 But there are three questions. I'm not as high as the other one. I just want to get back to that one. Sure. And we need more more questions. Come on up. Mine's mine. I'm going to get this one. Do you want to find some solutions? I don't know. I'm not going to try to find them. I don't want to put something here. You just throw them away. You just throw them away. So what? I don't know. I got a few other questions. 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. Please let's all join together in a few moments of centering silence. And now please remain seated as we sing our in-gathering hymn. Excuse me, and 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'd like to extend a special welcome to any visitors who are with us this morning. We are a welcoming congregation, so whomever you are and wherever you happen to be on your life journey, 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 my ministry will also be on hand to welcome you. You may look for persons holding teal-colored stoneware coffee mugs, if they're able to have coffee this morning in this weather. These are FUS members knowledgeable about our faith community who would be happy to visit with you. Experienced guides are generally available to give building tours after each service. I do know that we do have a guide this morning. If you would like to learn more about the sustainably designed addition or our National Landmark Meeting House, please meet what would be your left upfront by the windows after the service. And Pamela McMullen will be your guide. We welcome children to stay for the duration of the service. But because it is difficult for some in attendance to hear in this lively acoustical environment, our child haven back in that corner and the commons behind the auditorium are excellent places to go if your child wants to talk, sing, dance, run around, or any other normal childhood things. The service can still be seen and heard from those areas. This would also be a fabulous time to turn off any noise making devices that might cause a disturbance during the hour, especially cell phone ringers. I'd now like to acknowledge those individuals who help make our services successful. This morning on Sound, we have David Burials, lay ministers, our John McEvna and Tom Boykopp. Our greeter was Pamela McMullen. So you saw her at the beginning, if you want to look for her for a tour afterward. Hospitality is being handled by Helena McEvna. And our tour guide, as I said, is Pamela. Please note the announcements in the red floors insert to your order of service. These announcements discuss many things that are going on now or soon at FUS and have information about today's service and other things. Look how full this is today. My goodness. There's a lot of stuff in there, so please don't miss it. I do have one to highlight, and that has to do with the landmark roof forum on August 6. Given the breadth and scope of this project to repair the landmark roof, a parish forum on the subject has been scheduled for Sunday, August 6, following the 11 AM service. This forum will provide you all with an opportunity to learn more about the needs of repairs and the options available to us. Please come if you're available and ask any questions you may have. Light refreshments and snacks will be provided in the Atrium Commons. And now I'd like to say, again, welcome. We trust today's service will stimulate your mind, touch your heart, and stir your spirit. And now, got one more thing here that I almost left out. It is my pleasure and honor to say a few words about our guest, which I think I left on my chair in a coordinated way. It's my pleasure to say a few words about Representative Chris Taylor, who is our special speaker today, elected to the State Assembly in August of 2011. She was quickly redistricted into a new 76th district, which includes the ISMAS, UW campus, and parts of northeast and west sides, my goodness. Chris currently sits on five assembly committees and chairs the Women's Health Work Group and the Progressive Caucus. She has successfully worked across the aisle, and I underline that worked across the aisle, to pass good public policy, including a first in the nation law requiring outside investigation of deaths involving law enforcement, and another to address confidentiality programs for victims of domestic violence, harassment, and human trafficking. Chris and her husband, Jim, live on the neary side of Madison, where Chris has lived for almost 25 years. They are the proud parents of two young boys, Sam and Ben. Representative Taylor earned her law degree in 1995 from UW-Madison after receiving her undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1990. Prior to being elected to the legislature, Chris practiced law at several private firms before becoming the public policy director for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin. She has been a member of First Unitarian and a colleague of ours for several years now. And, oh, look, here's my copy. Thank you. Birds are from the sage of Concord, Ralph Waldo Emerson. In a virtuous community, people of sense and of principle will always be placed at the head of affairs. In a declining state of public morals, people