 Good morning and welcome to the First Unitarian Society of Madison. My name is Kelly Crocker and I am Minister of Congregational Life. It is a gift to gather in this online space. It is a gift to gather from our homes, whether our home is here in the Madison area or somewhere around the globe. For today's service, Reverend Roger Birchhausen and I are joined by Linda Warren, Drew Collins and Daniel Carnes. It is wonderful to be joined by so many people who might not otherwise be able to join us due to geographical or logistical barriers. We are reminded of the blessings and the gifts of virtual spaces. As we create space together for community, we would like to invite you to join us after service for our virtual coffee hour. This is a wonderful way to have conversations with one another and to deepen our connections. Today at 11.45 a.m. immediately after coffee hour, we will be joined by Dr. Demita Brown, restorative justice director for the Dane County Time Bank. We invite you to join us in welcoming Dr. Brown as we learn how we can participate in a letter writing campaign to end violence against black people. Please use the coffee hour Zoom link to join this session. In a moment, we will be lighting our chalice here, and I hope you will be finding a candle or a chalice of your own to light wherever you are. May the fires of our chalice flames burn brightly throughout our wider community. I invite you now into a time of centering silence, a time for a few deep breaths to come fully into this time and this space together. You are beloved and you are welcome here. Whether tears have fallen from your eyes this past week or gleeful laughter has spilled out of your smiling mouth. You are beloved and you are welcome here. Whether you are feeling brave or broken hearted, defiant or defeated, fearsome or fearful. You are beloved and you are welcome here. Whether you have untold stories buried deep inside or stories that have been forced beyond the edges of comfort. You are beloved and you are welcome here. Whether you have made promises, broken promises or are renewing your promises. You are beloved and you are welcome here. Whatever is on your heart, however it is with your soul in this moment. You are beloved and you are welcome here. In this space of welcome and acceptance, commitment and recommitment of covenant and connection, let us worship together. I invite you now to join in our chalice lighting. We light this flame as a symbol of new life enlightening our way, as a symbol of the warmth in every human heart. Let the lighting of this flame rekindle in us the inner light of hope, of peace, of love. Though you've broken your vows a thousand times. Broken your vows a thousand times. Though you've broken your vows a thousand times. Though you've broken your vows a thousand times. Broken your vows a thousand times. Though you've broken your vows a thousand times. Though you've broken your vows a thousand times. Though you've broken your vows a thousand times. Though you've broken your vows a thousand times Though you've broken your vows a thousand We have gathered, gathered side by side Serve, come and step in sauce and sages Sharing as it's bat us not as can he The story today is about Francis David, one of the founders of our Unitarian faith. He lived in Transylvania and was in Transylvania and was Hungarian and in Hungarian they pronounced his name David Farrens. They put the last name first. So I'm going to call him David in the story. So he lived in the 1500s in Transylvania. He led a remarkable life. He began his journey as a Catholic, became a Catholic priest as a young man. Pretty early on in his priesthood he became convinced by the ideas of the Reformation and converted to Lutheranism. He quickly became the chief Lutheran pastor in Kholishvar, the capital of Transylvania. But still he didn't settle in his faith. He kept searching and he became convinced that the Calvinist ideas were right. So he became a Calvinist and in short order became the Bishop of the Calvinist Church in Transylvania. But he still kept searching. And finally he landed on Unitarianism. He believed in the oneness of God. He came to believe that Jesus was a fully human person, not a divinity. And so he became Unitarian. Well around that time that he became Unitarian and in fact became the first Unitarian bishop in Transylvania. The king of Transylvania was a young man named John Sigismund. Now King John got tired of people in his land arguing constantly about religion. Sometimes not just arguing but actually battling each other and sometimes killing each other. He called for the leader of each of these four denominations in Transylvania, Catholic, Lutheran, Calvinist and Unitarian, to come together and debate their religions peacefully. The place that they came to debate was Torda, the Catholic Church in the city of Torda. You can see here a painting of the great debate in Torda which lasted for 10 days starting at 5 a.m. each day. Now in this painting you can see David Farrens making his points. And this is a painting from the 1800s from much later. Probably he didn't even look like this. This in fact the the painting here was modeled on somebody else. Not even sure what he looked like. I got to see this painting a couple years ago. It's a really really big painting. And I took another