Sunday October 29, 2017

CZ

“I have found, through years of practice, that people garden in order to make something grow; to interact with nature; to share, to find sanctuary, to heal, to honor the earth, to leave a mark.  Through gardening, we feel whole as we make our personal work of art upon our land.”

–  Julie Moir Messervy, The Inward Garden, 1995
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, John will give a lesson entitled, “Tending the Garden of Our Faith: a look at the 3rd principle.”

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

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

Namaste,
Cricket

Sunday, October 22, 2017: Words of Comfort

Robert

Prelude: Somebody Else’s Troubles – Steve Goodman

Welcome: To learn more about being human – Erika A. Hewitt

Welcome to this morning, this day, and this opportunity to be together in community — which is a time of joy, comfort, and sometimes challenges. This Unitarian Universalist congregation is a place where we come to learn more about being human. We’re not here because we’ve figured out life’s questions, or because we think we’ve got it right, or even because we think we know what the questions are.

We come here to learn more about being in relationship together: how to listen, how to forgive, how to be vulnerable, and how to create trust and compassion in one another.

Let us move into worship, willing to be authentic with each other, honest within ourselves, and opening to connection in all its forms.

Come, let us worship together.

Continue reading →

Sunday October, 15, 2017

CZ

Prelude –  Medley of “Oh God Our Help in Ages Past” and “Come Holy Spirit”

Welcome–  Words of Welcome for a Difficult Morning By Erika A. Hewitt   

Welcome Song:  #361 “Enter Rejoice and Come In”

Chalice Lighting: Global Chalice Lighting for August 2017

Song #1 – It is Well with My Soul with  New lyrics by Kimberley Debus, 2009

Story for All Ages – Part of Unitarian Universalism is a Really Long Name by Jennifer Dant

Offering:  Quiet meditative moment with music

Song #2 – Hymn #318 We Would be One

Responsive Reading –

Before we begin our responsive reading I would like to ask each of you, in your own way to join me in prayer.

As we read or watch the news each day and we see continued hate and violence, may we remember that we are not alone.  As our hearts break and we are faced with the reality that we have not come nearly as far as we need to, may we speak out. As others defend or explain away the problems facing our nation and our world, may we continue to encourage them to wake up. As we wonder if our ideals and expectations are doomed to fail, may remember that none of us are free until all of us are free. May we continue to answer the call of love and fight for the lives that need us most. May our voices continue to rise until they are heard above the hate.
May it Be,
Amen

We Answer the Call of Love By Julia Corbett-Hemeyer

Continue reading →

Meditation Monday for Indigenous People’s Day

CZ

Today we celebrate the Indigenous People’s of the world.

In honor of Indigenous Peoples Day, our Monday Meditation is “We Are Not Guests” by UUA staff member Alicia Forde. It reads, in part:

“Am I a guest here. Here in this House. Are you?

Are we guests here. Here in this House. And, whose House do we inhabit?

In the small world of our lives the borders between us: easements, fences, gates, hedges—serve to delineate, to separate us. To remind us of where my property begins and ends…

Whose House do we inhabit?

For we are not hosts. We are not owners.

Nor are we guests.

What, then, is our responsibility?”

Read it in full from WorshipWeb: http://tinyurl.com/y9rnyvkw

Have a Blessed Day,
Cricket
Image from https://www.highline.edu/event/celebrate-indigenous-peoples-day/

The Rustic Mechanicals Present the Forget and Forgive Tour

CZ

“Touring Shakespeare is a 400-year-old-tradition,” said Young. “These troupe members understand the nobility of the work and the heritage that they are a part of. I fully expect this tour to be a labor of love for us all.”

Vintage Theatre Company’s Founding Producer and Artistic Director Jason A. Young cordially invites audiences to attend a performance of The Rustic Mechanicals’ Forget & Forgive Tour of William Shakespeare’s King Lear. It starts October 12th and ends October 29th

For more information about The Forget & Forgive Tour of William Shakespeare’s King Lear, email VintageTheatreCo@gmail.com or call 1-855-VTC-8588.

Sunday, October 8, 2017: Good Humor

LdeG

I tend to be too serious in the best of times. Disasters, natural and human, tend to make us all worried and serious. It’s hard to keep seeing and dealing with problems as we need to without falling into being too critical or despairing. There will be some humor this Sunday, and some ideas about good humor as a spiritual practice.

Lisa

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.

Map

Our Religious Education/ Life Long Learning Class will meet at from 10am to 10:45 am with a coffee gathering before the service.

