This Sunday

Building a Masterpiece

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Our Spirituality and the Arts summer worship series begins with this service shared by Ann Webster and Jason Duquette Hoffman. “You’ve gotta dance like there’s nobody watching, love like you’ll never be hurt, sing like there’s nobody listening, and live like it’s heaven on earth.”  … read more.

Learning at CVUUS

Learning at CVUUS

We provide children, youth, young adults, and adults an opportunity to explore, reflect, and learn in a nurturing spiritual community.

Religious Exploration

Welcome to CVUUS

Welcome to the CVUUS website! We’re glad you’re here.
Ground Floor Construction to Begin in September!

Ground Floor Construction to Begin in September!

Funds for Kitchen and A/V Still Needed. Click for more information.

THANK YOU!

Rev. Barnaby Writes

From the Minister

Rev. Barnaby Feder, Minister

I was hesitant when your Board and Council of Ministries members asked me to contribute to this annual report. In this report, you are saying to each other and to the future, “Here’s what our congregation did during – and with – the precious 12 months from last year’s annual meeting through this year’s gathering.” Part of me felt that the single strongest statement I could make affirming that this is your congregation, not mine even though I am your called spiritual leader and, under our governance system, acting chief executive, would be to keep my voice out of this.  
    
But because I serve you, I will honor this request in two ways. First, some advice about perspective:     

Your annual report will be incomplete. Enjoy it for what it is above all else – a declaration that CVUUS accomplished a lot of things that matter to those who participated and will matter to those who come after us. This is only the second year the congregation has done this kind of report. You are still getting the hang of it. Inevitably, many reasons for gratitude, celebration, and honesty about challenges encountered will get cursory treatment or no mention at all. Moreover, a year is a long time and you are a diverse group. Even the most fabulous annual report will fail to do you justice as history.       Read More about “From the Minister”…

Save the Dates!

Member Stories

Love is the doctrine of this church, the search for truth is its sacrament, and service is its prayer.

I love those words, and to me they capture the essence of CVUUS, what we do here together each week, and what we take with us when we leave and go out in to the greater world.

I believe that everything in this life at its most fundamental level is based on love, and that everything we do in life must have love as its foundation.

I believe that justice, compassion, and respect are all born of love, and I feel that righteous anger, too, springs from love and a passion to make things equitable and just.

I believe that love will always win in the end. Always.

This may all sounds well and good, and I will readily admit that I am an idealist. But am I a PollyAnna? Not by a long shot. I know there are tremendous obstacles and trials on the path of love. It’s something we all deal with every single day.

But I see CVUUS as an incubator of love and hope, as a safe haven in which to envision and build the stepping stones to a more loving and peaceful world. CVUUS is a place where I come precisely because we don’t all look the same, we don’t all think the same way, and we don’t all approach things from the same perspective. That’s the way life is. We respect and value our differences, and even though we may not always be perfect when it comes to bridging our differences, it is something we yearn for and strive to do.

Every time we welcome someone through that door and every time we walk out of it, we are ambassadors of justice, of compassion, and of love. And at CVUUS we are committed ambassadors.

I see it time and again in our readiness to face challenges, in our passion to act, in our fearlessness to confront hatred and violence, in our willingness to admit mistakes and to regroup and go at it again; in our eagerness to reach out and share, I see it when we look in each other’s eyes, clasp hands and honor each other and our work together.

We may be small here at #2 Duane Court in Middlebury,VT, but we are mighty. I know that our efforts and the love we build here together does and will have an impact far beyond our little burg.

So, let’s squirt some WD-40 on the hinges of our hearts and open them even wider. Let’s continue to be resilient and creative in the face of animosity and difficulties; let’s build and share more love in every possible way we can.

Because love in all its manifestations is the only way forward.