Uncategorized

The following are two quotations from the writings of Getrude von Petzold.

From “The Cross of Christ” :
“Study the religions of the world, hearken devoutly to the psalms of the East and to the songs of the West, kneel silently in the temple of the Buddhist, join in the worship of the Jewish synagogue, or . listen to the prayers of the Christian Church; in its essence all worship is one, for all religion is one, for all worship, all religion leads to God. In whatever varying forms the pious souls of humanity _have sought and found God, what matters it? For as all language is symbolic, is more or less the imperfect expression of our thoughts and feelings, so the names also we give to God … are at best symbols only, imperfect human signs by which we know Him and know ourselves in Him. Yet Jesus was sure that harmony with God can only be obtained through perfect love and that such love can never be free from pain, for it is never free from effort and failure; and the way of perfect love is the way of the cross … reflecting the deepest law of life, wherein peace comes out of strife, harmony out of disorder and joy out of suffering, the crown after the cross … what greater devotion, what deeper consecration than in the life of Jesus?”

From “The Vision of Paul” :
“Every. spiritual experience is in its essential nature a mystery, every yearning after things Divine, every prayer sent up to the Infinite, every aspiration after eternity. … We can only understand the Divine language if we attune our minds to it; only by looking for the essence and reality of things shall we become aware that there is a Divine Reality in all things … and only if we listen to its voice in awed silence, review our lives in its light and shape our nature in accordance with that Divine Reality. … And the poets.– the inspirers and harmonizers of life — have given us moving and lovely pictures of the Divine Vision. We have such pictures in Browning’s beautiful poems, — especially in “Abt Vogler” at the organ, pouring out his soul in melody, longing to build a structure of music as Solomon of old erected a palace with the help of ministering spirits, that his music shall touch the very heavens, and spirits come and dwell in the building of sound which he rears. … A poet or painter may be able to fix his inspirations, but the musician cannot. Yet he has the glorious gift of framing out of three sounds “not a fourth but a star”, that is the Divine idea. Only he cannot hold it; the palace of music, as soon as it has reached its highest point, vanishes. Nevertheless he has this assurance that He from , whom all inspiration flows is there, ever working in the souls of men, rousing them to new efforts and consoling them over past failures. Therefore if the artist only turns to Him he will learn to take both success and failure as being in the great plan of things and working towards some ultimate goal:
Sorrow is hard to bear, and doubt is slow to clear, Each sufferer says his say, his scheme of the ‘ ,weal and woe; But God has a few of us whom he whispers in the ear, The rest may reason and welcome; ’tis we musicians know.
Let us be amongst the few, let us gain the Divine Vision and never lose it; let us shape our lives in harmony with that vision. We may not have revelations like the Apostles of old, we may not have experiences as the Poets sing of, but we all have. solemn times and seasons when the grandeur of the universe opens itself to our view, when we seem to be overwhelmed by the majestic harmony of the world in which we live, when the sea and air and sky seem to call forth in us infinite longings after a “world not realized”. Yes, and there are those moments when we withdraw within ourselves — in the hush and silence of the night — when we review the past, remembering our successes and failures. When we realize how we have fallen short of the ideals of our youth and aspirations of our manhood.
Ah, friends, here and now let us swear allegiance to the Vision beautiful, through doubt and sorrow, through success and failure — let us look to the Infinite and Eternal whom no one has seen at any time, except through the inspirations of beauty and the intuitions of the heart.”

In the attached address the Rev Geoff Usher gives us an insight into who Gertrude von Petzold was, her life and her importance in the history of Universalism.

The full address can be read by clicking here.

Rex A.E. Hunt presented this beautiful, but scary, address on 2 August, 2026:

“To know the seasons, look to plants. Wildflowers, especially, are excellent teachers.
Their extravagant displays catch our attention. Their small, delicate bodies are beautifully,
frighteningly permeable to the changing pulses of the world.
Plants feel seasonal changes in light, moisture, and heat like few other living beings.
Plant cells feed on sunshine. Water wraps every root and coats the spongy interior of leaves.
The body temperatures of plants fluctuate with those of their surroundings.
This openness makes plants the primary interpreters of the seasons.”

