Sunday Assembly Melbourne

In April I wrote an article on The Sunday Assembly, a godless congregation aka "atheist church", that had just opened a chapter in Melbourne. Since July, I have been helping run that Melbourne chapter. It is the creatively named Sunday Assembly Melbourne. Strange how these things turn out.

 

For the article I attended the April service and interviewed a number of attendees along with Pippa Evans, co-founder of the original The Sunday Assembly. I'd read a bit about the organisation before attending, but just couldn't wrap my head around what the service would actually be like.

Would there be militant atheist sermons the kind you hear over a beer in any given pub? Would it be uncomfortably church-like with ecstatic clean-cut people that didn't seem quite real? How could it work without addressing the idea of god or religion at all? Surely there would be an elephant in the room.

To add to this, Alain de Botton had recently been in town marketing his book Religion for Atheists. I also wrote a blog about attending his talks on the book. In a nutshell I thought de Botton's ideas were daft. We already have secular holidays, buildings, ceremonies and so on. Why did we need to mimic religion as if they held a monopoly on these things?

So with these thoughts I headed to the service.

'Pleasantly surprised' best describes my first reaction. Elation soon followed. The service just worked. In place of hymns there were songs by Jon Bon Jovi, The Monkees, and Otis Redding.

Instead of talking god (or no god) they spoke of living this one life the best you can. Rather than a sermon on how to live, we heard a speech on why life is great even if you get cancer. Twice.

At the end there was cake and that was it, I was smitten. No, not as in struck down, but as in love. After my interviews were written and the article posted I signed up to the mailing list because whatever happened next I knew I would attend another.

How right I was. The very next mail-out asked for people interested in organising the Sunday Assembly Melbourne from then on and my hand shot into the air.

Through organising Sunday Assembly Melbourne my enthusiasm for this project has only strengthened. Every month I get to help make people happy, help them connect with one another, think deep thoughts, and just have an awesome time.

To me the central tenets are rock music and cake. That's what would keep me coming back if I wasn't a part of the organising team. For others it's a time for catching up with friends, or for reflection and new ideas, or just motivation to start the day off with a kick.

Whatever the reasons, people keep on coming back. They keep smiling, keep singing, and keep baking. And I love them for that.

Just saying that shows how much my view has changed from the cynic that first entered The Sunday Assembly hall. Sometimes a little change is good.

For more information about Sunday Assembly Melbourne visit us on:
Facebook
Twitter
Meetup
or The Sunday Assembly official page.