What's up, everyone? It's your girl, Kenzie here from Layton Sports Cards, and I'm ripping a personal here for Chris G. We've got two 2021 Panini National Treasures football hobby boxes, as well as two 2021 Panini Prism football photo boxes. All right, Chris. Fun one here for sure for you. Best of luck, man. We're going to start off with the photo boxes. Again, you can see your sticker right there. Looking for some nice shimmy shimmy. Fun up to today. Just a relaxing Sunday waiting for some football to come on. Probably start at one, right? I don't think anyone would start earlier. Correct me if I'm wrong. Football start at one o'clock today. We got gold. We got gold to start us off already. Got a skridged rookie base. Spoil it. Try on gold shimmy of Deuce McAllister. There's one you don't see too often. Saints. Three of ten on that gold shimmy shimmy. Here you go, Chris. Starting off with the gold. I'll take those. Purple light to 225, J.K. Dobbins-Rabins, and silver to Sean Watson. Patrick Jones to seconds. Amir Smith-Marcette, and silver Montess Sweat. We've got Trey Nixon-Rookie. And Big Paul. Orange to 249, Jeffrey Simmons, Titans, and a Derrick Henry Brilliance. Anyone know a game start at one o'clock? I'll have to wait until after this to look it up. All my Steelers play at 430. I'm hoping to get that game. I don't know if it will. It's not really local. Tommy Tremble, Cadarius, Tony Rookie. Got red shimmer of Kareem Hunt for the ground out of 35. That one is 9 of 35 on that shimmy shimmy. Purple power to 49, Jordan Atkins, and silver Jerome Betis. Felipe Frank, Zach Wilson-Ricky base. Red wave of Tremaine Edmonds out of 149, and hype of Jerry Judy. Oh, were they all yesterday? Oh, so that means the Steelers might be on TV tonight then. Didn't realize that. Thank you. Busy yesterday didn't get to watch any football. Roddy Yingbo, Aja Larry. We've got blue ice of Jake Funk to 99. Rams, Hyper, Brian Sight, and silver Dimetric Felton Rookie. Beyoncé and I were helping my mom build a new dresser. Got to go over there to help her build that. Adolfo A, Rookie Boogie Basham, blue shimmer of Michael Brockers for the Lions. 25 of 25 bookend there. And new recruits rookie, Najee Harris. All right, still looking for both autos out of this box. Oh, we got a Force Camo coming up here. Simi Fajoco and a gold shimmer. Oh, this is a nice pack. Let's see. Come on, big ones. Dazz Newsome, gold shimmer. Rookie, Nico Collins for the Texans. Nico Collins to 10. And then we've got Rookie, Boris Camo. I thought it was going to be Devante. On the Camo rookie auto there. Man, this one is six of 10 on the rookie for Nico Collins. Two gold shimmers in one box. It's not bad though. All right, still looking for another auto here. Amon Rossi Brown. We've got Hunter Long. Purple Ice to Sean Watson to 225 Texans. And Calvin Ridley Fireworks. We've got four or four thirty, Tony. But we've got another gold coming up. True gold this time. Got Kyle Pence-Rookie. Might be our auto. Newman, red shimmer of Noah Fanta 35 for the Broncos. Billy Sims for the Lions. So we've got that red shimmer. We've got a gold and a blue shimmer. Derwin James Jr. for the Chargers. What a pack. Two shimmers and a true gold. That is five of five on the Derwin James Jr. What's up, Yogi? Hey, boo boo. Thanks, gold. And then the red shimmy. That is twenty eight out of thirty five. Four thirty. That's what I thought. Nice. So the game should be on that if there's only two games playing today. We have a Trevor Lawrence-Rookie. And Shane Butchell. Blue Wave, Mark Andrews for the Ravens. Out of one ninety nine and Emergent Rookie, Mack Jones. This is KJ. Yep. The photo is the one that has the shimmer exclusives. Ian Book, Rookie base, Ben Skaronik. We've got Purple, Asante, Samuel Jr. for the Chargers out of one twenty five and Lockdown Silver, Ty Law. Fox, two of your shimmy shimmy. Here you go, Chris. Come on, let's heat up on this one. Got a lot of nice golds out of that. Let's see some rookie golds. Some big rookie autos. Big rookie shimmer gold autos. Here we go. Mara, we've got Gary Brightwell. Justin Fields, Rookie base. Red, shimmy. Up Devon McCordy for the Pats out of thirty five. Fifteen of thirty five on that one. Purple, Chase Edmonds to one twenty five. Cardinals and Silver, Quentin Williams. Awosu Koromoa, Rookie. Tutu Watwell, Silver Ed Oliver. Frank Darby, Nashon Rye, Red Wave of Kurt Cousins for the Vikings out of one forty nine. Emergent Rookie Rashad Bateman. Let's heat up here. Let's heat up here for Chris. So we got gold shimmy. Gold shimmy coming up. JC Horne, Rookie. Penny Soll. Gold shimmer of Charles Woodson. Put a ratus. That is ten of ten bookend on that gold shimmy. Ten of ten. Blue Wave, Mike Williams, Chargers out of one ninety nine and Silver, Drew Sample. Still looking for some autos here. Got Nico Collins, Rookie. Tray McKitty. A Joe Mixon to two twenty five. Bengals and Brilliant's Alvin Camara. Najee Harris, Rookie. We have Elijah Mitchell. Orange, Anthony Schwartz for the Browns. All color matzo, two forty nine. And Silver, Eric Stokes, Rookie. Shimmy back here. Trey Lance, Rookie. Christian Barmore, Rookie. Red, Shimmy. Of Cory Littleton for the Raiders to thirty five. That is twenty four of thirty five. Forest Camo, Jack Youngblood for the Rams. Should be to fifteen. All right. Yep. Fifteen of fifteen bookend on that one. Got some more. And Hype, Brandon Iuk. Rock, Glassner. Scrooge, Rookie. Trion, Trayenko. We've got a blue shimmer of Nico Collins. Twenty five, five of twenty five on that one. And we've got Purple Power, Rookie. Auto to forty nine. Caleb Farley for the Titans. Caleb Farley, thirty five of forty nine. There's your auto there for you, Chris. Patrick Jones the second. Mayor Smith-Marcette. We've got Prism to one seventy five of Drew Bledsoe. And New recruits, Jamar Chase. So that's a hyper. Sorry about that. Well, let's see. That looks like a big rookie. Big rookie color. Shreya Nixon, Josh Palmer, Rookie. We've got blue shimmer of Ydergross Matos for the Panthers. The thirty twenty five on the blue shimmer. One of twenty five on that one. Purple Ice to two twenty five. Marvin Jones, Jr. And red shimmer auto of Antoine Winfield, Jr. For the Bucks. Bucks on that one. Four of ten. It's your second auto there for you, Chris. Two more packs. So we'll get into your N.T. Football. Tommy Trembl, Cadarius Tony. We've got Orange to two forty nine. Curtis Martin Jets. And fireworks rookie, Najee Harris. Last pack. Trism. Felipe Franks rookie. A Zach Wilson rookie base. We've got Navy Camo next. Navy Camo. Rookie Trevor Lawrence. Boom. There you go, Chris. Twenty five. We needed that. Heck yeah. Beautiful hit. Yeah. Last pack magic. We'll mag that one for you, of course. And silver lockdown, Nick Bosa. Wow. What a way to end that box. My goodness. Love to see that. All right. Give me one second to get these cards organized. And we will move on to your N.T. Football now. Here we go. N.T. time. Good luck. All right. Empty. Here we go. We've got Golda first three of ten. CJ Mosley of ninety nine. For the Bengals, Joe Mixon. Joe Mixon Bengals. Century patch here. Charles Haley out of forty nine. Two color patch. Franchise treasures. Fifty six of ninety nine. Marshall Faulk. I'm watching him play too. Dude was just a beast. That is Game War on that one. Cool one there. We've got Quad. How about some legends here? Joe Montana. Dan Marino. Peyton Manning and Jim Kelly to ninety nine. NFL Quad Materials. Let's see. Player war on all of those. Nice Quad of some QB legends. Got the twenty five tremendous treasures. Rookie patch. Felipe Franks. Three colored patch there. Rookie Otto out of forty nine. Joe Tryon Shoyinka. Oh wow. It's the next one. It's Nancy. This dude's about to have a big year here, Chris. We've got NFL Laundry Tag. One of five. Rookie patch Otto. Travis E.T.N. Jr. Again I think he's gonna have a tremendous season this year. Went to the preseason game against the Steelers and he looks very good. Very good. We'll get this one magged up for you. Then we've got Gold out of ten. How about a Dallas Clark. That one's cool too. Dallas Clark legend.  And crossover. RPA to ninety nine. Three colored jersey. Jersey Otto. Zach Williams of ninety nine. Beautiful patch there too for card number to ninety nine. Heck yeah. Very nice. Fifteen of ninety nine. We'll mag that one for you as well. Very nice box. Got the Clark to ten. The E.T.N. to five. The Wilson crossover RPA. All right box two here for you Chris. Let's see if we get a true RPA out of this one. Let's see. Let's see. Empty. First we've got to thirty five. Dak Prescott. Dak Prescott. Out of ninety nine. David Montgomery for the Bears. The Bears. Yeah he really was. Teahop heirlooms to ninety nine. Jamal Charles for the Chiefs. We've got one of one printing plate patch. Nice. Carson Palmer. One of one. Nice printing plate there. That is game one too. There you go. Very true as well KJ. We've got dual patch rookie to ninety nine. Khalil Herbert. Nice. Tremendous treasures. Three color. They stuck a little three color there. To ninety nine Justin Fields. Nice Fields jumbo patch there to ninety nine. Cross over RPA to ninety nine tree sermon for the Niners. On the football and jersey relic. Out of forty nine Nick Chubb Otto Browns. Nick Chubb. Got acetate rookie Otto here on the future signatures to twenty five. Devonte Smith. There you go Chris. Another nice rookie Otto there on card for this one. The futures insert Otto. Thirteen to twenty five Magda one for you. And last one for you cross over RPA sixty six of ninety nine. Michael Carter on the three colored patch. All right congrats on those hits for for you Chris. Thanks so much for hopping in. We do appreciate it and we'll get this right out to you.


