This venue fascinates me. The power house of dissenters around 1800 , the enlightenment and the advances in science. Joseph Priestley. All that.
https://www.facebook.com/millhillchapel
Tomorrow the Dissenters Choir are singing.
There will be a zoom link
Too much for me I am afraid.
But hey, what's not to like?
Mill Hill Chapel
Moderators: Dom Perignon, Casimir
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oopsorganist
- Posts: 788
- Joined: Mon May 16, 2005 9:55 pm
- Location: Leeds
Mill Hill Chapel
uh oh!
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Southern Comfort
- Posts: 2024
- Joined: Sat Feb 23, 2008 12:31 pm
Re: Mill Hill Chapel
It seems to be a lively Unitarian chapel.
Alas, they do not believe in the Trinity, nor that Jesus Christ was God, merely that he was divinely inspired.
Difficult, therefore, to know how they can sing Christmas carols as meaning what we believe them to mean.
Alas, they do not believe in the Trinity, nor that Jesus Christ was God, merely that he was divinely inspired.
Difficult, therefore, to know how they can sing Christmas carols as meaning what we believe them to mean.
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oopsorganist
- Posts: 788
- Joined: Mon May 16, 2005 9:55 pm
- Location: Leeds
Re: Mill Hill Chapel
I am always deeply interested in the practice and beliefs of other branches - I felt the service was quite formal but felt adrift. There was sincere piety and community. I would have rather been at Mass somewhere but hey ho.
It was a Carol service not a Sunday service and the carols had been chosen by the congregation ( and were a selection we would all be very familiar with) with readings selected to bring out that radical story of a 14 year old unmarried woman giving birth as a homeless person. And the minister spoke about divisions in society, the Wisdom of women and so on.
Our choir is not of the church but we are allowed to use it for our meetings so to repay that kindness we sang for them - some confusion over Dissenters and dissenters here. We also use all their herbal tea bags and have been made very welcome.
Mill Hill Chapel has been very central historically over the last 350 years in the development of Leeds and indeed in the development of the industrial revolution in Leeds, being the home of the Presbyterians and I guess Puritans and then many Methodists attended, had children baptised there etc. Joseph Priestley was a minister before he went off to America. It was the heart of that community - the Dissenters as they were known at the time who were instrumental in the growth of wealth and the building of the dark satanic mills. We might call them entrepreneurs but they were the rising wealthy makers and shakers - this would be 1775 onwards. From the records it appears that the debates around religion, points of religion, science and revolution and so on, were many and heated.
It was an era of passionate Christianity.
Researching for my (execrable) books over the last ten years has brought me many insights into the faith of the Methodist around 1800. Such passion. Such conviction. It is a fascination to me to see where that spirit flowed and how does in manifest now.....
It was a Carol service not a Sunday service and the carols had been chosen by the congregation ( and were a selection we would all be very familiar with) with readings selected to bring out that radical story of a 14 year old unmarried woman giving birth as a homeless person. And the minister spoke about divisions in society, the Wisdom of women and so on.
Our choir is not of the church but we are allowed to use it for our meetings so to repay that kindness we sang for them - some confusion over Dissenters and dissenters here. We also use all their herbal tea bags and have been made very welcome.
Mill Hill Chapel has been very central historically over the last 350 years in the development of Leeds and indeed in the development of the industrial revolution in Leeds, being the home of the Presbyterians and I guess Puritans and then many Methodists attended, had children baptised there etc. Joseph Priestley was a minister before he went off to America. It was the heart of that community - the Dissenters as they were known at the time who were instrumental in the growth of wealth and the building of the dark satanic mills. We might call them entrepreneurs but they were the rising wealthy makers and shakers - this would be 1775 onwards. From the records it appears that the debates around religion, points of religion, science and revolution and so on, were many and heated.
It was an era of passionate Christianity.
Researching for my (execrable) books over the last ten years has brought me many insights into the faith of the Methodist around 1800. Such passion. Such conviction. It is a fascination to me to see where that spirit flowed and how does in manifest now.....
uh oh!
Re: Mill Hill Chapel
Not really liturgy, but there is a beautiful Unitarian Church in Liverpool. Financed by the likes of the founder of Tate and Lyle in the Arts and Craft style. It boasts a fine William Hill organ.
Judging by its website it is very active.
https://www.ukunitarians.org.uk/ulletroad/index.htm
Judging by its website it is very active.
https://www.ukunitarians.org.uk/ulletroad/index.htm
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Nick Baty
- Posts: 2199
- Joined: Sat Jul 22, 2006 11:27 am
- Parish / Diocese: Formerly Our Lady Immaculate, Everton, Liverpool
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Re: Mill Hill Chapel
Know the Liverpool Unitarian church well. I was cantor at the first civil partnership on church premises there – around nine(?) years ago. The minister at the time was formerly a teacher in our parish school.
Re: Mill Hill Chapel
Many people attend Unitarian churches because they are not bound by a formal creed. That does not mean that they necessarily deny the Trinity nor the divinity of Christ. I was organist for a number of years at a Unitarian church that was a traditional Gothic Revival building with choir stalls and altar, cross on the altar and a crucifix behind the pulpit.