 I think it's false. False is never in my head changing, so I just hope I don't disturb that, and look at these long notes, because every once in a while I think you can stick around. Somebody stick around. It's a big full bar, and I'm just gonna do that. Okay. Good. Start by thinking around it. Really fold around you and stare at me. You'll feel like you're chewing your words, first of all, so you feel it right. Okay. Okay. Good. All these. Everybody, once the outdoor starts, you feel well every moment. You got change. You got change. You got change. You got change. You got change. You got change. You got change. You really feel all everybody's very confident about your performance. All of those things are recorded. Okay. Take a little look at the corner of your eye, because it's a bit bananas, but don't sacrifice, that can be shouldn't be the type of thing. We rather have more clarity in the group. So, okay. One more time. Okay, so to keep that in mind. What's the time factor? We're on it. We're two months. I have an idea. Let's, why don't you do what's happening? Oh, it's not a real thing. Huh? It doesn't happen in breaks today. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Well, I believe we're there for whoever wants it. 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 want to extend a special welcome to visitors. And in fact, to all you brave folks who came out in this snowstorm again, we are a welcoming congregation. So whoever you are and wherever you are on your life's journey, we truly celebrate your presence among us. As we gather in this place and at this time, let us remember we are all visitors in this life. We come together to find meaning and hope with all the other visitors in life. Let us join our hearts and minds together as we celebrate this life together. And now please silence your cell phones as I invite you to join me now in a few minutes of silence for contemplation, meditation, prayer, whatever, as we settle in and come fully into this time and place together. And now Drew will lead us in our in-gathering hymn. Good morning. It's nice to see tens of people here today. Let us stand rising all the ways that we do to sing hymn number 360. Here we have gathered. Gathered side by side, circle of kinship, come and step inside. May all who seek here find a bigger, smaller than sin, sharing what we... May we remain standing for our opening words and our chalice sliding. With faith to face our challenges with love that casts out fear with hope to trust tomorrow. We accept this day as the gift it is, a reason for rejoicing. Please join in the lighting of the chalice words as printed in your order of service as together we say, We gather today to hear the call of trust, even though promises have been broken, even though the betrayals still sting, even though we're unsure about believing in ourselves. Like this flame, trust is something that needs rekindled again and again. May today lead us back to believing again. I invite you to exchange friendly greetings with your neighbors. Hello. Sometimes it does. Anyone who wants to come forward. Middle thumb. Yes. I remember Pinky. Hello Pinky. I'm right here with all of you and excited to be here today. So thanks for making him feel so comfortable here. Welcome Pinky. And I also have a guest, and I think actually they know each other, but my guest is Snowy the Owl. Hello Snowy. It's really good that you're here. And I think that you know Pinky, don't you actually? Why yes, I do. As a matter of fact, I'm excited because I have an invitation for you Pinky. So okay, as you know, we have been trying to be friends, and we just haven't spent enough time together, but in two weeks on Friday night, I'm having a gathering at my house, and we're going to have a sleepover, we're going to have pizza, we're going to watch a movie together. Would you come? We would love it. It will be so much fun. Will you do it? I love her. I really am. Oh wait, I hear my mother calling me. She's whistling for me. I'll be right back. Keep that thought. And I've never slept away from home before, and it kind of scares me to do that. When I think about it, my tummy kind of hurts, and my head kind of hurts, and my trunk gets all sweaty, and I don't know what to do. I don't want to hurt Snowy's feelings. I really like Snowy, and I want to be friends. But I'm not ready to sleepover. What do you think I should do? What should Pinky do? I really trust what you guys have to say about it, because you're so smart. Is that my idea? I think that maybe I should just tell Snowy the truth. That's what I think. Were you? You were. I don't have any friends, but I think I can trust Snowy, and I know with other friends when I've told them the truth, we've become even better friends. Well, we're going to get to discover it, because here comes Snowy back. Hello! Welcome back, Snowy. Hello! Yes, well, mother had some things for me to do, but okay. Now, Pinky, tell me, you have a great invitation for you. Are you going to come? Would you? I'd love it. You're so enthusiastic. No, I'm excited. I have to tell you the truth, because you're my friend, and I trust you. Well, yes, please. And the truth is that I'm kind of afraid to stay overnight away from home, and it makes me nervous. So I'm not quite ready to do that, but I do want to spend time with you, and I do want us to be friends, and I hope we can find another way. Oh, Pinky, thank you so much for being honest with me. Yes, I remember the first time I slept over. It was very scary. So no, that makes sense. You know, the most important thing is that we be friends, and that we spend time together. Okay, let's