Daylight Saving Time ENDS at 2:00 a.m. on Sunday, November 1. Remember to set your clocks back one hour tonight so you’re not an hour early tomorrow morning! The coffee won’t even be ready yet, even if it is All Saints Day!
Author: Robert
Sunday, November 1, 2020: Deegan and Hinkle Lakes, Bridgeport
- Little Blue Heron at Deegan & Hinkle Lakes Park
We have Spiritual Outings on the first Sunday of each month during the summer and into the winter. For this year’s sixth outing, we will return to Deegan & Hinkle Lakes Park in Bridgeport for a celebration of nature, fellowship, and All Saints Day, the beginning of the holiday season, on Sunday, November 1.
During this time of covid-19 pandemic we are practicing appropriate social distancing; please wear a mask.
We will meet at 11 a.m. in the picnic area for a short service, led by Cricket Hall, followed by a modified potluck picnic, conversation, and walking. We will be practicing social distancing and wearing masks. Bring food to share if you are able and wish to share; otherwise, just bring food for yourself and share our company.
We would love to have you come worship with us.
For a map, please click on this link: goo.gl/maps/v33mWw5k3Wm
Email westforkuu@gmail.com or use our contact form for more information or to carpool, or write to us at PO Box 523, Clarksburg WV 26302
Sunday, October 4, 2020: Deegan and Hinkle Lakes, Bridgeport
- Little Blue Heron at Deegan & Hinkle Lakes Park
We have Spiritual Outings on the first Sunday of each month during the summer. For this year’s fifth outing, we will gather for a celebration of nature, fellowship, and the end of Summer on Sunday, October 4, at Deegan & Hinkle Lakes Park in Bridgeport.
During this time of covid-19 pandemic we are practicing appropriate social distancing; please wear a mask.
We will meet at 11 a.m. in the picnic area for a short service, led by Cricket Hall, followed by a modified potluck picnic, ceremonial burning of the “Tree of Life”, conversation, and walking. We will be practicing social distancing and wearing masks. Bring food to share if you are able and wish to share; otherwise, just bring food for yourself and share our company.
We would love to have you come worship with us.
For a map, please click on this link: goo.gl/maps/v33mWw5k3Wm
Email westforkuu@gmail.com or use our contact form for more information or to carpool, or write to us at PO Box 523, Clarksburg WV 26302
Sunday 27 September 2020: … but sometimes it’s difficult to see
“There is beauty everywhere,” said Big Panda, “but sometimes it’s difficult to see.”
— James Norbury
We live in a world of spectacular contrasts. At times the beauty we see overwhelms us, but other times the ugliness around us seems more than we can bear. Yet even in those times of ugliness we’re surrounded by beauty. This Sunday Robert Helfer will consider how we can see beauty when ugliness has made it difficult.
Welcome before prelude
Good morning and welcome to West Fork Unitarian Universalists. I’m Robert and I feel blessed to serve this congregation as a lay leader. I’m glad to see all of you here today.
Thank you for joining us.
Let us use the prelude for centering. We are about to enter sacred time. We are about to make this time and this place sacred by our presence and intention.
Please silence your phones… and as you do so, I invite us also to turn down the volume on our fears; to remove our masks; and to loosen the armor around our hearts.
Breathe.
Let go of the expectations placed on you by others—and those they taught you to place on yourself.
Drop the guilt and the shame, not to shirk accountability, but in honest expectation of the possibility of forgiveness.
Let go of the thing you said the other day. Let go of the thing you dread next week. Be here, in this moment. Breathe, here.
Prelude: “The Worker’s Funeral March”, from Symphony of Factory Sirens, Arseny Avraamov
Welcome The Beauty of the Whole – Meg Barnhouse
https://www.uua.org/worship/words/welcome/beauty-whole
Continue readingWe gather to worship, our hearts alive with hope that here we will be truly seen, that here we will be welcomed into the garden of this community, where the simple and the elegant, the fluted and frilled, the shy and the dramatic complement one another and are treasured. May we know that here, each contributes in their way to the beauty of the whole. Come, let us worship together, all genders, sexualities, politics, clappers and non-clappers, progressive or conservative, may we root ourselves in the values of this faith: compassion and courage, transcendence, justice and transformation
Sunday, September 6, 2020: West Virginia Wildlife Center, French Creek
Elk at French Creek
We have Spiritual Outings on the first Sunday of each month during the summer. For this year’s fourth outing, we will gather for a celebration of summer, nature, and fellowship on Sunday, September 6, at the West Virginia State Wildlife Center at French Creek.
