It is time for another vlog. It's been a hot minute since I vlogged, and I wanted to do a shopping vlog. So today that I'm filming this is actually my birthday, turn 26. We have a big shopping kind of short weekend, so Jose and I are doing a little bit of a staycation because we are at, I think it's called, Sawgrass Mills Mall, and it's just like this ginormous mall. It seems like I could be wrong. Like a normal mall that's like really large and then also an outlet mall and one, I don't know, I'll figure it out. I first heard of this from Erin Nicole. She told me that I needed to shop here. And then the last shopping vlog that I did, I went to a mall that's a little closer to our house, Dolphin Mall. And so many of you guys commented who are from Florida, told me that I needed to go to this mall. And when I looked it up, oh my gosh, it was huge. There were so many stores. So I wanted to come here for my birthday. You know what, just getting a hotel room, staying the night as a fun little staycation for my birthday. So I'm gonna take you along. I'm on a mission. I'm gonna look at some handbags. I also wanna stop by a few makeup stores and see what the outlets have to offer. Also gonna eat, of course.  Like I have some limited edition, I have the HamaGraph quads. I have the Natasha Denona Daria chic palette. If you know, you know. It's so hot here. It's like definitely noticeably drier here than it is where we live in Miami. I don't like it. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I might prefer the humidity of living by the water. But anyways, we are gonna walk around. It looks like, I don't know, is it gonna rain? It's quite dark. Hopefully not. Anyways, let's go shopping. Yo, why is this mall so giant? I feel like we've been walking for miles. All of the stores seem to be like the best versions of themselves. A super target. What's a super target? Who makes it super? Nothing like chocolate to stop me in my tracks. Okay, let's go. Here we go. We got some Ferrero Rocher ice cream. Is it good? Oh, oh my gosh. The foodie adventures begin. Yeah, right? Good delicious. It is. Okay, so Jose's weakness is crepes. So you saw we went to crepe delicious. There's a whole cheesecake in here. Keep in mind, we are going to the cheesecake factory tonight. Oh, my God, Jose. That looks amazing. I can't eat this. It's too much, huh? We're not gonna eat later. I know. Yeah. This is so beautiful. It's from Celine. It's originally $1,500 for four, six, eight. Still too expensive, obviously. I only spend like $20 on clothes, but it's so cute. These are good prices for Tori Birch. It's like $2.74. And they also have, this one is super cute too. Still like $2.50. I don't know what this is. But ooh. And now we are at the outdoor outlet place in the mall that has more like luxury brands. You know we had to end up at Code. This is cute. There's a dog barking. I like the ruffles. Oh, that is cute. I almost bought this one. See how it looks. Is that like a cute little baguette bag? It's bigger than I thought it was gonna be. What do you like? Something caught Jose's eye. You like that makeup bag? The denim. He likes the denim style.  Especially like this one I loved online, but this print, I don't like it anymore. The pink is fine, but I don't like it like I did online. These ones are 60% off, but I think it's a little too like western for me, but it is so cute. Ooh, the denim. Okay, but wait. This is so cute. Uh-oh. At Kate's Bade. How cute is this? It's as cute as it looked online. Love it. Oh my goodness. Oh no. I'm dead, so cute. Oh my god. Yeah, I have like a white one from Kate's Bade, like this. So cute. A little bigger. I love this one. This one looks so expensive. I have purses already shaped like this, but this is my favorite one I've seen. It's beautiful. Listen, I know Michael Kors isn't as popular anymore, but they have some really cute styles. I don't care. That's so sleek.  If a purse is tiny, I'm attracted to it. I don't know why I'm like it. Look at the green, Michael Kors. I didn't know Mark Jacobs had outlets. So cute. This is so cute. I love this. They have it in black. The Gucci outlet is poppin'. I'm not going inside because there's a line since it's Saturday to all of the luxury stores, and I know I'm not gonna buy anything anyways, but I wish I could. They got real Gucci bags here. I couldn't help it. I'm forcing Jose to wait in line because I just think I see what they have at a Prada outlet store. Hey. This one is cool. Is that a crossbody? Yeah. This is so cute. I do like this one. Well, no, these are $1,000. That is the sale price. Oh, these are so cute. Getting some Calvin Klein undies, but look, they're totally copying skims, and I'm here for it. I love the neutral beiges. I want to dress nice, but then at the same time, sweatshorts exist. Music was so loud at Hollister, but oh my gosh, you guys, I felt so old in here. I felt too old to shop. I used to work at Hollister when I was a teenager for years. Somebody who worked there just called me ma'am and I was struck by it because I look young, but anyways. Wow, I'm too old for these clothes. Oh, look what they have at the CCS. I'm back. I know this concealer was really popular.  And what I was surprised by is they had this La Mer powder foundation. I was so tempted to get it, but they didn't have one in my shade.  And they were decent quads. And then we also have some foundations that were not none in my shade. Also tried some stuff out at American Eagle. The pants were a no, but this shirt was a yes. It's totally my style. Same thing with this dress. I'm actually wearing it today as I'm making this voiceover. But I love it, it's so comfy. We are pooped. We had to stop and sit in the hotel room before dinner. I'm happy we decided not to make this just a day trip because we would have been dragging. So we've picked out the stores that we want to hit tomorrow. I want to hit the Tori Birch outlet. The line was just really, really long and I didn't feel like waiting today because there were so many other stores. But since now I know I want to go there. We'll wait there tomorrow. We want to go to H&M. I want to go to Primark. I love Primark. Cheap stuff. Love it. I thought there's like a couple of other stores but we spent today really just scouting and then of course we found some stuff. But anyways, we're about to head to dinner very soon. So we have reservations right now this second and it's just torrential downpour. And we have to walk. Luckily the hotel gave us an umbrella but we're going to be soaked regardless because it's windy. So yay, open it. Let me just show it to you. Oh my gosh, it's so dark but we did make it eventually. We got soaked in the rain, pretty much. Korean fried chicken pasta. Napolitanu. Napolitanu. We hungry, we're about to dig in. I'm making Jose come right at 11 at Tori Birch and look there's already a line but I didn't get to check it out yesterday. I was so excited to be in a Tori Birch outlight you guys. Now that I have a newfound love for Tori Birch didn't really love these bags but this one I was attracted to and I thought that short one was really cute as well. And then I was on the hunt for a wallet but I don't really like the look of green leather. This is so cute. Yeah, we do. These are so cute too. Right, I have firsts that look like this one though. She's working now on the molecular level. What can you feel in here? Not even your phone. Not even your key. It's $259. Had to stop into Kate Spade.  These are technically Jose's birthday presents to me but I wish I were a bank account so like I'm cut off.  That's from my paycheck.  