think about this together. What can we do? Hmm, let's see. Well, you could come over for the sleepover, and when you're ready, we could make sure that you could get home, and you wouldn't have to sleep over. You could leave whenever you wanted to. So that's a possibility, or, hmm, let me think. Well, if that sounds like it's too much, then we can just make another time to hang out together. We can go to the park, or we can go to the movies together. So the most important thing is that you are a good enough friend to tell me what you're really feeling, and I want us to be really close friends. So that's what's important to me. What do you think? Thank you, Snowy. That makes me feel so much better. It makes me feel good too. Yay! I'm going to come over, and I'm going to stay as long as I can, and then I'll go home and we'll try sleepover another time. That sounds great. I am always happy to spend time with you. Thank you, Pinky. Thank you, Snowy. You're a really good friend, and glad I can trust you. Yeah, good job to both of you. What do you think, you guys? Did Pinky handle that all right? Yeah? Yeah, do you think Pinky's going to have a good time? Do you have friends that you can trust to tell the truth? How about you? Yeah, I do, yes. And, you know, it's funny, like as a minister, one of the things I found out really quickly is that sometimes part of the job is that people will get really mad at you, and sometimes you're not always sure why they're so mad at you, and yet that's part of what it means to be trusting too, is that you can have disagreements or feel very strongly, but stay connected to each other and keep talking through it. You know, I respect that Pinky was willing to speak the truth. Me too. I think it's great. I do too. All right. Well, I think you have a few teachers waiting for you. They actually made it here, and they can't wait to see you. Yes. You guys have a great time at class, okay? Thank you. Let's sing the children out to hymn number 1024 in your teal hymnal. When the Spirit says do, we'll sing it three times. Do, sing, and shout. You've got to do, and the Spirit says do. You've got to do, and the Spirit says do. When the Spirit says do, you've got to do. Oh, Lord, you've got to do, and the Spirit says do. Spirit says do, Spirit says do. Spirit says do, Spirit says do. Spirit says do, Spirit says do. You've got to sing, you've got to sing when the Spirit says sing. You've got to sing when the Spirit says sing. When the Spirit says sing, you've got to sing. Oh Lord, you've got to sing when the Spirit says sing Spirit says sing, Spirit says sing, Spirit says sing Spirit says sing, Spirit says sing, Spirit says You've got to shout! You've got to shout when the Spirit says shout You've got to shout when the Spirit says shout When the Spirit says shout, you've got to shout, oh Lord You've got to shout when the Spirit says shout Spirit says shout, Spirit says shout Spirit says shout, Spirit says shout Spirit says shout. Spirit says shout. To sing shout. This morning's reading is taken from a column sent to members of the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association, where Derek Jackson serves as the director of education. Reverend Jackson Jackson writes in the first paragraph of the column about his continued realization of the struggles between colleagues, our movement and beyond, with trust. He writes, there are different approaches to developing trust. For some trust is something you jump in and do. It requires taking a risk and letting the trust happen. On the other end of the spectrum, some feel that trust is earned. People and institutions need to show themselves as trustworthy before trust can be granted. When adherents to these two approaches engage, trust can be hard to establish and lead to an impasse in the relationship. It is becoming clearer to me that we cannot talk about trust without talking about power dynamics. Trust as an act of risk is a lot easier when the power dynamics are equal or if you are the one with power in the relationship. And earning trust means that someone decides what the qualifications are for earning that trust and when those qualifications have been met. Power dynamics can influence the implications of meeting and not meeting those qualifications. We will not be able to move forward as institutions and individuals if we are not able to move towards trust. Not everyone can and should jump into total trust, but we can commit to the development of trust over time, giving priority to our needs for safety and our healing from wounds and trauma. Reverend Jackson concludes his column with this prayer. Web of life, spirit that moves within and between us, open our hearts, help us to discern when we are ready to trust, help us to discern whom we can trust and teach us how to trust. Holy one, help us to find the right balance of safety and vulnerability so that we can engage in community that builds so that we can live our faith in action as well as belief. Remind us that we need one another held in an encompassing love. We pray. Blessed be Madison is celebrating the composer John Harbison's 80th birthday, the symphony, mosaic chamber players, the pro-art, a string quartet, the University of Wisconsin Music Department and the FUS Society Choir and FUS are all taking part in that celebration. We will sing for our anthem and offertory two hymns that sound like they could come right out of out of our hymnal, but the words are by Emily Dickinson and I'm going to read each and I'll start with the one that we're about to sing. Let me not mar that perfect dream by an auroral stain but so adjust my daily night that it will