The Bath Unitarian Fellowship

​“Christmas is built upon a beautiful and intentional paradox; that the birth of the homeless should be celebrated in every home.” G.K. Chesterton 

​“This story may not be just as the Lord told it, and yet may contain as its mirror as much of the truth as we are able to receive.” George MacDonald, Autobiography 

“Surely the earth is heavy with this rhythm, the stretch and pull of bread.” Rev Lynn Ungar

“Mother God, thank you that when your spirit is at work, she always produces in the commonplace something that is inspiring.” From Laughter, Silence, and Shouting by Kathy Keay.

“There is no set of circumstances that cannot be turned about by ordinary human beings and their natural capacity for love of the deepest sort” – Archbishop Desmond Tutu


Reflection
One of the many things I like about Unitarianism is that we listen to children with respect. At our Christmas meeting we asked our young people what presents they would take to the stable in Bethlehem. Ignoring the expensive and symbolic gifts of the Magi, they spoke of blankets for warmth, a mattress because hay is prickly to lie on, and food. In other words, anything that would bring comfort to a refugee family and their new baby.

Although I have long agreed with the aphorism that “religion is not only there to comfort the disturbed but also to disturb the comfortable,” there seems to be all too little comfort around in the world right now, so more of it would be welcome. And perhaps we all need what children need, because there is a child inside all of us: the security of a safe place to call home; shelter from the elements and potential danger; familiar food that tastes of being looked after; someone to turn to when life goes wrong; a quiet space where we can think and rest.
​
All those things speak of being cherished and protected and loved – loved in the sense of caritas, the caring love that sometimes needs to be tough but always says “I’m here for you.” It is the golden rule expressed in all the major faiths, to love our neighbour as ourselves. As we hand the stable back to the animals for another year, let us heed our younger members, and take with us into 2022 a resolution to offer the comfort of love to those who need it.
Kay Millard

 For Younger Members of all ages
​
The month of January is named after the Roman god Janus, the guardian of gateways who is depicted with two heads, looking both forward and back. The 1st of January was an important day in ancient Rome, marking a big change in the calendar, so although it is only recently that we moderns have made so much of New Year’s Eve and Day, it is in fact a very old custom. In Rome gifts of sweets would be handed out, in the hope that the coming year would be a pleasant one, and coins like the one on the left were exchanged as a wish for prosperity. I saved a Christmas gift of my favourite chocolates to eat on New Year’s Day, and they were delicious, but I don’t think that will have any influence on 2022, do you?

An Epiphany Prayer
​
What was invisible we behold,
What was unknown is known.
Open our eyes to the light of grace,
Unloose our hearts from fear,
Be with us in the strength of love,
Lead us in the hope of courage
Along the path of tribulation,
Till the overcoming is attained.
Evelyn Francis Capel

BUF NEWS ©2022
is published by the Bath Unitarian Fellowship, c/o 26 Fountain Court, Westbury BA13 3JY. Contributions to [email protected] by the first Sunday of the month, please.

Reflection
December isn’t only about Christmas. It is also about the Winter Solstice, when light begins to grow again; it is the last weary lap in the year’s calendar until we reach the eve of a new year; and it holds numerous other festivals in world faiths. I mark personal anniversaries in December: of my wedding, and of my late sister-in-law’s birthday. You probably have your own commemorations.

Yet there is a mystique about Christmas that marks it out. Whether it derives from childhood memories of mysterious parcels beneath a decorated tree, later experiences of familiar carols sung by candlelight, or a belief in the Doctrine of the Incarnation (or all these) is difficult to determine. The cultural chain of memory unites with our own repeated experiences to tell us that Christmas is not just another day in December.

  The Nativity Story is one that most of us have known ever since we can remember. At its heart, for me, is the message that the Divine is with us even when we are at our most helpless and vulnerable, and that God’s constant wish for us is peace and joy, however often we lose the plot and forget our lines. There is something very special about that.
Kay Millard

A Poem to Think About . . .
    The worst thing we ever did
    was put God in the sky
    out of reach
    pulling the divinity
    from the leaf,
    sifting out the holy from our bones,
    insisting God isn’t bursting dazzlement
    through everything we’ve made
    a hard commitment to see as ordinary,
    stripping the sacred from everywhere
    to put in a cloud man elsewhere,
    prying closeness from your heart.
   
