Rev. Patricia Hart, with Jon Sallée and Jud Lawrie, Chair of FUUSB’s Climate Justice Team
"Climate Crisis, Spiritual Call"
Many of us found a first, last, or most sustaining spiritual connection through a love of nature. At this crucial moment in time, nature needs our attention, our voices, and our action as much as our love. How are you called to respond to the climate crisis, as an individual? How are we called, as a Society, to make real our love for the Earth which sustains all life, including our own?
Erika Reif, Director of Lifespan Faith Development
Tonight, Thursday, April 15, 7:30-8:30 p.m.
Join famed host, performer and our own treasurer, Kameron McConnell, leading us in game-show style games somewhat tailored to our FUUSB audience - with UU History Jeopardy, a Where’s Bernie photo challenge (think Where’s Waldo but with Bernie and his mittens), and more! Games will not require an additional device, just sign into Zoom and we’ll do the rest. Come as a family and play as a team, or come as an individual on your own screen. No sign-up required, just show up and have fun! Zoom link for Game Night
New Ways to Share Needs and Stay Connected
Linda Graves, Pastoral Care Associates Team Co-Chair
At First UU Society the ministerial staff and two teams, the Care Network (practical needs) and Pastoral Care Associates Team (emotional and/or spiritual concerns), work to provide support to those in our congregation who might have specific needs. During the last year we have not received the same number of referrals as we generally have in the past, perhaps because we have not seen each other in person in a long, long time. Still, a third team called Member Care (consisting of leaders of all the groups just mentioned), continues to meet monthly to discuss unspoken needs of some congregants we might be concerned about and to think of ways we might help.
To aid in this effort, there is a new Member Care Referral Form which will be available each week in the eNews as well as on the website, which you can find here. You can refer yourself or someone whose permission you have obtained, and you will be asked for contact information and a brief description of the need. You can also call the church at 862-5630, ext. 2000 and leave a voice message regarding a pastoral concern; just listen for the prompt and someone will return your call.
For more information, please read about this effort in the most recent edition of The Steeple.
Share the Plate
Christina Fulton, Director of Operations & Finance
Our congregation continues to support local organizations through the Share the Plate program. Some people are giving on Sunday morning or when they watch the service online, others have made Share the Plate part of their automatic monthly gift to the Society. However you are giving, it's wonderful and it's helping out lots of people.
In March we began our new Share the Plate Program which allows each Justice Team in the Society to choose one or two organizations to receive a contribution. In March the Immigration Justice Team chose to make the contribution to CASAN (Chittenden Asylum Seekers Assistance Network). We collected a total of $2,116 in the month of March and will contribute half of that, or $1,058, to CASAN.
The Love & Justice team is pleased to announce that we are resuming our regular Wednesday Love & Justice vigils. Please join us in front of the Meeting House any Wednesday from 5:15 to 5:45 p.m. We will vigil on the theme of racial justice throughout the remainder of the Derek Chauvin trial. You can bring your own sign or we have plenty to share. We'll be masked and six feet apart and showing up together on the side of love.
Spring Vespers Series - “Unfurling with Spring”
Rev. David Ruffin, Consulting Minister
Spring Vespers - Wednesdays at 6 p.m.
Spring this year, perhaps more than ever, is a dance of unfurling - each of us finding our own pace for participation in the emergence, releasing ourselves in some ways and bracing ourselves in others. After all we've been through, and are still in the midst of, how do we open our hearts to the vaccinated "new leaf" emerging with the new leaves...?
Vespers is back with a Spring series where you're invited to join others in living such questions and finding ways of "unfurling," together. Vespers services are an opportunity to take a mid-week pause, share in music and meditative silence, poetry and presence, gratitude and grief, breath and blessings. Though we can’t yet meet in person, we can still be together, sharing these gifts of renewal. Come as you are. All are welcome. Join us at 6 p.m. Wednesdays on Zoom at zoom.us/j/91243888402.
Do the rhythms and wonder of nature nourish your spirit? Are you interested in Earth-centered spiritual practices? Do you celebrate the wheel of the year? Do the cycles of the moon, sun, and stars hold special meaning for you?
As we look toward the return to a new "normal" church year ahead, some of us are beginning conversations about forming an interest group for Earth-centered and/or Pagan-identifying folks here at FUUSB. If you would be interested in joining with others who share this deep connection with nature, please consider emailing [email protected]. We'd love to include you in the conversation.
Climate Justice Team Event: Solar Panels
Solar panels capture the power of the sun to power your home. How do they do it? How do they work? Are all Solar Panels the same? And how much do they cost? How can I afford to get them? Please come to a one-hour Zoom session on Wednesday, April 21 at 7 p.m. to learn more about Solar Panels from Chip Patullo, Certified Energy Manager.
Sign up with Linda Cooper, [email protected] or text 922-7554. See you there.
For audio only call: (929) 205-6099 (meeting ID: 955 1166 4696, passcode: 922001).
Climate Crisis Workshop - April 25
Jud Lawrie, Climate Justice Team Chair
“The Climate Crisis: What Can We Do?"
The climate crisis has become urgent. What can we do that makes a difference? We’ll hear 350.org cofounder Bill McKibben’s thoughts on the subject (via video), then open it up for discussion.
In celebration of Earth Day, SunCommon is hosting a FREE screening of five favorite Climate Action Film Festival films. The approximately 90-minute program can be viewed online for free from Thursday, April 22 to Sunday, April 25. Visit ClimateActionFilmFestival.com on Earth Day weekend to watch!
Virtual Egg Hunt Continues for All!
Margo Whitcomb, Faith Development Assistant
FUUSB participates with numerous other UU congregations across the globe in a month-long Virtual Easter Egg Hunt. The event is 24/7, remaining active throughout the month. Spend April exploring the UU net! (Did you know a UU actually invented the World Wide Web?) Here is the link to get started: UU Virtual Egg Hunt
Reminder for FUUSB Ministry Team Leaders
Mary Williams, Society Administrator
Are you a ministry team leader? In case you missed this week's Realm email, here is a quick reminder!
It's that time of year again, when ministry teams share brief reports which will be compiled in the FUUSB Annual Report. Please note that these reports (5-7 sentences) are due on May 3 (to [email protected]). Please check out the updated 2021 Annual Report Guidelines (also available in the MAG group in Realm), and let me know if you have any questions. Thank you!
Virtual Action on Homelessness Tonight
VIA's Statewide Affordable Housing/Homelessness Organizing Committee has been hard at work, researching ways that our precariously housed neighbors, who were quickly housed to protect them from COVID-19, can stay in safe, decent, affordable housing now and in the future.
Tonight, Thursday, April 15, 6:30 - 8 p.m., we are going to push for a more permanent solution...and we need you to show up to make that happen! During this virtual event we will present the results of our research, listen to the stories of our neighbors who have experienced homelessness, and request commitments from the Appropriations Committees of the VT House and Senate.
Join us to make your voice heard so that EVERY Vermonter can access safe, affordable housing with supports. Click on this registration linkto receive the Zoom link.
Free Phone-In Legal Clinics
First Congregational Church UCC of Burlington has organized phone-in free legal clinics for Sundays, April 18 and May 16 from 1 to 3 p.m. at (802) 862-5010. More details here!
Upcoming Services
Sunday, April 25, 10 a.m. "What's Calling Us, Now?"