will be so blinded to their true interests as to put the incapable and the unworthy at the helm. It is therefore vain to complain of the follies or the crimes of government. We must lay our hands on our own hearts and say, here is the sin that makes for the public sin. I invite you to rise in body or in spirit for the lighting of our chalice. And if you would join with me in reading the words of affirmation printed in this morning's program. A Unitarian Universalist congregation strives to be a community where every person is valued, where we work together to create a more just and caring world. We join our hearts and minds today, drawing each and all into this circle of commitment. And now I invite you to turn to your neighbor exchange with them a warm and friendly greeting. Please be seated. And if our children would like to join me in the front for the message for all ages, how many of the three of you little guys know about a story was made into a movie called Lord of the Rings? You ever heard of Lord of the Rings? Well, in Lord of the Rings, there's a whole lot of strange creatures. There are dwarves and there are elves and there are hobbits and wizards and there are goblins. And then there are ants, ENTS. And the ants are trees. But they're not like all the trees that you and I know, because these are trees that can walk around and they can talk to each other. So this is a story not about ants, but it is about trees. And it is said that a long, long, long time ago, just like the ants in the Lord of the Rings, all the trees could talk among themselves. Now if a living thing can talk, then it can also get into arguments. It can also quarrel. And that's what happened with the trees of the forest. They began to quarrel and fight with each other so often that they finally said, we have to have a king. We need to have a king to rule over us and to keep the peace among all the trees. Well at first, every tree in the forest began thinking to himself or herself, wouldn't it be great to be a king? I'll bet I would make a wonderful king. And so all the trees began boasting to themselves saying, let me be the king. No, let me be the king. I'll be the best king ever. But then one of the older and wiser trees called out and said, stop. Think about it for a minute. You cannot be the king and keep doing all the things that you are already doing now because whoever is chosen as the king is going to have to completely change their way of life. So if you are a fruit tree, you will have to stop using all that energy to produce fruit on your branches. You'll need to spend all of your strength growing high and strong so that you can weave your mighty branches too and throw over us. It's only that kind of huge big tree with these spreading branches. It's only that kind of a tree that can keep the peace. Well, on hearing this, the trees suddenly stopped all of their boasting and they grew very quiet and very thoughtful. And when they began talking to themselves again, they were much more serious and they were asking one another, well, which tree would make the very best king among us? And they talked for a long time before they finally decided that there was one tree that would make the best king and that was the olive tree. We want you to be our king, they said. The olive tree replied saying, why should I give up making all of these fine tasting olives in order to just grow high and wide, wave my branches too and throw over you? My olives bring me great honor among all men and women. I don't want to be your king and give up all of that. So next, they went to the orange tree and they offered him the position of king. But he replied, well, my oranges are so sweet and they keep all the people of the world cheerful. I love being praised for my golden fruit, so no, I don't want to be your king. Well, next, they went to the almond tree. Almonds are kind of a nut, right? And the almond tree, he turned them down too. One after another, the trees of the forest, they were all invited to be the king and none of them were willing to make the sacrifices that were necessary to be the king. Why should we give up what we love doing? They all said, no, we want to stay just exactly as we are. So they all refused. All that is except one, the lowly thorn bush. And the thorn bush thought to herself, perhaps now is my chance to be somebody important. Nobody's ever noticed me before. I do want to be different. And sure enough, the trees could not find any other tree in the entire forest that was willing to change their ways and become the king. And so at last, they asked the little thorn bush, would you be our king? They said half heartedly. And at first the thorn bush, he thought it was all just a big joke. You really truly want me to be your king, he said. They all nodded, yes, be our king. Well, at this, the thorn bush chuckled to himself and then he called out in a loud voice, come and crawl under my shadow, all ye trees of the forest and be safe. Do what I say and be at peace. And even while the thorn bush was saying these words, he began to grow taller and taller and his thorny branches grew high and wide until they covered up all the trees of the forest. And now the thorn bush, knowing