 We'll test it here. Well, we'll take a look. Yeah. We'll test it here. Yeah. We'll take a look. We'll take a look. We'll take a look. We'll take a look. Which one is good for you? Which one is good for you? Right? Right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No. Yeah. Yeah. Right? Yeah. No. No. Okay. I did. There's a couple other things going on. So, um, TK, is that more? Um, is that more? Um, is that more? Um, is that more? Um, is that more? Um, is this gonna check with you? Is that it? we're planning on... I'm going to start with first. Right, so first thing to do is make sure you're talking. Okay. I think I should go first. I'm going to take a look at how we check. Yeah, I'm also going to go first. I'm going to start with first. Okay. So yeah, we're going to say it's only one more session. Yeah, I see. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. So I only have one minute left. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. I Front home. I watch games on that day, right? No, I do. No. No. No. No. No, no. No. Nothing to say whether you're speaking. Be open. No, no, no. No. Excuse me. You know, it's fine. Morning. Morning. Morning. Morning. Morning. Morning. You're right. Well, I'm going to do it. It's my key. You should have told me. I'm going to do it. That's fine. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. One yes. That's two. That's three. That's four. That's five. It's three. I think that's five. We have this in the top right. Three. Ready? Please join me in a few moments of centering silence so we can be together on this lovely morning. And now, please let's join together in our in-gathering hymn, Number 131, Love Will Guide Us. Welcome to the First Unitarian Society of Madison. This is a community where curious seekers gather to explore spiritual, ethical, and social issues in an accepting and nurturing environment. Unitarian Universalism supports the freedom of conscience of each individual as together we seek to be a force for good in the world. My name is Karen Rose Gredler, and on behalf of the entire congregation, I would like to extend a special welcome to any visitors who are with us this morning. We are a welcoming car and wherever you happen to be on your own life journey, we celebrate your presence among us. Newcomers are encouraged to stay for our fellowship hour after the service and to visit the library which is directly across from the center doors of this auditorium. Bring your drinks and your questions. Members of our staff and lay ministry will be on hand to welcome you. You may also look for persons holding teal-colored stoneware coffee mugs. These are FUS members knowledgeable about our faith community who would love to visit with you and answer your questions. Guides are generally available to give building tours after the services so if you would like to learn more about this sustainably designed auditorium or our national landmark meeting house across the parking lot there, please meet near the large glass windows to watch your left of the auditorium immediately after the service. I do know that we have a guide signed up and so please meet him. I believe it's John Powell over there after the service. We welcome children to stay for the duration of the service but if your child wants to move around, talk, dance, sing, any normal child thing, you're more than welcome to go back to the child haven or to the commons outside the auditorium where you can also see and hear the services. Also, please take this opportunity to turn off any noisemakers, cell phones, whatever that might interrupt the service. We would appreciate that. I'd now like to acknowledge those volunteers who help our service run smoothly. We have David Bryles on sound, Tom Boykoff is our lay minister, Corrine Perrin, and Claire Box, our greeters, our ushers, our Pamela McMullen, Liza Monroe, and Dick Goldberg. Back making some coffee and I assume some lemon flavored wine to your order of service which include information about things that are going on today and in the upcoming weeks. I specifically call your attention to information about service Saturday, which is occurring on the 26th, I believe it is, so please note that announcement. And also, if you're interested in signing up, there's a table out in the commons. I believe that's it. So again, welcome. We hope that today's service will stimulate your mind, touch your heart, and stir your spirit. Thank you. Prepare our hearts for the feasts of loving kindness we are about to receive, in which we are about to partake, nourish us in all the ways we have needed. Let us be filled once again and made ready to be instruments of peace forged by justice in the work, play, and rest that's before us today. With all that we are, let us worship as one. Please join with me in the words of the chalice lighting that are found in your orders of services. We call on a great cloud of witnesses whose hope lives on through us. They are present within us and present among us as we come together in the faith that is our religious home. As we come together, held in the chalice of community, inspired by the promises of love which we do