Courage in challenging oppressive power.

Our Sunday Gatherings are always free and welcome to all.

In lives that too often bring real sorrow and tragedy, what kind of hope can we have for our own return to light from times of darkness? Today, we celebrate, not miracles, but real-life resurrection!

Presented jointly by Revd. Andy Pakula and Revd. Sara Ascher, Executive Director of the International Council of Unitarians and Universalists.

Our Sunday Gatherings are always free and welcome to all.

Many of us believe that fear and courage are polar opposites. However, a proverb says that fear and courage are brothers. So how so we find courage in a world that can give us reasons to be afraid?

The message today will be offered by New Unity member, Latrice Reid.

Our Sunday Gatherings are always free and welcome to all.

Climate change can often feel "out there" as something we are all a part of, but that is usually affecting someone else a thousand miles away...London has been hotter than ever before, which means more picnics on Hampstead Heath and even though it is really sad for the poor polar bears, it's not really all that bad is it?

The message today will be offered by Ama Josephine Budge a London/Accra - based writer, curator and artist whose work navigates explorations of race, gender, diaspora and feminism. Her work challenges neo-liberal feminisms, working to activate and catalyse movements that emphasize human rights, ecological revolutions and de-gendered identities. 

'My message is about putting yourself forward as a leader to affect change or to make a difference in your world or community. I will draw on coming from a family of strong women and talk about our descendant, Queen Nanny of the Maroons, who was known as the Mother of all Jamaicans. She was an 18th century leader, who was born in Ghana and was taken to Jamaica as a slave. She was a warrior and spiritual advisor, who led Maroons, ex-slaves who escaped slave ships, from the base camp of Nanny Town to the Blue Mountains, where they had victories against the British between 1724-1739, even though they where outgunned and outnumbered.
....if we are brave enough, can take the lead and do something to change things for the better,.'
(Grace Leslie-Graham)

On August 9th, 2014, Mike Brown – an unarmed black teenager – was shot and killed by white Police Officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri. Brown’s murder sparked an uprising which has forever changed the discourse around race in America, and which spread round the world. James Croft, who just before the shooting had moved to Missouri to work at the Ethical Society of St. Louis (a Humanist congregation), will tell the story of how the uprising in Ferguson challenged him to put his values into action.

Having reflected on your deeply held values, you are aware of how they are threatened in today's world. Having reflected on your place in the human family, you are ready to put those values into action.

New Unity depends on financial support from its participants to do all the things we do and what we dream of doing in the future. The start of the pledge campaign is a time to look toward our dreams for the year ahead and plan to put our dreams into action.

We know we have values, but values are slippery things. They can flit away just when we need them to anchor our actions. Today: working out what we value most.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was born on this day in 1929. What does his life teach us about putting our values into action? 

Emmeline Pankhurst was a pioneering British suffragist. What can we learn from her life about how we can turn our own values into effective action?

Emmeline Pankhurst was a pioneering British suffragist. What can we learn from her life about how we can turn our own values into effective action?

A festive and reflective twist on our usual Sunday Gathering:

Patience may be a 'virtue,' but it often feels like an unachievable one. 

T he stories we tell as individuals, families, and societies shape who we are and how we understand the world. What's your story? What's our story? How does it help and harm us?       

We all have faith in something. What are you holding onto?

This Sunday, as part of our seasonal theme on mystery, we’ll be looking at the enigma of language itself. 

Mystery is part of life and Einstein called it "the most beautiful thing we can experience." There is a temptation to suggest that mystery points to the existence of the supernatural or to God.

After Brexit and Trump and the racist movements growing in the west, can we believe in good?

Why do we keep burning the Guy rather than just sending angry tweets about him? 

It's the time of year when - the ancients said - the veil between the worlds of the living and dead becomes thinner. 

Come for treats and tricks and for a light look at death.

This Sunday is a day to reconnect with awe and gratitude for the natural world.

Join us at this very special Sunday Gathering, celebrating Andy's 10 years with New Unity.

What do you know? What can you know? 

We only know what others or our senses tell us, and both of these are far from infallible. We will explore know and believing and whether it matters.

What will it take to build a future we understanding grows between very different people and where there is a place for everyone? What is the next step toward this new way?