Worship for Imbolc

Welcome
Opening words.from the Inquirer
North south east and west
Angel visible ahead of me
Angels hidden by forests around me
And everywhere God.

Angels created by our ingenuity desire and prayers
Angels imagined in concrete absence
And a deep stirring call to me
To us, to be an angel
To be the angels the world needs
To be the angel the person near us needs
To give the message of hope
To stay the hand of carelessness or evil

God when the hill we are climbing in the snow
At the end of a long day
Shows us no angel towering over forest and road
Embolden us grant strength to resolve
Teach us to be the messengers of peace
Bearers of good tidings
Protectors of those unable to protect themselves
People who.create a path of security and sufficiency
God teach us to be an angel
Paul Oakley

Chalice

Introit
Hymn 62. Rejoice the lord is king

First Prayer
We come into this peaceful place from a world that is in confusion. We come into this peaceful place and step away from the news of wars and violence and suffering. We come into this peaceful place to step away from our own and family problems. We come into this peaceful place and step into a history of prayer and worship. Here in this peaceful place for centuries good people have found a spiritual home. Here they built on their faith. Here they found meaning in life and the inner meaning of truth and justice. Here they learned the simple teaching of the gospels , to be a good neighbour, to let their light shine in the world. Here they built a community of friendship and trust..
We in our generations learn those same lessons, build on those same strengths. Let us open our hearts to the mystery that is the core of faith. Let us build our faith, discover the meaning of God.
Let us pray for ourselves to be strong in the world. Speak our truth with justice.
Let each one of us be the pebble that is thrown into the pond to send the rings of our beliefs across the waters.
Let us each be the cornerstone and the foundation stone of this chapel. Let us take its light into our souls and into our hearts and follow the footsteps of those who have walked this way before us. Amen

Lords Prayer

Story
Once upon a long time ago, a woodcutter called Albert worked in the forest. Every day his job was to go out with his axe either to fell a tree or chop up a tree that he had chopped down. And every evening he went home to his wife and she had cooked him a delicious but simple meal. They didn’t see themselves as poor but they were. Their cottage was small. What he earned fed and clothed the two of them but there was nothing left for holidays. Only rarely did they open the money box and go for a day out in the town. But they were happy. Life was OK.
One day walking home along the forest path, he saw something shining in the undergrowth. He rummaged through and found it was like an old bath, except it was round. Who’s flytipped this he wondered. He tapped it with his axe. It was metal. He might be able to use that, have it as a planter or a water butt. It was deep enough.
It wasn’t too heavy for him. He chucked his axe in and went home.
I found this bowl, he said. We could use it for something. I think it may be brass. We could sell it. His wife tapped it and looked at it. Was the other axe with it. It may belong to someone.
Axe he said. It was empty. This other one is just like mine. Look same chip on the handle. They both looked at the axe and they both looked at the bowl. If you’re not a fibber it must be magic. She had a spoon in her hand and threw it in. It rang like a bell, and there were two spoons.
They looked at each other and said something like, Gosh.
Tell you what, she said. I broke a plate yesterday. I’ll put a good one in and then we’ll have two again. It worked!
You know there’s a sort of unspoken language between couples who have been together a long time. They both thought of it. Get the money box! They emptied into the bowl , and it doubled, so they threw it in again. One became, two, two became four, four became eight, then sixteen, then thirty two, sixty four, one hundred and twenty eight and they kept throwing it back. They took all the money out counted it. It was a lot. Threw it back in. They were rich rich rich. They danced all around the room, out the front and out the back and through the house. They were so excited and so giddy.
So giddy that he gave her one big twirl and woops, she stumbled and then tripped and – fell into the bowl. Get me out of here, no get us both out of here. Suddenly he had two wives, absolutely identical. He pulled them both out, and stood looking at them.
They looked at him. He looked at them. How am I going to manage with two of them? Maybe they’ll be company for each other while I’m out chopping trees – hey but I don’t need to anymore. We’re rich. We can go on holiday. It’s going to be a bit tricky with three of us, but what the heck, it could be fun. Albert, his wives said. You’ll have to jump into the bowl. Then we’ll be two couples……. He hesitated. What should he do?
During the night the bowl vanished.

