The Future is Ours!

Quest For The Real Jesus
Oldham Chapel Thursday 7 June at 1930pm.

From the Minister
Endings and Beginnings...

As I write this piece for the Newsletter I am busy preparing my essays for end of term at Unitarian College, Manchester. These are my final essays as I will validate from college on the 12th June, from then I will be placed on the GA Roll of Ministers and look for a pulpit of my own.

When I first started my studies the goal of becoming a minister seemed an unattainable acheivment. None the less, my goal has been realised. My personal journey of ministerial training draws to completion, but my personal journeying in life continues - we never stop learning!

Ending and beginnings sometimes can raise issues of concern, but change within life is inevitable. It is how we as people of a faith community choose to deal with this change that will indicate our true worth. Oldham faces challenges in the coming months, Wynne Simister ends her term as President of Congregation and hands over to Bob Pounder, we thank Wynne for her years of service to Oldham and welcome Bob to his new role with us. There are the problems with the fabric of the building to deal with which will test our resolve. These are not easy times, but with help and support we will continue to witness the Unitarian faith in Oldham.

Love and Blessings

Lynne Readett

New President

It is my privilege to be elected to the position of President at Oldham Chapel and to thank the outgoing President, Wynne Simister, for all her work, efforts and all that she has achieved for and on behalf of the Chapel.

At the Annual General Meeting, held on 29 April last, attending members recorded a heartfelt vote of thanks to Wynne. Wynne will no doubt continue to contribute to the life of the Chapel in various ways - not least as our organist! Her continuing work is of course, reflected elsewhere in this newsletter.

My role as President now coincides with the uncertainty surrounding the possiblity that the exisiting Chapel premises could be closed as a consequence of the redevelopment of the area. What the exact proposals are, have not yet been made clear. Whatever happens, any negotiations will involve the Chapel members and Chapel Committee, the Manchester District Association, our legal team and, of course, Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council.

And whatever transpires as a consequence of the Council's plans, as the President of Oldham Unitarian Chapel I intend to play my part to the full and to work with everyone concerned to achieve the best possible outcome.

Whenever I buy a copy of the 'Big Issue', I am always pleased to see an advert for our denomination, part of it reads, "Our Chapel communities offer space to think and scope for spiritual growth, affirming the worth and dignity of every person".

My vision is to build on the Chapel community that we already have, so that congregational growth and spiritual growth can go hand in hand.

The outgoing president of the General Assembly, David Dawson, recently wrote: "If I was asked to isolate one event that has affected my thinking in the past year, it would have to be a workshop I attended at the UUA meetings in St Louis. The title of the workshop was something like 'Growing the Small Congregation'. I learnt that the basic requirements are: quality worship, a sense of mission (purpose), feeling and being connected to something bigger than the local church. And you could add a concern for social outreach in the local community and financial committment by members to the congregation. I think that makes sense. Is it a tall order? Probably, but we could start".

At Oldham we have made a start, let us go forward together.

Bob Pounder

Report from the General Assembly Meetings 2007
By Marian Nuttall

The 2007 General Assembly Meetings were held at the De Havilland Conference Centre, Hatfield. I arrived at the Centre at about 1.45 pm, unfortunately too late to attend the John Relly Beard lecture. This year delivered by Jeff Teagle, his subject being "Ministry for all Congregations."

The sessions and receptions I attended were:

• The Inquirer Reception
• The Nightingale Reception
• The Opening Celebrations and the Peace Vespers
• The Women's League AGM
• The Associate Members Reception
• The Essex Hall Lecture
• The Penal Affairs Panel
• The Education and Training Commission
• District Connections

It is worth noting the Penal Affairs Panel meeting comprised a presentation by our own Bob Pounder, his subject "The Plight of Asylum Seekers". This was well prepared and very illuminating. Bob presented a case study, a film and Action Packs were given out to all attendees. This was well received by a appreciative audience. A number of congregations spoke on their involvement. Every encouragement was given to assist those not involved to become so.