Guys, I have been waiting to come to Primark. I'm obsessed with Primark but we don't have any in Maryland. I'm so excited. Got some shoes. Looking at the accessories guys. Primark are so cheap. How cute of a beach bag is this? So cute. Aesthetic and only like $5-10 for everything. I want the Glash asset and I like the hair clips even though I don't need them. These are what I use in my hair when I put on make up. $3.50 for all these. They even have a bunch of make up options which I've heard. Decent things about. It's a mess though. Some lip product over here. The home section. Not bad. Kind of cute. $4 lights. Ooh, $2.50. Some blankets. Sheets. Anything for my house? $3 hangers. Oh my god that mug is so cute. So the line was literally around the entire store. I found something but it was not worth it. We are going to the store for like 30 minutes and I found some good deals but the line was too long. It was at least like an hour long line I would say. Something crazy like that? No. So we just returned something at Calvin Klein that Jose didn't like on himself. I'm exhausted this small. You guys were right. I needed to go here but dang it literally took us two days to cover everything. I have plans of coming back. I feel like I think it's because we've never been here before and also we stayed at a hotel the first trip. I feel like this place is so far away from us. Like I feel like we went on a little mini vacation. But now it's only like 40 minutes away from our house. So we could only just come here any weekend for a day trip.  You guys so much for the recommendations. I will show you when I got home some of the things that I got. I'm not going to show you the purses. That's going to be for a separate video the ones that I got but I'll show you some of the clothes and whatnot. It's now Monday. I'm going to show you everything that I got but it was just my ideal weekend. An amazing mall and shopping. I couldn't ask for anything better and Cheesecake Factory. I'm going to show you the clothes first. I picked up two things from American Eagle. I am still shopping in the same places that I shopped when I was a teenager. The clothes just fit me. I don't know. But I got this cute top from American Eagle. It's just a really cute layered tiered top. It's going to go great with any kind of bottoms like jeans, leggings. So I thought it was really cute and simple. Also from American Eagle I got this dress which looks like this and there's straps on it too but you can take them off if you want it to be more of like a tube style dress and I love this type of fabric lately where it looks like a dress shirt but it's just really a dress and it's going to look so good with one of the coach purses that I bought. So I'm excited about this. I think this is super cute and summery. I bought everything today besides small if you're wondering. And then from Hollister I got some underwear from Gilly Hicks. I'm not going to show you that but got a lot of undies and then everybody in Miami wears at leisure all the time and I have some not cute at leisure. I was a PE teacher so I have a lot of like athletic clothes but they're not cute. I wanted cute at leisure. It was buy one get one 50% off of the Gilly Hicks active wear so I got a tennis skirt. I think tennis skirts are so cute so this is in white and then I also got a matching tank top to go with it. Not even really to go with it. It's just a cute athletic tank top which is great to work out in and also really great to walk around in and it just makes my boobs look really great so I got that in white and if you have the same sickness as me if I like something then I'm going to get in different colors. So I also got it in black. Very very basic. Super duper cute. I love the pleated skirt. It does need steamed but what's very popular is aloe right or Lululemon but I just I will buy luxury things purses whatever but when it comes to clothes I'm so cheap anyway so I think Gilly Hicks is a really nice price. It's nicer than like H&M but it's not quite Lululemon but also the black tank top super cute and then Calvin Klein again I got some underwear I just needed some fresh undies but I thought I'd share this with you I love seamless bras and being comfortable since I work from home all day Calvin Klein has some really nice comfy kind of t-shirt bras I got it for 20% off so I thought it was a decent price I don't know the exact name but it's a seamless bra super duper comfortable okay and then the rest of the things I got were purses now you guys know I'm starting to incorporate handbag content on my channel just because I love handbags too and so do you guys for my birthday I was gonna buy myself some handbags I got one from Coach one from Kate Spade and one from Tory Burch I was most excited about the Tory Burch outlets because they don't have an online store I don't think if they do let me know if I'm wrong but yeah there aren't very many Tory Burch outlets I feel like so I will do a more detailed video but I just wanted to show you I don't know the names of the bags or anything didn't do any of my research but if you're watching my vlogs you're special so I'm still gonna show you I wasn't going to I was gonna just save it for my video so I've always wanted kind of a vanity bag like this I know Chanel has one but I'm not gonna pay the Chanel prices so I think that this is so beautiful and it's much more spacious than it looks like my phone and everything can fit in here because it's super duper wide but I just think it is so cute so you can wear it top handle style how cute is this right and since it's from the Tory Burch outlet this is where I really wanted to go I got it for like $200 which most Tory Burch purses are rude I spent like $500 on the most recent Tory Burch purse that I got from retail instead of the outlets so Hosea's gonna have to start making trips with me to this mall because I like the outlet I'm an outlet girl when it comes to handbags they're just okay so then I want to Kate Spade you guys know Kate Spade is my favorite purse brand there's a lot of people out there who do not like Kate Spade in the purse YouTube world I've noticed but I don't care let's do I got this one this is one that Hosea picked out for me he was gonna order this online for me but I just wanted to wait to see it in person first but I love it I think it is so cute I love a small structured bag you know with a top handle this is me to a T and it was a really great price of the outlets it's a little bit more expensive online like $10 more expensive but at the outlets it was like 60% off with an additional 20 so I got it for $95 and I think it's so sweet and simple and if I'm going Kate Spade I just love getting cutesy bright colors because that is true to the Kate Spade brand and so cute again I will do a more detailed video I also wanted something new to hold my cards and again it's just a really great price at the outlet so I got this this holds a bunch of cards there also is a space in the middle I think I got this for like $25 and it's really really tiny since I love tiny bags I need a tiny card holder so that's what I got at Kate Spade and then the last place I went was Coach I actually don't buy a lot of Coach I don't have very many purses from Coach but I knew for my birthday I wanted to get myself a Coach purse as well and this is one that is not my style at all it's different but I still am really excited about it since you know my husband was buying it for me I was like let me get something that's like not me something out of my style so I ended up getting this guy right here she is so cute so I got