come again. Not when we know the power accosts the garment of surprise was all our timid mother war at home in paradise and I am pleased to vacate the podium and join the bass section so that the composer may conduct. Thank you choir thank you John it is an honor to have you with us today. So as I sort of briefly alluded to in the time for all ages I've been at this a long time but it still surprises me the intensity of what happens when congregants disagree with the minister and I guess it's one of the things that happens in an organization when you are trying to do things that really matter to people. There is a certain price to pay for succeeding at your goal because if you do something that matters people will come to love and believe in and become emotionally invested in it when from their perspective it goes well it is very satisfying and meaningful. However when it does not from their perspective seem to go so well and sometimes even in ways that to say the minister may seem to be in very small minor ways because they have become so deeply and so emotionally invested in that part of church life it is for them a very personal and powerful affront and in a way I guess I should be a bit happy that they give me the benefit of the doubt and thinking that I'm much more clever often than I am because in reality very often when people get mad at me it is because either there is a place of difference that just is what it is but most often it is that in the busyness and layers of what a minister has to do we sometimes drop the ball and make a mistake or don't do our best job and instead of seeing it like that it is amazing that what seems to happen very often is that this person thinks suddenly that we're like in a James Bond adventure and I am somewhere deeply ensconced in the halls of nefarious evil petting my grumpy cat and chuckling to myself because my mission of their article from the newsletter is part of my plan for world domination and it's going so well but what might seem to be a moment of absurd difference very often for a minister is a place of deep hurt because very often the people that we are disagreeing with we care for very much and we have come to respect their passion and what they do deeply and most difficult there are times when what could be an invitation for us to step more authentically into our mutual humanness and maybe come to a new understanding of our human implications with each other what actually happens is that we move apart and trust is broken between us and there are times where that trust never quite again returns to its original deep and resounding place and when you add to it the larger realities that are spoken about with Derek Jackson and his writing about trust in all of this I'm deeply moved by how true it is one that when he writes that we cannot talk about trust without talking about power dynamics and then that we are not able to move forward as an institution or as individuals if we are not able to move towards trust I believe that reverend Jackson is very right and I have seen the incredibly hard realities when that trust is broken in our congregations he is writing I know from the specific context of being a minister of color in our movement that has often messed up mightily around trust and race and power and as a movement we have on so many levels not done our best job with each other again and again that trust is something that we constantly have to work at healing and then if you add to that the larger context that has been rocked by the greater clarity of the continuing hurtful power of our white supremacy the truths that the black lives matter and me too movement have spoken about the ways that we have misused power and authority and have broken trust very deeply and I must add in a week when the president has taken the step of invoking a national emergency calling into question the very core of our constitution and the checks and balances that have allowed our nation to have greater trust in each other we have to acknowledge how deeply those violations of trust and power and authority have they sink into the core of who we are and deeply affect our own abilities to trust one another if you haven't come to the place where you can feel that effect take a deep breath and let it sink in how powerful those violations are not just here but all over our country it is essential that we talk together and think carefully and spend time exploring the power of trust and authority and how it interacts with all forms of power in our lives but it's also essential that we remember that there is another truth that is also present that every day in congregations that I've served in every congregation in this congregation that we face the deep pain the powerful questions we live into the divisions and sometimes the horrible destruction that happens from violation and misuse of power and we also every day exhibit and live great health with each other we act from larger truths we embrace a vulnerable and yet resilient power of connection and compassion with each other again and again every day in our congregations and in this place we act person to person to save each other's lives in a thousand different ways it happens in our congregations it is happening as I speak in our country and in the world we find places of profound trust in spite of and maybe because of the pain we rediscover our own inherent power offered by the very spirit of life and we find some indomitable larger truth that while it is taken quite a pummeling again and again refuses to go down for the count and leaders are willing to use their power and authority and leverage it in