 So I think that's what it looks like. It's a little bit more. Yeah, it's not going to be. Oh, here. It's a little bit. It's not going to be. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's going to be. It's going to be. It's going to look weird. Yeah. Some people are like the short, the medium, little, yeah. I think that's what it looks like. I think it's going to be. Yeah. It's going to look like a ball. So you got the ball. I was stopping. Yeah. I was walking around. I was going to hit the ball. It was so good, right? It was good. I was like. Yeah. Like love me. That's it. It was. My niece and nephew were sleeping in our room and I couldn't go in and get something to eat. It's like this part at the end it was a little creepy. I didn't watch any time. It's just my new age. Who's who? Any repeats? Is this one thing? Yeah. Turn it off. So you're forcing the camera. Okay. So that's the one thing. So, you were the first person to come out? Yeah. What I'll probably do with the camera is sit in the theater. Somebody's going to look at me. Just walk up. Let's join together in a moment of centering silence to bring ourselves fully present in this room. And with each other. And now let's join together in singing our in-gathering hymn which is printed in your order of service. Look at the lovely snow this morning so much better than rain. Welcome. Welcome to the First Unitarian Society. Unitarian Universalism is a community where curious seekers gather to explore spiritual, ethical, and social issues in an accepting environment. Unitarian Universalism supports the freedom of conscience of each individual as together we seek to be a force for transformation and healing in the world. Thanks Beth Binhammer. On behalf of the congregation I'd like to extend a special welcome to visitors this morning. We are a welcoming congregation so whoever you are and wherever you are on your life's journey we celebrate your presence with us this morning. Visitors are encouraged to stay for our fellowship hour after the service. There's great coffee back there. And look for people carrying a teal colored stoneware mug. Those are people who have special knowledge and understanding of our community and can answer any questions that you might have. You can also stop at our information table outside of the library where you can find more information about upcoming programs and events. In this lively acoustical environment sometimes it can be difficult for those in attendance to hear what's happening in the service. So if you have a boisterous child person with you there's the Child Haven back over here to my right and in the commons the services broadcast there. We also do have hearing devices available please see one of our ushers if that would be helpful to you. This would also be a really great time to put phasers on stun as I like to say. Turn the sound down. Experienced guides are generally available to give a building tour after the service. So if you'd like to learn more about this sustainably designed addition or the national landmark meeting house please meet near the glass window on this side of the auditorium after the service. And the people who might be available to do those tours would be this morning from our volunteer list. John Powell and Nancy Wormuth. Other volunteers that help our services run smoothly. David Briles is our sound operator this morning. John Magevna is the lay minister in attendance. Our greeter was Kareen Perrin. Usher's Brian Chanos. Lisa Monroe Dick Goldberg and Michael Lossy. The coffee makers this morning. Trudy Carlson Terry Felton and we thank those volunteers very much for their service. Please note announcements in your orders of service which describe upcoming events at the society. Also in your order of service this morning is this insert. And this is a way that you can indicate to our community that you might be willing to do one of these volunteer services. Ushering. Making coffee. So if you would fill out one of these and then drop it in the offering basket as it goes by this morning. A further announcement our Wartman lecture is today. Please join us this afternoon at 2 o'clock in the landmark auditorium as Dr. Araceli Alonso speaks on sexual exploitation and trafficking of women in European Frontera Sur a major health and human rights issue. A reception will follow. Again welcome. We hope that today's service will stimulate your mind touch your heart and stir your spirit. Just about perfect though beautiful and bounteous this is however an imperfect world. A world filled with imperfect people with people who fail people who try to be as good and as caring and as honest and as generous as they believe they should be. How we live with these imperfections that's what's really important. We have to acknowledge them take responsibility for them out with them forgive them and others and in ourselves. This is an imperfect place and we are all imperfect people and yet we do have some amazing strength. May we join our strengths and our affections to become this morning for a while at least the steadfast chain of community. I invite you to rise in body or in spirit for the lighting of our chalice. And as Beth lights the flame of our faith please join me in reading the words of affirmation printed in the program. As we gather we light this chalice as a symbol of hope. May the light within each of us be rekindled each day. May the light of truth and goodness be part of our lives always. And when that bright spark sputters let us use our powers to bring it back to life. And now on this fine January morning please turn to your neighbor exchange with them a warm and