this from their denim line which is something that I thought was so ugly online I really did not want this person at all didn't even consider it but I saw it in person and I just think this is going to look so cute with like shirt dresses that American Eagle dress that I got just something to spice up a look that doesn't contain denim and it is a top handle bag I must sucker for a top handle if you noticed all of my bags that I bought this weekend to have a top handle I don't know it's so different for me this is not something that I would normally like but I don't know something about it called into me it has a suede lining it has feet at the bottom I like feet and then of course here's the strap but the strap is also able to be taken off so I love it I think it's so cute and different for me it's more of a statement bag I normally don't have too many staple bags I kind of like them small, cute and classic as opposed to something with a print like this with a material like this but I'm in love so anyways if you want more details on their own bags I will have them linked down below but I do plan on doing a purse haul just because I'm looking for any excuse to talk about purses right now but anyways thank you guys so much for hanging out with me for my birthday shop with me vlog and thank you very much because I did have a lot of messages from you guys wishing me a happy birthday and I'm happy that I could take you along with me here's the foodie in me coming out my other addiction food I didn't show this but we did get the Cinnabon cheesecake from the cheesecake factory we got it to go because I was about to actually explode tip when you go to the cheesecake factory you really should split a meal with a person because it's just a lot but also the menu is still big it's like how can you settle in one dish so we ate the cheesecake in the middle of the night but that's my favorite one anyways thank you guys so much for watching my vlog I hope you guys enjoyed it and I will catch you in the next one but I guess have a good one


Please join in a moment of centering silence so we can be fully present with each other this morning. And now let's get musically present with each other by turning to the words for our in-gathering hymn, which you'll find inside your order of service. Everybody and happy New Year. Let me be the 671st person to wish you a happy New Year. And welcome to the first Sunday of 2016 here at First Unitarian Society, where independent thinkers gather in a safe, nurturing environment to explore issues of social, spiritual, and ethical significance as we try to make a difference in this world. I'm Steve Goldberg, a proud, free-thinking member of this congregation, and it is a special pleasure to extend a happy hello to any guests, visitors, and newcomers. If this is your first time at First Unitarian Society, I think you'll find it's a special place, and if you'd like to learn more about our special buildings, we usually offer a guided tour after every service. Just meet over here at the windows after the service, and we'll take care of you. And speaking of taking care of each other today, this would be the perfect time, and I think you all know the drill, to silence those pesky electronic devices that you simply will not need for the next hour. And those of you at home, if you could do the same, your ring towns really annoy us. And if you are accompanied this morning by a youngster at today's service, and your youngster is concerned that you might get fidgety during the service, we offer some private spaces from which you can enjoy the service, including our child haven in the back corner of the auditorium, and some comfortable seating outside the doorway right in the commons. Today's service is brought to us as it is every weekend by a dedicated team of volunteers, whose names I will read to you now. They deserve our thanks, please give them a hug or a handshake or a happy New Year's greeting for their service. Handling the sound system, Maureen Friend, thank you Maureen. Our greeter upstairs with a smiley face was Hannah Pinkerton, and speaking of smiley faces and smiley is our lay minister today. Wally Brinkman, Doug Hill and Patricia Becker are handling the ushering duties today, and Jean Hills is hosting our hospitality and coffee after the service. John Heitman is making sure that the vegetation here on the stage is well watered, and Becky Smith generously donated the flowers that you see behind me. Just a couple of announcements before we continue with the service today. First of all, the high school youth group would like you to know about the following event, and they start with a listing of food, like chicken paprikaish, roasted vegetables, spring rolls, cherry cake, not to be confused with cherry coke, and macaroons. When you listen to that list of food, is your mouth watering? Maybe? Well, then join us Saturday, January 9 next weekend from 6.30 to 8.30 in the evening for our annual dinner and celebration of our international partnership. This special evening is created by our high school youth group, and it supports student scholarships and music programs of our partner church in Romania, as well as a UU high school student who is studying in the Philippines. All proceeds from the dinner support the work of these programs, and if you want to join us, you'll experience delicious food, music, and dancing. Check with Kelly in the Commons at a special information table after the service to sign up. And the other two announcements include some important dates. One is Sunday, January 24, three weeks from today. After the 11 o'clock service, the Board of Trustees will host a financial update for everybody. To get an update on the finances of the congregation, join us after the 11 o'clock service on Sunday, January 24, starting with a lunch served by the world-famous food haulers, and then followed by the financial update. And speaking of dates, it's 117 days until Cabaret on April 29, Friday evening right here, one of the most enjoyable, entertaining, and fun events on the FUS calendar again, Friday, April 29, 117 days from now. Looking forward to that. And speaking of things to look forward to, now is your chance to sit back or lean forward and enjoy today's service. I know it will touch your heart, stir your spirit, and trigger one or two new thoughts. We're really glad you're here. Happy New Year. Come as you are. You don't need to get your beliefs on straight first before you come. Come as you are. Come with your questions, your ambiguities, your doubts. Come and be welcome. Come here as you are. This morning, let us be together. Let us grow in free and open religious community. I invite you to stand in body and spirit for the lighting of our chalice. And if you will join me in the words of affirmation by reading the bold and italicized sections. Let religion be to us life and joy, an eye that glories in nature's majesty and beauty, and a heart that rejoices in deeds of kindness and courage. Let it be to us hope and purpose, and a discovering of opportunities to achieve excellence through daily tasks. Let it be a call to generous action. Now, in the spirit of that generosity, I invite you to turn to your neighbor and exchange with them a warm greeting. If there are any children that would like to join me in the front for the message for all ages, so that everybody have a good Christmas holiday, is Christmas fun? Yeah. So, who's the most important person at Christmas, other than your parents? Me. You? Who do you think? Jesus? Who's the guy with the big red suit? Santa Claus, that's right. So, what if I was to say something about Santa Claus that you didn't agree with, that you thought was wrong, and you raised your hand and said, no, I don't think that that's true. What would happen next? You know, would we get into a fight? Yeah, an argument? It sometimes happens, that doesn't it? I think here, I think here what would happen is that we would have a conversation, and hopefully it would be a very, very cordial conversation. It would be nice to each other, we'd ask each other questions, right? Why do you believe that, and why do I believe that? Would we try to do it that way? I think that that's probably what we try to do. We try to have a conversation about Santa Claus. Okay.  