 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 Teresa Kaufman. I'm a member of the congregation, and on behalf of the congregation, I'd like to extend a special welcome to visitors as well as to everyone else. We are a welcoming congregation, so whoever you are and wherever you are on your life's journey, we celebrate your presence among us. I have two special announcements today. Our offering for the Eviction Prevention Fund will happen during the last song of today's program. All donations collected today help fund our Homeless Services program. Child Dedications will be happening on the weekend of January 5th and 6th. If you would like your family to participate, please see Reverend Kelly after the service. Again, welcome. We're so very glad you're here for this special performance of Old Bifana with Ken Lonquist and friends. Please enjoy this ancient tale as we enter into this holiday season. The story of today, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, members of the community, all, we just want to acknowledge that the solstice planned here, an evil type planned here, has generated songs and stories of hope for thousands and thousands and thousands of years dating back earlier than probably history has been kept in written form. And of course the solstice is all about the fear in the early times that people didn't know where the sun was going, why was it getting so dark, or how did he happen to move? What happened at 9 o'clock being still light out? He wore a ring, the sun might not come back, so they hid fires and the old stories of hope that the light would return. On December's longest night solstice bells ringing, hail the sun is returning, my solstice bells ringing as the old fires burn, ring-a-ling, ring-a-ling, sing we for the sun's return. Shine, shine, shine, all kinds of songs and rituals about the light are occurring. You know, part of the light is the light of the sun. It's the light of the stars. It's a more intimate and more important light in any way. It's the light inside each one of us. And bringing that light back into the world. We're going to open today with a song that is not part of the Old Papana story. So, this is a special edition today. This song is about that other light, the light inside you, and you, and you, we, all of us. Give me hope, take away the path of the darkness we're living in, to prime the days of love. Give me hope, light to come the star you are, and guide me to the morning light of the world today. Start in about twenty-two seven. Beautiful morning. I'm selling my fish at the marketplace. Oh, oh, look at this fine patch. Look at this. You're wondering why my fish are wracking. Hey, how are you today? Tipsy. Oh, good morning. Good morning. My friend, let me try. Are you feeling as, um, excellent as an expert? Oh, yes. Come to the marketplace. Come by us and to the marketplace. Gather round any juggler or clown or minstrel. Come to the marketplace. Come to the marketplace. Any juggler or clown or minstrel. You've never heard of her? Heard of Babula? No. I guess you're not from Poland. Those three can be terrible. If old Babushka likes pretty little cake, if old Babushka doesn't like, and want to know what she will do to you. If you're bad, just be glad. She leaves cinders and coals, because I'm told there are far worse things she's known to do. Babushka, Babula, Mabula, lay a curse, or maybe even worse. It's been said with eyes red as the embers she picks from her broomstick. A bristle switch to whisk at you, Babushka. A webs from your room with her bristly broom. You want her back. Take you through the woods. No, it isn't good. That's so good. She leaves. Well, she kept to herself. She wasn't very fragile. She was dog out of her yard. She was from a fantasy brand. She really was fragile. She wasn't. But it wasn't just grumpy, that made people wonder about a little fun. She did. All she was holding was baking. Baking was a great thing. It was just smelly. I thought the window was collecting the doses of her name. So would the bonnet I would share. No. When she asked her son, if the bonnet hurt him, she'd stop sleeping and slam the window shut. Before anyway. Ah! You thought she'd make so much. All they would really do about it was pull the button with the key. Whoa. It's swimming back. That's crazy, I know. And she'd sleep in the latch. She'd sleep on her own steps. She'd even sleep her walkway. All the way back to the road. And another Christmas night. I think so much. She won't let anyone visit her. No one ever tried to muddle her house. But so she did. And then, pretty much, she was truly crazy. Na-na-na-na-na-na. Na-na-na-na-na-na. Na-na-na-na-na-na. Sweet. Sweep the little house. Sweep the front steps to the road. Sweep the crumbs up. Sweep the dust up. Sweep the leaves up leading to the road. What's to eat, what's to eat? Up a treat, up a treat. La-la-bye, la-la-bye. Close up. Sweep the dust up. That was life. Sweat. Base. And sand. All the time. Just trying to remember how it felt that way when she used to do those things for the families she lost. Every night, she'd fall asleep with a lullaby on her lips. And grieve of happy times. Except for one. This is where the story really begins. After summer, after she did the dishes and swept the floor, locked the door and got ready to go. And then she would land and wait to shut her window. Come with us. This child has come for us. For the poor. And today, what is sweet and spicy for you and I should say this. La-la-la-la. La-la-la-la. Glory to the world. Tonight's the night. Tonight's the night of. Lift up your voice and see. Glory to the world. Tonight's the night of. Tonight's the night of. Happy New Year. There's a child brand spanking new year. Come to change the world. Hallelujah. Glory. Happy New Year. There's a child brand spanking new year. Come to change the world. Hallelujah. Glory. There's a child in his store. Make fabrics here. Fabrics here. And flies across the sky. Read. Cook these hands and face the children everywhere. Even the ones in the red sweaters. She sings them a lot of life. They sleep. And then, she sweeps their rooms all clean. Why? Well, all the fun is known. It's because she has no idea which child. Why do you discuss a child? You will make a difference in the world. Make it a better place. It could be. You. Should I sweep that room? Yeah, that's what I was thinking. I don't want to know. Okay. Joan Combs. We're senioraring in society again. I want to comment. This is our 32nd year doing this musical. A storyteller from the university holding this story in 1986. And we've been doing it around the West every year since. You know, sometimes you run into things in your life and you have no idea that they're going to stick to the bottom of your shoe. In a very happy way. I'm so glad to have this story in my life and to bring it with my very talented friends into your lives. I think we have a question about the story together. If you're not familiar with it, don't be shy. We all know whatever it is like you. Sam, I think you're always welcome to say it on the front row. I'm so curious where you live. There's a question that we've gotten many times from people who don't exist. They ask what the story is real. Is it true? And the answer to that is, yes. Anyone can be the one to make the world a better place. All of us can do that. If we just, like you and me, were different. If I'm nicer to you, and you're nicer to me, always part of the magic in how you put it, but if you were nice to me, I would make each other as long as their place. And then the people who are sitting near us, we make their world a better place. Because the name of that person does not really complain. You see? We can all do that at your place in the world. If only we had all of our American officials. 2019 needs us more than ever. For that very reason. We might end the song by one of my heroes, one of all of our heroes, Sherry Horace, too. It's just a little slightly different version of the song that we've heard before. But please join me and just figure out what to do. Do-do-do-do-do-do. Do-do-do-do-do-do-do. Try nothing to kill. Imagine all the people.