Join Us for Worship This Sunday!

February 1 at 10 a.m.

Rev. Karen G. Johnston, Senior Minister

Warren Baker, Worship Associate

"Grief Belongs to Us All"

This multigenerational Sunday service will explore how necessary it is to come together to bring the light so that we can build the light and become the light. This is the launch of our stewardship season where we connect with the practice of generosity to sustain our beloved spiritual home.



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 in the Community Room.

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

Mo Singletary, Family Programs Assistant

Families will begin the morning together in the Sanctuary. After the Time For All Ages, children and youth will be escorted to their Faith Development exploration groups on the upper and lower levels. Childcare for infants and toddlers is available throughout the service in the Nursery on the lower level.

Looking Back to Sunday

Heidi Duke, Pagan Gathering

On Sunday, the Pagan Gathering Affinity Group led the service in celebration of Imbolc. We are excited for the seeds of our intentions to swell and grow in the care of our loving community.

Here is a link to the video recording of last week's service.

If the service piqued your curiosity in Earth based spirituality, we would like to invite you to join us at our next meeting on Tuesday, February 10th. The Pagan Gathering meets the second and fourth Tuesday of each month from 6-7:30pm in the Parlors.  

We hope to see you there!



-Pagan Gathering Affinity Group

Follow-up: Rev. Karen's clergy witness trip

to Minnesota:

Rev. Karen G. Johnston, Senior Minister

Folx asked about where they can direct financial support to residents of Minnesota under ICE occupation. Here is a web site - Stand with Minnesota - with vetted recommendations that is amplified by the organizers on the ground whom I know.

Also, here is an update on the generous financial support, alongside the morale support, the congregation created:

The Gift of Seed Event at the FUUSB on

Thursday, Feb. 5th at 6-8pm

Kim Watkin, Democracy Project

Growing Gardens & Cultures of Care Beyond Consumption

All flourishing is mutual, as Robin Wall Kimmerer reminds us, and seeds brilliantly embody this generosity, creativity and care. Together, let’s practice receiving hundreds of varieties of regionally adapted seeds as gifts, cultivating gift culture as well as community, nourishing all generations to come! Come ready to reflect, connect and honor your gifts as well as we all learn to amplify the gifts of community together. Expect puppets! And lots of seeds! And to come alive as we explore living in ways both old and new. Bring a friend and a bag to bring home an abundance of seeds to sow more fruitful futures for your family, friends, neighbors and strangers as we become good ancestors together 

If you'd love to bring seeds to gift Burlington's Seed Library, we love you and come 20 minutes early to add them to the cornucopia!

FAQ: Can I drop in for just part of the gathering? Think of this as a movie or theater experience: come a few minutes early, settle in & savor ‘til the end, it’s sooooo worth it! And if you have to arrive late, ohhhh you will be welcomed ~

Fruition Seeds grows and gifts regionally adapted seeds as well as stories, songs and experiences to cultivate cultures of caring gift economy.

Pastoral Visiting: Caring for each other

and our community

Heidi Duke, Pastoral Visiting Team Chair

The FUUSB is hoping to expand our Pastoral Visitor Team! This group of compassionate individuals is part of our Care Network Ministry and works with Rev. Karen to help congregants who could use extra support during times of illness, stress, transition or isolation. During their monthly visits, Pastoral Visitors create a space of compassion and empathy and are attentive witnesses as congregants share what is on their heart.

The Pastoral Visitor Team meets on the second Wednesday of each month from 4:45 to 6:30 at the Meetinghouse. Regular attendance is required. Pastoral Visitors also need to be available an hour each month for their visits with congregants. Additionally, prospective Visitors are asked to attend a training session which includes a Friday evening and the following Saturday to prepare you with the skills you will need. The training is scheduled for the evening of Friday, March 13th and all day Saturday, March 14th.

Pastoral Visitors must be members of the congregation, fill out a brief application, and pass a background check. 

We are excited about the pool of people willing to be trained as Pastoral Visitors. And, to be honest, we'd love to have more gender diversity. Right now, our Pastoral Visiting Team is mostly (but not only) female. Any other gender identities out there who might be interested? Please, apply! 

If you would like to be part of this important ministry, please fill out the application here. If you would like to hear more about Pastoral Visiting or have any questions, please reach out to the Chair of the Pastoral Visiting Team, Heidi Duke, at heidi.j.duke@gmail.com. Thanks!

^{Democracy Project: Planning for Trainings Looking for new members}

Kim Watkin, Democracy Project

The Democracy Project welcomes new members to help us in our mission to explore more ways for UU's to engage with our democracy. We recently hosted a De-escalation Training and will be working to set up a Civil Disobedience Training in the near future. Our next meeting is Sunday, Feb 8th at 9:00am in the Reeb Room (downstairs by restrooms). If you can't attend, but would like to be more involved, email Kim Watkin at watkinfam@aol.com.  

Date with Death Club- Feb. 28th

Rev. Karen G. Johnston, Senior Minister

Our February Date with Death Club is Afterlives:



What happens after we die is a mystery. There’s lots of speculation and theory but no concrete evidence. In this non-dogmatic session, we’ll explore concepts of an afterlife (or not) through an multifaith panel representing different traditions and outlooks, then engage in personal reflection on what our beliefs are, where we got them from, and how they have held up over our lifetimes.

Space is limited and attendance is only open to those who register. Here is the link to register.

With regard to the DwDC session in January that was canceled, the rest of the year's calendar is being reviewed to see what changes need to be made. Once the calendar has been adjusted, we will get the word out.

Spring Graduation Homestay Launch

Homestay Team

The Homestay Team announces our Spring Graduation Homestay is launched. Please share the site far and wide among friends and family! Questions: homestay@uusociety.org

Click here or the button below for access.  

