Author: LdeG

Outstretched Wings of the Spirit: Introduction

LdeG

A series for Lent from the Memorial Church (Unitarian), Cambridge, England

This introduction has links to each day, but we will also be posting them each day.

Outstretched Wings of the Spirit – Introduction

“Faith must not be blind, but responsible. We ought not to be mentally coerced, but rationally convinced, so that we can make a justifiable decision of faith. Faith must not be void of reality, but related to reality. We ought not to have to believe simply, without verification. Our statements should be proved and tested by contact with reality, within the present-day horizon of experience of individuals and society, and thus be covered by the concrete experience of reality.” 

Hans Kung in “On Being a Christian“

Sunday, 12 February 2023: What is love and how might we practice it?

LdeG
Indra's Net

Without saying it in so many words, often the thread holding all our thoughts and activities together is: “What’s in it for me?” We wonder how we can survive, get ahead, win, succeed , overcome, take over, grab something, be recognized, appreciated, rewarded…you name it, the list is endless.

In lojong practice, the idea is to replace that unspoken intention based on fear and the need to prop up the ego with an intention of benevolence. Rather than making a few heroic or virtuous gestures or taking on some righteous cause, the idea is to have a quality of awareness, gentleness, and benefit to others color everything you do.

Such an intention should color even the way in which you do the simplest things, like picking up your teacup. Your gestures, speech, thoughts, and emotions should all be expressions of one intention: the powerful intention of benefiting sentient beings.

Train Your Mind: All activities should be done with one intention, Judy Lief in Tricycle, July 2010

Here I’ll simply note that what’s unusual about the liberal, free religious tradition to which I belong is that it’s not so much concerned to provide a person with a single, one size-fits-all, out-of-the-box answer to the question of the meaning of life but, instead — through meditation, music, song and thought — to offer a religious way of being in the world that can help a person live the questions they have so that, one long distant day, they will be able to live into an answer that dawns upon them.

A FREE RELIGION RADIANT WITH A HUMANISING LIGHT THAT THE DARKNESS WILL NEVER OVERCOME Andrew Brown, Caute, 22 Sept 2022

Lisa deGruyter will offer music, words, poetry and thoughts relating to what “love” might mean in “Love is the doctrine of this church” and “Love your neighbor as yourself”, as well as some practices of “love”.

Please Join us for Worship.

Our services are Sundays at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time on ZOOM and in person at the Progressive Women’s Association Event Center, 305 Washington Ave. in downtown Clarksburg, behind the Courthouse. If you wish to join on ZOOM, please contact us for logon information. A coffee hour, a time for discussion and socializing (including ZOOM participants), follows from the end of the service until 12:00 noon. More about us. If you prefer not to be seen, video is optional. If you would like to participate, please email westforkuu@gmail.com for details and a link, or for help with using ZOOM.

If you are a regular attendee, we have added you to our Google Group if we had an email address. If you have not gotten a group email already, please email westforkuu@gmail.com so that we can add you to the group, which we will be using for staying in touch with each other during this time. Public announcements will continue to be posted here on the website and on our Facebook page and Twitter account, as usual.

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

Sunday, 15 January 2023: Epicurean Practices

LdeG
Silver cup with skeletons of Greek poets and philosophers; Epicurean

Luxurious food and drinks, in no way protect you from harm. Wealth beyond what is natural, is no more use than an overflowing container. Real value is not generated by theaters, and baths, perfumes or ointments, but by philosophy.

Epicurus, from the esplanade wall at Oenoanda, now in Turkey, as recorded by Diogenes of Oenoanda

The Tetrapharmakos — the four-part cure — of Epicurus was “don’t fear god, don’t worry about death, what is good is easy to get, and what is terrible is easy to endure”, far from our modern meaning of epicureanism as “eat, drink, and be merry”. Lisa deGruyter will continue her series on spiritual practices of ancient Greek philosophies and how we might use them, this time on the Epicureans.

Please Join us for Worship.

Our services are Sundays at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time on ZOOM and in person at the Progressive Women’s Association Event Center, 305 Washington Ave. in downtown Clarksburg, behind the Courthouse. If you wish to join on ZOOM, please contact us for logon information. A coffee hour, a time for discussion and socializing (including ZOOM participants), follows from the end of the service until 12:00 noon. More about us. If you prefer not to be seen, video is optional. If you would like to participate, please email westforkuu@gmail.com for details and a link, or for help with using ZOOM.

If you are a regular attendee, we have added you to our Google Group if we had an email address. If you have not gotten a group email already, please email westforkuu@gmail.com so that we can add you to the group, which we will be using for staying in touch with each other during this time. Public announcements will continue to be posted here on the website and on our Facebook page and Twitter account, as usual.

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

Sunday, January 1, 2023

LdeG
Potluck Brunch

Potluck Brunch! New Year’s Potluck Brunch!

We are resuming our tradition of a brunch on the Sunday after Christmas, resuming this year after two years of Zoom. Bring food to share, or just bring yourself! There will be a Zoom session, if you can’t attend in person, where we will share the conversation but sadly not the food.

Come and join us at 10:30 a.m., Sunday, January 1, 2023, for good fellowship and food and a small devotion.

Our services are Sundays at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time on ZOOM and in person at the Progressive Women’s Association Event Center, 305 Washington Ave. in downtown Clarksburg, behind the Courthouse. If you wish to join on ZOOM, please contact us for logon information. A coffee hour, a time for discussion and socializing (including ZOOM participants), follows from the end of the service until 12:00 noon. More about us. If you prefer not to be seen, video is optional. If you would like to participate, please email westforkuu@gmail.com for details and a link, or for help with using ZOOM.

