Weybridge Congregational Church

The bad news: We have a housing crisis in Addison County. 

The good news: You can explore & support solutions.

 Come Sunday June 4 at 5 pm to The Congregational Church of Middlebury, UCC (Unity Hall) to learn about three different initiatives to alleviate Addison County’s housing shortage: HomeShare VT, Tiny Homes, and Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs). Hear case studies and receive a valuable resource sheet. 

Sponsored by the Middlebury Area Interfaith Affordable Housing Alliance. For more, email Mike Greenwood (mike802vt@comcast.com) or visit cvuus.org/news.  

From the Stewardship CommitteeChurch Clean Up Day is on Saturday, May 6, from 9-11:30, coinciding with Vermont’s Green Up Day. Bring your rakes, shovels, pruning shears, cleaning towels, or dust busters. We’ll be working inside and outside this year, which means there are plenty of flies in the loft and weeds in the garden that need to go. Pitch in where you’d like and for however long you can and enjoy coffee and donuts with great company. If you have any specific questions about what’s happening or how you can help, John M. and Steve are managing the outdoor work, Karen is organizing the indoor work, and David is providing snacks. Feel free to reach out to any of them ahead of time or just show up on Saturday morning ready to dig in!

From Pastor Caryne

Hello, Weybridge Church!

Last Sunday, we “Eastered” in so many different ways. Several of you helped decorate the altar and the front of the church with items that remind you of your connection to creation. I enjoyed hearing each of you share about what made your item special. Our choir blesses us every time they sing, but it felt like some special joy was present this last Sunday. And we all prayerfully made our Creation Care pledges: committing to awareness and action in recognition that the things we do to steward the Earth ripple outward. Last but not least, Nancy and Baird’s locavore fellowship hour featured treats from very close by, including apple scones baked by Baird. I left on Sunday feeling nourished and energized, both physically and spiritually. 

This week is our 5th Sunday of Service! Our worship will be in the form of service at the Addison County Parent Child Center in Middlebury. (There will be no service at the church building!) We will meet at the Center (126 Monroe Street) at 10am and wrap things up by noon (feel free to come for as long as you can). Hopefully, we’ll be able to dodge the rain and work on different yard and gardening projects: painting a shed, planting herbs, and starting some seeds. We will also have note cards available for writing notes of encouragement to the staff of the Center. Our Cornwall neighbors will join us for what I am sure will be a fun morning of worship looking different.

A reminder that Green Up/Clean Up Day is coming up on Saturday, May 6th! As we did last year, we are combining our church Clean Up Day with Vermont’s Green Up Day. We’ll meet at the church building at 9am and divide up tasks, both indoors and outdoors, to spruce things up. We will have a table out in front with refreshments for both Clean Uppers and Green Uppers. I’ve let Peggy Lyons know that we are happy for anyone from the community to stop by, say hello, and fuel up for greening. I had a lot of fun seeing all of the activity in and around the church last year, and I’m excited for that again this year.

Peace,

Caryne  

Community Forest Celebration

Sunday, April 30, 2023
3 – 5pm at the Waterworks
4783 Plank Road Bristol, VT

Come celebrate springtime—warmth, light, flowers, sap, songbirds, and
all things green and growing. So much to be thankful for. Join us at the
beautiful Norton Brook Reservoir to welcome the warmest months of
the year with food, music, poetry, campfire, and a wee bit of dancing

‘round the maypole.

Music and maypole begin at 4pm at the reservoir. No dogs please.
Park on the road shoulder. Bring a dish/beverage to share

& your own plate, cup, and utensils.

Sponsored by Vermont Family Forests & The Watershed Center

Spirit In Nature announces Eco-Spirit Award and Annual Meeting The Board of Trustees of the Spirit in Nature Paths in Ripton are glad to announce that the 2023 Eco-Spirit Award will be presented to Carol Spooner, founding member of SpIN, at the SpIN Annual Meeting. This meeting will be at the Ripton Community House, on Sunday March 19, from 4:00 to 5:00 pm. Prior to the Annual Meeting will be a short guided walk, from 2:30 to 3:30 pm, starting at the SpIN parking area. All are invited to attend one or both of these events, which are free of charge.

