three students in conversation

The Scott Center sponsors and hosts numerous ongoing events throughout the year.  Join us for any and all that appeal to you, and be sure to check back often to see what’s new and coming up!

UPCOMING EVENTS

Sunday, March 31, 2024

Easter Sunrise Service  

Alumni Stadium

cross and dove against sunrise sky

All are welcome at this ecumenical Easter Sunrise Service at the football stadium. Local clergy will share the leadership of the service. Pancake breakfast to follow at the Weybridge Congregational Church.  In case of inclement weather, the service will be moved to Kirk Alumni Center. 

Monday, April 22, 2024

Passover Seder  

Redfield Proctor Dining Room

colorful hand-drawn seder plate

Please join us at a Passover seder for the first night of Passover as we retell the ancient story of the Exodus and engage in rich conversation about its relevance to us today. This will be a celebratory night of asking questions, eating ritual and festive foods, and welcoming spring.
 

You must rsvp for the seder by Sunday, April 14th using this form.
https://forms.gle/umEnsVcNkjLnquLE6

Tuesday, April 30, 2024

Yom HaShoah Film Screening, with Director Melissa Hacker  

Twilight Auditorium

black and white photo of Jewish parents during WWII

We are thrilled to be screening the 1996 documentary film My Knees Were Jumping: Remembering the Kindertransports, in honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day. Even more thrilling, film director Melissa Hacker will join us in person for the screening and a discussion afterward. 

The film tells the story of the Kindertransport movement which brought nearly 10,000 children to Great Britain from Nazi Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland, before the advent of World War II, saving many of their lives.  The story is told through memories and interviews of Melissa’s own mother as well as many others who were rescued on the transport. Please join us for this special event.

Run time 76 minutes.

With appreciation to the Holocaust Remembrance Film Fund for making this event possible.

Sunday, May 5, 2024

Yom HaShoah: Holocaust Remembrance Ceremony  

Middlebury Chapel

long curving line of lit candles in the dark

On this day of remembering the Holocaust in the Jewish Calendar, we will come together for a ceremony of reflection and remembrance through music, poetry and family stories from members of our Middlebury community. All are welcome.

every Thursday, beginning Feb. 22

Grief and Loss Support Group  

The Crest Room, McCullough Student Center

dry dandelion seeds blowing away against orange sky

Interested exploring themes of grief and loss together?  Help build a community of peer support.  Arts and crafts supplies, warm beverages and light refreshments are available. Drop in any Thursday in the Crest Room.   Co-sponsored by The Scott Center and Middlebury Counseling.  For more information contact nparrish@middlebury.edu.

Every weekday morning when classes are in session

Weekday Morning Sitting Meditation  

Crest Room, McCullough

sunrise with mountains and wetlands

Join us for 15 minutes of silent meditation every weekday morning, led by various staff, faculty, and students.

Every Wednesday when classes are in session

Wakeful Wednesdays  

Crest Room, McCullough

poster with bowl of pebbles

Join Dean of Spiritual & Religious Life Mark R. Orten in the Crest Room for 20 minutes of quiet contemplation with readings and music.

every Wednesday while classes are in session

The SlowDown  

The Crest Room, McCullough

mango, orange and pink poster with brush applying watercolors

Please note that we will be having a Saturday SlowDown on Sat., January 6 from 3-5 pm.  

Come enjoy homemade chai and homemade cookies with members of The Scott Center staff as we slow down our pace for a bit of socializing and crafting.  Watercolors, polymer clay, collaging, grown-up coloring books, puzzles and beading materials provided!

every 2nd Sunday: Jan. 14, Feb. 11, Mar. 10, April 14, May 12

Shape-Note Singing  

Mitchell Green Lounge

people singing from books

Described as spiritual, joyful, powerful, and raucous, Shape Note (or Sacred Harp) singing is a traditional American style of four-part, a capella, community singing popular in the United States before the Civil War. This style still thrives across the US and in the UK, with strongholds in the American South and New England. It is called Shape-Note because the notes of the scale are indicated by distinctive shapes and names: Fa – triangle, Sol – circle, La – square, and Mi – diamond.

Facilitated by Prof. Emeritus David Rosenberg every second Sunday.

