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eNews
February 3, 2017
Latest News
Speaking of Stewardship
Stories that Will Make a Difference
Fellowship and Celebration
UU Middle High School Sledding Party
Minister's Monthly Meet-up
Parent's Night Out: February 18th
Wool Sock Collection
Renaissance Concert
Get Creative at "Writing With Spirit"
Mother Up! February Gathering
Upcoming Sundays for Children
Exploring Human Origins
 
Breath of Fresh Air

   
 
 
Upcoming Services
February 5- "Living Our Values: Now More Than Ever"

w/ Rev. Mara
Worship Associate: Judy Brook
Musicians: Wayne Schneider and Sam Whitesell

(11) Adult Choir


February 12-

w/ Rev. Mara

February 19- 

w/ Rev Mara 

February 26-

w/ Andre Mol

 
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Important Dates
February 5
Classroom Sunday  preceded by Children's Chapel Singing with Nick Stokes!

February 9
Mother Up! A Gathering for Families
5:30

Writing with Spirit 
6:00 

February 12
Classroom Sunday

Music Concert- "A Renaissance Valentine"
3:00 p.m.

February 19
Classroom Sunday

February 26
FUNday: games and play for UU kids during school vacation!

March 9 
Mother Up! A Gathering for Families
5:30

April 13
Mother Up! A Gathering for Families
5:30

May 11
Mother Up! A Gathering for Families
5:30

June 8
Mother Up! A Gathering for Families
5:30

 
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Speaking of Stewardship- Living Our Values, Now More than Ever! 
Article Subheading

Our FUUSB annual Stewardship Campaign starts this Sunday, Feb. 5th with our kick-off service, featuring Rev. Mara's "Sermon on the Amount"! 

It's a good time to reflect on what you value here in our First UU community, and how you express that gratitude through your generosity and giving of your financial resources. You'll soon be asked to make your annual financial commitment to FUUSB, by going online and pledging electronically or by filling out a pledge/commitment card. You'll receive a letter and a brochure in the mail next week about this year's campaign. Please consult the UUA's Guide to Giving if you would like some guidance at:  http://www.uua.org/sites/live-new.uua.org/files/fair_share_contribution_guide.pdf If you receive an email or phone call from a UU volunteer "Visiting Steward" in the next couple of weeks, please respond and make a plan to meet for an enriching conversation about the role our UU society plays in your life. You'll be glad you did! 

Meanwhile, check out our webpage at http://uusociety.org/Stewardship. If you have questions about this year's campaign, please contact  stewardship@uusociety.org or seek out Nancy Knox or Kim Hier, Stewardship Team co-chairs. If you have a specific question about your pledge, please contact Christina Fulton at xina@uusociety.org or call her at 862-5630. Thank you in advance for your generosity to our UU Society - we need each other now more than ever!
 
Stories that Will Make a Difference
by Tracy Titchner
What motivates you to act for love or justice?  What has the FUUSB done that made you so proud that it changed you? What life experiences have you had that pulled on your heart and pushed you to act? How were you transformed?We,   your Board of Trustees, want to hear your stories!  We are holding 8 facilitated sharing sessions and hope you will join us to deepen our connections to each other and to the things we hold dear.
Please RSVP to one of the following sessions by contacting Gene Bergman at 658-6289 (please leave a message if no answer) or signing up online so we can match the number of facilitators to the number of participants. 
 

Sessions will be held:

Sunday, February 12th 12:30-2:30 PM, at the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Burlington meetinghouse (Feel free to bring a bag lunch, child care will be provided)

Wednesday, February 15th 6:00-8:00 PM, Marla Emery's house, 169 Kilarney Drive, New North End, Burlington

Thursday, February 16th  2:00-4:00 PM , Rosanne Greco's house, 63 Four Sisters Road,  So. Burlington

Sunday, February 19th , 6:00-8:00 PM, Michael Swaidner's house, 614 Macrae Road, Colchester

Saturday, February 25th, 10 AM - 12 PM, at the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Burlington (A light breakfast will be provided).  

Wednesday, March 1st, 3:00-4:30, Debby Bergh's at Wake Robin, Shelburne'

Saturday, March 4th  10AM - 12:00 PM, at the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Burlington Meetinghouse
 
Please help us chart the future of our beloved Society-sign up and share. 

 
Fellowship and Celebration with our Muslim Neighbors
by Andre Mol, Ministerial Intern
On Saturday, over 30 FUUSB members traveled to Colchester to join the Islamic Society of Vermont for their monthly community dinner.  The atmosphere was celebratory as the society welcomed the arrival of a new baby girl born to their imam and his wife on January 19.  Warmly welcomed and well fed, we enjoyed the hospitality and connections with our fellow Vermonters.  The rooms of the mosque were filled with a mutual curiosity of getting to know each other.  Our presence and our words sent a message that we don't believe in walls, bans, or religious discrimination.  We believe in love and solidarity with our neighbors: refugees, immigrants and native born.

There will be additional opportunities to deepen our relationship with the members of the Islamic Society in the coming months.  If you have questions or ideas about inter-faith activities, please let me know (andre@uusociety.org).

