Heaps of gratitude to everyone who attended the FunRaiser Saturday evening. We raised more than $12,000. which helps support everything that you experience at FUUSB !

Thanks to everyone who donated so generously of their time, talent, and hospitality in offering the many choices available for purchase.

And a special thank-you to the generous, hardworking auction committee, auctioneers, staff, and "angels" ( those who spent the day of the event setting up, running, and restoring the site). Blessings.

 

Many of you joined us on April 30 for a special service and discussion focused on institutional racism and white supremacy. We were one of over 680 UU congregations who participated in this teach-in the last few weeks at the call of the Black Lives of UU (BLUU) organizing collective. Our service, co-organized by our worship team and our Racial Justice Task Force, explored what is meant by white supremacy, how it relates to the recent events at the UUA, and what our UU history teaches us about this moment. We reflected on what this all means for us at FUUSB and how we move forward from here in solidarity with UU siblings of color.

For those who missed the service or who are looking to continue to explore and reflect on this ongoing conversation, we are sharing the readings and many of the sources that we cited throughout the service. We are also including the recording to the two reflections offered by Andre Mol and Zoe Hart.

We continue to welcome any questions or wonderings about the ongoing happenings in our larger UU world and our teach-in. Please reach out to Zoe ( zoe@hartwood4.net), Andre ( andre@uusociety.org), or Rev. Mara ( revmara@uusociety.org) to discuss.

The Invisibility of Whiteness by james a. powell
https://www.uua.org/worship/words/quote/invisibility-whiteness

Visitors in the Struggle for Racial Justice by Aisha Ansano
http://www.uua.org/worship/words/reading/visitors-struggle-racial-justice

Brave Little State: Why is Vermont So Overwhelmingly White?
http://digital.vpr.net/post/why-vermont-so-overwhelmingly-white

The Dream of White Innocence by Rev William Sinkford
http://www.uuworld.org/articles/dream-white-innocence

The UUA Meets Black Power - BAC vs. BAWA
http://www.uuworld.org/articles/the-uua-meets-black-power

 

This week you should have received a letter from Rev. Mara and Christina announcing the remaining vision for Staffing our Future. We hope you've had a chance to read the letter and process the information, and that you're as excited about this vision as we are. Although the letter was long, we were unable to give you all the details of the plan and the reasons for our decisions. We're sure that you must have lots of questions and we want to answer them all. Therefore we've planned to have four Cottage Meetings over the next few weeks. The first Cottage Meeting will be on Sunday, May 14 at 12:30 in the Susan B. Anthony Room. During this meeting we will go over the staffing plan and answer any questions you may have about that. In the remaining three Cottage Meetings we will go over the staffing plan and the funding plan, and of course will answer your questions. We're happy to also have a Board member or two available to remind us about our governance structure and how that structure plays out in staffing decisions.

Cottage Meetings:

Sunday, May 14 @ 12:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 20 @ 9:00 a.m.
Sunday, May 21 @ 12:30 p.m.
Tuesday, May 30 @ 5:30 p.m.

We truly hope you'll be able to attend one of the Cottage Meetings. However, if you are unable to attend and you have questions, please contact Rev. Mara or Christina. We're happy to answer your questions anytime.

 

This Sunday, we are living our values and continuing our racial justice work by supporting the National Mama's Bailout Day initiative through our Loose Plate Collection. To learn more, check out:

https://www.thenation.com/article/this-mothers-day-black-lives-matter-activists-will-give-more-than-30-women-their-freedom/

https://medium.com/@BlackLivesUU/black-lives-of-uu-issues-national-mamas-bail-out-day-challenge-fda4c2b9f033

 

Looking for volunteers to transport me to church in my wheelchair accessible van. Will attend either service and the 10 am ones in summer as well. I live on Maple Street in Burlington. Seeking a group of people so one person doesn't do it all the time. Families/couples welcome. Even if I only get to go once a month, I'd be so grateful!  jillm@gmail.com

 

Join us after the service in the community room for these must-see, social-justice oriented films, a simple vegan lunch, and conversation! Free, bring the whole family (see age guidelines and check Commonsense media), invite friends!

