I recently spent time away with a group of people from diverse backgrounds and spiritual beliefs. Over the weekend we explored ways in which we might develop our spiritual well-being, looking specifically at prayer and meditation.

It was wonderful to engage with people in an open and spiritually intimate way. There was only one thing about the weekend that grated on me. I kept on hearing the phrase: “Oh it’s so lovely to be with like-minded people.”

It irritated me because we were not like minded people, we certainly didn’t think about things in exactly the same way.

I then thought I am not sure I would want to spend my time with like-minded people; people who thought just like me. They would drive me mad and no doubt bore me to death.

And then it dawned on me. While we may not be like-minded people we are certainly like-hearted. We may not think in the same way, but I suspect that we feel in the same way and we certainly seem to be searching for that same sense of connection and oneness.

There was a real sense of unity in the group. We truly were there lovingly supporting and listening to one another, holding differing views about faith but united in a common bond and search.

I think this is what I’ve been searching for all my life, not the horror of like-minded people, but the beauty of like hearted folk. It felt like heaven on earth.

My ministerial mantra is “Come as you, exactly as you are…but do not expect to leave in exactly the same condition.”

My hope is that when people enter into the communities I serve that they feel that they can be who they are, exactly as they are. Warts and all and beauty spots too.

I hope they find among us loving companionship and space to search and explore and open their hearts, minds and souls to something beyond the confines of themselves.

I hope when they come, even if it is in despair, that when they leave they do so with a deeper sense of belonging and do not feel alone.

I hope they find among us communities of like hearted, if not like-minded people.

For we may not think alike, but it is certainly our intention to love alike.

Reverand Danny Crosby

Queens Road Unitarian Free Church, Urmston

Dunham Road Unitarian Chapel, Altrincham