Because 500 years ago, if I disagreed with someone about, maybe not Santa Claus, but about God or about Jesus, then they wouldn't necessarily be very nice to me. So, this is a story about a man named Sebastian, and he was born in 1515. Now, this is 2016, so that's over 500 years ago. And he was born in the country of France, and when he was going to school, we don't know a whole lot about him, but we do know that by the time he finished his grade school, he could speak three different languages. He could speak French, and Italian, and German. He couldn't speak English as far as we know. And then when he went to college, Sebastian learned how to speak and to write three other languages, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. So, he knew six different languages. You think he was smart? Yeah, he was pretty smart. And he also could play musical instruments, and he could write really beautiful poetry. Now, he was growing up in France, and France was a Roman Catholic country. Everybody basically went to the same church, the Roman Catholic church. But he noticed something when he was growing up. The people who disagreed with what the church was teaching and what the priest said, they didn't have conversations with the priests. The priests would oftentimes put them in jail, and then they might hurt them. Sometimes they hurt them very badly because they disagreed with what the church had to say. And Sebastian thought that was wrong. He said, I don't think that's the way we ought to treat each other, just because we disagree about things. And so, he decided to move from France to a country in Switzerland called Geneva, because he thought that people would be a lot nicer to each other in Geneva. And he had also read some books by a man named John Calvin, who lived in Geneva, and he was the head of the church there. And he thought, well, I'll go and I'll work with John Calvin, because I think that he's going to allow me to disagree with him sometimes, and it's going to be okay. So he went to Geneva, and everything was fine at first. John Calvin and Michael Servita, and Sebastian got along just fine. And I want to show you a picture. This is what Sebastian looked like. That's the way that people dressed 500 years ago. Yeah, really did. And it's like I say, he went to Geneva and he met this guy, John Calvin. And this was John Calvin. And so they got along pretty well at first. It is a picture. They painted it. That's right, it's a painting. They didn't have any cameras back then. So anyway, the two of them got along pretty well, and John Calvin really understood that Sebastian was a really smart guy, and he thought he can really be helpful here in Geneva. But then, Sebastian had an idea. He said, you know, all the Bibles here in Geneva are written in the Latin language. But there's a problem with that. Most people can't read Latin. Only a few people who are smart like me can read Latin. So why don't I translate the Bible from Latin into the French language? Because lots of people can read French. And then many more people will be able to read the Bible. That was a pretty good idea, except John Calvin didn't think it was such a great idea. Partly because it wasn't his idea, but also partly because if everybody starts reading the Bible, they might decide what it means, and it might not mean what John Calvin thought it would mean. So they would have more and more disagreements. And so John Calvin got mad at Sebastian, and Sebastian said, I'm out of here, I don't need this. And so he went to live in another Swiss city called Basel, and he got a job there teaching Greek and Latin, and he was perfectly happy. Until he heard that John Calvin back in Geneva arrested a man named Michael Servetus. And Michael Servetus was one of our Unitarian ancestors. And Michael Servetus did not agree with John Calvin about Jesus and about God, and he wrote a book about it. And John Calvin had read Servetus's book, and he said, this is bad, bad stuff. So he threw Michael Servetus into prison, and then in the end he ended up killing Michael Servetus. And when Sebastian heard about that, he said, I've got to do something. I'm going to write my own book. And so he began furiously writing this book. It was called Concerning Heretics. A heretic is someone who doesn't believe the way that you do. And in that book, Concerning Heretics, Sebastian said it is never, never right to hurt somebody because they disagree with your ideas, which is what happened with the Roman Catholics and it's what happened with John Calvin. And he sent a copy of the book to John Calvin. And what do you think John Calvin thought of the book? Bad, not so good. Exactly, not so good. And so John Calvin contacted the authorities, the important people in Basel, and said you need to arrest this Sebastian guy. You need to put him in jail for what he's written. But the people in Basel really liked Sebastian. They thought he was a good guy, and so they didn't hurt him and they did not put him in the prison. Well, it wasn't all that many years until Sebastian actually died and was kind of worn out from all this controversy. But after he died, he had left us a legacy because that book, Concerning Heretics, was the first book of its kind ever to be published, a defense of religious toleration that we should listen to each other respectfully and we should only try to do what Jesus taught in the Gospels, which is to be kind and good to each other. So that's Sebastian and his story and I hope you learned something from it and we'll sing you out now with our next hymn as you go to your classes. Sebastian's last name was Castelio and he did write the book entitled Concerning Heretics, which was a seminal work in the history of free thought, one of our free thought forebears. And another was Robert Green Ingersoll, an American who lived from 1833 to 1899 and was one of the most popular public speakers of the late 19th century. Every church that has a higher standard than human welfare is dangerous.  