not need to earn and the commitment to justice which is our abiding hope. I forgot earlier, see this guy right here, we are welcoming him home. This is T.K. Browning who is rejoining this congregation as ministerial intern after three years of seminary at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. He and his partner Kate, along with their two wonderful children Atticus and Tallulah, ages seven and five, were members of this congregation from 2012 to 2014. Raised in Utah with a bachelor's degree in Middle Eastern Studies and Arabic from Brigham Young, T.K. joins us for this important step in his journey toward becoming a Unitarian Universalist minister. With a deep love and curiosity for many religious traditions in the world, including the faith of his childhood, Mormonism, T.K. hopes to build a humanistic ministry focused upon peace, compassion and justice. We are thrilled to be welcoming him today and I'm very, very happy that he's here with us. Thank you so much. Yes, now let's please have a joyous, welcoming, loving exchange of greetings with all. Young people who'd like to come and join me on the carpet for a story. Come on, all ready to go back to school soon. I'm as excited as I am. Have you ever been to a museum? Yeah? Good. Have you ever been to an art museum? Yeah? Okay. Natural History Museum where they have dinosaurs and things? Those are pretty cool too, huh? Yeah, that's one of my favorites. Well, this is a story about Milo, Milo's museum. And it was written by Zetta Elliott and the pictures are by Purple Wong. And this is a copy of the book which will be in our church library probably in a few weeks once they get it checked in so you can check it out and read it for yourself. There we go. Milo woke up feeling excited. Today her class was going to the museum. Mommy and Daddy had to work but Papa went along as Chaperone. The docent at the museum was named Anne. She led the group through the museum and told them interesting things about the artwork. After the tour Milo's teacher gave the children some time to explore the museum on their own. Milo held her grandfather's hand as they wandered through the rooms together. Milo liked most of the art but something didn't feel right. Milo tugged at her grandfather's hand. What are museums for, Papa? Now he said museums hold all the objects that people feel are valuable or important. Things from long ago and from today. Museums are full of stories really. Milo nodded to show that she understood but she still felt funny inside. There we go. Last time I did this I got two at once. When they got home Milo sat on the front porch and watched her world go by. So many faces, sounds and stories made up her world. But none of it was in the museum. Milo frowned. Why so glum, Chum? asked Aunt Bashti. We aren't in the museum Milo said quietly. I want to know why. Aunt Bashti took a deep breath. Every museum has a curator who decides what goes inside the museum she told Milo. What about us? asked Milo. Don't we get a say? We vote with our feet said Aunt Bashti. We go see the exhibits that mean the most to us. But we shouldn't have to wait for a special exhibit said Milo. Just to see ourselves in a museum. You're right said Aunt Bashti. So what are you going to do about it? Me? Milo said was surprised. What can I do? You could write a letter to the curator. Aunt Bashti suggested. Or, or what Milo asked. You could make your own museum. Aunt Bashti replied. The next day Milo packed some things in her suitcase and went out to the backyard. She pulled her suitcase across the grass and stopped at her playhouse. With a purple marker she wrote Milo's museum on a piece of paper and taped it above her playhouse. Then she set up her exhibit and asked everyone in her family to come inside. Welcome to my museum she said proudly. Nana and Papa were the first to take Milo's tour. These baby booties were nitted by my great-grandma Sally, said Milo. She was born down south where it's warm, but she knew it gets cold here. Papa picked up a red leather box. Tell me about this, he said. That belonged to my great-great-grandpa Jack, Milo told him. He fought in France during World War I and was so brave they gave him that medal. Milo's parents came in next. She handed a framed photograph to her mother and said, this is a picture that was taken last summer at the block party. You and Daddy slow danced in the middle of the street. Then she turned to her father. This is the statue of Isis that I got at that other museum. She was a goddess in Egypt a long time ago. Aunt Bashti says Isis looks a bit like me. Daddy kissed Milo's cheek and said, auntie's right. Aunt Bashti came in last. Milo held up a carved Christmas tree ornament. My uncle Rod sent this from Germany, she explained. Aunt Bashti nodded before pointing at something else on the wall. What's that? She asked. That is the jersey I wear when I play softball, Milo told her. Aunt Bashti gave Milo a hug. Your museum is wonderful, she said. By the time Milo finished giving a tour to everyone in her family, several of her neighbors had come into the yard. Two of her classmates were already standing in line, eager to see