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Enews Blast
October 23, 2014

Our Mission:  We gather to inspire spiritual growth, to care for each other and our community, to seek truth, and to act for justice.

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Upcoming Worship Service Information
October's Theme: Family

In October, we explore Family. Our Sunday worship services will consider this theme through different spiritual and social lenses, from the varied ways we create the Modern Family, to raising awareness about domestic violence, to our Unitarian forbear William Ellery Channing's concept of the living family of all souls

 


October 26th - 9am and 11am
The One Family - Rev. Mara Dowdall, Minister

In her memoir, Plan B, Anne Lamott observes that the first thing all the great religions teach is that "we are all family." Two hundred years earlier, our Unitarian forbear William Ellery Channing wrote, "I am a member of the living family of all souls." But what does it mean that "we are all family"? What is required of us as members of the "family of all souls"? What are the limits of this idea, and what spiritual practices might it call us toward? 


 

November 2nd - 9 a.m. and 11 a.m.

JUMP Sunday - Wanda Hines, Executive Director of JUMP

Come hear Wanda speak about the history of JUMP in our community.  JUMP Thanksgiving bags will be distributed today!

 

In Memoriam 

 

Long time member Meredith Holzer recently passed away. Our thoughts and prayers are with her husband, Austen Holzer, and her family. Meredith's memorial service will be held here at the Meeting House on Saturday November 1, at 2pm.

 

You can read her obituary here


 

Put This On Your Calendar . . .
 
Click on the event for more details!

 


Worship & Music . . .

Be watching next week for the announcement of our theme for January!

 

 

Caring & Belonging . . .

What's famous about November 1?

It's the Day of the Dead? Introduction of synthetic rubber by Dupont? National Cook for your Pets Day? Benvenuto Cellini's birthday?

 

YES!

 

 

But best of all, it's the last day for you to donate to our FUUSB 2014 FunRaiser Auction!

 

 

 

So:  What to donate?

 

Breakfast

Luncheon/Tea

Themed Cocktail Party or Dinner

Day's excursion in my boat

Travel Experience 

Guided Tour 

Vacation-Home Weekend Stay

Services 

Entertainment 

Lessons in  .  .  . ?

Kids' Event

Handmade Collectible

Tickets

Gift Certificate

Nature Walk or Hike

AND Additional Creative Ideas from You!

 

 

======== Don't Delay - Donate Today! ========

Our annual FunRaiser Auction supports all we do at FUUSB!

 

Pick up a donation form in the Parlors OR donate and bid online at: http://www.togetherauction.com/fuusb 

 

 

======== Live Event! ========


Be sure to come to our live FunRaiser event

Sunday November 9,  3-5 pm

at the Meeting House!  

Browse. Finish bidding in silent and LIVE auctions. Win raffles. Snack and socialize. 

 

All Final Winning Bids are Determined at this Event.

 

Children are welcome! And, if you would like childcare, please email [email protected] with the names and ages of the children needing care. Deadline for obtaining childcare is Monday November 3rd.  

   

======== QUESTIONS? SUGGESTIONS? ========

More details are here: http://bit.ly/1w6U32C 

 

And, you can email us at [email protected] 

 

 

New UU Class
Come find out more about Unitarian Universalism (UU) in general, learn specifics about the First UU Society of Burlington (FUUSB), and-or join FUUSB as a voting member (the class is required for formal membership)!

 

Rev. Mara and the Membership Committee are offering the next New UU Class on Saturday, November 15th from 10am to 2pm. Lunch will be provided. Childcare will be provided if arranged in advance.  

 

There is a signup sheet on the bulletin board near the parlors, or you can call Kim Watkin at 864-2018 or email her at [email protected]. The deadline is Thursday, November 13th.

 

We look forward to seeing you there!   

 

Help Wanted

Care Network Ministry
Seeks Short & Sweet Commitments

 

Members of the Care Network Committee will be circulating during coffee hour after both 9AM and 11AM services. We are looking for volunteers to make an occasional meal or drive a member in need of a ride. Please consider adding your name to our Short & Sweet list to help us provide for people in need.  

 

Thank you.  

