled symbol, that connects us with progressive religious communities the world over, Unitarians and Unitarian Universalists, - sharing a message of inclusivity, equality and love – a warm welcome to all people of good will.

Hymn 255 (green): This Land is Our Land

Let’s sing our first song this morning – Woody Guthrie’s 1940 folk classic ‘this land is made for you and me’. Guthrie was so aware of the suffering of ordinary people and wanted to express something of their lives in America at this time. But it’s become a classic around the world, conveys our human longing for freedom, and our human love of the particular landscapes we’re familiar with. In one of the verses that was left out of the published version of this song Guthrie expresses this longing for freedom to roam:

Nobody living can ever stop me, As I go walking that freedom highway; Nobody living can ever make me turn back This land was made for you and me. 

Do feel free to stand as you feel able, or stay seated, join in singing or simply enjoy listening. This land is made for you and me.

This land is your land, this land is my land,

From lowland pasture to western island,

From teeming city to fen and moorland —

This land was made for you and me.

As I went walking that ribbon of highway,

I saw above me that endless skyway,

I saw below me that golden valley:

This land was made for you and me.

I roamed and rambled and followed my footsteps

To sparkling sands of her dunes and beaches,

And all around me a voice was sounding:

This land was made for you and me.

The sun was shining, as I was strolling

In wheatfields waving, on downlands rolling;

A voice was chanting as mists were lifting:

This land was made for you and me.

In ancient city, by wall and steeple,

In field and factory, in office and stable,

Cared for or lonely, I sing to people:

This land was made for you and me.

This land is your land, this land is my land,

From lowland pasture to western island,

From teeming city to fen and moorland —

This land was made for you and me.

Candles of Joy & 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 who or what you light your candle for – and we keep it brief, to be considerate of others. I’m going to ask you to come to the lectern microphone to speak, as we want people to be able to hear 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. May all these candles remind us of our connections of compassion and love. (light candle)

Time of reflection & prayer: for those who must leave landscapes they know well

At this time of year we’re saying goodbye to migratory birds, like swallows and swifts and house martins, who’ve left our northern lands, to make the long journey to lands beyond the Sahara where food will hopefully be plentiful for them. And our land will soon be visited by other birds who find our winter berries attractive and nourishing. All life is movement and change, across the landscapes of our globe. We know that hundreds of thousands of people will have moved across the surface of our planet this year, for so many reasons.

And so let us pray for all who migrate.

Here in this world of form and matter, where all beings move towards pleasure and away from pain, when all creatures seek to survive and prosper, let us pray for all who make journeys of migration. Let us honour the adventurous spirit that pushes people to seek better situations for them and their families for surely we know that spirit within ourselves. Let us with humility acknowledge the fear and desperation that forces some people to leave their beloved homelands and seek places of refuge, of safety, of liberty and justice in other lands where people speak a different language and may not always be welcoming. May we never forget those who are trapped – by warfare, by poverty, by tyrannical regimes, that we might never forget to be grateful for the freedoms of our own lives, that we might support all those who seek greater freedom to be who they truly are.

May all who are fortunate seek to find ways to share their good fortune with others and may we also admit to any mean spirited or fearful parts of ourselves that want to keep the stranger out - in fear perhaps that there is not enough to go round.

Let us pray for the leaders of our world, that they may be inspired to think in new ways to resolve longstanding problems, that they might never take for granted the privileges of their position but rather with humility seek paths of equality and fairness.

May all of humanity be guided towards new ways of thinking and behaving so that we can share what the earth provides more equally, that the truth that there is enough for all may be lived out in practice

And this day let us send our thoughts and prayers to all who leave landscapes they love, to all who make journeys, chosen or enforced, to all who are affected by warfare, famine and drought, to all who risk their own lives rescuing others in distress, - a shared moment of silence – spirit of love – guide us in ways to give life the shape of justice and compassion – this day and all days, amen

‘Landscape, emotion & imagination’ with Heidi Ferid-Hands

Good Morning, my name is Heidi Ferid, I am a member of this congregation and I have been painting and exhibiting my work in London for many years. Today I want to show you some paintings, firstly three paintings from the 16^th to the 20^th century that have inspired me and then two of my own works.

Let me tell you a little about the history of landscape painting in Europe. The first painting I refer to is by Albrecht Altdorfer, a German renaissance painter. The title is ‘Jesus visiting his mother’ and you can see it in the National Gallery in London. It depicts a scene not mentioned in the New Testament, of Jesus visiting his mother and telling her that he will have to go to Jerusalem where he will be crucified. The background is a landscape, not a Middle Eastern landscape but a landscape that could be somewhere in southern Germany or northern Italy. This interests me very much because for a long time in medieval paintings the biblical scenes were always painted against a gold background. Here the artist - and he is not the only painter of the early renaissance time to do this – they start to use landscapes as a background to biblical scenes, putting them in an emotional and imaginative context. The landscapes themselves are also imagined rather than entirely realistic.