True religion is subordination of the passions to the perceptions of the intellect. Religion has not civilized man, man has civilized religion. And religion does not consist in worshiping gods, but in aiding the well-being and the happiness of humankind. No human being knows whether any god exists or not. All that has ever been said or written about our god or the gods of other people has no known fact or foundation. Words without thoughts, clouds without rain. Let us put theology out of religion. Religion and morality, they have nothing in common, and yet there is no religion except the practice of morality. What you call religion, that's merely superstition. Real religion means the doing of justice. Real religion consists in the duties of man to man, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, defending the innocent, and saying what you believe to be true. Now we do not pretend to have circumnavigated everything and to have solved all difficulties, but we do believe that it is better to love men than to fear gods, that it is grander and nobler to think and investigate for yourself than to repeat a creed. We are satisfied that there can be but little liberty on this our earth while men worship a tyrant in heaven. We do not expect to accomplish everything in our day, but we do want to do what we can, and to render all service possible to the holy cause of human freedom. We know that doing away with gods and supernatural persons and power, that is not an end in itself. It's a means to an end, the real end being the happiness of humankind. A religion that does not command the respect of the greatest minds will in a little while incite the mockery of all minds. In the second reading from Walter Littman's book, Preface to Morals, published in 1929, Walter Littman was a leading public intellectual of the early 20th century. Insofar as men have lost their belief in a heavenly king, they have to find some other ground for their moral choices than revelation of his will. It follows necessarily that they must find the tests of righteousness wholly within human experience. The difference between good and evil must be a difference which men themselves recognize and understand. And happiness cannot be the reward of virtue. It must be the intelligible consequence of it. It follows, too, that virtue cannot be commanded. It must be willed out of personal conviction and desire, and such a morality may properly be called humanism, for it is centered not in the superhuman, but in human nature. When men can no longer be theists, they must, if they are civilized, become humanists. Now, it is evident that a morality of humanism presents far greater difficulties than a morality premised on theism. For one thing, it is immediately put to a much severer test. Humanism cannot claim all eternity in which its promises may be fulfilled, unless its wisdom in any sphere of life is demonstrated within a reasonable time in actual human experience. There is nothing to commend it. Teachers of theistic morality, when the audience is devout, have only to fortify the impression that the rules of conduct are certified by God, that invisible king. The ethical problem for the common man is to recognize the well-known credentials of his teachers. In practice, he may merely decide whether the priest or the prince or the elders are what they claim to be, but once he has done that, there are no more radical questions to be asked. But the teachers of humanism, they have no credentials. They have to prove their case by the test of mundane experience. They speak with no authority that can be scrutinized once and for all, and then forever after accepted. They can proclaim no rule of conduct with certainty for they have no inherent personal authority, and never be sure that they are altogether right. And so they cannot command, they cannot truly exhort, they can only inquire, infer and persuade. They have only human insight to guide them, and those to whom they speak must themselves accept in the end the full responsibility for the consequences of any advice that they choose to accept. And yet, with all of its difficulties, there is a morality of humanism that men must turn to when the ancient order of things dissolves, and when they find that they can no longer believe seriously and deeply that they are governed from heaven, there will be anarchy in their souls until, by conscious effort, they find a way to govern themselves. And after those heady readings for our period of meditation, we'll listen to Linda on the Dulce and the Harp. About 20 miles up the road from here, and a few blocks off of U.S. 12 in Sock City, there is a stately wood frame building known to local residents as Park Hall. Constructed in 1884, it is a listed U.S. historical site, and for the last 130 years, it has served as home to the free congregation of Sock County. But the roots of this particular community have even farther back to a group of German immigrants who settled on the banks of the Wisconsin River and established this their spiritual home in 1852. These were men and women known as 40ators. Refugees from Germany and Austria, whose dreams of democracy and religious freedom in their own countries had been dashed by a resurgence of authoritarianism after a heady period of revolution and reform over the years of the 19th century. In the decade leading up to the Civil War, many forward-thinking and progressive Germans settled in the Upper Midwest, bringing with them a unique perspective on religion. At one time, there were as many as 30 German-speaking free congregations in Wisconsin alone. And these pioneers, Jeff Strobel wrote in 1984, were discontented with the traditional doctrine of the established churches. And so they created a fellowship without doctrine or creed, with no minister, no hymns, no authorized version of the Holy Bible. In fact, nothing beyond the realm of scientific fact and rational thought was professed as true. And indeed, in their articles of incorporation, the founders of the Sock City Free Congregation listed among others these principles and objectives. A strict allegiance to reason, which is defamed by the priests of all revealed religion. Advancement of the intellectual and moral freedom of man and of his independence in thinking, deciding, and acting. The rejection of all creeds and dogmas, and the refusal to take a position on questions of God and immortality. The use of ritual and ceremony, as long as they are sensible, beautiful, and voluntary. Leadership in these free congregations was vested not in a minister or in a priest, but in a speaker, a speaker chosen by the congregation following an appraisal of his or her qualifications and, of course, his or her moral character. Sock City's first speaker was a man named Edvard Schrader, who served in this capacity for the first 36 years of its existence. Three dates stand out in the Free Congregation's liturgical calendar. There is a spring festival, which we all look forward to, Founders' Day celebrating the people who had established that congregation initially, and a third celebration, Pains Fest, a celebration of the life and legacy of Thomas Paine. I have reviewed this notable chapter in the history of American free thought for two reasons. First, because that congregation in Sock City is the last of its kind in the United States, the sole remnant of a once-thriving movement. As of 1955, it took on a dual identity, as both unitarian and a free thought institution, a step that probably assured that congregation's survival. And the second reason that I point all of this out is that this congregation represents one side of the American free thought movement, its institutional aspect. Over the years, however, historians and commentators have tended to focus mainly on a small coterie of outspoken, independent-minded individuals who also embraced this label, free thinker, and in so doing, achieved significant notoriety. So let's begin then with those free spirits, the latter that I just referred to. The man often recognized as the founder of American free thought was, in fact, Thomas Paine. He was regarded as a national hero for his revolutionary writing, and most notably for the widely distributed 1776 pamphlet, Common Sense. Thomas Paine fell from grace when his religious views came to light. Two decades after Common Sense, he published The Age of Reason, and in that particular book he delivered a broadside against the major religions in all of their varied forms. And although that book sold briskly, it also made the author a pariah, at least in this country. Paine pulled no punches in that book. Every national church, he wrote, has established itself by pretending some special mission from God, communicated to certain select individuals.  