This is an article written by Rex A E Hunt and published in Fourth R Magazine, which is a magazine of the Westar Institute (Jesus Seminar), Vol 38. No. 2. (March – April 2025). “A Wild Mysticism?”.
An enchanting read of his article can be found here.
Rabindranath Tagore wrote:
I find life’s song in star-songs of the night,
in rise of curtains and new morning light, in
l i f e reborn in fresh surprise of love.
His name was Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, but he is usually known as Mahatma Gandhi. So common has that t i t l e become – so closely is i t linked with his
surname — that many children in Western countries in fact think that i t is his first name.
Mahatma means “Great Soul” or “Great Leader/Teacher”. I t is an honoured t i t l e , bestowed upon Gandhi by millions of Indians and recognised by people around
the world. Indeed, i t is likely that anyone who hears a reference to “The Mahatma” will think of Gandhi.
How has history assessed this gentle revolutionary?
To read the rest of this thought provoking address by the Rev Geoff Usher, please click here.
(This is the text of a speech delivered by Mahatma Gandhi in London in September 1931, during his visit for the first Round Table Conference.)
There is an indefinable mysterious power that pervades everything. I feel it though I do not see it. It is this unseen power which makes itself felt and yet defies all proof, because it is so unlike all that I perceive through my senses. It transcends the senses. But it is possible to reason out the existence of God to a limited extent. Even in ordinary affairs we know that people do not know who rules or why and how He rules and yet they know that there is a power that certainly rules.
The rest of this Reading given by Rev Geoff Usher for his address “Fresh Surprise of Love” can be seen here.
Anonymous (presented at the meeting of the fellowship oin February,2025)
God said go
and I said who me
and God said yes you
and I said
but I’m not ready yet
and an important meeting is coming up
and I can’t leave my work right now
and you know there is no one to take my place
and God said you’re stalling
again God said go
and I said but I don’t want to
and God said I didn’t ask if you wanted to and I said
listen I’m not the kind of person to get involved in controversy
besides my family won’t like it
and what will the neighbours think and God said baloney
and yet a third time God said go
and I said do I have to?
and God said do you love Me?
and I said
look I’m scared
people are going to hate me
and cut me up in little pieces
I can’t take it all by myself
and God said where do you think I’ll be?
And God said go
and I sighed here I am, send me.
Amen.
by Rev Geoff Usher.
Behind the Christmas story are truths of great significance for humanity. The whole story of Christmas is a mixture of symbol and fact, of imagery and truth – literal truth and prophetic or spiritual truth. The prophetic dreams, the wandering star, the song of the angels:- we may find it difficult to accept such elements of the story as historically true. We may be unable to regard the Biblical narrative as a complete and accurate account of what happened two thousand years ago.
And yet, they are more than simply a flight into fantasy. There is truth in such elements. And through them great truths are being communicated; and communicated in depth, not merely superficially.
We miss the meaning of Christmas if we fail to listen to its messages:- its message concerning the reality of God; its message about life, and about our part in life and about the purpose of history. The story of the child in a manger is more than, the birth of another child of the year. It goes beyond simply relating the beginnings of the most influential figure of our western civilisation, and perhaps of the whole history of humankind.
Although many myths surround the story, at Christmas we celebrate the birth of a real man, not a myth:- we celebrate the birth of a child two thousand years ago, who came to be known as Jesus – although his real name was probably Joshua bar Joseph — Joshua the son of Joseph.
Serious scholars do not question the historicity of Jesus. There are doubts, queries and inconsistencies about some of the details.
To read the compltete sermon please click here.