Next I would like to take you 200 years forward to a work by JMW Turner, the most prominent English landscape painter. No other artist had been involved with the emotional aspect of sky and sea in the same way. He opened up a new vision for painters.This painting is called ‘Hannibal crossing the Alps’. There is still a narrative element in the foreground, but it is very obvious that Turner was most interested in the emotional and imaginative impact of the landscape. Turner’s work was a real breakthrough in the way landscape was depicted. His paintings show a deeply emotional and imaginative way of looking at nature, opening up the way for future possibilities of landscape painting. Much of what we consider as modern art has been inspired by Turner. I hope you will be able to look at the amazing collection of his work in the Tate Britain.

Next I would like to move forward another 100 years to the start of the 20th century, this time a female painter, Gabriele Münter. She worked with a group of painters which included Kandinsky, known as the Blue Rider Group. They started to use colour in an entirely different expressionist manner. This painting here shows sunset over a lake in extremely vibrant colours and it might also be reflecting the emotional turmoil the artist went through at the time. She, and other members of the group worked from landscape in this imaginative way, using strong and vivid colours and  allowing their own emotional response to their environment to take priority. I  first came across the work of the Blue Rider Group when I was a school  girl in Munich and it made a lasting impact on me.

Finally I want to show you two of my own paintings. This first picture titled ALASKA NIGHT is based on a memory of a trip to Alaska I made some years ago with my sister. I was deeply impressed by this seemingly unspoiled landscape. This is a painting based on imagination and tries to communicate a feeling of peace and calm. It really was a trip to remember, that made such an impression on us both.The next painting is called CLIMATE CHANGE TRIPTYCH which those of you here in the church can also see on the front of today’s order of service. In this triptych I try to convey a different emotion, a sort of concerned warning. I have painted the same imagined landscape three times, moving from cool to warm to unbearably hot.

I like to use colour in an imaginative way and I  hope to appeal to emotions as powerful agents of change.

If want to find out more about my work please look at my website. For those here in the building I have some leaflets, please help yourselves.  And I hope my words and paintings can encourage you to consider landscapes real and imagined, in different ways.

Hymn 195 (green): ‘We Limit Not the Truth of God’

Time now for our second hymn today. Its message of there being possibilities beyond our comprehension is one I’ve long appreciated. The words will be on your screens or in our green hymn books 195, we limit not the truth of God.

We limit not the truth of God

To our poor reach of mind,

By notion of our day and sect,

Crude, partial and confined.

No, let a new and better hope

Within our hearts be stirred:

The Lord hath yet more light and truth

To break forth from his word.  

Who dares to bind to partial sense

The oracles of heaven,

For all the nations, tongues and climes,

And all the ages given?

That universe, how much unknown!

That ocean unexplored!

The Lord hath yet more light and truth

To break forth from his word.

Darkling our noble forebears went

The first steps of the way;

‘Twas but the dawning, yet to grow

Into the perfect day.

And grow it shall; our glorious sun

More fervid rays afford;

The Lord hath yet more light and truth

To break forth from his word.

The valleys past, ascending still,

Our souls would higher climb,

And look down from supernal heights

On all the bygone time.

Upward we press; the air is clear,

And the sphere-music heard:

The Lord hath yet more light and truth

To break forth from his word.

Words for meditation: ‘The Flâneur’ from the writings of Charles Baudelaire

I wonder if you’ve met the word Flâneur in English. It comes to us via French from an Old Norse verb flana meaning ‘to wander with no purpose’.

In the 1860s, in the midst of the rapid rebuilding of Paris under Napoleon III and the Baron Haussmann, French poet Charles Baudelaire presented a memorable portrait of the flâneur as the artist-poet of the modern metropolis:

‘The crowd is his element, as the air is that of birds and water of fishes. His passion and his profession are to become one flesh with the crowd. For the perfect flâneur, for the passionate spectator, it is an immense joy to set up house in the heart of the multitude, amid the ebb and flow of movement, in the midst of the fugitive and the infinite.

To be away from home and yet to feel oneself everywhere at home; to see the world, to be at the centre of the world, and yet to remain hidden from the world…

The spectator is a prince who everywhere rejoices in his incognito. The lover of life makes the whole world his family… the lover of universal life enters into the crowd as though it were an immense reservoir of electrical energy.

