 Good morning and welcome to the first Unitarian Society of Madison. This is a place where curious seekers gather to explore spiritual, ethical, and social issues in a safe and accepting 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 Leslie Ross and on behalf of the congregation I would like to extend a special welcome to our many visitors today. We are welcoming congregations, so whoever you are 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 lame ministry will be on hand to welcome you. This would be a good time to turn off all electronic devices that might disrupt the service. Experience guides are generally available to give a building tour after each service. So if you'd like to learn more about the sustainably designed facility or about our national landmark meeting house please meet near the large glass window on the left of the auditorium. We welcome children to stay with us during the service. Please remember that it often becomes difficult for those in attendance to hear in this lively acoustical environment. And our child haven over there and our commons out there are excellent places to go when you or your child needs to talk or move around. The service can still be heard from those areas. I'd like to acknowledge those individuals who help our services run smoothly. We have many of them. Our sound operator is Mark Schultz. Our lame minister is Tom Boykoff, our greeter, clear box. Our ushers are Liza Monroe, Dick Goldberg and Eva Wright. Our hospitality we can thank for to Nancy Kasseff and that's that west. So today is our coming-of-age worship service which is a really significant and profound event for our FUS teens and their families. Today we're privileged to hear from an impressive group of teens who have spent the last eight months in our coming-of-age program. As many of you know coming-of-age is the final class in our children's religious education program. And as our rite of passage marking the transition from being a child to being a teen. Our class this year was particularly large with 18 teens. So we will have half of the teens reading their belief statements at the nine o'clock service and the other half at the 11 o'clock service. We encourage anyone who'd like to stay for both to please do so. Both services are going to be really wonderful. The coming-of-age program offers experiences that help our teens to better understand who they are, who they hope to be and what beliefs ground and guide them on their way. They've explored beliefs about God and death. They've spent hours in the wilderness without electronics and with no one to talk to but themselves. They've talked with their elders about their spiritual evolution and they've looked more closely at our unitarian universalist principles and how they relate to their own lives and the choices that they make. After many hours of conversation and contemplation they set themselves down to writing their own belief statements, which they will courageously share with you today. And now let's welcome our coming-of-age team of teens, facilitators and elders. For yesterday is but a dream and tomorrow is only a vision and today a well-lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope. Look well therefore to this day. I now invite you to rise in body or in spirit to join in our child's lighting. The words are printed in your order of service. This light unites us. This light unites us with our neighbors, our friends and our enemies. Most importantly, this light unites us within ourselves, our hearts, our souls and our spirits. This light unites us. I now invite you to turn and greet your neighbor. This is Elmer by David McKee. There was once a herd of elephants, elephants, young elephants, old elephants, tall and short, fat and thin. All were different, but all were happy and almost all were the same color. All except Elmer. Elmer was not elephant color. He was patchwork. Elmer was yellow and orange and red and pink and purple and blue and green and black and white. It was Elmer who kept the other elephants happy. Their games and jokes were always his idea. If an elephant was laughing, the cause was usually Elmer. But Elmer himself wasn't happy. Whoever heard of a patchwork elephant, he thought, no wonder they all laugh at me. One morning, just as the others were waking up, Elmer slipped away. As he walked through the jungle, Elmer met other animals. Good morning, Elmer, they said. Not what he was looking for. A large bush covered with elephant-colored berries. Elmer caught hold of the bush and shook it until the berries fell on the ground. Then Elmer lay down and rolled on the berries this way and that. He picked up bunches of berries and rubbed himself all over until he was covered with berry juice. When he had finished, there wasn't a sign of any yellow or orange or red or pink or purple or blue or green or black or white. Elmer looked like any other elephant. On his way back through the jungle, Elmer passed the other animals. Good morning, elephant, they said. When Elmer rejoined the herd, none of the other elephants noticed him. As he stood there, Elmer felt that something was wrong. But what? He looked around. Same old jungle, same old blue sky, same old rain clouds, same old elephants. The other elephants were standing absolutely still, silent and serious. Elmer had never seen them so serious. It made him want to laugh. Finally, he could bear