Blessed be,

Andre
 
UU Middle High School Sledding Party
by Sharon Leach

Please spread the word about a sledding social that will occur on Saturday February 11 from 4-9pm. The middle school 6-8 th grades and Yuuth group teens are invited to meet at Casey's hill in Underhill at 4pm for some late afternoon and hopefully moon lit sledding fun (corner of Pleasant Valley Rd and Mountain Rd about a 1/4 mile past the Underhill Central School). We will put a rainbow flag up on the hill. Carpool if you can and bring a sled. After a few hours of sledding carpool over to the House's (73 Logwood Circle Essex VT) for a fire pit, s'mores and indoor games (ping pong and board games). 

Contact the House Leach family (telenook@comcast.net) if you have questions and to let us know if you plan to come so we can have enough s'more makings on hand. 
 
Minister's Monthly Meet-up is This Sunday at 12:30! 

coffee_cup.jpg Minister's Monthly Meet-up is this Sunday, 2/5, after the second service at 12:30pm in the SBA room upstairs. It is an informal opportunity to get to connect with the minister and other FUUSB folks. All are welcome - newcomers, long-timers, and all those in between.

 
Parent's Night Out: February 18th, 4:30-8PM
by the FUUSB Youth Group
Hello UU. Parents! 

The FUUSB YUUTH Group is hosting Parents' Night Out and it's just 2 weeks away! Join us on Saturday, February 18th from 4:30 pm to 8:00 pm for a night of fun for your kids! Children ages 3-11 are welcome with a suggested donation of $20/$30 per child. There will be games, a service project, pasta dinner and movie!  Make sure to register through the Google Form below and remember to bring your child(rens') insurance card when you drop them off. 


 
Wool Sock Collection
by Deborah DeLadurantaye

Help improve the health and comfort of a homeless person

The Junior League hopes to deliver 300 pairs of wool and wool blend socks to Safe Harbor Health Clinic this winter to help our community's homeless. When it's cold out your feet will be toasty and warm in wool socks. Wool can absorb a high amount of moisture - much more than cotton. Wool can actually hold a third of its weight in moisture before it even starts to feel "wet." Wool keeps its insulating properties while wet.
The risk of "Trench Foot" is reduced when feet are kept clean,
warm, and dry.

Safe Harbor will distribute the wool socks to their clients. Sock
Collection ends February 28, 2017


Renaissance Concert in the Sanctuary
Sunday, February 12 at 3 pm
by Jonathan Sands
Our UU Music Committee invites you to hear the Champlain Consort present "A Renaissance Valentine".
This new group includes Herb Schroeder of our own congregation. The program features romantic Renaissance songs and also celebrates the 500th anniversary of composer Henry Isaac (1450-1517).  Consort members perform on recorders, sackbuts, violas da gamba, capped reeds, and percussion instruments to recreate the distinctive sound of English and European Renaissance music. It promises to be a uniquely enjoyable experience. Suggested donation: $15.

 
Get Creative at "Writing With Spirit"! 
Writing With Spirit is a class in spirituality and creative writing. Drawing on a variety of meditation techniques and spiritual traditions as well as creative writing tools, we will find ways to tap into our own creative spirituality. Each class includes a meditation, a brief discussion of one aspect of the spiritual life, a time of writing, and group discussion. It can help writers working on memoir, nonfiction or fiction find new inspiration and, for those who would like to write, find the spark to start.

Questions about "Writing with Spirit"? nancy.hayes.kilgore@gmail.com
 
Mother Up! February Gathering
by Rachel Schek
Please join us for the February Mother Up! gathering Thursday, February 9th at 5:30. We'll begin with a simple, vegetarian dinner for all ages. (No need to bring anything!) Following dinner, for parents and older children, we will gather in a time of reflection and sharing. Childcare is provided for young children in the nursery. 

RSVP with food allergies and childcare requests! rmschek@gmail.com

Mother Up! is a program of 350VT bringing together families to talk about the tough realities of climate change and to participate in the transition to a healthier and safer world. What Joanna Macy calls the "Great Turning," or the third revolution, is this unprecedented time where we are called to stop the destruction of our world, to build new life-sustaining practices and ways of being, and to shift our collective consciousness. We especially wish to engage young parents in this vital discussion of how we can make positive changes to protect our planet for our children's future.
 
Upcoming Sundays for Children
by Martha Dallas 

Feb 5: Classroom Sunday  preceded by Children's Chapel Singing with Nick Stokes!

Feb 12: Classroom Sunday

Feb 19: Classroom Sunday

Feb 26: FUNday: games and play for UU kids during school vacation!

 
Exploring Human Origins

The Fletcher Free Library is  hosting the traveling Smithsonian exhibit "Exploring Human Origins: What Does it Mean to be Human?"  Feb. 18, 2017 - Mar. 17, 2017.

"Exploring Human Origins"  is a traveling exhibition developed by the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) and the American Library Association (ALA). 

Through panels, interactive kiosks, interactive displays, and videos, the exhibition invites audiences to explore milestones in the evolutionary journey of becoming human - from walking upright, creating technology and eating new foods, to brain enlargement and the development of symbolic language and complex societies - advancements that define the unique position of humans in the history of life.

To find out more about the exhibit, which explores ideas of evolution and what makes us human, visit their website at http://www.humanoriginsbtv.com/.