Sunday, May 21 @ 12:30: "Where to Invade Next". To discover what we can learn from other countries, Michael Moore playfully "invades" them to see what they have to offer re: prison reform, school lunch, work policies, gender discrimination, and more. Hilarious and moving, the BBC called it a "guerilla act of humanity." (Age 15 and up, younger for politically aware teens)

Thank you to everyone for your continued generosity and kindness to our families in need of support.  Please contact either me or Martha Molpus if you know of any other families we can assist.   Our requests continue for the following two families:

Erica, Missa, and Mira: https://www.mealtrain.com/trains/qvmnd8

Last weekend the Healthy Congregation Team (HCT) sponsored 9 members of our congregation to attend a facilitator training for a Restorative Circle conflict resolution process. The decision to seek out an effective, inclusive, respectful process to deal with conflict was a long time in the making and originally was sparked by the lack of a resource available to the congregation during the difficult transition to a new minister.

A Restorative Circle is a community process for supporting those in conflict. It brings together the three parties to a conflict - those who have acted, those directly impacted and the wider community - within an intentional systemic context, to dialogue as equals. Participants invite each other and attend voluntarily. The dialogue process used is shared openly with all participants, and guided by a trained community member. The process ends when actions have been found that bring mutual benefit.

Restorative Circles are facilitated in 3 stages designed to identity the key factors in the conflict, reach agreements on next steps, and evaluate the results. As a circle form, they invite shared power, mutual understanding, self-responsibility and effective action.*

The HCT and the Restorative Circle facilitation group are very excited about this valuable resource and feel confident the process will be helpful as our congregation continues to grow and evolve new covenantal procedures, processes and roles. Stay tuned for more information about Restorative Circles at the FUUSB soon! 

Sarah Forbes, Healthy Congregation Team member
(*excerpted from restorativecircles.org)

 

Please join us for the Love and Justice weekly vigil on Wednesday, May 17th from 5:15pm to 5:45pm in front of the meetinghouse. This week's theme will be climate justice. Come and stand for our "blue boat home".

 

Listening skills are needed at this time to help transform our nation from divided to united. We would like to develop listening skills that so we can work to be understood and to find common ground. That is the power of listening!! Come join members of the Healthy Congregation team on Sunday 5/14, between services at 10:20 to practice listening with others in our congregation.

 

Expecting you'll be an RE Steward next year, but not sure specifically how?

Awesome! That's fine! (It's my job to think about September, not yours!)

I just want to know who's interested, and if you have any preferences or limitations, that's helpful too. The best ways to communicate this are: 1) via the mini-forms on the "I'd Like to Help Grow Souls" bulletin board displays found both outside the main office and in the Community Room; OR via the online version of the same form you can complete HERE.

I so appreciate the couple minutes it will take you to complete the form. It jumpstarts the conversation I'll have with many of you anyways!

With more gratitude than I can express,

Martha

 

Join us at the Labyrinth after the service May 14th, weather permitting.  After both services, the flags will be out around the labyrinth and someone from the Labyrinth Ministry will be there to answer questions and guide you on your walk. Labyrinth Sundays will be on the second Sunday of the month into the fall.

We also welcome anyone who would like to join the Labyrinth Ministry or help us with maintenance over the summer. The maintenance mostly entails periodic meditative weeding. Contact Carol MacDonald for more information. carol@carolmacdonald.com or 802-862-9037.

 

Come and celebrate after the Annual Meeting! It will be a lovely, sunny day and we will gather on the lawn for yummy food, sidewalk chalk, good conversation, labyrinth exploration...Please sign up to bring your favorite sandwiches or other goodies. See you then!!