Archives: Services

Happiness for Everyone: Our Moral Obligation to Change the Economic Paradigm

Happiness is not just an inside job. We are all also governed by systems, beliefs, paradigms – and measures. Measures like salary, the price of gas or our weight not only guide many of our personal decisions but also can dictate sometimes wildly skewed public policy, like the Gross Domestic Product, or GDP, paradigm which dictates how success is measured much more than it should, and at too high of a price. This sermon highlights the need to adopt a more holistic set of measures for greater well being for all, and to step away from the GDP which is leading to economic devastation and undermining collective happiness and well-being.

Ginny is a co-founder and past president of Gross National Happiness USA, and is currently on the GNHUSA advisory board. In 2011, Ginny started the Happiness Paradigm as a platform for writing, teaching about, and advocating for greater personal happiness and systems change for well-being. Ginny is a member of the Unitarian Church of Montpelier, and is very happy to be back with the Mount Mansfield fellowship for the fifth time

Radical Leadership

Radical leadership: To truly embrace resistance (to fascism and far right ideology), we must be willing to welcome radical leadership. Not “radical”, the noun. I mean “radical”, the adjective. Radical, meaning essential, fundamental and profound: a model that fully embraces the ideology of being broad-minded, open to new opinions and ideas, willing to discard outdated modes of thinking and acting. Radical leadership elevates the voices of others; making space as we learn and practice how to stand together—when it’s uncomfortable, even when we’re unsure of the outcome. Becca Balint is the Majority Leader in the Vermont State Senate and represents Windham County. She was just re-elected to her fourth term and is poised to become the first woman to become Senate President Pro Tempore and the first openly gay person to lead either legislative chamber.

UU Strategies for Foxholes

This week a friend reminded me of the saying, “there are no atheists in foxholes.” 2020 has felt like a year of being in a foxhole, with nightmare scenarios pressing in from a range of existential disasters: a global health pandemic, pervasive structural racism, climate change exacerbated wildfire and hurricane seasons and political brinksmanship that feels just a step away from civil war.

In this service I will build on thoughts that emerged from the early October RExploration, where we talked about whether Hope is a necessary ingredient to managing through a crisis. What touchstones or tools can keep us going if Hope seems elusive or truly is no longer present? Where do we draw the presence of mind and heart to place one foot in front of the other in those situations.

Needless to say, you should not come to this service expecting clear answers to these questions. But, with readings and poetry and a few reflections, I imagine we can connect, exchange stories and thoughts, and provide support for each other from our socially distant Zoom box foxholes.

Gaye Symington lives in Jericho and has been a member of MMUUF since 1993. She is the lead staff of the Burlington-based High Meadows Fund which provides grants, mission-focused investments, and collaborative thinking to promote a healthy natural environment and long-term economic vitality in Vermont. And she hoping to shake off a masochistic habit of signing up to lead the first service after a presidential election two cycles in a row.

Engage or Shelter?

In this service, Dana Baron will explore the role of our spiritual community in addressing the social and political chaos that is unfolding around us. Many of our members and friends are taking action individually, but is there or should there be a role for our Fellowship as a whole? Should we engage in the struggle collectively? Or should our Fellowship provide shelter – spiritual, emotional, and even physical – from the storm? Dana Baron is a long-time member of MMUUF and has served in many roles. Now retired, he has recently moved from Essex to Shelburne with his wife Karen. For the time being, services will be exclusively held virtually via Zoom. Please email info@mmuuf.org for how to join!

Reflections on Love and Courage in the Fall of 2020

With a daily shift in the ground beneath us during this tumultuous year, MMUUF member and Vice President Kelly McCutcheon Adams will offer reflections on love and courage in trying times and will also offer opportunities for self-reflection for attendees. For the time being, services will be exclusively held virtually via Zoom. Please email info@mmuuf.org for how to join!

Slow Democracy: Reaching for Understanding in Uncivil Times

These extraordinary times of political polarization call for special attention in our everyday thoughts and words. A contemplation of the qualities we can nurture to strengthen our communities and democracy.

Susan Clark is an author and community educator who focuses on sustainable community engagement.

Services are being exclusively held virtually via Zoom. Please email info@mmuuf.org for how to join!

Gathering the Waters

On Sunday, Mount Mansfield UU Fellowship will come together to begin our new Fellowship year – via Zoom. As is our tradition, we will take time to share with each other some of our experiences from the summer. Where have the past three months led you on your spiritual journey? As you ponder that question, prepare a sentence or two to share with the Fellowship. It has been a summer like no other, and we all have much to share. But please keep your remarks brief and focus more on your spiritual journey than your physical journeys.

Collecting Water at the Barn: If you would like to mingle some water that symbolizes your journey with the common waters of the Fellowship, you can come to the barn anytime before the afternoon of Saturday September 12 and pour your water into the container you’ll find near the main entrance. Please be sure it is well sealed as you leave. And if you can’t join us on Sunday, send an email with the words you’d like to share and we’ll read it to the Fellowship.

Services are being exclusively held virtually via Zoom. Please email info@mmuuf.org for how to join!

Many Paths

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In our last Service of the Fellowship year, we will celebrate the many paths we have walked together during this year. Dana Baron and Kelly McCutcheon Adams will lead the service, weaving in the words of Fellowship members describing the hardships, losses, joys and hopes that they have experienced in this most extraordinary year.

Dana Baron is a long-time member of MMUUF and has served in many roles. Now retired, he has recently moved from Essex to Shelburne with his wife Karen.

Kelly McCutcheon Adams has been a member of MMUUF for eight years and is currently serving as the Vice President. She lives in Essex Junction with her husband Paul and their two children, Tess and Riordan. She telecommutes to Boston as a Senior Director at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.

Forgiveness

This sermon explores this widely celebrated virtue. But is it always a virtue? What might we conclude about forgiveness when considered in light of our UU principles?

Theresa Krieger is a long time member of the UU Church of Rutland where she has served in various capacities including congregation president. She lives in Rutland with her partner, Emily and their kitty, Finnegan.

The Mysteries of Religious Education (RE)

RE Sunday Service, a shared service compiled and led by MMUUF’s RE Committee: Dusty Kemp, Maura Collins, Tresa Greenblott, Danielle Thierry and Gaye Symington

Do you ever wonder what we actually do in our RE classrooms? Join us this Sunday for a taste of RE, drawings, songs, and BIG questions….