Reflections on the Journey of Mount Mansfield Unitarian Universalist Fellowship

by Gaye Symington

This talk was delivered as a part of the Meeting House Dedication Ceremony on May 16, 2010

In 1992 several people began to talk about starting a Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Jericho.  They were attending the Burlington Church and hoped to establish a faith community that would be part of their home community.  One of the challenges of attending Burlington was the timing of the services relative to their children’s hunger and the events of a Sunday.  Portending things to come, it was the needs of children that in large part sparked the energy around starting a fellowship in Jericho.

I was invited to join those original instigators as they decided to hold a first service.  At the time I was home with two kids, involved in the community as a volunteer, and thinking I should be seeking a faith community for my family.  Though I knew very little about Unitarian Universalism I was asked to speak at the first service.

I read from Sunryu Suzuki’s Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, “In the Beginner’s Mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s mind there are only a few.” 

A band of renegades from the big church and new parents seeking a faith home for their families; if nothing else, we were certainly full of possibilities.

And as we headed off into our pattern of services twice a month, we would find new challenges along our path together…

• How to balance our need for spiritual growth with providing the same for our children

• How to incorporate music into our expressions of faith

• How to establish from scratch a pattern of traditions that could anchor our Sundays and our year together

There’s no way to list all that happened over the course of fifteen years as a fellowship, but some particular scenes came to my mind this week:

• Often just a single image sticks in my mind from a service.  As when Jean White’s laid out a labyrinth in masking tape on the floor of the school cafeteria and then led us on a meditative walk through it, past each other in silence for a large part of the service.  Or in Adrie Kusserow’s poetry, the cautionary analogy of religion as the inside of a Krispy Kreem donut.

• Evergreen Erb invited a guest who led a pagan service which included the chant, The Earth, The Air, The Fire, The Water, which we then incorporated into all our services as we light the chalice.

• As 3rd and 4th graders Mary Lacy and Carla Beatson cartwheeled from the back of the music room to the front as the fellowship sang the chorus of I Believe I Can Fly.

• The challenge of leading a memorial service for Deedee that would do justice to our love and respect for her and her accomplishments, and yet also pull it off through our own sorrow and sense of loss.

• Service leaders have shared very personal stories – recovery from abusive relationships or rape, coming to terms with alcoholism or with service in World War II, transitioning through the many stages of the roles of parents, our personal searches for truth when the teachings of our earlier faiths left us disbelieving.

• We have held small group ministries to explore our spirituality and beliefs.

• We’ve gone on camping trips and held summer and winter retreats over the years.

• We have been blessed with talented young members, who have joined our choir, perform instrumental pieces or special songs during the offertory, and write skits or poetry for holy days and services.

• We have helped members through critical times, for example, when Peter and Amy’s house burned to the ground, when births or deaths require special care or meals, when Jim Merrill became ill recently.

• And, of course, R.E.  In the various storage units in this building we have 3 shelves or file drawers devoted to financial records and archives of meetings; 2 shelves of decorations, candles, and music for the Christmas Eve service; 2 shelves for the choir and hymnals; and five shelves and several cabinets for art supplies and r.e. materials, not counting the toys for the nursery.  That’s about the balance that’s existed since we first held services.

I was reminded of the many evolutions our religious education and children’s activities have taken when I was cleaning out the closet a few weekends ago.  In one box I found the 1993 Unitarian Universalist Association religious education curriculum. 

• Adult volunteers led classes based on that curriculum for our first year.  But there were hardly any adults left for the second half of the service and we left Sundays exhausted and needing respite, rather than feeling fulfilled.

• So, we changed things around.  For several years we offered children three choices: nurturing activities, creative activities and movement activities and cooperative games, all staffed with a combination of paid youth and volunteer adults. 

• When the movement activities became too heavy on movement and less on cooperative games, and the fellowship had the capacity to shift back to more structure, we gave more emphasis to curriculum again, incorporating paid adult leadership into the programs.

• The ages of the involved children have varied over time and the programs we have offered have shifted accordingly.  One of the largest initial cohorts established a high school group that met monthly under Don Miller’s guidance. One of them, Nate Venet, later served as president of the fellowship.  Another, Erica Baron, became a UU minister and joins us today.

• Next year we face yet another transition as Tess shifts out of her role leading our religious education programs.

There are aspects of the fellowship that have been pretty steady over the years:

Support and encouragement from the big church – Thank you Gary Kowalski and Roddy Cleary for your encouragement, for leading services out in the hinterlands each year, for inviting us in turn to the Burlington service, and for giving voice to the principles and values of our faith in the public arena.

Ebbs and flows – As with many of you, my level of engagement with the fellowship has varied depending on where I have been with my life.  Extra-curricular activities for my children or my work have meant there have been years when I hardly attended services, much less contributed to them.  I’ve been glad to have MMUUF here and, when I’ve returned, I’ve been welcomed without reprimand for my absences.

People step up – Someone or teams of people have stepped up when the fellowship needs a shot of energy – for the building, for programs for children, for older youth.

Balancing our needs and desires with our capacity - We took a long time to decide we wanted to secure and establish a sacred space and there is a new level of commitment that comes with owning and maintaining a building and its grounds.  And, yet, this too is an in-between space for us as we hope to eventually move our sanctuary into the former hayloft with its view of our namesake mountain.  We recognize that goal, but we are aware of the limits of our time and financial resources and work to be patient.

I’ll close with one more constant of our fellowship and that is gratitude.  I was asked to recognize in particular the founding members of the fellowship, and express gratitude for their initial energy and willingness to embark on the unknown, as beginners. Would the founding members rise ….  As one of those members, I would like, in turn, to express gratitude for all that the intervening leaders and the current membership have given to this fellowship as it has grown. 

I’ll close by again quoting Sunryu Suzuki:
“In the Beginner’s Mind there are many possibilities,
but in the expert’s mind there are only a few.” 

We are grateful for this space and for the adventures ahead as we learn, share, worship and face new transitions together, beginners still.
Gaye Symington, 5-16-2010