Author: LdeG

Flower Ceremony and Egg Hunt: Sunday April 16, 2017

LdeG

See last year for the full service.

Today we are celebrating our Flower Ceremony, which was created by Dr. Norbert Čapek for the Liberal Religious Fellowship he founded in Prague, then Czechoslovakia, in 1925, and which became the largest Unitarian Church in the world. He sought a ceremony that would celebrate love and community and the interdependent web of life and love among a new and diverse congregation drawn from many backgrounds, and which would be a celebration not tied to any older religious ceremonies, which many of his congregation had rejected. Nearly a hundred years later, it is celebrated by Unitarian Universalist congregations everywhere.

We will have a potluck dinner and egg hunt following the service at Robert Helfer and Lisa deGruyter’s house in Clarksburg. Ham and potato salad will be provided. Please bring a dish to share and baskets for collecting eggs. There will be cascarones. Your friends and family are welcome, too.

We would love to have you come worship with us.

Our services are Sundays at 11 a.m. at the Progressive Women’s Association Event Center, 305 Washington Ave. in downtown Clarksburg, behind the Courthouse.

Our Religious Education/ Life Long Learning Class will meet at from 10am to 10:45 am with a coffee gathering before the service. More about us.

Adult religious education, at 10, will be a discussion on applying our beliefs to current events.

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

The building is wheelchair accessible, with an accessible restroom.

You can park on either side of the PWA building. The lots are marked as private, but are available on Sunday mornings.

Map

Sunday March 19, 2017: The Doctrine of Love

LdeG

Prelude: Mango Thoughts in a Meatloaf Town
Rev. Meg Barnhouse, First UU, Austin, Texas

Welcome

Hosea Ballou said “Man, being not only a religious, but also a social being, requires for the promotion of his rational happiness religious institutions, which, while they give a proper direction to devotion, at the same time make a wise, and profitable improvement of his social feelings.” And so we gather here, not only to practice our religion, but to support each other.

Chalice Lighting Drawn Together – Jennifer Leota Gray

We come together every week bound not by a creed,
Or a mutual desire to please one God or many Gods
Yet we are drawn together by a belief, that how we are in the world,
Who we are together matters.
We light this chalice, together in the knowledge
That love, not fear, can change this world Continue reading →

Sunday February 26 2017: Church! What Is It Good For?

LdeG

Church! What Is It Good For?

Prelude: Closer to Fine – Indigo Girls

And I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains
I looked to the children, I drank from the fountains
There’s more than one answer to these questions
Pointing me in a crooked line…

Welcome

Let our church be a gift from each of us to the other.
But even more let it be a gift from each of us to our community.
Let us be a gathering place for the spirit, a refuge for hope, a beacon of inspiration, and a dynamo of life and justice for all.
Let faithful community be the ground of commitment and action to enrich the world.

Dennis McCarthy

Chalice Lighting

For me the essence of Unitarian Universalism is the responsible search for my personal spiritual truth in a loving and supportive community that values that search. The analogy I use is the campfire or hearth. When the cold, existential winds of the uncaring universe blew hard and bitter, it was all that was between our ancestors and the outer darkness. But it was enough, and they thrived. It was the center of life. Children heard the stories of the people from the elders. How to find food was discussed. Strangers were welcomed around the flame. We learned to take care of the weak and infirm, the young and helpless, but also that if everyone did not tend the fire and fetch the wood, that there was no survival. For me our Chalice symbolizes that flame that was the center of community. Today, it is the center of where I find, explore and celebrate my own spiritual truth and continue to grow as a person of faith.

From Bob Hurst, First Unitarian Church of Oklahoma City Continue reading →

Sunday January 22 2017: Our UU Presidents

LdeG

 Prelude: America (My Country ‘Tis of Thee) – Aretha Franklin 2009

A hymn from the first Unitarian hymnbook published in the brand new United States, in 1789, and noted as

Thanks for National Protection

O Come, let us sing to the Lord a new song,
And praise him to whom all our praises belong !
While we enter his temple with gladness and joy,
Let a psalm of thanksgiving our voices employ !
O come, to his name let us joyfully sing !
For the Lord is a great and omnipotent King ;
By his word were the heavens and the host of them made,
And of the round world the foundation he laid.

He stilleth the waves of the boisterous sea,
And the tumults of men, more outrageous than they :
Thy goodness, O Lord! let the people confess,
Whom wars do not waste, nor proud tyrants oppress,
And devoutly contemplate thy wonderful ways,
Thou who turnest the fierceness of men to thy praise !
Then our lands in due season shall yield their increase,
And the Lord give his people the blessings of peace.

Chalice Lighting: A Community of Faith by Judith L. Quarles

At this hour, in small towns and big cities, in single rooms and ornate sanctuaries, many of our sister Unitarian Universalist congregations are also lighting a flaming chalice.

As we light our chalice today, let us remember that we are part of a great community of faith.

May this dancing flame inspire us to fill our lives with the Unitarian Universalist ideals of love, justice and truth. Continue reading →

What do you need right now?

LinkLdeG

What do you need right now dear ones? How are we going to get through this?

Maybe you’re in shock. Maybe you’re pissed as hell. Maybe you’re weeping. Maybe you’re numb and trying to do all the normal things. Maybe you’re hiding in bed.

All of these reactions are totally normal. There is nothing that makes this ok, because hate is not ok and greed is not ok and violence are not ok. Electing a president who is overtly racist, sexist, violent and endlessly greedy is not an ok thing to do. We all know these next four years won’t be ok.

Blue Boat » What do you need right now?
http://blueboat.blogs.uua.org/2016/11/09/what-do-you-need-right-now/

Sunday 23 October 2016: Joy in the Moment

LdeG

Between our fears for the future and our regrets of the past, we often forget to find joy in the moment. This Sunday we will rejoice, and Lisa deGruyter will talk about spiritual practices for being in the moment.

We would love to have you come celebrate and worship with us.  Please join us  at the Progressive Women’s Association in downtown Clarksburg, WV at 11 am.

Children are welcome.  There will be an activity for children during the service, and a coffee hour afterwards.

The building is wheelchair accessible, with an accessible restroom.

Map (The building is behind the Harrison County courthouse; you can park in the PWA parking on the 2nd Street side or the Chase bank parking on the west side of the building.)

Sunday September 18, 2016: Veteran’s Park

LdeG

We have Spiritual Outings on the third Sunday during the summer. This month, we will gather at the Hilltop Shelter at the Veterans’ Memorial Park in Clarksburg at 11 a.m. for a short service, followed by a potluck picnic, conversation, and walking the trail by the river. The picnic area, trail, and restrooms are wheelchair-accessible.

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

The Hilltop Shelter is the smallest shelter in the Park, located on the upper parking lot on the left hand side.

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