Remembering Joy
Music Brings Joy
Music, once admitted to the soul, becomes a sort of spirit, and never dies. – Edward Bulwer Lytton
Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without. – Confucius
Music brings a warm glow to my vision, thawing mind and muscle from their endless wintering. – Haruki Murakami
Music can heal the wounds which medicine cannot touch. – Debasish Mridha
Sunday, December 12, 2021
“Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love.” – Hamilton Wright Mabie
“This is my wish for you: peace of mind, prosperity through the year, happiness that multiplies, health for you and yours, fun around every corner, energy to chase your dreams, joy to fill your holidays!” – D.M. Dellinger
This Sunday, Cricket Hall will be discussing “Finding Joy Even When the Holidays are Hard.”
Please Join Us for Worship.
We are forgoing meeting in person during the coronavirus epidemic, meeting on 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, December 5, 2021
“Joy is an act of resistance.” – Toi Derricotte
“Feeling good is not frivolous, it is freedom.” – adrienne maree brown
“Joy is the transformation of our suffering, not the escape of all we have to face.” – Mark Nepo
This Sunday, John Hall will discussing “Finding a Unitarian Universalist Joy and How That Applies to Our Principles”
Please Join Us for Worship.
We are forgoing meeting in person during the coronavirus epidemic, meeting on 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
Month of Opening to Joy
Our theme for the month of December is Opening to Joy. We will be posting about it and incorporating it into our services.
Here is a poem to get us started:
Joy is Hard by Rev. Joe Cherry (Permission secured by Soul Matters)
Joy is hard.
Joy requires us to feel safe enough,
to be safe enough, to open to vulnerability.
To feel joy, you must be brave.
Joy walks into a room after the space has been cleared
Cleared of shame,
Cleared of doubt
Cleared of self-recrimination.
Joy is hard.
Joy is hard
and joy is worth the hard work of preparation.
Preparing oneself and setting down all the defenses
all the shoulds and could’ves,
all the should not haves and might haves.
Joy is worth the work.
You are worth the work.
You can start small:
the simple pleasure of your favorite tea,
the grand freedom of a full belly laugh.
Invite Joy to be your companion.
Here is a song:
Sunday, 28 November, 2021: Making Inroads
I see the Anthropocene as something that demands that we humans see ourselves in a different way, as a partial cause of those changes. But I also see the Anthropocene as an interpellation to challenge the human as the key subject of history.
— Joanna Zylinska
This Sunday Phoebe Durst will be using Joana Zylinska’s writings on the Anthropocene to talk about “Making Inroads” on our spiritual practice..
Please Join Us for Worship.
We are forgoing meeting in person during the coronavirus epidemic, meeting on 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, 21 November, 2021: On What Authority?
The authority of Jesus, as of all teachers, one would naturally think, must rest on the truth of his words, and not their truth on his authority.
— Theodore Parker, The Transient and Permanent in Christianity
On what authority have we Unitarian Universalists built our beliefs? And by what tests do we determine their Truth? This Sunday Robert Helfer will lead us as we begin to explore these ideas.
Please Join Us for Worship.
We are forgoing meeting in person during the coronavirus epidemic, meeting on 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
Daylight Saving Time ends (November 7, 2021)
Daylight Saving Time ENDS at 2:00 a.m. on Sunday, November 7. 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!
Sunday, November 7, 2021: 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 seventh outing, we will return to Deegan & Hinkle Lakes Park in Bridgeport for a celebration of nature, fellowship, and the beginning of the holiday season on Sunday, November 7.
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, 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, 31 October, 2021: Cultivating Relationships
The typical expression of opening Friendship would be something like, “What? You too? I thought I was the only one.”
— C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves
This Sunday, Phoebe Durst will lead us in a service on cultivating relationships.
Please Join Us for Worship.
We are forgoing meeting in person during the coronavirus epidemic, meeting on 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
West Fork Unitarian Universalists 