Milo's exhibit. It's so cool that we have a museum right in our neighborhood, Mallory exclaimed. I want to open my own museum too, said Hector. Why don't you two add something to the collection, Milo suggested? That way our museum will be a mirror for the whole community. Hector and Mallory agreed. Milo looked at all the friends, family members, and neighbors in her yard. Then she took out her purple marker and made a new sign. And it says the People's Museum. So next time you go to a museum, or you think about the things that are important to you, you might think about Milo's trip to the museum and what she did. I think that would be so cool, wouldn't it? Great. All right, it'll be fun. Maybe we can come see it. All right, as you head off to summer fun, everyone else may rise in body and spirit. We're going to sing him 1051. Great day out there. Glad to see so many visitors. You have a brief view of what we saw and did down there. I'm just going to talk a little bit about highlights. This was my first time at a General Assembly. For those of you who are visitors and don't maybe know about our organization, the Unitarian Universalist Association is a collection of all the 1,000 plus churches across the United States. And we had a lot of UUA members there. There were 4,000 folks. It was quite a gathering. We have one of the traditions of the General Assembly is a banner parade where each congregation brings their banner. And I was thinking, I'm kind of a curmudgeon, and I was thinking, okay, whatever. It just kept coming and coming and coming. How many more of these are there? But everybody, every church has theirs. We have one. I don't even know where ours is right now, but it reflects our building. It was a time to see in-person democracy at its most exciting and messy. We had a number of items that came up before us to vote on as a faith. We elected a new president of the UUA, the first elected woman president of the Unitarian Universalist Association, Susan Frederick Gray. The other two candidates were also women, both fantastic. I spend most of my time looking at the workshops that related to congregational transitions as the folks here who are aware. Our senior minister will be leaving us in a year or so, and we're starting to get ready for that. So I spent a lot of time trying to see what kind of advice they had there. I'm not a singer, but I have to tell you there was a lot of singing. In fact, one of the things that was the most amazing was during the General Assembly, the part where we're sort of discussing amendments to our various documents, it was getting pretty hot and heavy, and the moderator suddenly said, Leon, it's time for us to sing. And all 4,000 people get up and start singing. It was really pretty amazing. The high point for me, I think, was the where lecture. Each year there's a person who comes in this year. It was Brian Stevenson, the author of Just Mercy. What a book. If you're interested in it, you probably go on to the UUA website and find the video. He really was quite interesting. One of the things I want to advocate is for you who are members here. Think about going next year as a delegate. It really is worthwhile. You meet a lot of folks. We met people from congregations of 30. We are a huge congregation, 1,400 members or so. And it was just really interesting to see what they face in their communities. Some of them are tiny, tiny little congregations in the middle of nowhere. We are fortunate we have three congregations here in town. So it was just great to see that. I would also urge us to think as a congregation about trying to step it up and paying our fair share towards belonging to the UUA. Not only do we benefit, and we're going to benefit a lot, I think, in the next two years during our transitions, but also we help others. The 90-person congregation that's sitting there trying to figure out how to go to policy governance, which is the way we govern ourselves. So there's a lot of reasons for us to try to step it up. And today's offering, I believe, is going to be dedicated to that, at least according to the bulletin. So I think it was really quite a fascinating time. Good time for you to think about going. And I will pass it off to the next person who's going to come up here and probably be a little bit more focused than I. I thought there were two people coming now. It says here. Okay, so who's next? Okay, thank you. Let's see if we're really organized. This was probably my 13 or 14 General Assembly. So I'm not newbie at General Assembly, but they're always fresh and exciting. And as Rob said, the Wehr Lecture is generally one of the most anticipated events at General Assembly. The speakers are prominent in their field and usually very interesting to listen to. Dinner plans are made around it. Advanced parties are sent into the hall to reserve seats. If you don't get there promptly, you'll find rows gone. The Lecture is in honor of three generations of the distinguished Wehr family, founders of our movement. Speakers have included Linus Pauling, Martin Luther King Jr., and Holly Neer. How many of you know who Linus Pauling is? This year's Lecturer, Brian