Celebrating Vibrant Lives

Racial Justice Team

The Racial Justice Team has been working with Rajnii Eddins and the Vibrant Lives project to bring you an afternoon of Celebrating Vibrant Lives. It's an opportunity to build community by hearing people's stories - through spoken word performances from the Black Artists Showcase and through hearing about and supporting Vibrant Lives, an oral history project capturing and lifting up the lives of local Black elders and leaders. 

The event is free. Donations of $15 - $20 or any amount to support Vibrant Lives are welcome. Please join us Sunday, February 8 2 - 4pm at the Meeting House. 

Get your free tickets here!

Immigration Justice Team Announcements

Mary Andrews, Immigration Justice Team

Play: One Family in Gaza

You are invited to a staged reading of One Family in Gaza, an original non-fiction play by Crystal Zevon. This performance takes place on Friday, February 13th, at 7 PM at the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Burlington.

The script is based on the actual correspondence between the playwright and a young father living in the Gaza Strip. By blending personal texts with news dispatches, the play offers a powerful, real-time account of one family’s experience since late 2023. This reading serves as a testament to our shared humanity in times of conflict.

Sponsored by the First UU Society’s Palestinian Solidarity, Racial Justice, and Immigrant Justice teams, the event is free and open to the public. More information is available at onefamilyingaza.com.

Endorsed by: VT/NH Jewish Voice for Peace, VT Coalition for Palestinian Liberation, Cooperation Vermont, and the VT Peace/Antiwar Coalition.

Let’s Become an Apartheid-Free Congregation! 

The Racial Justice Team, the Immigration Justice Team, and the Palestinian Solidarity Team invite all congregational members, friends, visitors, and staff, of the First UU Society of Burlington to voice their support for and comment on the Apartheid-Free Communities Pledge to be endorsed by our congregation. Take action now.

The UUA's 2024 Action of Immediate Witness: “Solidarity with Palestinians” calls on all UU congregations to “sign, amplify, and carry out the Apartheid-Free Communities Pledge. 



 The AFC Pledge states:

  **We affirm our commitment to freedom, justice, and equality for the Palestinian people and all people.

  ** We oppose all forms of racism, bigotry, discrimination, and oppression.

  ** We declare ourselves an apartheid-free community, and to that end,

  ** We pledge to join others in working to end all support to Israel’s apartheid regime, settler colonialism, and military occupation.

More than 1,000 congregations, organizations, municipalities, and businesses have endorsed the Apartheid-Free Communities pledge, including the Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism (BLUU), the Unitarian Universalist College of Social Justice (UUCSJ), the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC), and the Unitarian Universalists for Justice in the Middle East (UUJME). Local supporters include Jewish Voice for Peace VT/NH, Migrant Justice, and 350 Vermont, among many others. 

LGBTQIA+ group next meets on 2/8

Elizabeth Allen, LGBTQIA Group

Dig out from under all the snow because it will soon be time for the next LGBTQIA+ group meeting! We will gather next Sunday, February 8, 11:30 AM-12:30 PM, after services, in the Whitney Young Jr. Room on the second floor. Join us for pizza from Leonardo's and a zine-making workshop from our own fabulous Katie Hauer. Everyone is welcome, including allies! See you there!

Unlock the Wisdom of the Earth:

Join Our Stones & Rocks Circle

Gail Beck, Member

“Let us pick up the stones over which we stumble, friends, and build altars.” — Padraig Ó Tuama

Have you ever found yourself walking along a beach or a forest trail and felt called to pocket a small stone? You aren’t alone. Humans have been gathering stones from all over the world for millennia—treating them as talismans, anchors for memory, and symbols of a connection that remains even when things are tangibly gone.

This February, our 2nd Sunday Earth Teacher series invites you to slow down to "geologic speed" and listen to the rhythm of the soul. Whether you are a lifelong rock collector or simply curious about the quiet strength of the earth, come explore the spiritual resilience and ancient music hidden within the stones. Click here to access the Earth Teacher Packet.

Event Details

• When: Sunday, February 8th
• Time: 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM (Right after Coffee Hour)
• Where: The Parlors
• Who: All are welcome!

What to Expect

Join us for a friendly, spiritual hour of contemplation and connection. We will explore how stones act as "Earth Teachers," offering us lessons in:

• Resilience: How nature endures through pressure and time.
• Stillness: Practicing "Pebble Meditation" to find calm and ground ourselves.
• Connection: Understanding how we are linked to the journey of the Earth through its minerals.

Feel free to bring a favorite stone from your own collection to hold during our time together!

Save the Dates

Susan Ogden, Stewardship

The FUUSB 2026 Pledge Campaign invites you to share food, music and dance in a series of events. Details to come.

DO YOU LIKE TO DANCE?  Send your favorite dance song to include in the playlist for the March 14th dance at the Miller Center! susanogden1@mac.com

A Sure Cure for Winter Blues:

UU Weekend at Silver Bay 

Mo Singletary, Family Programs Assistant

Shake off the winter blues by imagining all the joy you’ll experience this fall at the annual UU Weekend at Silver Bay on beautiful Lake George. It will take place from October 9-11, 2026, with an option to extend your stay through October 12.

This much-anticipated fall gathering brings together UU’s and friends from across the region for a weekend of community learning, play, relaxation, and spiritual renewal amid peak Adirondack fall foliage! Picture a fun blend of workshops, music, outdoor adventures, games, and more -- with offerings for all ages and energy levels. 

Over 75 people have already registered, and a group from our congregation goes every year and has a blast – consider joining in for the fun! Children aged 5 and under attend free, and there are substantial discounts for older children and youth. The last day to sign up at a reduced rate is June 7th.

The 2026 registration form and more information are available on the Albany UU website.