Services

Sunday 1 October 2023: Building Your Own Theology, Session 3

Robert
Datura wrightii flower opening, pure white with pinkish highlights in a silky pinwheel

To know or tell the origin of the other divinities is beyond us, and we must accept the traditions of the men of old time who affirm themselves to be the offspring of the gods — that is what they say — and they must surely have known their own ancestors. How can we doubt the word of the children of the gods? Although they give no probable or certain proofs, still, as they declare that they are speaking of what took place in their own family, we must conform to custom and believe them.

— Plato, Timaeus

This Sunday we will continue our religious education program with session three of Building Your Own Theology, in which we will be exploring our Spiritual Autobiographies.  The course description and schedule are here:

We will open with a very brief service and chalice lighting, after which Robert will guide us through the course of study and discussions.

Please be prepared — please continue to journal your thoughts, read and think about the text for session three (which is available here), and continue work on your Spiritual Autobiography (the guidelines are available here)

** NOTE: If you wish to join us through ZOOM, please let us know before Sunday, so we can be sure to have the equipment in place Sunday morning. **

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.

Children are welcome. The building is wheelchair accessible, with an accessible restroom. You may park in the lot on the west side of the building; DO NOT PARK in the Washington Avenue pay lot. Please enter through the door on the west side of the building.

Map

Note: If you wish to join on ZOOM, please let us know so we can be sure the equipment is ready on Sunday morning. 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.

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 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. 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 24 September 2023: No Service

Robert
Hobo Bear

Hope is not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.

— Václav Havel

There will be no service, either in person or on ZOOM, on Sunday, 24 September 2023.

We look forward to seeing you on Sunday, 1 October, as we continue our religious education program with session three of Building Your Own Theology.

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.

Children are welcome. The building is wheelchair accessible, with an accessible restroom. You may park in the lot on the west side of the building; DO NOT PARK in the Washington Avenue pay lot. Please enter through the door on the west side of the building.

Map

Note: If you wish to join on ZOOM, please let us know so we can be sure the equipment is ready on Sunday morning. 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.

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 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. 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 17 September 2023: Building Your Own Theology, Session 2

Robert

The need of reason is not inspired by the quest for truth but by the quest for meaning. And truth and meaning are not the same. The basic fallacy, taking precedence over all specific metaphysical fallacies, is to interpret meaning on the model of truth.

— Hannah Arendt, The Life of the Mind

This Sunday we will continue our religious education program with session two of Building Your Own Theology, in which we will be explore our Spiritual Autobiographies.  The course description and schedule are here:

We will open with a very brief service and chalice lighting, after which Robert will guide us through the course of study and discussions.

Please be prepared — please continue to journal your thoughts, read and think about the text for session two (which is available here), and begin work on your Spiritual Autobiography (the guidelines are available here)

** NOTE: If you wish to join us through ZOOM, please let us know before Sunday, so we can be sure to have the equipment in place Sunday morning. **

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.

Children are welcome. The building is wheelchair accessible, with an accessible restroom. You may park in the lot on the west side of the building; DO NOT PARK in the Washington Avenue pay lot. Please enter through the door on the west side of the building.

Map

Note: If you wish to join on ZOOM, please let us know so we can be sure the equipment is ready on Sunday morning. 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.

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 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. 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 10 September 2023: Building Your Own Theology, Session 1

Robert
Black and white image of fish and birds blending into each other

Theologians have argued that we are justified — saved — by faith, by works, by character. What does justify our existence in the short years allotted to us? What is the purpose of humankind? What are our purposes? Do we really want to be saved?

This Sunday we will begin our religious education program with session one of Building Your Own Theology.  The course description and schedule are here:

We will open with a very brief service and chalice lighting, after which Lisa will guide us through the course of study and discussions.

Please be prepared — read and think about the text for session one, which is available here:

** NOTE: If you wish to join us through ZOOM, please let us know before Sunday, so we can be sure to have the equipment in place Sunday morning. **

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.

Children are welcome. The building is wheelchair accessible, with an accessible restroom. You may park in the lot on the west side of the building; DO NOT PARK in the Washington Avenue pay lot. Please enter through the door on the west side of the building.

Map

Note: If you wish to join on ZOOM, please let us know so we can be sure the equipment is ready on Sunday morning. 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.

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 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. 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, September 3, 2023: Deegan and Hinkle Lakes, Bridgeport

Robert
Little Blue Heron at Deegan & Hinkle Lakes Park
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 September outing, we will return to Deegan & Hinkle Lakes Park in Bridgeport for a celebration of nature, fellowship, and the beginning of autumn on Sunday, September 3.