Stevenson, is the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama. He is a widely acclaimed public interest lawyer who has dedicated his career to helping the poor, the incarcerated, and the condemned. Under his leadership, EGAI has won major legal challenges, eliminating excessive and unfair sentencing, exonerating innocent death row prisoners, and confronting abuse of the incarcerated and the mentally ill, and aiding children prosecuted as adults. He is the author of the critically acclaimed bestseller, Just Mercy, which was both the UUA and the UW Common Read in 2014. During his lecture, he said, the opposite of poverty isn't wealth, it's justice. He received a standing and thunderous ovation that lasted over a minute, both when he came in the hall and when he finished his speech. He gave UU's clear direction on the work that must be done to create a more just world, including fully accepting our history as a racist society. He said, I'm not interested in punishing America for this history and want to liberate America, because on the other side of confession comes freedom. There are four essential things that we must do to create a more just and equal world, he said. Get proximate to the poor, the excluded, neglected, and abused, change the narratives that underlie racism and other inequalities, stay hopeful about creating justice and be willing to do uncomfortable things. Changing the narratives that underlie racism is critically important, he said. Oppressors justify oppression with a narrative of fear and anger, which leads to a culture that tolerates injustice. For example, the narrative that many black and brown children who commit crimes aren't children at all, but rather are super predators created the school to prison pipeline. He urged UU's to resist fear and anger examine how we treat poor children and acknowledge that we live in a post-genocidal society, given that more than 10 million native peoples died of disease or murder in the U.S. Stevenson said that the great evil of American slavery wasn't involuntary servitude, it was the narrative of racial difference that was used to justify slavery, which even the U.S. Supreme Court adopted at that time. The period from the Civil War to World War II was an error of terrorism against black people, he said, and black people in northern cities fled the U.S. south as refugees in exile from the terror in the south, something that is rarely discussed. Today, people of color are too often presumed dangerous and guilty, no matter their social class, age, or how much money they have. In South Africa, the history of apartheid is openly discussed, and in Germany, holocaust stones are placed in front of the homes Jews were taken from and sent to camps because Germany is trying to change the narrative. But in the U.S., we avoid discussion of slavery and lynching, said Stevenson, who has a project of placing markers at every lynching site in the United States. Stevenson urged Jews to make a choice to do uncomfortable things, say uncomfortable things, and be in uncomfortable places, and to stay hopeful about creating racial justice. Hope makes us speak out, so fight against what makes you hopeless, he urged. Our hopefulness is the one thing we cannot compromise, he said. You are either hopeful or you are part of the problem. I'm reading the statement of our own Elizabeth Delacuez, who was a GA delegate. And so what she wrote was that the 2017 GA in New Orleans was Elizabeth's first general assembly, in her own words. I had planned on spending my time interviewing people and connecting with other unitarian, universalist media makers, which is what she does for us. Because my position as a podcast producer and radio station manager is uncommon in unitarian, universalist churches, I was hoping to find a small cohort of folks with similar positions with whom I could connect and network. However, GA ended up being much more a personal growth focused and less career focused. I attended several sessions on racism, white supremacy, and anti-blackness that showed me that I had a lot more personal work to do as a white person. And that the first Unitarian society has a lot more work to do in becoming a truly anti-racist organization. Hearing stories from black UUs who have encountered overt racism in their congregations and being in workshops that showed participants how white supremacy permeates spaces in ways that I had never considered was humbling and difficult to hear. Sometimes, but I am grateful to all the workshop leaders who pushed me out of my comfort zone. In one of the most impactful sessions I attended called Introduction to Anti-Blackness, Dr. Michael Dumas, one of the facilitators, told a crowd of black and white attendees that one tangible way white folks can challenge racism is to take on some of the emotional labor of undoing racism and to take the initiative to educate oneself rather than relying on black folks to educate them. Reverend Julie Taylor led another PAC session called Eight Tools for Dismantling Supremacy which included many resources for individuals and organizations interested in delving deep into this dismantling racism. She