Good morning, everyone. Good morning, everyone. Oh, gosh, you can do better than that. Good morning, everyone. Good morning. Oh, thank you. I must say we are quite nervous, at least I am. And, but at the same time, excited. These scholars here and contributors to the cause have put together presentations for us that are definitely worth listening to. I want to start off first by acknowledging the Coast Salish people whose land we are on and all the First Nation peoples with whom they coexist. Thank you for letting us be on the land. And I would also like to thank the ABS organizers for giving the first panel of discussion to the first peoples to speak about their issues and their language for themselves. I really appreciated that. Thank you for doing that. And last but not least, I would like to thank them for inviting me to be part of this panel. Honestly, I didn't even think they knew me, so I was very surprised when I got the email asking me to do it. So very humbled and really appreciate all of it. So we are going to move rather quickly because we have, like I said, exciting stuff that we are going to show you. Some of that includes a film that was asked for by popular requests. So, and because of that, we are hoping that you will make the time and hopefully you'll be a little patient with us. But before that, I want to introduce the panel that's before you right now. I'm a big believer in allowing gods to let things line up as they're supposed to be. And when I was asked to choose a panel, I prayed about it. And the names that came to me, those are the people I sent emails to. And all of them said yes. And so I knew that was going to be. And then after that, it was simple. They put together their presentations. However, for you who have schedule, who have the, what are they called, programs, you will see that there's a lady by the name of Xinyu Chang. She was not able to come due to unavoidable circumstances. However, when she called me yesterday morning, I told her, don't worry, sure something will happen. And so I came downstairs and there was Andrew. And I asked Andrew, would you please present something? He makes film. I've seen some of them and I said, do you have something you would like to present? It so happened that he was here wondering if he could get an opportunity to present that film. So he did not know what I was going to ask. And so as young calls it, it's synchronicity. So the panel here, I say is handpicked by Bahá'u'lláh. The message they have to share with us is of import, I believe. So right next to me is Alan Kendall. And he is a student of elementary education at the University of Victoria, British Columbia with a special interest in holistic and situated approaches to education. His participation in various Bahá'u'lláh community building and educational initiatives at both formal and institutional and grassroots levels has also shaped this outlook in this endeavor. And Alan is very humble. He is really involved in the community. He is of great service for the Victoria community when he was there. So I know him and his work. Next to him we have Tamara Martella. She's a Vancouver-based vocalist, musician, educator and painter. She received her diploma in jazz studies from Vancouver Island University and trained as a classical flutist at the Victoria Conservatory of Music. Her studies have taken her to private study with top professionals in the music world to conventional study of pedagogy in the conservatory setting. As a recording artist, she has contributed to a range of diverse genres, including rap, rock, gospel, blues and jazz, as well as vocals for commercial and television. Besides performing, Tamara has provided community children band programs for the last five years for young inspiring musicians that do not have a band program in their schools. These children range from kindergarten age to age, not to grade eight. And her work has been to help guide children to the realization of the musical and personal potential, believing that children have a voice in this world that must be heard. Her program inspires creativity and self-expression and encourages them to become leaders and mentors to others in the process. Next to her is Dr. Payam Sazegha, and he is a member of the Vancouver Baha'i community. He is a clinical instructor in the Department of Family Practice of the University of British Columbia and works as a community family physician. He is also a contractor and physician for the Forensic Psychiatric Services Commission. Another great server of the cause, very humble but really great server of the cause and efforts much appreciated. Down the line is Andrew Newell. He has directed and written several short films in the feature length drama Looking for Truth. He served as an associate professor of film production at the Watkins College of Art and Design and Film for nine years. He is currently, he was teaching digital filmmaking at Eagle Arts on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. He's also home pioneering in Florida. He forgot to mention that, so him and his family. I was thinking, maybe I should introduce myself as well. Should I? Okay. So, as you heard, my name is Maria Mutitu and just for the kicks of it, it's Dr. Maria Mutitu now. I have to do that because anybody who knows me knows I was a foot into the psychiatric ward the last couple months. So that I made it through, it's awesome. So, anyway. So, yeah, but how about that. So, as well, I am a member of the University of Victoria Faculty of Education. I'm in my teaching and research, mostly are in the areas of curriculum and instruction, especially in creating holistic working and learning spaces that are culturally, ethnically, linguistically, intellectually, psychologically, spiritually and physically inclusive. It's a work in progress, but we're trying. So, basically, it's teaching to the whole being. Currently, I'm striving to incorporate the Baha'i writings into my research endeavors and also my teaching proxies. So, again, a work in progress. For this panel, I am going to speak very briefly about my thoughts regarding the entire conference, which has been amazing. I don't know about you, but my cup is overflowing and it's going to take a couple months to really hear it all and think about it. I need to percolate just to think about it. And one of the things that I thought, I might suggest, but mostly to myself, is to think about the lenses through which I have listened to, for example, the speakers today and every day in the breakout sessions. And by lenses, I mean the subconscious consciousness, if you want to call it that, that forces us to make decisions or makes us, makes certain decisions, choose certain people, be attracted to certain colors, certain places, certain paths of service, those lenses and how they may influence what we heard today. And this area is very important to me because I tend to think too much and too quickly and I draw conclusions very fast and most of the times, using my perceptions, I lead myself into a lot of trouble and mostly heartache and I'll give you an example of that. Seeing the number, I mean hearing the number of accents here, I know many of you have traveled into Canada or out of Canada and the dilemma that comes with traveling and trying to figure out new worlds and when I traveled from my home country of Kenya and came to school, many things were different and strange, some were just outright, I had not seen before, they were new. And one of those things was the kinder sink that you push from below, I had not seen those. We had the ones you open at the top and the water spouts out. So one day we were coming from a forum which was where everybody gathered and so people were thirsty and they were lining up to drink water from this fountain and most of them were Caucasian and I noticed that every time they went and bent on the sink, water came out, right? So and then I thought, wow, the first world is really amazing, it can sense somebody and just pour that water. So the line moved on and moved on and it got to my turn and I bent and no water came out and I thought, okay, maybe I