that he was so big and so powerful, he called out again in a loud and cruel voice, listen well to my words, all ye trees of the forest, you have chosen me to be your king. And so from now on you must do everything that I say. And if at any time any one of you refuses to do what I order, I will call the human beings into the forest. And I shall say to the human beings, gather up from the ground, all the dry branches, all the leaves that have fallen, make a fire and burn down the entire forest. That's what I'm gonna do. All the trees, as you can imagine, were really frightened by this. And this threat was so bad that to this day, they've never said another word. They've never spoken since. And that's why when you go in the forest, you might hear the leaves rustling a little bit, but you're not gonna hear those trees talking to each other. You always have to be kind of careful about who you ask to be your leader. Because they don't always wanna help. Sometimes they just like power for its own sake. This is what we call an allegory, which you will learn more about in your freshman English class when you get to high school. So now we're gonna invite you all to go to summer fun as we sing you out with hymn number 1010. Thank you for listening. Please be seated. So in anticipation of Chris Taylor's remarks, these two selections, the first from Parker Palmer's book, Healing the Heart of Democracy. He writes, I came across words written by Terry Tempest Williams as I was emerging from the dark passage of personal and political heartbreak. Republicans happen to be in power at the time, but Democrats have broken my heart too, proving that it is a bad idea politically as well as personally to go looking for love in all the wrong places. Now Terry Tempest Williams was writing about living democracy and her words uplifted me with the reminder that none of us is powerless. The human heart is the first home of democracy, she insisted. It's where we embrace our questions. Can we be equitable? Can we be generous? Can we listen with our whole being, not just with our minds? Can we offer our attention rather than our opinions? And do we have enough resolve in our hearts to act courageously, relentlessly, without giving up ever, trusting our fellow citizens to join with us in the determined pursuit of a living democracy? If the heart is democracy's first home, then each of us has a share of the power required to call democracy back to its roots. But even as Terry Tempest Williams' words restored me, they also rebuked me because I had not been holding the questions that Williams' names, questions about my capacity for citizenship with openness, honesty, trust, and persistence. I had allowed my heart to harden, I had lost faith in my fellow citizens. The uplift and the upbraiding that I found in Williams' words sparked a resolve to reclaim my active citizenship. And the second selection is from Louis Lapham, who is the former editor of Harper's Magazine, from an essay entitled Democracy in America. Although I know that Thomas Jefferson once said that it is never permissible to despair of the Commonwealth, I think it is possible that the American experiment with democracy may have run its course. Not because of the malevolence or the cunning of some foreign power, but because a majority of Americans apparently have come to think of democracy as a matter of consensus, of parades, as if it were something easy and quiet and orderly and safe. Because I keep running across people who speak fondly of what they imagine to be the comforts of autocracy, people who long for that man on a white horse who will do something hard, something puritanical about the moral relativism that has made a mess of our cities and our schools and primetime TV. To be sure, the word democracy is never easy to define. It's meaning changes with the vagaries of time and place and circumstance. The American democracy of 1990 is not the same as that of 1890. Democracy in France is not what it is in England or in Norway or the United States. But what remains more or less constant is the temperament of spirit of the mind rather than some code of laws, some set of immutable virtues or some table of bureaucratic organization. And the temperament of mind I'm speaking of is skeptical. It is contentious. And if democracy means anything at all, if it isn't what Gore Vidal once called the great American nonsense word, then it means freedom of thought and the perpetual expansion and discovery that the world is not one's self. Freedom of thought brings society the unwelcome news that it is in trouble. But because all societies like all individuals are always in trouble, that news does not cause them to perish. They die instead when they cease to be thoughtful. Hello, everybody. Good morning. It is very different to be on this side of the podium this morning, but I really appreciate the invitation to come share some thoughts with you. And thank you, Karen, for the lovely introduction. But yes, my name is Chris Taylor. Some of you have seen me here lurking around. I usually come in late dragging my two children with me. And if you don't know my kids, you have heard my children. I'm sure of that. So I went through several