service to that truth and it changes the world over and over again so in our interim time it is essential that we explore trust that we explore what we understand to be the authority that we share together and we offer to our leaders we need to name and really explore the power that is present and utilize it for all it may give us so for just a moment let me be a little more clear about the definitions of power and authority at least as I use them today when I talk about power I am borrowing from a 1967 sermon by the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr when he refers to power as the ability to achieve a purpose or to make things happen and that authority is when such ability to achieve purpose and make things happen is conferred delegated or shared amongst community however that is defined and so at its core when I talk about power it is the way that we may make changes in our own lives and in the larger life and because it takes every one of us and all of us working together over and over again we share that ability to change we make decisions about trusting someone else to help us in that change again and again and without it we could do nothing in the world and when we misuse it it becomes all the more meaningful and destructive and yet there is more to authority than just that sort of sense of the way that we share power there is also the way that our own personal power lends itself to a sort of authority Mary Piper who is a psychologist and a Unitarian Universalist wrote a book entitled Seeking Peace Chronicles of the Worst Buddhist in the World and she writes let me be straight with you I am not writing this book as an expert on inner peace nor am I offering sage advice from one who has been to the mountaintop my authority does not come from being a relaxed or happy person but rather from being a person who has sought calmness and happiness all of her life I address you as a woman who has spent plenty of time talking herself and others down from emotional ledges Piper's words suggest that spiritual authority is something very different from being an expert not that that expert authority isn't needed but that there is a way that we claim our own authentic encounters with life there is a way that we that we claim our own unique being and from that place we have a different kind of authority and that authority may be used in service of the greater good as well and very often is a source of incredible healing in our own lives and in the lives of others and so all of these forms of power and authority speak meaningfully to our lived experience of trust and how we are with each other and as you have talked to me so far in thinking about authority and power and trust I've noticed that there is a power in the 30 years of leadership that you had in a consistent senior minister that is very much still shaping and at work in the system which is exactly what should be true that you would benefit naturally from the stability and power of that past experience and that you know a great deal of what is possible and the gifts of that long arc of direction and leadership and you should rest in some of that power and let it do its work but I also know that there is a great deal of emotion invested in that past which is also very natural but very often when you speak about the past whether you loved it you're indifferent or it was something that you struggle with there is deep and abiding and reactive emotion that's the job of this time to really move into the truth of those deep feelings and let them do their work we need this time to explore the gifts of the past to really feel the gratitude and the complexities that always come when we explore the past honestly we need to rest in those and then let them speak more abiding truths and it is also the case that what you have taught to me about in terms of thinking about authority and power is very much invested in a particular experience of all of that from the past and what I have heard over and over again from ministers over the last years who are looking for new congregations they are in a very different place in their experience for one thing for over 30 years there have been a huge there has been a huge influx of women into ministry women over the age of 40 who bring with them a very different understanding of power and authority from their male predecessors and for decades now they have been in the heat of it exploring what hierarchy is about what power is about and defining it in their own ways they have been part of redefining how ministers work with each other and how they work with congregations they have explored components for years now of what it means to be a team of clergy and what it means to be in a more traditional system of a single lead minister and how they talk about it and how you talk about it now it's not the same language yet and it shouldn't be yet you need some time to explore what you have experienced think about what it tells you about who you are now and what you hope for the future that will help you have an authentic dialogue with people who will be interested in what they have to offer you as a future minister what is it that you can do now embrace this time make it expansive and exploratory let it do its work in you and what larger ideals might help us ground ourselves and think more meaningfully about what we might learn about leadership authority power and trust well one thing that i would like to offer you comes actually from a big study that the gallup organization did in 2005 to 2008 it reached out to over 10 000 people in a broad spectrum of adult life that included experiences in all