need to back up a little bit and come at it again. So I came, I bent, no water came out. Now here is where the lenses are interesting. The lenses growing up in Kenya, we had been taught that there was slavery and that there was desegregation and that there were times when people of color could not drink from certain water fountains and I thought that not only is the first world intelligent, it has created sinks that no color. So I bent and I tried it one more time and student come out and I'm like, I guess so and of course you don't ask these things. If anybody who travels knows, usually it's embarrassing. So I continued and from that day on I would not drink from those faucets. So again, these are the lenses that I used, what I had been taught, what I knew, I made conclusions. I began to get very suspicious of Caucasian people. I began to wonder about my place. I got nervous, almost to a point of sickness. It's all in the head. And then three months later, I got a job as a janitor and so while I was cleaning in the academic building, I went to clean these faucets and lo and behold, at the bottom part was a big sign that said push. So and that's what I hadn't seen is the sign called push. That story distressed me then, it's funny now, but in retrospect, I realized that nothing in my life had prepared me to think about a water fountain that would have a push button at the bottom. Not only that, I did not have the awareness to investigate this further, right? I just drew instant conclusions based on the knowledge that I had, the knowledge was true, but I needed to have more knowledge. And in my life, there has been so many of those, it's quite embarrassing, but when it comes to the faith and matters of the faith, I find that I do do that as well. I will use my lenses that I grew up as a Presbyterian and I will use those lenses sometimes to look at the writings of the Hau'ola and I will use those to interpret and every time I do that, I get disheartened, I get sad, I'm unable to fulfill the path I have chosen and then I'm like, oh, this is not the Presbyterian Church, it's not the Presbyterian Church. This is not the Presbyterian Church. This is Hau'ola's work, this is the New World Order. So I wanted to just add that each and every one of us have our own cultures of our homes, culture, backgrounds, education, our own pet peeves that we love, but to be even more aware to immerse ourselves in the writings of Hau'ola so that they become the lenses through which we perceive the world. And having said that, I will now, we will start, the panel will begin to talk and I will just let them go through all the way to the end. So off you go, Alan. Thanks, can you, yeah, can you hear? Yeah, it's so wonderful to see everyone. I think we all have been so blessed to be at this conference and just, it's really a lot of learning and you know you're learning because sometimes it's quite intense and when you're shifting, there's a lot, in education we call it dissonance, but it's a good thing and then I think that's how we learn more, we grow, right? I'm a student at University of Victoria. I see Maria in the coffee shop sometimes, I'm lucky. And I've been studying elementary education. I've been in the program for one year last year and I did some studies at college. And I guess it's been a long journey. I guess education of life is, my mom is a teacher, but my parents both met, they were doing forestry and in Cameroon and so I grew up in many different countries and I think that has an influence also our education when we go to different places. As Maria's saying, it's very different. But basically I was thinking about this talk and really preparing just three parts. The first part was just to say like, how do we see education in the faith? And then how maybe do we see education at universities or what is the discourse? And lastly, what is this new mode or model education that the Baha'i community that especially as you see, emerging in the institute process, what have I learned from that? And so to begin with, Baha'u'llah says, regard man as a mind, rich in gems with inestimable value. And education can alone cause it to reveal its treasures and enable mankind to benefit therefrom. I think this is a very powerful writing and really draws us our vision to really try and see each person and especially each child in that way as it's mind, rich in gems, that they already are a treasure, that they already have come with all they need. But in this world, it's the task of manifesting these spiritual potentials and treasures. And of course, like the House of Justice says, that the children in our community are the most precious treasure. So when, you know, so growing up in a Baha'i background, when I went to college, well, I went to, should say I went to a Baha'i school, I went to Maxwell International Baha'i school. And so our world view, our education was really shaped by that. We had scholars, we had teachers, we had members of institutions come to the school. The people running the school, the whole atmosphere was based on the oneness of mankind, service to humanity, we had programs that went out also to reach out to other schools and other people. And so that really, I think I really absorbed a lot of that really enriched, it's a rich education. And after that, well, I had a lot of plans. I have a lot of ideas in general, like I'm really saying, I think too much about things. And it took me a while before I kind of decided what I was gonna do. Yeah, eventually, well, it's actually ill. And when I got better, I decided, well, I went and visited, actually I went to Haifa for a three-day visit. And on the way, I was in Scotland and I met some relatives. And one of my relatives was a, he's called David. And that time, he was five years old. And just being with him, just being with his love, his joy, his questions were so, like just smart. And just being with him, I was like, you know what? I love children and there's so much to teach us. And so that's kind of what got me started. Thinking, okay, maybe I'll start with education. This is a good foundation. And so, I'll skip ahead. So when I was at university, I think what has really been, it's interesting is that a lot of these things that we're talking about, like how we see the human being, like focusing on the child, focusing on cognitive, the affective, psychomotor, like the whole aspect of human nature, those things they are talked about, but it's very difficult to have a discourse. So I mean, people in your class sometimes, do we create spaces for this? And also, is it practiced? And I think that's been really, for me anyways, it was somewhat frustrating at first. And I had some professors who would really take us to schools and my university is very good. They're really trying to get students to go to schools and learn through being in schools, learn through actually practicing, not just the concept or theory. And so for example, remember the time we went to school when we were teaching P and some of the kids had disabilities and some of the girls in my class, they didn't really want to be with those kids. I thought, well, like, you know, we have to really reach that everyone. But I think what I have learned has a lot been from a Baha'i community, and especially participating in projects, outreach, working with, say, children, juniors. I was very lucky to go to Toronto. My sister lives there. And just when we go out and we are really, you really pray a lot and just to be able to be that pure channel, have that spirit and meet people and the conversations that you have, it's really incredible. And it's not, it really, for me, and it's still recent, it's like really reshaping what is knowledge. Because Baha'i tells us there's two kinds of knowledge, divine, satanic, and one is from the heart and the other is acquired knowledge, which gets in the way of our heart. It's not that knowledge is a bad thing, but if it gets in the way of our openness to receive and to be able to share. And so just when we meet people, and even when I was in Victoria, just meeting this girl at bus stop, the knowledge that people have, the insight, I think there's so much potential in the plan, in the guidance that House of Justice is giving us, and it may be harder first, but we really, the more that we contribute, the more that we try, the more that we will learn from it. Indeed, Baha'i says that the light of the covenant is the educator of the hearts, the minds, and the souls of men. So I haven't talked too much about how we bring those two together. I feel that we'll learn a lot more about that when we're doing both, when we're both working at, in our professions, our university, our work, and so on, and creating a discourse, learning what kind of questions to ask, how to, what's the skill of conversation, and really friendship, solidarity with people, unity. And then also when we're working in our Baha'i communities, those two things that I'm sure will go together. Yeah, that's about all I have to say. Thank you, my name is Tamara, and I just wanted to first start off. Four years ago, I was brought to the faith by the arts. I feel I'm more creative now than I ever have been in my entire life. Yabba-ha-la-pa. I'm just gonna do a little name dropping at this moment. The first Baha'i I ever met was Dizzy Gillespie. The first Baha'i I actually consciously met was Dizzy Gillespie, and I met him just before he passed. I think it was in the year of 1992. And I draw on him, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Einstein, Karl Young, anybody I can from the supernal realm, because I truly do believe it works, and I know that it does. My short talk this morning will be from the heart, but it is set up somewhat like a science experiment with objective observations and conclusion. My findings to date have been through my 25 years of pedagogical experience. I was gonna start off with two quotes by Abdul, two quotes, one by Abdul Baha'i and one by Baha'i-la, but instead I was convinced this morning to chant a prayer instead. Thank you. Thank you, Roshan. This is my son, Marcello's favorite prayer. And I have Kleenex on hand just in case. You might wanna get some, I don't know.  