Portsmouth Unitarians

29/01/2026

Sunday Service at 10.30
1st - Gavin Lloyd
8th - Julian Kent
15th - Val Worthington
22nd - Edie Campbell

06/12/2025

Give yourself lots of love then you’ll have more to spare!

14/08/2025

20/07/2025

Rediscovered this today
IN HER GARDEN OF YADDO
Hours fly,
Flowers die
New days,
New ways,
Pass by.
Love stays.
______________
Time is
Too Slow for those who Wait,
Too Swift for those who Fear,
Too Long for those who Grieve,
Too Short for those who Rejoice;
But for those who Love,
Time is not.

—Henry Van D**e, For Katrina’s Sundial

03/07/2025

Sunday Services - July
All services 10.30-11.30
6th - Val Worthington
13th - Congregational Service
20th - Julian Kent
27th - Edie Campbell
All welcome

22/06/2025

What will you have time for today?

Everything Has Its Time

For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die;
a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted;
A time to kill and a time to heal;
a time to break down and a time to build up; a time to weep and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn and a time to dance;
A time to throw away stones and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to seek and a time to lose;
a time to keep and a time to throw away;
A time to tear and a time to sew;
a time to keep silent and a time to speak;
a time to love and a time to hate;
a time for war and a time for peace

10/06/2025

Just a smile across the to the other side of the road, or at the woman making her coffee last in the cafe might be enough to prevent this .

The Su***de of a Friend
Mary Oliver

When somewhere life
breaks the pane of glass,
and from every direction casual
voices are bringing you the news,
you say: I should have known.
You say: I should have been aware.

That last Friday he looked
so ill, like an old mountain-climber
lost on the white trails, listening
to the ice breaking upward, under
his worn-out shoes. You say:

I heard rumors of trouble, but after all
we all have that. You say:
What could I have done? and you go
with the rest, to bury him.

That night, you turn in your bed
to watch the moon rise, and once more
see what a small coin it is
against the darkness, and how everything else
is a mystery, and you know
nothing at all except
the moonlight is beautiful-
white rivers running together
along the bare boughs of the trees-

and somewhere, for someone, life
is becoming moment by moment
unbearable.

18/05/2025

Used this lovely poem today for a service in Godalming on Time and the Now -I’ve used it before in Portsmouth.

Oh do you have time
to linger
for just a little while
out of your busy

and very important day
for the goldfinches
that have gathered
in a field of thistles

for a musical battle,
to see who can sing
the highest note,
or the lowest,

or the most expressive of mirth,
or the most tender?
Their strong, blunt beaks
drink the air

as they strive
melodiously
not for your sake
and not for mine

and not for the sake of winning
but for sheer delight and gratitude –
believe us, they say,
it is a serious thing

just to be alive
on this fresh morning
in the broken world.
I beg of you,

do not walk by
without pausing
to attend to this
rather ridiculous performance.

It could mean something.
It could mean everything.
It could be what Rilke meant, when he wrote:
You must change your life.



Mary Oliver, “Invitation”

27/04/2025

Good Grief! Today at Portsmouth Unitarians

18/04/2025

General Assembly of Unitarians April 2025

30/12/2024