 ᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦᶦ� Good morning. Welcome to the first Unitarian Society of Madison. This is a community where curious and compassionate seekers gather to explore spiritual, ethical and social issues in an accepting and nurturing environment. Unitarian Universalism calls us to work toward equity, love and justice in our congregations and in the world. My name is Elizabeth Barrett and on behalf of the congregation, I would like to extend a special welcome to visitors. We are a welcoming congregation. So whoever you are and no matter who you love, we celebrate your presence among us. This would be a great time to silence our cell phones because in a moment I will invite you to join me in a few moments of silence for contemplation, meditation or prayer as we settle in and come fully into this time and place together. Please rise in body or spirit for our in-gathering hymn. We will join together in number 354, we laugh, we cry, we will sing verse 1 and verse 4. We laugh, we cry, we live, we die, we dance, we sing our song. We need to feel there's something here to which we can belong. We need to feel the freedom just to have some time alone. But most of all we need close friends, we can call our bears. And we believe and in the strength of love and we have thoughts to receive. Then we believe that sharing is an act. We seek elusive answers to the questions of this life. We seek to put an end to the search for truth, equality and blessed peace of mind. And then we come together here to make sense of what we find. And we've been to question truth is an act. Remaining standing for our opening words in Chalice Sliding. Reverend Gretchen Haley reminds us, whatever you come in anticipating, whatever you expect or worry for our world, for the future, for our lives, let it go. Make space in your heart to be surprised. Make room in your soul for a new story to take shape. Let astonishment be possible at this life that remains a miracle. Imagine here the bursting of joy, relentless and resilient coming in waves, washing over us with music, story, silence and still this dreaming together. And we join our voices continuing her words as we light our Chalice. Together we say, being hope for each other, encourage to believe in this new day dawning for us all. Come, let us worship together. I invite us to turn towards each other and offer a warm greeting. So this morning we have the treat of taking part in something that happens every year. We have done it for all of the service this weekend. We are experiencing together our annual banner parade. Each of our 22 children's religious education classes has created a banner to reflect the things that they talk about, think about, play about and care about in their classes. And so in each of our services from preschool through ninth grade, our children and youth are busy learning and growing together. So in just a moment we will have the classes that are part of the 11 o'clock hour parade through. They'll make their way up onto our chancel and perhaps they will yell out their name, perhaps not, we'll see. And you are very much invited to honor and celebrate them by applauding once they come in. So may we now together celebrate our banner parade. So that is a way of us honoring the ongoing work of children's religious education. I hope you will be sure and take a look at all of our banners that will be throughout the commons area and look at some of the wonderful artwork that has happened. I invite us now to continue with the service rising in all the ways that we do. Turn to number 298 and may we join our voices together and wake now my senses. So one of the wonderful things about growing up in the south had to be the gentle enchantment of long warm summer nights, which I feel the enchantment and longing for deeply today. I particularly recall so many times when I would be visiting with my cousins and it was a rare opportunity for us to get together and how as the night unfolded on the porch together, we inevitably as the lightning bugs were dancing around us and the stars began to make their appearance, we would imagine and talk together. We would talk about some of our favorite stories from the past. It seems like almost every time we gathered and we would share what was happening in our lives and sort of catch up and it seemed like as the night would move on and more and more of the stars would fill the sky, we inevitably would find ourselves dreaming together about what we wished for our lives in the coming years. It seemed like Starlight would draw us to another level, a place of wonder and possibility and I would not have put it together then but it was particularly significant that we were participating in a reverie that has enlivened enraptured human beings for eons, sitting around a campfire or out on a long night pondering and being reminded about our possibilities. It has long invigorated our imagination for we have projected onto stars and their patterns all sorts of fanciful images of heroes and legends and in human exploration stars have helped guide the intrepid, the lonely, the adventuresome and the lost alike as they sought to orient themselves in the realm of deeper dreaming at night. They quickly learned that while a single carefully studied star could offer some direction, it was really the interrelationship of many stars that increased the accuracy of navigating on one's journey. So it seems appropriate that in the congregations that I've served as interim after many months together hours of conversation with you and just experiencing what your life together is like, I found myself noticing in each of them that there were some common patterns that would emerge in both what you told me was essential about this place, what gave you life most here, but also what I observed in your living and doing ministry together. And so I found myself thinking about some of those patterns, those star-like bits of illumination that exist in this congregation and wondering what it would be like to explore them together in this interim time. And