 This is a community who supports the first together we seek to be a force for good in the world. My name is Karen Rose Gredler and on behalf of the congregation, I welcome all visitors and members alike. We are a welcoming congregation so whoever you are in life's journey, we celebrate your presence among us. I am both pleased and sad to welcome you on this auspicious occasion of Michael's final sermon for First Unitarian. Say goodbye, may we join together to glimpse possibility, new vision and the good that is yet to be. I will now sound the gong leading us into a time of silence as we catch up with ourselves, slow down and breathe and come fully into this time together. Please remain standing for the opening words and the chalice lighting. Come dreamers and builders all, come to reconnect, to recommit and to rejoice. We are all dreamers of a larger dream and creators of new opportunities. Not of just bricks and mortar but of a world, a world where freedom and justice and compassion reign. Embraced by the spirit of life that is with us always, we are united by a common purpose, sustained by a common faith and aspiration. We are dreamers and builders all. So let us rejoice in this day in what we have achieved and dedicate ourselves to what remains to be done. I invite you to join with me in reading the words of affirmation that accompany the lighting of the chalice. We drink from wells we did not dig. We have warmed by fires we did not build. We light this chalice in appreciation for all those who came before, who passed their light to us. May we be equally committed to those who come after. And let us pass the peace, pass the light and pass the love. Can you say afternoon? Oh yeah. Okay. But that's my success and eventually they say I invite you back just like I used to invite Max back. This time I'd like to invite any young people who are in our midst to come forward. So our message today, our message for all ages is also a song for all ages. And the song is about of all things love. And I want to ask you a question. If you were going to think about a shape that represents love, would it be a triangle like Frank Lloyd Wright's triangles? Square? Oh there's a shape. It's like a heart shape. Like a heart shape? A circle. A circle. That's right. And actually this song is called Love is a Circle. You know when I perform wedding ceremonies for people, when people get married they often times exchange a ring, which is a circle, right? And I always say love, that the ring speaks love freely given. It has no beginning and it has no end. And so this is a song like that. It's called Love is a Circle. Love is a circle round and round. Love is up and love is down. Love is inside trying to get out. Love is whirling and twirling about. Love is a circle it knows no bounds. The more you give the more comes around. Love is ours alone to give. And it lives in us and it's beautiful. And love is a circle trying to bend. Love is pieces trying to mend. Love is darkness waiting for light. Love is power and love is white. And love is a circle that knows no bounds. The more you give the more comes around. Love is ours alone to give. It lives in us and it's beautiful. And love is a laugh. Love is a look. And love is a chance that somebody took. Love will hide, love will show. The more you give the more it grows. Because love is a circle that knows no bounds. The more you give the more comes around. Love is ours alone to give. It lives in us and it's beautiful. And love is a circle round and round. And love in the corners of squares can be found. Love is reaching and spreading its wings. Love will dance and love will sing. Love is a circle that knows no bounds. The more you give the more comes around. Love is ours alone to give. It lives in us and it's beautiful. Love is ours in us and it's beautiful. So now you know why love is a circle, right? Well, thank you for listening. I hope you enjoyed the pictures, too, that accompanied the song. And now we're going to sing the refrain one more time as our children exit for summer fun. On your way. Hope to see you at the party afterwards. Love is a circle that knows no bounds. The more you give the more comes around. Love is ours alone to give. And it lives in us and it's beautiful. So the first of two readings this morning comes from the late Catholic priest Edward Hayes. And it is based on a legend from the early Christian hermits who lived in Egypt. It seems that a young aspirant to holiness once came to visit the hermitage in which an old man was sitting in the doorway of his quarters at sunset. And the old man's dog was stretched across the threshold as the young spiritual seeker presented his problem to the holy man why he had come. And he said, why is it Abba? That some who come to the desert to seek God and are very zealous in prayer but they leave after a year or two while others just like you remain faithful to their quest for an entire lifetime. Why is that? The old man smiled and replied to answer your question. I need to tell you a story. He said one day I was just sitting here quietly in the sun with my dog and then suddenly he jumped up barking loudly and took off after this large rabbit and he chased that rabbit over hills and dale with great passion. And then soon other dogs joyed in attracted by his barking. And what a sight it was to see this pack of dogs running and barking across creeks and upstonian bankments through thickets and through thorns. But then in time one by one all the other dogs dropped out of the pursuit