The Great Tap Water Crisis continued, with the water still being a funny colour, and bottles of water out on the table. Angela continued to try to get answers from the water company, whilst many of us decided that if we drank coffee, the boiling would kill off the germs. Happily unaffected by the water, we hastened to Rev. Winnie Gordon and Rev. Sarah’s Tinker’s morning talk, looking at theological literacy. Being an 80s kid, I appreciated the reference to the old primary school hymnbook, Come and Praise – now experiencing an unexpected revival in the form of ‘Primary School Bangers’! Winnie is a former recipient of the Rev. Herbert Barnes Memorial award.

We considered what brings people to spiritual communities, often, the search for answers to the big questions of life and the need for community, and looked at the need for Unitarianisim and religion in general to be a living tradition. There have been many times when we impacted lives, such as our campagins for better education, abolitionism, and same-sex blessings and marriage. What do we do now? I also wrote down a few quotes, including “It all depends what you mean by God”, “Times when we impacted lives”, and “Sharp looks from Brown Owl”. (I wish I’d written down the full context for all these words of wisdom. Danny Crosby at one point on Day 3 commented, “It’s not Butlins!”, but I have no idea why. Sorry, Danny!) One of the best, I think, was this, on the purpose of religion and spirituality: “Exploring our capacity to be good, what it means to be human, our source of authority, and our understanding of the Universe.” Both Sarah and Winnie are excellent speakers – here’s their talk in full:

The Engagement Group continued, ably facilitated by Danny and Arek, assisted greatly by Molly. Molly is the canine companion of Danny, a Havenese terrier (Molly, not Danny) and spent most of the time napping gently at his feet. Sometimes she got up for a quick amble around, and allowed us to pet her and tell her she is a Good Dog.

With our theme words “The words we speak become the house we live in” before us, we continued to build our house of faith, exploring our own personal values and theology, asking the question: “What is at the heart of our own theology, and what have we accepted, not rejected?” If you were to write a credo in 111 words, what would you write. It is a challenging question; I walked around the Centre, seeking inspiration, before settling outside in view of the countryside to write down my thoughts.

In the midst of our intense reflection, we listened to music, petted the dog, built our house, and one member of the group charmed us all by producing a set of juggling balls and deftly tossing them in the air for several minutes (I have tried juggling, and it is not as easy as jugglers make it look).  We also tried not to be too distracted by the Candle Auction in our meeting room, which was held to raise some funds for the Summer School, much like the real auction, which I donated a chalice tapestry to. I bought a coffee candle for a friend of mine who likes getting up early and doing morning meditations, and agreed with Arek and Tim that there was one candle I perhaps should not post a photo of, but here’s some photos from the morning.

In the afternoon, we went forth once more and walked, this time taking a slightly tougher route, which is fine by me – I like a bit of exercise. Once more we watched the gliders; the unique hum of a glider landing over the fields is part of the soundtrack to Summer School. We climbed through the ferns, up the hill and down the dale, just enjoying being out and about in the Derbyshire countryside. We returned home in time for the pre-dinner ‘Conversation on our Theme Talks’ afternoon session in the lounge, led by Michael.

I joined Rev. Jane Blackall and many others for a ‘Heart and Soul’ evening gathering, a form of gathering I have not experienced before and was curious about. I’m keen to explore new ways of spiritually gathering, getting away from the more Christian-influence hymn sandwich, which works very well for some, but not for all. Heart and Soul follows a regular pattern, including readings and music from an eclectic range of sources, time for guided prayers of gratitude, compassion for others, self-reflection, and silent meditation. This took place in the yurt; I don’t have photos, as I simply wanted to sit and be part of it. Perhaps I will lead a similar session at Newcastle one Sunday… We rejoined everyone for the Epilogue service led by Sian Murray, which was excellent, then Tim, Arek, Nicky, myself, and the rest of the evening socialisers gathered in the lounge to round off the day with a drink and a discussion. The water was still a funny colour, so we drank beer. You can’t be too careful.