Harmony UU Podcast Harmony UU Podcast

Jen explores what compassion means as an action in all our lives

Tim shares what his year learning to make great food has taught him about life.

A historical and practical view of new years day and its traditions

Steve explores the ways heaven is described throughout cultures and history as he asks us to consider how our own thoughts about an afterlife reflect on our thoughts about life today.

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.elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-stacked .elementor-drop-cap{background-color:#69727d;color:#fff}.elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-framed .elementor-drop-cap{color:#69727d;border:3px solid;background-color:transparent}.elementor-widget-text-editor:not(.elementor-drop-cap-view-default) .elementor-drop-cap{margin-top:8px}.elementor-widget-text-editor:not(.elementor-drop-cap-view-default) .elementor-drop-cap-letter{width:1em;height:1em}.elementor-widget-text-editor .elementor-drop-cap{float:left;text-align:center;line-height:1;font-size:50px}.elementor-widget-text-editor .elementor-drop-cap-letter{display:inline-block} A look at how technology will disrupt the structures of how western society functions.























The following is a transcript of the sermon written and delivered by Harmony member Rob Rogan on Oct. 1, 2023. So it has been a minute since I’ve done a sermon up here, and I’m kind of excited to get back to it. And then I’m going to throw a disclaimer out there. I do like to do these. Some of the lines of logic and scenarios I’m going to throw out here today, may be considered too dramatic. They may be considered unrealistic, or maybe not.  But I ask that even when I intentionally get a little hyperbolic, that we allow ourselves the space to run down these logical rabbit holes. And at the end of our discussion, we consider if we agree with them or not.  But if you’d give me a little artistic license, I appreciate it.  Also, before I do get into it, I do want to give some credit for some of the source material to Israeli historian Yuval Harari. If you don’t know him, he’s just a really, really interesting guy to listen to. He’s got a really straightforward take on a lot of things usually from a historical lens. And I highly recommend he’s got a lot of content out there.  So– and I am actually going to play a couple clips with him towards the end. So you’re going to see him. All right. So with that out of the way, I’m going to go ahead and dive in. All right.  So, question, how many here have seen the Stanley Kubrick classic film 2001? All right. Maybe half. OK. By all accounts, it’s probably one of the more groundbreaking movies of all time.  For those who haven’t seen it, I’d offer, it’s a fairly obtuse film. It’s filled with imagery as much as it is story. And it’s really designed to evoke emotion, maybe even more than it is to be logically interpreted. Kubrick himself stated that if anyone walked out of the theater on the first viewing and understood the film, that he failed as a filmmaker.  However, what is quite clear is the representation of technology as this two-sided sword that hurts humanity as much as it helps. I particularly marvel at the imagery of the first act of the film. The whole first scene, maybe 20 minutes, is now a line of dialogue. And it’s kind of this powerful story of depicting the primitive descendants of humans that learn to use bones as tools for the first time and then immediately use that to kill fellow primates and acts of rage.  Now, most remember the more infamous third act of the movie where the dangerous computer known as how becomes one of the first cautionary tales of AI and cinema. In the film, the soothing voice and complex abilities of the HAL 9000 computer controls every system and device around our astronauts in space.  And while Hal is compliant in his requests and gentle in his demeanor, Kubrick masterfully makes the viewers feel so uncomfortable by showing how helpless the astronauts were. Even in scenes where Hal is kind and benevolent,

The following is a transcript of the sermon written and delivered by Harmony members Gretchen Johnson and Doren Cook on July 2, 2023.The concept of “vacation privilege” is something I didn’t really think about until fairly recently. And it’s ironic; I was texting with Paul Smith and he let me know he was not going to be here today because he’s in Africa with his family. And he said, how ironic, you’re talking about vacation privilege, and here I am in Africa.But what we want to talk about today is there’s a lot more, you tend to think about socioeconomics when it comes to where you vacation. There’s a lot more to that and we don’t all have the ability to travel safely everywhere. So Doren and I hope to create awareness and then in discussion talk about how we can support others and be a force for change. So it’s said there are three types of wealth in the summer.Some of you who are older may remember these days. There’s the people that have central air conditioning, likely a lot of us here in this room. There’s the people who have one room air conditioner, usually in the parents’ room. And then there’s people who have no air conditioning, who swelter in a hot room and all fight over who gets to sit in front of the fan. That was my house growing up. So.Thinking about vacation, I know the pictures are kind of small, but I’m hoping when you look at this, you probably relate to one of the photos. You have taken a vacation in your lifetime. You look at a budget. You pick a destination. You talk about if you’re going to fly or drive.That’s what vacation is to you. However, according to Bankrate, more than a third of the people in this country can’t take a vacation of any kind. And that was sobering for me. I did not realize it was that high. So they’re bombarded with guilt because all we hear is take your kids on vacation, go on vacation. Your teacher says, where did you go on summer vacation?And there’s a lot of people who have to say nothing. I didn’t go on vacation. There was an article called Summer Vacation Really Sucks When You’re Poor. And it talked about how expensive it is to be poor in the summer. You’ve got higher electrical costs if you are lucky enough to have air conditioning. You have to figure out how to feed your child because they’re not going to school and perhaps getting a free lunch.You’ve got guilt because you’re not able to take your kids on vacation or to Kings Island like everybody else. We used to think if you were poor you’d go to the YMCA camp—at least that was the town I grew up in. Most Y camps today cost more than $200 a week. So if you figure that for a summer, chances are you’re not using that for child care. So a lot of folks are working two jobs, three jobs. They have to be away from their kidsSo what do the kids do? Unfortunately, a lot of them are either staying home alone, maybe with an older sibling if they’re lucky, or the more fortunate ones are staying with relatives. But it’s certainly not the situation that many of us encounter. So if you’re in this situation, what do you do? You have no money. You Google it. That’s what I did. What do people do when they have no money and want to take their kids on vacation?And I will tell you, it was very sobering and very sad. And I know some of you who work in social services are aware of this. The two answers that came up first, vacation is expensive. Save 5% to 10% of your income to plan for it. Now, if you are living paycheck to paycheck, you can’t feed your family. Obviously, you can’t do this. And it said, this is a quote, “Almost any family,