During this time of continuing covid-19 pandemic we are following current CDC guidelines (see https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/communication/guidance.html).  We request that anyone who is not fully vaccinated practice appropriate social distancing and wear a mask except when eating. Although fully vaccinated people are safe without masks for themselves and for unvaccinated people, we recommend that fully vaccinated people also practice appropriate social distancing and wear a mask except when eating.

We will meet at 11 a.m. in the picnic area for a short service, followed by a modified potluck picnic, conversation, and walking.  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

No Sunday Service Until September

Robert

We are taking a break in our services. There will be NO Sunday service, either in person or on ZOOM, until September 2023.

We are on hiatus for the summer. We will return to weekly meetings in September, beginning with a Spiritual Outing on Sunday September 3. We are planning a weekly service of meditation and sharing, and to offer Building Your Own Theology, a course in examining our own history of beliefs, the history of liberal religion, and clarifying our own beliefs today, beginning in September.

… the heretic, acquainted with loneliness, has nothing to offer but himself. He has no claim to present but that of his own soul, and its right to recognition. He is convinced that not through churches, or books, but men, does God speak His word and reveal His will. He does not deny that revelation has come to other men in earlier times, and that what they saw has become the precious tradition of a church, or the holy testimony of a Bible; but he insists that this

“Revelation is not sealed;
Answering unto man’s endeavor.
Truth and right are still revealed.”

– John Haynes Holmes,

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, June 4, 2023: Valley Falls State Park

Robert
Tygart Valley River
Tygart Valley River at Valley Falls

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 the beginning of summer, flowers, and the challenges of fellowship, June 4, at Valley Falls State Park — picnic and hiking on the banks of the Tygart Valley River.

We will meet at 11 a.m. in the picnic area for a short service followed by a potluck picnic, conversation, and walking. 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/CiiqyDAXiw42

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

A Great Spangled Fritillary (Speyeria cybele) came for the picnic

Sunday, 28 May 2023: No Sunday Service This Week

Robert

I do believe in the priesthood of all believers, and I do believe in the worth and the valor of all artists, and we are all artists. There is clearly a hierarchy, and one does not confuse the brilliant child whose work hangs on the refrigerator with Picasso, but you praise the child and you allow the child to grow from that first effort. From every effort comes growth, and every effort is some form of worship. This I believe.

To be a good citizen is a form of art. To be a good friend is a form of art. There is artistry in doing well whatever it is you are needed or forced or delighted to do. In my worst forms of penury, I was a glorious artist at whatever I needed to do to have a little food and a room and some shoes. I was grateful to live and to work and to grow.

–Martha Graham, Interview with James Grissom, 1990, James Grissom, Follies of God (2015)

We are taking a break in our services. There will be NO Sunday service, either in person or on ZOOM, on Sunday 28 May.

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, May 21, 2023: Annual Meeting

LdeG

This Sunday is our Annual Meeting. We will gather at 10:00 for coffee, check-ins and informal discussion, and the Annual Meeting will begin at 10:30. Everyone is invited to participate in the discussion; decisions are by consensus of members. If you’d like, bring a snack to share.

Annual Business Meeting. The annual business meeting shall be held each year on the third Sunday of May, to hear reports of officers and staff, to appoint new officers and committees, to adopt an annual budget, and to transact any other business that may properly come before the congregation.
(From the Bylaws)

Treasurer’s Report

Annual Review of the Covenant of Right Relations.
https://westforkuu.org/about/covenant-of-right-relations

Consideration of Removal of Inactive Members

Planning and Budget for 2019-2020 Church Year (starts July 1)
Includes

  • Services – format and leadership
  • Other programming
  • Outreach

Election of Officers (Until the beginning of the church year after the membership reaches 15, the officers shall be the President, the Moderator, the Chair of Ministry and Oversight, and a Secretary/Treasurer, who will serve as the Board and Nominating Committee. The congregation as a whole will carry out the functions of the Committee on Ministry and Oversight.)


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. There are classes for children and adults 10 to 10:45 am, and a coffee gathering before the service. 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

Sunday 14 May 2023: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness

LdeG

From ancient times – the Buddha, Greek philosophy, Jesus, modern philosophers and psychologists, and current happiness research, we have been told that pursuing happiness doesn’t work.

This Sunday Lisa deGruyter will talk about how pursuing happiness causes suffering, and what works instead.

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.

Children are welcome. The building is wheelchair accessible, with an accessible restroom. You may park in the lot on the west side of the building; DO NOT PARK in the Washington Avenue pay lot. Please enter through the door on the west side of the building.

Map

If you wish to join on ZOOM, please contact us for logon information. 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.

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 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. 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