Or we might liken him to a mirror…or a kaleidoscope gifted with consciousness, responding to each one of its movements and reproducing the multiplicity of life and the flickering grace of all the elements of life.’ 

Words from poet Charles Baudelaire

Sarah: Many of us have perhaps had that feeling of both invisibility and complete connection with a world in which we move and have our being. There is an element of the flaneur in all of us perhaps, the observer who is part of what is observed, as we wander through the landscapes of our lives. As we enter a time now of meditative quiet I invite us all to settle into a comfortable position for a few minutes of silence which will end with a chime from our bell and be followed by some music. Softening our gaze or closing our eyes, whatever is comfiest for us, aware of the forces of gravity allowing us to rest in our seats, our feet perhaps connecting us with our planet earth home spinning in space, a tiny speck in the great universe which contains us all, as we enter a time of stillness and quiet together, in which you might choose to survey the landscapes of your life.

Silence ended with a chime

Musical interlude: Clair de Lune by Faure (played by Abby Lorimier and Andrew Robinson)

Reading: from ‘Weathering – Earth Wisdom for Hopeful Living’ by Ruth Allen

Ruth Allen, who wrote this book, is both a geologist and a psychotherapist. In her book ‘Weathering’ she explores the connections between what happens to the landscapes of our earth and what happens both externally and internally to us humans, who live upon the earth’s surface.

She writes (and these are extracts from various chapters): ‘Rocks and mountains have withstood aeons of life on our planet – gradually eroding, shifting, solidifying and weathering. As humans, we are also weathering, evolving and changing as we’re transformed by the shifting climates of our lives and experiences. So, what might these ancient, natural forms have to teach us about resilience and change?

….. Geological processes are, in many ways and with a bit of imagination, human processes. We are – in many ways – kin. We too are subject to weathering and erosion, we know what it’s like to face pressure, we know what personal transformation can happen when the heat is applied. We know how it feels to be in a state of attrition, or to suddenly collapse. We also know how desirable qualities or stresses accreted over time can enlarge us or threaten us. We know how it feels to perceive a fault line that runs through us and threatens to undermine everything that we are, or to be aware of what our single point of failure is – our key weakness that needs constant shoring up.

Weathering well, shape-shifting with something akin to grace, doesn’t mean you will turn out nicer and sweeter. This is not the way of rock. …. Anyone can and will weather, but weathering well necessitates a radical acceptance of all that will be revealed along the way and a commitment to stay true to your new shape. … Lastly we need to give ourselves and each other time. … There is nothing to be done but put our hands on rock and feel the gravity of this life that is yours.’

‘Landscapes of our lives’ with Sarah Tinker

I wonder if the landscape in which you live matters to you. Most of us live on city streets, yet even they can have their moments of beauty can’t they, or moments of surprise. We are fortunate here in some parts of London to have trees on our streets to keep us cool, with changing leaves to remind us of the changing seasons. And we have parks where the sky opens up and the air freshens, where people can move more easily.

I bet many of us also have favourite other landscapes, perhaps imagined, perhaps real. The landscapes of our childhoods, of holidays and days out. Seaside, mountains and valleys, riversides, woodland and open moorland. The landscapes of particular books we have loved. These described places evoke memory and emotion too, don’t they.

We’re in a season of migration for birds – some are leaving for warmer climes, whilst others arrive to enjoy the relatively mild British winters and our many juicy berries, waiting to be eaten. For a few years now I’ve followed the British Ornithology Trust’s little group of tagged cuckoos, who make a remarkable twice yearly journey between Britain and the rainforests of the Congo Basin – that’s around 10,000 miles of flying each way. The journey is perilous – and it’s such a relief when I read that one of them has arrived safely.

Some of us humans change landscapes too. I’ve been reading this week of a group of students from Gaza, who had been granted permission to study in Britain but then feared that it wouldn’t happen because of visa problems. Some of them finally arrived this week and told moving stories of what it was like to suddenly be in another land, so very different from the place they had left. I hope everyone they meet here will be kind and welcoming to them.  It touched me when those students described what they missed from home – especially their friends and family, and the land itself, despite all its suffering and destruction. It’s still their home.

Many people experience living in a new land these days and settling somewhere far from their birthplace, yet some at least will always hold the landscapes of their childhood in a special place within them. Because landscape shapes us, in some ways makes us who we are. It populates our emotions and our memories. The language of landscape can help us express our inner lives through our imaginations. Have you ever expressed some of these feelings?

‘It’s like being stuck in mud.’

‘At last I have some space to breathe.’

‘It feels like I’ve nearly reached the top of the mountain – just not quite there yet.’