versions of my remarks today. I kept giving them to my husband who kept giving them back saying, these are too political. You sound like you're making a political speech. So I've tried to maybe approach today's topic in a little more personal way. And I'm also used to having more of a dialogue when I speak. So I usually say to the audience, well, just call out a question or two. So this is a bit of a different format for me. But several months ago, my husband came home and said, I wanna go see Mark Marin, who is a political comedian. He's coming to the Orpheum. I don't know how many of you, did anyone go to that show? Anybody know Mark Marin? He's a, okay, some of you know who he is. He's a political comedian. And I have to say, when my husband came home in February, I was not that excited to go see a political comedian because that seemed a bit like an oxymoron to me. I wasn't laughing a whole lot during those days in February, I have to say. But I went and it was just what I needed. He was very, very funny. But he started with this question that everybody in the audience could totally relate to when he started with this question. So what do you think he's gonna do next? And we all knew who he was. And I think this question is as relevant today as it was back in April. I have long turned off the ping on my cell phone when I get those emails, the ping, ping, ping, ping. So I turned that off a long time ago, but now I'm getting these New York time breaking news constantly. So every time I open my phone, I'm bracing myself for that red New York times breaking news, so I have to kinda work up to it. But right here in Wisconsin, we know so well the devastating consequences of this national agenda we're seeing because we've seen it here in our state. Many, many of the policies that we're seeing from deregulation, privatization, tax breaks for super rich people that are becoming the hallmark at the federal level have been the hallmark at the state level. And so I think we know all too well how devastating these policies are on top of kind of the systemic breakdown of our government through voter ID laws and gerrymandering and all this campaign money coming in because our campaign laws have been gutted. So I'm not gonna go into detail about those things because you all read about those. And you know, you're very well informed, you know what's happening. So the question that I've been asked recently and I was asked by the prairie you used to come a couple Sundays ago and address the issue of well, is democracy dead? You know, kind of an ominous topic to address. It's not one necessarily that I would choose, but it got me very much thinking. And I do think that democracy is a bit twisting and turning in the wind right now. But is it dead? And I have to say definitively I respond no. I do not believe that democracy is dead. I believe it's alive, I believe it's within us. And in the words, I love the words of Terry Tempest Williams from the readings today. I really appreciate those lovely readings. And you know, just to quote again, because I think it's so important, she says the human heart is a first home of democracy. And I really do believe that human beings have an indelible thirst for freedom and for justice and fairness for a government that is truly representative and truly represents the people. And I really believe this is part of our human spirit. It's part of who we are. And it causes us to rise up. It causes us to speak out. It causes us to act. And I do, you know, I really do see this living democracy every single day, every day that I walk out of my home. I see it. I see it in my neighborhood. I see it in my community from individuals who are working every single day to create opportunities for people to address systemic inequities. I see it right here in this congregation. You know, you all, we have a social justice coordinator here. And I see that person up at the Capitol. I see that person actively engaging in policy. And I see the activism and commitment from this congregation to ensure a more just society. I see it on the faces of all the new activists that have called me, have come to meet with me since last November. I can't tell you how many new people, people I've never seen before. I did not know them, constituents of mine, but also people who are constituents, who have called and who I've met with who just wanna know how do they get engaged? What can they do to be involved? How do they make a difference? And I even see democracy in the Capitol of all places, right? Where we should see it probably the most. And I see citizens come every single week to come and testify at hearings who wait sometimes hours and hours to testify on an issue, to testify sometimes just for a few minutes on an issue and to speak out for good policies for fairness and for justice. So those are things I see every single day right here in our community that do really inspire me and I think we all should be inspired by it. I think our challenge really is, and this is a challenge that I have, is to keep acting and keep speaking out even when you are weary, right? And some of us are weary. I mean, sometimes it's very hard when you feel very tired and you feel defeated to