Blog

by Rev Geoff Usher

Well; we’ve made i t . We have got past all the pre-Christmas rush and bustle:- the shopping; the writing and sending of cards; the opening and reading of cards received; the sorting out what to do with all the cards: stand them on mantelpieces and tables and other flat surfaces, and try to remember not to open or shut doors energetically enough to blow them over; or hang them from strings; or staple them to hanging ribbons; or … the wrapping and labeling of presents while trying to remember whether you have over-looked someone important; the lunches and parties and carol services and mince pies and more parties and tables of food and more mince pies; and the special family rituals related to Christmas; and Christmas Day itself, with the exchanging of gifts, and too much food, and more mince pies, and the afternoon siesta, and television repeats, and clearing up afterwards, and lots of dishwashing, and perhaps another mince pie.
We’ve made it. The rush and bustle calmed down, and there was that quiet holiday lull between Christmas Day/Boxing Day and New Year’s Eve, and perhaps an opportunity for more celebration, although perhaps less hectic.
Think about the conversations you have had over the last week’ or two. Not the really serious “meaning of life ” conversations, but the inform al “passing the time of day” conversations with friends and acquaintances, people you have met in the street or at the shops or at social events. What sorts of things have you said, or heard?

The sermon is continued here.

Looking around at the scorched wreckage of today’s international governmental polity, one may wonder how the Earth Charter even came into being.

Launched just over 25 years ago in 2000 at The Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands to great fanfare, it was eight years in the formulating, the work of the independent Earth Charter Commission. Its task was to produce a global consensus statement of principles for a sustainable Earth future. And an important fact is “the Earth Charter is a creed belonging not to governments but to the world’s people”. (See the Earth Charter website)

The Rev Rex Hunt gave a history and discussion of the Earth Charter at a recent talk at our meeting and this talk can be read in full here.

If I say the word “Christmas”, what is the first image that immediately occurs to you?
Some possibilities are: –
Christmas tree
Decorations on the tree
Other decorations
The figure of Santa Claus / Father Christmas Christmas crackers
Advent
Advent candles
Advent calendars
Nativity scenes
John *Martin’s Christmas Pageant in Adelaide The service of Nine Lessons and Carols from King’s College, Cambridge
Gifts
Christmas stockings
Christmas cards
Carol services
Carols by Candlelight
Other traditions, perhaps within your own family.
I want today to look at just some of these, in no particular order.

The Rev Geoff Usher’s delightful sermon for the end-of-year Christmas party can be read here.

There is a difference between failing and being a failure; but all too often they are linked in our minds. There’s a temptation in our culture to use the labels “success” and “failure” in general ways rather than in specific ways.

This talk on how we can understand failing and failure by the Rev Geoff Usher can be read in full here.

By Rev Geoff Usher

In trying to reduce the pain of loss there are some things we can do: the five R’s:

1. Re-negotiate the new reality.
   The person who has died, is now present in memory and imagination, if not physically. When conducting funeral and memorial services, I often use the little Valediction by Leigh Hunt:
   0 friends that remain, ye will keep as much of me as ye are able; kind thoughts of me; recollections of our mutual joys and sufferings; recollections of the pardon we gave each other. You will love all whom I have loved, and me in them. ,

2. Re-construct inwardly.
We can try to achieve cognitive re-construction, to talk about “the way I now think about …”; or to put the incident in the past tense, so that we can say: “It was terrible, but now is …”
We need to avoid being locked into the past, locked into the former relationship, and not getting on with the present.
We may need to identify – and perhaps remove – the “triggers” that push us back into the mess. We may, for example, need to put way the photographs, or burn the love letters; but we should not do so too hastily.

3. Regain control.
This may be more important than trying to remove or escape from the triggers. We may need to regain control over the triggers, or over our reactions to them.

4. Reverse the demoralisation.
We need to find ways to get ourselves out of the mire: We must first recognise that we are demoralised.
One of the greatest dangers in any loss is the loss of self.
If we have said: I was “shattered”. I “fell apart / fell to pieces”; we may need to be able to say: I need to re-strengthen myself. I need to recover my self esteem / my self worth / my self image.

5. Recover
We cannot recover what has been lost, but in emotional losses we can recover / re-invest / re-ignite our selves and our feelings.
Like salmon going upstream in spite of the obstacles, we can persist in spite of obstacles. We can continue to struggle, rather than just give up and drift downstream.
Harry Stone was a boxing teacher in Australia many years ago. One of the things he taught his boys was: “You’re not beaten until you can’t get off the canvas.”
It is important to change the way in which we perceive the event. In re-negotiating the new reality, it is important to listen to the language of the loss.. We need to be able to describe carefully and in detail how it happened and how it felt then and how it feels now. We need to acknowledge our feelings, and be willing to move forward.

I finish with words by Margaret Hill, in a meditation entitled “Holy Spirit”: Open your arms, that I may feel your love. Open my’ eyes, that I may see your face. Open my ears, that I may hear your voice. Open my mind, that I may understand what you say to me. Give me the strength to bear whatever you ask of me. Give me the patience to understand what others have to do. Give me the light to show the way to peace within. Give me the love to fulfil my life, and help others to do the same.

This an excerpt from the sermon by the Rev Geoff Usher. To read the complete talk, click here.