Children are welcome.

The building is wheelchair accessible, with an accessible restroom.

Map

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

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

Sunday, December 25, 2021: NO SERVICE

LdeG

We are taking Sunday, December 25, off. There will be no Zoom service and no in-person service, while we celebrate with family and friends. Please join us January 1, 2023, when we will have our traditional Sunday after Christmas brunch, also available on Zoom (minus the shared food, unfortunately.).

We have resumed in person services, which you can also join on Zoom. We share music, readings, and hymns on our usual presentation slides, have a story and a talk, and share joys and sorrows, as well as a virtual “coffee hour” discussion starting at 10:30, with the service at 11. If you prefer not to be seen, video is optional. If you would like to participate, please email westforkuu@gmail.com for details and a link, or for help with using Zoom.

If you are a regular attendee, we have added you to our Google Group if we had an email address. If you have not gotten a group email already, please email westforkuu@gmail.com so that we can add you to the group, which we will be using for staying in touch with each other during this time. Public announcements will continue to be posted here on the website and on our Facebook page and Twitter account, as usual.

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

Sunday, December 18, 2022: Joy to the World

LdeG

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground
Let righteousness its glories show
As far as love is found
Far as the love is found,
Far as the love is found,
Far as, far as, the love is found.

In these dark times, there will be singing. We will gather to light a candle and look forward to the return of light. Lisa deGruyter will lead a service honoring ancient traditions. Please bring a candle to add to the altar.

Please Join us for Worship.

Our services are Sundays at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time on ZOOM and in person at the Progressive Women’s Association Event Center, 305 Washington Ave. in downtown Clarksburg, behind the Courthouse. If you wish to join on ZOOM, please contact us for logon information. A coffee hour, a time for discussion and socializing (including ZOOM participants), follows from the end of the service until 12:00 noon. More about us. If you prefer not to be seen, video is optional. If you would like to participate, please email westforkuu@gmail.com for details and a link, or for help with using ZOOM.

If you are a regular attendee, we have added you to our Google Group if we had an email address. If you have not gotten a group email already, please email westforkuu@gmail.com so that we can add you to the group, which we will be using for staying in touch with each other during this time. Public announcements will continue to be posted here on the website and on our Facebook page and Twitter account, as usual.

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

Sunday, 14 November, 2022: Stoic Practices

LdeG

stoic: a person who can endure pain or hardship without showing their feelings or complaining

Oxford Language

stoic: one apparently or professedly indifferent to pleasure or pain

Miriam-Webster

When considering the doctrines of the Stoics, it is important to remember that they think of philosophy not as an interesting pastime or even a particular body of knowledge, but as a way of life. They define philosophy as a kind of practice or exercise (askêsis) in the expertise concerning what is beneficial (Aetius, 26A). Once we come to know what we and the world around us are really like, and especially the nature of value, we will be utterly transformed. This therapeutic aspect is common to their main competitors, the Epicureans, and perhaps helps to explain why both were eventually eclipsed by Christianity.

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Stoicism was not so much eclipsed by Christianity as many of its practices were absorbed. Stoic ideas have much in common with Buddhist thought and continue today in many contexts — for instance, the Serenity Prayer. Lisa deGruyter will talk about Stoic practices.

Our services are Sundays at 10:30 a.m. at the Progressive Women’s Association Event Center, 305 Washington Ave. in downtown Clarksburg, behind the Courthouse.  A coffee hour, a time for discussion and socializing, will follow from the end of the service until 12:00 noon.

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.

We would love to have you come worship with us.

Children are welcome. 

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

Sunday, 6 November 2022: Planning and Brunch

LdeG

“What’s the point of coming to this free religious church?” I say we come, firstly, to live our deepest questions so as to allow the meaning of our lives slowly to dawn upon us, and, secondly and equally importantly, to rehumanize ourselves through wit, decorum, story-telling, fellowship, conversation, courtesy, and sociability, so as be able to go back out into world committed to something akin to Boccaccio’s civil humanism of neighbourly love, radiant with a humanising light that the darkness will never overcome.

-Rev. Andrew Brown

This week instead of our regular worship service, we are gathering from 10 a.m. until noon to discuss where we have been and where we are going. An agenda and some suggested reading are here.

Please bring food to share that will be easy to eat while we discuss.

Our services are Sundays at 10:30 a.m.  at the Progressive Women’s Association Event Center, 305 Washington Ave. in downtown Clarksburg, behind the Courthouse. A coffee hour, a time for discussion and socializing, will follow from the end of the service until 12:00 noon. More about 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.

We would love to have you come worship with us.

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

Planning Potluck 6 November 2022

LdeG

We will be meeting for a potluck brunch and planning session Sunday, 6 November, from 10 a.m. to noon at the PWA. (This replaces the previously planned Spiritual Outing). An agenda and suggested reading will be posted in the Members section and emailed to the mailing list soon.

Sunday, 9 October, 2022: Why Practice?

LdeG

Unitarian Universalism has gone even farther than its Protestant forebears in trimming spiritual practice to the bone. Lisa deGruyter will consider what spiritual practices – exercise – might do to build skills and strength, and suggest some suitable for UUs.

Our services are Sundays at 10:30 a.m. at the Progressive Women’s Association Event Center, 305 Washington Ave. in downtown Clarksburg, behind the Courthouse.  A coffee hour, a time for discussion and socializing, will follow from the end of the service until 12:00 noon.

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.

We would love to have you come worship with us.

Children are welcome. 

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