Our services were at 10:00 am until about 11 am (except Aug. 18 when the ordination ran about 90 min.); there were potlucks following;
and adult religious education after that most Sundays.
June 23 – “Give Yourself to Love: Living Universalism”
with Rev. Dr. M’ellen Kennedy. Helen Wilson, accompanist.
Universalism is a way of being in the world with an open, awakened heart. It invites us to commit ourselves to being a channel of love and healing even in challenging situations. Join us for this Sunday of Universalist Revival.
This service will include an opportunity for new members to sign the book. We’ll have an Impromtu Choir Rehearsal at 9 AM. Please join us.
June 30 – “Universal Love in Buddhist Teachings–Cultivating Lovingkindness and Awakening to Inherent Goodness”
with Laelia Tawnamaia. Helen Wilson, accompanist.
Buddhist theory of human nature asserts that we share with all sentient beings an essential basic goodness. Buddhist practices for spiritual development in the Mahayana lineages (Tibetan, Chinese etc.) foster at their core a commitment to uncovering compassion for all beings.
July 7 – “Happiness Runs In a Circular Motion,”
with Ginny Sassaman. Music will be provided by friends.
We’ll explore why cultivating individual happiness is such an important spiritual practice, not only for personal well- being but also out of compassion for ourselves, others, and the world around us. Ginny will share findings from happiness research and provide some key
strategies — especially those involving compassion — that anyone can choose to follow.
July 14 – “Our Authentic Selves: Telling Our Stories”
with Rev. M’ellen Kennedy & Rev. Gregory Wilson. Helen Wilson, accompanist.
July 21 – “Health is Our First Wealth”
with Rev. M’ellen Kennedy. Helen Wilson, accompanist.
July 28 – “One Song: On Compassion and Spiritual Health”
with Rev. Dr. M’ellen Kennedy. Helen Wilson, accompanist.
August 4 – “Compassion for the Light and the Shadow”
with Rev. Abigail Stockman. Helen Wilson, accompanist.
To see ourselves in the other especially when we don’t like what we see, is one of the challenges of compassion that Thich Nhat Hanh speaks to in his poem “Call Me By My True Names”.
August 11 – “Friends on the Path”
We’ll explore together the surprising potency of friendship as we travel the spiritual path.
with Rev. Dr. M’ellen Kennedy. Helen Wilson, accompanist.
August 18 – Ordination of Laelia Tawnamaia (Click here for letter from her.)
With Anna Weisenfeld, accompanist. Director of Music, Steve Finner.
Special Ordination Choir. Details here: Ordination Invitation
August 26 – “Who Are We Becoming? Learning to Live Love”
Rev. Dr. M’ellen Kennedy. With Helen Wilson, accompanist.
September 1 – Labor Day Worship Service followed by picnic at the church.
Rev. Dr. M’ellen Kennedy.
Info on our minister and guests in the pulpit:
Rev. Dr. M’ellen Kennedy serves as our summer minster, preaching about half of the Sundays that we meet. She is a Unitarian Universalist minster and is just finishing a two year interim ministry in Barre, Vermont. She is co-founder of the UU Small Group Ministry network. She is also founder of Peace and Unity Bridge, a program to cultivate
friendship and understanding among Muslims and non-Muslims, sponsored by this congregation.
Laelia Tawnamaia is a UU minister living in Marshfield. See her letter for more info.
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, an artist, a workshop facilitator, and a writer/advocate for happiness at Happinessparadigm.wordpress.com. She also logs many happy hours as a grandmother. She is a member of the Montpelier, Vermont Unitarian Church.
Rev. Gregory Wilson has been Minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Brevard, in Melbourne, FL since 2004. Gregory lives in Port Saint Lucie, FL, and in the summers, in Vershire, Vt.
Rev. Abigail Stockman is a Spiritual Care and Bereavement Counselor with a Hospice in NH. She also has a Justice and Prison ministry, serving as a volunteer chaplain at the Northern State Correctional Facility and is one of the volunteer members of the Newport Community Justice Reparative Board. She lives in Irasburg, VT.