Also noteworthy is the Women's League Project this year which is "Chaste" - Churches Alert to Sex Trafficking Across Europe. This is very appropriate as the Unitarian Women's Group had invited the Director of Chaste to address their meeting, which I believe was a very harrowing presentation. So the two groups will be working more closely this year. In addition, the League will be busy preparing for their 100th Anniversary in 2008. I should mention that Oldham was a founder member of the League.

Jeff Teagle's Retirement Reception was a full house - a jolly affair with champagne flowing and lots of witty speeches, giving of various gifts the main one being a cheque for over £7,000 from the denomination.

The Anniversary Service commenced at 7.30 pm on the Thursday evening. Gillian Peel told the children's story after which the children sang excellently. New ministers were welcomed on to the Roll. Retiring ministers were warmly thanked for their work and dedication and deceased ministers were remembered. Brenda Catherall gave us a momentous address. The singing was hearty and resounding. I find the Anniversary Service so uplifting, coming from such a small home congregation it is wonderful to be part of a large group.

The following morning was the final business session and the installation of the Rev. Celia Midgley as the General Assembly President. It was then lunch and departures.

I have purposely not given great detailed accounts of each meeting I attended as they will all appear in full in The Inquirer or The Unitarian. A comprehensive overview is in the G.A.Zettes which I brought back. I also took breaks and didn't go to all the meetings it was possible to attend as it is an exhausting few days. It is impossible to attend all of what I call the fringe meetings, as they run concurrently and you have to choose between three. It is a case of prioritising all the time.

The meetings this year were a very calm, placid affair. No long queues of people waiting to voice their passionately held views for or against the motions. I think this was due to a number of reasons. Firstly the motions themselves were of a nature we could all mostly agree on, barring a few minor detailed amendments. Also the last few years have been more contentious due to the debate on the new governance. The new Executive took over at the GA 2006 and have been working hard all year. They appointed Rev. Steve Dick as our new Chief Executive. I think there was a sense of collective relief that we have come through it all. Finally the venue itself led to this. The staff were extremely helpful. The accommodation was pristine, it didn't look as if a student had been near the place, while the food was excellent and very well served. It was a much speedier service than hitherto. The 2008 meetings will again be held at Hatfield due to the positive feelings expressed about the venue.

Successful Motions

Motion 1:	Input into Religious Education.
Motion 2:	To end the exploitation of migrant workers.
Motion 3:	To end the trafficking of human beings for sexual exploitation.
Motion 4:	To support the Strangers Into Citizens campaign.
Motion 5:	To personally and collectively do a Carbon Footprint and work out ways to reduce it.
Motion 6:	To support "Time to Talk" in Diplomatic Solutions on Iran's Nuclear installations.
Motion 7:	To support the abolition of Cluster Munitions (This motion was amended to show that we wanted an end to all cluster munitions and not just inaccurate or unreliable) The amended motion was passed.

I would like to thank the Chapel Committee for allowing me to be their delegate and for sponsoring my attendance of these meetings.

Quest For The Real Jesus Our next meeting in the Quest for the Real Jesus will be on Thursday, June 7th, at 7.30pm when we will be discussing the origins of the Trinity.

We hope to look at various Biblical references and perceptions of the Trinity. It might be useful if we could explore the concept of the Trinity, when it became became part of Christianity, and how it originated. We hope all those interested will join in the discussion and perhaps come with their own views and information which we can share. We are hoping too to publicise this within Oldham Town Centre churches together as well as in the wider Unitarian denomination, already the National Unitarian Fellowship have expressed an interest in joining in through their website.

As part of our ongoing co-operation and work with Oldham Town Centre Churches Together, we have pleasure in publishing (below) a contribution to our further discussions and explorations around the theme of the Quest for the Real Jesus. The writer of this article is The Reverend Doctor David Doel who is a long serving Unitarian minister. He is the author of several books. His most recent 'The Love That Passes All Understanding' was published in 2006.

