We can help our struggling loved ones by reassuring them that they can bring us their pain without guilt or shame. This article from Omid Safi is a good place to start.
THE UUA CONDEMNS TRUMP’S NATIONAL EMERGENCY DECLARATION FOR BORDER WALL
“The Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) denounces President Trump’s racist and xenophobic decision to declare a national emergency to build a border wall between the United States and Mexico.” Read more here
Sunday, February 17, 2019: Our UU Presidents
Jefferson, though a sincere student of the teachings of Jesus and a Unitarian, was denounced as an atheist. We know the contumely, insult, and mob violence to which Priestley was subjected in England. Franklin, the Adamses, and Fillmore were all Unitarians, but they were looked at askance. Lincoln, one of the most deeply religious men, was clearly Unitarian in his faith. In spite of all these illustrious examples, religious prejudices have been played upon in politics to defeat Unitarians and upholders of liberal Christianity and in very recent years; but even in the time my life compasses, I can see a great change for the better.
–President Taft
On this President’s Day weekend we will look back at our Unitarian Presidents.
Our services are Sundays at 11 a.m. at the Progressive Women’s Association Uptown Event Center, 305 Washington Ave. in downtown Clarksburg, behind the Courthouse. There is a discussion time 10 to 10:45 am, and a coffee gathering before the service. More about us.
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. You may park on the south side of the building, which is marked reserved for the PWA.
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
Sunday, February 10, 2019
“We have to do this work because if we don’t our faith is a lie. We don’t mean the things we say as a faith and we don’t observe the principles and the theology that we claim unless we do this work.” – Elka Carrier-Ladd
This Sunday, Cricket Hall will give us a closer look at the history of Diverse Revolutionary Unitarian Universalist Multicultural Ministries (DRUUMM) and Allies for Racial Equity (ARE). We must look at the context and be clear about our history.
We would love to have you come worship with us.
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.
Due to a series of unfortunate events, we are behind in our book, but we will be covering the chapter The Religious Educator of Color, by Rev. Natalie Maxwell Fenimore and Aisha Hauser, MSW with Response, by Rev. Sophia Betancourt remembering to stay focused on and immersing oneself in the experiences of people of color, and refusing to allow the conversation to morph into one about white institutions.
Children are welcome. There is childcare and an activity for young children during the service.
The building is wheelchair accessible, with an accessible restroom.
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
Sunday, February 3, 2019
“No matter how long the winter, spring is sure to follow.” – English Proverb
This Sunday, John Hall will present a lesson about Groundhog Day.
We would love to have you come worship with us.
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.
Children are welcome. There is childcare and an activity for young children during the service.
The building is wheelchair accessible, with an accessible restroom.
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
2019 General Assembly Ware Lecturer Announced
General Assembly 2019
June 19-23, Spokane, WA
The Power of We
General Assembly (GA) is the annual meeting of our Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA).
The Ware Lecturer for this year is Richard Blanco.
“Selected by President Obama as the fifth inaugural poet in U.S. history, Richard Blanco is the youngest and the first Latino, immigrant, and gay person to serve in such a role. Born in Madrid to Cuban exile parents and raised in Miami, the negotiation of cultural identity characterizes his three collections of poetry: City of a Hundred Fires, which received the Agnes Starrett Poetry Prize from the University of Pittsburgh Press; Directions to The Beach of the Dead, recipient of the Beyond Margins Award from the PEN American Center; and Looking for The Gulf Motel, recipient of the Paterson Poetry Prize and the Thom Gunn Award. He has also authored the memoirs For All of Us, One Today: An Inaugural Poet’s Journey and The Prince of Los Cocuyos: A Miami Childhood, winner of a Lambda Literary Award. His inaugural poem “One Today” was published as a children’s book, in collaboration with renowned illustrator Dav Pilkey. His latest book, Boundaries, a collaboration with photographer Jacob Hessler, challenges the physical and psychological dividing lines that shadow the United States. A new book of poems, How to Love a Country, is forthcoming from Beacon Press in April 2019. Blanco has written occasional poems for the re-opening of the U.S. Embassy in Cuba, Freedom to Marry, the Tech Awards of Silicon Valley, and the Boston Strong benefit concert following the Boston Marathon bombings. He is a Woodrow Wilson Fellow and has received numerous honorary doctorates. He has taught at Georgetown University, American University, and Wesleyan University. He serves as the first Education Ambassador for The Academy of American Poets.
The 2019 Ware Lecture is Friday, June 21 at 7:30 p.m. PDT at the Spokane Convention Center. General Assembly registration is required to attend the lecture in Spokane. The Ware Lecture will be streamed live on uua.org/ga.”
A Prayer for My Queer and Trans Siblings
A Prayer for My Queer and Trans Siblings
“Here you are.
Here, in this holy space,
standing on this ground that is holy
because you are here.
Here you are, in flesh and bone,
filling up this body that belongs to you alone.
Your pumping heart is a wonder
because it keeps you alive.
Your loving heart is a blessing
because it keeps all of us alive.
The Spirit of Love has a home in you.
May we all see that love in you
and let our hearts become mirrors
for the compassion at your core.
The Spirit of Justice has a home in you.
May we light our wicks
from one another until we are all aflame,
until we burn out every prejudice
we carry in these bones.
Here you are.
Holy as you are.
Blessed be.”
Jess Reynolds
Love Like Thunder
Sunday, January 27, 2019: In Praise of Rot
All human things are subject to decay,
And, when Fate summons, monarchs must obey.― John Dryden, “Mac Flecknoe”
This Sunday we will celebrate decomposition, that bit of magic that, by stages, transforms death into life. Robert Helfer will lead the service.
Our services are Sundays at 11 a.m. at the Progressive Women’s Association Uptown Event Center, 305 Washington Ave. in downtown Clarksburg, behind the Courthouse. There are classes for children and adults 10 to 10:45 a.m., and a coffee gathering before the service. More about us.
From 10 to 10:45 a.m. we will be discussing “The Religious Educator of Color” and the “Response to Natalie Maxwell Fenimore and Aisha Hauser” from the book Centering: Navigating Race, Authenticity, and Power in Ministry.
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. You may park on the south side of the building, which is marked reserved for the PWA.
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
Beloved Poet Mary Oliver, Who Believed Poetry ‘Mustn’t Be Fancy,’ Dies At 83
Here is Mary Oliver’s obituary. She was a lovely poet.
“To live in this world, you must be able to do three things: to love what is mortal; to hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends on it; and, when the time comes to let it go, to let it go.” – Mary Oliver
Sunday, January 20, 2018: Revelation Is Not Sealed
…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
Perhaps the greatest function of Unitarian Universalist congregations is the relief of the loneliness of the heretic. Lisa deGruyter will lead the service.
Our services are Sundays at 11 a.m. at the Progressive Women’s Association Uptown 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.
This Sunday we will be discussing current events at 10.
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. You may park on the south side of the building, which is marked reserved for the PWA.
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
West Fork Unitarian Universalists 