friendly greeting. This weekend we have the pleasure of experiencing our annual banner parade. Each of our children's RE classes have been creating a banner that reflects the things that they think about and talk about, play about and care about in their classes. From preschool through the ninth grade our children and our youth are busy learning and growing. Now you are going to have a chance to see one of the things they've been doing. Following the parade the banners will be hung in the commons area. On the rail over the commons adding color and spirit to our shared space with each subsequent worship service. Be sure to take a look when those banners have been hung. And now as our classes come in feel free to applaud each class after it moves from the front of the auditorium. This is a multi-generational congregation we would agree. It's wonderful to see so many young people here. So we continue with two personal statements the first by Jessica Kautz. And this appeared serendipitously enough in the January issue of The Sun, the literary journal. She writes, I'm sorry I don't have a better way to start this. I tried to think of an interesting hook, an amusing anecdote. But then I figured I might just as well get it right out there. Of all the bad habits I possess, and there are many, unnecessary apologies are the worst. I'm sorry, it rolls off the tongue so mindlessly like a mmm or an err. I barely hear it when I speak it anymore. When I was a child, apologies were often expected, even demanded of me. And I was a quick learner, eager to please, eager to pacify. And so I'm sorry, that did the trick with angry parents, irritated teachers, bullying classmates. And even when I wasn't at fault, peace was more appealing to me than justice. I do anything to dissipate the tension so that I could get back to my books and my cats and my drawings and my vivid imagination. As a teen I felt like apologizing for my very existence. I was too fat, too plain, too clumsy, too dreamy, too awkward to take up space in the world. Numbing myself with alcohol and with drugs, that helped some. And so did angry music, art, dark clothes, dark hair, and friends who did the same. I just disappeared a little bit. As a college student I began to see my own privilege more clearly. Not just as a white female, but as a middle class American with clean drinking water, access to birth control, a warm home, and plenty of food. I was so lucky and I was so very sorry about it. And I've come to realize that I'm sorry is the wrong reaction to all of the above. I don't need to apologize for having an imperfect body. I do not need to apologize for my first world privileges, although I do need to work on making the playing field a lot more level. And yet I still mindlessly say, I'm sorry many times every day, to the clerk at the grocery store when I forget to bring my canvas bag, to the waiter when I request my salad dressing on the side, to the postman who has to lug a big box up to my doorstep, even to my sweet boyfriend when we bump noses and kissing. Well, recently I've started paying more attention to the men that I know. Few of them seem to have this curious verbal tic. What's their secret? My five-year-old has become my role model. Sure, he'll say he's sorry when he's hurt someone's feelings or when he's broken a toy, but he never apologizes for his own existence. The second reading is from an interview conducted with Ani DeFranco. In 2013, DeFranco scheduled an event called Righteous Retreat at the Nataway Plantation and Resort in White Castle, Louisiana. Like much of the land in the South, it used to be a slave plantation. And DeFranco's idea was to have seminars and classes over four days with the goal of inspiring artists and musicians in their own creative work. She writes, A promoter who'd done a similar event at Nataway the previous year had planned it all out. And I'd agreed without knowing the exact location, only that it was near New Orleans. For my co-faculty, I picked Tashi Reagan, Buddy Wakefield, and Ed Hamill, three very political and poetic kindred spirits of mine. Now, when I found out that the name of the resort was Nataway Plantation, I was shocked. But I did not automatically think it was incorrect for my crew and for myself to inhabit this space. One of my co-leaders, Tashi, is black, had played at former plantations before. But then there was backlash. And the woman who spearheaded the criticism of the event, she had done her research, which I certainly had not. She discovered a promotional pamphlet describing the slave owner of this plantation as benign, someone who had tried, quote, to maintain a willing workforce. A willing is a pretty offensive word to apply to slavery. First, the controversy built on social media for two or three weeks, but my manager chose not to tell me about it. He perceived it was not my job to get involved in every dispute about my work. And when I eventually became aware of the problem, I thought that I had to respond right now, this very day. I was emotional, and I made a misstep. You see, I tried to explain my side, how I perceived the issue. I pointed out, for example, that any other building in the south had been constructed directly or indirectly by slave labor that to avoid using such buildings, I'd have to move far away from New Orleans. And I also asked, well, should I be expected to investigate the history and the ownership of all the venues where I played, performing arts centers, theaters, nightclubs? And this only provoked even fiercer reaction. I see now that I just should have said, I'm sorry, and affirmed people's pain. Sorry would have shown that I was