 That's exactly what you're saying, that you don't even need to get into it. How do you feel when you get into it? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't understand that. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I know. Who's that? I'm not sure. I'm sure you're going to win. I think you're going to win. Yeah. Very much. I'm going to win. Yeah. I'm going to win. I'm going to win. I'm going to win. I'm going to win. I'm going to win. I'm going to win. I'm going to win. I'm going to win. I'm going to win. I'm going to win. I'm going to win. I'm going to win. I'm going to win. I'm going to win. I'm going to win. I'm going to win. I'm going to win. I'm going to win. I'm going to win. Even this way, because there's a hierarchy in this part of the city. You'll get the movement for a long time. Okay. Yeah, it is cool. It's cool. Yeah. It's cool. It's cool. It's cool. It's cool. It's cool. Every day. I would upgrade where it comes from. I would upgrade where it comes from. I guess I shouldn't say there's none, but he used to be like, you know what, so I just got in their bags and they were right on the road, especially the opposite. I guess I shouldn't say there's none, but he used to be like, you know what, so I just got in their bags and they were right on the road. I guess I shouldn't say there's none, even though it's a secret. I guess I shouldn't say there's none, but he used to be like, you know what, so I just got in their bags and they were right on the road. I guess I shouldn't say there's none, but he used to be like, you know what, so I just got in their bags and they were right on the road. I guess I shouldn't say there's none, but he used to be like, you know what, so I just got in their bags and they were right on the road. I guess I shouldn't say there's none, but he used to be like, you know what, so I just got in their bags and they were right on the road. I guess I shouldn't say there's none, but he used to be like, you know what, so I just got in their bags and they were right on the road. I guess I shouldn't say there's none, but he used to be like, you know what, so I just got in their bags and they were right on the road. I guess I shouldn't say there's none, but he used to be like, you know what, so I just got in their bags and they were right on the road. I guess I shouldn't say there's none, but he used to be like, you know what, so I just got in their bags and they were right on the road. I guess I shouldn't say there's none, but he used to be like, you know what, so I just got in their bags and they were right on the road. I guess I shouldn't say there's none, but he used to be like, you know what, so I just got in their bags and they were right on the road. I guess I shouldn't say there's none, but he used to be like, you know what, so I just got in their bags and they were right on the road. I guess I shouldn't say there's none, but he used to be like, you know what, so I just got in their bags and they were right on the road. I guess I shouldn't say there's none, but he used to be like, you know what, so I just got in their bags and they were right on the road. I guess I shouldn't say there's none, but he used to be like, you know what, so I just got in their bags and they were right on the road. I guess I shouldn't say there's none, but he used to be like, you know what, so I just got in their bags and they were right on the road. I guess I shouldn't say there's none, but he used to be like, you know what, so I just got in their bags and they were right on the road. I guess I shouldn't say there's none, but he used to be like, you know what, so I just got in their bags and they were right on the road. I guess I shouldn't say there's none, but he used to be like, you know what, so I just got in their bags and they were right on the road. I guess I shouldn't say there's none, but he used to be like, you know what, so I just got in their bags and they were right on the road. She said, come on. They don't care. I don't know. What are you saying right here? I know. Let's see. Yeah. It's okay. It's still intact. It's okay. What did she say? She said it's on the part of it. She said it's on the part of it. She said it's on the part of it. Good morning. Welcome to 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 this world. My name is Karen Bringelson and on behalf of the congregation, welcome. I'd like to extend a special welcome to visitors. We are a welcoming congregation, so whoever you are and wherever you are on your life's journey, we celebrate your presence among us. As we gather in this place and time, let us remember that we are all visitors. We come together to find meaning and hope with all the other visitors in this life. Let us join our hearts and minds together as we celebrate together. I invite you to silence your cell phones as we prepare for our worship time. And in the honor of the theme of today's service of honoring our voice and trusting our voice, I offer this throat chakra meditation. I listen with my whole self and think before I speak. When I speak, I do not back away from what is true or right. I share and communicate effectively and respectfully with others. I express myself fully and creatively. I invite you to join in a few moments of silence for contemplation, meditation or prayer as we settle in and come fully into this time and space together. I invite you to turn to hymn number 188 Come, come, whoever you are. Please rise in body and or spirit. When we go to sing this as a round, this will be group 1 and this will be group 2. Let's sing. All together at first. Come, come, whoever you are, wanderer, worshipper, lover of leaving ours is no caravan of despair. Come yet again come. Group 1 come. Group 2 come come. Let's do that again. Group 1 Standing as we join our voices together in our chalice lighting words found printed in your order of service together we say we gather to receive blessings of trust. May the relationships in this room help us notice we do not walk alone. May the quiet we share help us connect to and trust our deepest self. May the music offered help us feel and hold tight to the restorative rhythms of the world. May the words offered remind us that we too have a