Blessed is that teacher who shall arise to instruct the children. I am blessed and I do consider my work to be worship because it brings me absolute great joy. My objective with these children is empowerment, mining the gems of inestible value, help develop their own inner authority to be able to walk a mile in someone else's shoes, help them understand that there are no bad people, just bad behaviors, and that they are creations of God and they are here in this world to create and that their life is a work of art, a tall order but definitely doable. That was supposed to be funny, but I guess. Don't take me too seriously.  I'm tired because I couldn't sleep. I haven't slept for, I've just been so inspired by all of the lectures that I'm constantly changing everything that I've been writing down. How did I go about this task? You may ask outside school time as a private class after school, I could do what I wanted and how I wanted. My observations have been so far when students have opportunities to talk about the world they want for their future and the future of their own families, they want peace, no wars, no fighting, families to stay together and love one another.  My classes were made up of very diverse group of children. The class's main focus was out of unity. We did everything together, field trips, concerts, et cetera. No one was turned away from the class ever and inclusiveness was taught priority. Teaching class with varying degrees of musical knowledge is exciting when teaching a class with varying degrees of learning abilities and a wide range of ages, a teacher has to become a supreme multitasker. I am a Virgo, so that works just fine and I'm used to doing 10 things at once. As you see, I have two screens. And let's see, where am I at? Okay, give children, this is one of the things it was so fascinating to watch and I loved it. Give children two minutes once a week to scream their heads off in a large room preferably one separate from all the other buildings and you will see them get overjoyed because they are always told to be quiet. And now there is some teacher time, go ahead, get it out of your system. By the way, boys can scream higher than girls and it is a fact. I have the best job in the world, I do. I had a class once that had a student with Tourette's OCD in autism, quite the cocktail. It was very stressful and it gave me a very small taste of what a parent must go through on a daily basis dealing with exclusivity and people being afraid of their child due to misunderstanding him and the world he lives in. Before the child came to class we consulted as a class together. I wanted the children to understand that everyone has the right to education and that this student loved music and we were going to try it out for a bit and to see if it was a good fit. This child goes to a school called the Naomi Kidd's Organization. It wasn't that great of a fit due to the profanity that had occurred and I did not know until the first class. But I have now offered Newco the opportunity to have a music program for children because it's very difficult to integrate children that have specific things that other people like profane language and Tourette's is very different for a lot of children in what they do and when you have children that are like five and six years old, you really don't want them hearing those words. But you have to try things out and as I said, my presentation this morning is somewhat of an experiment and that's what I learned and I'm glad that I did experience that. Success arises, another observation, when we create win-win situations that everything is a victory no matter how big or small. From playing three notes in a row all in one breath, memorizing a piece of music, starting and ending a piece together and also refraining from smacking the person next to you. Together we are all going to learn about music including me, acquire spiritual qualities, including me and learn to work together. It was inevitable this was done through the arts. When situations arose regarding bullying, abuse and deaths in the family these issues would be thoroughly discussed. You're wondering when are they teaching music in this class? We did, this just was organic. We would ask ourselves why does this occur and how can we grow to understand these things? I remember the first time the who is God question came up. It was very interesting, my class consisted of children from various religious backgrounds, indigenous spirituality, Christians, Baha'is, a Buddhist and one girl that said God was a woman. We talked about God being a noble essence and we cannot know our creator. She said as far as she was concerned God was a woman and she had her own reasons for her thinking it was not willing to share them at this time. Children are amazingly autonomous at different levels. I'm glad you find this funny because I was hoping so. Two of the children had lost their grandmother in a fire and the whole community was upside down by this. Sometimes your class objective changes due to your students. It's like doing Ruhi. The tutor is the accompanist and the participants are the singer and the accompanist always follows the singer. I had to follow the pulse and pace of my class with the utmost love and support. This was done through music. This always led to beautiful discussions about belief systems because we are all working on our spiritual qualities while learning an instrument. We were able to discuss as a group what we were taught to believe, what we think it might be true and what we really believed. Even if that meant believing in fairies for the time being and this was done through music. One child in my class had only the sight of one eye and also had fetal alcohol syndrome. When he came to class he was introverted and didn't want to take part after the entire class. Sorry, just one of my two minute thing here. When he came to class he was introverted and didn't want to take part. After the entire class working together supporting him, he could express his joy of music. He began to acquire more self-esteem, see himself as an important part of his family. We had created together. He and his sister would open up our concerts with a prayer, singing and playing the drum. It was what their father had passed down to them and this gave them great joy and happiness to share this with all of us. At times it was truly an emotional moment, undescribable. It also gave rise to other children wanting to bring something from their culture to share in class. What if I go over my two minutes, Maria? What? It's one now. It's one now. Okay, well, I am at my conclusion then. I was a catalyst and nothing more. I learned more than the children. The children in my classes were given a place that was safe and supportive, which gave them the opportunity to create and not to worry about judgment or criticism. They experimented and they played. They learned that empowerment and assertiveness is allowed. It was their right. They had the power to change things around them no matter their age. They learned that they have the power to change the world starting with themselves. When they see injustice, they can stand for their beliefs and be respected for them. But they are their own person and are not an extension of their parents and their parents' personality. Children need to know that they deserve to be a happy and joyful being and to share that with others through their deeds. I was transformed as an educator and a spiritual being and will continue to be. I'm privileged to have been able to watch children become beautiful human beings right before my eyes. Teaching children is the most amazing experience you can have. These