Sunday, September 24 at 10 a.m.

Rev. Karen G. Johnston, Senior Minister

Betsy Ferries,Worship Associate

"Beyond Apology: Tending to Impact, Tending to Repair"

This year’s UUA Common Read is Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg’s book, On Repetance and Repair: Making Amends in an Unapologetic World. Rev. Karen will speak to themes in the book and what it means for us to deepen and widen our understanding of amends, accountability, and atonement. The choir will be singing. We will be dedicating the families, volunteers, and staff who make our faith development program a vital part of our shared life.

Join us for worship in person in the Sanctuary, or online. The livestream link and order of service will be shared at bit.ly/FUUSBWorship, or visit our YouTube channel.

Following the service, all are welcome to Coffee Hour, either outside in front of the Meeting House or in the Parlors, depending on weather.

While at the Meeting House, anyone is welcome to wear a mask. In the spirit of caring for each other, please stay home if you have any cold or flu symptoms. Thank you.

Children & Youth This Sunday!

Erika Reif, Director of Lifespan Faith Development

Sunday, September 24

Families will begin in the Sanctuary together and take part in the Dedication of our Faith Development Facilitators, Advisors, Guides, and helpers. After this fun ceremony, children will be invited out to play in the Memorial Garden with the Big Blue Trunk! Staff will be present to supervise children of all ages. Have kids dress for outdoor play. The Nursery will not be open. 

Big Blue Trunk & Parent Summit!

Erika Reif, Director of Lifespan Faith Development

Sunday, September 24

10:15 a.m.-12:15 p.m.

The Big Blue Trunk will make yet another appearance on the Meeting House lawn! Mike and his one-of-a-kind crazy games and contraptions will be providing lots of active fun in the Memorial Garden! Fifteen minutes into the worship service, children will be invited outside for supervised play. The Big Blue Trunk and childcare staff will stay on duty until 12:15, allowing time for parents of children and youth to circle up with Erika and Rowan at 11:20 to hear about what we have planned for Faith Development this fall and help us dream up some more! A vibrant program is one we build together, so please come share the gift of your presence!

Special snacks will be provided to hold us over until lunch time.

Stop-In Sunday Circle

Gail Beck

This coming Sunday, September 24, the First Monthly Stop-In Sunday Circle is meeting at 11:20 a.m. in the Susan B. Anthony Room.

Sunday Circles provide time for connection with others after the service through a “deeper dive” with a more structured format than Coffee Hour. Groups of five to eight members, friends, or guests meet to reflect upon the sermon topic and/or how they are doing, taking turns speaking and listening. A facilitator is present to help guide the time together. Welcome!

Here is a link to the text of Rev. Karen's sermon from this past Sunday, A Thousand Beautiful Things. You can find the Mark Nepo poem, Not According to Plan, here.  

Reverend Karen mentioned the weekly meditation from the UUA called “Braver/Wiser.” If you would like to sign up for it to show up in your inbox on Wednesday mornings, here’s a link: uua.org/braverwiser/subscribe

Here is the video link for last Sunday's live-streamed service: Sept. 17, 2023 FUUSB Worship Service

At our Water Ingathering service on September 10th, we gathered our waters. But then what happened? And didn't Rev. Karen say some of it was going to become "homegrown holy water"? Watch this 4-minute video to learn...

Living Into the 8th Principle

Wed. Sept. 27, 5-7 p.m. OR 

Sat. Sept. 30, 10 a.m.-12 p.m. OR 

Sat. Sept. 30, 2-4 p.m.

Choose one, two, or all three times: it’s up to you!

Can you join me in meeting our King Street neighbors and learning about their public safety concerns, helping them to give voice to their experience through the Safer Together Solution Burlington survey, sponsored by FUUSB’s community partner, Vermont Interfaith Action (VIA)?

Your role:

• come for two hours
• get oriented to the process
• pair up, and
• then go out with the survey (on a tablet or paper version) to homes and businesses.

