Here are some of our previous services, with music, readings, and sermons.
Sunday, 20 June, 2021: Thinking Too Freely? - Freethinkers were fine people, but they shouldn’t go around thinking just anything. — Terry Pratchett, The Last Continent In the turmoil of early 19th Century religious thought in the United States, the Universalist minister Abner Kneeland set a high standard for controversy. A supporter of radical social reform, women’s rights, birth control, and interracial marriage, … Continue reading Sunday, 20 June, 2021: Thinking Too Freely?
Sunday, January 17, 2021 - Welcome: Good morning and welcome to West Fork Unitarian Universalists. I’m John and I feel blessed to serve this congregation as a lay leader. I’m glad to see all of you here today. Thank you for joining us. [If guests] I’d like to welcome our guests. Thank you for taking a chance and taking the … Continue reading Sunday, January 17, 2021
Sunday, December 6, 2020: Creating Christmas - Can you in your Conscience think, that our Holy Saviour is honoured, by Mad Mirth, by long Eating, by hard Drinking, by lewd Gaming, by rude Revelling; by a Mass fit for none but a Saturn or a Bacchus, or the Night of a Mahometan Ramadam? You cannot possibly think so. — Cotton Mather, Grace … Continue reading Sunday, December 6, 2020: Creating Christmas
The Courage to Be Disliked: Sunday, 20 September 2020 - "In a world the human inhabitants of which are currently being polarised into either the fiery or the ice-bound there often seems no longer to be any point in adopting a more temperate approach. After all, at the moment, those of us who do try to make temperate points in the public space often quickly find their arguments (and nearly always themselves) simultaneously attacked by the fiery from one side and the ice-bound from the other. It can be — indeed, it often is — highly dispiriting. So, what on earth are those of us with a more temperate spirit to do?" - Andrew J. Brown
Sunday, May 24, 2020: Things Worthy of Remembrance - And lest things worthy of remembrance should perish with time, and fall away from the memory of those who are to come after us, I, seeing these many evils, and the whole world lying as it were in the wicked one, among the dead, waiting for death til it come, as I have truly heard … Continue reading Sunday, May 24, 2020: Things Worthy of Remembrance
Sunday, July 21, 2019: Our Universalist Roots - Prelude: All God’s Critters Got a Place in the Choir Welcome The early Universalist Hosea Ballou said “Man, being not only a religious, but also a social being, requires for the promotion of his rational happiness religious institutions, which, while they give a proper direction to devotion, at the same time make a wise, and … Continue reading Sunday, July 21, 2019: Our Universalist Roots
Sunday, March 31, 2019 - Prelude: Disappear From Dear Evan Hansen Welcome: All of us are welcome here; all of us are loved By Erika A. Hewitt Welcome Song: “Enter Rejoice and Come in” Chalice Lighting: Come we now out of the darkness By Annie Foerster The Principles: Kidciples Song The Story for All Ages: You Will be Found from … Continue reading Sunday, March 31, 2019
Sunday, 2 December 2018: Love Is Too Strong a Word - In 1984, Kurt Vonnegut asked what makes us so bloodthirsty, in the Ware Lecture "Love Is Too Strong a Word" at the Unitarian Universalist Association General Assembly. Vonnegut was a third-generation Unitarian, and great-grandson of a founder of the Freethinker’s Society of Indianapolis. We will hear a tape of his lecture, which is startlingly topical today.
Sunday, July 23, 2017 - "All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt." - Charles M. Schulz Sunday, May 21, 2017 - Prelude: “GONNA BUILD A MOUNTAIN” from Stop The World I Want to Get Off Composed by Bricusse and Newley Performed by Penn Yan Community Chorus Welcome: “You come into the world with nothing, and the purpose of your life is to make something out of nothing.” – Henry Louis Mencken Chalice Lighting: Global Chalice Lighting … Continue reading Sunday, May 21, 2017
Sunday, May 14, 2017: Hypocrite! - Prelude: Deportee – Cisco Houston 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 … Continue reading Sunday, May 14, 2017: Hypocrite!
Sunday May 7, 2017: Pura Vida! - “A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.”- Marcus Garvey “Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.” – Harriet Tubman Sunday our youth […]
Flower Ceremony and Egg Hunt: Sunday April 16, 2017 - Today we are celebrating our Flower Ceremony created by Dr. Norbert Čapek for the Liberal Religious Fellowship he founded in Prague, then Czechoslavakia, in 1925, and which became the largest Unitarian Church in the world. Lunch and egg hunt after the service.
Sunday March 19, 2017: The Doctrine of Love - But, says the reader, is it likely that persecution ever rose from men’s believing, that God was an enemy to wicked man? Undoubtedly; for had all professors of Christianity believed that God had compassion on the ignorant and those who are out of the way, how could they have persecuted those whom they believe in error?
Sunday January 8, 2017 - Prelude: Willow by Heather Jinmaku Welcome: Do Not Be Alone Right Now By Karen G. Johnston Do not be alone right now. Gather together. Gathering together grows courage: in ourselves and in others who see the numbers swelling. It is a small thing, but right now it is an important thing. Great sources of wisdom … Continue reading Sunday January 8, 2017Sunday December 25, 2016 - Prelude: Ring Solstice Bells – Jethro Tull Chalice Lighting We gather in the chill of winter solstice, finding warmth from each other, nourishing hope where reason fails. Grateful for small miracles, we rejoice in the wonder of light and darkness and the daring of hope.
