Clarksburg WV

Sunday Service, January 9th, 2022

johnnyawwsome

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.

 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:

Welcome: Our Lives Intersect and Intertwine by Tania Márquez

Welcome Song:

Chalice Lighting: In This Small Flame Dwell by Jean L Wahlstrom

Continue reading →

Sunday, December 26, 2021: NO SERVICE

Robert

We are taking Sunday, December 26, off. There will be no ZOOM service and no in-person service, while we individually celebrate Saint Stephen’s Day/Boxing Day/The Second Day of Christmas/The First Day of Kwanzaa or perhaps to prepare for tomorrow’s International Day of Epidemic Preparedness. Please join us January 2, 2022, when we resume regular Sunday services on ZOOM.

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, December 19, 2021: Joy to the World

LdeG

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground
Let righteousness its glories show
As far as love is found
Far as the love is found,
Far as the love is found,
Far as, far as, the love is found.

In these dark times, there will be singing. In the darkest time of another dark year, we will gather to light a candle and look forward to the return of light. Lisa deGruyter will lead a service honoring ancient traditions.

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, December 12, 2021

johnnyawwsome

“Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love.” – Hamilton Wright Mabie

“This is my wish for you: peace of mind, prosperity through the year, happiness that multiplies, health for you and yours, fun around every corner, energy to chase your dreams, joy to fill your holidays!” – D.M. Dellinger

This Sunday, Cricket Hall will be discussing “Finding Joy Even When the Holidays are Hard.”

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, December 5, 2021

johnnyawwsome

“Joy is an act of resistance.” – Toi Derricotte

“Feeling good is not frivolous, it is freedom.” – adrienne maree brown

“Joy is the transformation of our suffering, not the escape of all we have to face.” – Mark Nepo

This Sunday, John Hall will discussing “Finding a Unitarian Universalist Joy and How That Applies to Our Principles”

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

Month of Opening to Joy

johnnyawwsome

Our theme for the month of December is Opening to Joy. We will be posting about it and incorporating it into our services.

Here is a poem to get us started:

Joy is Hard by Rev. Joe Cherry (Permission secured by Soul Matters)

Joy is hard.

Joy requires us to feel safe enough,

to be safe enough, to open to vulnerability.

To feel joy, you must be brave.

Joy walks into a room after the space has been cleared

Cleared of shame,

Cleared of doubt

Cleared of self-recrimination.

Joy is hard.

Joy is hard

and joy is worth the hard work of preparation.

Preparing oneself and setting down all the defenses

all the shoulds and could’ves,

all the should not haves and might haves.

Joy is worth the work.

You are worth the work.

You can start small:

the simple pleasure of your favorite tea,

the grand freedom of a full belly laugh.

Invite Joy to be your companion.

Here is a song:

Sunday, 28 November, 2021: Making Inroads

Robert

I see the Anthropocene as something that demands that we humans see ourselves in a different way, as a partial cause of those changes. But I also see the Anthropocene as an interpellation to challenge the human as the key subject of history.

— Joanna Zylinska

This Sunday Phoebe Durst will be using Joana Zylinska’s writings on the Anthropocene to talk about “Making Inroads” on our spiritual practice..

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, 21 November, 2021: On What Authority?

Robert

The authority of Jesus, as of all teachers, one would naturally think, must rest on the truth of his words, and not their truth on his authority.

— Theodore Parker, The Transient and Permanent in Christianity

On what authority have we Unitarian Universalists built our beliefs? And by what tests do we determine their Truth? This Sunday Robert Helfer will lead us as we begin to explore these ideas.

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, November 7, 2021: Deegan and Hinkle Lakes, Bridgeport

Robert
Little Blue Heron at Deegan & Hinkle Lakes Park
Little Blue Heron at Deegan & Hinkle Lakes Park

We have Spiritual Outings on the first Sunday of each month during the summer and into the winter. For this year’s seventh outing, we will return to Deegan & Hinkle Lakes Park in Bridgeport for a celebration of nature, fellowship, and the beginning of the holiday season on Sunday, November 7.

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 will meet at 11 a.m. in the picnic area for a short service, led by Cricket Hall, followed by a modified potluck picnic, conversation, and walking. We will be practicing social distancing and wearing masks. Bring food to share if you are able and wish to share; otherwise, just bring food for yourself and share our company.

We would love to have you come worship with us.

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

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

Sunday, 31 October, 2021: Cultivating Relationships

Robert

The typical expression of opening Friendship would be something like, “What? You too? I thought I was the only one.”

— C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves


This Sunday, Phoebe Durst will lead us in a service on cultivating relationships.

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