    The worst thing we ever did
    was take the dance and the song
    out of prayer
    made it sit up straight
    and cross its legs
    removed it of rejoicing
    wiped clean its hip sway,
    its questions,
    its ecstatic yowl,
    its tears.
   
   The worst thing we ever did is pretend
    God isn’t the easiest thing
    in this Universe
    available to every soul
    in every breath.
                                                          By Chelan Harkin, in the poetry book 'Susceptible to Light'
                                                          Submitted by Peter Hawkins

For Younger Members of Any Age
We are lucky if we can enjoy Christmas with family and friends. But Christmas is also a time when we remember those who are especially in need. If you were sending a Christmas card to a child who has come to England as a refugee at Christmastime, what would you say to them?

Moon Landing
We went to see the Museum of the Moon’s display in Bath Abbey on the evening after the opening. A massive and accurate model of the Moon, lit from inside, hangs over the central crossing. In the background, some sound-tracks from the Apollo 11 mission.   It is quite wonderful, awe-inspiring in fact, and it was lovely to see the Abbey in use as a civic and cultural centre.  Lucy and Toby went up the tower to see the night sky with Bath Astronomers. I would love to have gone up too but high towers with tiny steps don't appeal to me. 

It was a clear night, a very bright Moon (the one in the sky) with great views through the powerful telescopes of the moons of Jupiter, rings of Saturn, and Uranus, a planet of  particular significance for Bath as it was from his observatory in the city that William Herschel, assisted by his sister Caroline, discovered the planet.  I'd recommend The Moon in the Abbey if you can visit, especially one of the evening openings.
Tim Powell

All I Want for Christmas
This is a time of year when we ask – and are asked – what do you want? Shall it be another tie, a new pair of gloves, a book? We ask and we answer. We shop, we wrap, we ship. And the season usually comes and goes without us ever really answering the question: What do you want?

    Some of the things we want we might be afraid to ask for because we can’t be sure what we would do if we got them. Many things we want we don’t know enough to ask for. Most things we can’t ask for because we know no one can give them to us.
             
Most people ask the question without any interest in really knowing, yet it can be a question for each of us to hold on to for a time in mind and heart. What do we want? Not what would we like, but what do we want to give us a deeper connection with life and to help us give expression to our love? Not a long list of things, but a sense of clarity that illuminates what it is we are doing and why. Not outward signs of generosity, but an internal sense of caring that guides us to give in any season. Not just the reflex of always giving, but also the courage to truly answer some of those people who ask us, “What do you want?”

 Dare to answer. Think of the things you want, and the things that others close to you would want. Imagine the ways they might be given and received.
              What do you want?
​
                                                                                                     By David S. Blanchard, UUA Minister
                                                                                                     From “A Temporary State of Grace”

Reflection
November contains a number of UK commemorative events – from All Saints’ Day, through the  foiling of the Gunpowder Plot, to Remembrance Day and its Sunday services.  In the USA there is  then Thanksgiving. Traditionally this is based on the feast held by the Mayflower Pilgrims after their  first harvest (even though they were not the first Europeans to reach the American Continent, and  probably not the first to hold a feast with the Native Americans either, but tradition is powerful.) It was Abraham Lincoln who set the date annually at the fourth Thursday of November, in the middle of a terrible civil war, not only to give thanks for the bounty of the earth, but also to heal divisions.

As the climate conference takes place in Glasgow, it seems we need both gratitude for all   the earth has given us, and the healing of divisions between nations. We need to be more aware of   the riches we already have, without constantly wanting more, and we need to work together  globally to ensure that those riches can be passed on to future generations. Most religions celebrate the sheer wonder of our planet, in all its diversity. That should be something that religions can agree
on, if they agree on nothing else. And we can surely work together on that, irrespective of other differences.