The Trinity: A Unitarian View
By The Rev Dr D. C. Doel

The original function of the Trinity was to express in three central symbols the self-manifestation of God to humanity. It became an impenetrable mystery, put on the altar to be adored, but not understood. And the mystery ceased to be the eternal mystery of the Ground of our Being and became instead the riddle of an unsolved theological problem. It became a powerful weapon for ecclesiastical authoritarianism and the suppression of the searching mind. Unitarians were opposed not so much to the concept of three modes or 'persons' in God's nature, as to the dogmatic assertion of the necessity to salvation of a particular version version of the Trinity. We also objected to the identification of a unique relationship between the Second Person, the Logos or Christ, and Jesus of Nazareth, making Jesus God walking the earth. James Martineau expressed the Unitarian position in his declaration that, 'the incarnation is true not of Christ exclusively, but of Man universally and God everlastingly.' William Blake was asked did he believe Jesus was the son of God and replied, "Yes". "But so are you and so am I."

The Logos indwells every human being and the goal of the spiritual life is to discover our essential and indestructible unity with it. In the mystical experience we become aware how our own consciousness and God's consciousness are one. Origen believed the Love of God was irresistible and that all souls would eventually be restored to their natural destiny in union with God. So there is the Ground of all Being, the First Person; the Logos, the Second Person (our ultimate potentiality, like the oak in the acorn): and the Holy Spirit, the healing inner wisdom in all things, pressing them to their full self-realisation, revealing itself in our intuitions, our dreams and our ecstasies.

Buddhism and Hinduism also have their 'Trinities'. Within Hinduism, for example, it is Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. Rhadakrishnan, discussing the Hindu Trinity in his commentary on the Bhagavadgita, wrote that God 'with His creative ideas" (Logoi) is Brahma. God who pours out Love is Vishnu, perpetually at work saving the world.

And, he wrote: "When the conceptual becomes the cosmic and when heaven is established on earth, we have the fulfilment represented by Shiva. Braham. Vishnu and Shiva were fundamentally one, though conceived as three persons".

The Trinity, then, represents the Ground of Being, out of which all existence has emerged; the inner Potentiality for completeness, that wholeness we call holiness; and the living, creative Power within us, drawing us to the realisation of our unity with all things and of our eternal belonging within a Love that passes all understanding.

Swimming Success for Ryan!

Ryan Hall (right) with Mum and brother Joshua

On Saturday 14th April, Ryan Hall, a junior member of our chapel, took part in the Central Lancashire Championships and Age Group Gala 2007 at Manchester Aquatic Centre. Ryan swims for Crompton Classics in his home town of Shaw and has also been chosen to swim for his school. Ryan had never swum at this level before and I think he was a little overawed at the size of the stadium.Ryan was the only boy in the team but was well looked after by the girls. He took part in the Boys under 14 years 50m breaststroke and freestyle, coming 3rd in his heat for breaststroke with a time of 57.02 seconds and fourth in freestyle with a time of 42.00 seconds. Ryan was cheered on by his Mum, Dad, brotherJoshua, and the president of M.D.A ... his Grandma, Marian! Joshua did very well as it was a long morning that required a lot of sitting still. Ryan enjoys swimming for the team and hopes to swim at the Aquatic Centre again in the future. Well done Ryan.

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Hard Work Rewarded at Dukinfield Arts and Crafts Competition

The Arts and Crafts Competition was held again this year at Dukinfield, on the 12th May. There were many impressive entries and it was obvious that a lot of people had put in many hours of work. This included our own children Ryan, Joshua, Eden and Iris who entered a collage entitled The Jungle. Their hard work was rewarded with a certificate for third place. This was accepted by Joshua who went to collect the certificate on behalf of Oldham. The prizes were given out in the Church, which is looking very smart after being redecorated. Hopefully next year we will increase our entries and again make Oldham's presence felt.