discouraged by the course and frustrated by the chase. Only my dog continued to pursue that rabbit. And in that story young man is the answer to your question. The young man sat there in confused silence. And finally he said Abba I don't get it. I don't understand what is the connection between this rabbit chase and the quest for holiness. You fail to understand said the old hermit because you fail to ask the obvious question. Why didn't the other dogs continue the chase? The answer to that question is that they had not seen the rabbit. Unless you see your prey the chase just becomes too difficult. You will lack the passion you will lack the determination that is necessary to perform all the hard work that is required by the discipline of your spiritual exercises. If the vision is vague people lose interest. The second reading is a poem by the British poet John Ormond entitled The Cathedral Builder. They climbed on sketchy ladders toward God and with winch and pulley they hoisted hewn rock into heaven. Inhabited the sky with hammers, defied gravity, deified stone took God's house up to meet him. And then they came down to their suppers and their small beer. And every night they slept lay with their tired wives, quarreled and cuffed the children and lied and spat and sang and were happy or unhappy. And every day they took the ladders again impeding the right of way of another summer's swallows. Grew grayer, shakier, became less inclined to fix a neighbor's roof one fine evening. Saw a knave's spout arches, clear stories soar cursed the loud fancy glaziers in their work. Somehow escaped the plague but got rheumatism and decided it was time to give up. Leave the spire to others and then stood in the crowd well back from the vestments at the consecration envied the fat bishop his warm boots, cocked a squid eye and said, I bloody did that. Members of our combined choirs, wonderful to have that particular piece performed today. Thank you Dan, Doug Hill, the composer in the back row there in the blue shirt. Thank you so much Doug. Early in 1987, Vice President George H. W. Bush was positioned as Ronald Reagan's heir apparent. And at that time, before the infamous Willie Horton ad that submarined his Democratic opponent, Texas Chances. Before that, the elder Bush was dealing with something of an Achilles heel of his own. You see, he was told that he lacked this sense of vision. His campaign advisors warned him, you are not communicating a vision. George Bush clearly wanted to serve as president but he was having trouble conveying a clear and convincing message of what he hoped to achieve as the president. It rankles him, a commentator wrote at the time. Recently, Bush asked a friend to help him identify some cutting issues for the next year's campaign. Instead, the friend suggested that Bush go alone to Camp David for a few days to figure out where he wanted to take the country. Oh, said Bush in clear exasperation. The vision thing again. The friend's advice did not impress him. Well, George H.W. Bush was generally speaking a moderate workman-like president. He never was particularly inspiring, never comfortable with catchy slogans or grand plans. And although he did ultimately prevail in that 1988 election, his rather lackluster, don't change the team in the middle of the stream message in 1992, failed to kindle much excitement among the voters. And so the president was steamroller in his reelection bid by the Clinton campaign's rallying cry. It's the economy, stupid. Well, like candidates for high office, Paris ministers are frequently referred to as vision casters, charged with giving the congregation a sense of possibility, a high purpose to work toward. In our own system of policy governance, it is a function that we ministers share with the elected lay leadership, and because this bully pulpit belongs to us, we have repeated opportunities to give powerful expression to any such vision. And it is an important function. For as that story I told earlier about the old man and his dog suggests, to continue the pursuit, you have to have a glimpse of your quarry. Otherwise, the dog might just as well be chasing its own tail. And the same is true for human communities, whether they be great nations or whether they be humble churches. Now to be quite honest, I've really never fancied myself as some sort of visionary. True, the construction of this atrium auditorium after several years of pondering and planning, that called for a major commitment from hundreds of our families. And so I did try to conjure up a vision of this expanded facility and how it could better serve our congregation and the larger Madison community in meaningful ways. And in many respects that vision has been more than fulfilled. But generally, I've always believed that providing high quality worship, religious education, pastoral care, institutional leadership, providing all these things from week to week and year to year, that that's what really mattered. And so during my time here my co-workers and I have striven to be consistently relevant and nurturing, artistic and efficient. And for the most part I think that we have performed reasonably well. Now as I deliver this, my last set of reflections as your senior minister, it may be just a tad late to be casting any further visions. I mean, I'm not going to be around to see them through. Nevertheless, I would feel remiss if I did not share what I thought were some rather important considerations for the future. After all, were it not for