it no longer. He lifted his trunk and at the top of his voice shouted, Boo! While other elephants jumped in surprise, Elmer was helpless with laughter. Then the others began to laugh. Too bad Elmer isn't here to share the fun. They said laughing harder and harder. And then the rain cloud burst. When the rain fell on Elmer, his patchwork started to show again. Oh, Elmer gasped an old elephant as Elmer was washed back to normal. You've played some good jokes, but this has been the best laugh of all. What would we do without you? We must celebrate this day every year, said another. The day of Elmer's best joke. All of us elephants will decorate ourselves in his honor, said a third. And Elmer will decorate himself elephant color. And one day each year, the elephants color themselves yellow or orange or red or pink or purple or blue or green or black or white and have a parade. If you happen to see an elephant in the Elmer's Day parade who has ordinary elephant color, you will know it must be Elmer. Time for you to head on out to your classes. Thanks for being here today. What does it mean to be a part of something? That something can range from this church's community to a school lunch table. You're always trying to fit in with the people around you. So much so that you're not even yourself sometimes. But that's all I ever wanted to be. Myself. That's why I let people find me in the lunch rooms. If you are yourself, people will appreciate you for who you are and you'll grow a stronger friendship with them. A way we can think of a friend is someone who appreciates you and brings out the best in you and allows you to be yourself with them. A friend will always listen to you. When you're in jail, a good friend will come and visit you. A great friend will pay the bail and the best friend will be sitting in the cell next to you saying, damn, that was fun. Groucho Marx. I personally like this quote as, among other things, I believe that the journey matters more than the end result. For example, if you didn't get the best grades in high school but had a good time along the way, it was worth it. Along with that, the quote has to do with friendship. I believe that having good friends is the number one most important thing in life. When I was nine, I had to switch schools. This was a huge change for me as the friends I have made, the friends that have been with me since preschool, the friends that have helped me grow up would no longer be there for me. And I stayed in this new school until I was eleven. Then I moved again and the whole process repeated itself. The school I moved to would be my school through eighth grade. Throughout school, friends are the most important thing. Friends you make in middle school will stay with you forever. They help you out when you need it and they will be there for you. Friends will appreciate you for who you are. Quote, friends will tell you that even if you think you're garbage, it doesn't mean you can't accomplish great things. I mean, it's called a garbage can, not a garbage cannot. That's why I believe that among friendship and togetherness, that community and this is the most important thing. Thank you. I believe that everyone should be treated equally and should be accepted no matter their gender, age, religion or appearance. From a young age, I never understood why people hated each other so much and honestly, I still don't. I feel like I have gone through my life being mostly concerned with myself, which is pretty normal for most 14-year-olds. But the past few months during my involvement in West High's Peer Partners Club, my perspective of myself and others has completely changed. For those of you who don't know what Peer Partners is, it's a club at West where people with and without disabilities are able to talk and hang out with each other every week during lunch. I heard about this club through one of my good friends I met this year. He was so eager to show me this club he loves going to, so I couldn't say no. From the moment I walked in the room, I was greeted with huge smiles from everyone, most of whom I had never even met before. Already on the first day, I could tell what an amazing group of kids this was. As I started to connect with more kids in the club, I realized how different we all are, yet we're able to ignore those differences and focus on what really matters, which is rare in the world we live in today. Getting to know the kids in Peer Partners has opened my eyes to so many new perspectives on my life and how others live theirs, and it has caused me to think how fortunate I am to be able to express myself in the ways I want without being limited by something I can't control. I have met so many kids with severe disabilities, yet they are some of the happiest people I know, which continues to amaze me every day. My participation in this club has encouraged me to support my belief for equality even more. It breaks my heart to know that people are being discriminated against due to something they will never be able to change. During the past few months in coming of age, I have challenged myself to think about what I believe in and what mark I want to leave on the world. And as I thought, I realized I want to be known as someone who cares about others and who is accepting of everyone, and I think being a part of coming of age has enabled me to see and accept the differences in people and how to