Clarksburg WV

Sunday, 24 October, 2021: Joy in the Moment

LdeG

Look to this day:
For it is life, the very life of life.
In its brief course
Lie all the verities and realities of your existence.
The bliss of growth,
The glory of action,
The splendor of beauty
Are but experiences of time.
For yesterday is but a dream
And tomorrow is only a vision;
But today well-lived, makes
Yesterday a dream of happiness
And every tomorrow a vision of hope.
Look well therefore to this day.

Khalidasa

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, October 17, 2021

johnnyawwsome

“Herbie Hancock – Jazz musician and Buddhist – describes jazz as “a music of the moment”. Improvisation allows him to capture the essence of the present and express it; to provide for listeners an unmediated glimpse of the realm of the infinite.”

This Sunday, John Hall will lead a service on different types of meditation. This service is designed to be out of the box and to bring us together with different forms of spiritual practices.  

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, October 10, 2021

johnnyawwsome

Welcome:

Good morning and welcome to West Fork Unitarian Universalists. I’m Cricket 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 time to walk through our doors and join us for worship.

Let us use the prelude for centering. We are about to enter sacred time. We are about to make this time and this place sacred by our presence and intention.

Please silence your phones… and as you do so, I invite us also to turn down the volume on our fears; to remove our masks; and to loosen the armor around our hearts.

Breathe.

Let go of the expectations placed on you by others—and those they taught you to place on yourself.

Drop the guilt and the shame, not to shirk accountability, but in honest expectation of the possibility of forgiveness.

Let go of the thing you said the other day. Let go of the thing you dread next week. Be here, in this moment. Breathe, here.

Prelude:

With a Little Help from my friends by Joe Cocker

Opening Words: Gathering in Our Own Spaces by Jeff May

Continue reading →

Sunday, October 3, 2021: West Virginia State Wildlife Center, French Creek

Robert

Elk at French Creek

Elk at French Creek

We have Spiritual Outings on the first Sunday of each month during the summer. For this year’s sixth outing, we will gather for a celebration of summer, nature, and fellowship on Sunday, October 3, at the West Virginia State Wildlife Center at French Creek.

Please note that unlike most of the parks we visit, the Wildlife Center charges an admission fee from April 1 through October 31. Make sure you have cash to pay at the gate.

Adults 16 and over: $4
Children 6-15: $2
Children 5 and under: Free

We will meet at 11 a.m. in the picnic area near the elk enclosure for a short service followed by a potluck picnic, conversation, and walking. Bring food to share if you are able and wish to share; otherwise, just bring food for yourself and share our company.

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 would love to have you come worship with us.

For a map, please use this link: https://goo.gl/maps/2DgtJDkMYHN2

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

Red Spotted Newt

Red Spotted Newt

Sunday, 26 September, 2021: The Possibility of Forgiveness

Robert

… not to shirk responsibility, but in honest expectation of the possibility of forgiveness.

This Sunday, Phoebe Durst will lead us in a service on the possibility of forgiveness, a meditation on part of our Sunday morning welcoming words.

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, 19 September 2021: Bread and Roses

LdeG

As we go marching, marching, unnumbered women dead
Go crying through our singing their ancient call for bread.
Small art and love and beauty their drudging spirits knew.
Yes, it is bread we fight for, but we fight for roses too.

“Bread and Roses” – James Oppenheim, inspired by Helen Todd

“Bread and Roses” came from the labor struggles of the early 20th century, and during more than a century since, many have reminded us that our singular focus on economic and technological progress, reason, and individual rights is not just insufficient but soul-killing. But our focus as a society today, including liberal and social justice thought, is still on economics, power paradigms, and rights. Even the interpretation of “roses” has morphed into a call for dignity rather than art, love, and beauty. Lisa deGruyter will talk about what we are missing, and whether centering art, beauty, comfort and human flourishing rather than wealth; giving up left-wing conspiracy theories; and reclaiming solidarity, not just with our own, but with the world will help.

Join us for Worship:

After a year of virtual services, West Fork Unitarian Universalists were excited to resume in-person services the end of May. In light of the current surge in Covid-19 infections we resumed Zoom services in August.

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, September 5, 2021: Valley Falls State Park

Robert

Tygart Valley River

Tygart Valley River at Valley Falls

We have Spiritual Outings on the first Sunday of each month during the summer. For this year’s fifth outing, we will gather for a celebration of the end of Summer and the beginning of Autumn on Sunday, September 5, at Valley Falls State Park — picnic and hiking on the banks of the Tygart Valley River.

We will meet at 11 a.m. in the picnic area for a short service followed by a potluck picnic, conversation, and walking. Bring food to share if you are able and wish to share; otherwise, just bring food for yourself and share our company.

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). Fully vaccinated people are safe without masks for themselves and for unvaccinated people.  If you are not vaccinated you should wear a mask and practice appropriate social distancing.

We would love to have you come worship with us.

For a map, please use this link: https://goo.gl/maps/CiiqyDAXiw42

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

ZOOM Services Resume, Sunday, August 29, 2021

Robert

After a year of virtual services, West Fork Unitarian Universalists were excited to resume in-person services the end of last May. Today we are saddened to announce that in light of the current surge in Covid-19 infections we must once again forgo meeting in person. Remote services resume on Sunday 29 August 2021.

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, 29 August 2021: … and Repeat

Robert
  • Wet hair thoroughly
  • Massage shampoo into your scalp
  • Lather, leaving on your hair and scalp for several minutes
  • Rinse and repeat

— Directions on a bottle of shampoo

The thing about spiritual practice that I get wrong most often is that, well, it’s a practice. Spiritual practice, like practicing a musical instrument, requires repetition. Robert Helfer will lead the service.

This service was postponed from August 22 because of illness.

Join us for Worship:

After a year of virtual services, West Fork Unitarian Universalists were excited to resume in-person services the end of last May. Today we are saddened to announce that in light of the current surge in Covid-19 infections we must once again forgo meeting in person. Remote services resume on Sunday 29 August 2021.

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