keep going. So how do we embrace the concept of this living democracy that begins with us? And how do we strengthen it? How do we strengthen it when we can't bear to turn on the news? How do we do these things? So I wanted to share with you all this morning some lessons that I've learned in my fairly short tenure as a state representative, I've been there as Karen said for six years. And throughout that six years, I feel like we've mostly been fighting a lot of battles, but there's lots of opportunities too. So the first lesson that I wanted to share with you that I've learned is how important it is to listen to our children and to listen to our young people. I heard it once said, and I don't know by who, if any of you know, please come tell me, I Googled, I tried to figure out, where did I hear this? But it struck me so profoundly. I heard it said that children were sent to us by God to teach us something that we needed to learn. And I believe that that is true. In movements throughout our history, we really have always looked to young people to show us the way forward. When I feel like I need some inspiration, there's a couple things that I look at again. I go back to 1957 in Little Rock, Arkansas when you had nine school kids, literally children, who were the first group of African American children to attend Little Rock High School. And you can see the tapes. You can see the videos of them walking through this hateful crowd, being blocked by the National Guard. The National Guard blocked them, would not let them into the school. And these kids kept at it. I mean, these were 14-year-old children. They kept at it, and they walked through this crowd. And any time I'm feeling like, oh, I can't do it, it's too hard, you know, I go back and look at what these children did. And that kind of courage is something I think we all should aspire to. Congressman John Lewis, 1965, how many of you saw the movie Selma? Some of you see that? Well, John Lewis, who is now a current congressman, he was a young man then, and he had a really important role in leading that march. And when the marchers were first going over that bridge in Selma, as we saw in the movie, and if you read about this incident and look at photos of what occurred here, on the other side of that bridge were dozens and dozens of law enforcement with clubs and pistols who were ready to take these marchers down and still these marchers went over the bridge. How many of us can put ourselves in that situation and can say we would have done the same thing? I don't know, I hope that I would have, but I'm not so sure if I knew that I was gonna get my skull cracked, which is what happened to John Lewis. The Black Lives Matter movement was started by three young African-American women, and they really have fundamentally, I think, altered the discussion around criminal justice reform. Right here at home, I had three, recently at three elementary school children, girls come to see me, they wanted to help pass a law for equal pay for equal work for women. And these were three little girls who had been taking on this cause, and they actually came to a press conference that we did on equal pay for equal work for women. And here were these three children who had become these incredible advocates. And then, of course, the other example that I have is with my own children. I am the proud mom of two boys, six and 11 years old. And my older son, Sam, came to me shortly after the November election. I think he knew that his mother was a little bit upset. And he was a little bit upset. Our whole family was kind of in a bit of despair. Well, he gave me a book called Wonder. Any of you read this book, Wonder? Okay, it's actually coming out as a movie. I just realized this. And this is a book by R.J. Palacio. And my son said, I want you to read this book. It's about a boy who has severe facial deformities. And his mother has homeschooled him and kept him home from school. And it turns out, when he gets to be about 10, mom really realizes, I have reached the end of my knowledge. You know, if anyone's done fifth grade math recently, you will see why she reached the end of her knowledge. And she realizes in the book, I have to send my son to school. And she also realizes that there's going to be heartbreaking cruelty in that process, but also knows there's gonna be overwhelming love and compassion and empathy that her son is gonna experience. And in fact, though there is cruelty in that her son experiences some cruelty from the children at his school, it is this overwhelming sense of compassion and love and friendship that is developed. And I really, this book really kind of reconnected me after the election to our basic humanity. It really reconnected me to empathy and to love. So it was my son really who brought me back when I needed it the most. We need not just listen to our children and our young people, but we need to engage them. And we need to learn from them. And we need to include them in this march that many of us are on for justice and equality. We need to empower them to lead. And we need to know when to follow them. This is something I will tell you, my party has not done well. We have not done this well in encouraging