Sunday, 1 December 2024: Thanksgiving

November 27, 2024November 27, 2024Robert

And here we are. A very problematic story attached to a communal call to give thanks for what is good, and to celebrate. A terrible memory of the possibility of evil, and its actual manifestations. And the sense of powerlessness while also wishing for some reconciliation among people and this little planet upon which we live, and breathe, and from which we take our being.

— James Ford, “A Zen Meditation on our American Thanksgiving”, 2023

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. But because of scheduling problems this week, we have moved our usual full service to a later date. Instead we will discuss a short reading.

On Sunday, 1 December, we will open with a very brief service and chalice lighting, after which Robert Helfer will guide us through our discussion. This week’s reading is James Ford’s 2023 meditation, “A Zen Meditation on our American Thanksgiving”, published on his blog “Monkey Mind“.

“A Zen Meditation on our American Thanksgiving” can be found here.

All are welcome to participate.

**If you wish to join by ZOOM and do not already have the link, please email us at westforkuu@gmail.com**

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 at the back on the west side of the building.

Please note that this Sunday we will be on the second floor. Please enter, as usual, through the door at the back on the west side of the building, then go to the second floor. There is an elevator in the hallway.

Map

A half hour for coffee, discussion, and socializing, including those who attend through ZOOM, follows from the end of the service until 12:00 noon. More about us.

If you have been a regular attendee and we had an email address for you, we have added you to our Google Group. If you have not gotten a group email already, please email westforkuu@gmail.com so that we can add you to the group. We encourage members to continue discussions through the week using the WFUU email group. Public announcements will continue to be posted here on the website and on our Facebook page 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 November 2024: In Plato’s Cave

November 19, 2024November 19, 2024Robert

Utter ignorance, however, for which the dictionary offers the term ignoration, is yet more profound: The prisoners in Plato’s Cave do not know what they do not know; they do not even know that they do not know. They dwell in ignorance, but cannot recognize it. Ignoration is thus a predicament, a trap — one that is not comprehended by those who are caught in it and dwell there. In a sense, they are not in a place at all: Theirs is rather a placelessness in which one doesn’t even know one is lost.

— Daniel R. DeNicola, “Plato’s Cave and the Stubborn Persistence of Ignorance”

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, 24 November, we will open with a very brief service and chalice lighting, after which Robert Helfer will guide us through our discussion. This week’s reading is Daniel R. DeNicola’s study of knowledge and ignorance, “Plato’s Cave and the Stubborn Persistence of Ignorance”, excerpted from his Understanding Ignorance: The Surprising Impact of What We Don’t Know, 2018.

“Plato’s Cave and the Stubborn Persistence of Ignorance” can be found here.

All are welcome to participate.

**If you wish to join by ZOOM and do not already have the link, please email us at westforkuu@gmail.com**

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.

Map

A half hour for coffee, discussion, and socializing, including those who attend through ZOOM, follows from the end of the service until 12:00 noon. More about us.

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 November 2024: Words and Behaviour

November 11, 2024November 11, 2024Robert

A particular collectivity, the army or the warring nation, is given the name and, along with the name, the attributes of a single person, in order that we may be able to love or hate it more intensely than we could do if we thought of it as what it really is: a number of diverse individuals. In other cases personification is used for the purpose of concealing the fundamental absurdity and monstrosity of war. What is absurd and monstrous about war is that men who have no personal quarrel should be trained to murder one another in cold blood. By personifying opposing armies or countries, we are able to think of war as a conflict between individuals.

— Aldous Huxley, “Words and Behaviour”, The Olive Tree and Other Essays (1936)

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, 17 November, we will open with a very brief service and chalice lighting, after which Robert Helfer will guide us through our discussion. This week’s reading is Aldous Huxley’s 1936 essay on the nature and behavior of words, “Words and Behaviour”, The Olive Tree and Other Essays, 1936.

The Olive Tree and Other Essays can be found here, then select the desired format and search for “Words and Behaviour”. Or just go here.

All are welcome to participate.

**If you wish to join by ZOOM and do not already have the link, please email us at westforkuu@gmail.com**

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.

Map

A half hour for coffee, discussion, and socializing, including those who attend through ZOOM, follows from the end of the service until 12:00 noon. More about us.

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 November 2024: The Good Guys

November 4, 2024November 4, 2024Robert

What I have always found attractive about the Panchatantra stories is that many of them do not moralise. They do not preach goodness or virtue or modesty or honesty or restraint. Cunning and strategy and amorality often overcome all opposition. The good guys don’t always win. (It’s not even always clear who the good guys are.) For this reason they seem, to the modern reader, uncannily contemporary – because we, the modern readers, live in a world of amorality and shamelessness and treachery and cunning, in which bad guys everywhere have often won.