(David George Haskell)

I sit on my front verandah enjoying a home-brewed skinny cappuccino, looking out at our now skeletal Japanese Maple tree.

Gone are the leaves—that gentle chlorophyll green sea-of-life-filled foliage, a miracle of evolution, to its chosen autumn orange and burgundy seven-acutely pointed, lobe leaves… Gone! Not an all-at-once process. But a gradual must-do life-saving transition, as its energy from photosynthesis is diverted to the roots, resulting in autumn technicolored leaves pirouetting to the ground in a light wind, to become crisp brown leaf litter and our garden’s spring fertiliser. Plop! Plop, plop!

The full address can be found here.

If children live with criticism
they learn to condemn.
If children live with security
they learn to have faith.

In talking to children, and in correcting them, we need to convey caring, not rejection. We need to avoid critical comments such as
When will you learn?
What’s the matter with you?
How many times have I told you?
Didn’t you hear me?
Why did you do that?

We need to deal with the situation, not with the person. We need to avoid attacking the child.

This sermon on the question of how children learn and how we may help them was given by the Rev Geoff Usher and can be read in full here.

” And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them, and the two fishes divided he among them all . And they did all eat, and were filled .”

Prayer is a common theme throughout the Bible. That’ s not really surprising. But — perhaps surprisingly – there is something else that is mentioned in the Bible more often than prayer is . Think for a moment: What is it that is mentioned in the Bible more often than prayer?

Any suggestions?
The answer is : Eating and drinking.

Jesus often made a point of welcoming people who were outcasts: he welcomed them, not by praying for them, or by offering to pray for them, or by ‘ telling them to pray – but by eating with them. Then, as now, the meal – the act of eating with another person – was a sign of acceptance. The shared meal was a common feature of the Jewish tradition .
It was a powerful part of the practical expression of Jesus’ ministry. The final meal he shared with his twelve disciples — the Last Supper — became the basis for the Communion Service of the Christian Church. The shared meal was so typical of Jesus that, according to-the story in Luke’s Gospel, when he was raised from the dead, the disciples recognised him in the breaking of the bread.
The feeding of the five thousand was open to all of them. Jesus did not offer to feed only a select few of them. No one was excluded. Certainly, no one was excluded on the grounds of colour, or race, or religion , or social class, or level of wealth. He said simply: “Give ye them to eat . “
And, of course, there was more than enough to go around, as there is more than enough to go around today, when there is enough for everyone’s need but not for everyone’s greed.

In this sermon the Rev Geoffrey Usher considers the sharing with others in the building of communities. The full text can read here.

by Rev Geoff Usher

A troubled man paid a v i s i t to his rabbi: a wise and good rabbi, as a l l rabbis try to be.

 “Rabbi,” said he, wringing his hands, ” I am a failure. More than half the time I do not succeed in doing what I must do.”

 “Oh?” said the rabbi.

 “Please say something wise, Rabbi,” said the man.

 After much pondering, the rabbi spoke as follows: ” Ah, my son, I give you this wisdom: Go and look on page 930 of The New York Times Almanac for the year 1970, and you will find peace of mind maybe.” “Ah,” said the man, and he went away and did that thing.

 Now this is what he found: The listing of the life-time batting averages of all the greatest baseball players. Ty Cobb, the greatest slugger of them all, had a lifetime average of only .367. Even Babe Ruth didn’t do so good.

 So the man went back to the rabbi and said in a questioning tone: “Ty Cobb – .367 – that’s it?” “Right, ” said the rabbi. “Ty Cobb – .367. He got a hit once out of every three times at bat. He didn’t even bat 500 – so what can you expect already?”

 “Ah,” said the man, who had thought he was a wretched failure because only half the time he did not succeed at what he must do. Theology is amazing, and holy books abound.  That story comes from Robert Fulghum’s book, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.   

This sermon is continued here.