Founded in 1699 – Still active

Today we tend to see our Unitarian movement as inclusive and diverse to a remarkable degree, but we should never cease to be aware that our roots are in Christianity, and that many Unitarians – of whom I am one – identify as Christian, albeit of an extremely liberal hue. There was a time, not…

“Those were days I never should have had, in a country I never should have been in… but I did have those days, on that beautiful island, having times that changed my life… until my Odyssey brought me back to Ithaca.”

Today we celebrate the first-fruits of the Harvest, a festival far older than the Harvest Festivals we hold in the autumn and one marked in various ways in many faiths and cultures.

I would like to, if I may, talk to you all about justice. More than that, as Linda had suggested the theme of “Medicine under focus” as our theme, I want to talk about “Justice through science.”

But while a person’s faith and religious principles can and should play a part in how they exercise their democratic rights, religion should never be allowed to subvert, overturn or overrule democracy.

“Service to the Unitarian movement was always one of UYPL’s objects, and leading worship in our churches was one way of doing it. Another way was to support and fundraise for Unitarian causes such as the Send-a-Child-to-Hucklow Fund and the Nightingale Centre at Great Hucklow. There was also fundraising for other causes too. UYPL raised…

In his sermon on 26th April 1700 (which we usually call ‘the Fairfax sermon’), John Fairfax declared that, “I cannot censure as some do, but must commend this Congregation that they have at so great charge erected this large, spacious Meeting-Place…” He was making it clear that the building was the result of a community…

IUMH Reflection at the service on April 14th, 2024, on the presentation by the GA Keynote Speaker, Roman Krznaric ‘What does it mean to be good ancestor?’ This is the question posed by the keynote speaker, Roman Krznaric, at the GA Conference last week. A question he adopts and adapts from the medical researcher who

“It is not a shallow thing, this hope. It is the hope that remains when more superficial hopes have gone. It is the hope that we don’t even know we have when life is hard and cruel. It is the hope that underpins our life and survives our death, carrying our love to those who…

“It has been said of Unitarians (usually by Unitarians) that they don’t sing hymns as well as they might because they are too busy reading the next line to see if they agree with it!”