At many tables in America on Thanksgiving Day, there are spare places for people who are  alone, or poor, so that they can take part in the celebration too. Let us remember that climate change will hit the poor, and isolated communities such as islands, hardest. It is time for religions to  speak up for the lonely and disadvantaged. I hope Unitarians will be making their voices heard.
Kay Millard

For Younger Readers of Any Age

Although Remembrance Day falls on 11 November, Remembrance Sunday is the nearest Sunday to that date. Wearing a poppy has become a traditional tribute to those who suffered and died in wars, inspired by the fields of poppies that grew where many battles were fought in World War I. The original poppy is red, and that is the one that is the official emblem of the Royal British Legion. But there are other colours too: the white poppy, which also commemorates suffering but emphasises peace and challenges the way we look at war. The purple poppy stands as a memorial to the animals who suffered and died in war. The black poppy is a reminder that many Black, African and Caribbean people contributed to Britain’s war efforts.
Which colour(s) would you wear?

A Poem for Remembrance
Much of the poetry of World War I is excellent but harrowing in its searing quality. However, as the granddaughter of a man who ultimately survived the hell of war in the trenches on the Western Front, I have found this especially resonant.

Lament

We who are left, how shall we look again
Happily on the sun or feel the rain
Without remembering how they who went
Ungrudgingly and spent
Their lives for us loved, too, the sun and rain?

A bird among the rain-wet lilac sings – 
But we, how shall we turn to little things
And listen to the birds and winds and streams
Made holy by their dreams,
Nor feel the heartbreak in the heart of things?

Wilfrid Wilson Gibson

​Bath Interfaith Group
To mark both the COP26 taking place in Glasgow, and Inter Faith Week, Bath Inter Faith Group is pleased to invite you to
Inter faith reflections on COP26: a Hindu/Christian conversation

to be held by Zoom on Monday 8 November at 7.30pm.
The speakers are:
   • Jasmine Khatri, Hindu Climate Action, and
 • Rev Ian Souter, Christian Action For the Environment in Bath & North East Somerset (CAFE BANES)
There will be time for questions after the initial presentations.
Zoom ID 898 5732 3440.  Passcode 667508.  
Updates and further information at www.facebook.com/bathinterfaith.  
​

Thank You
My thanks to all those who sent messages of all kinds to wish me well during my recent incarceration with Covid19. It helped so much to know you were thinking of me. I was grateful that I’d had both vaccines, as it could have been a lot worse. Please keep taking safety measures, especially when children can bring it home from school and be asymptomatic. 
Kay Millard

Words to Ponder
Last night I stood outside the tent and watched the lake and the sky, and slowly I was overcome by some pathetic yearning and, simultaneously, with a terrible sense of loss and sorrow. It was as if something had died or had been permanently lost – not just to me but to everyone, forever. And I thought of the animals here and the birds and the fish – even of the insects – and of the men and women who were once here, simply, as a natural part of this place – and not just here, but everywhere. And I knew that we had made a separation from them all and from all of this and that we could never, never get it back. All we could do – or hope to do – was to save the little bits of it left. And I thought of all the birds asleep somewhere behind me in their tree – in their forest – and I thought: we were meant to be one thing – not separate, partitioned. We are no better and no worse – no larger and no smaller in worth than any other creature who walks or crawls or flies or swims. We are merely different.

I saw then what I’d come to find and had found: my identity in common with this planet and perhaps, for all I know, with this universe. And I knew then what my prayer is and will remain: make peace with nature, first; make peace with nature . . . now.

Timothy Findley (1930-2002), Canadian novelist and playwright
​

​And Finally . . .

God of all,
Source and goal of community,
Whose will it is that all people
Enjoy fullness of life:
May we be builders of community,
Caring for your good earth,
Here and worldwide;
Stand as partners with the poor,
Signs of your ever-friendly love;
That we may delight in diversity
And choose solidarity,
For you are in community with us,
Our God forever.

