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Friendship Fellowship at Pineda
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2021 Services: see below
Zoom meetings were live and not recorded. 

Light the Chalice services are audio recordings of whole services.
Click here for 2020 Services
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.
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February 21:
​
Woven Words
Sermon by Rev. Amy Kindred

Quick. Name your favorite love poem! Was it
about a friend, sweetheart, humanity, nature or something
as mundane as a favorite coffee cup? 
Click here to hear the podcast...


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February 14:
Side With Love Sunday
Sermon by Rev. Amy Kindred

Sunday Service CHANGE: Join us on Zoom at 10:30 am on Sunday, February 14 for a One-Hour Online Service. Many Unitarian Universalist congregations will be watching the same UU Side With Love sponsored service with you.

What if to "side with love" meant making bold, faith-full choices? What if it were even a little bit scary? This worship service brings together worship leaders and musicians from across the country to offer hopeful, moving, challenging reminders about what we, as Unitarian Universalists, are called to do, and BE, in the world.

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February 7:
Twisted Stories
Sermon by Rev. Amy Kindred

Honoring Black History month, what are the stories you
heard as a child and what is the truth in some of those twisted tales?
Click here to listen to the podcast...

PictureDr. Ronald Inglehart
January 31:
Giving Up on God
Guest Speaker: Dr. Ronald Inglehart, Professor, University of Michigan

Dr. Inglehart wrote an article in "Foreign Affairs." In his research, he argues that economic development, state institutions and long peace since 1945 are reshaping human motivations in ways that have important implications for religion, economic behavior and the spread of democracy. With books and scholarly articles too numerous to list here, you are invited to google "Ronald F. Inglehart political scientist" for additional information.​

Dr. Ronald Inglehart is a professor of political science and a research professor at the University of Michigan. He helped found the Euro-Barometer surveys and directs the World Value surveys, which has surveyed national samples of the populations of 97 countries containing almost 90% of the world's population. His research deals with changing belief systems and their impact on social and political change. His research argues that economic development, state institutions and the long peace since 1945 are reshaping human motivations in ways that have important implications for religion, economic behavior and the spread of democracy.

Dr. Inglehart has been a visiting professor and scholar in France, Germany, The Netherlands, Japan and numerous other countries. Dr. Inglehart has also served as a consultant to the State Department and the EU. He holds honorary doctorates from Germany, Belgium and Sweden and  speaks French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese. His books and scholarly articles are too numerous to list here (google "Ronald F Inglehart political scientist" for additional listings).​


Contact our Office Manager at  office.mgr.ffp@gmail.com if you'd like to participate with us. ​​

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January 24:
Waters Flowing Home
Sermon by Rev. Amy Kindred

It's amazing how we find one another in these stormy times. May we be a buoy to one another, a life-saver to each other when the water churns.

Click here for the podcast...

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January 17:
The Labyrinth

Sermon by Rev. Amy Kindred

What is the symbolism for meandering the winding path toward a focal point? As we navigate the first month of the year, 2021, what are our hopes and dreams and what will we leave in the past?​

​Click here for the podcast.

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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.)

PictureDr. 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

Copyright 2021 by Friendship Fellowship at Pineda. All rights reserved. Links are encouraged. Contact Website Administrator for permission to publish.

​Friendship Fellowship at Pineda, 3115 Friendship Place, Rockledge Florida, 32955
Telephone: (321) 242-1117 
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