our youth and in giving them leadership roles. But our future really does depend on it. Lesson number two that I've learned is find support and strength and empowerment in your spiritual community. And many of us are here because of this. I grew up a Methodist, my husband is Jewish, and now I'm a UU. So it sounds like a song I could write about these various things, but I really do try to incorporate these different aspects of my spiritual traditions into my life. And it really does help me navigate some of these very difficult situations, political situations in my life. So from my Methodist upbringing, I really do return to the story of Christ. Was he a savior possibly? A revolutionary absolutely is what I was taught growing up. The story of Christ, regardless of your beliefs of whether exist or who he was, is the story of an individual who took on the status quo. A person who did not sit it out but challenged every authority to accomplish and address some of the inequities of his day. And that story does provide us, I think, with a very clear example of what moral courage looks like. And I believe this moral courage is a core tenant of democracy. We all have it in us, but sometimes we need help summoning it up. There are so many occasions on my very short commute to the Capitol, I live about two and a half, three miles east of the Capitol, where I have found myself praying for that moral courage, praying that I will have the strength to say what needs to be said and to do what needs to be done. As an adult, FUS is really my spiritual home. I really consider it. I started regularly coming here after my older son was born because I wanted him to be exposed to the ethics and the principles of unitarian universalism. And I also wanted him to be literate, religiously literate, to have an understanding. But what I quickly realized was I needed to come here as much as my children, if not more, frankly. And for me, FUS really has been a sanctuary for me. It's really a safe spot for me to come with all my imperfections, with my kids whose hair is not brushed, their shoes are untied, and as I said, they're noisy. But after I dropped my kids off at religious education, and I shouldn't say this, I'm sorry, Michael, I'm gonna probably, I don't wanna inspire bad habits of anybody, but I do sneak into the back and get a cup of coffee, and then I sit in the back. And I have to say, mostly, oh yeah, I see somebody does that too out there. Mostly I absorb a message that I almost always really needed to hear. I almost always feel like, wow, that was directed right at me. So I feel rejuvenated, I'm moved, I'm inspired to act, and I think that's what we get. But as important is that the core lesson that I have to keep learning again and again. I wish I would just learn it and be done with it, but it doesn't seem like I can do that. And it is that the activism and our advocacy, it has to come from love. It cannot come from anger. It cannot come from hatred. Hate burns us up, it burns us out. It's not sustainable, but we know love is, that love does sustain us. It's hard, I can't say that every time I stand up to speak on the assembly floor, I'm feeling a lot of love for some of my colleagues, both Democrat and Republican, I should say. But I am always reminded in this place to stand on the side of love. And as long as we do that, we really cannot go wrong. We really cannot. My last lesson is to act, but actively listen as well. In my opinion, our democracy depends on citizens being comfortable as political actors. Sometimes it's not comfortable to speak out or write the letter or go visit your legislature, but I do think it's super, super important. There's not one savior that's gonna cure the ills of our government. There is not a magic bullet here, but it is going to be and rest on our collective effort. We don't have to do everything to keep fighting for a government that truly represents people, to keep fighting for fairness, to keep fighting for justice, but we have to do something. We have to do something. As Martin Luther King Jr. said long ago, and this is one of my favorite quotes, if you can't fly, then run. If you can't run, then walk. If you can't walk, then crawl. But whatever you do, you must keep moving forward. So that activism and that movement we have to embrace, I believe it's very, very critical. Even if it's one action a day, people say to me sometimes, I'm so overwhelmed, I don't know what to do first. And I say, just do one thing a day, or one thing a week, but do something. But we also must listen to those who might have a very different religious, cultural, ethnic tradition, and different beliefs than what we do. And this in no way involves accepting racism or homophobia or sexism. We must always, in my opinion, stand very, very strongly against those beliefs. But we must look for things that unite us, not divide us. I have knocked on, I don't know how many doors. I've probably knocked on thousands of doors for candidates all around the state. So I've been everywhere. I've been north, south, I've been all parts, you know, suburban, urban, rural. And despite all this talk of the urban, rural divide, and it is real, and some of you know Kathy