I decided not to focus on just one or two because I thought it was important that you think about interrelated constellation of meaning and potential direction that comes from the various components of life that bring greater life to this place. But I didn't want to give you too many of them either because in a congregation this size, perhaps a little paradoxically, it is important to choose carefully and strategically where one puts one's attention and energy less to be too diffuse in the work that you do together. So I came up with five stars that I have heard and experienced from you again and again. And in a few moments after a little reflection and a little music, I will share those five with you. But let me put forth at least one important caveat. Over and over again in every congregation, the number one thing that you told me that brings great life to you is the sense of community in this place. The sense of community of people of all ages and of the diversity that exists. And I believe that that is an essential and shining example of why we are together. But I would also argue that in many ways it is one of the few things that is essentially the essence of the ministry that brings us together. And so it is not necessarily a given, but it is more the sea in which we swim together. And so what I hope to do with the five stars is talk about the ways that those components of our life serve to deepen and broaden our sense of community and purpose together. And so I invite you to turn to the star-like truths to know more deeply the wisdom about our life. To do this, I invite us to bring our full selves to it, including a sense of imagination. And so I invite you to imagine this with me. Imagine one night in the very center of a long and important journey. You pause before it is time for you to rest that evening. And you realize that you are blanketed under a vast and awe-inspiring covering of stars in the night sky. And having traveled such a long distance, you find yourself this night in a place that you have never been. Mysterious, maybe a little foreboding. And also as you look at it now, quite beautiful. And for a moment of insecurity, you think to yourself, what if I am lost? What if I strayed from the right path many, many miles ago? But as you survey the night sky and look at the stars above you, some ancient knowledge reminds you that these points of light will help you navigate forward. That you are not lost. You are finding your way. And as you get ready for sleep and dreaming, you realize that there is a song that begins to form within you, that sings of gratitude and humility, a song that connects you past and present with all that is. It sings of whimsy and possibility. It sings to you of hope, longing and your dreams. May we reflect together to the power of music. So these are the five shining stars that I have seen and you have told me are important to you. Star number one, somewhat appropriately for the timing of this service, is music. Music Plato wrote, gives soul to the universe. Wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. Many congregations find music is important to them, but you really have told me again and again just how essential music is here. In both its variety and the long legacy of strong music directors and amazing music programs, the ways that the hymns and special music bring you into deeper places of understanding your life. In many congregations, this one included music and worship is a conduit to a sort of spiritual direction and connection that many people will say again and again might not otherwise exist without its presence Sunday and Saturday after the next. And it is also a related reality that music is a place that connects people with the realm of emotion in their own life and something about the connection of that music with the evocative way that feelings come to us that is disarming, deeply connected with the powers that exist within and around us that bring a deeper sense of spirit. And often in its own way that connection brings a healing that might not otherwise exist. If music is important and it really is, there are many important components that are raised by understanding this to be one of the shining stars. All of these shining stars offer us gifts, but I believe as we think about the future, each of them also asks us to think carefully about not necessarily always challenges, but components of it that will add complication to our lives and should. The thing is, the question for me that I would pose to you is what vision of music within this congregation will best help you more fully live into your possibilities as Unitarian Universalists. You already experience that what happens here in music is not just entertainment, but deeply soulful work. How can you push even more deeply into that reality as you move forward together? One of the things that I've experienced over and over again about music is that it is a profound source of connection. It is often a bridge-building connector. It allows people of great diversity to experience some powerful things together that they otherwise might not have experienced. But because music is also a place of deep connection with our culture, we find that there is also the possibility that music as experienced in our services and our community together may point to difference as well. The difference between generations and what music speaks to them, the differences in ethnicity and socioeconomic realities, the differences in racial diversity and the particular styles of music that most often speak to the heart and soul. And so it is important for us to be thoughtful about the variety that we bring into this space, especially if we believe, and many of you have said that you do, that this is a space that needs to welcome a wide range of human beings and to create brave space for them here. How can music be an invitation to more people? And what's also true is that because music is a powerful connection with deep feelings, it is not as easy as it sounds to share the sonic space of music with each other because