79 Hiawatha Road, Toronto, Canada  416-686-6809

From Our Minister, Rev. Wayne Walder:

Hello. I’m Wayne Walder, the minister of our new congregation, chartered in 2000. Although I have been interested in religion all my life, I became a Unitarian Universalist about 25 years ago. I have been part of congregations in Elmira and Buffalo, New York, as well as in Toronto. I have worked with the staff of the Canadian Unitarian Council, our national organization, offering advice to congregations about their building and their growth plans.

I grew up a Roman Catholic and have travelled through several countries and several religious traditions on my way to Unitarian Universalism. I have studied with Zen Buddhists, helped open the Hindu temple in Gangotri India, and have studied Sufism, a mystical branch of Islam, while traveling with the “Pir”, Vilayat Khan through Europe and India. None of these religious traditions had offered me both true religious freedom and community like the Unitarians did. So when I met them and married my wife Joan in the Buffalo Unitarian Church, I knew that I had found a home. On the twenty second of March, 1998, I was ordained and became a minister of the Unitarian Universalist tradition.  My wife Joan and I live in the Beach area of Toronto and have three grown sons.

Message July 2010:

I’m  thinking about Fall, even as we all prepare for Summer.  I know, I know...... summer is so short, why think about how it will end. …..     But my sabbatical has inspired me and I am excited about the services we are creating for the Fall.  

     We are going to offer a series of Sunday services helping us learn how to have a reasonable democratic debate.     We have forgotten this skill.    We have forgotten how to talk to each other about the most important things in the world.   “how should tax money be spent?”   What are the limits to health care”?     “How can we help homeless  people?”   “can we  protect the environment” . 

     It is important that we talk about these things. The old adage,  “you can’t talk about religion or politics and keep a friend”  keeps us stupid and silent.  It  allows problems to grow. 

     Often when we argue we get emotional and tell people about our opinion without ever considering theirs.   We can act childish while trying to get our point across. We see it in parliament every day as our mature representatives  act like siblings.   I wonder what “shadows” show up and make us act poorly when we argue with others?  Many times, even when we ”win”, we are ashamed of our behavior in retrospect.  

     Yet Democracy depends on each of us being able to have a respectful debate even when we  get  angry,  annoyed or frustrated.  Democracy depends on us learning the lost art of helping others see our point while we hear theirs.   Can we do that??     

     I want to give it a try.  Who knows, if we can do it at Neighbourhood, maybe we can help others do it too.    I am confidant because Michael Sandel is teaching philosophy very successfully this way at Harvard.  I figure we can use his Socratic method to teach "Spiritual Civics" and have a lot of fun in the process.   I’ll try this with all of you during the sermon, so come prepared to argue….respectfully!     

During our conversation we can demonstrate and learn, the three things we must do during a difficult conversation.   

     This slightly new way of doing services is one of the ways Nieghbourhood is growing in maturity as well as numbers.  Interesting "Small Groups" will again be offered in October and this year, in January.   “How to Play the native American flute”  “Soul Painting” the “The Spirited Introvert”, "Ethics",    “Prayer for the Atheist…. and the Theist”?   are just some of the choices you can make. 

     Come to Neighbourhood this Fall.  Take a program and come to Sunday services as often as you can.  Bring your children or your relatives children to our programs.   It will help you and it will deepen us all.  Rugged individualism is killing our planet.  Lets learn the simple skills of religious community, to help save it.