From Wynne

Opera North

Opera North is bringing together a Twentieth Century classic - Stravinsky's Les Noces, premiered in 1923, with the earliest masterpiece of English opera Purcell's Dido and Aeneas of 1689. What connects them is dance.

This performance is for one night only at the Lowry on Sat. 23 June. Tickets will be around £20 but this depends on how many want to come. We could arrange a mini bus from our Chapel if enough people want to come.

DIDO & AENEAS
Aeneas, a Trojan prince who has escaped the devastation of his city at the hand of the Greeks, lands in Carthage where Dido is queen. She falls deeply in love with him, but evil forces are at work, bent on her destruction. Aeneas is tricked into abandoning her, and overwhelmed with grief, she dies.

Purcell takes a universal epic and makes of it an intimate human drama, packing a magnificently rich variety of music into the work's hour-long duration, much of it composed expressly to be danced. This concise masterpiece stood unchallenged as the finest English opera for more than three centuries and it's still hard to name a more powerfully moving expression of noble resignation in the face of death than Dido's great lament 'When I am laid in earth'. This performance is sung in English.

LES NOCES
Dancers, solo singers, a chorus, four grand pianos, two percussion sections. Whatever Les Noces is, it is certainly isn't conventional. 'It seems like electrification applied to ballet' said one of the early commentators. The text is sung, but the essence of the drama is conveyed through dance.

Commissioned by Diaghilev for the Ballet Russes, the subject is a peasant wedding in pre-Soviet Russia in which the bride is being sold into marriage. It's a powerful snapshot of a society in which the will of the individual is subordinated to the collective. The wedding ritual is played out to music that is raw, earthy and dominated by driving rhythm, making Les Noces just as bracing, provocative and thrilling as Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, which had provoked a riot at its premiere in Paris a decade earlier. This performance is sung in Russian.

Please contact Wynne at if you wish to come.

Green Fun
Interested in a ecological-based family fun day on 03.11 07 with the RSPB on Southport Pier?

I have spoken to the organiser and it sounds interesting, plenty for children to do and see as well as adults It has to be November because the birds will be flying in to the bay for their winter stay. They also do walks around Fairhaven Lake Lytham, that is another possibility - perhaps another time.

Songs of Praise
Marian, Lynne and I attended Oldham Town Centre Churches Together first ever Songs of Praise, held at Oldham Parish Church.

We all found this a good experience. It is good to sing, to be together with others. It was decided to get together more often to sing hymns, but to start this slowly and let it evolve. The next "hymn sing" will be around harvest time at the URC Church on Union Street, with the third one being at Christmas at our Chapel. All will most likely be on a Sunday afternoon around 3 pm. There were no children at the first one - I do hope that at subsequent hymn sings there will be children present.

Banner Making
Marian Nuttal and Wynne Simister turned up at the URC for Banner Making for the Town Centre Churches together Whitsuntide procession. We had a fantastic time cutting, colouring, painting, sticking, gluing and all this while drinking innumerable cups of fairly traded tea and coffee. It was just like being a little kid all over again but without mother telling you not to get dirty or to not spill any paint. We found it relaxing, quiet, peaceful and enjoyable - the companionship of other like-minded people was a real bonus. Marian made some streamers for the children to wear - these fasten onto wrists and can be waved about. John, one of the men from Oldham Parish Church tried them out - just to check that they worked and could be waved around in a suitably childish way (!)

Editors Note:

The Editor welcomes contributions to the Newsletter.
Please submit any items for inclusion to Bob Pounder.

Email:

Oldham Unitarian Chapel
founded in 1813
is open to all who wish to worship
with an open mind,
in a spirit of freedom, reason and tolerance.

We do not all hold the same beliefs,
rather each person is encouraged
'to develop his or her faith
in a continuing search for truth.'

President: Mr R. Pounder
Treasurer: Mrs K.M. Pearson
Secretary: Mr J.P. Jackson

Unitarian Chapel
Connaught Street / King Street
Oldham
OL8 1 EB
Tel: 0161 620 1810

Registered Charity No. 1111295