RECENT EVENTS

Thursday, March 14, 2024

Ramadan and Rumi  

The Crest Room

lanterns and blossoms with Arabic script against green background

Join us for a presentation on the month of Ramadan and the famous Persian spiritual poet, Rumi.  In this talk, Chaplain Zahra Moeini will speak about the ways in which Rumi celebrates one of the most central practices of Islam, fasting, in the month of Ramadan as a site of connection with the Divine. Celebrate the arrival of Ramadan and Nowruz - originally a Zoroastrian tradition, that marks the New Year/Spring Equinox for many Persian speakers around the world. 

A delicious Persian dinner/iftar will be provided.

Monday, March 4, 2024

Walking Essentials: Going, Slowing, Growing, Knowing, Flowing with Humanist Affiliate Chaplain Prof. Bill Vitek  

The Crest Room, McCullough

original colored pencil artwork with large central boot soles, background with mountain range and city buildings

No other creature walks like humans. Our feet shaped our pelvises, our hands, and our brains. We walk the way we do, therefore we are human beings.

This is the first of a spring term series co-sponsored by The Scott Center and New Perennials to explore the meditative, spiritual, community-building power of walking. The series expands on Affiliate Humanist Chaplain Prof. Bill Vitek’s popular J-term walking class “Walking Body, Walking Mind.”  Light refreshments will be served.

Original artwork: “Internal and External Walking” by Amanda Suejin Lee ‘27, member of the 2024 J-term class Walking Body, Walking Mind.

Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2024

A Reading of the Chapter on Love . . .  

The Crest Room, McCullough

black and white book cover against pink rose image

In commemoration of Black History Month and Valentine’s Day, join Muslim Chaplain and Interfaith Advisor Zahra Moeini in a reading of the Chapter on Love in Black Liturgies by Cole Arthur Riley. Riley’s writing uniquely combines the language for collective and individual liberation with a tongue of prayer, and a memorable meditation on love in its many layers and shades. Light refreshments will be served.

Saturday, January 27, 2024

Winter Mindfulness Retreat with Prof. Emily Proctor: Connecting Mind with Body  

The Crest Room, McCullough Student Center

stone cairn against bright green bamboo

Come take part in a half-day mindfulness retreat for students, led by Professor Emily Proctor.  We will learn and practice a variety of mindfulness activities tuned toward helping the mind connect with the body, all with the intention of deepening a sense of relaxed connection and relationship with the people and world around us.

Nourishing snacks and warm drinks will be provided through the morning.  Register by January 25 at go/mindwithbody/.

Thursday, January 25, 2024

The Qur'an and the Arabic Language  

The Crest Room, McCullough Student Center

open Qur'an with decorative script

The Islamic tradition and the Arabic language seem to be inseparable. Muslims recite their daily prayers in Arabic, read in the Qur’an in Arabic, and many of the phrases they use in daily conversations, like “InshaAllah” and “Alhamdulilah,” find their origins in the Qur’an - Islam’s sacred book. In this talk, Maryait Khader (Arabic Dept.) and Zahra Moeini (Scott Center) will discuss how this came to be, with a close look at early Islamic history and the Qur’an. How does the Qur’an refer to the Arabic language? And, why does it consistently challenge the Arabs at the time, who were known for their eloquence and poetry, to bring a text like it? We will also explore what these questions mean for the formation of religious and social identity of many young Muslim speakers and non-speakers of Arabic today. 

Accompanied by a halal Palestinian dinner!  Co-sponsored by the Arabic Department.

Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2023

MLK Day Special Event  

MAC Dance Theater

six brown-skinned woment sitting on a wood floor against a wood-paneled wall

The Global Body in Conflict: Movement Matters series welcomes SLMDances’ six Creative Partners and Artistic Director Sydnie Mosley.  The Scott Center is pleased to co-sponsor, along with the Department of Dance and several other campus partners, this special dance workshop to commemorate MLK Day.  Open to all Middlebury College card holders.

Sydnie L. Mosley Dances (SLMDances) is a New York City-based dance-theater collective that works in communities to organize for gender and racial justice through experiential dance performance.  Learn more here.

This is hands-on learning (not a dance class). All bodies, abilities and backgrounds welcome! Bring your class, attend with colleagues, join by yourself.  Registration is required; please sign up here.

Sunday, Dec. 10

A Candlelight Service of Lessons & Carols for Advent and Christmas  

Middlebury Chapel

The angel Gabriel as a brown-skinned man with wings, standing against a blue and gold concentric mosaic

A joyous annual celebration of traditional Christmas music and biblical texts of the season, with gorgeous music by the Middlebury College Choir, evergreens and candlelight. 

