Writing/Speaking

thumb1

As of 2022 I lead services several times a month and give occasional talks too. The texts of these talks can be found below (most also have links to audio/video recordings if you scroll down to the end of the text or you can check out the Essex Church YouTube channel). Hopefully I’m getting a bit better at what I do as the years go by. I’ve decided to leave them un-edited (i.e. as preached) in this archive.


Hucklow Summer School Theme Talks and Sermons

Right Relationship (video of joint talk with Sarah Tinker – 22nd August 2022)

Right Relationship (text of joint talk with Sarah Tinker – 22nd August 2022)

Why Are We Here? (video – 21st August 2021)

Why Are We Here? (text – 21st August 2021)

How, Then, Shall We Live? (text – 20th August 2018)

The Authentic Self (text – 18th August 2014)


Sermons and Mini-Reflections at Essex Church (Kensington Unitarians) 

Growing Up (4th August 2024)

Dharma Day: The Three Jewels (21st July 2024)

How Does Your Garden Grow? (7th July 2024)

250th Anniversary of Essex Church: The Next 250 Years? (14th April 2024)

Friendship (17th March 2024)

Learning from Lionel (25th February 2024)

Spiritual Strength Training (11th February 2024)

Free and Unfree (21st January 2024)

Retreat: A Pause with a Purpose (31st December 2023)

Christmas: Christ the Saviour? (17th December 2023)

For All The Saints (29th October 2023)

Being Human (17th September 2023)

Harvest: From Field to Fork (17th September 2023)

Both-And (10th September 2023)

Say Yes to the Mess (6th August 2023)

Discovering Delight (25th June 2023)

Pray All Ways (4th June 2023)

Pentecost for Unitarians (28th May 2023)

How We Spend Our Days (23rd April 2023)

Our Place in the Scheme of Things (11th March 2023)

Inquiring Minds (5th February 2023)

On Spiritual Direction (15th January 2023)

Start With Why (4th December 2022)

Be Prepared: Advent (27th November 2022)

Praying with Poets (16th October 2022)

Back to School (4th September 2022)

The A-Z of Pride (3rd July 2022)

Be More Tree (12th June 2022)

Real People: Membership Service (29th May 2022)

Hand-Made (15th May 2022)

Easter: Walking Wounded (17th April 2022)

How to be a Unitarian… (3rd April 2022)

The Good Samaritan (20th March 2022)

People Want Peace (6th March 2022)

Be My Guest (21st November 2021)

Crying for Help (19th September 2021)

Off the Hook (5th September 2021)

It’s Complicated (6th June 2021)

Easter: Still Here (4th April 2021)

Sowing Seeds (21st March 2021)

Improvisation as a Way of Life (7th March 2021)

Judgement Calls (7th February 2021)

Help! Thanks! Wow! (10th January 2021)

All Will Be Well (3rd January 2021)

What Are You Waiting For? (29th November 2020)

Why Are We Here? (27th September 2020)

Loss and Liberation (26th July 2020)

Intimacy and Solitude (8th March 2020)

Lonely Hearts (8th December 2019)

How We Spend Our Days (24th November 2019)

Staying Put (29th September 2019)

Dream Boldly (4th August 2019)

Powers of Ten (7th July 2019)

Covenanting in Community (12th May 2019)

Choose Your Own Adventure (6th January 2019)

Other People’s Lives (2nd September 2018)

What’s Going On? (5th August 2018)

Liberation Theologies (8th July 2018)

Anything Goes? Freedom and Responsibility in Liberal Religion (1st July 2018)

The World as God’s Body (27th May 2018)

It’s a Sin (8th April 2018)

Inside Illness (4th March 2018)

The Mystical Art of Unsaying (5th November 2017)

A Sense of Vocation (3rd September 2017)

On Being Wrong (6th August 2017)

Liberating Labels (2nd July 2017)

A Transformative Faith (2nd April 2017)

What Does it Mean? (8th January 2017)

Self-Care and Self-Compassion (2nd October 2016)

The Resistance (7th August 2016)

Leftovers (3rd April 2016)

Both/And (10th January 2016)

Let Your Yeah Be Yeah (16th September 2015)

Shame, Shame, Shame (12th July 2015)

Make Yourself at Home (25th January 2015)

Wings of Desire (11th January 2015)

Over and Over (5th October 2014)

The Art of Forgetting (26th January 2014)

Changing Ourselves, Changing the World (6th October 2013)

In Praise of Birds: ‘Hello, Who are You?’ (15th September 2013)

Becoming More Like God (7th April 2013)

A Push and a Pull (7th October 2012)

In Need of a Blessing (15th April 2012)

Sabbath (1st May 2011)

All Souls (31st October 2010)

A Unitarian Communion (10th October 2010)

Love in Plain Clothes (14th February 2010)

Walking the Talk (2nd August 2009)


Congregations in the Community Talk (VIDEO + TEXT)

Congregations in the Community #2: Engagement Groups (video – 26th May 2021)

Congregations in the Community #2: Engagement Groups (text – 26th May 2021)


Unitarian Theology Conference Talk (VIDEO)

Models of God and the Meaning of Love (Mill Hill Chapel, Leeds, October 2017)


Other Published Reflections

This I Believe (in ‘Kindred Pilgrim Souls’, 2011)

Be Led By Love (in ‘Kindred Pilgrim Souls’, 2011)


jb_giving_themetalk_2014