Archives: Services

Another Possibility, Waiting

We tend to agree readily with Rev. Rebecca Parker’s well-known advice to “Choose to Bless the World,” but should we be focusing on doing more of it collectively as visible communities of UU’s? Rev. Barnaby Feder, a lifelong UU now in his 11th year leading our Middlebury congregation, reflects his experiences with the challenges, pitfalls, and most promising ways toward making Love effective together.

Rev. Barnaby Feder has been the Champlain Valley UU Society’s Lead Minister since Aug., 2012, and will be retiring on June 30. Rev. Feder is a San Francisco Bay Area native. He was raised in a UU congregation in San Mateo, Calif., that his late mother helped organize. After graduating from Williams College, he became a reporter.. After a break from 1974-77 to obtain a J.D. Degree at the University of California at Berkeley School of Law, he resumed worked as a journalist. He spent 27 years with The New York Times and was one of the writers on the award-winning Portraits of Grief project memorializing the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Barnaby entered seminary at Drew Theological School in 2008. Prior to being called to Middlebury, he served as a ministerial intern in Morristown, NJ., and half-time interim minister in Stroudsburg, Pa.

A Personal Reflection on the Importance of Community

In this sermon, Mike will share his own experience of how he found himself in a place of isolation due to a combination of being a stay-at-home dad and developing chronic pain from a degenerative condition. He’ll share how he has found a sense of personal peace and meaningful contribution by seeking out and contributing to communities of caring individuals. And he’ll share his thoughts on the importance of nurturing deeply connected communities during a time of great technological and social change to restrengthen our democratic culture and work toward the goal of peace, liberty, and justice for all.

Mike Sweeney is an active volunteer in the Jericho and wider Vermont community. He currently serves as the secretary of MMUUF steering committee, the town chair of the Jericho Democratic Committee, the secretary of the Chittenden County Democratic Committee, and a Jericho justice of the peace. He also serves as a mentor through the Spectrum Youth Services program. 

Mike has a background in the arts, education, and owning a small business. He has been the primary caregiver for his 2 children for several years and homeschooled his children for 5 years.  

Sunday Service

Services are led by members of the fellowship and by invited guest speakers, including visiting UU ministers and leaders of other faiths. Each Service explores a different topic. Check back later for this Service’s speaker and topic. Services will be held in person at the Barn and virtually via Zoom. Please email info@mmuuf.org if you are interested in joining us on Zoom.

Peace, Justice and Liberty: More Messy Verbs Than Holy Nouns

People often think of having peace, justice or liberty, as if they were things. Some think of these as harmonious states of being that should be provided by the government, and others view them as ongoing struggles in which they are righteous participants. But perhaps we should see these three as opposing forces that need each other for balance, and that the balancing is our fraught co-responsibility.

Kevin Geiger has worked in regional planning in Vermont for 30 years. He also spent a few years with the National Park Service as a wildland firefighter. He is the town moderator for Pomfret, where he lives, and is a sporadic member of the North Universalist Chapel Society in Woodstock. He is a decent cook, devoted gardener, chatty apple pruner, ex soccer coach turned referee, good husband, proud father of two, and is half dog. He thinks a lot.

Memorial Service

The Cares and Concerns Committee of MMUUF will be hosting a memorial service honoring our beloved dead. Members and guests will have an opportunity to remember a beloved one no longer with us. This could be a person, or dog or cat, or any creature that caused your heart to swell with grief. Folks are asked to bring some items for our beloved dead altar, even if they aren’t speaking. But we would love to have people, members or guests, share a two or three minute memory of whoever you are honoring. Children may also share before they leave for RE classes. It will be received with respect and love.

What Can I See Now That I Couldn’t See Then?

In this service Gaye will look back to February, 2020, to consider how her perspective on history and pretty much everything has shifted given the events and lessons of the past three years. Years where, together, we witnessed George Floyd’s murder for 9 minutes on video, where, together, we experienced a pandemic that claimed lives disproportionately by race and income, and where our legislative leaders acknowledged and apologized for state policies that caused lasting harm to our Indigenous, disabled and low-income neighbors. Gaye’s learning journey is a work in progress and she’ll invite others to share their perspective. She has been a member of MMUUF since 1993 and lives in Jericho.

Home

About “home” the author and civil rights activist Maya Angelou wrote, “The ache for home lives in all of us. The safe place where we can go as we and not be questioned.” Graham Rowles, a gerontology professor at the University of Kentucky, said “We have a need for a place that is called home. Home provides security, control, belonging, identity, and privacy, among other things. But most of all, it is a place that provides us with a centering– a place from which we leave each morning and to which we return each evening.” What does “home” mean to you? This talk about home explores loss, perspective, gratitude, and hope.

Hilary has devoted her career to ending homelessness. She has worked in shelters, supervised street outreach teams, and administered permanent supportive housing programs in Boston, New York, and Vermont. She helped pioneer the evidence-based Housing First model in the 90s in New York City and brought the Housing First model to Vermont in 2009. As the founding Executive Director of Pathways Vermont, in addition to permanent supported housing programs, Hilary has developed alternative community mental health initiatives to meet the unmet needs of Vermonters experiencing mental health challenges. These include the Pathways Vermont Community Center, Support Line, and Soteria House. Hilary is a former Peace Corps Volunteer, having served four years in Benin, West Africa. She holds an MFA degree in creative writing/poetry and lives with her family in South Burlington.

Growing Our Happiness Muscles to Build a Better World

Many well-meaning people think focusing on personal happiness in such a tumultuous time is self-centered, that our energies should be focused more on helping others. In fact, building our personal happiness muscles is one of the best ways to help advance whatever cause is near and dear to our hearts. Ginny Sassaman, author of “Preaching Happiness: Creating a Just and Joyful World” lays out in a very down to earth way how the science of happiness can help us find more joy AND greater effectiveness in our social justice work. 

Ginny Sassaman is the author of “Preaching Happiness: Creating a Just and Joyful World,” a collection of her sermons published in 2020. She is a writer, mediator, artist and activist. As a co-founder of Gross National Happiness USA and of the Happiness Paradigm, she has spoken on the connection between personal happiness and social justice coast-to-coast, and even in Costa Rica. Ginny is a member of the Unitarian Church of Montpelier, which invited her to deliver her first sermon in 2013. Since then she has delivered dozens of sermons at UU churches in Vermont, Massachusetts, Wisconsin and South Carolina. Ginny has a Masters in Mediation and Applied Conflict Studies, and a Certificate in Positive Psychology.

Reflections on Gratitude

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Can the practice of gratitude have a positive effect on your daily life? In this service, Ann and Catherine will share their thoughts and reflections and ask others in attendance to share their own experiences.

Ann Bonanno and Catherine Stevens are both members of MMUUF as well as members of the Sunday Service Committee.