The theme this year is Wonder & Joy in Many Voices; a celebration of birth, families, possibilities, and the quiet of Christmas. Songs, stories, readings, and candlelight will fill the barn and our hearts. Visiting family and friends, as well as newcomers – all are welcome.
Inspired by Advent and other December sacred observances, our service this Sunday will explore the role of waiting and anticipation in our spiritual journeys. In our daily lives, we often find ourselves waiting for things big and little. And yet, more and more, our technology and culture shape us to expect instant results and rapid change. How do we live in this tension? How can we get better at waiting, and what unexpected possibilities might it offer for spiritual growth?
Our third principle states: “Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations.” Being a teacher, and now an art teacher, Dusty will explore how the third principle enfolds in his classroom and in our congregation. Art is a powerful way to be spiritual, it’s inherent mindfulness and its creative spirit.
Dustin Kemp was raised in the Midwest outside of Chicago. He grew up Christian, became a Buddhist, and most recently has fallen in love with Taoist thoughts and ideas (surely this qualifies him as a Unitarian Universalist!) He has worked as an engineer, taught high school math for the last 15 years, and is now teaching high school art.
The third principle calls us to accept one another and encourage spiritual growth. This is the first UU principle that brings a “spirit” into discussion and we will dive into what that can look like if we don’t have faith in an other being. We will discuss other motivations to do good other than fear and the promise of an afterlife, and other questions that arise when one charts their own course.
Maura Collins has been a member of MMUUF for the past six years. She works on affordable housing issues in the state and speaks publicly on that topic regularly, but is otherwise wholly unqualified to give a sermon at a church. That said, she is working towards accepting her Humanist beliefs and trying to understand how she can covenant to encourage spiritual growth when she struggles with the “spirit.”
Probably everyone has had immeasurable numbers of deeply satisfying gratitude experiences – though likely, with little knowledge of how much good they were doing for their own well-being, much less the broader community, too. Yet, according to guest preacher Ginny Sassaman, an “Attitude of Gratitude” is so beneficial, it’s almost a requirement for anyone who wants to be happy and/or wants to make the world a happier place. Sassaman, an experienced lay preacher throughout central Vermont, and a national expert on happiness, will share the science and beauty of gratitude on October 28th.
Let’s ask ourselves whether we can “get up” on the backs of others’ lives without a sense of our own unique calling. Do others’ lives help to clarify or appreciate our own calling? Whose life are you presently drawing energy and inspiration from? Does it relate in any way to your own vocation?
Roddy O’Neil Cleary is a retired Emerita UU minister who is a religious hybrid, a catholic unitarian. She was a member of a religious community of sisters for almost 15 years, a campus minister at UVM for 15 years, and served at 1st UU in Burlington for 11 years. She is working at present in Hospice and prison ministry.
Rev. Jane Dwinell and Sky Yardley have been Living with Dementia since the summer of 2016 when Sky was diagnosed with early stage Alzheimer’s disease at age 66. Jane is a retired UU minister who specialized in assisting small congregations, and is the author of Big Ideas for Small Congregations. Sky is a retired family mediator, and assisted the Mt. Mansfield Fellowship in the early 2000s when we were considering purchasing a building. They live in Burlington with their son, Sayer, and his partner, Emma, where they garden, enjoy the lake, and play a round of disc golf whenever possible.
This Service will be our annual Gather the Waters. Bring water and a memory from a special summer place to share with the Fellowship. The water poured into a common vessel represents our shared faith coming from many different sources.
Join us for our annual Flower Ceremony and the Final Service of the current fellowship year until we meet again in September. This will be a time to share and reflect upon the year we’ve spent together.