Sunday, October 4, 2016: Defying the Nazis - Welcome: To Remind Ourselves What Is Real, By Elena Westbrook In a world ravaged by violence, by hatred, by conflicts that seem eternal and insoluble, sometimes the only thing we can do is be still for a moment to remind ourselves what is real: the sun that rose this morning, the dirt under our feet, … Continue reading Sunday, October 4, 2016: Defying the Nazis
Sunday July 17, 2016 - Prelude: Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony 2nd Movement Welcome: “Belief must be something different from a mixture of opinions about God and the world, and of precepts for one life or for two. Piety cannot be an instinct craving for a mess of metaphysical and ethical crumbs.” ― Friedrich Schleiermacher, On Religion: Speeches to Its Cultured Despisers … Continue reading Sunday July 17, 2016
Sunday, May 22, 2016: Dissent, Heresy, and Innovation - Prelude Galileo – Indigo Girls Welcome The beauty of the whole – Meg Barnhouse We gather to worship, our hearts alive with hope that here we will be truly seen, that here we will be welcomed into the garden of this community, where the simple and the elegant, the fluted and frilled, the shy and … Continue reading Sunday, May 22, 2016: Dissent, Heresy, and Innovation
Sunday, April 24, 2016: Frontier Faith and a God of Love - Prelude: Morning Prayer by Hosea Ballou Sung by Second Ireland Sacred Harp Singers Welcome Hosea Ballou said “Man, being not only a religious, but also a social being, requires for the promotion of his rational happiness religious institutions, which, while they give a proper direction to devotion, at the same time make a wise, and … Continue reading Sunday, April 24, 2016: Frontier Faith and a God of Love
Sunday, February 28, 2016: Ten Irrational Ideas, Suffering, and Love - Welcome Prelude: Secure Yourself to Heaven – Indigo Girls Chalice Lighting World Chalice Lighting for February —Rev. Dr. Ian Ellis-Jones Australian and New Zealand Unitarian Universalist Association We light this Chalice, a living symbol of the one Life that animates and sustains all things and all persons, the one Life in which we all live … Continue reading Sunday, February 28, 2016: Ten Irrational Ideas, Suffering, and Love
Sunday January 3, 2016: Altars, Shrines, and Every Day Practice - Prelude Chalice Lighting: Rabbi Hillel, a Jewish contemporary of Jesus, said, “Separate not thyself from the congregation and its concerns, nor postpone thought for thy spirit until the day of thy death. Say not, ‘By and by, when I have leisure, I will care for my soul,’ lest perchance thou never find leisure.” Song: Come, … Continue reading Sunday January 3, 2016: Altars, Shrines, and Every Day Practice
Sunday December 13, 2015: Politics and Religion - Welcome Welcome and Happy Holidays, Happy St. Nicholas Day, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Abolition Day, Bodhi Day (Tuesday), Second Sunday of Advent Chalice Lighting ~ Kimberly Knight, Minister of Digital Community, Extravagance UCC No, my prayers will not stop the killing. No, my prayers will not bring back the innocent. No, my prayers will not relax … Continue reading Sunday December 13, 2015: Politics and ReligionSunday 20 January 2013: Optimism - Optimism John Hall Service Leader Chalice Lighting Principles Sermon: On the nature of Optimism: What is Optimism? It’s a positive outlook. It is a decision to both see the good in people and situations and people, and to foster a spirit of hope. Sunday 6 January 2013: Perfect Prayer - Perfect Prayer Ginnie McNeil Service Leader Chalice Lighting Principles The Source of Miracles 7 Steps to Transforming Your Life Through The Lord’s Prayer Sunday 21 October 2012: Masks - Masks Chalice Lighting Principles Service: Masks Joys and Sorrows Cricket Hall Service Leader Order of service for Masks Sunday 13 May 2012 - What My Imperfect Mother Taught Me About Perfection Chalice Lighting We light this candle as a symbol of our faith. By its light may our vision be illumined; By its warmth may our fellowship be encouraged; And by its flame may our yearnings for peace, justice and the life of the spirit be enkindled. Principles … Continue reading Sunday 13 May 2012 Sunday 26 Feb 2012 - Altars, Shrines, and Every Day Practice Chalice Lighting: Rabbi Hillel, a Jewish contemporary of Jesus, said, “Separate not thyself from the congregation and its concerns, nor postpone thought for thy spirit until the day of thy death. Say not, ‘By and by, when I have leisure, I will care for my soul,’ lest perchance thou … Continue reading Sunday 26 Feb 2012
Sunday 19 Feb 2012 - Loving-Kindness Chalice Lighting Principles Loki’s Shocking Proclamation My son shocked me, recently. He told me that except for his family and friends (including future friends) he hated everyone. To be fair, he is angry that his fellow humans are so casually destroying the Earth and its creatures in pursuit of their own greed or as … Continue reading Sunday 19 Feb 2012