we often become very caught up in the sort of music that speaks to us individually with most power and find it off-putting when the music that happens in services does not speak to us. But as is true of so many components of the shared life, we are asked again and again to consider that what may speak to us, may not speak to other people, and what speaks deeply to someone else may be just an opportunity for us to celebrate the wonder and diversity of who we are together. How can music be a place of deeper connection in spirit in this place? Star number two, justice and peace. Over and over again you have told me of its importance. Mother Teresa wrote, love cannot remain by itself. It has no meaning. Love has to be put into action, and that action is service. Whatever form we are able or disabled, rich or poor, it is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing. A lifelong sharing of love with others. The second shining star is indeed the motif of experiencing that justice, peace work, that deep connection with the planet are all at the very marrow of the bones of this place. You have said again and again that it is essential to what happens here, that we work together, think deeply together, that we inspire each other in the important ministry of justice and peace. And for the future, I wonder how it is that this work will ask us to expand and deepen our understandings in its own right. How will it create opportunities for people to act on their values? Our congregations will always have people that are activists and find one of the most meaningful ways that they are more faithful in their lives is by acting for the good of justice and peace in the world. And there are so many other people who join us week after week who also care deeply about what is happening in the world but feel disempowered and overwhelmed by what they experience and long for some meaningful and personal way to engage the world that works for them. How are we doing at being creative and intentional about creating more of those places for people to find that connection? And a related question is how is it that the entire congregation owns that ministry of peace and justice? It is easy for us to let the ministers of a congregation or the staff be the people that take the lead in justice work. And there are times where that needs to happen. But I've also experienced that often it is the case that if it gets out of balance it is possible for people to be glad that someone else has been the public witness to social justice and that that is the end of the work of social justice in some congregations. What would it mean for it to be something that is shared by this entire community? Star number 3 Spiritual deepening Elizabeth Kubler Ross wrote Consciously or not we are all on a quest for answers trying to learn the lessons of life. We grapple with fear and guilt we search for meaning, love and power we try to engage fear, loss and time meaningfully we seek to discover who we are and how we can be truly and deeply happy. This star encompasses so many essential aspects of why First Unitarian Society exists. In our conversations you have talked about the many ways that you feel that your spirit and your intellect are deepened by what happens here that it gives you a sense of meaning and purpose in your life that it brings you a greater sense of connection that it gives you the opportunity to gain perspective. Many of you have said that that happens to you regularly in worship over the weekends together. Many of you specifically talked about a program in the past the quest program that was an in-depth exploration of one's spiritual development. Many of you also listed that the various meditation and spiritual support groups that happen within this place are the avenue that you have found to be deeply meaningful for that sense of deepening and for all of us in various ways. Religious education whether it is for our adults our youth or our children much time, energy and care goes into shaping that so that it continues to expand our understanding of meaning in life. And there is always the case in every congregation that if you do your job well you continue to invite people in your midst that expand more and more what the community means in terms of spiritual deepening. It has been my experience that the people that work most here our most dedicated volunteers our staff and our ministers often have a more complete and fuller understanding of just how diverse you are than many of you do. And so at times there is some tension around the full range of what people ask for in terms of their sense of connection and deepening. What would it be like in this congregation for you to be in a deep enough conversation with each other an open enough conversation so that you knew more fully the range of spiritual understandings and callings that are already present in this place. What would it look like for you to be open enough to embrace the full range of what Unitarian Universalism already acknowledges as its sources of wisdom. What would it look like for our programs to do what they already do well to offer a wide range of experiences that help many different people find meaning in their lives. How will this star help us be more fully ourselves? Star number 4 Small Group Experiences Tandeika wrote this about small groups. They aim to make moments matter again. In gatherings of 6 to 10 people usually meeting at least once a month to build spiritual lives and each member holds on to some moment through personal sharing and by asking for and by listening to the details the texture, the content, the feelings and ideas that are packed into those experiences and as people pay attention to the details of each other's lives this gathered community extends a moment of time until it is filled to overflowing with more thoughts and feelings that turn time into an experience that is not fleeting but rather abiding because all of that group are fully present sacred time begins there. So many of you in talking about what changed your life about this place have talked