Moses' vision of the land of milk and honey, it's quite unlikely that those newly liberated Hebrews would have kept marching through the desert for 40 years. As the philosopher Michael Walzer reminds us, we should kind of take a cue from them. So laying aside my own reticence, I will don the visionary mantle one last time, asking only that what you hear may be taken under advisement. I would like to note first that generally speaking, these are not particularly good times for American faith communities. Almost every mainline denomination is in serious decline. United Methodist, ECLU, UCC, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic and even the evangelicals are finding downturns, difficulty attracting the younger generation. The old guard is dying off. Many younger folks, suspicious of institutional commitment to begin with are finding grist for their ethical and spiritual mills in other places. And it doesn't help that for many the church has acquired a reputation for intolerance, misogyny, hypocrisy and irrationality thanks to high-profile scandals and the anti-intellectualism of certain schools of religion. Despite a challenging cultural environment though, the First Unitarian Society of Madison and Unitarian Universalism more generally, we've been holding our own. And to the extent that our faith tradition can present itself as a progressive alternative to the general run of churches in America, we should be able to buck the current downward trend. As Parker Palmer recently observed, serious seekers want churches that will support them in a lifelong exploration of faith and action that will help them keep sifting and winnowing what they have been learning. And that's exactly what we try to do here. So in thinking about what this congregation might become, I'd like to begin with an observation that the church consultant Lyle Schaller made after he visited here in 1987 just after Max Gabler had hung up his spurs. Having taken a close look at the demographics that prevailed at that time, Schaller said, do you folks want to maintain your present appearance or become a more heterogeneous congregation? And if the latter, are you willing to pay the price? What Lyle Schaller noticed at the time was a lack of generational diversity. The modest number of families with young children that were active in the society. 31 years ago, FUS was what the literature calls an upstairs downstairs congregation in which young people and adults occupied these separate well-defined spheres. And so except for a few poorly attended or generational services each year, children seldom darkened the door where the adults practiced worship. Now we've done a good deal over the years to create a more welcoming space for parents with children as well as our elders. And in this respect, we are far more heterogeneous than we were in 1987. But our challenge moving forward is to think about what it might take to become the kind of multiracial, multicultural faith community that our inclusive values would seem to require. But as Lyle Schaller noted three and a half decades ago, are you willing to pay the price? Are you willing to pay the price? Now over the past 10 years and even more frequently after the racial equity issue became such a hot button subject here in Dane County, I have been repeatedly asked this question. Why are we so white? Why is FUS so white? The congregation's racial homogeneity is clearly a source of concern for a significant number of people. Do I wish it were otherwise? Absolutely. But even with our high profile support for the Black Lives Matter movement and even despite our ongoing engagement with local communities of color, the day facto Sunday morning segregation that Martin Luther King complained about in 1964 still prevails in this faith community. Now I can say from experience that this problem is hardly unique to us. The demographics of the vast majority of Protestant and Unitarian Universalist congregations resembles our own. And for our part, there are some very real barriers to greater inclusiveness. We are embedded in an upscale very white part of Madison. Stylistically, our ways of worship may not respond to the spiritual expectations and needs of many African-Americans and Latinos. Theologically, we don't prioritize Christianity. And moreover, in Madison and in many other places, people of color may risk alienation if they join a majority white congregation. I'm not going to argue today that these are insurmountable problems, but they are ones that we all need to face squarely and honestly. And I'll also say it's neither fair nor realistic to ask the institution itself to solve those problems. Homogeneity is a reflection of our own social circles. And those circles are more often than not comprised of folks who share our own economic and racial identities. Studies show that 70% or more of people who visit an unfamiliar church do so at the urging and oftentimes in the company of people. Diversity starts at home and until it does start in our own homes and our own social circles, we are not going to see a lot of change in our faith communities. That's not to say that the institution itself bears no responsibility for fulfilling this vision. We do need to walk our talk, expanding our outreach efforts, demonstrating that we can be a reliable and trustworthy ally in the struggle for racial justice, at times, such as these. And internally, in here, we must continue the discomforting process of self-examination, identifying the ways in which we unwittingly