voice one that must be trusted and shared. I invite you to use that voice now in warm greeting towards each other. To come forward for a story before we start raise your hand if you like to read books there's some people out there too who like to read books okay put your hands down raise your hand if raise your hand if you like to sing okay hands down raise your hand if you like to dance and the last question raise your hand if you're a giraffe says giraffes can't dance someone has read it already well let's see what it says person has read this Gerald was a tall giraffe whose neck was long and slim but his knees were awfully crooked and his legs were rather thin he was very good at standing still and munching shoots off trees but when he tried to run around he buckled at the knees now every year in Africa they held the jungle dance where every single animal turned up to skip in pranks and this year when the day arrived for Gerald felt so sad because when it came to dancing he was really very bad the warthogs started waltzing and the rhinos rock and rolled the lions danced a tango that was elegant and bold the chimps all did a cha-cha with a very Latin feel and eight baboons then teamed up for a splendid Scottish reel Gerald swallowed bravely as he walked toward the floor but the lions saw him coming and they soon began to roar hey look at clumsy Gerald the animals all sneered giraffes can't dance you silly fool oh Gerald you're so weird Gerald simply froze up he was rooted to the spot they're right he thought I'm useless, oh I feel like such a clot so he crept off from the dance floor and he started walking home he had never felt so sad before so sad and all alone then he found a little clearing and he looked up at the sky the moon can be so beautiful he whispered with a sigh excuse me coughed a cricket who had seen Gerald earlier on but sometimes when you're different you just need a different song listen to the swaying of swaying grass and listen to the trees to me the sweetest music is those branches in the breeze so imagine that the lovely moon is playing just for you everything makes music if you really want it to with that the cricket smiled and picked up his violin then Gerald felt his body do the most amazing thing his hooves had started shuffling making circles on the ground his neck was gently swaying and his tail was swishing round his legs threw he threw his legs out sideways and he swung them everywhere then he did a backward somersault and leapt up in the air Gerald felt so wonderful his mouth was open wide I am dancing yes I'm dancing I am dancing Gerald cried then one by one each animal who had been there at the dance arrived while Gerald boogied on and watched him quite entranced they shouted it's a miracle we must be in a dream Gerald's the best dancer that we've ever ever seen what did you learn to dance like that please Gerald tell me how but Gerald simply twirled around and finished with a bow then he raised his head and looked up at the moon and stars above we all can dance he said so we find music that we love do you think we can all dance even when we're sitting down because we get to listen to the adult choir now and they're gonna sing a song about singing and dancing and let's see what that song has to say you can walk you can dance your religious education classes you can walk and dance as you wish you may remain seated go now in peace go now in peace let's do that one more time go now in peace go now in peace may the spirit own to you so I set a goal staff members ah there I am are you there microphone it's me Drew I set a goal as a member of the staff when I arrived and the goal was to help you feel more confident in your singing you the congregation as a group some of you I think you sing out no matter what some of us are a little more shy and there are surprising number of congregants who when I'm standing up at the podium just seem to be staring me down which if I did something to you perhaps I deserve but I think it's more about being a shy singer I've been doing this for a couple of decades and I'm surprised and dismayed still at how many people say I don't sing and I can't sing and when I pressed a little bit on that they say I was told I can't sing now I think we can all agree that when we're young we don't always hear things as they are said right sometimes someone can say I have a headache would you please stop singing and that gets heard as you can't sing don't sing anymore ever so somewhere along the lines many of us are given the impression that we either can't sing or shouldn't sing I think that there is there's a fallacy that as a society we have adopted that is contributing to this and it is if I'm not good at something I shouldn't do it which is ridiculous how much happiness have we missed in our lives believing that if I'm not good at something I shouldn't do it right if you're not a good writer but you enjoy writing probably all that will happen is you won't get published go write who cares right well singing is much more personal than that right because writing you can get to the end of that project and say I'm not going to show this to anybody this is nice for me to do but I think I'm just going to keep this for myself singing is in real time it's out loud and for that reason we feel like we might be judged on our performance even if it's just group singing I think about hearing happy birthday sung by a group right these days it's all but shouted happy birthday to you and the impression that I get and I might be making this up but the impression that I get is that many of those folks feel like they can't sing or shouldn't sing but it's happy birthday and you have to I have a solution to this problem I'm going to just shout it well if we believe that if we continue to believe I should only do things that I'm great at we're going to miss out on a lot and one of those things is the topic of my reflection with you today and that is congregational singing when the worship committee gets together and we talk about worship themes for the year and then as the year progresses we talk about how to put a certain service together what readings to use who's going to be the the lead minister etc we talk about all these things