transformations happen through the arts. Thank you. So, my name is Payam and I'm going to speak today about an ongoing project of the behind medical association of Canada, which I'm involved with. Based on my experiences as an educator and working with my Baha'i colleagues in the medical profession. And this project or curriculum is called the Spiritual Foundations of Health. And it's an attempt to promote systematic study of the Baha'i teachings that relate to spirituality and health. And this is a curriculum that's still being developed and piloted by the Baha'i Medical Association and its local chapters and cities across Canada. And represents one way to promote scholarship in the medical profession. Before I begin, I'd like to acknowledge the rest of the executive committee of the Baha'i Medical Association, especially Dr. Joanne Langley, whose initiative six, seven years ago really helped get this project off the ground. So, the objectives of the Spiritual Foundations of Health is to create a curriculum for spirituality and medicine, a spirituality and medicine course based on the Baha'i writings and to advance a discourse in a popular area of contemporary thought in medical education and practice. And this is inspired by our terms of reference from the National Spiritual Assembly to make available the principles of the Baha'i faith with the objective of contributing to healing and well-being at all levels, individual, family, societal and global, to medical and other health professionals who provide services, research, and training in the health field. The content of this curriculum is very similar to that of the Ruhi Institute. It consists of Baha'i writings, with high quotations with exercises similar to that of the Ruhi Institute, which include questions based on the quote, true and false, fill in the blanks and more reflective questions. And participating in this project involves really going through the same three stages we go through in the Institute, study, action and reflection. And the study component of it involves studying the curriculum as well as relevant sections of the Ruhi Institute, especially Book One. And the action component involves applying this material to real life case scenarios and having participants in our groups create new case scenarios and then doing practice exercises which are simple lines of action inspired by the Baha'i teachings. And the reflection component of this happens in the small groups which we call our B-MAC or Baha'i Medical Association of Canada chapters, as well as at the individual level. And we follow this process employed in the Ruhi Institute because it's proven to be so effective. And this initiative we feel is a fairly timely one because the culture of medical education is such that most medical schools in North America try to incorporate spirituality in some form into their curriculum. And many primary care medicine and nursing journals have published articles on spirituality in medicine as well colleges of medicine across the country always seek ways to teach professionalism at the medical school and graduate, post-graduate training level. And when I talk about professionalism it really involves what is expected of someone who's a professional and a definition provided in a recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Association is a professional competence is a habitual and judicious use of communication, knowledge, technical skills, clinical reasoning, emotions, values and reflection in daily practice for the benefit of the individual and the community being served. And this curriculum, the Spiritual Foundations of Health really consists of three units. And the first unit is actually related to the theme of this conference, understanding the nature of human existence. And in this unit we cover topics including the purpose of life, the nature of human beings, the purpose of health, the purpose of illness and the nature of suffering. And in the second unit we study the nature of medical practice including the roles of research and the harmony of science and religion and the different kinds of healing that exist and how healing happens, according to a high perspective. And the third unit is really about professionalism or the responsibilities of physicians. And in this unit we study quotations about work as worship and the station of service, teamwork and other important aspects of professionalism. So the, I'm just going to, I know we're, we don't have that much time, I'm just gonna provide a couple quick examples. So in the first section where we study human nature from a Baha'i perspective, there's one quote by Baha'u'llah in Gleedings where Baha'u'llah says, Know thou that the soul of manhood is exalted above and is independent of all infirmities of body and mind. That a sick person showeth signs of weakness is due to the hindrances that interpose themselves between the soul and his body, for the soul itself remain unaffected by any bodily ailments. Consider the light of the lamp. Though an external object may interfere with its radiance, the light itself continueeth to shine with undiminished power. As well, there's a quote following that about mental illness where the house of justice says in lights of guidance, mental illness is not spiritual, although its effects may indeed hinder and be a burden in one striving towards spiritual progress. So then the exercises in this unit would consist of simple questions based on the quotation like is the soul affected by illness? What prevents the soul of a sick person from manifesting its inherent might and power? And then we would have memorization activities and then participants would be provided with a real life case scenario where for example, you may have a patient who's suffering from mental illness and is feeling demoralized and hopeless and participants are asked to reflect on the previous questions and identify spiritual principles that would assist in caring for this person. Again, not as a substitute for routine medical treatment but rather to foster a more holistic approach to care. And following case scenarios, participants are provided with suggestions for practice and these are simple lines of action based on the Baha'i teaching such as visiting someone in their home and studying the short healing prayer, praying for your patients at the beginning of every work day, considering donating a Baha'i prayer book to your hospital chapel or hosting a devotional gathering in your hospital chapel and so on. So that's one example of one of the sections in the spiritual foundations of health. Another quick example I'll share with you. This is under the section on professionalism and there's in tablets of Baha'u'llah in a loving letter that the master writes to a physician who's just received his diploma to practice, Abdul Baha says, for the physician, the first qualifications are good intentions, trustworthiness, tenderness, sympathy for the sick, truthfulness, integrity, and fear of the Lord. And then the exercise asks participants to give examples of how they as physicians could exemplify these qualifications. So to summarize briefly, the spiritual foundations of health curriculum which we are piloting in Vancouver and other places in Canada is still very much a work in progress and it involves engaging in a study of the writings on spirituality and health which is something that medical students and professionals do anyways in their deep innings and study classes but this we hope will provide a refined curriculum based on the collective experience of like-minded individuals and incorporate ways to translate the knowledge that is learned into practical lines of action based on the Baha'i teachings and we hope that this process will help spiritualize away in which we practice health care. Maria, thank you very much for including me in this panel at the last minute. I didn't have the heart to tell you that I was actually in the lobby looking for a water fountain that worked but thank you. It's an honor to share this work with you, my dear brothers and sisters we're about to show. A work of art is a work of love and in the case of a film it is collective love made manifest. Since none of the many cast and crew members of this project with the exception of my courageous, compassionate and creative wife could be here on their behalf I offer you their gift of love. The film is called Faith in Common and drew inspiration from the one common faith document released by the beloved Universal House of Justice several years ago. I served as the writer and director on this project. Our intention was to create something useful. It is my deepest, most ardent prayer that you find it such. And in fact, I want to ask your assistance because I'm looking for ways to use this project in all aspects of community life. So if you have an idea, I would love to hear it and if you could find me afterwards please share with me your thoughts.