Kramer, who is a professor right here who's written about this urban, rural divide. I'm not saying it's not real. But in my experience in talking to people, people are really similar in a lot of ways. They really want the same things. They want a chance. They want an opportunity to have a decent job. They wanna be able to provide for their families. They want to be able to pay their mortgage and they want opportunities for their children. So in my experience, oh, and they want a government who truly has their back. There really is this feeling out there that government just, it's not working for average people, for most people. So they wanna know that their government is one that is watching out for them. So what I've learned really is that when we do listen, and I mean actively listen so often, how many of you, when you're engaged in maybe little argument with your significant other, you stop listening because you're trying to figure out how you're gonna respond. This is something I really am working on. I wish my husband were here to hear this. Maybe he'll be here at the 11 o'clock. I'm really working on this, to actively listen and not be anticipating what your response is going to be. When I was first elected, I said to myself, and honestly, when I first ran for office, it was six years ago, I had a baby. So my son was a baby. I'd never run for anything. I had been elected student body vice president when I was a senior in high school. So that was my experience in running for office. And I remember the night before the election, I turned to my husband, I said, you know, do you think I could win? And he said, yeah, I think you might be able to win. So this was the night before my election. Anyway, I have really learned that I was misguided in thinking that I wasn't gonna be changed. You cannot sit next to a parent, one specific instead of thinking of a mother whose daughter was murdered and not fundamentally change by hearing that experience. And I have been fundamentally changed because people, and this is probably one of the biggest honors of my job, people are so willing to share their personal experiences with you because they want good policy. They wanna change things when something really traumatic happens to them. And so I'm very honored by that, but it has changed me. And you know, it should change us when we share stories. It should change us. It should open our hearts, it shouldn't close them. And these experiences of listening to each other, even when you don't agree, connects us in ways that we didn't have before when we do listening. The story of democracy in my opinion really is the story of people uniting together around common goals and mobilizing to actualize these goals through their collective power. Not separately, it is not an individual sport democracy. It is a collective job that we have here. I still believe in the collective power people to make their government, to control their government in their own image and to change their communities for the better. I very much believe that that power is within all of us. I just actually yesterday was at a run that was organized by this couple for Planned Parenthood. And they decided they were just gonna have a run, their response to run to raise money. 500 people came to run. Two people did this. So we have a lot of power. Perhaps what we're really in is the rebirth of democracy. Perhaps our current leaders at the state and federal level have awakened us. And now it's time for us to stay awake. I wanna close with a quote from one of my favorite political activists who happens to be a Reverend. And some of you might know him, William J. Barber II. He's a pastor out in North Carolina. And he started the Forward Together Moral Monday Movement in North Carolina. And this is what he says. We must shock this nation with the power of love. We must shock this nation with the power of mercy. We can't give up on the heart of our democracy. We must shock this nation and fight for justice for all. And then he says, his last line is, this is truly what the heart of democracy is about. So let's never give up, but keep empowering each other and strengthening each other and keep on our road that so many of us are on to create a more just and equitable world. Thank you so much. Here's with the congregation book this morning. So we will proceed directly to our closing hymn, number 1018. Please be seated for the benediction and the postlude. Our closing words come from the Unitarian hymnal of 1937 published in The Depths of the Depression. Author of life who has made us one nation out of many peoples, unite us in a common love of freedom and a high ambition for our national life. Deepen in us a devotion to the common good so that we may open new doors to the neglected and to the oppressed. Cleanse our hearts from the greed which preys on others and deliver our politics from corruption. Help us to establish this land in righteousness and dial with the spirit of wisdom those entrusted with authority that we may stand among the nations of the earth as an example of justice and responsible power. May the religion of virtue in which the founders rejoiced find new expression in our own words and deeds. Blessed be.