we are weaving together a service that we believe will be meaningful to you and that's the question we continually return to what will make the most meaningful worship service on this topic and we take a variety of approaches to explore the worship theme which this month is trust well, regardless of whether the worship theme is trust or not one of the many consistent methods we use to construct our worship services and this is true for most religions is singing and music particularly group singing and I started to think about that and wonder why? we just take it as red, right? we just do it go to church and sing or pretend to sing or stare at the song leader but but why? well, something interesting happened 530,000 years ago today that was when anthropologists tell us that the larynx began to to drop down into a medial position in the neck and throat and when the only bone you only have one bone in your larynx, it's called the hyoid bone when that bone turned from cartilage into bone in some human species and at that time there were about three there were homo sapiens there were neanderthals and one I can't pronounce there may have been more but in all those species we started developing that hyoid bone it started getting bigger starting stronger, whatever it needed to do and they believed that the position change of the larynx and the development of that little horseshoe shaped bone indicate that it was around that time that we started using our voice to communicate beyond just grunting okay and that as the voice box, the larynx, continued to develop the more capacity it had for changing pitch changing volume changing timbre and there's no way to know when this happened but anthropologists do tend to agree that the first utterances of communicative speech was what they call mother ease mother to baby now if we were writing a movie we would write a script and probably in that script the next thing that would happen is that the pitch and timbre and so forth would develop to a point where mothers could sing their babies to sleep which must have been a wonderful discovery right if you've ever been a desperate parent why won't you go to sleep why won't you stop crying to finally realize if I change the pitch of my voice completely this my child will go to sleep, go to sleep faster stop crying and we believe that those were the first uses of language for all human species including ours homo sapiens so as that continued then we probably realize again writing our movie script here probably the next step was we started singing to each other singing in groups singing to a romantic interest singing for celebration singing for rituals and now of course we sing to sell products and elect politicians but we're not there yet so from 530,000 years ago to about 40,000 years ago 42,000 years ago was the earliest evidence of of us making instruments wood, bone, animal skin drums, flutes reeds we have one flute from about 42,000 years ago somewhere in Germany and southern Germany and so for that 500,000 years or so all the music was singing according to the archaeological record so there must have been an awful lot of development in that time well back to my original question why do we sing as a group it builds camaraderie it brings us closer together it is one more kind of shared experience that's all I got I can't prove it, I wasn't there it's one of those things that's easy to believe and difficult to prove but we know it to be true right so what happens if you decide you're uncomfortable singing in public for any reason because someone influenced you into believing that or maybe you made that up but for some reason you don't sing the hymns or you sing the hymns but you just kind of just kind of sing through the motions if you will don't articulate the words very much and certainly miss the message of the hymns but the worship committee we chose those hymns very carefully to knit the service together in one more way so if you're missing that even a little then you are not having the fullest worship experience that's why we have that's why we're taking the time today to discuss it and probably why it won't be the last time so we are going to see if we can improve our group singing so whether you're sitting around a campfire with your tribe and singing as a group or singing happy birthday poorly in a restaurant singing as a group brings us closer together and in the case of worship it communicates a message possibly a new message and even if it's a hymn that's familiar to you based on the theme of the worship service you may have a new perspective on those words so they're very important so how do we begin to solve this problem well at the heart of it there's fear we're afraid of something if we're just sitting on the hymns or if we're at zero right somewhere we're in between there and there are a few of us that are 100% just go for it and you guys are probably just twiddling your thumbs during this talk and that's fine but for the rest of us we've got room for expansion alright so what we need to do the first step of that needs to be removing some of the anxiety some of the fear some of the script that we've written for ourselves against our will about us as singers I had a different experience than Gerald did when it came to dancing when I was in junior high just like most or all of you we started having dances I felt like I did not want to miss the dance because there was too many important things that happened at that dance didn't want to miss it but I also didn't want to be seen dancing because I was a terrible dancer and for a couple of years I littered that sort of sweaty middle school angst about dances and one day I remember very clearly thinking why do I care if people think I'm a bad dancer first of all they might be wrong I might be a great dancer second of all if I'm terrible seriously why do I care if people think of me as a bad dancer is that the worst thing somebody could say about me great guy, incredibly handsome super funny bad dancer fine I'm fine with that right and the next dance we had was an interesting experience at the end of the dance and the next day more than a couple of people said you're a good dancer but I don't care if I'm a good dancer or not I