‘Things are a bit rocky at the moment.’

There’s much to be gained by exploring our inner worlds in this imaginative way and by telling one another what’s going on for us. If this idea of using geographical and geological terms for what’s going on interests you, there’s some interesting articles on psycho-geography and psycho-geology to be found online. Psycho-geology in particular, gives us the opportunity to consider ‘deep time’ – the huge arcing history of our planet earth beneath our feet, this scene of endless change, on which our brief lives are lived. ‘Deep time’ can bring an alternative perspective to our troubles when they threaten to overwhelm us. We can remember that we, like the very rocks, are being weathered by our life experiences – that to be weathered, by the myriad forces around us, is what it is to exist in material form.

So many people on this earth  live their lives in fear and desperation, and that may include some of us at times. But I hope for everyone that there will be times when we can be as those Parisian flaneurs, who enjoy the luxury of simply being, wandering in a relaxed manner, without any definite purpose, appreciating the landscape in which we find ourselves. Aware of the troubles of our times, yet open to moments of beauty and unexpected delight, eager to share what touches our hearts with one another. May it be so for us all.

Hymn 209 (green): A World Transfigured

I chose our closing hymn as I know it’s one of Heidi’s favourites – it tells of a golden age yet to come – with such a sense of hope and possibility. Hope you enjoy it too. Let’s sing.

Wonders still the world shall witness

Never known in days of old,

Never dreamed by ancient sages,

Howsoever free and bold.

Sons and daughters shall inherit

Wondrous arts to us unknown,

When the dawn of peace its splendour

Over all the world has thrown.  

They shall rule with wingèd freedom

Worlds of health and human good,

Worlds of commerce, worlds of science,

All made one and understood.

They shall know a world transfigured,

Which our eyes but dimly see;

They shall make its towns and woodlands

Beautiful from sea to sea.

For a spirit then shall move them

We but vaguely apprehend —

Aims magnificent and holy,

Making joy and labour friend.

Then shall bloom in song and fragrance

Harmony of thought and deed,

Fruits of peace and love and justice —

Where today we plant the seed.

Announcements:

Thank you to Heidi for inspiring our service today. Thanks to Ramona for hosting and Charlotte for co-hosting. Thanks to Abby and Andrew for great music and to Benjie for supporting our singing so tunefully. Thanks to people greeting and making drinks. If you are here in-person please do stay on for refreshments. If you’re online do stay for a chat.

Tonight at 7pm we have ‘Heart and Soul’ led by Lochlann – email her to sign up. Jane will be back on Friday night. And this week’s theme is ‘Doing our Best’.

In person Heart & Soul here at the church on Weds 15^th October at 7pm – let Jane know you plan to come to that.

Sonya will be back with Nia Dance on Friday at 12.30pm here in person and online on Wednesday.

Next Sunday our service will be led by your minister Jane Blackall and Jasmine Cooray on the theme of ‘Making Home’.

There will be a Vigil for Palestine here at church on Saturday 18th October at 6pm – suggest you arrive a bit earlier to get settled. Please let Marianne and Patricia know if you’ll be coming along to that or if you’re able to support them on the day or help with refreshments etc. We’ll be taking a collection for the charity Medical Aid for Palestinians.

Don’t forget we’ve re-started the Crafternoons and next Sunday 19^th from 1-3pm  Jane would love you to join her for that afternoon hang-out – bring your own crafts – or rummage in our art boxes – we can provide colouring materials if you just want to do something simple.

This month the Better World Book Club are reading ‘Chasing the Scream’ by Johann Hari and we have a few copies of that to loan out if you want to come along. 26^th October, online 7.30pm.

And don’t forget great opportunity to join an online engagement group called The Religious Life – Charlotte and Jane ran this as a really popular group at Summer School this year, very interesting. Starting Thursday evenings 30^th October 7pm – need to sign up by early next week. Open to all, not just congregation members – it might interest one of your friends. 

Details of all our various activities are printed on the back of the order of service, for you to take away, and also in the Friday email.  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.

Time for our closing words and closing music now. 

Benediction:

May we know our rock-like nature in the unsteady times of life.

May we hold on and stay firm, when the earth shakes.

May we recognise the element of water within us, that finds new pathways and can refresh what has become stuck within us.

And may the changing landscapes of our lives bring us joy and hope and new perspectives as we step forward, as living beings must, into the unknown, each and every day of our lives here on earth. Amen, go well all of you and blessed be.

Closing music: Joshua and the walls of Jericho (trad.) (played by Abby Lorimier and Andrew Robinson)

Rev. Sarah Tinker and Heidi Ferid

12th October 2025