Clarksburg WV

Sunday January 22 2017: Our UU Presidents

LdeG

 Prelude: America (My Country ‘Tis of Thee) – Aretha Franklin 2009

A hymn from the first Unitarian hymnbook published in the brand new United States, in 1789, and noted as

Thanks for National Protection

O Come, let us sing to the Lord a new song,
And praise him to whom all our praises belong !
While we enter his temple with gladness and joy,
Let a psalm of thanksgiving our voices employ !
O come, to his name let us joyfully sing !
For the Lord is a great and omnipotent King ;
By his word were the heavens and the host of them made,
And of the round world the foundation he laid.

He stilleth the waves of the boisterous sea,
And the tumults of men, more outrageous than they :
Thy goodness, O Lord! let the people confess,
Whom wars do not waste, nor proud tyrants oppress,
And devoutly contemplate thy wonderful ways,
Thou who turnest the fierceness of men to thy praise !
Then our lands in due season shall yield their increase,
And the Lord give his people the blessings of peace.

Chalice Lighting: A Community of Faith by Judith L. Quarles

At this hour, in small towns and big cities, in single rooms and ornate sanctuaries, many of our sister Unitarian Universalist congregations are also lighting a flaming chalice.

As we light our chalice today, let us remember that we are part of a great community of faith.

May this dancing flame inspire us to fill our lives with the Unitarian Universalist ideals of love, justice and truth. Continue reading →

Sunday January 8, 2017

CZ

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 remind us: just because you cannot stem the tide of all hate, it is still right to do the thing you can do. These things add up: your one thing & my one thing; his one thing & their one thing & her one thing. Together it becomes a BIG thing.

Do not be alone right now. Any liberation—all liberation—is collective liberation. My freedom is bound with yours and yours with mine. Inextricably.

Let us together cast our lots doing this BIG thing: bending the moral arc of the universe towards justice.

Chalice Lighting:  Global Chalice Lighting for November 2016 from
Chapter 1, Tao Te Ching, written by Lao-tzu
Modified from a translation by S. Mitchell
Unitarian Universalists Hong Kong (www.uuhk.org)

The tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao;
The name that can be named is not the eternal Name.
The unnamable is the eternally real.
Naming is the origin of all particular things.
Free from desire, you realize the mystery.
Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations.
Yet mystery and manifestations arise from the same source.
This source is called Mystery.
Mystery within Mystery,
The gateway to all understanding.

Continue reading →

For the Beginning of the New Year

CZ
What are your New Year’s Resolutions?  What should our New Year’s Resolutions as a church be?  How can we be better and stronger in the New Year? How can we continue to be a beacon and a refuge? How can we reach out and touch our community in a better way? In other words, can we better live up to our mission statement in the coming year? How can you help? What are you willing to do?
I hope you have a beautiful and blessed new year full of love and light.
Namaste,
Cricket
As a New Year Begins  By Kate Lore

Great Spirit of Life, as a new year begins, we turn inward to reflect about the state of our lives:

  • What lessons have we learned in the past year and which new ones now call us forward?
  • To whom do we still owe an apology or expression of thanks?
  • And with whom must we draw fresh boundaries?

As we pause from our regular rhythms of rush-rush-rush, we open ourselves to new perspectives and possibilities. We give thanks for these moments and for the wisdom they afford us. May they help bring us together in the sacred dynamics of life so that we—as individuals and as members of this community—might reach our full potential.

As we step across this threshold, let this new year be a year of greater awe and gratitude,
Of deeper kindness and acceptance, and more courageous acts of conviction.
For a kinder, more equitable and sustainable world is not only possible, she is on her way. And in the quietness of this sacred community, we can ever hear her breathing.

Amen.

 

Sunday January 1, 2017

CZ

​Brunch! New Year’s Brunch! Potluck New Year’s Brunch! 

We want to start off 2017 right, by having a potluck brunch. Come and join us for good fellowship and food. We will have a small devotion provided by Cricket. We will start at 10:30 AM. 

Our services are Sundays (usually at 11 a.m.) at the Progressive Women’s Association Event Center, 305 Washington Ave. in downtown Clarksburg, behind the Courthouse. More about us.

Children are welcome. 

The building is wheelchair accessible, with an accessible restroom.

Map

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 December 18, 2016

CZ

Prelude: What Night is This? vocals, keyboards, adaption- Katerina El Haj
guitar- Jay Myerson – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATDVDGlc7oc

Welcome:

This is the Solstice,
the still point of the sun,
its cups and midnight,
the year’s threshold
and unlocking, where
the past lets go of and
becomes the future;
the place of caught breath,
the door of a vanished
house left ajar.

Margaret Atwood

Song: Gathered Here

Chalice Lighting:  In the Bleak and Cold Winter By Cynthia Landrum
In the bleak and cold winter,
We gather ourselves in
To light the fire to warm our spirits,
To kindle the flame of love and hope.

Song: The Principles Song (to the tune of Do Re Mi):
One, each person is important.
Two, be kind in all you do.
Three, we’re free to learn together.
Four, and search for what is true.
Five, all people have a voice.
Six, build a fair and peaceful world.
Seven, we care for Earth’s lifeboat.
That will bring us back to me and UU.

Continue reading →

Sunday December 11, 2016

CZ

​Lama Surya Das writes about our shared values in Buddhist Voices in Unitarian Universalism: Buddhism and Unitarian Universalism value many of the same things, including experiential practice, study and self-inquiry, mindful awareness cultivation, insightful wisdom development, and loving-kindness, combined with active compassion in the world. This is the heart of sacred activism—empowering, educating, edifying, elevating, transforming, and liberating.

This Sunday John Hall will explore the histotical connection between Unitarian Universalism and Buddhism. 

 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.

Our Religious Education/ Life Long Learning Class will meet at from 10am to 10:45 am with a coffee gathering before the service. More about 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 December 4, 2016: Walking In the Woods

Robert
Swallow Falls State Park, Oakland, MD

Prelude: Heyr himna smiður – Árstíðir

[Heyr, himna smiður (Hear, Smith of the Heavens) was written by the Icelandic chieftain and poet Kolbeinn Tumason, according to tradition, on his deathbed in 1208 AD. Þorkell Sigurbjörnsson set the poem to music in 1973. This recording features the Icelandic “Indie Rock” group Árstíðir. For more information, see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolbeinn_Tumason.]

Welcome: The beauty of the whole, By 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 the dramatic complement one another and are treasured. May we know that here, each contributes in their way to the beauty of the whole. Come, let us worship together, all genders, sexualities, politics, clappers and non-clappers, progressive or conservative, may we root ourselves in the values of this faith: compassion and courage, transcendence, justice and transformation.

Chalice lighting: Afraid of the dark, By Andrew Pakula

In sightless night, terrors draw near
Nameless fears of talon and tooth
Hopelessness yawns before us—an abyss
Alone and unknown in the gloom, longing for the dawn
O sacred flame blaze forth—wisdom brought to life
Guide us—
With the light of hope
The warmth of love
The beacon of purpose and meaning
Because we are all afraid of the dark
Let there be light

Song: Come Whoever You Are (5 times) Continue reading →