listening. And a few days later, I released another statement that said just that, that my white privilege had snuck up on me. The attacks forced me to re-examine myself. I came to understand that places like Not-Away need the most awareness and the most healing. When you have a wound like this, you can't simply turn away. You have to address it or it just gets worse and worse. I invite you to join me in the spirit of meditation. From many places and conditions of the spirit we come, we come here seeking to center our lives, seeking a greater sense of wholeness. We come from dry places where words and knowledge seem broken into brittle fragments that do not cohere. We come from overfilled places where information abounds, but there's no real depth of feeling or understanding. We come from hard places where feelings are dulled and lonely hollow places where meaning seems thin. Here in this caring and supportive community, and at this time a quiet reflection, let us be emptied of all the clatter and the confusion of the information we once thought was self-sufficient. May we be emptied and then filled with a spirit that flows in and among us and that can be for us a reliable source of solace and insight. In this time of quiet, let us center our spirits, ground our being, that we might find that power that already lies latent within us. Power for love, power for creativity, power for hope, and above all, power for transformation. Given this reprieve from our daily pressures, may we learn once again to appreciate that every inch of our space, the space we inhabit is a miracle, that every instant that we live is a wonder and an opening for new possibilities, new opportunities. At this very moment, then, may our hearts be open to compassion, our minds be open to wisdom, our spirits be open to grace. Let us continue on in just a moment more of silent meditation. Blessed be and amen. If you receive the news of the day from any source whatsoever, print, electronic, or just plain coffee house conversation, you are surely familiar with charges of sexual misconduct that have been leveled at an increasing number of notable public figures. Some, like former Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore, just creepy miscreants preying on teenagers. But others, like Garrison Keeler, felt kind of like a member of the family, didn't he? The rumpled uncle, quick with a quip or an amusing anecdote. The fall of the insufferable blow-heart Bill O'Reilly that may have elicited a little shodden-fried. Oh, how the mighty have fallen, we say to ourselves, smugly. But then there's someone like the personable Charlie Rose. He falls from grace and our emotions may be a little more mixed. Who'd have guessed that Charlie Rose was such a cad, other than those he abused, that is. Now, what I found interesting about this avalanche of reports, which is now given rise to the nationwide hashtag me too movement, is the manner in which these various perpetrators have responded. The strategies that they have adopted to deal with or to deflect these scandals. Some, of course, simply decide to circle the wagons. And despite copious evidence to the contrary, they deny any wrongdoing whatsoever. Judge Roy Moore didn't know any of the women that he accosted as a young DA. For Donald Trump, reports of his infidelities, his raunchy behavior were and are fake news. Stories fabricated, as he said, by women I do not know and have never met. At least one highly regarded religious leader. The 70-year-old Buddhist teacher, Sogyal Rinpoche, had the temerity to justify his luxury, claiming that what he did was consistent with the Tibetan Rigpa tradition's crazy wisdom. Rigpa disciples, he says, are obliged to accept this ostensibly abusive behavior by recognized spiritual masters as part of their enlightenment training. When eight long-time associates of the Rinpoche detailed his misdeeds over many years in a 12-page letter, he offered this rejoinder. Rinpoche said, I have spent my whole life and my best to serve the Buddhist teachings and not a day goes by when I am not thinking about the welfare of my students. I will now go into retreat and pray and practice for healing and understanding to prevail. And in the spirit of the great masters of the past, I will take this suffering upon myself and give happiness and love to others. Other perpetrators expressed a greater willingness to take responsibility for their past in decencies, after having been shown the door by CBS and national public television, Charlie Rose did issue an apology saying that he was greatly embarrassed. He characterized his past behavior in hindsight as insensitive. But then, in his own defense, he said, I do not believe all these accusations are accurate. And I have always felt that I was pursuing shared feelings, even though I now realize I was mistaken. Alex Kozinski, a federal appeals court judge from San Francisco for 32 years, he reacted similarly after 15 former law clerks individually issued complaints about him. I may have overstepped, he admitted, but it was really just a misunderstanding because I've always had this broad sense of humor and candid way of speaking to my clerks without addressing the specific and damning aspects of these reports. Judge Kozinski went on to say, I may not have been mindful of the special challenges that women face in the workplace. If you are thinking that responses such as these, apologetic or not, don't quite measure up. Well, you'd be right. In each instance, one or more important elements is missing and leaving aside those who simply dismiss all the charges out of hand as part of some feminist-inspired conspiracy, where