about your experiences in smaller groups groups like covenant groups in the past are chawa circles some of which have existed for a very long time our current journey circles are another example of covenant groups that seek to offer a meaningful connection and any group that allows a fewer number of people to come together and really share that deeper sense of life can do that work here but in order for small groups to remain alive and resilient and really do their work it asks something of all of us the thing that is I think most essential about these small groups is that they are an opportunity for all of you to minister to each other and to practice that ministry regularly with each other and if you do not regularly participate in some small group within the congregation not only are you not taking part in that but in some way that shared ministry is diminished so even if it isn't your thing to be in a small group I invite you to try to find some way to engage a smaller group of this congregation meaningfully even if you have been there done that in the past in terms of being in small groups the longer that you are without that experience the more that that essential component especially in a larger congregation is absent and over the long haul how will we keep that shared energy to continue to exist and flourish and do their life saving work in number 5 star number 5 so many of you have talked about the spirit of this space as being a big part of what gives you life the beauty and the elegance of the spaces that are a part of first unitarian society are something you speak of reverence Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote never lose an opportunity of seeing anything that is beautiful for beauty is God's handwriting the beauty of the stone the beauty of the light the beauty of an opening are a message to you this space has many gifts of beauty and as again is true each of these shining stars it offers much but it asks much in return you utilize a lot of your resource to maintain this space which is appropriate for it to be sustained in the future what will it be like to think very carefully to be very thoughtful about how this space is part of the ongoing ministry of this congregation what seems like the appropriate interplay of use of resource and how intentional are you about how this space is an essential part of who you are and what you do to maintain its beauty and its integrity over time each of these stars will ask you to think in ways you can't even imagine now about what it means to be part of this community so you have before you five stars that you have expressed to me are essential what do they say to you today about what you value about first unitarian society is there maybe something that you believe is missing from this list and how is it speaking something essential to you how with each of these are your deepest values conveyed express sustained brought into a greater sense of shared life together and what might these stars ask you as you journey forward I invite you to hold these in your mind for a while I'll share them again with you in the March newsletter and there will be various ways that we will explore these ideas in the coming months how will these stars lead you into a new space in your life together may we explore that in courage and love amen and blessed be as we gather every week we have the chance for that deeper sense of connection not only with each other but with a larger world one of the ways that we do that is in the sharing of our generosity with each other and with a larger community as we prepare to receive this morning's offering I remind you that Centro Hispano is this Sunday's recipient of the 50-50 sharing of the collection we hope that our collection will help them with the mission of reaching out to Latinx youth and families bringing empowerment hope in action to their lives by our generosity may we each find our own generous space as the offering is now given and received our worship experiences are indeed a shared ministry and so we are grateful that Mark Schultz has been our sound operator today we are grateful that artist Kaufman and Joan Heitman have been our greeters and that Pamela McMullen and Samuel Bates have been our ushers we are grateful for the hospitality and coffee making of Rick DeVita and Jeanne Hills every week however our slate of volunteers for worship alone much less other volunteer opportunities is not always filled there's sort of an illusion perhaps that with this many people we have to have like a line of people waiting to volunteer and that is not the case and so we remind you in your order of service that there is an opportunity for you to think about if this form of service is an appropriate way for you to help this place be stronger and do its work better and so two folks Lynn and Elizabeth have offered to say about why they volunteer to be part of our worship experience together so being a worship associate well I enjoy public speaking here in my religious home and having being able to make a statement about how I share we share our unitary and universalist values another great thing is that when you're the worship associate you get to be up here and look around and see all of your beautiful faces it's really so heartwarming to be here and get to do that worship associates sound the gong at the beginning of the service then we do the welcome and then we light the chalice and we're here we would usually get here at 20 minutes to 9 because you're the worship associate for both services and I see that worship associate is not on here but if you want to do that please list your name and what you want to do is really cracker can tell you more so ushering ushering is really fun for ushering you get here 30 minutes before the worship service and for the 11 o'clock service the hymnals are already out so mostly you're handing out orders of service and smiling and saying good morning to everybody and you're ready to help them in a tangible way you're going to maybe assist them in finding a listening device or finding a coat