and co-presenter Drew McFadden drove home the lesson that congregations need to commit fully and be ready for long-haul work to more effectively combat white supremacy. We cannot parachute in and then leave when an anti-racism project no longer interests us or when we decide to take down our large black lives matter because black lives always matter and they matter more than white feelings and white church schedules. Elizabeth continues, I am hopeful that the first Unitarian society will explore the many resources provided by the General Assembly organizers for combating organizational racism. I think we are headed in the right direction but we can do more. The work will sometimes be difficult but it is essential. Thank you Elizabeth. My name is Tim Corden and I'm your social justice coordinator. This is my very first time ever addressing this congregation and I'm really filled with a great deal of gratitude. First I want to thank you for hiring me and giving me the job of my dreams that I can work for social justice in a sustainable world with the spiritual community that I believe is the best hope for that is truly a dream come true. And I want to thank you for sending me to GA because it was a life-changing experience that it won't be my last I sure hope. I became a Unitarian Universalist perhaps like many of you because this religion, this faith, this association is committed to equity, committed to justice, committed to full inclusion and I've been so pleased and proud that the leadership keeps calling us to stand on the side of love to stand up against all forms of oppression. And, you know, I guess though I'm very new to this I've only been a UU for about five years, seven years I've been attending. It's really pushed me to redouble my efforts and work harder for justice in the world. So this last spring when we heard cries of outrage from leadership and members of the UUA that it was time to examine white supremacy culture and where we as UUs where our association was upholding white supremacy culture it was kind of shocking, I think, for a lot of us. You know, I, like many of you have known that racism is still with us and that it's part of our, the fabric of our society. But white supremacy, Unitarian Universalism, it didn't quite feel right at first. I mean, this was the organization that I found was sending me and others to places like Selma or Standing Rock or Ferguson. This was the organization that had encouraged me and others to read books like Just Mercy and The Third Reconstruction or The New Jim Crow. This was the organization that was working with groups like Moses and Young Gifted in Black and Vosa Stila Frontera. It just didn't seem right that now this organization was questioning our part in white supremacy culture but it really shouldn't have surprised me because when you think about it confronting your own demons, your own racism is really the most important step to fully abolishing it. So my experience at GA took me deeper into that path into really looking at the fact that white people, we, most of us here are white people I think, need to really take a critical look at ourselves, our culpability in the persistence of racism and our moral obligation for its eradication. Listening to brilliant leaders of all colors reflecting on this powerful and hopefully pivotal time in our history, the history of our association, I came to realize not only that we have a lot of work to do but we are getting closer. There's more hope. There's really some signs that we can complete this work. Additionally, I got a glimpse into our not so recent work in our history. I learned that in the mid-60s after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called to the clergy of this nation to join in the civil rights struggle after bloody Sunday in Selma, after the murder of James Reeb, after hundreds of UU's ministers across this country swarmed to the south to support the movement, our numbers grew significantly. In fact, in 1968 I learned that nearly a third of the participants at GA were people of color. It kind of blew my mind. At GA, there was one of those people of color from 1968 Dr. Matangul Lizi Sakina, forgive me if I'm saying his name wrong, told us about that General Assembly. At that time he was the young Hayward Henry Jr., the first chair of the black UU caucus. In that role, he led the UUA to vote for an investment of $1 million over four years for black liberation projects. And for some reason, and probably many reasons, the UUA did not fulfill that promise. By 1970 there was a mass exodus of many black UU's. I think our numbers went back down to about where they were, where not a very diverse denomination. That may be not so true elsewhere, but at any rate, now almost 50 years later at the 2017 GA, Dr. Sankia was there mentoring the black lives of UU, the young leadership there, and they affectionately referred to him as Bubba. In his address to the General Assembly, I heard his appreciation of how far we've come. I heard his hope. I heard him really say that we are now maybe more ready than ever to complete this work. He stated that he felt like he had come home again. The