What's up, everyone? It's your girl, Kenty here from Layton Sports Cards and I am ripping 2021 Leaf Trinity Baseball Hobby Six Box Break Number One Random Teams. Again, here's a look at the random results. You can always find these at LaytonSportsCards.com. Underneath the results tab in the link is also in chat for you. All right. Good luck. Here we go. All right. I'm looking forward to it, Shane. I am. I've never been to the national, so this will be my first one. I think the whole traveling aspect will be okay. It's like, I don't know, if I'm sitting here for eight hours, eight to 10 hours, my back starts to hurt after a little bit, but I do have a pillow now starting off with a 101 printing plate. All right. I'm going to get these open. That's a Google, most of these guys I feel like. So not saying the wrong teams. I believe they're still in their colleges and stuff like that. All right. First one up. We've got a printing plate. One of one of Tristan Casas. Here you go. Red Sox, the first hit of the break. Tristan Casas. One of one. Base auto there. Up next, we've got out of 99 clear acetate auto of Jesse Franklin. Jesse Franklin. Braves. Bravestop prospect looks like. There you go. Then we've got a tenage Thomas, a rickietto. Tenage Thomas. Tenage Thomas. Pirates. Sign to the pirates. Greensboro grasshoppers. Oh, look at this patch. We've got patch auto of Spencer's Swellenbach. That's a beautiful looking patch. Like I said, some of these have the nastiest patches in this. I believe Swellenbach is an angel, right? Swellenbach. Oh, no, Braves. Braves hit again on the Swellenbach. Another sweet patch here. We've got to 25 Drew Gray. Drew Gray. A lot of these are prospects that we're going to have to look up. Drew Gray. Baseball. Hubs on this one. Round three overall pick number 93. IMG Academy. There we've got, oh, sweet, look at this. We've got an MLB logo for a five Spencer Strider. That's sick. Spencer Strider on that one. Spencer Strider is Braves again. Wow. Braves taking home three out of what? Six hits out of that box. Wow. Braves.  There's this box in there. Let me get the sofa. Like, written my fingernail off. There we go. Jeez. That one was crazy. All right. First up, we've got Trinity Clear Acetine of Brett Beatty. Brett Beatty. I believe that's Met's head there. Brett Beatty. Yeah, it's so great. I can't even get it open. My goodness. Let's double check here. Yep. Met's on that one. We've got to 75. A Jackson Job. Tigers hit on that one. There you go. Tigers. Detroit's. Job to 75. Another one to 75. Robert Hassel. Robert Hassel. And these patches are so sick. It was Padres, right? Yeah. Padres on the Hassel. I don't know if I've ever seen that. I'll have to go back and watch that one. Padres to 75. A Zach Geloff. Zach Geloff. Again, Trinity has some of the nicest patches you'll see in baseball product. Third baseman for the A's. It's going to say it looks like an A's patch, but I'm not Jersey. Then we've got another three-colored patch here. Ryan Holgates. Ryan Holgates. We have Cardinals on this one. Ryan Holgates. Three-colored patch. Yep. Cardinals on that. Then to 99. A Max Muncie. There you go. A's. A's with another hit here. It's a longer-looking autograph than he has in Bowman. So far, so good. Let's see if I can get this one open. Again, everyone. We've got two new releases tomorrow. Geez. Forrest will be live starting at 11. Again, two releases. We've got Tom's Pristine Baseball Hobby. Those are 8-Box Case Breaks. Pick your team. Again, with Forrest as well as Chronicles Football. One of my favorite products to rip. You never know what you're going to get out of those. So we've got Acetate to 99. William Barogla. Barogla. Acetate. I like Acetate cards here. That is a red-sit, non-drafted free agent. Oh wait, hold on. That's $19.99. Let me see. Looks like there's another one. International. Great number four on the pipeline. Top 50 international prospects. Okay, so he's the son of the former Reds. Philly's. Philly's hit here. Let's make sure we carry this one. Yeah, Philly's. Awesome. Philly's there. We've got two 75. Another Acetate of Joe Mack. Joe Mack here, Marlins. Yeah, Acetate. We've got Sam Bachman-Auto. Sam Bachman-Angels. We've got three-colored patch of Tyler Whitaker. Whitaker on the three-colored patch. Astros. Astros on that one. Wow, look at these. These patches. A Payton Wilson. Nice one there on some glitter. I believe that is a royal's hit. Let me just double-check. Payton Wilson, Kansas City Royals. Yep. And we've got Acetate-Auto to 99. A Michael Harris the Seconds. Michael Harris the Seconds. Braves. Man, Braves are eating. That's like the fourth or fifth hit there for the Braves. Let's see your name. What's up, Ek? Goodbye for the World of Cosmos Silver Auto. 150. I wouldn't say that's too bad. Did you check recent comps? I'm not sure on the comps of that, but I feel like 150 isn't that bad. Nice one here to start us off on this box. Glad I don't have my nails done for this, because they would have been shipped already. I'm going to get them done though before. Give me your pen again. My nails are going to rip in half with these. Just in case. All right. Up first we've got Acetate-Auto to 75. Howdy, Benny Montgomery. There you go, Rockies. Who had the Rockies? Very nice hits. Derek D with the Rockies. Heck yeah. 6 out of 75. 