treat everyone with dignity and respect. Although I am only 14, I hope that because I strongly believe in treating everyone with respect, that I can encourage everyone to be friend someone different and to take action against the discrimination in the world to make a global change. Thank you. When I was age 10, I remember not knowing if I should believe in God or not. One day, in class, a friend of mine asked me if I believed in God. The question made me stop and really think. I thought of all the times I prayed to God, begging him for help and asking for strength. I thought of all the nights I cried to him, asking him, Why me? Why did you have to put me through all this? Before answering her, I took a deep breath and simply said no. Her face instantly turned into a great look of disgust. She ran around the room telling everyone in the class that I did not believe in God. The same face of disgust appeared on all of their faces. One boy even came up to me and told me that I burned in hell. I didn't really know what to say because if I didn't believe in God, there was no heaven or hell. This belief was very hard for me to hold because so many people told me it was wrong, especially growing up in a Catholic household. This belief was never influenced by my friends, family, or teachers. This belief was developed by myself. After openly admitting that I did not believe in God, it made me feel like I had known to turn to in hard times. It was a scary thought, thinking that there was no one looking over me and I had no one to protect me. I felt lost, confused, and more importantly, I felt alone. Not only because I was unsure in what I believed in, but because I was beginning to become unsure with myself and who I was. Still being very confused, I turned to my mom for help and asked her what she believed in. It surprised me when she told me that she believed in the Buddha. I didn't really know what that meant. I didn't know that she could believe in something else besides the Christian God. I thought it was either you believed in him or you didn't. I was never exposed to anything else. Buddha was something completely different that I wanted to know more about. I started reading a few Buddhist books and I discovered that I had a lot of similar beliefs. After reading, I found a quote by Buddha that really spoke to me. He said, There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth, not going all the way and not starting. I realized that I had been so caught up in finding the truth to God that I hadn't even started my own journey in finding myself, because I was too scared. I realized that if I didn't believe in myself, no one would. So I started my own journey in discovering who I was and who I really am before I tried to force myself into believing something that isn't really me. Buddha also said, To believe nothing, no matter where you read it or who said it, no matter if I said it, unless it agrees with your own reasoning in your own common sense. Finally, everything became a lot more clear to me. I realized that I wasn't being true to myself and I wasn't allowing myself to believe in me. I realized that if I wanted to see something change, I had to be that change. Even still to this day, I'm not exactly sure of who I am and even in 10 years I may not know, but that's okay because as long as I believe in myself, that's all that matters. I believe that people should believe in themselves because as soon as you can be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you into something else, that is the greatest accomplishment you can reach, this I believe. I believe in good storytelling, whether it's a book, a movie, a song, a magazine. The stories you read, see, and hear affect our lives every day. Throughout my entire life, I have loved reading. I have been in love with Harry Potter for a long time. I've actually read the series 15 times. J.K. Rowling, the author of Harry Potter for all you muggles who didn't know, taught me about magic, but not the wand type of magic with dragons, but the magic of friendship. In books like Harry Potter, you learn important basic and non-basics lessons in friendship and love. Another key piece of storytelling to me personally is film. I have within the last year decided what I want to do the rest of my life. I want to direct movies. So just by watching movies and watching the stories within them unfold, I have figured out what I want to do the rest of my life. Wes Anderson, who is probably my favorite director, has taught me that it's all right to be completely different than everyone else. Here's a line from his 2007 movie, Fantastic Mr. Fox. We're all different, but there's something kind of fantastic about that, isn't there? When watching movies, we learn important messages, even if we don't realize it at the moment. But maybe the biggest and most important piece of storytelling is the real life stories we learn from our grandparents, parents, teachers, or any role model. These stories are really important. These are the stories that tell you what to do and what not to do. And these are the stories you will end up passing down to people who look up to you, and you won't even realize doing this. And then they'll pass it down to other people, and it will just keep going and going. As Louis C.K. said, it's not your life. It's life. Life is bigger than you. Life isn't something that you possess. It's