picture of it of one of my best friends in Transylvania, a minister there in the city of Deva, mimicking David Farrens. This is one of my favorite pictures. You can see here a statue of David that was unveiled in just just the last several months in Kholishvar next to the big church there. And here's a close-up of the statue. You see it looks quite different from the painting. I don't know that this looks like David Farrens either. I'm not sure we really know what he looked like. Anyway he was so persuasive that he won the debate. And in fact the king, King John Sugisman, became Unitarian. Now King John was wise just like his mother. He embraced religious tolerance and he decided that just because he became Unitarian didn't mean that everybody else had to become Unitarian. So instead he issued the Edict of Torta a proclamation saying that people could believe what they wanted as long as they were in any of these four faith traditions and they could stop killing each other. So this Edict of Torta was adopted 452 years ago. Well eventually unfortunately King John Sugisman died, the Edict was rolled back, and a new law was passed that said there would be no more changes in beliefs. Well David refused to abide by that law. He wanted to keep developing Unitarianism to keep going with his understanding of the faith. He was put in the prison in the Citadel in Deva for violating this law. Kelly and I are lucky enough to have been there and I'm going to share some of our photos from that prison. So you can see the Citadel, the castle way up on that hill. Several times I've actually climbed up that hill to get to it which is a bit of a hike. And you can see here up toward the top near the Citadel. It's mostly in ruins now. And then there's the cell. This is supposedly the cell where David was imprisoned and where in fact in November after he was imprisoned he died. It's not clear that this was actually the cell but there was a cell like this in the Citadel in which he died. So here are some Unitarian Universalist ministers going into this cell. And there's a monument in the cell to David Ference. So he died in prison in 1579. Each year Transylvanian Unitarians gather to remember his death. This was one of the years that they did this that I was able to be at. You can see there's there really were one or two thousand Unitarians gathered there to commemorate the event. I hope that you'll be able to go sometime to Transylvania to see this site and the Unitarian churches there like Kelly and I have been able to. And all of us must remember this story. Must remember the sacrifice of David Ference for our faith and the sacrifices of so many others. As now we join in singing our hymn of love to pledge ourselves a new to that high cause of greater understandings is true to show to all on no urging for that me which binds our heins us all as one we pledge ourselves to greater service and justice strive to. In a piece about the Jewish Passover tradition the Reverend Jane Zepka, Emeritus Minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Larger Fellowship writes these words. If we Unitarian Universalists were forced to leave our homes as a group and head for a promised land what common practices would we take along? I could make a very long list but I'll name just six examples. If we believe in a God at all it is a benevolent one not a frightening or punishing God. That's something Unitarian Universalists carry with us on our journeys. We believe in the humanity of Jesus whom we view as a wise and wonderful teacher but not a God. That's something Unitarian Universalists carry with us. We reject the doctrine of innate depravity. We do not believe in original sin. That becomes crystal clear when you listen to the words of our child dedications. We carry the theology of potential goodness with us. We believe in free will not predestination. Events are not preordained nor meant to be. We have the power to act in the world. We carry that free will with us as Unitarian Universalists. We believe in freedom of conscience that creeds do not serve us well. We carry that freedom of conscience with us. And we believe in the use of reason as part of determining personal religious truth. We carry that use of reason with us. May we carry these things with us. That they may offer us solace when we need it. Inspiration when the world seems dull. Challenge when we are lulled into complacency. And the seeds of love and friendship when we feel alone in the world. We Unitarian Universalists love to tell the story of David Farron's. It's such a heroic story about an important beginning of our faith. It beautifully underscores the commitment to religious freedom that it has been baked into the DNA of our faith. And the story is complicated. It's really more complicated than what I told earlier in the service. We often talk about how this good King John Sigismund when he died that the next king came in and rolled back the edict of Torda and as a result David Farron's ended up in prison where he met his death. This leaves out a complicated part of the story involving a remarkable man named Giorgio Biendrada. Biendrada was an Italian-born physician. He became a Unitarian pioneer first in Poland and then in Transylvania. He was in fact the physician in King John's court and he along with David