125-ish. Yeah, it's up to you. I mean, if you're going to get it great and you think it might jump, then it could possibly definitely be worth it. Yeah. Out of 99, we've got a Hedbert Perez. Hedbert Perez. That is Brewers. Brewers hit there. Then we've got out of 75, a Zach Veen. Zach Veen for the Rockies. Nice one there. Very nice. Rockies. Getting two very nice autos. How did that box? To 99, Eduardo Garcia. Eduardo. Not a chef. He's a baseball player. Brewers. Brewers hit there. 11 of 99. Yeah, that's true too, as long. Then we've got to 99. Nice four-colored patch there of Jose Miranda. Miranda, sorry. Jose Miranda to 99. Nice looking one there. Jose Miranda. Twins on that one. Swordsmanship is going to love you for tagging every single card, dude. Out of 50, a Harry Ford. Nice one there. Mariners. Yeah, we're not going crazy fast. Yeah, I feel you, because it's taken me a minute to look up some of these. Again, Harry Ford. Almost 100%. Yeah, Mariners. Just like to double check there. Out of 50. Oh, that's cool. Yeah, that's Sean's team. He's a big Miami fan. They had a couple of wiles if you're interested too. Autos contenders. All right, first up, Astate Auto to 75, a Nolan Gorman. Nolan Gorman. Feeling that is Cardinals. Yep, Cardinals on that one to 75. Here comes the Ravens fan. Out of 75, Andrew Painter. Yes, Steve. Steve has entered the chat. Oh boy. Andrew Painter. Philly's on that one.  Out of 50, we have a Jose Butto. 41 of 50. Metz on the Butto. I should, huh? We have a Jose Ramos on the Patch Auto. Jose Ramos. Jose Ramos. Please no. We've got nice one here. White Sox. Colson Montgomery to 99. Nice patch there too for the White Sox. Colson Montgomery. And to 58, Marcelo Meyer Red Sox Auto. There you go, Boston. Some nice acetate autos coming out. That's 13 out of 50. Yes, Invicta Sam's just going to come in for five minutes to collect your boxes and then leave. You can drive all the way here.  All right, last box here everybody. First auto acetate of Grayson Rodriguez. Grayson Rodriguez. Yep, Orioles on that one. 29 to 75. Nice. I would have blazed Jordan. Another very nice Red Sox hit. There you go. Not numbered on that one, but still very nice. Who's the Red Sox doing very well? Heath Kay. There you go, Heath. Nice blaze. We've got to 99. Samuel Muñoz. Samuel Muñoz. Looks like this might be a random. It's only 17, I believe. Wait. Nope. Minor League for the Dodgers. Geez. You can sign at 17, and maybe you've turned 18 recently, but wow. We have a Manuel Mercedes. Manuel Mercedes. It's probably, what is baseball? One of the youngest sports you can sign professionally with. It's probably that hockey right out of high school too, right? See Giants on this one, Manuel Mercedes. Then we've got Joe Rock out of 99. Positive this is a Rockies hit. I always said Rock for the Rockies. Orioles. Joe Rock. Yep, Rockies on that. Wait, was that Manuel Mercedes? Yes. No, that one was Giants. Rockies on the Joe Rock. And last but not least, how about a Trace Weenie to 99 patch auto for the Yankees? Trace Weenie. Nice way to end it. Soccer. Geez, 14 and 15? I didn't realize that. That's crazy. All right, let's go ahead and do a recap here. All right. Again, we had Joe Rock with the Rockies. Manuel Mercedes. Giants. Samuel Muñoz. Dodgers. Blaze Jordan. Red Sox. Grayson Rodriguez. Orioles. Marcello Meyer. Red Sox. Colson Montgomery. White Sox. Jose Ramos. Dodgers. Jose Buto. Metz. Andrew Painzer. Phillies. Nolan Gorman. Cardinals. Harry Ford. Mariners. We had Jose Maranda with the Twins. Eduardo Garcia. Brewer. Zach Bean. Rockies. Hedbert Perez. Padres. Benny Montgomery. Rockies. Michael Harris. The Second. Braves. A Peyton Wilson. Royals. Tyler Whitaker. Astro. Sam Bachman. Angels. Joe Mack. Marlins. William Barogla. Phillies. Max Muncie A's. Ryan Holgate. Cardinals. Zach Geloff. A's. Robert Hassel. Padres. Jackson Job. Tigers. Brett Beatty. Metz. We had such a sweet looking logo man here. Little MLB logo man of Spencer Strider out of five for the Braves. Andrew Gray on the partial laundry card. Cubs. Spencer Swellenbach for the Braves. Tanaj Thomas. Pirates. Jesse Franklin. Braves. The one of one printing plate of Tristan Kossas for the Red Sox. You ought to tag that Red Sox. And a tree Sweeney for the Yankees to 99. All right. That will do it for the first half of the case. We got the second half coming right up.