Led by Dean of Spiritual and Religious Life Mark R. Orten, and Middlebury College Choir Conductor Jeffrey Buettner.  See the full printed program here.

Two services, at 4:00 and 7:00 pm. Donations will be accepted for local charities.  

Large print programs available. American Sign Language interpretation at the 4:00 service only.

every Thursday during fall term

Islam 101's  

The Crest Room, McCullough

red side banner with text, and passage from the Qur'an on blue prayer rug image

Join Associate Muslim Chaplain and Interfaith Advisor Zahra Moeini Meybodi to discuss themes that cover introductory questions about Islamic worldview, beliefs, practices and cultural heritage.
Topics include:

Nov. 16:  From Pain to Presence: Islamic Practices in Healing

Nov. 2: What is the Qur’an?
October 19: Prophetic Resilience
Oct. 26: Who is The Prophet?

Friday, Nov. 10

Roots of #BlackLivesMatter: Islam & the Civil Rights Movement  

Crest Room, McCullough

two photos of protesting Muslim Americans

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the #blacklivesmatter movement. The hashtag first appeared amidst national coverage of the killing of Black people with impunity. It became a rallying call for grassroots movements against racial violence and the carceral state. Today’s struggle builds on past grassroots coalitions against state repression of Black communities. A critical part of that effort came from Muslim organizers who laid the groundwork for the contemporary prison abolition movement. 

This talk by Khuram Hussain, Middlebury’s VP of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, explores the little-known history of the bold and ingenious efforts of Muslim Americans to forward Black liberation in the civil rights era. Their vision and actions offer lessons to students, scholars and activists today.

Light refreshments from Taste of India will be served.

Wednesday, Oct. 25

Interfaith Panel on Compassion, Justice and Nonviolence  

The Crest Room, McCullough Student Center

white text against shadowed black and white fabric texture

Join some of your favorite chaplains and others as they explore different worldviews’ and religions’ relationship to the powerful themes of compassion, justice and nonviolence. 

Panel members include Rabbi Danielle Stillman, Muslim Advisor Zahra Moeini, Affiliate Christian Chaplain Katie Runde Sanchez, Affiliate Humanist Chaplain Prof. Bill Vitek, and Prof. Marc Lapin from the Environmental Studies Department, who will bring a Buddhist perspective.  Moderated by Professor Rebecca Gould.

This is the first in a series of interfaith panel conversations on different topics, and will touch on the current war in Gaza and Israel.

This week, the panel replaces The SlowDown during the 4:30 Wednesday timeslot, and we’ll serve your favorite SlowDown homemade cookies and chai.

Co-sponsored by The Davis Collaborative in Conflict Transformation, and New Perennials.

Thursday mornings during Fall term

SpiritualiTea: A Circle for the Spirit-Curious  

Crest Room, McCullough

cup of tea against white background with thyme sprig

Curious about spirituality? Join us for tea and exploration! Gather weekly to practice mindfulness and have conversation, facilitated by staff from The Scott Center and the Office of Sustainability and Environmental Affairs.

Wednesdays during fall term

Gather Progressive Christian Community -- Exploratory Meetings  

The Crest Room, McCullough

white text against rippling blue water

Gather is a community for the progressive Christian, Christian-curious, Christian-conflicted, agnostic, and generally bewildered. Join Affiliate Christian Chaplain Katie Runde Sanchez for conversations; the topic on Oct. 19 is Jesus and Non-Violence.

Tuesday, Oct. 3

MiddHumanists: The Virtues of Idleness  

The Crest Room, McCullough Student Center

blue watercolors behind text

MiddHumanists: The Virtues of Idleness

Join The Scott Center’s Affiliate Humanist Chaplain, Prof. Bill Vitek, for a conversation about the value of embracing idleness. We’ll be discussing a short (3-page) article by Arthur Brooks, “How to Embrace Doing Nothing,” that appeared in The Atlantic.  Light refreshments will be served.  All are welcome.

Midd Humanists is a community supported by the Scott Center forSpiritual & Religious Life for non-theistic, inquiry-based, and action-centered conversation and celebration.

starting Sept. 15

High Holidays 2023/5784  

Fall 2023

Scott Center Orientation Events  

various locations

Take a look at all the ways you can connect with The Scott Center at this fall’s Orientation events!

Charles P. Scott Center for Spiritual and Religious Life
46 South Street
Middlebury, VT 05753