Farron's helped convert King John to Unitarianism. He and David were allies in creating the Unitarian faith in Transylvania and in its commitment to freedom. But 10 years or so after the edict and after the death of King John, Biendrada broke with David. Biendrada was understandably worried about government persecution of Unitarians so he advocated for the law forbidding further innovation. He thought this would keep the fledgling faith safe. But as we know David refused to stop innovating. That just he just couldn't do it. For him, ongoing innovation was central to faith. No doubt knowing that this would violate the law, he next decided in an ounce that he would no longer invoke Christ in prayers and in that day that was a pretty big deal. With Biendrada's active support the king had David imprisoned and charged with a crime of religious innovation and we know how that story ended. So Biendrada, this pioneer of our faith without whom Unitarianism might not have taken off in Transylvania, this guy figured into the death of the main founder in Transylvania. Biendrada fought for religious freedom and then he supported a severe limitation on religious freedom. Our history is complicated. A few years ago I experienced the current complicated nature of our Unitarian faith in Transylvania. The setting was the dedication of a beautiful new house of freedom. The house of freedom was built in the old Bishop's house across the street from the flagship church of Unitarianism in Kholishvar, the capital of Transylvania. The building, the kind of rundown Bishop's house, had just was beautifully renovated into a museum and a meeting space that would keep alive this living legacy of religious freedom. So the dedication ceremony featured speeches by many dignitaries including the current Bishop of the Hungarian Unitarian Church, Susan Frederick Gray, the current president of our Unitarian Universalist Association, and government leaders from both Romania and Hungary. Susan Frederick Gray wore a rainbow stole so that she could make a silent witness in support of LGBTQ plus people. While the Romanian official got up and gave a speech that was a fine speech uplifting religious freedom and the vibrant mix of religions that religious freedom allows. As is the custom in Transylvania, after his speech and other speeches people would wrap their their hand on the pews creating that kind of noise. While next the minister for religion in the Hungarian national government spoke, he started by saying that Christianity is the most persecuted faith in the history of the world. I remember sitting there thinking uh-oh I think we're going to hear some coded bigotry here. Then he attacked the European Union as hostile to Christianity. Then maybe he was set off by Susan Frederick Gray's stole. He attacked marriage equality and LGBTQ plus people. I thought well I guess it's not not really going to be coded here. And for his grand finale he attacked Islam and Muslims. So some Unitarians I noticed at the end of his speech including the bishop and one of the deputy bishops did not wrap their hands on the pews. I certainly didn't but a lot of people did. A lot of Unitarians applauded the Hungarian minister. While the Hungarian minister's remarks were not surprising he is part of the government in Hungary, the government that's led by Prime Minister Viktor Orban. That government uh the ideology is not one that supports freedom of religion. The irony here though is that it was largely Hungarian government money that funded this house of freedom. So this government which in so many ways opposes religious freedom helped make possible the house of religious freedom for the Unitarian Church. And our Unitarian kinfolk in Transylvania accepted the money so that the project could become a reality. Shades of Giorgio Biendrada. So the story of religious freedom is complicated in Transylvania and it's complicated here albeit for different reasons. My own personal story illustrates some of that. So early in my career as a minister I earned a reputation in the Unitarian Universalist Association as one of the most outspoken proponents of individual freedom. I won an award in a sermon contest on that subject and got to preach it at GA. I served as president of the Unitarian Universalist for Freedom of Conscience Organization. I engaged in a brief but intense debate with another minister about the limits of freedom in a widely read publication of UU ministers. When I googled myself shortly after Google was invented I found another colleague sermon attacking me and accusing me of making a false idol of freedom. What? Isn't freedom to construct one's own faith the center of our Unitarian Universalist faith? Well in these past 10 to 15 years I have come to the conclusion that I was wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. And at its core my mistake was a profound misunderstanding of freedom. I confused freedom with license. I believe that because of the primacy of individual freedom every Unitarian Universalist has a categorical right to create their own personal belief system. So really does this mean I have the right as a Unitarian Universalist to believe in white supremacy? Do I have a right as a Unitarian Universalist to believe that I have no responsibility to care for those who are suffering or impoverished