Please join me in a moment of centering silence. And now let's join our voices together in our in-gathering hymn, This Little Light of Mine, and we're going to sing this refrain three times. 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. Mine universalism supports the freedom of conscience of each individual as together we seek to be a force for transformation in the world. My name is Beth Binhammer and on behalf of the congregation I'd like to extend a welcome to all and a special welcome to visitors.  Newcomers are encouraged to stay for our fellowship hour after the service 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 lame ministry will be on hand to welcome you. You may also look for persons holding teal stoneware coffee mugs. These are FUS members knowledgeable about our faith community who would love to visit with you. Usually this is the time where I announce something about experienced guides giving tours for our building but we don't have a guide signed up for this morning. We welcome children to stay for the duration of the service but if your child needs to talk or move around there is the child haven to my right or the commons. Those are both fine places to retire. The service can still be seen or heard from those areas. And speaking of noise, this would be a lovely time for all of us to check our cell phones or other devices that might cause a disturbance during this hour. I'd like to acknowledge those people who have volunteered this morning to help our services run smoothly. Our lame minister this morning is Ann Smiley. Our greeter was March Schweitzer. Our ushers Karen Hill, Ron Cook, Carol Ferguson, Elizabeth Barrett, Hospitality or Coffee Jean Hills and Orchid Care this week was Nancy Webster. Thanks to all. Please note the announcements on the red floors insert in your orders of service which describe upcoming events at the society and provide more information about today's activities. Again welcome. We hope that today's service will stimulate your mind, touch your heart and stir your spirit. That was enchanting music. If you would please turn to number 444 for a responsive reading. This house is for the in-gathering of nature and human nature. It is a house of freedom guarding the dignity and worth of every person. It is a house of truth seeking where scientists can encourage devotion to their quest where mystics can abide in a community of searchers. It is a house of prophecy outrunning times past and times present in visions of growth and progress. Thank you. If you would please rise in body or in spirit and turn to the next page number 448 for our chalice-lighting words. We gather this hour as people of faith with joys and sorrows, gifts and needs. We light this beacon of hope, sign of our quest for truth and meaning in celebration of the life we share together. And in the life, celebration of the life we share together, I invite you to turn and greet your neighbor. If anyone would like to come forward for a story, let's do that. Anybody want to hear a story? Good morning everybody. What a lot of kids. I'll bet there's someone among you who has a grandmother. Anybody? A grandma? Do you have a special name you call your grandma? Just shout it out. Yes? Good choice. Well, some people call grandma abuela. Some people call... Yeah. And some people call grandma granny. I had a granny once. She liked being called granny. And I had a little daughter too, about your age. And this story is about a little girl and her great-grandmother and that she joins her great-grandmother as she goes to vote. Does anybody know what it means to vote? Yes. You choose who you want to be president. And fill out a ballot, yes? The majority of the people win. That's often how it goes. Yes. Yes. Your dad goes to vote a lot, and he has a certain candidate he will be voting for. Yes. All right, the story is called The Day Gogo Went to Vote. There once was a woman in South Africa named Mrs. Mokwena. She was 100 years old, older than the town she lived in. When she was born, there were no cars or airplanes. Mrs. Mokwena had a six-year-old great-granddaughter named Tembi, your five. When Tembi came home from school, her mother and father were still at work. So her granny, her go-go, took care of her. Gogo Mokwena called Tembi her little tail because the girl followed her everywhere. Tembi got to carry her granny's beautiful blue cloth bag, which held many important things. Because Gogo Mokwena was born in the olden days, she knew many things that happened long ago. She told many stories about how her ancestors lived before the white people came to South Africa. She told Tembi about how their family came from, where their family came from, and how they were related to each other. One day, Tembi's father and mother came home very excited because the people who ran and wanted to run the government had agreed on