Please note that unlike most of the parks we visit, the Wildlife Center charges an admission fee from April 1 through October 31. Make sure you have cash to pay at the gate.
Adults 16 and over: $4
Children 6-15: $2
Children 5 and under: Free
During this time of covid-19 pandemic we are practicing appropriate social distancing; please wear a mask.
We will meet at 11 a.m. in the picnic area near the elk enclosure for a short worship service followed by a modified potluck picnic, conversation, walking, and touring the animal enclosures. We will be practicing social distancing and wearing masks. Bring food to share if you are able and wish to share; otherwise, just bring food for yourself and share our company.
We would love to have you come worship with us.
For a map, please use this link: https://goo.gl/maps/2DgtJDkMYHN2
Email westforkuu@gmail.com or use our contact form for more information or to carpool, or write to us at PO Box 523, Clarksburg WV 26302
Red Spotted Newt
Sunday August 30, 2020: The Great Showman
The noblest art is that of making others happy — P.T. Barnum
Welcome before prelude
Good morning and welcome to West Fork Unitarian Universalists. I’m Robert and I am blessed to serve this congregation as a lay leader. I’m glad to see all of you here today.
Thank you for joining us.
Let us use the prelude for centering. We are about to enter sacred time. We are about to make this time and this place sacred by our presence and intention.
Please silence your phones… and as you do so, I invite us also to turn down the volume on our fears; to remove our masks; and to loosen the armor around our hearts.
Breathe.
Let go of the expectations placed on you by others—and those they taught you to place on yourself.
Drop the guilt and the shame, not to shirk accountability, but in honest expectation of the possibility of forgiveness.
Let go of the thing you said the other day. Let go of the thing you dread next week. Be here, in this moment. Breathe, here
Prelude: Entry of the Gladiators, Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus Band
Sunday, August 23, 2020: Once More with Feeling: Repetition as Spiritual Practice
The little chores in our kitchens, bathrooms, living rooms, and outside surroundings become spiritual practices when they bring us back to ourselves. As Thorp puts it: “When you bring energy and attention to each of your activities, you are no longer engaged in maintenance. You’re involved in taking care of things.” – Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
We are forgoing meeting in person during the coronavirus epidemic, meeting instead through the magic of 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.
We would love to have you worship with us!
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.
Sunday August 9, 2020: The Great Showman
The noblest art is that of making others happy — P.T. Barnum
Our forays into Unitarian and Universalist history normally focus on our heroes, the stars of social justice and liberal religion. But perhaps we need to be equally aware of our slightly less reputable past. This Sunday Robert Helfer will venture into the world of Phineas Taylor Barnum, Universalist, the master of “flimflam” behind the revelation that “there’s a sucker born every minute“
NOTICE: This service was postponed to Sunday, August 30, 2020.
We are forgoing meeting in person during the coronavirus epidemic, meeting instead through the magic of 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, August 2, 2020: Audra State Park
- Swimming at Audra
We have Spiritual Outings on the first Sunday of each month during the summer. For this year’s third outing, we will gather for a celebration of summer and fellowship on Sunday, August 2, at Audra State Park.
During this time of covid-19 pandemic we are practicing appropriate social distancing; please wear a mask.
We will meet at 11 a.m. in the picnic area for a short worship service followed by a modified potluck picnic, conversation, walking, and possibly swimming. We will be practicing social distancing and wearing masks. Bring food to share if you are able and wish to share; otherwise, just bring food for yourself and share our company.
We would love to have you come worship with us.
For a map, please use this link: https://goo.gl/maps/dQZFRS2idTJ2
Email westforkuu@gmail.com or use our contact form for more information or to carpool, or write to us at PO Box 523, Clarksburg WV 26302
Sunday, July 5, 2020: Watters Smith Memorial State Park
We have Spiritual Outings on the first Sunday of each month during the summer. For this year’s second outing, we will gather for a celebration of summer and fellowship on Sunday, July 5, at Watters Smith Memorial State Park.
During this time of covid-19 pandemic we are practicing appropriate social distancing; please wear a mask.
We will meet at 11 a.m. in the Pioneer shelter in the picnic area near the historical area for a short service, led by Bruce Bredden, followed by a modified potluck picnic, conversation, and walking. We will be practicing social distancing and wearing masks. Bring food to share if you are able and wish to share; otherwise, just bring food for yourself and share our company.
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
West Fork Unitarian Universalists 