— Salman Rushdie, “‘The good guys don’t always win’: Salman Rushdie on peace, Barbie and what freedom cost him”, The Guardian, 8 November 2023.

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, 10 November, we will open with a very brief service and chalice lighting, after which Robert Helfer will guide us through our discussion. This week’s reading is Salman Rushdie’s 2023 reflection on good and evil, peace, and the values of myth, “‘The good guys don’t always win’: Salman Rushdie on peace, Barbie and what freedom cost him”, The Guardian, 8 November 2023.

All are welcome to participate.

**If you wish to join by ZOOM and do not already have the link, please email us at westforkuu@gmail.com**

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.

Map

A half hour for coffee, discussion, and socializing, including those who attend through ZOOM, follows from the end of the service until 12:00 noon. More about us.

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

Sunday, 3 November 2024: The Veil

October 29, 2024October 29, 2024Robert

There was a Door to which I found no Key;
There was a Veil past which I could not see:
Some little talk awhile of ME and THEE
There seemed — and then no more of THEE and ME.

— Edward FitzGerald, translation of a poem attributed to Omar Khayyam

We are told that there are certain times of the year when the veil between the world of the living and that of the dead becomes thinner. The end of October and beginning of November — the time of Diwali, Halloween, Samhain, All Saints Day, All Souls Day, Día de los Muertes — is one such time. This Sunday we will reflect on this veil and its thinning. Robert Helfer will lead the service.

This is a time to remember those who have passed from our lives, and for this reason, we create an altar, a table of remembrance, to help us feel the presence of those we miss. Please bring a momento that connects you to a person whose memory is dear to you — a photograph or some other object — for display on our table of remembrance.

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 by ZOOM and do not already have the link, please email us at westforkuu@gmail.com**

Map

A coffee hour, a time for discussion and socializing, including those who attend through ZOOM, follows from the end of the service until 12:00 noon. More about us.

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

Sunday, 27 October 2024. No Service

October 21, 2024October 21, 2024Robert

Due to schedule conflicts, there will be no WFUU service and no ZOOM session on Sunday, 27 October 2024.

We will return on Sunday, 3 November, and hope to see you all then.

Thank you.

Sunday, 20 October 2024: Do Our Morals Change?

October 16, 2024October 16, 2024Robert

The seasons have been shown to influence many elements of our psyches and behavior: mood, color preferences, how charitable we are, even cognitive performance. But recently, researchers found they may also affect what we tend to consider among our most profoundly held convictions: how we decide what is right and wrong.

— Alice Sun, “Our Morals Change with the Seasons”, Nautilus, September 9, 2024.

We are currently having a full service on the first Sunday of each month, and discussing a different short reading each of the remaining Sundays.

On Sunday, 20 October, we will open with a very brief service and chalice lighting, after which Robert Helfer will guide us through our discussion. This week’s reading is Alice Sun’s “Our Morals Change with the Seasons“, Nautilus, September 9, 2024.

All are welcome to participate.

**If you wish to join by ZOOM and do not already have the link, please email us at westforkuu@gmail.com**

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.

Map

A coffee hour, a time for discussion and socializing, including those who attend through ZOOM, 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 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, 13 October 2024: Tailoring Spirituality

October 8, 2024October 8, 2024Robert

You see, I’ve increasingly come to realize that many people are tempted to fall into thinking that what’s being offered within the local community is the well-fitting, bespoke spiritual suit or dress itself. But it’s not. What’s on offer here, in the company of fellow students and experienced free religious and spiritual seekers, is an apprenticeship in how to tailor for yourself your own well-fitting, bespoke spiritual garment suitable for every aspect of your everyday life. …

— Andrew Brown, “What an apprenticeship in tailoring might tell us about the making of a creative, free spirituality or religion …”, a “thought for the day” for February 24, 2024.

We are currently having a full service on the first Sunday of each month, and discussing a different short reading each of the remaining Sundays.

On Sunday, 13 October, we will open with a very brief service and chalice lighting, after which Robert Helfer will guide us through our discussion. This week’s reading is Andrew Brown’s “thought for the day” for February 24, 2024, on making a creative, free spirituality or religion, “What an apprenticeship in tailoring might tell us about the making of a creative, free spirituality or religion . . .“, which is, in part, a sequel to his “thought for the day” for February 17, 2024, “Will ready-made religion ever really fit us properly?“. I encourage all to read the full source of the excerpt included in this announcement, and perhaps consider reading the earlier “thought”.