dates for a new election. One of the days would be a special voting day for old people and those who were very sick. And two more days would be holidays when all the adults didn't have to work and could go vote. I will vote with the other old people, announced Gogo Mokwena. Her family was surprised when she said this because she never went out of the yard, not even to church. We cannot take you that day because we will be at work, said Tembi's father. Then I will vote with you, said Gogo Mokwena. But we are going by bus. We cannot have you traveling on a crowded bus. The buses may even be too full and we may have to walk. Besides, said Tembi's mother, there will be long lines of people at the polling station. You will not be able to stand in line. Tembi's mother and father asked her aunts and uncles to help them try to tell Gogo Mokwena that she couldn't go vote. But Gogo Mokwena refused to listen.  She asked. A neighbor woman named Mrs. Malambo asked why there was such a fuss. While Tembi's parents went to talk with her, Tembi asked her granny why she wanted to vote so much. Gogo Mokwena said, Tembi, black people in South Africa have fought for many years for the right to vote. This is the first time we have had a chance to vote for our own leaders and it might be my last. That is why I must vote. No matter how many miles I have to walk, no matter how long I have to stand in line. Well, the neighbor, Mrs. Malambo, had a rich uncle, Mr. Ramushu, who said that he would send his own car to take Gogo Mokwena and Tembi's parents to vote. Tembi asked her mother and father if she could go along and at first they said she was too little. But Gogo Mokwena told them that Tembi must be there to carry her blue bag. When the election days came, the whole family was so excited that nobody could sleep. They got up early in the morning dressed in their best clothes and were all waiting eagerly when Mr. Ramushu's big, shiny car stopped in front of their small house. There were many people lined up to vote at the polling booth. The crowd had to move to let the car go through. Mr. Ramushu had told the voting officers about Gogo. Yes, I see. Mr. Ramushu had told the voting officers about Gogo Mokwena. So they were waiting for her and said that she should not have to stand in line. Gogo Mokwena showed her identity book to prove who she was and they gave her a paper ballot to take into the voting booth. Tembi almost cried when they told her that she could not go with her granny into the voting booth. Why can't I go with Gogo? She asked because no one should know who she is voting for, the officer said. But I already know who she's voting for, she said. It's a secret ballot. That means you must not tell anyone, they said. Tembi's mother told her to stop asking so many questions. The voting officers laughed and said that she had to ask questions so that she would be prepared to vote when she was old enough. When Gogo Mokwena came out of the voting booth, she put her paper ballot into a big box with an opening on top. People with big flashing cameras took pictures of her, then a picture of her and Tembi together. All the people in the room stood up and clapped and cheered for a long time because Gogo Mokwena was the oldest voter in the town. Tembi and her parents were so happy, they cried with joy. When they got home, the yard was full of neighbors and relatives who had brought food to celebrate. While they were eating, some of Tembi's uncles argued about who would win the elections. Tembi's father told them not to worry about that. The important thing he said is that we can vote and Gogo led the way. Everyone began to sing freedom songs and danced for joy. Tembi stayed up way past her bedtime and danced with her cousins until their feet were sore. When they were too tired to go on, they all sang a new national anthem and crawled into bed. The next day, there was a picture of Gogo Mokwena and Tembi in the newspaper. Under the picture, the word said the past and the future. 100-year-old voter, Mrs. M. Mokwena, accompanied by six-year-old great-granddaughter Tembi. Tembi and her granny felt very proud and important. The whole township celebrated after the elections when Mr. Nelson Mandela became president of the country. People danced and sang in the streets all day and all night. There were many parties and people all over the country celebrated for many days. But for Tembi, the best day was when Gogo went to vote. Thank you for sharing our story this morning. Let's go to class. Our first bit of wisdom today is called prayer by W. E. B. Du Bois. Give us grace, oh God, to dare to do the deeds which we well know cries to be done. Let us not hesitate because of ease or the words of men's mouths or our own lives. Mighty causes are calling us, the freedom of women, the training of children, the putting down of hate and murder