VECtor - January 2007

Previous VECtor & Faith Common Articles

Vermont Ecumenical Council & Bible Society Welcomes Executive Officer Dr. Linda Howe 

At their December meeting, the Trustees of the Vermont Ecumenical Council & Bible Society chose Dr. Linda Howe to be the Executive Officer.  Dr. Howe completed her doctorate in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at UVM in 2005.  She was on the UVM faculty for over twenty years, specializing in water resources.

Dr. Howe is a lay speaker and active member of her church, the Winooski United Methodist Church.  She serves as secretary for the Winooski United Methodist Women.  She is active in her community as a member of the Board of Directors of the Winooski Community Development Corporation. She also serves on an Offender Reentry Panel through the Winooski Community Justice Center.      

Dr. Howe is a skilled communicator and administrator – assets that are highly valued for the   Executive Officer position.  Council members look forward to collaborative ecumenical work with Dr. Howe and send her a wholehearted welcome!

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Service on January 23rd at St. Michael’s College, Colchester

The VECBS’s Prayer and Worship Committee  and St. Michael’s College Campus Ministry Office are sponsoring a worship service during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity on Tuesday, January 23, 2007 at St. Michael’s College Chapel at 7 p.m.  Please come for a wonderful, worship-filled service.  All are welcome!  Light refreshments will be provided following the service.

Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Project – Update from Mr. Walter Gardner

The June 2006 VECtor newsletter included an article about a proposal addressing Vermont’s substance abuse problem.  It briefly described the extent of the problem and the existing “treatment gap.”  A comprehensive program for the treatment and prevention of substance abuse has been proposed which will involve the participation, on a voluntary basis, of some of Vermont’s houses of worship.  They will provide one or more rooms, on a part-time basis, for the counseling of substance abuse patients.  The participating houses of worship would receive a modest stipend and reimbursement for expenses such as heat, light, maintenance, and insurance.

Updating us on the progress of this proposal, Mr. Gardner reports, “Our substance abuse prevention and treatment project is making slow, but steady progress.  Through the good offices of Senator Leahy, we will be applying for federal funding support, which, if successful, will take at least a year.  The governor, also, has expressed his interest.  Our work continues, as there is much to do.”  More information about this project will be published in future newsletters, as it becomes available.  If you have questions about the project, please contact the VEC Office (802-434-7307).

VEC’s VECtor and Faith Common Newsletters

Because of rising costs, this VECtor newsletter is now mailed twice a year, in January and June.    The VEC’s email newsletter, Faith Common, is sent out in the other months.  It will be sent to all who request it.  If you are not already receiving the email newsletter and would like to, please send an email request to the VEC office:     info@vecbs.org  or call 802-434-7307.

National Day of Climate Action  – April 14th

Bill McKibben, author and environmental activist, is inviting people across the country to join with him for a day of action on Saturday, April 14th.  The purpose is to convey a message to our government that Americans want significant action to be taken now on the problem of global warming.  There will be hundreds of gatherings across the nation that day – on mountaintops and in city parks as well as outside of churches, synagogues, and other houses of worship.  People will be gathering all over – from Vermont to Mt. Hood, Key West, New Orleans, and Hawaii.  The idea is to gather as many people as possible, hoist a banner, and take a picture.  The pictures will be linked electronically via the web on that day and will be shown to the local and national media to demonstrate that Americans are serious in their desire for action now. To sign up and help organize an event in your area, go to the website: www.stepitup2007.org

There are materials on the website to help.  It won’t be too difficult to organize a local event – not like organizing a March on Washington!  It will involve alerting concerned people in your community about the details of your gathering.  Bill McKibben says, “…the forces of inertia and business-as-usual are still in control and only our voices, united and loud, joyful and determined, can change that reality.” 
           
Communities Companioning the Dying

This evening of discussion and dialogue about one of life’s most important journeys will be held at the Richmond Congregational Church on Tuesday, January 23, 2007 from 7 – 9 pm.  The evening will begin with a short film that chronicles the beginnings of the modern hospice movement.  Dr. D. Brookes Cowan, medical sociologist and expert in the field of death and dying will facilitate an open conversation about the unique opportunities that exist within the faith community to provide support and caring for people facing death, grief and bereavement.

The Madison-Deane Initiative, which provides resources for quality end-of-life care, is conducting the program.  The Madison-Deane Initiative is a program of the Visiting Nurse Association of Chittenden and Grand Isle Counties. Questions? Please contact the Rev. Dr. Barbara Purinton at: barbarap@rccucc.org   or call 802-434-2053.

Vermont Interfaith Power & Light Programs

Vermont Interfaith Power & Light (VTIPL) is a non-profit organization working under the auspices of the Vermont Ecumenical Council.  VTIPL  works in congregations of all faiths to promote energy efficiency, conservation, and the use of renewable energy in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help solve the problem of global warming.

