What's Tony Thinking

How to Live When Things Fall Apart

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that I will be doing a lecture this fall with the title, “How to Live When Things Fall Apart.”

I noted that I provided that title to the sponsoring body, Desert Garden UCC in Sun City, Arizona, about a year ago now, which is to say pre-COVID. Alas, as time passes my title seems ever more apt.

The pandemic does, however, have a few silver linings on its cloud. One is that it has changed how this lecture will actually happen. Instead of live and in-person in the church’s sanctuary, it will be over ZOOM. Which means that, should you be interested, you can take part and listen in. And, it’s free! It also means that I won’t have to get on a plane to do this thing, which is just fine in my book. Though I would have enjoyed the face-to-face with the fine folk of Desert Garden and whoever else turns up.

To register (which is important so that they are technologically prepared for the right number of people), just click on the link above and follow the registration instructions.

I’ll give that talk from 10 to 11 (Mountain Standard and Pacific Daylight are the same at that point) on October 10, 2020. The talk is supposed to run an hour. Then there will be a break, during which time questions and comments will be collected. Then we will be back for the better part of another hour to respond in a Q and A. The next day, I’ll be doing the sermon for DG’s on-line worship as well.

I am currently working on the lecture and having fun doing it. I’m a little worried about doing a lecture on ZOOM, as ZOOM works best when you are full face on into the camera. While a lecture, to me, means working from a manuscript and therefore some amount of looking down at the text. Oh well, it will work out.

The lecture is an inaugural lecture in a new series which the church has created in memory of its recently deceased pastor, Sam Sawitski. I knew Sam a bit when he was at Mercer Island UCC in the first decade of this century. He impressed upon his Arizona congregation the importance of the church’s teaching ministry, hence a lecture series as an appropriate tribute.

My blog of yesterday, “Turns Out the UCC is Mostly White,” has gotten quite a response, and a lot of reposting. It has also been picked up at the Seattle-based aggregating site, postalley.org, under the title, “A Progressive Church Tries to Deal With Its Whiteness.”