Each of these churches accuses the other of unbelief, and I, for my part, I disbelieve them all. Although Thomas Jefferson, whose own perspective on religion resembled Paine's, continued to befriend him, the man that Teddy Roosevelt, once called a filthy little atheist, died ignominiously at the age of 72. The Quakers vetoed the burial of Paine in their cemetery in New Rochelle, New York, so Paine eventually was quietly interred under a walnut tree on his own farm. Still, Paine's ideas lived on, influencing such 19th century notables as the suffragettes Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Mark Twain, and Robert Green Ingersoll, and America's 16th president, Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln, as is well known, never belonged to a church. Indeed, early in his political career, his opponents called Lincoln an infidel, an accusation that probably contributed to his defeat when he first ran for elective office. As a young man, Lincoln, red with approval, Paine's the age of reason, and his long-time law partner, William Herndon, later insisted that it was Lincoln's arguments that caused him, Herndon, to lose his faith. During his career, Lincoln seldom invoked the deity in his speeches, and when he did, as in the second inaugural address, the references to God were clouded and inconsistent.  Little comfort to folks like that. This period in American history, from the 1840s through the 1880s, was, Jacoby says, the golden age of American free thought. It was the era of Colonel Robert Green Ingersoll, a man known to the public as the great agnostic. A captivating public speaker, Ingersoll was an attorney by training a Civil War hero and a prominent political figure whose endorsement was sought after by candidates for high office, including the office of the presidency. His reputation and his talent assured Ingersoll a curious and oftentimes a receptive audience for his later speeches, in which he debunked religion. In his public lectures, often attended by thousands, Ingersoll would systematically and satirically dissect the propositions contained in the Bible. One of his most popular pieces was simply entitled Some Mistakes of Moses. And in another, The Gods, he argued that throughout history the gods had failed humankind because they were simply a product of human longing and of human projection. Jacoby says that he was the first American to lay out a coherent secular humanist alternative and to present the case for free thought to a broader public. There was no 20th century equivalent of Robert Green Ingersoll, Jacoby says, and there is no 21st century equivalent either. Now that's not to say that Ingersoll wasn't controversial in his own time, wasn't the target of severe criticism and disapproval. Two days after his death, The New York Times accused Ingersoll of depriving people of their religion without pretending to offer them anything in its stead. And thus, The Times concluded, his effect on the public could not have been otherwise than bad. But then there were others, like Wisconsin's own fighting Bob LaFollette, who rose to Ingersoll's defense. This man has helped to shape my own social conscience, LaFollette wrote. And he wants men to think boldly about all things. He demands intellectual and moral courage. He wants men to follow wherever the truth might lead them. He was a rare, bold, heroic figure, LaFollette concluded. And that same boldness defined Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who with Susan B. Anthony and Lucretia Mott led the charge for women's rights during the second half of the 19th century. All three of these women were religious free thinkers and nonconformists, Anthony a Unitarian, Mott a progressive Quaker, and Stanton an independent free spirit. This stay-at-home mother of seven children, Stanton wrote the speeches that the unencumbered Anthony subsequently delivered. It was a powerful collaboration for suffrage until, until the popular Stanton, like Thomas Paine, began to speak out on matters religious. She had let her views be known as early as 1848 at the First Women's Convention in Seneca Falls. But as time passed, she became increasingly outspoken. At the 1885 meeting of the National Women's Suffrage Association, Stanton offered a resolution that condemned all religions indiscriminately for teaching that woman is the afterthought in creation, her sex is a misfortune, marriage a condition of subordination, and maternity a curse. Ten years later, her thoroughly researched and highly controversial women's Bible was published. You may go over the world and you will find that every form of religion which has breathed upon this earth has degraded women, she wrote. As long as ministers stand up and tell us that Christ is the head of the church, and so man is the head of the woman, how are we to break the chains which have held women down throughout the ages? Well, with this publication, the Women's Bible, this woman who had been affectionately dubbed as America's grandmother was now the subject of withering criticism. Stanton was repudiated not only by the devout, but by most of her co-workers in the Suffrage Movement as well. And so in 1897, the Suffrage Association itself passed a resolution disavowing the women's Bible and in effect disavowing the founder of the entire Suffrage Movement. Such is the power of religion. Within a couple of decades of Ingersoll's death and Stanton's fall from grace, the Freethought Movement ceased to be a distinct intellectual force in American life, Susan Jacobi writes. But while it is undoubtedly true that no one of the stature of Stanton or Ingersoll or Paine has risen to carry that banner forward, the cause that these men and women served was then and is now alive and well in institutional form. Organizations as various as the Society for Ethical Culture, the American Humanist Association, the Society of Friends, and very much in the spirit of Stanton and Ingersoll, Madison's Freedom from Religion Foundation, all of these have become Freethought Citadels. But our own movement, Unitarian Universalism, is without question the most prominent organization upholding and practicing the principles of Freethought today. And this has been true not just in recent decades, but for at least 200 years. So take William Bentley. William Bentley served the Unitarian Church in Salem, Massachusetts from 1783 until his death in 1819. He was known for his scholarly, undogmatic preaching and his skepticism regarding the divinity of Christ. And Bentley made such a positive impression on Thomas Jefferson that the latter offered him the presidency of the University of Virginia. Bentley demurred, telling Jefferson that he could not bear to leave his longtime parishioners in Salem. And yet, Susan Jacobi writes, Unitarianism moved religion itself into the camp of Enlightenment rationalism. At the core of a religion of a man like Bentley lay not an unquestioning faith, but a deep reverence for the power of the human mind and the value of human doubt. Now in subsequent decades, our denomination, Unitarianism, lurched toward orthodoxy. And in 1866, a conservative faction of the American Unitarian Association sought to impose a Christian creed on our member churches, which they succeeded in doing for two years. As a result, Ralph Waldo Emerson said, This church is no longer large enough for a man like me. And he and others subsequently