2021 Sermons: see below
Zoom meetings were live and not recorded.
Light the Chalice services are audio recordings of whole services.
Click here for 2020 Sermons
Click here for 2019 Sermons
For 2018 and earlier sermons:
Click here for 2018 Sermons page and
click here for the newsletters page with earlier sermons.
Zoom meetings were live and not recorded.
Light the Chalice services are audio recordings of whole services.
Click here for 2020 Sermons
Click here for 2019 Sermons
For 2018 and earlier sermons:
Click here for 2018 Sermons page and
click here for the newsletters page with earlier sermons.
January 10:
The Good Steward
Sermon by Rev. Amy Kindred
What does it mean to care for something we love but don't own? For example, the founders of Friendship Fellowship "planted the seed" for our Unitarian Universalist community on the hill in Rockledge, Florida, long ago, but it is up to us to be intentional about preserving the fellowship for future generations. (This was a live presentation on zoom and not recorded.)
The Good Steward
Sermon by Rev. Amy Kindred
What does it mean to care for something we love but don't own? For example, the founders of Friendship Fellowship "planted the seed" for our Unitarian Universalist community on the hill in Rockledge, Florida, long ago, but it is up to us to be intentional about preserving the fellowship for future generations. (This was a live presentation on zoom and not recorded.)
Dr. Michael Sandel
January 3:
The Tyranny of Merit -
What's Become of the Common Good?
Speaker: Dr. Michael Sandel
There are disturbing trends in our country and in the world. What causes otherwise democratic people to vote for authoritarian leaders? Have we "turned the corner" on this tendency or will it surface again in four years in a more virulent form? George Washington and Benjamin Franklin did not think our democracy would last - were they right?
Harvard professor Michael Sandel addresses these topics in his new book "The Tyranny of Merit." He joins us via YouTube in a previously recorded discussion of his thesis:
In an era of globalization meritocratic assumptions have stamped a society of "winners" and "losers."
The implication is that those who do not rise (in the global economy) have no one to blame but themselves.
Most of us would agree with the statement "Those who work hard and play by the rules should be able to rise as far as their efforts and talent will take them." But this is not now the case in our America. Example: At Princeton and Yale more students come from the top 1% (economically) than from the entire bottom 60% of the country. Social mobility is now higher in Denmark and Canada (and possibly even China) than here.
The remedy for inequality is not simply to remove barriers to education. The idea that a college education is a condition of dignified work and social esteem devalues those without a diploma, fuels prejudice against less educated members of society and provokes political backlash. Note: 2 out of 3 Americans do NOT have a 4-year college degree. Credentialism (the idea that one must have a college degree to advance) has become the last acceptable prejudice.
The liberal left's pursuit of meritocracy has betrayed the working classes causing a political backlash against governing elites.
The rise of meritocratic elites tends toward the establishment of a "new permanent aristocracy."
Sandel "offers an alternative way of thinking about success - more attentive to the role of luck in human affairs, more conducive to an ethic of humility, and more hospitable to a politics of the common good."
Michael Sandel teaches political philosophy at Harvard. His books have been translated into 27 languages. Sandel's legendary course in Justice was the first Harvard course to be made freely available online and on television and has been viewed by tens of millions. His BBC series, "The Global Philosopher," explores the philosophical ideas behind the headlines.
* View his 8 minute TED talk before the discussion: www.ted.com/talks/michael_sandel_the_tyranny_of_merit
The Tyranny of Merit -
What's Become of the Common Good?
Speaker: Dr. Michael Sandel
There are disturbing trends in our country and in the world. What causes otherwise democratic people to vote for authoritarian leaders? Have we "turned the corner" on this tendency or will it surface again in four years in a more virulent form? George Washington and Benjamin Franklin did not think our democracy would last - were they right?
Harvard professor Michael Sandel addresses these topics in his new book "The Tyranny of Merit." He joins us via YouTube in a previously recorded discussion of his thesis:
In an era of globalization meritocratic assumptions have stamped a society of "winners" and "losers."
The implication is that those who do not rise (in the global economy) have no one to blame but themselves.
Most of us would agree with the statement "Those who work hard and play by the rules should be able to rise as far as their efforts and talent will take them." But this is not now the case in our America. Example: At Princeton and Yale more students come from the top 1% (economically) than from the entire bottom 60% of the country. Social mobility is now higher in Denmark and Canada (and possibly even China) than here.
The remedy for inequality is not simply to remove barriers to education. The idea that a college education is a condition of dignified work and social esteem devalues those without a diploma, fuels prejudice against less educated members of society and provokes political backlash. Note: 2 out of 3 Americans do NOT have a 4-year college degree. Credentialism (the idea that one must have a college degree to advance) has become the last acceptable prejudice.
The liberal left's pursuit of meritocracy has betrayed the working classes causing a political backlash against governing elites.
The rise of meritocratic elites tends toward the establishment of a "new permanent aristocracy."
Sandel "offers an alternative way of thinking about success - more attentive to the role of luck in human affairs, more conducive to an ethic of humility, and more hospitable to a politics of the common good."
Michael Sandel teaches political philosophy at Harvard. His books have been translated into 27 languages. Sandel's legendary course in Justice was the first Harvard course to be made freely available online and on television and has been viewed by tens of millions. His BBC series, "The Global Philosopher," explores the philosophical ideas behind the headlines.
* View his 8 minute TED talk before the discussion: www.ted.com/talks/michael_sandel_the_tyranny_of_merit