Join us for a very special Sunday as we celebrate PRIDE and the paths of courageous authenticity that have widened and deepened the possibilities of belonging here in Vermont and beyond! We will celebrate queerness and hear from LGBTQI+ voices within our community about what PRIDE has meant for them. We will celebrate the particular beauty of each and all of us, just as we are, and reaffirm our commitment to allyship.
Join us after the service to march in the annual PRIDE parade and, whether or not you can do that, come ready to bring the spirit of celebration (including your rainbow apparel, pride flags, personal flourish, etc.) into the Meeting House. Let's Celebrate PRIDE!
Please join us in person in the Sanctuary, or online. Find the livestream link at uusociety.org or on our YouTube channel. While inside the Meeting House, masks are strongly encouraged.
Following the service, all are welcome to Outdoor Coffee Hour. And join us for Zoom Coffee Hour at 11:15 a.m. The Zoom link and more information can be found here: Online Coffee Hour
Hinduism: the Grandmother of Spirituality
Erika Reif, Director of Lifespan Faith Development
Thursday, September 15 from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m.
New member and longtime scholar of the world’s religions, Phillip Brentwood, will be repeating the first multimedia session in his series introducing participants to Eastern religious traditions, last presented in February with the pandemic raging and the weather less pleasant. Please note, this event will be held indoors, not in the Garden as previously advertised. Light fare provided. Zoom available.
Erika Reif, Director of Lifespan Faith Development
September 18
Parade approx. 12:30 -1:00 p.m.
We are gathering at the Meeting house after the service and walking as a group to the staging area at 11:40 a.m.
Or come on your own - be at the Hood Plant at noon
March with us in the Vermont Pride Parade as you are able, or find a spot along the route to cheer! (Looks like we won’t be passing in front of the Meeting House this year.) Come one, come all, and celebrate Pride together! A group from the CVUU congregation in Middlebury will be with us, too! Contact Erika (erika@uusociety.org) with any questions, or just to let us know you’re coming!
YUUth Group - PRIDE & Tuesday 9/20
Rev. David Ruffin, Director of Youth & Creative Arts Ministries
YUUth Group welcomes new and old youth, as well as family and friends, to join together this Sunday, marching with our FUUSB community in this year's PRIDE parade. Ideally, come out to the 10 a.m. PRIDE service beforehand, then paint yourself a PRIDE t-shirt after the service (or any other apparel you want to bring to paint). Please arrive no later to the Meeting House than 11:30 a.m., however. We'll walk down to the parade staging area, arriving by 12 p.m. (parade start is 12:30 p.m.). Should wrap up around 1:30 p.m. near Waterfront Park. Youth can reconnect with rides near there or return with advisors back to the Meeting House or disperse on their own two feet.
Then this Tuesday, from 6-8 p.m., come on out to the Meeting House for the YUUth Group's first regular weekly evening gathering. Pizza will be provided so just bring yourselves. Whether you've called YUUth Group home for many years or never tried it, you are 100% welcome to come connect with other youth and advisors and kick the new year off together.
From the Ministerial Search Team
Tom Hyde
Your Ministerial Search Team had a "retreat" last week, where we learned about the numerous steps in the search process. At our meeting, we started to plan how we would take those steps.
During the fall, our task is to find out from you, the congregation, what is important to you about the Society, who we are now, and how you see us moving forward.
We will offer a formal survey online and on paper. We will host listening sessions in person and on Zoom, at multiple times and locations, to give as many people as possible the chance to be heard and ask questions. And we will be available as much as possible at coffee hour, in person with our blue name tags and on the Zoom coffee hour.
We hope that most of you will take the time to complete the survey and participate in a listening session, because we will use what we learn to write the material that presents the congregation to potential ministerial applicants. And we will use it as we consider the ones who apply, because our job is to find the person who can best support us where we are and help us to move toward our goals. Your voice matters!
Deep Listening Circles: Radical Welcome on the Meeting House Grounds
What do you think it could look like to welcome the wider community to the Meeting House grounds? The Healthy Congregation Team and Meeting House Grounds Group invite you to join a Deep Listening Circle with attention to Radical Welcome on the Meeting House Grounds: an intentional gathering to share how you are and to listen deeply to others. In times of change like this, it can be hard to find the space and quality of connection to hear and speak our truths. How I am really? What do I notice about myself amidst these times? We will center the circle on the following questions:
What are you thinking/feeling about the wider community use of the Meeting House grounds?
What might our UU Society's Radical Welcome on the Meeting House grounds look like?
How do you see yourself engaging in this Radical Welcome?
There will be a short update on the present situation on the grounds before the circle. We can support one another to ask and answer these kinds of questions. The practice of coming together in our faith-based community in this way is one way for us to be in covenant.
There will be one virtual and one in-person option:
The memorial service for Roddy O'Neil Cleary, our minister emerita, will be held on Saturday, October 1 at 2 p.m. at the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Burlington. All are welcome. The service will also be livestreamed. Please click here for the link, or visit uusociety.org.
Sunday Morning Breakfast
Starting October 2
Sarah Russell, Meeting House Grounds Group
Sunday Morning Breakfast - Meeting House Grounds Group - 8 to 9 a.m. - starting October 2
The Meeting House Grounds Group is starting to have “Sunday Morning Breakfast” every Sunday at 8 a.m. in front of the Meeting House. The idea came from our community which noticed that there is no place for people to get a meal on Sunday, since the Food Pantry is not open and other organizations do not serve that day. Starting October 2 we will serve “Sunday Morning Breakfast” from 8-9 a.m. We will be looking to involved the whole congregation in this. Look for more news for ways you can get involved. You can email RadicalWelcoming@uusociety.org for ways to get involved. It takes a village.
Looking for a Deeper Community?
Sharing Circles Coordinating Team
Theme Circles and Chalice Circles will be up and running in October. These small groups give a chance to get to know other UU members and explore your own spirituality.
For more info go to our website, uusociety.org, click on Caring and Belonging then click on Sharing Circles for Reflection and Growth. There will be a list of available groups and an email to contact the Coordinators!
NEW: 2nd Sunday Circles!
Sharing Circles Coordinating Team
Meet at 11:15 a.m. with a small group to discuss the Sermon, Readings and Benediction as a group. Looking forward to seeing you! The first meeting, on October 9, will be in the Whitney Young, Jr. Room.
2022/23 Faith Development Is Underway with more to come…
Growing our children & youth in Faith Development
Margo Whitcomb, Faith Development Assistant
YUUth group is off to a great start, Crossing Paths begins this Sunday and still more to come! Fall offerings include Nursery/preschool, Spirit Play, Bible Stories, Crossing Paths, OWL and YUUth Group. However your children might participate (you needn’t know now), registering them will help us plan. Register your child(ren) or youth with us at the link below!