Every Burlington congregation is being asked to show up.

We love that this gives voice to those most impacted. We love that there is support for this project from the Burlington Police Commission. We love that our BIPOC community partners have encouraged us to do this. We love that we will get to know our own community better and make it safer in the long run.

This is the first stage of a multi-phase project around public safety and cultural change.

Let’s make sure FUUSB is a part of this solution building. Rev. Karen is going to take part and we’re hoping you will, too. Please contact me or to ask questions, email Peggy Owen Sands here.

- Peggy, on behalf of the Racial Justice Team at FUUSB

Learn About Sukkot with Rabbi Jan

Erika Reif, Director of Lifespan Faith Development

October 1, 11:30 a.m.-12 p.m.

By now most of you know that we share our building (and our grounds) with the Jewish Renewal congregation, Ruach haMaqom. Soon, they will be erecting a Sukkah in our Memorial Garden to celebrate the holiday of Sukkot, which Rabbi Jan Salzman describes as "the most important Holiday in the Jewish Calendar (no kidding)." All ages are invited to bring your coffee hour beverages along and take a few steps into the garden to visit the Sukkah, shake some Vermont lulavs, and deepen your understanding of this neighboring faith! 

Invitation from the Climate Justice Team

Caitlin Waddick, Climate Justice Team

On September 17, I marched, chanted, created art, sang, and danced in NYC with tens of thousands of people to draw attention to climate justice. It was more fun than many meetings, yet the most important work is always the work that we do, right here. We are the ones!!  

If you are seeking a way to act, join FUUSB’s Climate Justice Team to discuss potential projects through our connections within our Society, our community, UUA, and partner organizations, such as 350VT and Vermont Interfaith Power and Light.  

The Climate Justice Team will meet in person (with a hybrid option) on October 1 at FUUSB after the service, 12 - 1 p.m. Send optional RSVPs to Caitlin here. Our living meeting minutes are here: bit.ly/CJT-Agenda.

Christina Fulton, Director of Operations & Finance

Please remember that scams are everywhere! Rev. Karen, or any other FUUSB staff member, will never contact you via email and ask you to purchase a gift card or anything else for that matter. We just will not do that... ever. If you receive such an email, please do not respond to it, just delete it. Stay safe and healthy!

Pledge Payments & the New Year!

Christina Fulton, Director of Operations & Finance

It's a new fiscal year, and that requires some updates to your pledge payments. Please log into your Realm account to make sure the following things are correct:

1. Automatic payments are scheduled - Sometimes when people schedule automatic pledge payments, they give it an End Date of June 30. If you did that, you will need to schedule new payments for this year.
2. Automatic payments are for the correct amount - If you changed the amount of your pledge during the stewardship campaign last spring, you will need to change the amount of your automatic pledge payment in Realm. This does not happen automatically; you must log in and do it yourself.
3. Automatic payments are for the current pledge year - If you had automatic payments scheduled last year and you want to just keep it going, you need to make sure that those payments are being credited to the new 2023/2024 pledge year. I did try to update these, but you should log into Realm to make sure.
4. Set up automatic payments - If you don't already have automatic payments, but would like to, now is the time to do it!  

If you have any questions or concerns about updating your automatic giving, please contact Christina at xina@uusociety.org.

Please Collect Nuts, Cones, Pods for UU Wreath Making

Nuts and cones are falling, garden clean-up has commenced. If you have any of these or other natural materials on your property or in the woods where you walk, please consider collecting a bag or two for wreath decorating.

Leave bags marked "wreaths" on the shelf above the coat rack or arrange for a pick-up. Thank you! Contact Sarah Forbes here.

Richard Kemp Center Activities & Events

Parent Engagement Session for RKC Afterschool Activities

with a light dinner provided.

9/27 Wednesday 6:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m.

372 North Winooski Ave, Burlington