rack or things like that and there's usually a team of usherers three or four people and we work together as a team and that's really nice we pass the baskets for the office of course we count attendance just count how many people are here and we sort the money after the service and when the service is over the 11 o'clock service we gather up all the hymnals and that's pretty much it for that but there's training the first time you do it you get to work with an experienced usher who'll show you all the things that I forgot to say and you can sign up online it's really nice hi I sign up once a month for greeting I just go on our website and I get my calendar and I pick a Sunday for however many months are available on the schedule and that way I know that I'm ready to go and how many of you have ever welcomed someone into your home well you can be a greeter then because that's really what it is you stand up behind the little desk or near it by the front door and you say hello to people and you smile and greeting is important because it's the first peak that people get at ours and it's their first contact and so a smiling welcoming friendly face is really important it helps them feel at home here and just like in your own home you kind of tell them where to sit where the bathroom is where to get a drink of water where to get a service where their children can go and be comfortable during the service as well and it's a nice way for me as a shy person to actually meet a lot of the new people who come here so sign up thank you Lynn and Elizabeth so I hope you will consider being a part of our volunteers for our worship services or some other volunteer opportunity I remind you that the weather coming up this week it sounds very iffy and we try to keep up with weather updates and closure updates on our website it is likely that the weather will be foul tomorrow and so we already know that the men's group tomorrow night is cancelled so we want to let you know that and Drew asked me to remind people that both because of the weather because he currently is struggling with laryngitis to check as a choir member before you come out this week for the rehearsal to make sure that either the weather or Drew's voice not returning yet have cancelled the rehearsal so I hope you during this winter time especially will check the website often before heading out this is a chance also for us to bring our cares together and once a month we take part together in the sharing of joys and sorrows knowing that many of us arrived with moments of deep celebration and joy and moments of great difficulty and hardship in our lives and for many of us it may be meaningful to share that or to hold that together here and so for the next few minutes anyone who wishes is invited to step to the front of the auditorium to light a candle and use the microphone to share briefly what the candle represents you may also come forward to wordlessly light a candle and return to your seat and if you are unable to come forward to light a candle raise your hand and we will bring the microphone to you and light a candle on your behalf we acknowledge in particular that this weekend today is international holocaust remembrance day and so we hold as we begin this time the stories of people that were deeply affected by the holocaust and it's continuing power and possibility of hatred in the climate of the world now our vigilance and our remembrance is essential so now I open the floor for the sharing of our sorrows and our joys together I'm Judy Troia and I'm thinking of my friend Gaya Lysen who is part of this congregation she has been battling bone cancer and she was in the hospital last week and got a new diagnosis of more cancer in her body so she's a st. Mary's care center now hoping to return home so I hope you'll keep her close thank you my name is Sanny Oberhauser and I have a joy to share and it's my granddaughter who's with me this morning and last I guess it was a week ago now she graduated from OCS so she is now enslyn all stead and I'm very proud of her my name is Mike despite the cold and the shoveling that we have snow I think it looks so beautiful well it looks like our new joy is going to let me introduce him today so I just wanted to introduce everyone to Raymond Warren Ivan Carter who is five and a half weeks old nothing I'm going to like one more candle to represent the joys in the sorrows that are present here but yet as of yet remain unspoken we hold those in the fullness of our hearts and community as well may we not take for granted the ways that we share our lives together may it lead us to deeper connection and deeper service I invite us now to rise in all the ways that we do in turn to number one thousand and fourteen in our hymnal in the turquoise or teal hymnal standing on the side of love in our movement there are many folks who are deal with disabilities who have made us aware that the concept of standing sometimes feels exclusive to them and so some of us have begin begun to sing answering the call to love as part of the refrain if that is something you would like to give a try please do we will do the first and the third verse as we sing together the promise of the spirit hope and love abide and so every soul is blessed and made whole the truth in our hearts is a answering the call hands joined together as hearts beat as one emboldened by fate air to broke bright new day is dawn when love will not develop elections of grace answering the call hands joined together as hearts beat as one emboldened by fate air to broke claim we are answering the call of love and now may the stars that guide us on our journey remain vivid to us illuminating our path with their wisdom energizing important work with their fire warming us with their compassion and hope and comfort when we need it most we extinguish this chalice but not the light of wisdom the warmth of community the fire of justice and commitment to our principles these remain until you gather in this place again I invite you to take your seat for one final gift of music in our worship together