All are welcome to participate.

**If you wish to join by ZOOM and do not already have the link, please email us at westforkuu@gmail.com**

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.

Map

A coffee hour, a time for discussion and socializing, including those who attend through ZOOM, follows from the end of the service until 12:00 noon. More about us.

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 October 2024: Spiritual Outing at Valley Falls State Park

September 30, 2024September 30, 2024Robert

To Hindus the universe itself was a perpetual motion machine, and there seemed nothing absurd in an endless and spontaneous flow of energy. Bhāskāra speaks of the siphon as though it were a device for perpetual motion, and his fourteenth-century European imitator insists that his mercury wheel is in perpetual motion, even though when he made it experimentally he applied heat to its lower part, and is quite aware that it turned because the heat made the mercury rise. A windmill on a hill with constant breezes, a water-mill in a stream which never runs dry, were, to the Middle Ages, perpetual motion machines. The significant things about the idea of perpetual motion in late Medieval Europe, in contrast to India and Islam, are the indications of the intense and widespread interest in it, the attempt to diversify its motors, and the effort to make it do something useful.
— Lynn White, Jr., Medieval Technology and Social Change (1962).

We have Spiritual Outings on the first Sunday of each month through the summer (very loosely defined). For this year’s October outing, we will gather on October 6 at Valley Falls State Park for a celebration of early Autumn, the joys of nature, the perpetual (we hope) flow of water, and the challenges of fellowship. Come join us 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.

Note that ZOOM will not be available for this service.

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, 29 September 2024: Trust in Institutions

September 23, 2024September 18, 2024Robert

Frustrated citizens have tried to fill the vacuum. Like-minded “followers” and “friends” feed us news online; people sometimes barter on eBay rather than bow to big corporations; and parents increasingly homeschool their children rather than expose them to failing public schools and unsafe streets. But this is coping, not institutional adaptation. And sociologists say we need the control that institutions provide: It’s how things get done.

When people trust their institutions, they’re better able to solve common problems. Research shows that school principals are much more likely to turn around struggling schools in places where people have a history of working together and getting involved in their children’s education. Communities bonded by friendships formed at church are more likely to vote, volunteer, and perform everyday good deeds like helping someone find a job. And governments find it easier to persuade the public to make sacrifices for the common good when people trust that their political leaders have the community’s best interests at heart. “Institutions — even dysfunctional ones — are why we don’t run amok in the woods,” Hansen says.

Still, no metrics exist to measure life without institutions, because they’ve been around as long as humankind. The first institution was the first family. The tribe was the first community. The first tribe’s leader was the first politician, and its elders were the first legislature. Its guards, the first police force. Its storyteller, a teacher. Humans are coded to create communities, and communities beget institutions.

What if, in the future, they don’t? People could disconnect, refocus inward, and turn away from their social contract. Already, many are losing trust. If society can’t promise benefits for joining it, its members may no longer feel bound to follow its rules. But is the rise of disillusionment inexorable? Can institutions regain their mojo? History offers hope, but Whitmire’s story, and the story of Muncie, say no.

— Ron Fournier & Sophie Quinton, “How Americans Lost Trust in Our Greatest Institutions”, The Atlantic, Apr 20, 2012
The full text of this article (“How Americans Lost Trust in Our Greatest Institutions”) can be found here.

We are currently having a full service on the first Sunday of each month, and discussing a different short reading each of the remaining Sundays.

On Sunday, 29 September, we will open with a very brief service and chalice lighting, after which Robert Helfer will guide us through our discussion. This week’s reading is Ron Fournier & Sophie Quinton’s 2012 article “How Americans Lost Trust in Our Greatest Institutions“. I encourage all to read the full source of the excerpt included in this announcement.

All are welcome to participate.

**If you wish to join by ZOOM and do not already have the link, please email us at westforkuu@gmail.com**

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.

Map

A coffee hour, a time for discussion and socializing, follows from the end of the service until 12:00 noon. More about 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

Gathering north central West Virginia UUs

Services

Sunday, 1 December 2024: Thanksgiving

Sunday, 24 November 2024: In Plato’s Cave

Sunday, 17 November 2024: Words and Behaviour

Sunday, 10 November 2024: The Good Guys

Sunday, 3 November 2024: The Veil

Please join us for Worship:

Sunday, 27 October 2024. No Service

Sunday, 20 October 2024: Do Our Morals Change?

Sunday, 13 October 2024: Tailoring Spirituality

Sunday, 6 October 2024: Spiritual Outing at Valley Falls State Park

Sunday, 29 September 2024: Trust in Institutions