Join Us for Worship This Sunday!

October 4 at 10 am

Rev. Karen G. Johnston, Senior Minister

Dan York, Worship Associate

History Remembers Courage: Beyond Welcoming the Stranger

Both the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures tell us that how we treat our neighbor, or strangers among us, is how we live into our spiritual or religious obligations. What does it mean for us to do so in this time when our federal government seeks to violently expel the immigrant, racially profiles and targets all of us? Let’s explore how civil disobedience plays a meaningful part in how to live into our religious values. Rev. Karen is in the pulpit.

Join us for worship in person or online. The livestream link will be shared at bit.ly/FUUSBWorship.

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

Family Chapel is back this week! On the first Sunday of each month, children, parents, Faith Development leaders, and anyone else who would like, gather at 10am in the Community Room (on the lower level) for 15-20 minutes of child-centered worship. This encourages children to be direct participants in UU rituals like chalice lighting, hymn singing and sharing of joys, sorrows, and gratitude. Afterwards, parents are “sung out” to join the service already in progress, while children and youth (preK-12th grade) split into their Exploration Groups on the upper and lower levels.

The nursery will be open throughout the service, providing care for infants & toddlers.

Looking Back to Sunday

Rev. Karen G. Johnston, Senior Minister

Here is the We Can Do Hard Things podcast episode with Priya Parker that Rev. Karen recommended in her sermon on Sunday. The episode is called "Why 'We Never Fight' is a Red Flag."

Here is the text of Rev. Karen's sermon, "It Takes a Village."

You can view a recording of last Sunday's service here.

Families with Children & Youth: Join Us for a Fall Family Lunch this Sunday!

Mo Singletary, Family Programs Assistant



All families are invited to come have pizza and get to know other First UU families at our Fall Family Lunch this Sunday (10/4) from 11:15-12:45pm.

After lunch, children & youth will head outside (weather permitting) for pumpkin decorating and other fall-themed activities, while parents & caregivers will stay inside for some fun community building and connection of their own!

An RSVP isn’t required to attend, but it does help us plan for lunch! Let us know if you can make it by filling out this RSVP form.

Memorial Service for Don "Mac" MacDonald

Rev. Karen G. Johnston, Senior Minister

As we announced earlier, FUUSB member Don "Mac" MacDonald died on August 6th. His memorial service is being held on Sunday, October 12th at 3pm at Centennial Field on the outfield grass. Members of the congregation who knew Mac are welcome to attend. Please anticipate that service will have no seating and is being held outside, rain or shine. Rev. Karen will be officiating.

This Friday Open-Mic Coffeehouse

From your Coffeehouse Team

This Friday, October 2:

Come to this month’s potluck dessert and open-mic coffeehouse! 

Potluck dessert and open-mic sign-up starts at 6:30 p.m. 

Open mic 7-9 p.m.

This is what community sounds (and tastes) like! Join us in the parlors for an evening of music and spoken word pieces. Share a song or spoken-word piece, or come to listen and enjoy the fellowship. If you’re able, bring a tasty dessert dish to share. 

Coffee, tea, and refreshments will be provided. 

All ages and talents are welcome, especially newcomers! 

Imara Jones' Ware Lecture

The Building Democracy Team and the Welcoming Congregation Renewal Project (of the Radical Welcoming Team)

Mark your calendar - Imara Jones event on 10/18 at 11:30

Join us after the service on 10/18 at 11:30 to 1:30 to watch Imara Jones, the 2025 UUA General Assembly Ware Lecturer. Video and lunch followed by small group discussions at the Meeting House.  

Divide and conquer is not new, but Imara Jones illustrates how scapegoating trans people was a detailed 10 year strategy conceived by Christian Nationalists to achieve political success in the 2024 elections. This strategy is being used again in 2026 and we will see it in 2028. We’ll watch this video together to understand how this divisive campaign strategy is being employed and talk about how we can approach future elections. 

Imara Jones is an American political journalist and transgender activist whose work has appeared in The Guardian, The Nation, MSNBC, CNBC, NPR, Fast Company and GQ. She has won Emmy and Peabody Awards and an award from the National Black Journalists Association. She is also the creator of TransLash Media.

LGBTQIA2S+ Group Meeting this Sunday

Martha Spear, LGBTQIA2S+ Group

Hello, Rainbow Friends! The LGBTQIA2S+ group invites you to share lunch after services on Sunday 10/4 until about 1PM in "the parlors." We will provide a light meal, so no need to bring anything at all, unless you enjoy doing so. Allies are welcome, and know that this is a space and time to center the voices of LGBTQIA2S+ people. Our plan is to have social time, spend an hour or so discussing the results of our brainstorm in August, and plan next steps.   

Game Night is Back this October!

Mo Singletary, Family Programs Assistant

Mark your calendars for Friday, October 23rd (5:30-8pm): Our Multigenerational Game Night is back for the first time this fall!

We’ll have lots of games at the ready, but feel free to bring one that you want to play. In the past we've done jigsaw puzzles, Apples to Apples, Hues & Cues, Rumikub, Azul, group card games, Pictionary, and more. Generally, there are several things happening at once and that’s part of the fun! Come with a group of friends and the intention to play a particular game, or just see what’s going. Bring your kids and play together, or let them join childcare staff while you try a game with an older crowd. Make it what you want!

