Neil Postman, Prophet? Technology, Gods, and The End of Education.

/0 Comments/in /by

Author, educator, media theorist and social critic Neil Postman (1931-2003) argued that television was playing on our appetite for distraction as we amused ourselves to death.  Writing on the cusp of the internet, Postman warned of the dangers posed by the false god of technology for culture, politics, and education.  We’ll consider what he had to say.

William Lloyd Fridley, Ph.D. is a professor of Education at Southeastern Oklahoma State University.  He is a faculty activist, working on academic policy and shared governance with the SOSU Faculty Senate and the American Association of University Professors (AAUP).  He was recently chosen as the president-elect for the Society of Philosophy and History of Education, and has master of divinity and master of theology degrees from Grace Theological Seminary.

A New Plan for a New Year

/0 Comments/in /by

On Sunday a look at a new, exciting focus.  The Pathway to Membership becomes clearer, easier to follow.  At least the Membership Team hopes so!  Marion Hill will speak about a new approach to church membership that the congregation has voted to begin using.  This Path to Membership, based on a workshop Hill heard at the 2019 General Assembly of UUA, is not radically different from the procedure the church has been following.  But the focus is different, and the workshop presenters (from the UU Congregation of Phoenix) say that the approach has brought them members who have a clearer understanding of what their church is about, and who are more committed to the congregation’s values, than before they began it.

Marion Hill, a charter member of our congregation and chair of the membership committee,  is a mystery author who writes two series of novels (the Scrappy Librarian Mysteries and the Deadly Past Mysteries–see www.marionmoorehill.net for details.  She formerly taught English at Southeastern Oklahoma State University and both English and journalism at Carson-Newman College (now University) in Tennessee, and has been a legal secretary.

Communitarian Personalism

/0 Comments/in /by

A closer look at what it means to be persons-in-community and how awareness of this reality changes our self-understanding and sense of responsibility for the world around us.

Dr. Davies has, for the last 23 years, been the Wimberly Professor of Social and Ecological Ethics at Oklahoma City University and Founding Director of the World House Institute for Social and Ecological Responsibility, looks at the systemic barriers to peace within the economic, political and culture process.

 

The Still Point of the Turning World

/0 Comments/in /by

Why meditate? In our driven, achievement-focused world, what are the benefits of learning to create stillness inside yourself? Elena Westbrook will introduce a few different approaches, including breathing techniques and Tonglen meditation, that can be a powerful part of your spiritual practice.

Elena Westbrook returns to our pulpit this morning.  Elena is an active member (the past president) of Community Unitarian Universalist Church in Plano where she chairs their worship team, often participates in the morning worship as an accomplished pianist, and speaker.  She has contributed invocations, chalice lighting. Elena is deeply concerned about climate change.  In 1996 she and her husband Paul built a a passive solar home in Fairview.  It has been a model of energy and resource efficiency. The house design was awarded the 1996 NAHB Energy Value Housing Award for Innovative

20/20 Vision: Can We See Clearly Now?

/0 Comments/in /by

A hopeful look forward for the 2020’s – the make or break decade of the make or break century.

Rev. Dr. Mark Y. A. Davies is the Wimberly Professor of Social and Ecological Ethics, Director of the World House Institute for Social and Ecological Responsibility, and Executive Director of the Leadership. Education, and Development Hub North America for the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry) at Oklahoma City University where he has worked in both teaching and administration for 22 years. He is an ordained elder in the Oklahoma Conference of the United Methodist Church where he has served as Chair of the Board of Church and Society from 2015 to 2018.

 

A Ritual for the Season

/0 Comments/in /by

The first Sunday of the new year is a time for reflection and introspection. It is a time of new beginnings and possibilities. To our ritual of letting go (flame), metaphoric cleansing (water), setting intentions (oil), and new beginnings (light), we are adding a way to reconnect to the Earth and growing things.  We will be planting seeds for our Web of Life Monarch Way Station.

The Worship Team, leading

Sitting On The Cusp Of A Year

/0 Comments/in /by

We conclude this worship year, as is our tradition, with a morning assembly featuring all of us, everyone who would like to share a reading, song, poem, or a story.  Being at the cusp concluding the first decade of the century and launching into the second one, what thought do you bring to this transition?  Bring whatever you wish to share, with the only guideline being one of time.  Six to seven minutes for each speaker allows more opportunities to listen to what others have brought.

A Three-In-One Morning

/0 Comments/in /by

Three special observances coalesce within this week-end.  The Winter solstice on Saturday evening celebrates a pagan heritage.  Christians look with Joy on this third Sunday of Advent and Jews light the first Hanukkah candle at dusk Sunday evening. Our assembly today will celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah and Solstice in readings and music.

Laughter in Dark Times

/0 Comments/in /by

When life gets you down, whether from personal  or global tragedy, it is important to find your laughter. As Josh Billings says about laughter, “Genuine laughing is the vent of the soul, the nostrils of the heart, and it is just as necessary for health and happiness as spring water is for a trout.”  Come join us for a morning of therapeutic laughter with Certified Laughter Leader, Marla Loturco

Celebration of Chalica and our Seven Principles

/0 Comments/in /by

Chalica begins Monday, December 2nd and ends next Sunday, December 8.  For these seven days Unitarian Universalists celebrate one principle on each day.  The last Sunday, is normally devoted to the last principle. The worship team has invited seven members to each select one principle and share what it means to them.  The speakers are Carol Powell, Jolene Whiten, Ronda DeCaire, Jim Holmes, Robert Shelton, Dick Powell, and Marion Hill. Which principle would you have chosen?