Notices
Collection

Hymn. 75. Long ago lillies faded

Reading. Richard Jeffries p 12 on Spring

Second Prayer
The body and the soul are the essential fullness of being. We nurture the body with care. The soul is the spiritual temple in which we serve. Service in the temple that is the soul requires attention and devotion. The temple must be kept clean and pure. In the temple we say our prayers and feel the spiritual power of embracing love, connecting us to what is holy, connecting us to what is divine. The temple that stands in the sunlight of heaven shines in the world of the body.
When the world is a place of pressure. When heartache and sadness abound. When no one seems to care, then retreat to the temple. The temple that is the soul stands as a sanctuary in life. Do not fear the world when the Temple is attended and furnished with Gods love.
Let us take time to reflect in silence on that spiritual centre of ourselves which is the soul, the temple of our faith.
Silent prayer

Hymn. 409. Sent forth by Gods blessing

Address
January has gone. February is here. Let us rejoice! Rejoice in life. Rejoice in earth’s renewal.
Yesterday the Unitarian Earth Spirit Network celebrated the festival known as Imbolc. The second of February is the halfway point between the shortest day – the winter solstice and the Spring Equinox when the hours of daylight equal the hours of darkness and from then on the light is spreading.

Even from today we can feel the change coming. The snowdrops are coming out, so are the crocuses. I’ve even seen a daffodil in Warrington.
Let us rejoice that winter is slipping into the past.

This festival of Imbolc is based on country lore. From today, the ewes begin to lactate in preparation for the birth of their lambs. Farmers know and gardeners know that the soil is getting warmer. Seeds that were frozen in in January can germinate. Some new seeds can be sown.

And look into the air. The birds are active. They are looking for a mate. They are gathering twigs and material for nest building. Life is returning. And it fires up the human heart too. Not for nothing do we have Valentines Day coming up. The human heart has its instinct too.

The Christian year follows the agricultural and natural year. The church has a double day today. First is Candlemas. Jesus was seen as the light of the world leading the world out of darkness. Lighting the candle is a symbol of that. Remember in the old days, candles were the only lighting a church would have. How spectacular the lighting of a single candle in the darkness drawing all eyes towards it. It is said that when the church was resupplied with new candles at the end of the winter, they had a ceremony of blessing for them, hence the Candlemas.
It is also forty days since Christmas, the birth of Jesus. The feast of the purification of the Virgin Mary is today and also this is the day when Jesus was presented to the Temple.

It’s a busy day because in Ireland they are celebrating Brigid, the Pagan Goddess, who became St Brigette in the Christian tradition. The Christian Brigette founded a nunnery but, it is said, she built it on the site of a holy well and shrine to the first Brigid.
They will be making Brigid crosses today.
She is the patron of the arts and healing, blacksmiths and metal workers. She brings light and blessings to every child in every household today. They say she magically travels the length and breadth of the country at Imbolc. Mothers might put a coat or a shoe on the doorstep to remind Brigid to call, just in case. Brigid is the fire goddess, giving warmth, burning away problems, Giving the spark of inspiration. It is certainly a day for rejoicing!

I must admit I love this time of Imbolc. It really seems to be a turning point.
Maybe it’s because I love the outdoors. We are fortunate where we live. It’s on the edge of town. Behind our houses runs the Bradshaw Brook, more like a river these days. It runs through the woods as part of the country park with a maintained footpath trail. We can walk north up to the Jumbles Reservoir and into the Lancashire hill country, or South as far as Salford. We can walk along part of it to reach our local Morrisons. No two days along that river and on those footpaths are ever the same. I rejoice in it. To stand still and take it all in. The only sounds the river, birdsong, the air flowing through the trees, it feels like a spiritual place. There is a presence, a feeling of divinity, a feeling of timelessness. Time stands still yet everything is moving in the flow of life.