and poverty, all these and more. But they call with voices that mean work and sacrifice and death. Mercifully grant us, oh God, the spirit of Esther, that we say, I will go unto the king and if I perish, I perish. And our second reading is excerpts by Lyndon Johnson upon signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965 with the caveat that the language is not culturally sensitive by today's standards. This act flows from a clear and simple wrong. Its only purpose is to right that wrong. Millions of Americans are denied the right to vote because of their color. This law will ensure them the right to vote. The wrong is one which no American in his heart can justify. The right is one which no American true to our principles can deny. This right to vote is the basic right without which all others are meaningless. It gives people as individuals control over their own destinies. The members of the Congress and the many private citizens who work to shape and pass this bill will share a place of honor in our history for this one act alone. And I pledge you that we will not delay, we will not hesitate, or we will not turn aside until Americans of every race and color and origin in this country have the right as the same right as others to share in the process of democracy. So through this act and its enforcement an important instrument of freedom passes into the hands of millions of our citizens. But that instrument must be used. Congresses and presidents, laws and lawsuits can open the doors to the polling places and open the doors to the wondrous rewards which await the wise use of the ballot. But only the individual Negro and all others who have been denied the right to vote can really walk through those doors and can use that right and can transform the vote into an instrument of justice and fulfillment. If you do this, then you will find as others have found before you that the vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised by man for breaking down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which imprison men because they are different from other men. For it is not enough just to give men rights. They must be able to use those rights in their personal pursuit of happiness. The wounds and the weaknesses, the outward walls and the inward scars which diminish achievement are the work of American society. We all now must help to end them. The central fact of American civilization, one so hard for others to understand, is that freedom and justice and the dignity of man are not just words to us. We believe in them. Under all the growth and the tumult and abundance, we believe. And so, as long as some among us are oppressed and we are part of that oppression, it must blunt our faith and sap the strength of our high purpose. Thus, this is a victory for the freedom of the American Negro, but it is also a victory for the freedom of the American nation. And every family across this great, entire searching land will live stronger in liberty, will live more splendid in expectation, and will be prouder to be American because of the act that you have passed and that I will sign today. If you would, please turn to number 131 in Rise and Body or in Spirit for Love Will Guide Us. Some years ago, I discovered that I am distantly related to Cecil John Rhodes, the 19th century British philanthropist for whom Oxford University's Rhodes Scholarship program is named. He's the man for whom the South Central African nation of Rhodesia was named before its citizens gained independence as Zambia and Zimbabwe in the mid-20th century. Cecil John Rhodes was a politician and an international businessman. He was a diamond magnate, a founder of De Beers Consolidated Mines. He was a British imperialist and one of the architects of the system of segregation called apartheid.  A quick online search of his life reveals a fascinating, horrifying chapter in world history when European empires vied for political, geographic, and economic control of Africa at the expense of the continent's original inhabitants. So I consider today's story for all ages and the real-life experiences it represents, both instructive for all and curiously satisfying for me. At one point in my life, I had a young daughter and an aging granny. At another time, I witnessed on television the dismantling of apartheid. And I can only imagine how exciting, frightening, and powerful that experience must have been for every South African voting in 1994. Cecil John Rhodes, gladly, has become just a footnote to that history. Today, one week after our Black Lives Matter weekend, two weeks before our own national election, I thought it appropriate to consider the fundamental right of suffrage. Since this nation's birth, the right to vote has never been a given, except for the wealthy white men in power. It is a right that millions have fought and