left the association and they joined forces to establish a rival free religious association where free thinkers of all strikes would be welcome. On matters of belief, there was little unanimity among the ministers and the lay persons that belonged to this new association, but they were all of one mind in a rejecting dogmatic authority and in maintaining an open mind with respect to basic theological questions such as the existence of God or the likelihood of immortality. One Unitarian minister of that era described the free religious association as a spiritual anti-slavery society. Now although he never joined this particular association, Jenkins Lloyd-Jones, the uncle of Frank Lloyd Wright and an influential minister who helped establish Unitarianism right here in Madison, Jenkins Lloyd-Jones carried the free thought torch throughout his long and illustrious career. While he was serving our church in Jamesville in the 1870s, Jenkins Lloyd-Jones began publishing a small periodical called the Sunday School and it was unique for its time because of its objectivity and its inclusiveness. One issue focused on a topic called Leaves from God's Book of Revelation. Leaves from God's Book of Revelation. And it offered a series of lessons completely unique for its time on the world of nature, lessons drawn not from the Bible but from the life sciences themselves. Another series was called Great Teachers and it introduced readers to the thought of Zoroaster and Buddha and Confucius and Socrates as well as the Hebrew prophets and Jesus of Nazareth. Jenkins Lloyd-Jones once described his ideal Unitarian church in these words. It will be a free Congress of independent souls. It is to lead in the campaign for more truth rather than stand guard over some petty fragment of acquired truth. It will be the thinker's home and over its portals no dogmatic test will be written to ward off honest thought or an earnest seeker. This church must emphasize universal brotherhood. It will stand upon the grand emphasis of the greatest word of our century, the word unity. Thus it will seek out and welcome rich and poor, high and low, unbeliever and believer alike. This 19th century description of a Unitarian church comes close to what our own congregation as well as the one in Sock City stands for today both in theory and in practice. And it is wholly in keeping with our original 1879 Bond of Union which holds before us a spiritual ideal that we still strive to live up to. A movement such as ours is vitally important in today's media-driven world where religious iconoclasm and free thought are either disparaged or completely ignored. A world in which public figures try to outdo each other in proclaiming their orthodoxy. And then at the other end of the ideological spectrum we find vociferous critics of religion like Bill Maher, Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett whose ideological rigidity sometimes seems antithetical to the spirit of genuine free thought that these people represented. And then there are the nearly 20% of Americans today who identify as nuns. They have no religious affiliation. They are undogmatic, doubtful souls who perhaps could benefit from a companionable spiritual home like this one. Young nuns now outnumber young evangelicals by three to two. And in explaining their disaffection many say that they are simply turned off by the intolerance, the homophobia and hypocrisy that they have witnessed in America's established churches. Most of these men and women are not religiously indifferent but they are disillusioned. Are they prospective candidates for membership in a non-cretal free thought community such as ours? As we enter a new year I would encourage you to think about your own friends, family members, colleagues, the nuns that you know who may very well share your own religious values. Invite them to join you at FUS some Saturday evening or Sunday morning for if we don't keep this all-American tradition alive and strong no one else will. Blessed be I don't know. Our offering today will be shared equally with the Madison Area Rehabilitation Center that is doing, I understand, very, very good work with at least 600 of our local citizens with developmental disabilities. Please be generous. We gather each week as a community of memory and of hope and to this time and place we bring our whole and sometimes our broken selves. We carry with us the joys and sorrows of the recent past seeking here a place where they might be received and celebrated and shared. We take a moment now to share the following. Gordon Olson tells us that his father passed away last month at the ripe old age of 90 so that he was buried in western Minnesota but he lived a very long and fruitful and meaningful life. So our condolence go to Gordon and his family. And then a few weeks ago FUS member Cease Bollard asked for our concern and our prayers for a niece of hers who had been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. And then Cease found out just recently that her niece's mother, her sister-in-law was also recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. So it's a very troubled star struck family right now and we wish Cease and her family our best wishes. And then lastly, we were asked to please hold Sarah and Ron in our hearts because they lost their beloved dog Quincy on New Year's Day two days ago. And as someone who has an almost 16 year old dog I can certainly appreciate the gravity of that loss as well. And for any joys and sorrows that have remained unarticulated in our midst, we hold those with equal concern in our hearts. Let us join together for just a moment or two of silent meditation in the spirit of empathy and hope. And so may our coming together for this brief time today may it serve to lighten our burdens and expand our joys. And so may our closing hymn, if you will rise and bite your spirit once more, is number 113 Where is our Holy Church? Going forth from here may we find the courage to live our faith, to speak our truth and to strive together for a world where freedom abounds peace prevails and justice is done. May we know the fullness of love without fear and security without oppression. May we hold one another in the deep and tender places of compassion and know that the divine spark within makes soul mates of us all. Blessed be an Amen. Please be seated for the postlude.


Everybody for us to your ripping 2022 legacy football hobby six box number 35 random team style you can always find these results right here late in sports cards calm I'll drop a link and chat for you again once I drop these Thanks for joining everybody and good luck Here's that link one more time for you. I'm gonna sit down to three now. Wow. I'm just feeling quick guys just the Falcons on the On the next origins here Sorry guys Okay, smoke you click on the link you can find it there Josh CA had the Ravens and the Falcons and then Joshua CR had the Saints Chase young the two ninety nine guys Falcons on sale in the next break. Let's get it filled up leek Willis Under the lights Garrett Wilson jets rookie number to 100 brisker dots and 44 of one ninety nine Aiden Hutchinson rookie dual jersey auto lions You go lions silver rookie Carl Aftish chiefs Hey to 150 rookie Derek singly jr. Rookie Sextons Hutchinson O'Jabbo Kyle Hamilton chrome rookie Olava Skymore 250 points random to all at the end under the lights mini breeze hall numbered to 125 for the jets Kenny picket rookie with a mini Justin Jefferson for the Vikings numbered to 50 It's one ninety nine legends is Shannon sharp Broncos dare to tear Cowboys Tony Romo, there you go