Jo James recorded on 25/11/2022

Jo James is minister to the congregation of Mill Hill Chapel on City Square in the centre of Leeds. Mill Hill is a Unitarian chapel; with a congregation that was first formed in 1672. There has been 350 years’ continuity of rational dissenting worship in Mill Hill.

Jo is interested in what happens next when as a culture we acknowledge that although we’ve abandoned God we haven’t found peace or freedom or anything really worthwhile to take that space. Jo thinks industrial culture is mechanistic and domineering (and as a result it is in very serious trouble), but senses reality isn’t like that; reality flows and is endlessly creative, endlessly loving.

Jo previously worked in the theatre and learned a lot from the creative strategies of artists at the edge of their industry. He was an atheist before discovering Unitarianism, then started learning about the liberal Christianity of his Grandparents’ generation and is learning to recover some of the living links with the resources that have sustained folk for many, many generations.

Jo helps to create community groups and works alongside all sorts of people, putting on bands, growing food and encouraging new things to happen.

Unitarianism is a wisdom tradition which seeks to approach the sacred in participation and worship. Unitarians recognise that the spiritual life cannot be precisely defined but should aim to be inclusive and compassionate. Nourished by the deep springs of Abrahamic tradition, they value other religious and spiritual traditions as well as scientific and secular sources. Unitarianism acknowledges the role of reason and the scientific method in developing a greater understanding of the real world and also recognises that materialistic rationalism cannot hold all the answers to the great questions of life. Unitarians cherish the spiritual resources of our religious inheritance, the inspired contribution of the arts, and human ways of being that are compassionate, generous, considerate and gracious, seeing in them evidence of the ‘divine spark’ which exists in all life.

Go to http://www.millhillchapel.org/ to find out more.