Sunday, September 4, 2016: Love in a Time of Fear and Loathing

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Prelude: Once to Every Man and Nation

Welcome: Thich Nhat Hanh (SLT 505)

Let us be at peace with our bodies and our minds. Let us return to ourselves and become wholly ourselves. Let us be aware of the source of being, common to us all and to all living things.

Evoking the presence of the Great Compassion, let us fill our hearts with our own compassion—towards ourselves and towards all living beings.

Let us pray that we ourselves cease to be the cause of suffering to each other.

With humility, with awareness of the existence of life, and of the suffering that are going on around us, let us practice the establishment of peace in our hearts and on earth.

 Chalice Lighting: The Gift of Love

Come, Spirit, come, our hearts control,
Our spirits long to be made whole.
Let inward love guide every deed;
By this we worship, and are freed.

Song: Gathered Here (3 times) Continue reading →

There’s a UU Book Club!!

CZ

There is a Unitarian Universalist Book club on GoodReads. It is called Justice and Spirit. There are UUs from all over reading and talking about books. This can help us all learn and and grow together while we search for truth and meaning in our world.

From the UUA “The September pick for the Justice and Spirit: Unitarian Universalist Book Club is “Cultivating Empathy: The Worth and Dignity of Every Person—Without Exception” by Nathan C. Walker. “This emotionally honest and personal exploration of conflict introduces a creative and compassionate way to develop empathetic responses using the spiritual practice of the moral imagination.” Order your copy of this Skinner House title from inSpirit: The UU Book and Gift Shop, and join the conversation with the book club on GoodReads.”

Have fun reading.

Namaste,
Cricket

 

UU Women and Voting

CZ

Here is a piece from the UUA’s Worship Web called Skit for Famous UU Women.

As our election nears, I worry about our voices being heard. I worry that there are people who will not use their vote because they feel disenfranchised, scared, tired, and alone. What I say to you, though, is that we need to raise our voices. The president is not the only vacancy to feel. There are members of congress. There are state governments and local governments.

The piece I am sharing with you today, I’m certain would be more powerful if heard, rather than read, but even just on paper it speaks to the need to raise our voices and use our votes. The point of an election is to be heard. We need to be brave like the women in this reading and speak up.

Namaste,
Cricket

Contagious Theism and Reason to Rejoice

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Later in her article, Wilcox describes her little daughter proclaiming, “‘People who believe in God are crazy,’ to which Scott nodded approval.”

Oh, boy. I’m so sorry. I really am. Whatever they did to this man as a kid, it was sick and soul-damaging and wrong. I am so sorry that whatever happened to him hardened into a conviction that anyone who believes in God must be crazy. I am really, really tired of hearing ministers use the line, “I’m sure I don’t believe in that God, either,” because it insults the author’s husband and my intelligence and diminishes the profundity of both our experiences.

http://www.peacebang.com/2016/08/27/contagious-theism-and-reason-to-rejoice/

Sunday August 28, 2016: Mother Jones Alive

Robert
Mother Jones

Mother Jones

In 1902 she was “the most dangerous woman in America”.

Mary Harris Jones, commonly known as “Mother Jones”, was an Irish immigrant, a refugee of the “Great Famine”. Widowed in 1867 when her husband and four young children died of yellow fever, she became a champion of the rights of children and a tireless labor organizer in the coal fields of West Virginia and other places across the United States until her death at age 93 in 1930.

On Sunday, August 28, members of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Charleston, together with members of West Fork Unitarian Universalists, will bring Mother Jones to life, up close and personal, through her own words and the words of others from her times. Special music will be provided by members of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Morgantown.

Please join us at 11:00 a.m. on Sunday, August 28, at the Progressive Women’s Association Event Center, 305 Washington Ave., in Downtown Clarksburg, WV, behind the Courthouse.

Our Religious Education/Life Long Learning Class will meet from 10 a.m. until 10:45. We will gather for coffee and conversation before the service. More about 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

Global Unitarian and Universalist community gathers in the Netherlands

CZ

http://international.blogs.uua.org/international-uu-organizations/icuu/global-unitarian-and-universalist-community-gathers-in-the-netherlands/

“Inspired by the Spirit of Life and with a commitment to the ideals of freedom and reason in religion. 
We, the member groups of the International Council of Unitarians and Universalists, affirming our belief in religious community based on
liberty of conscience and individual thought in matters of faith
the inherent worth and dignity of every person
justice and compassion in human relations
responsible stewardship of the earth’s living system
and our commitment to democratic principles,
Declare the mission of the ICUU is to empower existing and emerging member groups to sustain and grow our global faith community.

Namaste,
Cricket

Can we still be good neighbors in an election year?

CZ

http://www.uuworld.org/articles/we-can-still-be-good-neighbors?utm_source=uuworld&utm_medium=front&utm_campaign=1st

This quote from the article spoke to me, “Each presidential campaign cycle seems to have less and less to do with governing or democracy, and more to do with deepening our divisiveness. Democracy requires disagreement and the skills to manage it, listening and tolerance.”  What spoke to you?

Namaste,
Cricket