VTIPL offers free energy audits of religious buildings as well as workshops for members of congregations.  VTIPL is also promoting use of a Low Carbon Diet: A 30 Day Program to Lose 5,000 Pounds – a very practical workbook with information to help people make changes in their lifestyle and reduce their CO2 emissions.   Interested members of congregations can come together in “EcoTeams” to use this workbook.  EcoTeam members can also share information and provide support to each other to help make lifestyle changes.  VTIPL can provide interested members of congregations with an introduction to the use of this workbook.  For more  information  about  VTIPL  programs,  call 802-434-7307 or send an email to: info@vtipl.org . The workbook can be ordered through the VTIPL website: www.vtipl.org

Another opportunity to learn more about this important topic will soon be available; the Vermont Earth Institute’s new course Global Warming: Changing CO2urse is coming out in February.  For more information, go to their website: www.vtearthinstitute.org

Baby Safe Haven Training Sessions

In the last legislative session, the Vermont Legislature passed a Baby Safe Haven law offering an alternative to abandonment of an infant for someone desperate enough to consider abandonment.  Vermont’s houses of worship are listed, along with other places in communities, as designated safe havens.

The Family Services Division of the Department for Children and Families is holding four free Baby Safe Haven training sessions using Vermont Interactive Television  (VIT) in February and March.  For details about these training sessions or to register, please call 802-241-2148 or visit the website:  http://babysafehaven.vermont.gov/trainings

Praying with Another Person for Healing

This workshop on healing will be held at Bethany Church in Randolph on Saturday, Jan. 27th.  Registration begins at 8:30 am and the workshop ends at 4 pm.  The United Church of Christ’s Committee on the Healing Ministry is conducting the workshop.  It is open to all denominations and is for clergy and lay persons.  The workshop is based on Linn’s book Praying with Another for Healing.  It will cover topics such as resources for and resistance to healing, how to pray with another person for healing, and how to pray for healing of grief and losses.  The closing worship at the end of the day will include Anointing & Healing Prayer for use in local churches.

The registration fee of $10 includes the lunch, prepared by the youth of the church.  Please contact The Rev. Robert Boutwell before Jan. 25th to reserve your place by calling 802-773-3057 or email rbfrbtwl@sover.net

 Antiracism Group

A year ago, about a dozen people who were already involved in ecumenical work were approached by the Rt. Rev. R. Stewart Wood, Jr., the retired Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of Michigan who now lives in Quechee, to see if they had interest in finding ways of uniting their efforts to do antiracism training in Vermont communities.   The group of about nine persons met for the first time in May and has since been gathering monthly, sharing their pilgrimages with regard to racism and discussing how they might work together in Vermont.  During the fall it became clear that, in addition to an educational effort within the denominations, they were interested in joining hands with those who were addressing specific expressions of racism within Vermont communities, such as the harassment of students of color in the   public schools. 

Anyone who is interested in being involved in this kind of activity is invited to contact The Rt. Rev. Wood (stewwood@aol.com) or any of the following people who have been gathering monthly: Laura Chase, Hank Lambert, John LaRue, Cheryl Mitchell, Diane Root, Jean Rosenberg, Monica Sergeant, and Bob Walsh. 

Thank you.

Green Mountain Habitat for Humanity

Members of eight congregations helped build four houses for low-income families in Burlington in 2006.  And even though it is January, Habitat remains actively engaged in building its next house,  and plans for it to be completed by early spring.  Work crews are needed for Saturdays in January, February, and March.  If your congregation is interested in arranging a workday, please be in touch with Dot Slack, the Coordinator of Volunteers, to set a date.  Call her at 802-658-8039 or email:  dotslack@aol.com

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Quotes from speeches by The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

"I have the audacity to believe that people everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits.  I believe that what self-centered [people] have torn down, we can build up.  I still believe that one day [humanity] will bow before the altars of God and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed, and nonviolent redemptive good will proclaim the rule of the land.  ‘And the lion and the lamb shall lie down together and every [person] shall sit under his [/her] own vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid.’  I still believe that we shall overcome.”
                                                 –on the occasion of receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway, December 10, 1964

“All life is interrelated.  We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality; tied in a single garment of destiny.  Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

                                                 –from his Commencement Address at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania on  June 6, 1961

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Upcoming Vermont Ecumenical Council & Bible Society meetings:

Board of Trustees – March 27, 2007, 1 – 2 pm
Full Council – March 27, 2007, 2 – 5 pm ( Location to be announced)

Vermont Ecumenical Council and Bible Society

is a religious, non-profit organization that relies on contributions

of member denominations, churches, and individuals for its funding.

To support the work of the Council, please send a contribution to:
P.O. Box 728
Richmond, VT  05477
Checks can be made out to VECBS. 

THANK YOU!