or oppressed? Do I have a right as a Unitarian Universalist to believe something that's completely contrary to our long tradition for example to say that it's really the afterlife that matters not this world? Well in the 1990s I actually would have answered yes to those questions. Okay maybe not the white supremacy one but the other ones. I acknowledged then that there were some boundaries to what's acceptable is Unitarian Universalist but they are so far out that they're practically meaningless. Basically I embraced the understanding of our faith that I still here uttered quite often actually in UU congregations that in our faith you can believe anything you want. More than anything else my mistake opens the door for our faith to become a faith of license and frankly narcissism. It's a faith that's all about me, about each individual. It's all about what I believe, what works for me. Reason, critical thinking, the common good, our traditions, principles. We don't need to worry about any of that as long as it makes sense to me as long as it's good for me everything's cool. I can now say that a great tagline for that kind of Unitarian Universalism would be Unitarian Universalism putting the eye back in religion. Well I've come to understand that what I was advocating was license not freedom. Several years ago I ran up across a piece in the Quest publication which is a publication of the UU Church of the Larger Fellowship that says this well that actually comes from Michael Schuler the Emeritus Minister here. He defined license as tolerating no restriction. License he said demands absolute individual autonomy. License according to Michael says that no matter that my belief is ill-founded, irrational, or pernicious it is my categorical right to claim it. Well in this piece Michael rejected license and called us back to authentic healthy freedom. So I recognize now that freedom has constraints. While freedom includes individual autonomy it's not absolute. We do not have a categorical right as a Unitarian Universalist to believe whatever we want. Individual autonomy must be balanced with the good of the whole within our congregations and within society. I love the reading that Kelly shared earlier today because it gives expression to some of those deep abiding beliefs and principles that really are part of what makes us Unitarian Universalist. Well friends finding balance between individual autonomy and the good of the whole is not easy in a spiritual community. I'm convinced that a key to doing this well maybe the key is the idea of covenant. Covenant. It's a term that's deeply rooted in the sacred promise between God and the ancient Israelites in the Hebrew Bible. It's taken on a broader meaning in spiritual communities also as sacred promises members make to one another. A covenant between members in the congregation articulates how people in the congregation aspire to interact with one another. It provides a reference point for each person to ponder as they interact with other members. My former congregation has a wonderful principle in its covenant that calls its members to keep individual needs and balance with the health and vitality of the whole. That in a nutshell is what I'm talking about today. Now covenants within congregations are not easy to write and they're even harder to live by. As human beings we screw up. In one way or another all of us have broken our bowels a thousand times. When this happens the trick is to call ourselves and one another back into covenant. The twelve steps provides a compelling way to do that by calling people to admit to themselves their mistakes their wrongs admit to another human being and to a higher power and finally to make amends where making amends won't cause further harm. The Jewish High Holy Day of Yom Kippur which is coming up later this month provides a similarly helpful roadmap. Reverend Kelly and I join 1600 other UU ministers something like that in the UU ministers association in embracing a covenant of ministers. This helps us stay in right relationship with each other and with our other colleagues. It helps us navigate rough spots in our collegial relationships and calls us back to our best selves. I'm a big believer in covenants. They help navigate relationships in community. They help us balance individual needs with the well-being of the whole. So this morning I have one final question for you in two challenges. The question, what are you going to do with the precious gift of freedom you have been given this gift for which David Ferens and others have died? What are you going to use your freedom to do? In two challenges, the first one is to engage in the search process here at FUS over these next couple months. Fill out the survey if you haven't done that. Attend a cottage or focus meeting in October. That's a whole process of bringing a live community of balancing the needs and the hopes of the individual with the well-being of the whole. In second, I have a very concrete challenge that Kelly and I are embracing in the coming weeks and we hope you'll join us. As you might have heard there's a pretty big consequential election coming up in this country in 56 days. We live in a state that could have a lot to do with deciding that election. I believe that voting is a civic duty and in this moment of