I hadn’t fully grasped how much the idea of a better future sustained me – how it made life more livable, hardship more bearable and creativity possible. When I could readily imagine a world that was more just and healthy, it was easier to commit to long-term projects and to invest in the next generation. But in our current political and environmental context, that vision has grown hazier – and I, like many others, have found it much more difficult to be productive and plan for the future.

— Theresa MacPhail, “We are living in a time of polycrisis. If you feel trapped – you’re not alone”, The Guardian,14 January 2026

We currently conduct a full worship service on the first Sunday of each month, and discuss a different short reading each of the remaining Sundays.

On Sunday, 25 January, we will open with a very brief service and chalice lighting, followed by our discussion. Robert Helfer will lead the service and discussion. This week’s reading is “We are living in a time of polycrisis. If you feel trapped – you’re not alone”, by Theresa MacPhail, The Guardian, 14 January 2026.

The article, “We are living in a time of polycrisis. If you feel trapped – you’re not alone”, by Theresa MacPhail, can be found here.

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. 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 online, please email westforkuu@gmail.com for details and a link, or for help with using ZOOM.

We would love to have you come worship with us.

Children are welcome.

The building is wheelchair accessible, with an accessible restroom. You may park on the south side of the building, which is marked reserved for the PWA, or the north, where the reserved spaces are available on Sundays.

Map

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

“There was quite a bit of research showing that chimpanzees can form their beliefs in response to evidence,” [Jan M.] Engelmann says. The experiments usually involved chimpanzees deciding which of the two boxes contained a snack. When the researchers shook both boxes and there was a rattling sound coming from one of them, the chimps almost always chose the box where the rattling came from.

— Jacek Krywko, “The evolution of rationality: How chimps process conflicting evidence”, Ars Technica, November 16, 2025

We currently conduct a full worship service on the first Sunday of each month, and discuss a different short reading each of the remaining Sundays.

On Sunday, 18 January, we will open with a very brief service and chalice lighting, followed by our discussion. Robert Helfer will lead the service and discussion. This week’s reading is “The evolution of rationality: How chimps process conflicting evidence”, by Jacek Krywko, Ars Technica, November 16, 2025.

The article, “The evolution of rationality: How chimps process conflicting evidence”, by Jacek Krywko, can be found here.

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. 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 online, please email westforkuu@gmail.com for details and a link, or for help with using ZOOM.

We would love to have you come worship with us.

Children are welcome.

The building is wheelchair accessible, with an accessible restroom. You may park on the south side of the building, which is marked reserved for the PWA, or the north, where the reserved spaces are available on Sundays.

Map

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

Like deconstruction or critical race theory, “Spinozism” became a popular target for many a moralist who could not have said exactly what it meant. Yet, although Spinoza was certainly a champion of political and intellectual freedom, he had no interest in being a martyr for them, and, if his life teaches anything about thinking in dangerous times, it is how prudence and boldness can go hand in hand. Not for nothing did he wear a ring inscribed with the Latin word “Caute”: “Be cautious.”

— Adam Kirsch, “Baruch Spinoza and the Art of Thinking in Dangerous Times”, The New Yorker, February 5, 2024

We currently conduct a full worship service on the first Sunday of each month, and discuss a different short reading each of the remaining Sundays.

On Sunday, 11 January, we will open with a very brief service and chalice lighting, followed by our discussion. Robert Helfer will lead the service and discussion. This week’s reading is “Baruch Spinoza and the Art of Thinking in Dangerous Times”, by Adam Kirsch, The New Yorker, February 5, 2024.

The article, “Baruch Spinoza and the Art of Thinking in Dangerous Times, by Adam Kirsch, can be found here.

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. 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 online, please email westforkuu@gmail.com for details and a link, or for help with using ZOOM.

We would love to have you come worship with us.

Children are welcome.

The building is wheelchair accessible, with an accessible restroom. You may park on the south side of the building, which is marked reserved for the PWA, or the north, where the reserved spaces are available on Sundays.