Mary Silverman & Charlotte Brody, co-chairs, Care Network Committee. 

  

 

 

Book Discussion Group: My Beloved World 

 

Please join us at the UU on Tuesday, November 11, at 12:30pm as we discuss Sonia Sotomayor's My Beloved World, a candid memoir that follows the young, smart, hardworking daughter of immigrants as she grows up in a Bronx housing project and longs to become a judge, rising to the top of American professional life. An engaging book, it demonstrates what hard work can accomplish.   

 

New members are most welcome.   

 

Spiritual Growth & Learning . . .

 

soup Soup Sundays are Back!  

Our 6th grade class will be serving soup in the Community Room this Sunday, October 26, beginning at 10am, and ending about 1pm. We'll have a great variety of yummy crockpot creations -- soups, stews, and chili -- for here or to go!  

 

Come have a delicious bowl and help our 6th graders raise money for our trip to Boston in April!    

 

   

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Classroom Sundays!

Run steadily through November 16th, the Sunday prior to Thanksgiving.


Registration for child & youth religious education is open all year!
Help us to help you connect with our programming, and register if you haven't yet done so by registering here. Don't forget to click the GREEN "add a child" button to include children's info! 
 

Campus Ministry: UUs at UVM!people-outside.jpg
Our UVM group is open to UUs (and UU-curious!) in the typical undergrad/grad age range. Students from other local colleges, as well as those not currently enrolled in college, are welcome to join! Hannah Kretvix, a Junior at UVM, coordinates the group, which meets weekly early Thursday evenings in Harris-Millis on the UVM campus.

Contact Hannah at [email protected] for more info and to connect with the group! 

 
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ARC Gallery Ready for New Artwork


Wondering what's happening with the ARC art gallery?  It's ready for some new artwork!!  I'm relatively new to UU, but I have taken on the task of managing the gallery and would like to start by filling it with art from children and youth in our congregation.  
 
This Sunday 10/26 and next Sunday, 11/1, we will have an art table in the community room downstairs for ANY CHILD or YOUTH who wants to create artwork for display in our gallery!  Tana Randall-Wolfe will be available to assist any kid who wants to contribute.

 If your child has a piece of artwork at home they would like to display, you can also bring it in and I will get it up for the month of November. Please include their names and ages and your contact info (phone) on a note attached to the art so it can be returned when this display is over.
 
If you are an artist in our community (or know one in our community who doesn't read these notices) and want to display your work, please let me know - I'd like to get a rotation going every two or three months. I can be reached at [email protected] or (802) 578-4067
 
Looking forward to adding color and beauty to our gallery!
 
Tana Randall-Wolfe

 

Justice & Outreach . . .

 
JUMP Bags are Coming! 


At the church service on November 2, JUMP Thanksgiving bags will be available for the UU congregation to take home and fill. Once you have filled your bags, they should be returned to church at the November 23 service.

We need help transporting the filled JUMP bags to the First Congregational Church (home of JUMP) on Tuesday, November 25 at noon. This is a job for which literally many hands make light work. If you have an hour and a half to spare on that day, please contact Ellen Wollensack at 864-5523 or [email protected]

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

The Joint Urban Ministry Project (JUMP) is an interfaith nonprofit founded in 1988 and is currently supported by 27 congregations in Chittenden County. FUUSB is a supporting congregation that supplies volunteers for the daily operations of the drop-in center where clients receive: 

  • Financial assistance with basic needs such as food, transportation, laundry, identification, medication, and utilities
  • Take-away items  such as food, toiletries, household necessities, and diapers
  • Compassionate listening with individualized referrals
  • Used clothing and household goods, Opportunities Credit Union membership, and smoking cessation program fees

The UU Thanksgiving food drive is JUMP's largest annual food donation!   

 


The BEST JUMP SUPPER EVER!
  
 The FUUSB service theme for November is Generosity. Every year on the first Saturday in November, JUMP sponsors The Best Church Supper Ever. FUUSB's contribution is 10 lasagnas, baked fresh by our volunteer cooks. Could you be one of the celebrated lasagna bakers on November 1 this year? If so, please email Woody Fulton, or call 399-2643.  Foil pans will be provided. Thank you in advance for helping!