​From  Christian Aid

Reflection
Autumn has well and truly arrived. Whether you take the view of weather forecasters that it starts  on 1 September, or the view of astronomers that it does not begin until the Autumn Equinox, by  October the debate has become academic. Autumn is here. For some this heralds the arrival of dark   days and long nights; for some the beauty of golden leaves and misty mornings; and maybe some  reflect on nature’s way of letting go, so that new growth can flourish in the spring. Autumn is all that.

It is a time of mystery, nostalgia for the lost summer, and slowing down.

If our spiritual lives are attuned to the passing of the seasons, Autumn is surely the time for  them to come to maturity, even if this is only transitory. I have long felt that Unitarianism is a faith for the spiritually mature. I’m not being ageist here – I know young people who are remarkably wise.

I also know elderly people who have not essentially changed their religious ideas since Sunday School, and sometimes – when the questioning gets tough – I envy them that innocent faith.

Being attuned to the seasons is an important basic step on the path of awareness –
awareness of our connectedness to all life and the way our world revolves. When we feel sadness  for the dying of the leaves, along with a joyful appreciation of their beauty, we are demonstrating a deeper understanding that we share in the universal mystery of life. We are an integral part of  creation, beings, not non-beings, which is a fundamental starting point for the spiritual quest.

Perhaps Autumn is, after all, a beginning.

Kay Millard

A Seasonal Poem
 I was watching a recording of a service at Plymouth, led by Sheila Evans, on the Autumn Equinox. One of her readings was by Norman Nicholson, and reminded me of his poetry. As an expatriate Yorkshirewoman I am well aware of Nobbut God, which you can find by going to https://radicalrumblings.wordpress.com/tag/norman-nicholson and scrolling down, if you wish.
(For non-Yorkshire-speakers, “Nobbut” is a contraction of “nowt/nothing but”.) But there is also this:

St Luke’s Summer

The low sun leans across the slanting field,
And every blade of grass is striped with shine
And casts its shadow on the blade behind,
And dandelion clocks are held
Like small balloons of light above the ground.

Beside the trellis of the bowling green
The poppy shakes its pepper-box of seed;
Groundsel feathers flutter down;
Roses exhausted by the thrust of summer
Lose grip and fall; the wire is twined with weed.

The soul, too, has its brown October days –
The fancy run to seed and dry as stone,
Rags and wisps of words blown through the mind;
And yet, while dead leaves clog the eyes,
Never-predicted poetry is sown.

(St Luke’s Summer is the name given to a period of ne weather around 18 October)

​News from Tim
So we've reached autumn 2021 and COVID is still here. George reports new cases at Beechen Cliff school and at work people are still reluctant to plan face to face meetings in case of another winter wave.   I travelled into London earlier this week and was perturbed by how many people on a crowded train had dispensed with masks. A minority, certainly, but a sizeable one. 

Some more positive news: Toby is now 11, a highly significant birthday when I was growing up, though perhaps less so now.  We were to have taken him to the Eden Project this weekend but he's caught another bug at school (second in three weeks, he's coughing so we shall take him for a PCR test!)

George, meanwhile, has started on his GCSEs. I find this quite momentous and actually a little alarming.  He seems too young, even though he's growing much more independent (in a normal teenager manner).

A highlight for me has been the resumption of the Tuesday lunchtime organ recitals in Bath Abbey.  The refurbishment of the interior is pretty well complete - Victorian nave stalls removed etc - and the place is gloriously lighter and airier. Also, the chairs are so much better than the bottom-achingly uncomfortable stalls.

The Abbey also has a thought-provoking exhibition on the deep connexions between some of those worthies commemorated within the Abbey and the Slave Trade and the profits from slave labour. It's very well done.  Of course, the effects of slavery permeated the economy and society and many prospered from it, including some Unitarians.
Tim Powell


Zooming into the Future of Bath Unitarians
It was inevitable after such a long period of restrictions that September would become full of postponed meetings, gatherings, and holidays. So instead of meeting in person for worship we held a zoom debate about the future of the Fellowship.