reinforce America's white supremacy culture. As my colleague Rob Hardies from All Souls Unitarian Church in Washington, D.C., one of our most diverse congregations recently said, communities all across the nation among them must commit, must fortify themselves to make this dream a reality, to serve as laboratories, as incubators to this dream of a human family reconciled and whole. And I believe that this is a worthwhile vision, not just on its merits because I think that it has the potential to draw millennials and generation exers to us because it's a priority of my second vision. My second vision is of a society deeply committed to advancing Unitarian Universalism's Seventh Principle, respect for the interdependent web of existence, of which we are all apart. Far, far too few Americans are giving this issue the attention it deserves, despite dire warnings of planetary disruption. Political and religious conservatives deny the indisputable evidence of the population while the mainstream media essentially says they're not newsworthy enough to feature on the morning or the evening broadcast. And so like the proverbial frog and the slowly heating cauldron we have yet to grasp the gravity of our situation. Now I'm speaking to the choir because Unitarian Universalists are generally more concerned about the state of the environment here at FUS, what did we do? We built this state of the art green addition to our land make mark meeting house and we spent a good deal of extra money to conserve resources, recharge groundwater, prevent runoff into our wonderful lakes here in Madison and soon we will be adding an array of solar panels to further cut our utility costs and reduce our carbon footprint. All this is for the good. And yet today, with the sustainability task force that's been studying the society's consumption patterns, we do not have a ministry team that is actively collaborating with entities such as 350.org, the Sierra Club, Sustained Dane, 1000 Friends of Wisconsin, Gathering Waters, the San County Foundation, the Ottoman Society or Clean Wisconsin. Now it could be argued that many members of FUS already support these environmental organizations as volunteers but as a faith community. We are in a unique position to connect people with the natural world at a much deeper level and a level that may help to sustain our commitment. Back in 1988, same year that I landed here in Madison, Thomas Berry's book, The Dream of the Earth, was released. Thomas Berry was a passionist priest and he wrote that our secular, rational, industrial society with its amazing scientific insight, with its technological skills has established the first radically anthropocentric society and has thereby broken the primary law of the universe. Broken the primary law of the universe. The law that every constituent member of the universe, especially as realized here on planet Earth should be integral to every other member of the universe. Berry was talking about our seventh principle, the interdependent web of existence and how much it should matter to us and he says then that it may take a quasi-religious transformation in contemporary culture to restore the sensibility that we have lost. A quasi-religious transformation. Another Berry, Wendell Berry, shares his namesake concerns and faults the church and its issues. Faith communities, Berry writes, routinely prioritize the building fund over the fortunes of the fowls of the air and the lilies of the field and so it's high time he says that we should be promoting some kind of creation care spreading the gospel of love and care for the planet's millions of parcels of land each in its own precious way different from all the rest and only love can do this. Only love can bring intelligence to our institutions and into the presence of the work which must now be done. So again to attract members of the younger generation I think we have to demonstrate clearly in word and indeed that we are gravely concerned about the world that they are going to inherit and that we are prepared to partner with them in keeping this world habitable not only for the human species but for myriads of other species sentient beings as well. So thus far I have cast two visions that clearly would require the expenditure of time and effort on behalf of two critically important issues but faith communities also have an obligation to address the spiritual needs and cravings of their members. So I would suggest then that we begin to emulate those who subscribe to what is called engaged Buddhism. These are Buddhists who practice active compassion in the world at large but then they return to their homes and their faith communities to undertake a stable contemplative practice and so they engage in this balance between the out-breath of service and the in-breath of self-care. Now here at FUS we encourage service to others we do it all the time and we also offer some in-breath opportunities centering prayer, service, center at opportunities centering prayer circles movement meditation monthly contemplative gatherings for healing and hope insight meditation group that meets on Sunday evenings and is open to all one or more of our chalice groups that also focus on meditative and spiritual practices but together all of these serve only a small fraction of our community and while attendance at worship services such as these includes as a contemplative discipline the frustration, the fear, the anxiety, the distractiveness the burnout that we see all around us that we feel inside