Black Lives of UU will host an explicitly Black online forum to discuss the 2016 Proposed Congregational Study/Action Issue (CSAI): “A National Conversation on Race” on Monday June 6 at 9:00 PM ET.
All Black UUs are invited to participate in this forum moderated by BLUU Lead Organizer Kenny Wiley and CSAI author Debra Greenwood.
I’ll begin with a little bit of my own history, talk briefly about the sorts of things we share in common with Catholicism that you’ll often hear me preach about, and then move onto the areas where we could do better in following some of Catholicism’s strengths that are in line with our values – but where we may not currently do so well
We and the other congregations in the Appalachian Cluster have been invited to join the Charleston UU congregation for their annual retreat in Kanawha State Forest. We will have no RE or service in Clarksburg. Email westforkuu@gmail.com if you would like to carpool.
May 29 – WEEKEND IN THE FOREST (no service at UUC)
Rev. Patricia Hart and Carol Sroczynski, Worship Leaders
Come join UUC’s annual Memorial Day campout in Kanawha State Forest – for children, youth, parents, and everyone! The site is reserved for UUC on both Friday and Saturday nights. We will gather in time for a potluck supper on Saturday, and have an informal worship service Sunday morning at 10am. Come for the weekend, for Saturday’s potluck, or just for the Sunday service – all are welcome!
The more you can free yourself from your internalization of the gaze of others, the more liberated you feel. As you bring more humor to issues of the body’s appearance, the more you will unleash the healthy energies of the mind.
Under Your Skin: A Thai forest monk explains why a healthy body image is not what you think it is.
We will be discussing the ideas in this article; reading it beforehand is optional, but helpful.
We have Spiritual Outings on the third Sunday during the summer. This month, we will gather at the West Virginia State Wildlife Center in French Creek at 11 a.m. for a short service, followed by a potluck picnic, conversation, and a walk around the elk, bison, wolves, and other animals. The trail and restrooms are wheelchair-accessible.
Please email westforkuu@gmail.com if you would like to carpool.
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
If you weren’t able to be here this Sunday, the words and music are all here:
Prelude: Morning Prayer by Hosea Ballou Sung by Second Ireland Sacred Harp Singers
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
In my view the critical work of religion is fostering the quest for meaning in the face of our fragile lives caught up in forces greater than any of us. This world we live in is filled with hurt and violence and every imaginable cruelty. It breaks the heart. And. This world is also so astonishingly beautiful and precious and run through with the mysteries of love and compassion, that it can take our breath away. This strange mix is what we actually encounter in the world. The work of religion is squaring that circle, finding our place in the great mess. And it is unspeakably important.
Another fine sermon from James Ishmael Ford
Arriving at “truth” merely means you’ve given up the search. Science is open-ended; philosophy is open-ended; all the fine arts are open-ended—this is what creativity is, when every new thing is new. As in art and science and philosophy, stopping the search in religious thinking means you’ve given up any hope of renewal, or creativity.
Religious thinking—thinking about the ultimate meaning and purpose of human life on this planet—must involve both the chance to continuously evolve with time and must offer some hope for the human condition—our condition—itself.
The “Trinsics”: Where are You Coming From? http://www.patheos.com/blogs/uucollective/2015/11/the-trinsics-where-are-you-coming-from/
West Fork Unitarian Universalists 