What purpose does the Bath Fellowship serve? There was no single answer to that, but some suggestions indicated that Unitarianism being present in the city is important. Although the geographical nature of Unitarian congregations nationwide is fading – half our own members are not resident in Bath – points of contact are still needed. It is also good for our young people to have the kind of open spiritual approach that Unitarianism offers. But we need to be serious about delivering it, doing it well, regularly, and attractively.

We will continue to meet in person at Barrow Castle. From January 2022 all meetings will be held on the fourth Sunday of the month. After our December meeting we will schedule the year ahead, with leaders and themes. We will get the website revised and kept up-to-date, and the newsletter will continue between meetings. A larger group than the members of the committee (Tim, Judy, and me) will be involved in planning and supporting all activities.

Meanwhile we will work through to the end of 2021 on a more ad hoc basis, setting meeting dates according to members’ availability. Thanks to everyone who contributed to this useful debate.
Kay Millard


Next Worship Meeting
24 October, 10.45 for 11.15
Led by Kay Millard
Theme Pathways



Bath Hindu Temple
When the school next door to Barrow Castle closed down, it did not occur to us for one minute that some of the building would become a Hindu temple! We heard that this was on the cards from a neighbour so were glad to read that members of the temple had invited the Bath Interfaith Group to join them recently. Peter and I attended to represent Bath Unitarians.

The temple is dedicated to Lord Jagannatha, one of the incarnations of Lord Vishnu, and is the only temple in Europe dedicated to him. This Hindu community is determined to find a piece of land to build a temple in Bath and is presently fund raising. In the meantime we are lucky enough to have them as our neighbours.
The ceremony we attended was full of chanting and the giving of gifts to the gods, some of which was explained in English. We were welcomed and included in the service. Many of the congregation who attended were families. Children were very naturally included in the colourful celebrations and singing.

When the ceremony was over, delicious food was served, with a great spirit of generosity and hospitality. We were told that the temple is open at any time. All are invited to find peace there in their busy lives. No connection to Hinduism is needed. We would be happy to arrange a second visit for Unitarians from Bath and Bristol and Trowbridge. We were impressed by their warmth and open-heartedness. Lovely neighbours to have, indeed.
Judy Ryde

For Younger Members (of any age)
In the Jewish faith, the New Year is celebrated according to the Hebrew calendar and begins in the Autumn. The celebration is called Rosh Hashanah (which means “head of the year”). It marks making a fresh start, and is based on the creation of the world.

Questions Jewish people might ask themselves at this time are:

• What have I achieved over the past year?
• What is the most important thing in my life?

​ Rosh Hashanah celebrations reflect the fact that this is harvest-time, so the fruits of creation are enjoyed at special feasts featuring honey, nuts, and fruit.
​ 

Fund-raising Concert in Aid of Trauma Foundation South West Therapeutic Support for Refugees
Je Veux Vivre
 St Peter’s Church, Englishcombe Village,   Saturday 23 October  2021, 3pm — 4.30pm (doors open at 2.30pm)
​
Songs in celebration of life and love with Evelyn Strasburger, Soprano and Charles Wiffen at the piano.

More information   here!

BUF NEWS ©2021
is published by the Bath Unitarian Fellowship, c/o 26 Fountain Court, Westbury BA13 3JY. 
Contributions to [email protected] by the last Sunday of the preceding month please

 Summertime grows into autumn . . . it is a time for harvesting the fruits of your experiences.”
John O’Donohue, Anam Cara

Reflection
Summer is supposed to be the “Silly Season” when nothing much happens and editors search in vain for anything to fill the column inches. But this year we have been swamped with news of tragic events: wild fires blazing in Europe and North America, an earthquake in Haiti, and of course the human tragedy of Afghanistan. In the face of all that it is hard to believe in the ultimate triumph of good, or even the Buddhist axiom “this too shall pass.” And Covid-19 is still with us. We might be forgiven for fearing that we are on course for Armageddon, and that there is very little we can do to prevent it.