The supper itself will be amazing -- come join us! Twenty-eight (!) faith communities are offering a buffet of their best food traditions to share with you on Saturday November 1st at the First United Methodist Church, 21 Buell Street. There will be seatings at 5:00 and 6:30 pm. Come for fun, food and fellowship to support all the good work that Joint Urban Ministry Project does in our community. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for children 6-12 years, and 5 years and under are free.  

 

You can purchase tickets by calling 497-1661, by emailing [email protected], or by emailing Woody Fulton or Linda Gross.

 

If you are unable to come, would you consider buying a sponsor ticket so that a Jump client can come in your place?  

 

Thanks, and we hope to see you there for a delicious meal!

  


   

 

Climate Action -- Escalating Inequality -- Green Sanctuary -- Congregational Action

Let's Put Our Social Justice Values to Work!

    

 

 

Join Us!

The FUUSB Social Justice Web invites you to act lovingly on your values -- organize, rabble-rouse, make trouble, comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable, and educate-agitate by participating in our next three general meetings in the Susan B. Anthony Room:
    • Tuesday October 28, 5:30 - 7pm 
    • Thursday November 20, 5:30 - 7pm
    • Tuesday December 9, 6 - 7:30pm

 

What We're Doing 

  1. Climate Change Actions: October 27th at 3 pm and more!
  2. Escalating Inequality: Congregational Study/Action Issue (CSAI)
  3. Green Sanctuary accreditation
  4. Congregational action

 

1. Climate Change Actions


On October 27th at 3 pm
, we will go to the the Statehouse Lawn for the Rally and Sit-In for Climate Justice. It's co-sponsored by 350 Vermont, Rising Tide, and the Vermont Workers' Center. Would you like to meet at the Rally to sing Blue Boat Home?
   
What else should we do? What is close to your heart? Here are some resources to help you explore: 

  

2. Escalating Inequality is a topic that is ever closer to our hearts at FUUSB. We began supporting Occupy Burlington three years ago, and we fondly remember our lawn banner proclaiming, WE STAND FOR ECONOMIC JUSTICE. This year, the UUA General Assembly passed a new Congregational Study/Action Issue (CSAI) on Escalating Inequality.  

  

Please join us to envision how we might lovingly examine our own privileges and engage in tough, rewarding conversations about economic justice, race criminalization, the booming incarceration industry, police militarization and brutality, the dehumanizing effects of poverty, and the growing political power of misogyny, while loving ourselves and others. Related to the politicizing of misogyny, the SJW also welcomes interest around the other current CSAI on Reproductive Justice.

  

3. FUUSB seeks Accreditation as a Green Sanctuary under new UUA guidelines. This effort requires us to work collaboratively with a marginalized community in Burlington on an issue of environmental justice. It also asks us to examine cross-cutting justice issues in all aspects of congregational life, from religious education to worship to building management. Let's examine the application together at a one-time special meeting, TBA. 

  

4. Congregational Action: Rev. Mara and the Social Justice Web are examining the role of social justice within the congregation. We want to facilitate the congregation to act for justice in the world in a shared vision. Check out the UUA resources, see what inspires and nourishes you, and join our ongoing discussion about how other UU congregations do justice work and how we might put our values to work through advocacy, organizing, and witness. And please DO join our email list for reminders and ongoing discussions.

  

With Love and Faith,

Caitlin Waddick, Social Justice Web Convener

[email protected] (or call during daylight hours: 802-497-0920)

  

Stewardship & Resources . . .




Five books to help UU Congregations Welcome People With Disabilities
  

Bill Dockery's summer 2014 UU World article, A bookshelf for inclusion, Five books to help Unitarian Universalist congregations welcome people with disabilities, highlighted a list of books that every congregation should have on their shelves.

 

We have added the first three! Please browse the Adult Collection for: 

 

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Photo Directory Update
Thanks to all who participated in one of our six days of photo sessions at the church. Special thanks to the volunteers who helped at the sign-in table and the church staff and caretakers who helped to make the photo days possible.  
 
