Our Accompanist
Music this summer is provided by pianist Numa Haase. Drawn to the piano from an early age, Numa began teaching himself at church before receiving formal lessons and studying music through high school and at Louisiana State University. Although he initially majored in music, his curiosity led him to explore fields ranging from physics to linguistics and anthropology. Seeking a deeper understanding of the world, he spent years living in Mexico, Québec, India, Nepal, and Southeast Asia, learning languages and immersing himself in diverse cultures. Now settled in Vermont, Numa has returned to the piano, reconnecting with a lifelong passion that had been largely absent during his travels. We extend our heartfelt thanks to Numa for his dedication and for inspiring our Sunday worship each week with beautiful piano music.
June 21
“Compassion Begins At Home” 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. We are happy to welcome Gunny back to our pulpit!
June 28
“The Summer Solstice Celebration” with Eyal Amiel (and WUUC Annual Meeting)
The Summer Solstice celebration honors the fullness of light, abundance, and vitality at the peak of the Earth’s annual journey around the Sun. Through music, meditation, and ritual connection with the natural world, we will gather in gratitude for growth, community, and the life-giving energy of high summer. Participants are invited to reflect on balance, joy, and the ways they can carry the light of compassion and justice into the wider world.
Eyal Amiel is a poet, songwriter, immunology researcher and professor, seeker on the mystical path, and devotee of the natural world. The central expressions and ideals of his spirituality are the cultivation of peace, within and without, creative expression as acts of holy devotion, and honoring and working with the cycles of nature as primary teachers for inner growth and transformation. He is a graduate of the Green Mountain Druid School, where he has been initiated into the sacred practices of the Neo Druid tradition according to the vision and teachings of Ivan McBeth and Fearn Lickfield of the Green Mountain Druid Order. We are delighted to welcome Eyal back to our pulpit!
July 5
Dian Parker
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
July 12
Kate Plummer
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 2021, and is glad to be returning this year. We are delighted to welcome Kate back to our pulpit!
July 19
Rev. Joan Javier-Duval
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.
July 26
“The Sacred Harvest Celebration” with Eyal Amiel
The Sacred Harvest celebration (Lughnassadh in the Celtic Wheel-of-the-Year festival calendar) marks the first harvest and the turning toward autumn. Rooted in themes of gratitude, labor, sacrifice, and community interdependence, in this service we will reflect on what has been cultivated and what is ready to be shared. Togetherwe will honor the cycles of nature and the sacred work of gathering wisdom, nourishment, and hope for the seasons ahead. Participants will be encouraged to bring a gift from their garden or land (there will be plenty of offerings to share if this is a hardship for any reason) as an altar offering as we celebrate the bounty of the Earth Mother.
August 2
Julie Bond
August 9
Rev. Karen G. Johnston
For nearly twenty years, Rev. Karen has been swimming in the Insight Meditation stream of Buddhism, practicing meditation, deepening her spiritual practice of befriending death, and occasionally giving dharma talks and leading spiritual retreats. Trained as an end-of-life doula, she is the founder of Date with Death Club, a curriculum to explore mortality in community. While in New Jersey, out of her commitment to dismantling white supremacy, she co-founded the Lost Souls Public Memorial Project. An adoptive mother of two children (now young adults), a second marriage to Tony brought two stepchildren and now three grandchildren. She and Tony live with their beloved pets, Vera and Riley. Some of her writing can be found at her blog, Awake & Witness.
August 16
Ginny Sassaman
August 23
Music Sunday
August 30
Rev. Joan Javier-Duval