Carol Spooner has been a guiding light for SpIN since its inception, starting with the SpIN declaration of purpose: “Spirit In Nature’s mission is to educate the community about the environment through the vehicle of traditional religions, and to promote action based on spiritually-sensitive concerns for the environment.” Carol was the President of the Spirit In Nature Board of Trustees for ten years, during which she significantly expanded the financial base of the organization, encouraged the growth of its path network, and established ties with faith-based communities in the area.

SpIN maintains a network of walking paths just off Goshen Road in Ripton, on forested land that SpIn maintains under a license agreement with Middlebury College. This year, 2023, marks the 25th anniversary of the founding of SpIN, inspired by the Dalai Lama’s visit to Middlebury in 1998. Each path has quotations from a particular spiritual or religious tradition.

Rev. Caryne Eskridge

Exodus 24:12-18
Matthew 17:1-9

In order to get a sense of the lifespan of the Green Mountains, we have to stretch our sense of the passing of time to its limits. The geological term for the birth of mountains is orogeny, from the Greek words for mountain and creation. The orogeny of the Green Mountains starts 1.4 billion years ago, when two landmasses collided and part of the edge of that collision was pushed upward into a mountain range. Mountains actually keep growing until the forces that pushed them upward wane and erosion, the process that gradually wears them down, becomes primary. That first mountain range eventually eroded down over millions of years to hills. If we fast forward to 450 million years ago, the rocks that remained from that first orogeny became part of another mountain range. After millions of years of erosion, this range is what we know as the Green Mountains. It is mind-bending to try to conceptualize the lifespan of these mountains that we see, walk beside, and hike up. At the same time we’re aware of the ancient story of the mountains and aware of our presence in that moment. We feel both utterly connected to the larger story and at the same time we are acutely aware that we are a small part of that story.

[Click here to read full sermon. https://weybridgechurch.files.wordpress.com/2023/03/sermon_2-19.pdf]

Open Your Hearts and Imaginations

Weybridge’s haiku contests for the past two pandemic years have asked writers to open their hearts and imaginations and address the challenging world around them. Those prompts drew 177 responses from 28 writers in 2021 and 217 responses again from 28 writers in 2022.

The 2023 contest, the fifth annual, again prompts writers to open their hearts and imagination to the light and darkness, happiness and sadness, joy and wonder in our lives.

“Writers have a blank slate to consider questions big and small,” novelist Chris Bohjalian, a contest judge, commented. “Earthbound questions like what do squirrels know that we don’t and what’s the future of the maple tree. And more cosmic questions like Life is all about saying good-bye, about being reborn. When does the soul crave darkness, hanker for light.” “I would be sad if all the haikus were gloom and doom. I hope that we can also focus on something other than the virus,” fellow judge Martha Winant, Weybridge winner of the 2021 contest,” suggests. “Consider lighter topics like Coming Out of Hibernation. ” In addition to Bohjalian and Winant, this year’s judges include Narges Anzali, Weybridge’s youth poet laureate and a past youth winner, and Gwen Nagy-Benson, Weybridge winner of the 2022 contest.

Haiku. The poem should be in the haiku form—either the traditional form of three lines no more than seventeen syllables total (5-7-5) or a short three lines that captures the spirit of the haiku. There are no limits on the number of haikus a writer can submit.

Eligibility. Participants of all ages are encouraged to submit. There is a youth division, through high school, and an adult division. You do not have to be a Weybridge resident but must be a Vermonter. No experience needed. Give it a try!

Deadline. Submit haikus to George Bellerose, contest administrator, by March 1. Email georgebellerose@gmavt.net or 80 Meetinghouse Lane, Weybridge, VT 05753. He will forward them to the four judges. Winners will be announced at the end of March to celebrate Poetry Month in April Awards. Judges select three youth winners, both Weybridge and Vermont, and three adult winners, Weybridge and Vermont.

Winners can choose from books by Weybridge’s co-poet laurates, Julia Alvarez, the founder of the contest, and novelist Jay Parini, as well from books by Chris Bohjalian.

Everyone is way above average in this contest, with each writer receiving a Certificate of Participation and a playful Best of Honorific.

For more information: George Bellerose, haiku contest administrator 80 Meetinghouse Lane Weybridge, VT. 05753 Tel. 802 545-2035 Email georgebellerose@gmavt.net

On January 29th,  Weybridge folks are invited to join our neighbors at the First Congregational Church of Cornwall for worship in the form of a service project. Stay tuned for details about the project. Plan to be at the First Congregational Church of Cornwall at 10am to join the effort. (There will be no worship at Weybridge Church on January 29th.)