Month: September 2017

Hurricane Relief

CZ

I found this video from CBS News about Puerto Rico facebook this morning, along with a plea from a friend asking how to help. Many of us feel powerless in these natural disasters. We feel too far removed and lacking in resources to help on a large scale. But there are ways to help.

There are many places to donate, which becomes confusing and reputable charities seem harder and harder to find. Here is an article from Public Radio International about how to help Puerto Rico and here is a great website that helps you navigate charities and donations.  Here is the UUA Disaster Relief Fund should you want it.

Some of us also want to pray, so here is a beautiful prayer written by UUA staff member Anna Bethea and translated by Rev. Jorge Espinel of the Church of the Larger Fellowship.

English:

A Prayer for Hurricane Recovery

The quickness of nature to tear up roads, strip trees, and collapse buildings
Doesn’t compare to the long process of survival and recovery.
Splayed electric lines, floodwaters, and landslides mark devastation,
Yet will never match the lives, dreams, and memories of precious things swept away.

Amidst the dirt and muck, families get up another day to search for clean water and food
While struggling to stay cool and communicate with loved ones,
There is time for tears and emotional release.
While watching, waiting, adjusting, surviving,
There is time for embrace, reunions, prayers.

A return to normal is hard to even imagine – months and years away.
Trauma is a time for us to center the sacred:
The core of who we are, shielded from any storm or disaster.
As we seek resources for immediate needs,
May we also tend to our own and our communities’ needs to restore hope, love, and the seeds of new life.

Español:

Oración por la Recuperación del Huracán

La velocidad con la que la naturaleza destruye carreteras, derriba árboles y tumba edificios, no se compara con el largo proceso de supervivencia y recuperación.
Líneas eléctricas derribadas, inundaciones y derrumbes son señales de la devastación pero no se comparan con las vidas, los sueños y los recuerdos de cosas valiosas que han sido arrasadas.

En medio de la basura y el fango las familias se levantan día a día a buscar agua limpia y comida, mientras se esfuerzan por permanecer en calma y comunicarse con sus seres queridos.
Hay tiempo para llorar y soltar las emociones mientras observan, esperan, se ajustan y sobreviven. Hay tiempo para abrazos, reuniones y oraciones.

Es difícil imaginarse lo que es volver a la normalidad, que puede tardar meses y años.

Los momentos de trauma son momentos para enfocarnos en lo sagrado, en la esencia de quienes somos, protegida de cualquier tormenta o desastre. Mientras buscamos recursos para solucionar las necesidades inmediatas, busquemos también maneras de ayudar a los nuestros y a nuestras comunidades a restaurar la esperanza, el amor y las semillas de una nueva vida.

May these words provide you peace, but also motivate you. May these times that we are living in not cause you distress, but allow you to rise to the occasion and be the person you want to be.

Namaste,

Cricket

Sunday, October 1, 2017: Deegan & Hinkle Lakes Park

Robert

We have Spiritual Outings on the first Sunday of each month during the summer. This month, we will gather at Deegan & Hinkle Lakes Park in Bridgeport at 11 a.m. for a short service, followed by a potluck picnic, conversation, and walking.

Please email westforkuu@gmail.com if you would like to carpool.

For a map, please click on this link: goo.gl/maps/v33mWw5k3Wm

We would love to have you come worship with us.

Email westforkuu@gmail.com or use our contact form for more information

or write to us at PO Box 523, Clarksburg WV 26302

Sunday, September 24, 2017

CZ

“No matter what message you are about to deliver somewhere, whether it is holding out a hand of friendship, or making clear that you disapprove of something, is the fact that the person sitting across the table is a human being, so the goal is to always establish common ground.” – Madeleine Albright
Our services are Sundays at 11 a.m.  at the Progressive Women’s Association Uptown Event Center, 305 Washington Ave. in downtown Clarksburg, behind the Courthouse. There are classes for children and adults 10 to 10:45 am, and a coffee gathering before the service. More about us.