of us these are all in part a symptom of as Albert Schweitzer put it too little inwardness and so our faith communities need to provide more opportunities not just for people to do all the time but just to be and to rest in the moment and just put the future on hold he says if you already have a spiritual practice treasure it like a beloved and make a warrior's commitment to stay with it for life and if you have not found your form make it your highest priority to do so so I've saved what might be my most pedestrian but not insignificant vision for last in the list of recommendations that Lyle Shaler made to our congregation in 1987 he mentioned he said you folks need more in your savings you need to start asking explicitly asking your members to include the society's foundation in their wills and at that point the society's foundation assets stood somewhere south of $300,000 by the end of the millennium Shaler said it should be six to seven times that so that the earnings from those funds can be used to offset necessary capital improvements and we're disappointed because we have not on a regular basis encouraged our members to leave bequests to our foundation and to be sure the foundation now boasts about three million dollars in assets but that has mostly to do with a rising stock market and moreover unlike in 1987 when the society was essentially debt free we are now servicing a four million dollar mortgage with interest and principal payments over the last 30 years and I don't need to remind you that every dollar we spend every dollar we spend to satisfy that debt is not available for the transformational work that we are called on to perform now over the last 30 years I have seen our members repeatedly rise to the occasion increasing your annual giving responding enthusiastically to three capital campaigns since I've been here offering from a culture of scarcity in 1987 we have moved steadily toward a culture of abundance and increased generosity and we have this marvelous atrium auditorium and a restored landmark meeting house to show for it it took many hands it took many open pocket books to bring us to this place and like that stone mason in John Osmond's poem I may have played in all of this and say to myself I bloody did that but bricks and mortar aside the world we live in is not yet the one that we imagine and that world will remain ever elusive unless we choose to invest in it and so may our passion for these visions a healed planet a reconciled human family a sound spirit a vital faith community may these visions carry us into our next great adventure and far beyond bless it be and amen one last time we gather each week as a community of memory and of hope to this time and this place we bring our whole and at times our broken selves we carry with us the joys and sorrows of the recent past seeking here a place where they might be received and celebrated and shared in 1993 he and Lois were long time members of FUS and Pete was a professor in the political science department at UW Madison our condolences to Lois and to their children a celebration of Pete's life will be held at Middleton Glen retirement community on the 7th of July and our thoughts are with Joyce and Phil Carey Phil is in the rehabilitation unit at Capital Lakes but he is expected to be entering hospice care in a few days we send to Joyce our sympathy and our best wishes and then on a more positive note Phoebe Yancey who as we mentioned last week underwent surgery for a brain tumor Phoebe's 11 years old and that tumor was successfully excised she'll probably require some follow up treatment but she's doing full bore rehab right now and day by day getting stronger getting better, getting more lively and so our thoughts are with the Yancey family and Phoebe as well so in addition to those just mentioned we would acknowledge any unspoken joys or sorrows that remain among us and as a community of concern and caring we hold those in our hearts as well let us be a community of silence for just a moment or two in the spirit of empathy and of hope so by virtue of our brief time together today may our burdens be lightened and our joys expanded and I now invite you to participate in the giving and the receiving we'll go to the maintenance of our wonderful community and the support of its programming please be generous a monetary gift to the support of this fine institution and thanks also to the people who have volunteered today to make sure that this service ran smoothly Karen Rose-Gradley was our lay worship associate lay minister is Anne Smiley and is also doubling as an usher today along with Daniel Bradley who ushered it 9 o'clock as well and Pam Susie De Beers is our other usher along with Brian Channis our greeters were Elaine Lower and Pam Winnie at the front door up here and our hospitality our coffees being served by Rich DeVita and Jeanne Hills our pulpit palms here are cared for by Nancy Webster on a regular basis so we thank you all of you and there is just one other acknowledgment and one other announcement that there was a tour for visitors after the 9 o'clock service and two days service due to the little I think there's a party afterwards so we invite all of you to linger for that I'm sure there's going to be some good food and some amusement as well and so I invite you to rise and body your spirit now for our closing hymn number 1008 also beginnings may the spirit of love dwelling in this community strengthen our hearts lighten our way carry us forward until we meet again