something that you take part in and witness. I think the stories we share, I think our stories need to be shared. With everyone who will listen, our stories affect others' lives, so it might as well take part in a positive way. This is why I believe in good storytelling. I guess it was about this time last year that I felt my world suffocating me. The tension of it was, or wasn't there, worked like a zip tie. The more I struggled and pulled the tighter it got. Now I'm standing here, speaking, living with ease. I credit this to a great realization that in fact my world was not strangling me. My world does not exist. It is not, and never was, my world. Only the world, a magical mystery ball rotating a spherical mass of heat. And I am merely an infinite awareness residing here in that we are not connected to the universe. We are the universe. We aren't it. Are there aliens? Isn't even a question. We are aliens. But to that definition, there's technically no aliens. Just natives to one large force. Connecting us all to make the never-ending universe. Interlinked physically from our genetic origins and tangible mass, as well as spiritually, to our communal energy. Our communal energy is an interdependent web of emotion and vibration. We unconsciously, but at the same time, fully knowingly, rely on one another to dictate our quality of life. If one soul is sad and negative and they unload that energy by putting their unfortunate mental state into another soul by treating it poorly, they would then induce their mood onto them. That soul would do the same to another and the bad energy can then blanket large groups of people. These perplexing concepts led to a greater question. What really did make the positive and negative energy? What was right and what was wrong? Were these words a social standard, a moral code, or an illusion of our own character? I believe in a way, it is all three. It is a standard because if you perform an act of right or wrong, it can affect those around you, making it a social thing. But our reasons for doing things can change its outcome, or the way it comes across, making it a moral thing. But in the end, we can only see through our eyes, speak with our own words, and think with our own mind. And with only one perspective, humanly possible, and with only one perspective, humanly possible, there is always the question of it all just being an illusion. No matter which one of these is the correct answer, if any of them at all, the only way to truly satisfy each possibility is to simply feed the greater web. Do what makes others happy to fit the standard, let their happiness bring you happiness to suit the self-moral code. But don't do things that make them happy that'll in turn make you unhappy. Therefore, if this is all an illusion, you maintain control. If you're still following, I'm impressed. If not, I'm not surprised. But here, think of it all like this. If the person in front of you is starved, buys you your coffee and muffin, it makes your day. It's not like you couldn't pay for it, but the fact that someone else did feel acknowledged and appreciated. Now, you have an extra $10 in your pocket, and on your way out, you see a homeless man and you hand him that $10. It's not much, but it brings him the hope and motivation he needed to buy a cheap outfit from the Goodwill, put himself together and look semi-presentable. He goes and he interviews for position at a local restaurant. He gets the job, he's now off the streets. This is the greater web of interlinked happiness at work, one living being thinking greater than themselves, making spontaneous decisions to be kind and promote the same from others. No matter what the answers are, when you put this positive energy into our universe, it'll return to you, since you are the universe. And I guess to me, that's all I really can believe in. Believe in love. I believe the human race was created on earth to make relationships. Personally, socializing is vital for my survival. Finding someone or something to relate with, talk to, and depend on is key. And pretty much the reason I live my life the way I do. The most important thing for me is my family. The relationships I have with each of my family members is so strong and truly unbreakable. I believe in family and friends. This makes me cherish every moment with them, and I mean every moment. From the laughter to the tears, I believe that this crazy big world has such a wide variety of personalities, looks, and interests. I believe that our uniqueness is what makes us, us. And no one should ever be put down or left out of anything because of their uniqueness. I believe everyone is equal. I believe that our souls are us. Our bodies are just our shells, no more. We shouldn't judge by the colors of our shells or the way we style our shells because our shells aren't us. We are us. After death, our bodies decompose in the ground. But where do we go? Maybe I don't know because I'm too young, or maybe I don't know because I don't want to know. But for me, it doesn't matter what goes on after this life. I wouldn't live this life any other way. I think that after we die, we live within our loved ones in a sense of strength and motivation. I believe that this life is the only life we will consciously live. But I think we live on through memory in who or what we affect during this lifetime. Some people might think that only having this