Anywhere in the natural world there is a moment that feels religious. To give thanks and rejoice in where you are, to know there is a God. This is where God is love and God is beauty and God is contentment in the soul. I have a Unitarian friend who says God is not a person, God is a presence.
I can understand God as a presence. A presence that touches the very depth of being and also existence.
The natural world is not heaven, however much I rejoice in it. The earth is a risk to life. Nature has catastrophes, earthquakes and floods, life in the wild is risk. The prey and the hunter coexist in a threatening food chain, yet there is still beauty in it – for us

The world of people carries the risk of life to a different extreme. Humanity has industrialised hunter and prey, mass produces destruction. Kills not for food but for power. Scatters populations, creates a wasteland of God’s stillness in our spiritual land. Where has God gone? How do we explain God in a world like ours. Maybe by rejoicing. Rejoicing that we do know that presence of stillness and love and beauty deep within the soul. A personal rejoicing of life that has values of honesty and justice and truth, and sometimes dares to speak it.

The Christian world has a problem with God. Who do you worship?. The Old Testament God who manages and directs the world, wiping out the Amelichites and casting sinners into Hell. The inherited God of sin and salvation, or the God of Jesus, who was Abba?

Why is the world in such a mess? Why does it seem to be getting worse not better? Becoming more violent and more unsettled. God is challenged. How can anyone answer for God? Except to say, he is working his purpose out.
Or God is not the emperor or director of the world’s events, with an eye of every single one of us. Rather God is the Christ image found in the suffering and pain of the world, giving strength to the soul, giving hope. Seek and you will find. Turn the stone, cleave the wood and he is there. In the darkness and in the loneliness of life the presence is found. This is the God of Love.
Jacob wrestled with God. What did it achieve, only a bad hip. Everyone wrestles with God who puts God in charge of the world.

Better be a Deist. The Deist believes that God created the world, put man on it who was created in his own image, gave him three magic beans and a challenge, then departed. The magic beans are these, knowledge of God, knowledge of the soul and conscience. With these three beans humankind could be healthy happy and beautiful. God watches and waits.
God rejoices because the responsibility is with us.

There was an early Bishop in Rome called Marcion. I like Marcion. He did rejoicing big time. He wrestled with God. Christianity he said is about rejoicing. Not for Marcion the Old Testament with its wars and punishments. It was not in his Bible. Nor were the letters that said wear a hat and obey your master, – do not rejoice in being a slave, rejoice in being alive, rejoice that you have the gift of song and music and dance. Christianity was about worshipping joyfully, about brotherly and sisterly love. Marcion’s church was about ‘worship is a party’ and God is the main guest.
It was a huge success which is why the official church shut him down and sent him into exile and oblivion. Concentrate on sin and redemption said the official church.

My old Unitarian Chapel in Bolton closed down. The remnant of the congregation moved to Walmsley. They chapel was sold to a Pentecostal African group, called The Winners Church. They told me at Walmsley that the new group have settled in. They are making some changes, they have to. The Sunday service is attended by over two hundred people! I bet they don’t do sin and repentance. Two hundred people of African origin sounds like a lot of rejoicing.
Rejoicing is energising. It feeds the soul.
This is the time of year to rejoice. To rejoice that winter is ending. Rejoice that the soil is warming, the daylight being longer. Rejoice for the hint of spring in the air, and the trees and with the birds and in the sky.
time to to take a deep breath, look around, feel that presence which touches the soul with love and with joy and open the heart to say, My god lives. I Rejoice, Rejoice. Amen.

Hymn. 22. O worship the king

Benediction
Go in peace and in love with life. Take pleasure in the company of friends. Give thanks to God for the gift of life. Think good thoughts, say good words and do good deeds. Be a beacon for good human values and a foundation stone of this community. Amen

Closing verse