We'll have a "no-stress" potluck, so you can wow us with your culinary skills or pick up a loaf of bread and a tub of hummus from the store. The point is to have fun together and not go hungry! All are welcome to join for a little bit or stay the whole time, just come ready to make new friends and reconnect with the old!

Palestine Solidarity Team Announcements

Palestine Solidarity Team

Teach-In: Mapping Vermont’s Weapons Industry & Complicity in Palestine,

Wednesday, October 7, 7-9 PM

The FUUSB Palestine Solidarity Team invites you to an educational teach-in on Vermont’s ties to militarism abroad and at home, as part of the Shut Down ICE VT “Week of Action” (Oct. 4–10).

Since 1948, over $340 billion in U.S. aid has flowed to Israel—roughly $1,000 for every person in the U.S. Locally, Vermont tax dollars directly support domestic arms manufacturing that sustains the Israeli military. The Vermont People’s Arms Embargo will present their investigation detailing the weapons contractors across our state. We will explore what is manufactured here, where these weapons go, and how Israeli surveillance technology deployed against Palestinians is sold to the US Department of Homeland Security—fueling local deportations through Williston's National Criminal Analysis and Targeting Center. It is the same technology Israel employs to carry out the genocide of Palestinian people. 

Join us on October 7 to examine our community’s role, discuss local organizing, and help build a future rooted in justice. All are welcome. Learn more at VTPeoplesArmsEmbargo.org and ShutDownICEVT.org.

Our commitment to Palestine reflects our belief that none of us are truly free until all of us are free.

Palestinian Solidarity Team meeting-

10/13 from 3-4 pm 

The next Palestinian Solidarity Team meeting will be on Tuesday, October 13, 3-4 pm. All are welcome. For your participation, let us know PalestineSolidarity@uusociety.org if you prefer to meet in-person or online.  We are anticipating a vote by congregational members on November 8th to endorse the Apartheid-Free Communities Pledge https://apartheid-free.org, and we, the PST, expect it to pass. We would love to hear how you think we should strategize and what you would like to do. Also, Pali Answers https://palianswers.com is a great place to ask your questions. 

The Palestinian Solidarity Team is a chapter of Unitarian Universalists for Justice in the Middle East, which has announced a name change! It is now Unitarian Universalists for Justice in Palestine! This name change reflects an antiracist practice of using more accurate and inclusive language instead of "Middle East;" and, it rejects Eurocentric, colonial language. UUs for Justice in Palestine also announced their 2026-2029 Strategic Priorities, which will increase our engagement with UU congregations around the world. 

Q&A events about Israeli Apartheid and the Apartheid-Free Communities Pledge 

Join our upcoming Question and Answer sessions about how and why UU congregations are endorsing the Apartheid-Free Communities pledge (AFC), led by FUUSB’s Palestinian Solidarity Team. We will begin with a short introduction to the UUA's 2024 Action of Immediate Witness (AIW): “Solidarity with Palestinians,” which calls on all UU congregations to “sign, amplify, and carry out the Apartheid-Free Communities pledge. Then, in the UU spirit of seeking truth and holding hard conversations with love and accountability, we will have a pair-share and anonymous Q&A to ensure every voice—and every concern—is held with care. Dates for these events will be announced soon over Realm. 

Come and ask your questions! Learn why over 150 FUUSB members seek this endorsement, why it has been a UU issue for over 50 years, and what this commitment to freedom, justice, and equality means for our collective future. That is, we would pledge to join others in working to end all support to Israel’s apartheid regime, settler colonialism, and military occupation. 

We will make available printed copies of the AFC pledge, the AIW, and our Q&A document on the Apartheid-Free Communities pledge. Show your support for our endorsement at bit.ly/UUValues. Contact: PalestineSolidarity@uusociety.org for more information. 

Book Group: Perfect Victims on Nov. 4th, 5 pm  

The Palestinian Solidarity Team invites you to read and discuss  Perfect Victims: And the Politics of Appeal by Mohammed El-Kurd. This book became a New York Times Best Seller, a USA Today bestseller, and a national indie bestseller. It won the 2025 Palestine Book Award, and historian Robin D. G. Kelley praised it as a "new Discourse on Colonialism for the twenty-first century".  

For UUs, we will soon have copies of this book for sale at a significant discount. (Look for us after the service or contact us over Realm.)

“While a settler colonial state continues to inflict devastating violence, fundamental truths are deliberately obscured — the perpetrators are coddled while the victims are blamed and placed on trial. … How we see Palestine reveals how we see each other; how we see everything else. Masterfully combining candid testimony, history, and reportage, Perfect Victims presents a powerfully simple demand: dignity for the Palestinian.” (From the publisher) 

2026-2027 Faith Development Registration

Mo Singletary, Family Programs Assistant

A reminder now that Exploration Groups for children & youth have begun: Please register for the 2026-27 program year at this link!

Whether your family has been participating in FD programming for years or you've just started, registration helps us keep important information up to date for all children & youth (ages 0-18). The more we know about who we're serving, the better we can support your children & youth as we plan for the year!