widespread efforts to suppress voting I also believe that working for voter access and encouraging people to vote is a civic duty. With this in mind I'm joining Kelly in pledging to give a chunk of my time in these next 56 days to this effort to get the vote out. We hope that you will join us in making the same pledge. You'll hear more about this from Kelly next week and then the following week we in a whole lot of other UU congregations across the country are going to focus on this issue. The sermon will be given by UUA president Susan Frederick Gray and we'll provide a list of concrete ways you can make a difference by joining in this important work in the Madison area. I feel like this is going to be an excellent way to use our precious gift of freedom during these next 56 days and I hope you'll feel the same way. The offering is our weekly time of reflection when we are attentive to the gifts that bless and enrich our lives. Even in these difficult days it is good to also be mindful of our gifts. I invite you from that place of gratitude to consider the gifts of your lives. This week our outreach offering will be shared with the Dane County time bank which works to help people share their time and talents to meet needs improve systems and address community issues throughout Dane County. The time bank seeks to create an interconnected community in which meaningful relationships drive collective change. The Dane County time bank is committed to facilitating exchanges and coordinating projects through a racial and restorative justice lens. Please remember that we will be joined by Dr. Brown of the Dane County time bank immediately after our coffee hour at 11 45 a.m. Please use the coffee hour zoom link to enter this session and learn more about the letter writing campaign to end violence against Black lives. You will see on your screen that you can donate directly from our website fussmattison.org. You will also find more information about our text to give option that began last week. We thank you for your generosity and for your faith in this life we create together. Before turning to the cares of the congregation and in-service fact-checked on something I said in my sermon the election is not 56 days away it's actually 43. I apologize for my math error. Friends each week we gather with sorrows and celebrations onto our hearts. This time in our service gives us time and space to be in touch with these sorrows and these celebrations within ourselves within the lives of this community and beyond. Today no doubt the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is on many of your minds and hearts. There is likely in you as there is in me a mixture of feelings and thoughts including deep gratitude for her extraordinary service to this nation sorrow over the loss of a consistently powerful moral compass right at the center of our judicial system and profound fear about what's next and what this monumental loss might mean for our justice system in our nation. I am guessing that many of you join me in also feeling a sort of personal sense of loss in her death even though I certainly never had the chance the good fortune to meet her. This is not surprising though her decisions her writings her character have deeply impacted so many lives in this country. My daughter for example who is a lawyer Justice Ginsburg has a huge influence on the lives and opportunities of women lawyers like my daughter and so many around the country and I intentionally this morning say has the legacy will continue to go on it did not end on Friday. Her legacy will be carried on by my daughter by so many others for many many years to come. May each of us find ways to honor and extend Judge Justice Ginsburg's rich legacy especially in the coming days as there are attempts to undo her legacy in fact they've already begun. May we be inspired by Ginsburg's steely courage and her steadfast persistence. May our troubled nation somehow find its way toward a better more just future. For justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's extraordinary life and legacy I light a candle this morning and I invite you now to join me in a time of silent meditation and prayer as each one of us contemplates the joys and sorrows and celebrations in our lives. Amen. All right let's stand up for closing him the fire of commitment 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 each to call us on our way when we the assurance of the flame that burns within then our promise finds fulfillment and our future can begin the stories of our living rings a song both brave and free calling pilgrims still to witness to the life of liberty when the fire of commitment sets our mind and soul ablaze when our hunger and our passion need to call us on our way the assurance of the flame that burns within then our promise finds fulfillment and our future can begin full of vision comes a new prophetic voice rich dimmer justice built by our courageous choice sets our mind and soul ablaze and our passion need to call us on our way friends of the flame that burns with finds fulfillment may we embrace the tension implicit in freedom may we balance our individual autonomy and needs with the health and vitality of the community as a whole and may we live gracefully and creatively in this tension may you go in peace