However, sometimes, whilst we are flailing away, we have all experienced “times when waves overtake us from behind, lifting us up and along” and from these moments, Bugbee says “we may take courage and be thankful.” But our new-found courage and thankfulness can all too easily and quickly morph into the delusional thought that, somehow, “in the exhilaration of swift swimming” we can now “claim as our own the power of the wave.” This is what Bugbee calls “demonic swimming”, a state in which we suffer the illusion that we have “not fallen into flailing” but have, instead, “become the masters of our element” and are now fully in control.
Naturally, however, after the crest of the wave comes the trough, and so there inevitably also come those moments when we begin to drop and this movement throws us into depression and despair and leads us to think that there’s nothing that can be done, except either to go down like lead or to start our frantic flailing once again.
Rev. Andrew Brown discussing Henry Bugbee’s The Inward Morning
We are currently been having a full service on the first Sunday of each month, and a discussion on the other Sundays. We have completed Exploring, volume 2 of Building Your Own Theology, and this Sunday are beginning a new practice of discussing a different short reading each Sunday.
We will open with a very brief service and chalice lighting, after which members will guide each other through the discussion.
All are welcome to participate. The reading for this week is Ocean Parable by Kenneth Kenichi Tanaka. There is also a video of him telling this story.
If you would like more context, Rev. Andrew Brown’s address on THE SUSTAINING SEA AND THE NEED TO TAKE EVEN STROKES IN THESE VERY UNEVEN TIMES ties this to the philosophy of Henry Bugbee.
** NOTE: ZOOM will not be available this Sunday. **
Please Join us for Worship.
Our services are Sundays at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time on ZOOM and in person at the Progressive Women’s Association Event Center, 305 Washington Ave. in downtown Clarksburg, behind the Courthouse.
Children are welcome. The building is wheelchair accessible, with an accessible restroom. You may park in the lot on the west side of the building; DO NOT PARK in the Washington Avenue pay lot. Please enter through the door at the back on the west side of the building.
Note: ZOOM will not be available this Sunday.
A coffee hour, a time for discussion and socializing, follows from the end of the service until 12:00 noon. More about us.
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. 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