would like for you to adapt some version of that for yourselves as a congregational singer if the person sat in front of me actually to judge my singing right and I am found to be wanting I still do not care what that person thinks and that is never going to happen no one comes to church going alright I'm going to find a mediocre singer if it kills, no one cares right or if they do they shouldn't or if they should it's not your problem so that's the first thing and here's how we're going to tackle that we are going to sing if you'll take out your hymnals and turn to hymn 108 one of our favorite hymns most of us know this hymn very well familiarity is going to be an asset to us we are going why? because I'm going to ask you to sing terribly please sing poorly if you inspire anybody you're doing it wrong right so find your ugly voice or your monotone or your just happy birthday shouting singing voice or whatever and let's see just how awful this beautiful hymn can sound one and two let's go my life flows on an endless song above earth's lamentation I love it I hear the real though far from him that hails a new creation that was terrible alright thank you you follow my directions very well but you still had the core experience you still sing as a group you still sing those words if you sing the melody beautifully awesome it's a beautiful melody but if you don't nobody cares except you so stop caring sing out make loud mistakes if you're going to make a mistake make it one you are proud of right okay so we sing boldly because the message must be communicated boldly and we are not communicating to anybody but ourselves you're not communicating to the people near you no one's going to stop singing to him and turn it doesn't matter you could be the greatest singer in the world if you are getting the message and the person next to you who's the worst singer in the world is getting the message then the message got through and that's what we care about in congregational singing we have this other fallacy in our in our society where music seems to fall into two categories right it's either art or it's entertainment and some of us like artful singing so we go to recitals and we hear people sing in other languages that we may or may not speak and others of us like to listen to music that's entertaining but we consume it it comes at us right so when you are singing in a worship service neither of those two categories applies you're just singing to yourself and you're singing an important message so when we get to this him later in the service I hope you will give it your all no matter what I'm going to leave you with a couple of brief quotes that I love one is from Henry Van Dyke he said use what talents you possess he didn't say don't use talents you don't possess he didn't say don't use talents you do use what talents you do possess for the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang the best and the second quote from Khalil Gibran sing and dance together but let each one of you be alone even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music thanks Drew in exploring how we come to trust our own voice and thinking about the role of music and of singing in this congregation there are several things that are on my mind and heart as I think about that as I talk to you in the first months of our time together and I ask you what matters here or what deeply moves you or changes your life at First Unitarian one of the things you told me most often was that music in all of its forms is an essential thing for you here simply to you and so we ended up in the five most important guiding sort of lights of this congregation that I shared with you as the five shining stars you've told me that music matters to you maybe it isn't always just singing and maybe it is not you singing in this space and yet there is something powerful something transformative that happens in this place when we experience music and that has been true over and over again in my ministry and I am grateful but when I thought about how I wanted to explore trusting your own voice and its connection to song I realized that I was thinking of it in the way that song speaks literally of the music that we make in our specific true singing and yet the song is larger and deeper than that as well something that is not just metaphor but a deeply mystical and connective component of the music of the world around us and within us something very old and primal and so I invite you for a moment to think of this sharing as a sort of meditation and to do that meditation like singing asks us to be aware of our body and our breath so to prepare ourselves I invite you to find a way to be in your seat that feels like it is well grounded and if you are able to to place your feet firmly on the ground itself so that you feel deeply connected and your stance feels open and comfortable but well grounded and centered a good place from which to start and for just a moment to lead us into deeper presence here I invite you maybe to close your eyes or to focus on something in front of you and just be aware for a moment of the source of your life your breath become aware of exactly where you notice it most as it enters your body where you feel it most deeply maybe it is as the air comes in through your nostrils or your mouth maybe it is as your rib cage your chest expand and rise with the breath maybe it is as you breathe all the way to the core of your being and your diaphragm opens up and you are able to bring in that very breath of life itself whatever it is for just a moment breathe in deeply and be fully aware of that place where you notice that life giving force most and as you release it think of how deeply you connect with all that is around you with each exhalation and from this place of deep connection within and around may you hear the words of Rabia of Basra a 19th century Islamic poet in her poem it acts like love it acts like love music it reaches toward the face touches it and tries to let you know the promise that all will be okay it acts like love music and tells the feet you do not have to be so burdened my body is covered with wounds this world made but I still long to kiss God even God said could you also kiss