life is sad. I think it's beautiful. One thing that makes this life so great is that it's precious and could end at any second. So you gotta live today like it's your last. And I don't mean going skydiving or bungee jumping every day. I just mean appreciating everything. With every breath you take in, look around. Look at how lucky we all are. God of the capital G is defined as the creator and ruler of the universe in source of all moral authority. God with a lowercase g is defined as a superhuman being or spirit worship. I don't believe in an uppercase g, God. I do, however, believe in a lowercase g, God. The God I believe in is a spirit so powerful. God is what is all around us. God is happiness, sadness, joy, fear, and sorrow. My God is the source of all my smiles and tears. My God isn't a tall guy ruling over us. My God is within us. My God brings us together. My God didn't create this world but is the purpose of it. My God is the reason we get up in the morning. My God is what brought us all here today. My God is hugs, hope, excitement, and compassion. My God is the butterflies you get in your stomach. My God is the connection I have with my family. My God is laughter. I believe in love. I think love is the best thing us humans do. I also believe we need to do more of it and love each other and love everything around us. Love the animals whose home we share. Love the trees that give us oxygen so we can breathe. Love those who don't love back. I think loving is what we are made for. So let's all go love a little more. Our God is love. Thank you. Now I invite you into the giving and receiving of today's offering which is dedicated to the ongoing Coming of Age program. Your generous gifts assist us in our retreats and programming. Thank you. Please have the natural instinct to question everything. It's what has driven us to answer some of our simplest and most important questions. We wonder about a million different things from the moment we wake up in the morning until our heads hit the pillow at night. I wonder, is it really that bad eat cake for breakfast? Who is the judge of what I eat? God? Is there even a God? For a while now, I have told myself I believe in science. I believe in what you can see and what you can prove. No more, no less. It never really occurred to me when I was young. There was a time when the smartest people in the face of this planet claimed that the Earth was flat. Only a century ago did we believe that the smallest thing on the Earth was an atom. But then we split that open and we discovered a whole new world. I guess what I'm trying to say is that with science, what we believe is true today may be proven to be different tomorrow. Part of me wants to believe in something. There's a sense of security that comes from events that I may or may not have the ability to influence. After spending what felt like an eternity trying to define what I believed, I decided to stop. I figured, why should I spend my entire life trying to figure out what is going to happen after this life when I could spend all of my energy making this the best life possible? That sounds simple. What does that mean? For me, it means a lot of things. It means coming home at the end of the day and seeing my doc. When it comes to my birthday or the feeling I get on Christmas morning, it's also knowing that I can help others and that my life will matter because I will be making a difference. When it comes to religion, I think of it as a bowl of fruit. Like religion, fruit comes in all different types. Maybe your favorite fruit is an apple or an orange or a pomegranate. Whatever it is, you are entitled to pick your own fruit and so is everyone else. The important thing to remember is that you have to choose each other. As of now, I think I know my favorite fruit is. It's living life in the moment rather than thinking ahead. It's enjoying life as it is now rather than worrying about what is next. I wonder whether or not this will change. Will it be different of five years or 20 years? Chances are, the way we like to question things. It will be a little bit different and that's okay, this I believe. Power and direction come from many places but not from above. So singular, absolute being best is judgment on your actions. No matter how much people try to fool themselves, they are self-governed and they possess immense power because of this. People who don't believe in themselves worship people they deem superior to them. This is the making of a true God. I know people worship you and look to you for guidance. You are a God in your own right and can derive immense strength from this fact. I believe that people can be gods and can become gods empowering themselves along the way. Since I was little I'm over how beautiful the world was. From bustling New York to the odiferous streets of Paris. They almost round the clock cold right here in Madison. Many factors contribute to what we see around us and it's very much power we have to change things and how much we already have changed. If Socrates had not ingested poison or Galileo and not been stricken blind what would the world look like today? If the serfs under their lords rose up and said we're not going to farm your lands, starve while you thrive and live in squalor while you dine in the fanciest of halls what would have happened? Every action you or anyone you have ever known or will know could