sorts of businesses agencies of various various kinds but even larger than that social networks schools congregations and even how power and authority made its way into families and they asked those people when they experienced good and healthy leadership what gifts did it give to their daily life and over 10 000 people gave them words that expressed the way that healthy and empowered in the best sense of that word leadership changed their lives for the better and they compiled that list because they found that there were actually a lot of common threads in the ways that leadership saves lives again and again and so let me explore with you those four top answers of how leadership transformed lives and invite you to think about what you want to explore in the coming days together number one and really handy for our monthly theme the most common thing that people said that changed them in leadership was trust they would say words like they experienced the honesty of the leader the integrity they felt mutual respect alia titarenko wrote i imagine trust as these envision invisible hands that stretch out into the world looking for someone to hold on to as we walk into an unknown future we have explored this month that trust is very often based on a series of smaller successful experiences of kindness and support and accountability with each other that while the large herculean efforts of trust are not an important most often the ways that we learn to trust each other that happens in the small ways that we relate day after day and that we risk with each other and that we are truthful with each other and that when we mess up we are willing to try to make amends with each other what has been your experience of power and authority here at first unitarian that has been trustworthy how have you been an agent of trust with someone else here or in places that matter to you how do you want to continue to deepen that trust in this place and in other places that matter the second place of giftedness that has come from being the recipient of healthy leadership has to do with compassion they used words like they felt cared for that they had deep friendship and love even from their leaders carol christ writes to us the problem comes when we do not recognize power within ourselves as within others and when we do not recognize our connection to all beings within the circles of life at its best what we do in community is that we acknowledge that deep connection and compassion is one of the ways that we that we make real that connection and that care and it calls us into that deeper bond how is it that you have experienced care and connection from leaders in this congregation how do you want to be an agent that strengthens that sense of compassion in this place and helps it be integral to how you share power and do work together number three was the word and the idea stability over and over again when people benefited from healthy leadership they felt secure and strengthened they felt supported when they needed it and a sense of peace when they were overwhelmed with anxiety you have benefited already from a long and powerful ministry what do you want to bring forward as the essentials from that time what do you not want to lose that really gave this place life and strength this is the time to sit with that and see what it really says to you gary zukov reminded us that authentic power is the alignment of all of our thoughts our emotions in our actions with the highest part of ourselves and when that comes together we are filled with enthusiasm and purpose and meaning how will stability be a part of your future and sustained by how you are together and finally as people benefit meaningfully from healthy leadership they found again and again the gift of hope they said it in different words like a sense of direction a sense of faith that things were possible in their lives guidance from some in when they felt most lost in the world rebecca solnit reminds us of this everything changes there lies most of our hope and some of our fear but if you take the long view you will see how starting Lee how unexpectedly how often things change so not by magic but by the incremental effects of countless acts of courage love and commitment the small drops that wear away the stone and carve new landscapes and sometimes by the torrents of popular will that change the world suddenly to say that is not to say that she is telling you that everything will come out great in the end regardless but what it does say is that everything is in motion and sometimes we ourselves are that movement how are you wanting to move forward in this congregation that embraces a shared authority and power that builds trust how are we intermingling trust authority and power to aid that future how will trust be a foundation that empowers the entire congregation how will a foundational compassion infuse your sense of what is possible when you share together how can you foster a space that allows you to continue to be creatively stable and strong as a community finally how will you best allow your shared ministry to move you in the direction of possibility and hope together we are reminded by the words of Brian Schwimmer sometimes we fall into the delusion that power is elsewhere that it belongs to a different group that we are unable to access it but nothing could be further from the truth he reminds us the universe oozes with power waiting for anyone who wishes to embrace it but because those dynamics are invisible we need to remind ourselves of their universal presence and what reminds us the rivers remind us the planes the galaxies the hurricanes