Sermon Podcast: Goin’ Fishin’

Jesus called disciples from all walks of life: fishermen, tax collectors, scholars, freedom fighters, Jews, Greeks, oldies and youngsters. In their footsteps our mission is not to be pleasant and convenient but edgy and true.

Listen to a sermon by the Rev. Daniel Haas based on Jonah 1:1-6,11-17 and Mark 1:16-20. It was delivered at Provo Community United Church of Christ on January 29 2012.

Goin_Fishin_01-29-2012.m4a Listen on Posterous

Twitter with less censorship

witter recently added the option of withholding content in specific countries, while keeping that content available for the rest of the world. There has been a lot of outrage about what is allegedly censorship.

Now please give the folks at Twitter a break, in reality there is going to be less censorship:
“Until now, the only way we could take account of those countries’ limits was to remove content globally.” Now deletes will be limited to countries that “for historical or cultural reasons, restrict certain types of content, such as France or Germany, which ban pro-Nazi content.”
Now what’s wrong with that?

Gingrich’s Kennedy Moment

1962: Kennedy’s eternal speech at Rice University on September 12th, 1962 setting the goal of the space race during the 1960’s.

2010: Obama grounding NASA
For the first time since John Glenn flew in 1962, the United States will have no access of its own for humans into space — and no prospect of getting there in the foreseeable future.

2012: Gingrich brings inspiration back

Sermon podcast: Personal Demons

To find an AA meeting in Utah Valley go to www.utahvalleyaa.org

Listen to a sermon by the Rev. Daniel Haas commemorating Health and Human Service Sunday based on Deuteronomy 18:15-20 and Mark 1:21-28. It was delivered at Provo Community United Church of Christ on January 22 2012.

Personal_Demons_01-22-2012.mp3 Listen on Posterous

Wikipedia half-wrong

I don’t mean the accuracy of some articles of the world’s most important encyclopedia but its decision to black out the English-language Wikipedia for 24 hours, worldwide, beginning at 05:00 UTC on Wednesday, January 18. The blackout is a protest against proposed legislation in the United States — the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the U.S. House of Representatives, and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) in the U.S. Senate.

Here is the problem that I see:

Student warning! Do your homework early. Wikipedia protesting bad law on Wednesday! #sopa

December 31, 1969 5:59 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@jimmy_wales

Jimmy Wales

Protesting, opposing and stopping SOPA is a very good cause that I fully support:

“SOPA requires online service providers, Internet search engines, payment network providers, and Internet advertising services, upon receiving a copy of a court order relating to an AG action, to carry out certain preventative measures including withholding services from an infringing site or preventing users located in the United States from accessing the infringing site. Requires payment network providers and Internet advertising services, upon receiving a copy of such an order relating to a right holder’s action, to carry out similar preventative measures.”

In plain English: Whoever builds and maintains the road on which bank-robbers escape is considered and accomplice, which is ridiculous.

PIPA on the other hand does something useful:

“PIPA authorizes the Attorney General (AG) to commence: (1) an in personam action against a registrant of a nondomestic domain name (NDN) used by an Internet site dedicated to infringing activities (ISDIA) or an owner or operator of an ISDIA accessed through an NDN; or (2) if such individuals are unable to be found by the AG or have no address within a U.S. judicial district, an in rem action (against a domain name itself, in lieu of such individuals) against the NDN used by an ISDIA.”

In plain English: Overseas websites that offer pirated movies for download will be blocked.

To sum up: SOPA Nay, PIPA Yea, Wikipedia should limit its protest to SOPA only.

Sermon podcast: The Baptism of Christ

“For to baptize the Negro and admit him into membership in the Christian church was to recognize him as a man, a child of God, an heir of Heaven, redeemed by the blood of Christ, a temple of the Holy Ghost, a standing type and representative of the Savior of the world, one who, according to the apostle Paul, must be treated no longer as a servant, but as a beloved brother.” (Frederick Douglass)
Listen to a sermon by the Rev. Daniel Haas combining The Baptism of Christ and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day based on Genesis 1:1-5 and Mark 1:1-11. It was delivered at Provo Community United Church of Christ on January 15 2012.

The_Baptism_of_Christ_01-15-2012.mp3 Listen on Posterous

Mormons and Discrimination

This week a pew survey received a lot of buzz stating: U.S. Mormons feel discrimination, hope

The results don’t really come as a surprise but what strikes me from a non-Mormon Utah perspective is that the results most likely could simply be turned around for Utah:

“No Pew survey found that 46% of Utah non-Mormons say they face a lot of discrimination in Utah today, while six in 10 say their fellow Utahns as a whole are uninformed about religion beyond the LDS Church. Two-thirds of non-Mormons say their fellow Utahns do not view non-Mormonism as part of mainstream Utah society.”

Post-it Note Epiphany Sermon

Art Fry sang in his church choir. Fry was frustrated by the fact that, when he stood and opened his hymnal to sing, the paper bookmarks that he used in his hymnal to mark the songs on the program would slip out of sight or even onto the floor. In a moment of insight that has become legendary in the realm of contemporary invention, Fry, musing during a rather boring sermon, came up with the idea that led to the invention of the Post-it note – what an Epiphany!

Listen to a sermon by the Rev. Daniel Haas commemorating Epiphany based on Micah 5:2-5a and Matthew 2:1-12. It was delivered at Provo Community United Church of Christ on January 8 2012.

Post-it_Note_Epiphany_Sermon_01-08-2012.m4a Listen on Posterous

A scary new year’s sermon podcast

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a participant in the German resistance movement against Nazism and a founding member of the Confessing Church. He was executed by hanging at dawn on April 9, 1945, just two weeks before soldiers from the United States 90th and 97th Infantry Divisions liberated the concentration camp, three weeks before the Soviet capture of Berlin and a month before the capitulation of Nazi Germany.

“By gracious powers” is a prayer Bonhoeffer wrote for New Year’s Eve 1944.
It was also the theme for this New Year’s sermon by the Rev. Daniel Haas:

New_Year_Sermon_-_By_gracious_Powers_01-01-2012.m4a Listen on Posterous