alter the shape of the world as we know it and in this way too we are gods. But where do we come from? Asking themselves this since we began to talk. No human could have created the Earth, stars or universe. So who or what did? We may never know but I'm confident that the answer is more mysterious and beautiful than a thousand imaginative minds could ever fathom. There's a sort of comfort in not knowing what it all means because there isn't really any fun in knowing the sum of all knowledge there is to be known. My god is you, me and everyone that you have met or will meet. Adults out there most of you have done this kids you'll do this too and I am smack dab in the middle of it right now learning to drive in my vast six weeks behind the wheel I've come to realize that the lessons I'm learning don't just apply to the road they apply to life in general there are three lessons I've picked up so far first you have to always be aware on the road that means checking your rear view mirror every six to eight seconds watching for pedestrians and anticipating other cars merging into your lane away from the car it means recognizing how your actions affect others the way you treat people can have an enormous impact on the way they feel about themselves all comments can cause somebody to lose to lose self confidence or conversely to feel better and happier I believe that happiness is one of the main reasons for living and the drive for happiness should be a significant motivator in people's lives it is for me everyone deserves to feel happy and your actions should be based around promoting happiness in yourself while considering the feelings of others I realize that I cannot always make everyone happy and shouldn't always try to but it should still be a consideration I believe that all of us should think before we act and consider how our actions affect others in order to promote happiness second you have to appreciate the people that sit white-knuckled in the passenger seat as you do your best to stay on the road and avoid running into other vehicles or nail boxes or wild animals in order to earn your driver's license you have to put in at least 30 hours of driving practice these 30 hours must be completed with a competent adult by your side without that person it's illegal to drive in life as in driving parents and other adults will have a huge impact on your life and understand that you couldn't reach your full potential without them thank those people if you are appreciative and convey it you and the other person will both be happier being appreciated is powerful and contagious someone who feels appreciated will in turn act with more kindness and appreciation to others causing the happiness to spread I believe in the power of being thankful third unfortunately there is always possible car crash driving can be dangerous particularly when you are new to it I had to watch about 40 hours on driving and the consequences of poor driving behavior before I was allowed to get behind the wheel I saw and heard stories from many families that lost children to auto accidents I wonder what happens to those kids after death just as I wonder what happens to everybody after death nobody knows of course I would like to believe that there is an afterlife or that your soul lives on in some way such as through reincarnation it's comforting to think that death is not the end of your existence however I have a hard time believing that the evidence does not seem to support it yet life seems too precious to think that when your heart stops beating that's just it I believe in some sort of life after death but I am not exactly sure what I am still struggling to figure it all out which seems to put me in good company here in this church of seekers let me switch gears now and talk about God I couldn't find a driving parallel so my switching gears reference will have to do I do not believe in the concept of a single all-powerful God that asserts influence over people and events such that those people's actions are not their own I am too into free will to buy that but I do believe that there is some intangible connection between every living thing I believe that every life matters and has a purpose and that those individual purposes are intertwined people's actions are intertwined as well what you do affects others although the effects may not be immediately obvious and while I tend to reject the notion of an omnipotent ruler I do think that a higher power resides inside every living thing life is too special for there to be nothing more than what's physically possible to see and scientifically possible to understand does that mean I accept the idea that blind faith trumps cold hard facts not really that just means they don't have answers to many of my questions will I eventually figure out the answers to all of my questions probably not but I will keep my foot on the gas pedal literally and metaphorically I now invite you to rise in body and spirit for our next hymn number 1064 what a joy it is to be celebrating another coming of age ceremony and the culmination of another coming of age year this is truly a moment to stop and give gratitude for our youth for the gift of their insights and their wisdom and to recognize that their classroom learning may be over but their journey of lifelong learning on their own has just begun throughout this year our youth have begun in earnest