did the others miss the mark? So for purposes of comparison, let's consider the post-exposure apology of Al Franken. Now, although some of his more ardent supporters complained that Al Franken was being pilloried for offenses that were far less egregious than those of Charlie Rose or Donald Trump, the entertainer turned senator did feel that an abject apology was in order. And of all the mea culpas that I've read, this one felt the most authentic and the most insightful. I respect women, he told his colleagues from the Senate floor, and I don't respect men who don't respect women. And the fact that my own actions have given people such a reason to doubt that makes me feel ashamed. As a comedian, I've told and written a lot of jokes that I once thought were funny, but later came to realize were just plain offensive. But my intentions behind the actions aren't the point at all. It's the impact that these jokes have had on others. That's what matters. And I'm just sorry it has taken me so long to come to terms with that. So my topic this morning is contrition. And I've spent considerable time describing the way that well-known public figures have responded to their accusers because I think it may help us to understand what contrition is and why it matters. To be contrite is to be remorseful, to be sincerely penitent. That's the thumbnail definition. And if we parse it, we can see that it contains several elements. First, the contrite individual feels badly about what they have done and they are paying a steep emotional price for their behavior. Second, they are conscience-stricken. They know that they have crossed an ethical line and violated their own and society's professed values. And finally, they are honest. They exhibit candor and they accept personal responsibility. Now using those criteria, we can revisit the foregoing statements and point to those that do reflect the true spirit of contrition. So again, if we leave denialists like Roy Moore and Donald Trump out of the picture, where do others make the grade or fall short? Now, Sogyo Arimpashe, that Buddhist spiritual teacher, does not deny the evidence arrayed against him. He's honest about his past abuses, but he feels no remorse because with his spiritual orientation, he doesn't think that any ethical norms have been violated. And in this respect, Sogyo Arimpashe resembles the former overlords of the South African apartheid regime, who, when they were confronted with the torture that they had inflicted, defended that torture on ideological grounds. As Pumla Godebo Marquezela, a psychologist who served on the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, put it, the trick that perpetrators use always starts out with a rationalization to convince themselves of the legitimacy of their acts. And then they begin to communicate this rationalization to others, and at that point it no longer is a rationalization, but a truth, a truth that releases the perpetrator from any sense of guilt that he or she might feel about that evil deed. Now, although it's not quite so obvious, we find in other public apologies this same element of rationalization and an evasion of contrition's honesty requirement. Charlie Rose thought that he was pursuing shared feelings, as if a man at his level of influence and power wasn't used to imposing his feelings and his desires on others. And to argue that after years of serial abuse, the problem boiled down to miscommunication, that's more than a little disingenuous. And in the same vein, Judge Kosinski lays part of the problem at the doorstep of his clerks, who just didn't get his broad sense of humor. For Kosinski, as for Rose, this became his truth. This was an outgrowth of his rationalizations, the one that abusers often use to absolve themselves of serious breaches of trust, or a safety, or of personal honor. And at the feeling level, it becomes clear that Charlie Rose, well, he is suffering emotionally for what he's done. He says, I'm embarrassed by all of this. But does that mean that he's remorseful, that he's contrite? Is it the unseemly acts themselves or the public exposure that has caused him this embarrassment? And if the latter, Charlie Rose, is indulging in self-pity, he's not showing sympathy for his victims. How do we judge the genuineness of remorse? Pamela Godebo-Madakazela asks, how do we know that the signs of an alleged contrition are not simply the product of the perpetrators having been caught, or of changes in the society that have destroyed his power base and his support structure? Now, Charlie Rose may now appreciate how much distress his overbearing, unwanted advances have caused others, those under his celebrity thumb. But you wouldn't know it from his public apology, would you? So what about Al Franken? Does he pass the contrition test? Telling, I think, that he used the word ashamed rather than embarrassed to describe his own emotions. Synonyms for ashamed include abashed, rueful, regretful. And these words point to a profound sense of self-betrayal and a clear recognition of personal wrongdoing. And moreover, Franken makes no attempt to rationalize his behavior as some kind of comedic shtick. I came to realize that the jokes I thought were funny were just plain offensive. And in any case, he says, it's not the jokes in my intention in telling them that matters, what counts as the impact those jokes had on other people. So there's been no misunderstanding, and no one is to blame but Al Franken himself. Now, more often than not, when we issue an apology, we will typically invoke our intentions. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. I had no idea that my comments would cause you to be offended. But this is really kind of a deflection, as the Buddhist teacher Ken McCleod points out. The subtle implication is that the victim, him or herself, may be too sensitive, that the problem's not with the words themselves, but with the recipient's reaction to them. Franken doesn't go that route. He says, lesson learned, words matter. And I'm just sorry it took me so long to grasp that truth. This is not to say that the offended party's feelings don't matter, that they should not be somehow acknowledged in the course of an apology. But that recognition always has to be accompanied by a clear statement of personal accountability, because without that, there is no impetus to change, just to be more careful about the company we keep. Quite often, as Beverly Flanagan points out, we choose to express regret rather than remorse, ruin the outcome, but not necessarily the deed itself. Regret says, I'm sorry you were hurt. Remorse says, I'm sorry for what I did. Regret is the easier path to take, because it excuses us from doing any further inner work in true contrition. One resolves to do better, to be a better person, to undertake what is necessary to avoid making the mistake over and over again, and that does require remorse. And that's by no means easy, particularly I think for we men in this culture who are so used to being on top, exercise and control, projecting strength. Our default position, I think, when we are challenged is to raise the shields in order to maintain control and preserve this positive self-image that we've built up around ourselves. It's quite rare in my experience for a man of celebrity who is comparable to Anita Franco to do what she did after the Tataway Plantation scandal, to just suck it up and submit to being further educated. The word repentance is a near synonym for contrition, and in the Bible repentance signals a moral and spiritual awakening that leads to a turnaround, to a change in direction that promises to make of our lives something that's more responsible and something that is more life-affirming. The theological term for that turning around is metanoia, and the quintessential tale of repentance or contrition is the return of the prodigal son found in the Gospel of Luke, which I'm sure you're all familiar with. After leaving home and leaving all of his familial responsibilities behind, this profligate younger of two sons loses everything in a binge of gambling and carousing. After hitting bottom, as it were, he awakens to his selfishness, his stupidity, and he walks home in shame, returning to his family. And as he approaches the house, his father rushes out and embraces him warmly, and the son blurts out his apology. Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. That's very powerful in its brevity, and that apology is a model of true contrition. The son acknowledges the hurt he has caused his loved ones. He takes full responsibility for his unethical behavior. He shows his sincerity by declaring that he deserves to be disowned. And although it is not explicitly mentioned, the son's commitment to change is implied by the unqualified forcefulness of his statement. And so there's one more final issue that remains to be considered this morning. The relationship of this contrition I've been talking about to forgiveness. When confronted with someone who meets all the criteria for contrition, is the victim duty-bound to forgive? Well, in our Judeo-Christian culture, people often feel that regardless of the circumstances, forgiveness is a moral and religious obligation. After all, when Peter asked Jesus how many times one should forgive a person who has repeatedly harmed them, saying, Master, is seven times sufficient? Jesus responds by saying, No, Peter, 77 times. And he doesn't place any conditions on the process. We must forgive early and often, because that is the godly way. In the Gospels, Jesus speaks frequently of forgiveness. He extends forgiveness freely, even to those responsible for his crucifixion. But as applied to our normal human affairs, this can feel to me like cheap grace, a get-out-of-jail free card. Unconditional forgiveness leaves little, if any, incentive for the offender to make any meaningful behavioral changes. The Roman statesman Seneca once said, It is as inhuman to forgive all as it is to forgive none. But that kind of magnanimity isn't good for the forgiving party either. Because if the injured party feels as he or she often does in our Judeo-Christian culture, if they feel pressured to take this step without sufficient readiness to forgive, then it may add to their suffering. As Robert Enright says, not only has the person been violated, but they now can feel guilty because they are not able, sincerely, to extend their hand in forgiveness. Still, when true contrition is shown and recognized as such, then readiness to forgive may come sooner than it would otherwise. The victim's suffering has been acknowledged, their story has been accepted at face value, and the imbalance of power and authority created by the abuse has been corrected. A remorseful apology inspires empathy and forgiveness, Pumla Godabab Matakazeila says. And yet it is always the prerogative of the injured party to decide whether the contrition is genuine and what further steps might be called for before burying the hatchet. And this process of writing a wrong doesn't end with this expression of contrition and an act of forgiveness. In fact, that may only mark the beginning of an extended process of moral and spiritual discernment on the part of the perpetrator. Again, writing from a Buddhist perspective, Ken