died for, and to this day, it is a right still denied to many in our country. Our nation was founded as a republic based on constitutional laws that apply to all. Democracy, in 1787, was considered a dirty word. It was understood as mob rule and the fuel for the bloody French Revolution. Here, today, we are bound by the rule of law, not public opinion. We are subject to the law until we make the effort to change it. Our republic does operate, though, using democratic principles and processes, however flawed they may be. The electoral process, in my opinion, should be empowering to all of us, but it isn't. It should reinforce, as part of our human identity, one of the first lessons we learn as toddlers, that we have choices, and that our choices can influence our world. If we choose to drop a toy on the ground and somebody picks it up, we have influenced our world with our choice. Every one of us as United States citizens pursuing life, liberty, and happiness has a stake in choosing who will represent us, who will serve us in public office. Just like Black South Africans in 1994, like Gogo Mokwena, indeed, like every adult on Earth, no matter what our political leanings each of us deserves to have our voice heard. And we'll set aside for a moment for another conversation, the theory and practice of the Electoral College. The right to vote is foundational to the democratic process, as Churchill pointed out. You and I, entering the voting booth and making our mark, declaring with our voices our choices. As you heard in 1965, President Lyndon Johnson called this right to vote the basic right without which all others are meaningless. It gives people control over their own destinies and is the most powerful instrument ever devised for breaking down injustice and destroying the walls between us. So the vote is a fundamental honor and obligation of citizenship. But why? Why is it so potent? Because, said Johnson, we as Americans believe that freedom, justice, and dignity are more than just words. They are ideals that we as citizens strive to achieve. In 1993, President Bill Clinton strove toward these ideals when he nominated the noted scholar and attorney, Lonnie Guinear, as Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. He withdrew her nomination, shortly thereafter, under pressure from political conservatives. Guinear considered the whole experience a civil rights setback of monumental proportions. In the introduction to her book, Lift Every Voice, she says this about our role as citizens in the political process. Participation matters, after all. A seat at the table and a voice at the podium enables each of us to become part of something larger than ourselves. Participation as citizens, she says, nourishes and supports us as individuals and as a community. Helps us reach our full potential. Reinforces our dignity and sense of purpose in something transcendent, even if we try and fail. And it helps us to understand that our voices are better heard when we speak plainly and collectively. Historic, though it was the 15th Amendment to the Constitution, granting men of color the right to vote, was just one step in extending the right to every citizen. Women gained the vote in 1920 with ratification of the 19th Amendment, and yet poll taxes, literacy tests, and other obstacles remained until passage of various Civil Rights Acts, culminating in the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and subsequent amendments to it. But voter suppression is still very real among economically disadvantaged, the incarcerated, senior citizens, and persons of color, even here in Wisconsin. A voter identification requirement signed into law in 2011 to prevent a specious voter fraud issue has been ruled in courts across the country as discriminatory and unconstitutional, and yet here it has been allowed to stand. Author Ari Berman asserted this past week in The Nation magazine that this year, voters are lacking crucial protections because this is the first presidential election in 50 years without the full provisions of the Voting Rights Act. It's incredibly unlikely there will be widespread voter fraud on Election Day, he says, but there will be eligible voters who show up to vote and are turned away at the polls. That's the real threat to election integrity that we should be focusing on. While I am a middle-aged white male, I am doing my best to learn about white privilege and combating systemic racism. Here's a popular metaphor of one thing that I've learned. It doesn't matter if you did or didn't intend to drop a brick on my foot. The impact is that my foot is broken. Regardless of the intent of any action, law, or policy, we have to start by addressing the impact on people's lives. The impact of this voter ID law is that persons of color and others in our state are actively being disenfranchised. I feel