Join us for worship on
Sunday, April 14 at
9 and 11 a.m.
"Gratitude Sunday"
Worship Leader:
Rev. Susan Milnor, Interim Senior Minister
Worship Associate:
Judy Brook
|
Need Spiritual Support?
If you think you may need spiritual support for anything that touches a tender spot in your spirit, please call our
Spiritual Support Line
at (
802) 870-0447
.
|
|
Visit the publication
archives on our website!
|
|
|
|
Join Us for Worship This Sunday!
|
|
Sunday, April 7 at 9 and 11 a.m.
Worship Leader:
Rev. Susan Milnor, Interim Senior Minister
Worship Associate: Kristin Kany
"Letting the Light In"
All of us carry hurts and wounds with us. Sometimes, in spite of the challenge, we grow stronger or deeper in the wake of them. That's very different from saying they are for the best, but, rather, more like insisting we can be strong and still whole in spite of them. Our service will include Leonard Cohen's "Anthem" and "Hallelujah," one sung as a solo and one by the Adult Choir.
|
|
From Rev. Susan: Gratitude Sunday
|
|
Dear Members and Friends,
I need your help.
On April 14, we bring the official part of our Stewardship Campaign to a close with a "Gratitude Service" on Sunday morning. Our service will include a ceremony appreciating our Family Ministry teachers and helpers, a sermon incorporating your words, and the offering of an original song by our own Kira Lawson. We are gathering, yes, to thank you for your gifts to the stewardship campaign, but even more for all of us to express our appreciation for the gifts we find in our life together at First UU Society.
PLEASE CONTRIBUTE TO THE APRIL 14 SERMON
.
Between today and Thursday, April 11, send me a sentence or two or three expressing your appreciation or gratitude for something you have found in this congregation. Think or even meditate on it for a while: "What am I grateful for here at FUUSB?" If you think other people will offer the same thing, perhaps there's something unexpected you want to lift up. Send your thoughts to me at
[email protected]
with the subject line: GRATITUDES. I will be grateful for your offerings.
If you haven't pledged yet, please do so by the 14th or plan to turn in your card that morning. Now is the time.
Blessings,
Rev. Susan Milnor, Interim Senior Minister
|
Stewardship Update!
|
|
 Nancy Knox
Our campaign is doing well after the first two weeks - two more weeks to go, ending on April 14th! Slightly less than half of you have pledged, so please pledge soon, if you haven't. We'll have a raffle in mid-April, so get your pledge in now to be included. We will have raffle prizes at the end of the campaign, so get your pledge in today (you can pledge online at
uusociety.org/donate/stewardship/
)!
We have more stories to share! Here's one from Kristin Kany:
 I just love this place. Immediately upon walking through the doors of FUUSB, I felt a deep sense of "home" and intuitively I understood that, for me, becoming a member was non-negotiable. Our congregation's mission reflects all that is good in the world, an avenue to express my core values of honoring all on our dear Earth. I'm incredibly grateful for our spiritual home on so many levels. Contributing financially each month enables me to ensure our vision can be enacted to help make this world, our state, our community a better place. I truly am proud that we strive to make a meaningful difference.
|
| Register Now: Transgender Inclusion in Congregations Program |
|
Registration is now open for the "Transgender Inclusion in Congregations" program. As previously announced in The Steeple and in worship services earlier this year, this program is being offered at First UU as a way of deepening our welcoming to all. The program begins with discussion groups in mid/late-April with a final workshop in early May.
This program is offered by Transforming Hearts Collective, a trans-led organization working to create a world where people genuinely care for each other. The program will be composed of two group discussions and one half-day workshop. The group discussions will begin with participants completing two video lectures at home and then gathering together in small groups on a Sunday afternoon or a Tuesday evening to review reflection questions, and resources that take the conversation deeper. Participants can choose one of two discussion times to attend (Sunday or Tuesday). These sessions would be led by FUUSB facilitators. The program will culminate in a half-day workshop at FUUSB led by Zr. Alex Kapitan from Transforming Hearts Collective.
Click
here to register and to view the specific dates of the program. Registration will remain open through April 5.
In faith,
Rev. Susan & Rev. Andrée
Trans 101 Resources:
Some of you have also asked about resources helping to educate you around trans and gender-inclusive language. We have curated a list of short videos including one featuring Rev. Andrée and FUUSB member and OWL Instructor, Amelia Schlossberg, discussing gender and pronouns. You can access those videos
here.
|
April Game Night
|
|
 Erika Reif, Family Ministry Assistant
Come join UU families and friends for another fun-filled Game Night, April 6!
We will have some games at the ready and you are welcome to bring a favorite, as well. And because any gathering is more fun with food, we're having a potluck too, so bring a dish to share (skip the plates and utensils-we've got that covered!)
Come for a little bit or the whole time; bring all your ages (and your inner child, too) and play an old favorite or learn a new game. (10-handed solitaire, anyone?) We look forward to having you join us!
We'll have childcare available in the nursery for the littlest, with some kids' games available if they choose.