the hand that caused each scar for when you do you find me it does that music helps us forgive there is something very deep in our connection with music that may begin from the very start of our birth whereas babies we find that primal screen that utterance that is pure expression and life itself moving on throughout our lives still trying to find expression into our voice Mark Nepo reminds us as long as we sing the pain of the world cannot claim our lives he was aware through his own struggles through cancer and in trying to explore what it meant around the world for people to find their voice he concluded it became very clear that giving voice no matter what is inner is essential to surviving what is outer no matter where we live or whom we love or want or what we can't have this is the lesson that cannot be repeated or learned enough when everything in life presses from outside of us we have no choice but to sing like scared children relying on their song to stop the pain the way that fire stalls the cold and you can trust the power of that inner music and of that voice because it comes from someplace deeply authentic some part of that is found when you come together here and you sing together some small bit at least of that primal deep original energy is still always present in your voice and by combining your voice with every other voice the larger voice of the congregation is strong and powerful and by practicing that week after week if you let yourself be more aware of what it is to be in this place and offer your voice by doing that slowly but surely you come to trust powerfully how your voice is a part of that larger whole and in some way let me remind you that without that voice that larger whole would not be as complete or as full we each in our own way throughout our lives renew our sense and our trust in what our own voice our own song our own way of living is about perhaps for you you right now are finding your song of justice more powerfully maybe for you you are finding your own song of creativity in a way that resonates deeply maybe for you you are practicing the song of your love until you feel like you've got it right enough for now but over and over again practicing that song invites us always imperfectly to grow to risk to sometimes fail and pick yourself up to sing again and you can trust that ongoing song sometimes we find powerful ways to express our voices Paul Robison wrote I shall take my voice wherever there are those who want to hear the melody of freedom or the words that might inspire hope and courage in the face of fear my weapons are peaceful for it is only by peace that peace can be attained the song of freedom what is your song of freedom how can you trust it more and sing it more lovingly another way that we practice the song of our love and our life together is by acknowledging when we come together that we each bring our truths of our life some of those truths are moments of celebration some of them are of loss or anger or sadness for just a moment before we move on to our day may we also give attention to that voice what is true for you as you sit here today are you singing inside a song of celebration sadness or some amazing and beautiful combination of the song of the people that you love most or who are on your mind this morning may we hold those songs as powerful in the larger chorus of life this morning in particular we are aware that we have gratitude for the celebration and remembrance of life some of the flowers up here are given to us by Janine Nussbaum as they honored her son Ron Valenza yesterday in a memorial service in all of the ways that our songs contribute to the life of this place in all the ways that our songs connect us to what matters most we are grateful and we sing on amen and blessed be as we move into our time of giving and receiving of our offering may we be reminded that part of our offering will go to benefit Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin and in this time when there is a continued threat of the importance of choice it is very good for us to find the generosity to continue to have a voice of justice in the midst of this time may we find our own generosity in deep gratitude as the offering is given and received today's offeratory is a song by the contemporary songwriter Eliza Gulkason she calls it Requiem about this she said I wanted to do an invocation to the great mother archetype I kept looking around for female deities that were symbolic of a mother Muslim deities, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist but I kept coming back to marry and it seemed right since she is the western archetype of compassion and that that is the energy I wanted to evoke and she dedicates her song to all the victims of natural disasters past, present, and future full four with beautiful music like that we also appreciate the gifts of your talents your time, your treasure and the volunteers who helped make this worship serve as possible our greeters this morning were Karen Hill and artist Kaufman our ushers are Mark Hill, Douglas Hill and Tom Dolmage our hospitality ministry is being served by Rick DeVita and on sound we have Mark Schultz if you'd like information at the welcome table you will be able to talk to Karen Rose Gredler I also want to bring to your attention in support of our fifth sharing universalist principle is a upcoming Madison Mayoral Mayoral candidate forum is happening here at First Unitarian Society on Saturday this coming Saturday the doors open at 6pm and then the forum starts at 6.30 so all are welcome and with those announcements and opportunities concluded I invite you to join in raising your voices for singing him number 108 my life flows on an endless song please rise in body and or spirit and now as we prepare to leave this space may the song of your own life sing loudly in the chorus around us may we each grow in our trust of our authentic voice may this space and this place help us find that truth we extinguish the light but not the light of wisdom or the fire of our commitment to what matters most or the warmth of love and community these remain until we gather in this place again I invite us to take our seats and receive one more gift of music