June 16
“Let’s Celebrate: The Healing Power of Fun” with Rev. Dr. Mellen Kennedy
Given that anxiety and fear have almost become normal, it is a healing and sacred activity to cultivate the art of deliberately having fun! What is fun, especially True Fun? I’ve been enjoying and will draw on the excellent book, “The Power of Fun: How to Feel Alive Again” by Catherine Price. We’ve become deadened in fear, anxiety, and confusion — and remembering and cultivating true fun in our lives is a vital pathway back to spiritual, emotional, and physical well-being. Join us for a fun exploration!
Rev. Dr. Mellen Kennedy is a Sufi minister and a Universalist minister. She has had the great honor and joy of serving as consulting minister of several congregations, including for eleven years with the Washington UU Congregation and eight years with the Springfield Meetinghouse. She enjoys gardening and running and lives in Addison County. We are delighted to welcome Mellen back to our pulpit!
June 23
“Loving Water, Loving Life” with Ginny Sassaman
Ginny Sassaman left the D.C. fast track in 2001 with her husband Bob and moved to Vermont. In 2006, Ginny returned to school, earning a Master’s in Mediation and Applied Conflict Studies at Woodbury College in Vermont. Since then, she created the position of staff mediator for Home Share Now, co-founded Gross National Happiness USA and created The Happiness Paradigm Store and Experience in Maple Corner. Today she works as a mediation coach, artist, workshop facilitator and writer/advocate for happiness at Happinessparadigm.wordpress.com. She also logs many happy hours as a grandmother. Ginny is a member of the Montpelier, VT Unitarian Church.
June 30
“Our Faith Is Challenged: Report from the 2024 UUA General Assembly” with Steve Finner
Last week the Unitarian Universalist Association held its General Assembly which included an intense discussion about the purposes and principles that define and center our faith. The delegates also debated with passion a proposed Action Immediate Witness dealing with the Middle East. Steve FInner, our Music Director, who was our congregation’s delegate to the General Assembly, will lead us through the minefield of everything that happened.
Steve Finner is an over-educated white guy of privilege who has been a member of this Faith freely chosen for 50 years. He has always been active in Unitarian Universalist denominational activities, is a published composer of UU liturgical music, and has been a very active labor union organizer and political consultant
July 7
“Holy Thresholds” with Rev. Simon Ruth De Voil
In the Celtic tradition, one of the ways we weave the wisdom of the earth into the days and seasons of our lives is by marking the holy thresholds: dawn to dusk, winter to summer, light to dark. Witnessing these seasonal shifts anchors us in the natural rhythm of the year and roots us in the land, our first and final home.
Rev. Simon Ruth de Voil is an ordained interfaith/interspiritual minister, trained to be a sacred presence outside the conventions of traditional religion. As a sacred musician, spiritual mentor and worship leader he incorporates chant, ritual, storytelling and mindful practice to create a space for profound connection and sacred witness. Simon provides music for worship, ceremony, and prayer in a wide variety of churches and non-religious spiritual communities. He particularly loves to create music for meditation, healing services, and rites of passage. Simon is also an experienced workshop and retreat leader, drawing on 15 years of study, training, and practice that grew from his time living and working in Iona Abbey. Although influenced by many traditions, Simon’s spiritual path and teaching is deeply rooted in Celtic Christianity, the wisdom of the earth, and in the Scottish land where he’s spent most of his life. Welcome back to our pulpit, Simon!
July 14
Verdis LeVar Robinson (Topic TBD)
Verdis LeVar Robinson (he/him or they) is a minister in preliminary fellowship with the Unitarian Universalist Association. He serves as Assistant Minister for Growth at First Unitarian Church of Rochester, New York. From 2020-2023 he served the Unitarian Church of Montpelier, Vermont, initially as Ministerial Intern, then as Ministerial Coordinator of Worship Arts Production and Adult Lifespan Spiritual Exploration. His last year there, he was also the Artistic Director of the Montpelier Community Gospel Choir. Welcome back to our congregation, Verdis!
July 21
Kate Plummer (Topic TBD)
Kate Plummer is a member of the Unitarian Church of Montpelier, and is grateful to have found her spiritual home in Unitarian Universalism. She completed a chaplaincy internship at UVM Medical Center in 2018-19, and has been seeking to renew her work as a nurse-midwife by integrating the principles of chaplaincy and Unitarian Universalism into her clinical practice. She last spoke at Washington UU in the summer of 2018, and is glad to be returning this year.
July 28
TBD
August 4
Dian Parker (Topic TBD)
We are pleased to welcome Dian Parker back to our pulpit! Dian’s nonfiction and fiction has been published in numerous literary journals, magazines, newspapers, and nominated for Pushcart Prizes and Best of the Net. She also writes about art and artists, including color essays, for many art magazines. Parker has traveled extensively, sleeping in shepherd huts in Sinai, and in Palmyra, Syria before ISIS bombed the ancient city, and living in the caves of Petra with Bedouins before they were forced into housing developments. She trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and was a director and teacher for many years in theatre. Currently she lives in the hills of Vermont surrounded by flowers, forests, wildlife, and bird song. www.dianparker.com
August 11
Ginny Sassaman
August 18
Hymn Sing with The Crones
August 25
Rev. Joan Javier Duval (Topic TBD)
Rev. Joan Javier-Duval has served as Minister of the Unitarian Church of Montpelier since August of 2015 where she finds daily inspiration in the shared ministry of care and transformation at the heart of congregational life. She earned a Master of Divinity degree from Yale Divinity School in 2012. Prior to the UU ministry, she engaged in social change work as a community and union organizer and nonprofit leader in Massachusetts, New Mexico, and Washington, DC. In these contexts and through her ministerial training, she developed a passion for creating Beloved Community through collective organizing that centers love, healing, and justice. Joan serves on the board of Vermont Interfaith Action and is a tri-chair of the Vermont Poor People’s Campaign.