to study themselves to get to know themselves examining their beliefs and their values their ideals and aspirations with their belief statements our youth have given us just a glimpse of where this process has led them thus far and we pause for a moment here to thank those who've walked with them on this journey we will begin with those in our community who have served as the adult facilitators for coming of age their task was a challenging and a mighty one and throughout the year they have given our youth direction, insight wisdom and guidance they have brought patience, good humor and much love and compassion our facilitators Rudy Moore Sandy Pomponio Jay Ranny Shannon Stewart and Josh Wolfolk who is not with us this morning because his brother is graduating from college but we know he is here with us in spirit if you will now take a moment to thank our facilitators we also pause to give thanks to our coming of age elders each youth is matched from the congregation who is carefully chosen to embody the thoughtfulness, kindness and commitment that we hope to encourage in our youth throughout this past year our elders were steadfast they took this challenge cheerfully and joyfully and we owe them many thanks we honor them now by asking that each of them stand as their names are called Chris Carousey Greg Gordon Elaine Lohr Sandy Plisch Ann Schaefer Mark Schultz Paul Stang Kim Stegge and Eric Sunquist and now if our youth will come to the front and so to all of you who have taken the time and made the initiative to be present here with us this morning we ask you to remember your important role in the development of these youth where they journey from here is not entirely up to them it's also up to all of us we must remember that deepening their experience of our faith tradition unitary universalism is not the responsibility of their parents or their advisors alone helping them to blossom as loving and conscientious human beings is a responsibility that all of us in this community share and now that these youth have completed their coming of age year that responsibility becomes even more relevant and more immediate for these young men and women you can serve as an example and as an inspiration of how people live out not just on Sunday mornings but seven days of the week live out their spiritual and ethical values through you they can observe unitary universalism in action and there can be no greater no more effective teaching than our good example to them and so will you continue to encourage the spiritual growth of the youth that you see before you will you value their insights and their emerging convictions recognize the gifts and the talents that they bring to our community as well as the enthusiasm and the hope that they bring to our world and if so please say we will and now to our youth to all of you we recognize today the work you have done during this past year and we are grateful for the gifts and the talents you have brought to us will you continue this journey you have begun to grow as an individual expressing your beliefs growing in faith and continuing to question and explore if so please say we will and at this time we would invite all the parents of our coming of age youth to please rise my friends you beyond everyone else have been witness to the unfolding and the maturing of your child from their day of birth to this very moment and in the beginning of our coming of age year we asked for your permission for your child to come of age and now we ask you to continue to give your hearts in order to receive your child back into your family for all that they have become during this past year which is considerable do you promise now to continue your journey together with respect, patience, guidance and of course love if so please say we will you may be seated at the dedication of a child we give to each a rosebud a fragrant symbol of beauty promise and love the rose we give then has no thorns symbolizing the better world we would like to give to our children we hope that the children whom we have dedicated will learn to recognize the beauty and the goodness which does exist that they will grow in wisdom and compassion today we give to each of these young people a rose in full bloom recognizing the beauty and the gifts that they already give to our world and the natural beauty that is found in each and every one of them yet this time the thorns are still intact when you were a child we could do our best to shield you from the harshness and the cruelty of the world but now as an adult we can no longer protect you from all that you encounter both the beauty and the brutality but no matter where you may go how far you may travel you will always be with us in spirit and we will always be sending blessings your way so accept these roses knowing that there are harsh realities in the world but there is much beauty as well may you choose to see the beauty and now as we did when you were young children we ask that you be granted clarity of thought integrity of speech and a compassionate heart may the blessings of strength integrity of purpose love received and given be yours today and remain with you as you go forward into ever fuller life if you will join me in congratulating our youth and if you will remain standing and join in our hymn number 1074 forget not your power in the beginning with yourselves and go as you go with the dream of