the lightning branches most of all our living companions how will we journey together how will we find the authority that changes the world how will we share power so that we may make that change ourselves it's important work that we do may we do it encourage in love amen and blessed be one of the ways that we practice that power again and again is when we honestly assess what we have been given in our lives and understand it as a source of power as we move into the offering one of the ways that we may share our resource with each other is to be reminded that 50 percent of this offering will go to benefit Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin at a time when their work is especially needed I hope that we will embrace that power and that generosity as the offering is given and received I never saw a moor I never saw the sea yet no I how the heather looks and what a billo be I never spoke with God nor visited in heaven yet certain am I of the spot as if the checks were given in addition to your gifts of treasure we appreciate all the other ways you give to this faith community and particularly we'd like to thank those who helped make our service possible this morning we've had a few uh holes in the schedule because of that so those who did make it in uh to help us today were our greeter Maureen Muldoon our ushers Sam Bates and Elizabeth Barrett just two ushers but they're power couples so that's all right they powered through in uh coffee and hospitality land sandy plush and Richard DeVita and I believe we've had staff on sound for both services because we didn't have anyone else to do it and they're a power bunch as well and for those of you who haven't already heard it our own Dan Carnes broke his leg so he's around hobbling around on crutches but there he is waving from behind the sound board be well Dan thank you so much hasn't it been a pleasure to have a special guest in our midst John Harbison has won the Pulitzer Prize he's won a MacArthur genius grant his music has been performed by every major arts organization in the nation and he is known throughout the world he has so many styles that he writes in that everybody in the classical music world knows who he is and what music he has written for their instrument or ensemble I just wanted to say a special welcome and give you an opportunity to welcome him as well thank you John besides welcoming all visitors we have another opportunity after service today the interim interim ministry transition team has a table in the commons where Lorna and Alan will be there to hear what questions you have and to throughout this spring they are actually very interested in hearing from you as we reflect on our heritage our vision and mission and our hopes for the future so this week and after all three services next week you will be able to speak with someone from the interim ministry transition team we also join together each week with joys and sorrows on our hearts in this place we love and are loved we give and we receive in turn in return we come together to find strength and common purpose turning our minds and hearts toward one another seeking to bring into our circle of concern all who need our love and support in particular this week we remember Nana who's in the hospital we remember the young people who are struggling with mental health issues and Robin Lowry Langton has a joy that today is national acts of kindness day so please consider doing something kind for yourself or for others today and we take just a moment to remember all those joys and sorrows too tender to share may we remember that we are part of a web of life that makes us one with all humanity and all the universe may we be grateful for the miracle of life that we share and the hope that gives us the power to care to remember and to love I invite you now to join in our closing hymn number 10 28 the fire of commitment please rise in all the ways that we do hymn number 10 28 from the light of days remembered burns a beacon bright and clear guiding hands and hearts and spirits into faith set free from fear when the fire of commitment sets our mind and soul ablaze when our hunger and our passion meets to call us on our way when we live with deep assurance of the flame that burns within then our promise finds fulfillment and our future can begin from the stories of our living rings a song both brave and free calling pilgrims still to witness to the life of liberty sets our mind and soul ablaze when our hunger and our passion meets to call us on our way of the flame that burns within then our promise finds fulfillment and our future can be from the dreams of youthful vision comes a new prophetic voice which demands a deeper justice built by our courageous choice when the fund sets our mind and soul ablaze when our hunger and our passion meet to call us on our way when we're assurance of the flame that burns within then our promise finds fulfillment and our future can begin and now as we prepare to leave this place may we remember that in many ways the gifts that were mentioned in the list from gallop are gifts that life offers us all the time may we receive the gift of trust in each other may compassion help us find our way may we remember what is unchanging in our life of constant change and most of all may hope inspire us forward we extinguish the light of this chalice but not the light of that deeper compassion not the fire of our commitment to what matters most to us not the wisdom that holds us together these will be in our lives until we gather in this place again i invite you to take a seat again and receive one more gift of music as we worship together