Yet there are things we can do to help. There are refugees from Afghanistan who need all kinds of things, and there are agencies working in Haiti to rebuild both people and buildings, which need resources. The wild fires are a result of global warming, and we have to be willing to change our lifestyles and live more compatibly with our planet. With long experience of witnessing disasters of all kinds, we cannot turn our backs on those hardest hit and therefore most in need of care.

We too are in need of care. Many of us are suffering from “disaster fatigue,” and turn off the news because we simply can’t take any more scenes of human desperation. To retreat for a while is not to cease caring. Whether we take a holiday, or have an away-day, or just remain at home doing other things, we need to refresh our minds and spirits. We cannot help if we burn out ourselves. Recreation – or re-creation – is essential if we are to go on caring. Experience tells us so.
Kay Millard


We are all very busy with events held over from the Lockdown earlier in the year, and it is proving difficult to gather in person. So this month we will not have a meeting for Worship, but instead a Zoom Meeting on the future of the Fellowship. What do we want from it? When and how should we meet? How should we deliver Unitarianism in Bath?
Judy will send out the meeting access details, it will take place on
Tuesday 28 September at 5.30 pm
I hope you will all join in, we need to hear your views – but members and attenders only, please.


Walking Away
by   C Day-Lewis
It is eighteen years ago, almost to the day –
A sunny day with leaves just turning,
The touch-lines new-ruled – since I watched you play
Your first game of football, then, like a satellite
Wrenched from its orbit, go drifting away
Behind a scatter of boys. I can see
You walking away from me towards the school
With the pathos of a half-fledged thing set free
Into a wilderness, the gait of one
Who finds no path where the path should be.
That hesitant figure, eddying away
Like a winged seed loosened from its parent stem,
Has something I never quite grasp to convey
About nature’s give-and-take – the small, the scorching
Ordeals which fire one’s irresolute clay.
I have had worse partings, but none that so
Gnaws at my mind still. Perhaps it is roughly
Saying what God alone could perfectly show –
How selfhood begins with a walking away,
And love is proved in the letting go.

(For all parents who have choked back the tears at the school gates . . .)

Words to Ponder
God does not expect you to save the world. Your mandate is limited to one single human being, which may be just yourself – or your neighbour. God never expects more from us than we are capable of doing. Each word of comfort, each act of compassion, is a small bonfire in the thundering nights. But these tiny flickering flames, the simple gestures of loving hearts, will add up and will eventually save the world. Salvation is not something that we have to wait for, but we must do something about. Because we can. Because we can, therefore we must.
Imre Gellérd (1920-1980)
Transylvanian Minister

Summer School
All five Summer School Theme Talks are now available on YouTube, and very well worth watching. Just search for Hucklow Summer School.

Prayer of an Ageing Woman

• Lord, you know better than I know myself that I am growing older and will some day be old. Keep me from the fatal habit of thinking that I must say something on every subject and on every occasion.
• Release me from craving to straighten out everybody’s affairs. Make me thoughtful but not moody; helpful but not bossy. With my vast store of wisdom, it seems a pity not to use it all, but you know, Lord, that I want a few friends at the end. Keep my mind from the recital of endless details – give me wings to come to the point.
• I ask for enough grace to listen to the tales of others’ pain. But seal my lips on my own aches and pains – they are increasing, and my love of rehearsing them is becoming sweeter as the years go by. Help me to endure them with patience.
• I dare not ask for improved memory but for a growing humility and a lessening cocksureness when my memory seems to clash with the memories of others. Teach me the glorious lesson that occasionally it is possible that I may be mistaken.
• Keep me reasonably sweet. I do not want to be a saint – some of them are so hard to live with – but a sour old woman is one of the crowning works of the devil!
• Give me the ability to see good things in unexpected places, and talents in unexpected people. And give me, Lord, the grace to tell them so.

Anon: (Doubtfully) attributed to a 17-century Nun
BUF NEWS ©2021
is published by the Bath Unitarian Fellowship, c/o 26 Fountain Court, Westbury BA13 3JY. Contributions to [email protected] by the 1st Sunday of the month, please.