George Callander writes:

“On March 29th, Clare Jackson, Adrian Callander and I attended the Palm Sunday service of Newcastle Unitarians, held in the large Spiritual Commons room of Northumbria University. It was a small gathering led by David Venus, one of the members, as the expected leader was unable to attend.

The service was informal, although it followed a traditional ‘hymn sandwich’ structure. There were a number of thoughtful poems and readings offered by the the leader and members of the congregation, and an interesting address/reflection on Palm Sunday within the Easter narrative. There was even a period of silent reflection, which sadly was over just as we got going! It made a refreshing change to sing during worship, and we sang four hymns from the Unitarian hymnal ‘Sing Your Faith’.

There was nothing in any of the hymns that made me feel in any way uncomfortable. Likewise, the contemporary version of the Lord’s Prayer which closed the service. The line ‘May we ever turn our eyes towards the light to dispel the darkness, which would engulf us’ is reminiscent of a passage we use in Experiment with Light. Worship was followed by tea, coffee, biscuits and fellowship. I wouldn’t want to make this my regular place of worship, but I found it spiritually rewarding.”