Adult religious education, at 10, will be a discussion on applying our beliefs to current events.

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 can park on either side of the PWA building. The lots are marked as private, but are available on Sunday mornings.

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

 

Hurricane Relief

CZ

I found this video from CBS News about Puerto Rico facebook this morning, along with a plea from a friend asking how to help. Many of us feel powerless in these natural disasters. We feel too far removed and lacking in resources to help on a large scale. But there are ways to help.

There are many places to donate, which becomes confusing and reputable charities seem harder and harder to find. Here is an article from Public Radio International about how to help Puerto Rico and here is a great website that helps you navigate charities and donations.  Here is the UUA Disaster Relief Fund should you want it.

Some of us also want to pray, so here is a beautiful prayer written by UUA staff member Anna Bethea and translated by Rev. Jorge Espinel of the Church of the Larger Fellowship.

English:

A Prayer for Hurricane Recovery

The quickness of nature to tear up roads, strip trees, and collapse buildings
Doesn’t compare to the long process of survival and recovery.
Splayed electric lines, floodwaters, and landslides mark devastation,
Yet will never match the lives, dreams, and memories of precious things swept away.

Amidst the dirt and muck, families get up another day to search for clean water and food
While struggling to stay cool and communicate with loved ones,
There is time for tears and emotional release.
While watching, waiting, adjusting, surviving,
There is time for embrace, reunions, prayers.

A return to normal is hard to even imagine – months and years away.
Trauma is a time for us to center the sacred:
The core of who we are, shielded from any storm or disaster.
As we seek resources for immediate needs,
May we also tend to our own and our communities’ needs to restore hope, love, and the seeds of new life.

Español:

Oración por la Recuperación del Huracán

La velocidad con la que la naturaleza destruye carreteras, derriba árboles y tumba edificios, no se compara con el largo proceso de supervivencia y recuperación.
Líneas eléctricas derribadas, inundaciones y derrumbes son señales de la devastación pero no se comparan con las vidas, los sueños y los recuerdos de cosas valiosas que han sido arrasadas.

En medio de la basura y el fango las familias se levantan día a día a buscar agua limpia y comida, mientras se esfuerzan por permanecer en calma y comunicarse con sus seres queridos.
Hay tiempo para llorar y soltar las emociones mientras observan, esperan, se ajustan y sobreviven. Hay tiempo para abrazos, reuniones y oraciones.

Es difícil imaginarse lo que es volver a la normalidad, que puede tardar meses y años.

Los momentos de trauma son momentos para enfocarnos en lo sagrado, en la esencia de quienes somos, protegida de cualquier tormenta o desastre. Mientras buscamos recursos para solucionar las necesidades inmediatas, busquemos también maneras de ayudar a los nuestros y a nuestras comunidades a restaurar la esperanza, el amor y las semillas de una nueva vida.

May these words provide you peace, but also motivate you. May these times that we are living in not cause you distress, but allow you to rise to the occasion and be the person you want to be.

Namaste,

Cricket

Sunday, October 1, 2017: Deegan & Hinkle Lakes Park

Robert

We have Spiritual Outings on the first Sunday of each month during the summer. This month, we will gather at Deegan & Hinkle Lakes Park in Bridgeport at 11 a.m. for a short service, followed by a potluck picnic, conversation, and walking.

Please email westforkuu@gmail.com if you would like to carpool.

For a map, please click on this link: goo.gl/maps/v33mWw5k3Wm

We would love to have you come worship with 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, September 24, 2017

CZ

“No matter what message you are about to deliver somewhere, whether it is holding out a hand of friendship, or making clear that you disapprove of something, is the fact that the person sitting across the table is a human being, so the goal is to always establish common ground.” – Madeleine Albright
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.

Andrew McKnight will be joining us this Sunday for a special music service. He will be doing a service called “Tilling Our Common Ground”. Here’s what he has to say about it, “These are indeed challenging times in these highly polarized United States. With all of the anger hurled across the ideological divide and the lack of reasoned discourse in the mainstream media, is there any room in our humanist worldview for love of country and the patriotic ideals we learned in grade school? Listening to those with different or opposing viewpoints is becoming a lost art. And yet at the core, those who label themselves conservatives or liberals want many of the same things – to be safe in our homes and communities, to pursue our happiness, and to have clean air and water, and good schools and jobs. This musical presentation will help till, fertilize, plant and nurture our common ground.” We will be singing favorites like “Blue Boat Home” and “We Shall Overcome” as well as listening to original music from Andrew. 

We would love to have you come worship with 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.

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

Namaste,
Cricket