General Assembly felt like coming home for me too. I mean, just imagine, literally thousands of us coming together, more diverse than we are in this room. This is what I come home with from GA. I come home knowing that we are not a stagnant faith. We are an amazing growing and evolving tradition. We are looking at ourselves critically and facing that we have work to do, and we're getting closer. We are so welcoming. We know that no matter what one's identity background, what our strengths or struggles may be, we're welcome here, and that is so apparent at GA. And we are at an amazing point in history, not only as a religious tradition, but as a species. We will either do what we have to do to dismantle white supremacy culture or, as Dr. King warned, we will perish together as fools. I don't think we have much time to lose. To that end, we as whites, we must come to terms with how badly we feel about racism. But feelings of guilt and shame will not serve us. We can no longer afford to let our fear, our confusion, or our privilege keep us from continuing this work. We can't afford to stay stuck in our denial, our bad feelings, or the pseudo-safety of our apathy. We are not white supremacists. But our own lives are diminished by accepting and living with white supremacy culture that perpetuates gross inequalities based on the color of one's skins. By continuing this work, by committing ourselves to fully ending white supremacy culture, we have a shot at our own liberation. May we each answer the call of love that someday, as beloved community, we will know the joys of our whole and healthy family. Thank you for being on this journey with me. Hi, I'm Elizabeth Barrett. I wrote a piece and then, as Tim was talking, I was able to cross some stuff off. It felt really good. So, I'm Elizabeth, and I'm a GA junkie. That's the term that's used for those of us who go almost every year as often as we can to this conference convention celebration. And it's because it gives us a high like no other. So I've been there 14 times, and a general assembly nurtures my soul like nothing else ever could. But the thing is, this year I couldn't afford to go. Airfare, room and board to New Orleans. So instead, I stayed home and I participated as an online delegate. So I watched GA on my computer and sometimes on a television. Now, I want to speak more directly to white supremacy culture because what I learned is it has a number of characteristics. And when you look at the characteristics of white supremacy culture, when I looked at them, the first thing I thought of was this is basic mainstream U.S. culture. You know, this is just the water in which we swim, the air we breathe. I could see that all the characteristics are just things that just seem normal in society. But what's really great is, as you know, a lot of religious organizations try to be counter-cultural. And so we're no exception. We're no exception. So some of these characteristics we are already working against. And all we have to do is just get a little better at doing this. So I'm just going to describe three of them. So individualism, power hoarding, and the sense of urgency. There's three of those. So individualism. Well, we've been working to get away from that for years now, here and in the broader Unitarian Universalist Association. We value teamwork. We have shared goals. Here at FUS, we have a shared vision of ministry that gets changed every year or so. So I saw this kind of thing happen at GA all the time. For example, teams. They've got teams who get together and they're in charge of certain aspects. Like say, so the right relationship team or the black lives of UU and these teams would get up in the general sessions to give a report. So here comes a group of people. They all have the same t-shirt on. They're standing in solidarity. Now they'll have just one or two people speak, but it's obvious that they're all on the same page and that they used all of their smarts and all of their diverse backgrounds and ideas to come up with the best way to do whatever it is. I, um, I kept feeling so happy that these people were were doing the work. And we know from just studies showed that when people work in teams, they come up with better solutions than any person could alone. So we know that here too with our ministry teams. Now the second characteristic is power hoarding. So I learned at GA that actually studies have shown that most you use are anti-authoritarian. I'm sure some of you already already know this. That's why we have congregational polity. Why only congregations can ordain ministers. Only congregations can call ministers. That's why we use the democratic process to get things done. And it's also why the UU Association of Congregations is not a hierarchical headquarters with centralized power and we all have to do what they tell us. That's not the way things work. But someone asked a question at General Assembly, if we don't like hierarchy and we don't like power hoarding we'd rather share the power. How come most of our congregations are set up with one minister as the CEO and other people reporting to that person? So I learned about other