Ipswich Unitarian Meeting House
Founded in 1699 – Still active
Tag: Jesus
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Who was there? The Dramatis Personae of the Nativity.
I. Who was There: It is Advent, the time of preparation for the festival of Christmas. At its heart is the story of the birth of Jesus, as told in the gospels of Matthew and Luke, and it is a story retold in that great seasonal tradition, the Nativity play. Advent is the time for
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The Fiery Force
The most potent symbol of Pentecost is fire – the “flames like tongues of fire” that appear to the disciples of Jesus gathered in the upper room and which come “to rest on each one.” And the fire itself is the sign of the Holy Spirit with which the disciples are filled and so transformed
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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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Hope Out of Darkness: From the Tomb to the Garden
“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…
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The World Jesus Came To
Jesus wasn’t born into a historical or geographical vacuum. He was born at a particular time at a particular place and we might imagine that the New Testament would provide us with this information in a clear and unequivocal way. But it doesn’t.
Ipswich Unitarian Meeting House 