The first Sunday of each month, families with children, together with Faith Development teachers, and anyone else who would like, are invited to begin the morning in the Community Room on the lower level with Family Chapel.

The themes of Family Chapel reflect the themes used in the sanctuary, and in adult Theme Circles. Children are encouraged to lead some portions of the chapel service: lighting the chalice, striking the chime, reading, singing, and reflecting.

This alternative start to Sunday worship will last about 15 minutes, after which parents will head up to the sanctuary to join the larger worship service and kids will begin their classes or other scheduled activities.

It is hard to believe that we changed our database software from Church Windows to ACS over five years ago! That change was a major improvement for our Society, and enabled members to create their own Access ACS accounts to have access to their information in the database. Well time marches on, the tech world keeps changing, and we try to keep up. 

I am very excited to announce to you all that FUUSB will once again be updating our database software! Beginning in late November, we will be moving to a system called Realm. Realm is another product from ACS Technologies (the folks that brought us Access ACS). Realm is a wonderful product that many UU congregations have been using successfully. Realm will benefit the Society by being much more user-friendly and allowing everyone (staff, leadership, volunteers, members) to take advantage of all it has to offer.  Click here to learn more about Realm.  

I look forward to sharing more about Realm in the weeks to come, but for now the important thing to know is that we will begin the conversion process by shutting down our current ACS database. Therefore, we ask that those of you using Access ACS refrain from entering any new information from November 8 - November 18. During this time ACS Technologies will be converting all our data. We will not be able to cut checks during this time, so please plan ahead.  

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Christina at  [email protected].

Join Us for Good Food, Friendship and Music at the Saturday, November 9 FUUSB Potluck and Coffeehouse

 

What?  Our Monthly Sanctuary City Potluck and Coffeehouse

Who?  Everyone! Friends and family welcome

Where?  The Parlors, First UU Society of Burlington

When?  Saturday, November 9, 6-8:30 p.m.

We welcome all ages and skill levels to sing a song, play an instrument, read some poetry, tell a story... or you can just listen. It's a great way to share food, fellowship and fun, and we would love to have you join us.

Questions?  Herb Schroeder:  [email protected]   or Brian Haas: [email protected]

Announcing an opportunity to grow our connections within our congregation and with the larger UU community though Spiritual Leadership. This conference, led by the New England Region UUA Staff Team, will be held in Montpelier, VT on November 16 at the Unitarian Church of Montpelier. 

This program is designed for religious professionals and lay people to build collective practice for collective action. Because shifts in congregational practice require sustained group effort, we have been strongly encouraged to attend this workshop with a team of five or more. Some members of our board of trustees will be participating in the event. We would like to have several other members join us for the one-day conference. Anyone interested, please contact Dan House, President of the Board of Trustees at [email protected]. For more information please click here.

   

The energy around the Autumn Auction is building. We have many exciting services and events to bid on. And we still have time for more contributions. Please submit your events or services for the auction as soon as possible either on Sunday after the service or via the auction website: TogetherAuction.com/fuusb. You can also see on the website what services and events have been offered by others. Bidding for many items begins at only $5.   

On Sunday, November 17, following the regular Sunday service, we invite everyone to a free soup lunch provided by the 4 th through 7 th graders, entertainment, and a free raffle for all regardless of your participation in the auction. All bidding on auction services and events will take place on the 17 th . If you cannot make it to the auction, someone else can bid for you. We will compile a list of all auction winners so that you know what you have won before you leave. Please plan to pay for your winning bids on the 17 th (cash, check, or credit card).

If you have any questions, please contact [email protected].

Each year as election time rolls around, it is important to remind ourselves that as a religious organization, we must be careful. There are rules we must follow, and violation of these rules could result in the IRS suspending our non-profit status.  

In general, these are the main rules that we must follow:

• We may not advocate for or against specific candidates.
• We can advocate and educate on specific issues.
• We can hold voter registration drives and work in those efforts.
• We can work in voter turnout efforts.

Cathedral Square Assisted Living Center residents appreciated our efforts to spread Halloween/Harvest cheer last Sunday! We received this thank you from Jessica Davitt, the Activities Coordinator:

 

"The residents were very happy you and the children were able to make it after all. Staff said you came at the end of Lunch so you saw more people than had it been earlier. Our ladies would like to thank you for the flowers. Some of them have attached them to their walkers and are embracing the holiday spirit. Thank you for your visit. We look forward to seeing you again maybe in December for some singing??"