Mark your calendar: Saturday, April 6 from 5:30-8 p.m. in the Community Room. (Please note: We are starting at 5:30 this time instead of 5 to accommodate other events.)
|
Family Ministry Volunteer Opportunities
|
|
Broaden Your Horizons! - Explore Volunteer Opportunities in Family Ministry.
Family Chapel:
Every first Sunday of the month, parents, other adults, youth and children gather in the Community Room for 15 minutes of multi-generational worship and story. Children light the chalice, ring the chime, learn the words to songs and worship rituals. Children participate in "joys and sorrows" as well as read the opening words, the closing words, or a prayer. We strive to have an interactive worship time that connects with the theme of the worship service in the Sanctuary or perhaps a justice event or holiday that is happening.
If you're interested in leading multi-generational worship and enjoy supporting the leadership of children and youth, come and check out Family Chapel on April 7 or May 5
in the Community Room at 9 or 11 a.m. There will be a short introduction and training for volunteers on May 5th immediately after the 11:00 Chapel service.
Family Game Night and Potluck:
On the f
irst Saturday of every month,
children, youth, and adults of all ages gather in the Community Room to have a potluck dinner and play games! Have you played solitaire with 8 people? Come and join us; it's a blast! Up for some ping pong, one on one, or round robin?
We're looking for volunteers who will take on organizing this monthly event! It's pretty simple: just making sure the word gets out, with posters and eNews, that plates, silverware, cups, salt and pepper are out on the buffet table on the night itself, and reminding fellow game-players to pitch in to put away games and load the dishwasher when it's time to go.
|
Pastime with Good Company - A Concert by the Champlain Consort
|
|
 Woody Fulton
April 7, 2019, 3:00 p.m.
First Unitarian Universalist Society of Burlington
The Champlain Consort performs Medieval, Renaissance, and Elizabethan music on period instruments. The members of the Consort perform on recorders, sackbuts
(Renaissance trombones), viola da gamba, cornetto, capped reeds, and percussion, combining different types of instruments in "broken consort" tradition to recreate the distinctive sound of English and European Medieval and Renaissance music.
"
Pastime with Good Company" is a program of medieval and Renaissance music on the themes of spring, love, and Easter. It features 16th-century wedding pavanes, several versions of the ancient German Easter hymn "Christ ist erstanden" (Christ is risen), and a variety of songs and instrumental works for broken consort.
Suggested $10 donation. You will enjoy this concert (two UU members are part of the group) and learn some interesting things!
|
From the Stewardship Team and the Yuuth Group
|
|
 Kim Hier
Join us on April 14, "Gratitude Sunday," when the Yuuth Group in partnership with the Stewardship Team will be offering a FREE pancake breakfast after the 9:00 and 11:00 services in the Community Room.
Enjoy fresh hot pancakes and the company of friends, while we express our gratitude for our wonderful UU community! Please consider a donation to the Yuuth Group Service Trip Fund.
|
| Sunday Service Schedule Update |
|
On
Sunday, May 19
, we will begin our
one-service
summer schedule. Join us for worship at
10 a.m.
on
Sundays!
|
UUA General Assembly!
|
|
 Christina Fulton, Director of Operations and Finance
This year UUA General Assembly (GA) is going to be in Spokane, WA from June 19-23. This year's GA theme is "The Power of We."
"In a time of great challenge and heartbreak in our world, what does our faith demand from us? At this year's General Assembly we will explore the power, possibility, purpose, struggle and joy of finding the path forward together as Unitarian Universalists. Attendees will leave inspired, with the tools needed to carry on the work into their own congregations and communities. Join us as we work for collective liberation inside and outside our faith."
FUUSB has a small amount budgeted to help pay the registration fee of members attending GA. If you are interested, please contact Christina at
[email protected]
and let her know that you would like to be considered for a GA Scholarship. The deadline for FUUSB scholarships is April 22, 2019. Registration fees go up on May 1st, so it pays to register early!
FUUSB has nine delegates for this year's GA. If you'd like more information on the responsibilities of being a delegate, you can find that information here:
If you are planning to attend GA and would like to be a delegate, please contact Christina at
[email protected].
At this point we know that Rev.
Andrée, Christina and Woody Fulton are all planning to attend GA. If you are planning to attend, please let Christina know. We try to have a gathering of attendees in early June.
|
| UUA New England Region Workshop: Walking the Talk of Covenant |
|
We frequently talk about Unitarian Universalism as a
covenantal
tradition, as opposed to
sacramental
or
creedal
, but what does that mean exactly? Most congregations have written covenants and many recite their covenants at weekly services.
Living
the covenant, however, is more than knowing or saying words. It assumes embodied practices that knit us to each other and to something larger than ourselves.
This workshop invites your team into a deeper awareness of the practice of covenant as part of Spiritual Leadership.
Saturday, April 27 from 9 am-2:00 pm
Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Upper Valley, Norwich, VT
Saturday, May 11 from 9 am-2:00 pm
Harvard Unitarian Universalist Church, MA
|
|
| |
|