MacLeod says, we have to stop feeding the inner patterns that moved us to do this harm in the first place. We have to stop feeding those inner patterns, and that will take time in the steady application of personal effort. So we've been talking this morning, I've been talking about the big stuff, not every inadvertent slight or accidental injury that occurs. That's not what we're dealing with here. As Jessica Kotz learned, we shouldn't be apologizing all the time, apologizing for who we are, for all of our all-too-human foibles. That's not only unnecessary, it is debasing to the entire forgiveness process. For ordinary, everyday injuries, a simple, pardon me, is often more than sufficient. But for serious transgressions, we up the ante, because for open wounds, the bandage is forgiveness, and the balm is true contrition. Blessed be the hand on that. It is now time for the giving and the receiving of our offertory, and I invite you to give generously, because part of your gifts will be used to support the literacy network of Dane County. Once a month, we generally set aside a few moments during the hour for the sharing of joys and sorrows. The time for members and friends and even visitors to our congregation to relate to the entire gathered community some special event or circumstance in your life or the life of someone close to you in recent days or weeks. And so for about five minutes that remain in our service, anyone who wishes is invited to step to the front of the auditorium, light a candle in one of the two candle libraries assisted by our lay minister. And then using the microphone provided by our lay minister, please share your name if that feels comfortable as well as your brief message. Please note that our services are live-cast, so listeners are not restricted to those who are sitting in this room. You may also come forward and wordlessly light a candle of commemoration and then simply return to your seat. So now I open the floor for the sharing of these significant matters of our lives. Good morning, I'm Liz Wessel and I wanted to share both the death and the life of my uncle. Steven Morrison lived a full life and he taught us how to live simply but also well. And he lived to a great life of 94 and drove his stick shift car in Los Angeles up until a week ago Monday. Lived independently and he shared with us his passion for trains, his passion for art, his passion for picnicking and Yosemite and my brother and I were with him right till the end and we loved him a lot and we'll miss him greatly. Many of you in the religious education program especially are aware of my son, Joss Fyre, who is on the autism spectrum and his symptoms have been coming more complicated as he's aged and his fears and paranoia have increased to the point where sometimes he even flees this sanctuary. But between February 7th and March 7th Joss is going to be going to an assessment at a place called Northwest Passage in Frederick, Wisconsin which is directly east of Minneapolis four hours north of here and there he's going to go under a one month assessment for long term care. I don't know what the outcome will be and me and my ex-wife and my partner and his little sister are all very nervous about this but we understand that at this point in his progression his growth that this is the right step to take so I ask that you all pray for his well-being and that this new group of individuals that will be paying attention to him give us a course that will be best for his well-being and growth and thanks for your continued support of our family. Hi I just wanted to report, I don't know all the details but Eva Wright had heart surgery and she's doing really well. I'm Anne Schaefer I have a sorrow which is the death of my friend David Bedre who died of pancreatic cancer two weeks ago. I ask you to hold him in your hearts. Good morning I'm Nancy Wormuth and I'm here with a great joy that to be grateful for our wonderful support at University of Wisconsin hospitals. On February 6th on Tuesday I'm going to undergo some neurosurgery and all is looking good and I just appreciate your thoughts and just want to share the joy that we have such a resource here I can't tell you what a wonderful team and the serenity that I feel. Thank you. John I feel would like one more candle to symbolize those joys and sorrows that may have occurred to others in the congregation but that were left unexpressed this morning. And I invite you now to rise and body and spirit for our final hymn This Old World. We have been already heard today we are going to acknowledge the generosity of this community after the service and recognize the tremendous progress that we've made towards our capital campaign goals. We've raised nearly three million dollars and we've had pledges from over 300 families and we've had the support of many many volunteers. Pledges are still welcome but we're winding down our activity to hear the full details. Please join us at the parish meeting on Sunday, February 11th and I hope that everyone will join us in partaking in the refreshments that are available in the commons after service and I hope to see you there. Thank you. Thank you, Matthew. Matthew is the co-chair of our capital campaign committee and so we close with these words by David Miller. Sometimes we go forth from church with peace in our hearts sometimes with a heightened awareness of the contradictions and the brokenness of our lives and our world and always we go forth with the promise that wherever and whenever the spirit is broken it can be made whole again even amid the brokenness that assurance brings us a measure of peace. Blessed be and Amen.