Ipswich Unitarian Meeting House
Founded in 1699 – Still active
Author: adamwhybray
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V.E. DAY AND THE AMBIGUITY OF CELEBRATION
I. We have just had a week of celebrations for V.E. Day, marking the 80th Anniversary of Victory in Europe and the end of the war against Nazi Germany. It wasn’t the end of World War II, though. That had to wait until V.J. Day and victory over Japan three months later. There was still…
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Easter Mash-Up
What does Easter mean to people nowadays? I found myself asking this question when I was walking through my local cemetery one day during Holy Week, between the hope of Palm Sunday, and the despair of Good Friday. Passing by a new grave I was confronted by what, to me, was a truly bizarre sight…
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Dying For Us All
Two thousand years ago, on a Friday morning in Jerusalem, at the season of Passover, a young Jewish rabbi named Jesus was led out to be executed, to be crucified on the orders of the imperial Roman authorities. That is what we commemorate today. In the eyes of the Romans he was a trouble-maker guilty…
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Marianne Faithfull and the Ages of Women
I. Marianne Faithfull, one of the most truly iconic figures of the so-called ‘swinging sixties’, died on 30th January. I say “iconic” carefully and deliberately – it is such an overused word these days – because in the 1960s Marianne Faithfull’s image – which is what “icon” means – came to represent the feminine aspect…
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The Power of a Child
It must be admitted that we don’t really know much about the birth of Jesus. There isn’t much about it in the Bible and what there is, in the two gospels that mention it, is mostly contradictory and much embellished, to put it mildly, with mythological signs and wonders. The sincere concern of the evangelists…
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Keeping Advent
Traditionally, Advent was a fast; a solemn time of reflection and spiritual preparation for the great festival of Christmas. It was a time to remember the suffering of Christ, and the suffering of the world lest, in celebrating Christmas, we forget who and what it is about. In Advent we light candles to defy, not…
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The Religion of Jesus
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…
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A Carribean Odyssey
“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.”
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Celebrating Lammas
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.
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Justice Through Science
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.”
Ipswich Unitarian Meeting House 