models. There's a congregation where they have an interim minister, the director of religious education and an administrator who are all in charge. And the director of religious education and the administrator are both people of color. And they already decided that the next minister they hire or they call, I mean, they want to put in the job description that that person has to be a collaborator. Because they don't want they don't want that hierarchy or that power hoarding. Now we can see this at General Assembly from some of you know this. There were three presidents that were appointed. So it was Reverend Bill Sinkford, Reverend Sophia Betancourt and Leon Spencer who's a lay person. So all three of them African-American and they were in charge for just a few months until, as somebody else said, we elected our first woman president. They worked together. I could see they worked together really well. Each one is so learned. But having them all three there I felt this sense of safety and trust that I'd never had that much before. And then also, there were three moderators. We had a trio of moderators for our general sessions. In the past we just had one and at a couple of General Assemblies it was obvious it was really hard for that one moderator to know all the rules of procedure to get everything right and the moderator in the past so these three people Denise Rimes who's white Greg Boyd he's African-American and Elandria Williams is also African-American. So they worked together and at one point Denise got frustrated well Greg and Elandria both came up each one put an arm around her and here they are a united front in solidarity I felt we can do this that's the mess you know we can do this one of them knows the rules better than anybody else in the world and they figured it all out it was so calming I felt so calm and sometimes at those general sessions I get a little anxious so that third characteristic the sense of urgency so I've seen this at past GAs I was in a workshop once where we were all supposed to each come up with a one sentence social justice mission statement before the end of that workshop so my little group at first we worked on it and then we said why are we trying to do this when anything we come up with I can guarantee you is going to be inadequate because you've given us 15 minutes to do this so my group frankly rebelled and we turned in a phrase just a little phrase half a sentence thinking that you know if something's really important to do then for heaven's sake you spend the time and you do it right you don't just cobble it together in a couple of minutes so this general assembly wasn't like that it was slowing down being more thoughtful and the last day of the general sessions you can imagine is sometimes it's rushed we got to pull it on all these things we got to do this out the ceremony is about to start so this time it wasn't like that those three moderators they didn't hurry to make decisions they walked us through what needed to be done it felt so great we actually accomplished what we set out to do and now we all feel prepared for the year ahead at our own congregations and ready to meet next year so as you know next year general assembly June 20th through the 24th in Kansas City if you can't go that year you're up that we're going to Spokane, Washington thanks we're here in your Bristol's Association we carry each week a community of memory and hope to this time we carry we bring our whole and broken cells we carry with us the joys and sorrows of the recent past and seek a place where they might be received be celebrated and be shared we take a moment now to share those joys and sorrows that are living here within our congregation we have them here listed in this book that's placed in front of the the atrium the first ones from me with deep sorrow in our hearts we mourn for the victims in Charlottesville and the victims of white supremacy everywhere we mourn for the brokenness in our society that allows such evils to persist and take a quick moment to share the visual of remembrance and hope that's happening tonight at the Capitol 8 p.m my kids and I plan on attending if we make it that late past bedtime the details are on the FUS Facebook page and on a happier note Andy and Nancy Koseff joyfully welcome their new granddaughter Ellen Naomi Koseff Jones born August 3rd Alay Ellen's mother and father Ryan and big brother Miles are all doing well it's a lot the first week that I'm in charge of something to be doing it alone oh we're gonna go with the closing hymn my favorite Blue Boat Home 1064 listen the terrain around here is far too dangerous for that we are called to a revolutionary love that demands that we not let go a love that demands that we draw our circle wider and wider and wider still a love that asks nothing in return even after all this time the sun never says to the earth you owe me look what happens with a love like that it lights the whole sky a love like this a love like ours a revolutionary love can light up the whole sky it can heal the world may your love light up the whole world may your love heal the world may your love heal the world go in peace