cowboys Number 25 255 Go cowboys on the dare to tear that were Sean's card it would would already be tear we're already be tore My home is number to one ninety nine chiefs Your Jefferson's catch size reasons was insane Jordan Davis rookie chrome. Let's go magic Leads cut eight now What are we doing here? Figure it out. Nice move fronds. It's all foul Thornton strong. We got many down and cook Vikings numbered to 50 Yeah, you can you can hit you can hear pretty cool stuff in there John There it was and you can see videos of them being open online Jim Kelly to one ninety nine bills one two twenty one to two forty nine rookie dual Jersey Auto Kenneth Walker the third Seahawks nice hit Seahawks Silver under the lights Justin Jefferson Vikings one forty nine and two ninety nine That's Dan founts chargers Under the lights Kyler Murray chrome points card coming away To 50 again, it's two points cards in two boxes now. Hopefully that's the last we see at the points Orange Kobe Bryant rookie Seattle Number 30 of 149 sauce Gardner Jameson Williams mini Justin Fields bears Number two 125 in the scorching 82 degrees John Be careful, buddy Jalen hurts to 150 Eagles make sure you stay hydrated Sunscreen What is this? What is this John Elway lore? Nice one there Bronco short prayer. I think that might be a case hit There you go. Denver. That's pretty cool. No numbered God James Robinson to 100 Jags Drake London rookie Falcons Skymore rookie mini for the Chiefs numbered to 75 Buccaneers yellow Tom Brady 121 of 150 guys on the most games in Germany in NFL history Picking a dunk Johan Dotson rookie mini not rookie, but a rookie to 100 for the commander is not many. I mean Focus on not getting sick. Wow a destiny Sam howl rookie commanders Short print non-numbered back-to-back boxes with a short print Legends Ricky Williams to 299 Rookie James and Williams Lions James cook Brian Robbins in junior guys Falcons on sale for the next break was let's get it filled up The Alkins got Carl Laftis Kenny Pickett. Hey Carson strong mini for the Eagles to 125 Chasing some Desmond Ritter and some Drake London got Mack Jones to 299 Patriots Got a Khalil Shakir rookie Jersey Otto Broncos not Broncos. Sorry. He plays for the Boys Day Broncos He is a bill 90 to a 99 bills. Let's see.  That's cool, too Silver rookie Desmond Ritter for the Falcons That growl Danny Gray, we've got Panthers number to 199 DJ Moore under the lights Sam howl Lave we've got Alan Fannica 46 of 100 on the Jersey Otto Steelers There we go Nope, no coupon today. It's Falcon sold our next break sold out guys Well, we got some break spots pretty good prices Plus for hard one have a coupon because it's black Friday is this next week. So We can today actually 21 out of 50 Peyton Manning What a colts Look on the internet for some black Friday card deals, you know, I'm saying Kenny Pickett James Williams rookie. Do you see Target is doing like? like They're like blasters and stuff Like by when you go in half off on black Friday or something like that Yeah, for certain things I just aren't selling I'm guessing Which makes sense Way to move it but not like take an L, you know, right Drake London rookie mini 250 229 Steelers Jerome Betis Really it's interesting Yeah 299 Sam howl rookie dual Jersey Otto commanders nice break for the commanders Nice pre-sated John. Good luck. Why do we got to get you a nice Drake London? That corral Danny Gray silver Mac Jones So John when you're gonna go see those the Maui invitation Are you gonna do you get to go to certain games or just go to like the whole thing in Hutchinson? Oh job. Oh, like like a single day Lave we've got James cook rookie to 199 bills Spiller Jordan Davis Jonathan Taylor. Oh, let's see if they take it's gotcha. Oh, you want to Kyle Hamilton, okay? Evan Neil Giants rookie Silverado mini rookie Jalen Tolbert Cowboys blue is numbered to 20 there you go Dallas 10 to 20. Yeah, I actually went to the NCAA tournament. They Was the first round they had it they had some of the games here in Orlando one year To 150 rookie Jermaine Johnson the second Jets.  She's just doing everything I've seen numbers on twice actually They actually are good Got Evan Neil the 100 Giants See about a festival and I saw them The arena for some reason Not a good Cooper cup Kenny pick it again It seems like the best preseason tournament. I know the old spice classic is in Orlando every year Viral to sports first college basketball It's pretty decent Trevor Lawrence Jags number 275 Texans brand and cooks number to 299 and got numbered to 50 Drake London rookie auto Falcons No, sorry to 60. There you go Falcons nice London So both of the PYT origins are sold out now guys origins tiered is coming up in a bit That's got eight to go halfway full Five to go on gold standard divisions as well And then if you got just three to go on eminence now Silver rookie a son Haskins Titans kind of walker taxon Hill Zagatans UCLA Geez man That is stacked David Bell Bob Lely Cowboys numbered to 125 Derek Stingley rookie Chrome Texans Trey McBride to 249 rookie Jersey Auto Cardinals Got Damian Harris Patriots silver mini non-numbered to 150 Christian Watson or no Aaron Rodgers Packers Yellow color match Wilson Thornton Romeo Dobbs rookie for the Packers to 100 All right one more box and we have points random. Oh, I shine. I'll let you tell him yourself Next time you see him So you can bring him to good news. That's awesome, man. Why'd you do that? Why'd you get him something? Damian Harris auto the 25 Patriots, I'm just kidding. You broke our equipment today. Yeah, nice things. It's true That was actually what the meeting was about before David Buster's Chase Clay pulled 125 Steelers To 100 is Carson Palmer Bengals By Sam a spider-man hat. Yeah, a spider-man half her same will be great Love it John. You have to do that man. We appreciate it though. Now.  We've got dare to tear Josh Allen to 65 bills All right, what if someone graded a dare to tear house? How would you be?  That must have cost a fortune a ship. It sounds heavy Especially from Hawaii rookie to 299 Derek Stingley Texans I'm tearing it in my car and even the person that was here.   I'm just saying like that's that's what happens Blue Mini rookie to 20 Bailey zappy 720 Of course if I ever get one of the break I'm tearing it Chiefs Travis Kelsie to 399 or 299 La va to 249 sky more rookie Jersey auto chiefs Silver cave on the middle Giants. The last time I felt truly good was when I had that coffee on Monday I enjoyed that coffee quite a bit So as the way that's why I used to drink at work Chug it when I'm dying. That's all I used to do. I would never drink the cure I got always bring some like cold brew just so I was ready to pour to 199 Tyler Bady Ravens rookie Whole brew is so much better on my Can he pick it rookie Send help immediately If not so there South Florida folk, let me tell you As a person from Central Florida, let me tell you All right to 250 points courage random to all one and six seven times The two names up top are gonna get the points one two three four five six and seven Kirk E and Jonathan Q Kirk E Jonathan Q Do a quick recap now All right, so we had two dare to tears at Josh Allen. Well, the other one is right there at Tony Romo These two short printers Sam Howell commanders destiny and Lord John L. Way Broncos really good break Skymore chiefs Damian Harris Patriots rest her autos Tremac Bride Cardinals Drake London Falcons Evan Neal Giants Sam Howell commanders Alan Fannick of Steelers Cleal Shakir bills Kenneth Walker the third Seahawks and Aidan Hutchinson Lions there we go. Thanks everybody origins coming up