strongly that each of us has a moral obligation to ensure that every voice is heard, even those with which we disagree, and especially those that aren't normally part of the conversation. Not only is it fair and just, but hearing other people's stories, acknowledging the depth and breadth of their experiences and opinions, enriches us all and strengthens our community. Lyndon Johnson said that we all have a responsibility to help end the wounds and the weaknesses, the outward walls and the inward scars afflicting our society. W.E.B. Du Bois' prayer asks God for the courage to dare to do the deed which we well know cries to be done that mighty causes are calling us with voices that mean work and sacrifice and even death. Unitarian Universalists have long heeded that call. Throughout history, liberal, religious, social reformers have improved our society beyond measure, binding up the broken, setting captives free, bringing good tidings to the afflicted and those who mourn, challenging conventions, and holding up a greater vision. There are far too many to name from this pulpit today, so I recommend to you, FamousUUs.com. But our movement has included politicians, musicians, authors, philosophers, science, poets, scientists, poets, doctors, nurses, educators, jurists, and hundreds of other change agents. We are in good company. Since our seven principles were crafted 30 years ago, we have explicitly championed the right of conscience and the use of the democratic process. Long before that, our religious forebears called for the primacy of freedom, reason, and tolerance. And they worked to make it so. This House of Ours, as we affirmed in our opening words, is a platform for the free voice for declaring the full and undivided conflict of opinion. Locally and nationally, we've also declared ourselves people of love and justice. Our living religious tradition calls on us as our sources and our songs suggest to let love be our guide, to act on the side of love. Martin Luther King Jr. paraphrased Unitarian Minister Theodore Parker when he said that the arc of the moral universe is long. And so it is. Lifting every voice is an ideal that in the end we may not fully realize. There are those who oppose it out of ignorance, fear, greed, or other human emotion. Still, it cries out to be done. But how, Eric, how do we help lift every voice? In many aspects, we already do. We just need to see other opportunities and do more. We lift others' voices, for example, when we fly prayer flags with the names of those who have died by racial violence. We lift others' voices when we make time and space available in our auditorium for presentations by marginalized people and those who work with them. We lift others' voices when we donate time or money to organizations serving the homeless, the abused, or the neglected. We lift others' voices when we join their organizations, those who know the issues best, and let them lead. We lift others' voices when we abolish racist mascots. We lift others' voices when we interrupt racist attacks, when we stand up to bullies, and when we help others understand the difference between intent and impact. We lift others' voices when we dial into, surf to, or pick up and read news sources outside the mainstream media. We lift others' voices when we ask the business owner to color down the block what she thinks is the highest priority for our neighborhood. We lift others' voices when we elect people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender to the school board or other public office. We lift others' voices when we demand greater access to and public funding for health care, including mental health care. We lift others' voices when we teach our children that they deserve respect. We lift others' voices when we feel safe enough to question our own assumptions about gender, race, or physical ability. When we see and address our own biases. We lift others' voices when we are willing to just shut up, pay attention, and listen to other stories. Think of something you could do. Regarding this election, there's still time to get out the vote. Contact the Dane County League of Women Voters to compare candidates' answers to questions. Get details on the league's website about registration and early voting throughout Dane County, such as what credentials you'll need to bring. Help your friends, relatives, neighbors, and strangers register and get to the polls. Volunteer to drive someone or watch their kids while they vote. And if you haven't already voted, of course, I urge you to do so on or before November 8th. And before our next set of elections, let's work to eliminate the voter ID law. Mighty causes are calling us. And while we may fall short or fail in our efforts to make life, liberty, and happiness real for all, the drive to fight for these ideals is part of our identity as