First Unitarian Society of Madison. My name is Kelly Aspruth-Jackson, and I am one of the ministers here. Today I am joined by my colleague, the Reverend Kelly Crocker, and the worship team of Drew Collins, Stephen Gregorius, and Daniel Karnes. This morning we also have Brian Rainey joining us at the piano. Thank you for being with us, Brian. The vision of FUS is growing souls, connecting with one another and embodying our UU values in our lives, our community, and our world. If you are visiting us today, welcome. We are so very glad that you are with us. If you would like to get some more information about First Unitarian Society, please stop by the welcome table, which is located out in the commons, just through those doors there. We hope that you will be able to stay and join us for coffee hour immediately after the service, also in the commons. For those connecting with us virtually today, we are glad you are with us as well, and we hope that you will be able to join us for our virtual coffee hour immediately following the service. The information for joining can be found on the home page of our website, fussmedicine.org, as well as on the slide that will be seen again after the post loop. Our announcement slides will also be shown briefly after today's service, and we encourage you to take a moment and learn about upcoming programs and activities. And now I invite you to join me in a moment of silence to center ourselves and bring ourselves fully into this time as we join together once again in community. It is not by chance that you arrived here today. You have been looking for something larger than yourself. Inside of you, there is a yearning, a calling, a hope for more, a desire for a place of belonging and caring. Through your struggles, someone nurtured you into being, instilling a belief in a shared purpose, a common yet precious resource that belongs to all of us when we share. And so you began seeking a beloved community, a people that do not put fences around love, a community that holds its arms open to the possibilities of love, a heart home to nourish your soul and share your gifts. Welcome home, welcome to worship. And we invite you now to rise in all the ways we do, joining together in our words of affirmation as we light our chalice. This isn't just a place of worship. This isn't just a fellowship of like minds.  This is our church, our congregation, where we are building beloved community, where we are opening ourselves to each other, where we trust and love, rise and fall together. This is where we feel safe. This is where we know we are welcomed. This is where we belong. For this gift and so many others, we light our chalice. Rise up, O flame, by thy light glow. Good morning. Let's sing together our opening hymn, number 402. From you I receive. We'll sing it three times. To come up to the carpet, to get closer for our story, guesses for what, you know I'm gonna drop it if I keep doing that, right? Look at me trying to be clever. What do you think is in this box? So it's not very heavy if I can do this, right? And it doesn't make any sound when I shake it. What's your guess? But clever. Are you ready? Oh man, if there was a cupcake in here, I wouldn't do that. I would do that. I think, ready? Yeah, so exciting. Using the clues of the name of the book. It's a box of yarn. And I have a box of yarn because our story is extra yarn. And it is, it's here and it's up there. You definitely know this one. Brilliant, I love this one. You've read it at your neighbor's house. How many of you know this one? Yes, I love this one. All right, on a cold afternoon in a cold little town where everywhere you looked was either the white of snow or the black of soot from chimneys, Annabelle found a box filled with yarn of every color. That would be a fun find, wouldn't it? So she went home and knit herself a sweater. Where are the knitters? Don't you love that? She found a box of yarn and went home and knit herself a sweater. That's how it works, right? And when Annabelle was done, she had some extra yarn. So she knit a sweater for Mars too. But her dog, but there was still extra yarn. Your grandma's a really good knitter. Absolutely, your grandma's a really good. How many of you know knitters? Okay, here's a surprise. Do you know me? Then you know everybody knows a knitter then. Oh, you're so fast. And when Annabelle and Mars went for a walk, Nate pointed and laughed and said, you look ridiculous. You're just jealous, said Annabelle. No, I'm not, said Nate. But it turned out he was. And even after she'd made a sweater for Nate and his dog and for herself and for Mars, she still had extra yarn. Good job. At school, Annabelle's classmates could not stop talking about her sweater. Quiet shouted Mr. Norman, quiet everyone, Annabelle.  I cannot teach with everyone turning around to look at you. Then I'll knit one for everyone, Annabelle said. So they won't have to turn around. Impossible, said Mr. Norman. You can't, but it turned out she could. And she did, even for Mr. Norman. And when she was done, Annabelle still had extra yarn. Okay, what do you think the best part of this picture is? Mr. Norman, what do you notice? Look at this, what do you see? I love the fact, look it, she didn't cut the yarn between their sweaters. Can you see that up there? It's kind of light, but all the yarn, it connects all of them. So she knit sweaters for her mom and dad. Where's Mr. Norman back here? Right there, see Mr. Norman? And for Mr. Pendleton and Mrs. Pendleton, I'm not sure Mr. and Mrs. Pendleton have arms in their sweaters. It's more like she made them a poncho, maybe. And for Dr. Palmer and for Little Lewis. She made sweaters for everyone except Mr. Crabtree. He never wore sweaters or even long pants and he would stand in his shorts with the snow up to his knees. No sweater for me, thanks, said Mr. Crabtree. So she made Mr. Crabtree a hat. Us knitters, we will find a way to cover you in wool somehow. And even then Annabelle still had, you guys are the best, she made sweaters for all the dogs, for all the cats, and for other animals too. Soon people thought soon Annabelle will run out of yarn. But it turned out she didn't. So Annabelle knit sweaters for things that didn't even wear sweaters. Like houses. Look at this, things began to change in that little town. Look at it now, even trees. New spread of this remarkable girl who never ran out of yarn and people came to visit from around the world to see all the sweaters and to shake Annabelle's hand. She's good-eyed, she's connected to all the houses. I love how the yarn stays connected in the whole book. What, do you see that the pole? You think she keeps buying yarn? Yeah, you do know knitters. Okay, I was thinking, I never run out of yarn. Whoops. Hi Nancy up there knitting away. I love seeing the knitters like knitting away in the service today. One day an Archduke who was very fond of clothes sailed across the sea and demanded to see Annabelle. Little girl said the Archduke, I would like to buy that box of yarn and I'm willing to offer you one million dollars. No thank you said Annabelle who was knitting a sweater for a pickup truck. As you do, the Archduke's mustache twitched. Two million he said. Annabelle shook her head, no thanks. 10 million shouted the Archduke take it or leave it. Leave it said Annabelle, I won't sell the yarn and she didn't. So that night the Archduke hired three robbers to break into Annabelle's house and they stole the box and they took it to the Archduke who set off across the snow and sailed over the sea back to his castle. The Archduke put on his favorite song, he sat in his favorite chair, then he took out the box, he lifted the lid and he looked inside. What do you think's gonna happen when he looks inside? It wasn't. It what? It didn't, because he stole the box of yarn it didn't let him be happy. Yeah it went in. He's not allowed to be happy. He's not allowed to be happy. Cause he was stealing right? And he was mean. I love the fact that y'all are as excited about yarn as I am. I feel like I found my little people. Oh you think? Let's find out. His mustache quivered, it shivered, it trembled.  You will never be happy again. But, did you see the box? Sailing back across the ocean, where do you think it's going? To Annabelle. To Annabelle. There it is. Annabelle's getting the box back out of the water. But it turns out she was. Look at that tree. So why do you think the box was empty when it got to the Archduke? What do you think? Because he stole it. So this is something about, I'm gonna talk about with the grownups a little bit about this later. You know we're always giving things to each other and we're always receiving from each other. It's kind of what makes our lives work. We all need each other right? So you see lots of yarn. So we're always giving and we're always receiving. But that has to be done with what? Open hearts, open hands. We give back and forth and that box with kindness and that box wasn't a gift, right? He took it and that made the box not have any yarn. So just remember that giving and receiving, we call it mutual, right? That's our big fancy word for it. Back and forth with open heart. So remember that today. I love you all. I am so glad you're here today.  