Map

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

The boy had heard of Shakespeare but was more interested in testing how firmly the shells were attached. I wondered aloud about the owner of the boot, but its origins were of no concern to the boy. It was the boot covered in shells, the object itself, so rich and strange, that enchanted. It was a true marvel. Neither of us had seen anything like it before in all our varying decades.

It has made me wonder, what qualifies as a marvel? And why do we seek them out?

— Patti Miller, “Will you look at that! Why we are delighted by random, beautiful marvels”, The Guardian, 5 April 2025

We currently conduct a full worship service on the first Sunday of each month, and discuss a different short reading each of the remaining Sundays.

On Sunday, 14 December, we will open with a very brief service and chalice lighting, followed by our discussion. Robert Helfer will lead the service and discussion. This week’s reading is “Will you look at that! Why we are delighted by random, beautiful marvels”, by Patti Miller, The Guardian, 5 April 2025.

The article, “Will you look at that! Why we are delighted by random, beautiful marvels”, by Patti Miller, can be found here.

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. 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 online, please email westforkuu@gmail.com for details and a link, or for help with using ZOOM.

We would love to have you come worship with us.

Children are welcome.

The building is wheelchair accessible, with an accessible restroom. You may park on the south side of the building, which is marked reserved for the PWA, or the north, where the reserved spaces are available on Sundays.

Map

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

I remember those years — they formed “The Crucible” ’s skeleton — but I have lost the dead weight of the fear I had then. Fear doesn’t travel well; just as it can warp judgment, its absence can diminish memory’s truth. What terrifies one generation is likely to bring only a puzzled smile to the next.

— Arthur Miller, “Why I Wrote ‘The Crucible'”

We currently conduct a full worship service on the first Sunday of each month, and discuss a different short reading each of the remaining Sundays.

On Sunday, 7 December, we will open with a very brief service and chalice lighting, followed by our discussion. Robert Helfer will lead the service and discussion. This week’s reading is “Why I Wrote ‘The Crucible'”, by Arthur Miller, The New Yorker, October 14, 1996.

The article, “Why I Wrote ‘The Crucible'”, by Arthur Miller, can be found here.

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. 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 online, please email westforkuu@gmail.com for details and a link, or for help with using ZOOM.

We would love to have you come worship with us.

Children are welcome.

The building is wheelchair accessible, with an accessible restroom. You may park on the south side of the building, which is marked reserved for the PWA, or the north, where the reserved spaces are available on Sundays.

Map

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

As I write these words, humanitarian disasters are unfolding in Gaza, Sudan, Yemen, Myanmar, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Global climate action has not moved fast enough, and we are perilously close to creating an uninhabitable planet. Meanwhile here in the United States, immigrants have been rounded up and shipped to foreign countries without legal protection. Trans people have been demonized. Meaningful government agencies have been cut. Research destroyed. Universities attacked. The legal system pushed to the brink and corruption rampant.

Is it cruel to be happy when there is so much destruction?

— Avram Alpert, “Is it OK to be happy when the world is falling apart?”

We currently conduct a full worship service on the first Sunday of each month, and discuss a different short reading each of the remaining Sundays.

On Sunday, 30 November, we will open with a very brief service and chalice lighting, followed by our discussion. Robert Helfer will lead the service and discussion. This week’s reading is “Is it OK to be happy when the world is falling apart?”, by Avram Alpert, The Guardian, 31 August, 2025.

The article, “Is it OK to be happy when the world is falling apart?”, by Avram Alpert, can be found here.

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. 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 online, please email westforkuu@gmail.com for details and a link, or for help with using ZOOM.

We would love to have you come worship with us.

Children are welcome.

The building is wheelchair accessible, with an accessible restroom. You may park on the south side of the building, which is marked reserved for the PWA, or the north, where the reserved spaces are available on Sundays.

Map

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