Andrew McKnight will be joining us this Sunday for a special music service. He will be doing a service called “Tilling Our Common Ground”. Here’s what he has to say about it, “These are indeed challenging times in these highly polarized United States. With all of the anger hurled across the ideological divide and the lack of reasoned discourse in the mainstream media, is there any room in our humanist worldview for love of country and the patriotic ideals we learned in grade school? Listening to those with different or opposing viewpoints is becoming a lost art. And yet at the core, those who label themselves conservatives or liberals want many of the same things – to be safe in our homes and communities, to pursue our happiness, and to have clean air and water, and good schools and jobs. This musical presentation will help till, fertilize, plant and nurture our common ground.” We will be singing favorites like “Blue Boat Home” and “We Shall Overcome” as well as listening to original music from Andrew. 

We would love to have you come worship with us.

Classes and worship are replaced by Spiritual Outings on the first Sunday of each month during the summer, with brief worship, a potluck picnic, and outdoor activities. The schedule is in the sidebar.

Children are welcome.  There is childcare and an activity for young children during the service.

The building is wheelchair accessible, with an accessible restroom.

Map

The schedule for the current adult religious education class is here.

Email westforkuu@gmail.com or use our contact form for more information or write to us at PO Box 523, Clarksburg WV 26302

Namaste,
Cricket

 

Act 2 Theatre Company Presents Dead Giveaway

CZ

The ACT 2 Theatre Company presents

DEAD GIVEAWAY

a mystery comedy by Pat Cook.
Directed by Lydia Mong.

When:
October 5, 6, 7, 12, 13, 14 at 7:30pm
October 8 and 15 at 2:00pm
at The McCrory Marketplace
318 Main Street
Clarksburg WV

$10 per person payable at the door.

For Reservations…
email act2theatre@gmail.com.
Include your name, date you will attend, number in your party, and an email or phone number so we can confirm.

Cast to be announced following auditions this summer.

Synopsis adapted from the publisher Eldrige Publishing…
“Dr. Hugh Bernard has hired Angie as a cook and cleaning woman to “find out what’s going on.” Strange things have been happening in the house where five elderly women live “boarding house” style. All, apparently, hate each other. And they keep losing one housekeeper after another. What keeps these women together? What dark secret are they all hiding? And why do they all keep dying? Find out in this comedy chiller, where you’re not sure who or what to believe, who is really murdering who. And finally, what really happened to Jinx, the cat?”

 

RESERVATIONS

It’s always a good idea to make reservations. Here’s how.

VIA EMAIL (BEST WAY)

Email us via act2theatre@gmail.com by providing your name, the date of performance you want to attend, and number of people in your party. Make sure the subject line says SHOW RESERVATIONS.

VIA PHONE

We don’t have a business office, but we do have a Google Voice phone number (304-918-0010) where you can call and leave a message telling us your name, which performance you want to attend, and the number of people in your party.

 

Image Credit: Lydia Mong and Act 2 Theatre Company – Caption for photo: It starts with the first reading of the script. Pictured from left to right Mona “Moe” McCarthy, Sue Orr, Beverly Donitzen, Cyndy Simons-Straight, John Hall, Lindsay Morgan, Bev Oliver, Phyl Charnes, Linda O’Connor, and Cricket Hall (back to camera).

HERE’S HOW YOU CAN SUPPORT DREAMERS NOW

CZ

“Our Unitarian Universalist Principles call us to stand against criminalization of our communities. The inherent worth and dignity of all people and the inextricable connections between us mean that when one of us is at risk of deportation, none of us are truly free and beloved. When policymakers target people who are served by programs like Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Temporary Protected Status (TPS), we refuse to be divided”

Here are ways you can help the Dreamers

For more information contact loveresists@uua.org

Image Information: On September 3, Unitarian Universalists joined the ongoing DACA solidarity vigil organized by The National Korean American Service & Education Consortium.

Meditation Monday: Stronger in the Broken Places

CZ

“This month brings the Jewish High Holy Days—the New Year, Rosh Hashanah, followed ten days later by Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. The days in between are known as the Days of Turning—a time devoted to fixing what has broken in one’s relationships. There is wisdom in admitting that our brokenness is how to make a new start…

Mystical Judaism teaches that the Ark of the Covenant is a symbol of the human heart. And there, in our hearts, brokenness and wholeness live side by side; we carry them wherever we go.”

Read the full reflection from Rev. Teri Schwartz online at Quest for Meaning: http://tinyurl.com/y799h4t4

The Church of the Larger Fellowship’s spiritual theme for September is resilience.