Have a great time. What about what? What about what? What about what? This time of giving and receiving, where we give freely and generously to this offering which sustains and strengthens our community here and also our outreach offering recipient, who this week is the Sierra Club Four Lakes Group. The Sierra Club is a national environmental advocacy group with a 130 year history of working to protect wildlife and wild places seeking to defend the earth and communities which depend upon it. The Four Lakes Group is our local branch of that effort grounded here in central Southern Wisconsin. There are multiple ways to share your gifts this morning. Baskets are available at the exits to this room where you can place cash or checks. You can also see on the screen that you can donate directly from our website, fussmedicine.org, and you will see our text to give information there as well. We thank you for your generosity and your faith in this life we create together. Being with us this weekend. I'd like to begin today by telling you a story. A story from a distant time, the year 2006. The year everything in my world changed. For that was the year my first child was born. And on one night, if you can imagine it, deep in the middle of the night, when it would seem that the rest of the world was blissfully fast asleep, I was awake with a very unhappy baby. Those of you who are parents or have taken care of young children may recall your own night such as this. He had been fed. He had been changed. He had been rocked. He had everything he could possibly need. And yet, still the crying would not end. I remember thinking, why do we do this? Why did I do this? I don't think I can do this. And I sunk to the floor with my wailing child and joined him in his tears. I felt completely and utterly alone. Then my eyes glanced over to the living room chair and draped over it was this blanket. 20 squares, all different, all lovingly created by members of this congregation. The idea of Gail Snowden, who taught me to knit the year before, given to me before Sam's birth. I remember laying it out on the living room floor, placing his tea, tiny body down upon it, curling up next to him, and both of us falling fast asleep, this blanket. It somehow got us through that night and so many nights to come. The Reverend Rod Richards wrote these words, "'It is all very well to speak of an interdependent web of all life and remind us that we are all connected. We are. But there are times when the loneliness strikes so deeply that the only thing of which I am certain is that I am a solitary being. There are times when the only piece of belonging I can feel is the longing. There are times when the interdependent web feels like just a mess of cobwebs in a basement or an attic of the abandoned house where I live. Times when the spirit of life and love are just words, written in invisible ink on a postcard to myself, wish you were here. Be with me now. Don't try and talk me out of how I feel with perfect theology. Stay beside me and carry my hope until I am ready to hold it again and be there for you." In that moment, no one could have talked me out of my exhaustion, my worry, my fear that I was not ready to care for this new life. Yet this blanket was a visual representation of people who loved me so very much, who cared enough to create this symbol of support for me and for a baby they hadn't yet met. And in that moment, they held me and my hope until I was ready to hold it myself again. Now that baby is 16 years old, learning to drive, and someday will inherit this blanket. And I will tell him that it is made of so much more than wool. Two years after that night in 2008, Lorna Aronson approached our ministers with an idea. Lorna wanted to begin a shawl ministry program here at FUS. The idea was that members of our congregation would provide handmade comfort items to others during challenging times when the symbols of care and support would be meaningful. That spring, we announced a meeting held in the palatial space that we called the trailers. The temporary staff offices and meeting rooms that were parked just outside on the lawn, overlooking this soon-to-be building. About 25 people crowded into that tiny space and that group created the foundation of what would become our shawl ministry program. The giving of comfort items is a century's old tradition in communities of worship. This ministry summed up with the words hand to hand, heart to heart, nurtures the bonds between us here in community. Since 2008, we have gifted over 250 shawls and lap robes. And in 2009, at that meeting of our shawl ministry program, I told the story that I shared with you a moment ago about this blanket and what it meant to me. The decision was made to add child dedication blankets to our offerings. And since that year, over 275 blankets have been given to the young ones that we are privileged to bless and welcome to the world as a visible show of love and support from the congregation. Now we are adding pocket comfort items. These are small knitted, crocheted, quilted squares that fit easily into a pocket, a purse, a hand. There are times when a large item, such as a shawl or a lap robe, isn't what's desired and so these pocket items can be kept nearby as a smaller yet no less meaningful reminder of the connection, the love and the care of this community. From you I receive, to you I give, together we share and from this we live. We sang those words in our opening hymn and they truly embody the heart of shawl ministry. Those who create items will tell you that creating a shawl, a lap robe, a dedication blanket, it is somehow different from our regular making. What sets it apart is that there's a spirit of intentionality that goes into every item that is made. The maker may or may not know who will receive what they are making and they are encouraged to weave in thoughts of comfort or connection into every stitch. The words of our hymn reinforce the reciprocity and the mutuality that is core to our understanding of how we live in community, both in this congregation and in the larger world. We give, knowing that someday we will receive and we receive knowing that we will also give. This reciprocity has a practical dimension since in sharing we all benefit, yet it also has a deeper meaning. For in sharing with another I acknowledge that they are the subject of my concern, that they matter to me, that they are worthy of sharing something of myself. And in receiving from another I acknowledge that I cannot make it in this world on my own. I need others. When we receive we do that very scary thing of making ourselves vulnerable. In shawl ministry there are three involved in this mutuality of giving and receiving. There's the one who makes the item, the one who delivers the item typically myself, Reverend Kelly AJ or one of our lay ministers, and then there's the one who receives the item. Through all of this, the creating, the giving, the receiving, each time it happens our web of relationship is more widely and deeply woven. Through it all we remember that we are each the giver and the receiver, that each of us will have moments in our lives when we say stay beside me and carry my hope until I am ready to hold it again and be there for you. Now if you have ever spent time with me in a meeting or a class or a program or pretty much any time with me of any sort you will know that I'm a knitter. I knit pretty much all the time whenever it's possible. I wish I was doing it right now. I've been known to knit in traffic jams in long grocery lines, definitely waiting to pick up children, that's a definite. It's my constant companion. You may have overheard someone remark on a shawl or a pair of socks that I've made and then you will have heard my usual refrain. It really is only sticks and string. And I'm not wrong. To knit you use two sticks and some string, that's it. Even the most complex fair isle sweater with its designs and its vibrant colors is at its core, sticks and string. Yet a very dear friend upon receiving a gift of socks and declaring that they were the most amazing things she'd ever seen and getting back my, it's not a big deal, it's sticks and string. Quickly added and magic, dear one. Don't forget the magic. She's not wrong. There can be a powerful magic hidden within those sticks and string. In