Technology and Spirituality: A Service at Newcastle Unitarian Church

How does technology fit into our spiritual lives? What role does it play for each of us? Does it facilitate our connection with something larger than ourselves, or does it get in the way? Or does it do a bit of both? How can we become more intentional in defining the relationship of technology to our own spirituality?

Join us on 16th June at Newcastle Unitarian Church as we consider technology and spirituality in our lives. Our regular 11:00 service will be led by Elizabeth Buie, who will explore with us how technology can be a blessing or a curse to our human spirit. She will also share some ways in which people are using technology intentionally, to foster their spiritual growth and support their spiritual practices. This service will incorporate elements from Unitarian Universalist services in the United States.

Elizabeth is a PhD student in Design Research at Northumbria University. Her research project, “User Experience and the Human Spirit”, is focused on the design of technology to facilitate spiritual experiences, and was inspired by a spiritual experience that she had while using music technology to learn her part in singing Renaissance polyphony. Elizabeth moved to Newcastle from the Washington DC area in October of 2012, after a three-decade career designing software and websites to meet the needs of the people who would use them. Her PhD work is enriched by her dozen years as a Unitarian Universalist in the American tradition, which affirms each person’s right to “a free and responsible search for truth and meaning”. Elizabeth can be found at Newcastle Unitarian Church on most Sunday mornings.