Unitarian Universalists and as Americans. We must dare to do the deeds we know cry out to be done. And as we in this congregation strive to live with integrity, struggle with difficult questions, try to reflect to others our best selves, as we work for greater equity in our city, state, and nation, as we continue righting wrongs and building a land of peace and justice, may we embody the curiosity and love of Tembi, the wisdom and determination of Go-Go Mokwena, and the courage and passion of all who have fought for civil rights before us. May we let our light shine. May we continue to have faith that love will guide us, that hope inside will lead the way. May we lift up our voices and sing to the power of the faith, hope, love, and joy within so that others may hear us and feel empowered to raise theirs as well. So may it be. Freely have we received of gifts that minister to our needs of body and spirit. Gladly we bring to our church and its wide concerns a portion of this bounty. We'll now take our offering. I have used the words sublime and enchanting already today and I will use them again. We gather each week a community of memory and hope. To this time and place we bring our whole and at times our broken selves. We carry with us the joys and sorrows of the recent past and seek a place where they might be received, be celebrated and be shared. We pause now to acknowledge Elizabeth Barrett's uncle, Arthur Charada, who died this month after a long and loving life. We send healing thoughts and love to Paris Gomez for recovering from brain surgery. Tom Garver recently undergoing carpal tunnel surgery and Margaret Smith who is recovering well from hip replacement surgery. Cards are welcome, she says. And in addition to those mentioned we also acknowledge all those unarticulated joys and sorrows that remain among us and that as a community we hold with equal concern in our hearts. Let us now sit silently for a few moments in the spirit of empathy and hope. By virtue of our time together may our burdens be lightened and our joys expanded. If you would please join in our closing hymn number 368, Rising in Body or in Spirit. Now let us sing. I've chosen for our closing words a reading by the Reverend Mark Bellatini called Election Promises. I hear the polls are going to be open on Tuesday all day. Good, I certainly intend to go to them. But today I say the polls are not just open on Tuesday. I say they are open every day, every hour, even here, even now. Right now I'm going to vote for the robin's egg sky, the vanilla clouds, the purple shadow spreading under the ginko tree. I'm going to vote for tulips and red buds. I'm going to vote for love that does not have to run in someone else's circles in order to be loved. I'm going to vote the homeless into homes. I'm going to vote the uneducated into classrooms that teach them in the way they learn best, not the way that would be most convenient.  I'm going to vote the lost into belonging. I'm going to vote right now for the right to dream of a world where the word politics doesn't stop me in my tracks and where the word honor still has a few good meanings left. I'm going to vote right now for the power of free people to actually be free no matter who they are, no matter who has abandoned them, no matter who hates them. I actually am going to vote for love. I'm going to vote for truthfulness as the norm, not the exception. I'm going to vote for a world that doesn't vote for killing, control, and swagger. I'm going to vote for you. I'm going to vote for me. Right now, right here, silently, but for real. So as we leave this place and time together, let us dare to do the deed which we well know cries to be done. Let us work to fulfill the moral imperative to lift every voice, and let us commit ourselves to doing our civic duty, voting today and in the days ahead. Blessed be.


It's very common to say to the Christian, you were raised to believe in God. That's considered justification for dismissing it. Imagine the reason you believe in God or you don't believe in God is all just a series of particle interactions and this was decided for you long before you were born. Do you believe all your thoughts are determined? I'm not entirely sure. You'd be open to supernatural. That's not what I'm saying. I am open to whatever might be true. They're not really naturalists. You're just saying I don't know. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying I'm holding the position that there's no supernatural because no one's ever been able to demonstrate that. Frauds, falses, and fallacies are not evidence and that's all I've ever seen. Do you have something to show that there is? I would regard that as off topic. You still have the burden of proof. If all you can do is tell me that I can't prove that there's not magic, that tells me that you can't prove that there is.