 

Image Credit: UUA

 

Andrew McKnight Comes to Morgantown

CZ

When: Saturday, September 23, 2017

Where: The Monongalia Arts Center (MAC) 107 High Street Morgantown, WV

What Time: 7pm to 10pm

Andrew’s first concert in Morgantown in several years promises to be a rich celebration of music and community. His powerful and entertaining show is like one man theatre, delivered with warmth and down-home comfort. Andrew’s finely crafted songs are woven together with humorous stories and poetic drama, while the musical soundscape traverses influences from Appalachia, tasteful slide and jazzy blues, feisty anthems, rustic folk, and even a little fancy flatpicking on a Carter Family tune. While his skillful guitar work provides a tasteful foundation, the touches of native American cedar flute, resonator guitar, djembe (African hand drum) and even mandolin add delightful and mesmerizing embellishments to the show.

Andrew has performed at many prestigious venues like the Kennedy Center, the International Storytelling Center and the Atlanta Olympics, has been part of the Rocky Mountain, South Florida, Boston and Delmarva Folk Festival lineups, and a guest on NPR’s “Art of the Song” and “River City Folk” shows.

Tickets available at the door starting at 7pm at the Monongalia Arts Center – come early for a good seat!

For more information check out the Event Page for the Concert

 

Joy as a form of Resistance

CZ

This podcast is from December 22, 2016, brought to you from the Church of the Larger Fellowship. 

Joy is a great thing. When people tty to take away our joy, it is a powerful thing to celebrate joy. What little things bring joy to your life? How can you celebrate joy?

[The VUU] 164: Joy as a Form of Resistance

https://media.blubrry.com/clfvuu_latest/www.questformeaning.org/podcasts/vuu/latest/vuu164.mp3 via @PodcastAddict
Namaste,

Cricket

PS: There’s some Santa business here, so little ears might not want to listen.
Image from  https://www.theodysseyonline.com/choose-joy-feeling

Meditation Monday 

CZ

​Our Monday Meditation is “Benediction for the Heavy Heart” by UUA staff member Mason Bolton. It reads:

“Good morning. I missed your ‘good’
because a plane, because a truck, because
a gun, because a cop, because a government,
because a people suffering, because too many
people suffering, because war, because famine,
because some mornings it is so hard
to rise, to wake, to be a self.

There is a pause here. There is a deliberate
cessation. I want a cessation to the noise
in my head, to the ache in the collective
heart of this world. When I was young
this seemed possible. . . .

I want your mornings ‘good,’ your evenings ‘good,’
all the late nights and sunrises and afternoons
and moments pressed against the ticking
glass of your life ‘good.’

Breathe. For yourself. For each other. Let
us breathe in when others cannot. When we
can do nothing else. Let us stretch ourselves
open to embrace our friends, extend
our bodies outward to anyone willing to meet us
and even those we think may not be willing. Let us
hold each other for this moment. For this
blink of human existence.”

Read this and other meditations in the new Skinner House Books title “To Wake, To Rise: Meditations on Justice and Resilience” available at inSpirit: The UU Book and Gift Shop http://tinyurl.com/ybsj9f49

Sunday, September 17, 2017

CZ

“Tell me the facts and I’ll learn. Tell me the truth and I’ll believe. But tell me a story and it will live in heart forever.” – Native American Proverb

 

Our services are Sundays at 11 a.m.  at the Progressive Women’s Association Uptown Event Center, 305 Washington Ave. in downtown Clarksburg, behind the Courthouse. There are classes for children and adults 10 to 10:45 am, and a coffee gathering before the service. More about us.

This Sunday, Cricket will give a lesson entitled, “Tell Me a Story: storytelling as a spiritual practice”

dalailama storytelling.jpg

We would love to have you come worship with us.

Classes and worship are replaced by Spiritual Outings on the first Sunday of each month during the summer, with brief worship, a potluck picnic, and outdoor activities. The schedule is in the sidebar.

Children are welcome.  There is childcare and an activity for young children during the service.

The building is wheelchair accessible, with an accessible restroom.

Map

The schedule for the current adult religious education class is here.

Email westforkuu@gmail.com or use our contact form for more information or write to us at PO Box 523, Clarksburg WV 26302

Namaste,
Cricket

Image Credit: Dalai Lama picture from http://www.ideachampions.com/weblogs/archives/2015/11/post_140.shtml