a book titled The Power of Knitting, author Loretta Napoleoni tells the following story. Some time ago, I came across an amazing story of knitting and healing. An English woman, Claire Young, had developed post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety after the death of her husband. Her psychologist suggested that she learn to knit. So with the help of some friends, she did and they yarn bombed a tree at the hospice in Cheltenham to thank the staff who had cared for her husband during his long illness. This is why she also knit look-alike dolls of the doctors, the nurses, the housekeeping staff, anyone who had interacted with him. And she placed all of these under the tree on a blanket. When I saw the pictures of Claire's yarn bomb installation, I thought it looked like the knitted dolls were having a picnic under the tree, enjoying a beautiful English spring day in a garden of a hospice. It was a joyful image drenched in love and happiness and a celebration of life. Claire did such an amazing job that photos of her yarn bombing became a sort of sensation online. The response to her project so moved her that she was inspired to ask others to knit small, woollen hearts in memory of the ones that they had lost. Hearts that then she would use to create another knitted healing garden at the hospice center. She posted her request on Facebook and soon she received more than 52,000 hearts from 450 knitters from every continent in the world. Many sent their knitted hearts with moving notes about the ones that they had loved. Soon after she launched another appeal in which she asked people to donate leftover yarn that they weren't using so that she could carry on knitting flowers, pots, and plants for another healing garden at the Royal Horticultural Society. And among the people who heard about her was Ian, a man who had lost his wife a year earlier. She had been a knitter and she had left behind, as we do, a lot of yarn. When he saw Claire on TV, he was touched by her initiative and impressed by her determination. He got in touch to donate his wife's leftover wool and they met, and as you might guess, they fell in love. The yarn that Ian's wife had not been able to knit was the thread that brought Ian to Claire and Claire's celebration of the love and devotion for her husband, provided the pattern that stitched their lives together. As Claire knit away her grief, Ian did the same by providing her the yarn. And together, one stitch at a time, one knitted flower after another, they filled the emptiness left by loss. My friend's magic can happen with sticks that not string together and create something beautiful. Likewise, community at its core is simply people binding themselves together to create something beautiful, something that is essential to our survival. Each week, we gather together, human sticks and string, very ordinary folks. Yet when we do, magic happens. I've seen it myself. When I've delivered a soft purple shawl to someone beginning chemo and their eyes well up with tears and say, I'll take it with me to every appointment, it is so cold in there and I'll be wrapped in love. When I give a dedication blanket to a new parent with dark circles under their eyes and so much love and worry in them, I remind them you're not alone. Here you belong and we are with you every step of the way. When I bring a laprobe to the spouse of the one in hospice, I look into their eyes and I say here, I think you're the one who needs this now. And their eyes well up with grief and love and gratitude and I gotta tell you, it's magic. If you were to unravel our lives here, if we were to rip back the budgets, the buildings, the programs, we would be left with us. But when we weave ourselves together with color and shape and love, when we knot ourselves together, we create something beautiful and we serve a larger purpose necessary for our survival. We need each other to make it through the most painful moments of this life and we need each other if we want to experience the joy of love, laughter, home. So I'll leave you this morning with a poem from Barbara Kingsolver. It's called, How to Knit a Sweater, a Realist's Prayer. Oh Lord, whether male, female, animate, all knowing, unreasonable or just whether or not, we are a practical people who hedge our bets. As I hold my loved ones this day in my thoughts, meditating on our hopes and wild adversities, I also hold a skein of good wool, needles that click like rosary beads working through hail mary's of knit and pearl. By involving fiber in my invocation of divinity, I feel assured of a fairly positive outcome. Sticks and string, it's pretty ordinary stuff. You and me and all of us together, that's some powerful magic. And when we knit ourselves together, I feel assured of a fairly positive outcome. We would like to invite the coordinators of our Shell Ministry program, Lorna Aronson and Dorrit Bergen, to come forward with a few more of our items. First, we're going to ask a blessing for the ones who create all of these items. Today, we bless your minds that we may be free to enter into times of creativity and contemplation. That you may find a restfulness and ease in your own self as you create. We bless your hands to be the source of creating something of beauty and love. We offer a blessing to your souls that they may be open to the promptings of reflection. A blessing to your yarn, your fabric, your threads as you shape them into patterns of love and caring. A blessing to your needles to be the holder of stitches as they become items of beauty. A blessing to your creations to be works of heart and hands, body and spirit.  May your spirits be renewed throughout your making. May you remember to breathe when mistakes appear. May you know yourself and your creativity to be gifts from within and beyond. And now we offer a blessing for those who will receive one of these gifts. For all those who are in need of comfort and care. May you find ease from all that appears too much to bear at this moment. From all that feels as if it might be the breaking point. From all that seems to threaten your peace of heart. May this gift be a shelter in times of grief. A shade in times of sorrow too deep for words. A shield from times of unimaginable loss. May you be comforted by the presence of those who love and support you. By the abiding love of community. By the memories of what you hold most dear. Now if you would please join me in the blessing for from all of us to all of this as it appears on your screen here. Today we remember all those for whom we create these gifts. Those who are lonely and need to know they are loved. Those who are ill and yearn for healing of body, mind, and spirit. Those who face challenging decisions and search for guidance. Those who are grieving and welcome comforting words and actions. Those who are celebrating newness of life and rejoice in the warmth and richness surrounding them. Bind us together in one community of love founded on the faith that the love and grace we find together here are everlasting. And now for the items themselves we ask, may the grace of love be upon these gifts of hope and healing. Warming, comforting, enfolding, and embracing. May these mantles be a safe haven. A sacred place of security and well-being, sustaining and embracing in good times as well as difficult ones. May the one who receives these be cradled in hope kept in joy, graced with peace, wrapped in love. Blessed be and amen. Eyes and body and or in spirit to sing together. Our closing hymn number 22, Dear Weaver of Our Lives Design. Your great mistake is to act the drama as if you were alone. Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into the conversation. The kettle is singing even as it pours you a drink. The cooking pots have left their arrogant aloofness and seen the good in you at last. All the birds and creatures of the world are unutterably themselves. Everything is waiting for you. Blessed be, go in peace, and please be seated for the postlude.


Indonesia has been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic since its initial outbreak in late 2019. In the past year, the country has seen a dramatic increase in the number of confirmed cases and deaths caused by the virus. To better understand this situation, we analyzed the data from March 2020 to January 2021. We used time series and forecasting methods to predict the number of daily cases and deaths due to COVID-19 in Indonesia. Our results show that the highest monthly average case prediction is in June, with a total of 35,662 cases. Additionally, our model had a MAPE score of 15.85%, indicating that it was able to accurately predict the number of daily cases and deaths due to COVID-19 in Indonesia. This article was authored by Anisa Puspa-Karana, and it hit you, Bui Yuga.