If you could not make any of the photo dates but still want your photo to be included in the directory, you can submit your own photo. The directory company charges a $10 fee for each submitted photo. Unless there is a financial hardship, you would need to pay this fee at the time of photo submission. (If your photo was taken by Ken as part of the Care Ministry, the submission and fee have been taken care of already.) 

It will look best if the submitted picture is vertical and 5x7 or smaller. The photo should be sent electronically if at all possible since there is no guarantee that Lifetouch will return the picture if it is a hardcopy. Please email the photo to [email protected], and send a $10 check payable to Lifetouch to her at 161 Austin Drive # 47, Burlington, VT  05401. To be included in the directory, all submitted photos and payments must be postmarked and received by Sunday, November 2.
 
If you had your photo taken in September and did not place an order, then your free 8 x 10 photo was shipped to the church. They are available for pick up from Christina at the church office the next two Sunday mornings.

We should receive the October photos in about three weeks, and you will be notified when and where they are available for pick-up.

If you ordered photos, then your order plus your free 8 x 10 should be sent directly to your home. If you don't receive your order, or if there are any problems with it, please contact Lifetouch directly at 1-888-313-1746

We hope to receive the directories in January and will let you know once they arrive! 


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The 83rd Annual Holiday Bazaar is just around the corner!

 
We look forward to seeing you and yours on Saturday, December 6th from 9am - 2pm. 

But first, this fantastic event won't happen without your help, so we're looking for volunteers to help receive and sort donations from Tuesday, Dec 2 through Friday, Dec 5. If you can join us, please email Carol Czina at  [email protected] 
pies

We're also looking for the following items to be donated for sale. All items must be in good, clean, saleable condition, and in working order:
  • Baked goods, pies, jams, and other food items, wrapped or packaged, kitchen items, dishes, glassware, small household items, framed art works, crafts, jewelry, books, and music CD's in their original cases.  
We cannot accept the following: bedding, blankets, home fabric items, clothing, electronics, textbooks, large appliances, and furniture.
 
In the coming weeks, we'll post when you can drop off these items. 
 

 
What's Up With That?

You may remember an Enews Blast column called, Why Do We Do That. Well, we found that many times, we were also explaining why we don't do that. So here is the newly updated version called, What's Up With That? This column will rely on you to provide us with questions. I, Christina, will track down answers for you! Today's column came up as a result of last week's Enews Blast.

 

A member wrote to congratulate me on using the "proper" term, parlor, instead of the way they usually see it in our publications, the parlors. I thanked the writer for the compliment, but then had to admit that I did not edit the Enews Blast last week (one of my amazing volunteers did that) and that if I had, I would have used the parlors. But, I agreed to find out just What's Up With That?

 

When I began working here, our then Property Manager Gale Holden told me that Rev. Bob Senghas had told her that the correct term was the Parlors. So I decided to go directly to the source and ask Bob.  

 

He responded right away:

Years ago, what is now one room was originally partially divided into two rooms, with a partial wall and connection between.They were called the parlors, and could be used individually or combined for use. I don't know when that happened; it was before I became minister in 1979, but when I became minister, everyone referred to the room as "the parlors"--and I still do. 
 

Bob went on to tell me that although the reference may not be grammatically correct, it is tradition. 

 

Well, I for one will stick with tradition and continue to refer to the space as the parlors!

 

If you have been wondering What's Up With That? please send your question to [email protected], and I will track down an answer for you! 
 
  


Monday
October 27th9am - 12pm
Tuesday
October 28th9am - 2pm
Wednesday
October 29th 
9am - 2pm
Thursday
October 30th
9am - 2pm
Fridays
Office Closed

Building Access: Please remember that there are times when the building is short-staffed, and we may need to keep the door locked. Please ring the doorbell to see if there is someone in the building who can help you.


Staff Office Hours
Rev. Mara
Tuesday - Thursday
by Appointment
Martha Dallas
Monday
1 - 5pm

Tuesday - Thursday
9 - 5pm
Christina Fulton
Monday - Thursday
9 - 4pm
Bob Furrer
Monday - Thursday
6:30am - 3pm
Kathleen Kemp
Tuesday - Friday
9am - 4pm