Comfort and Inspiration

Sunday 5 May 2024: Church! What Is It Good For?

LdeG

People who have never been Unitarian Universalists often ask me why we bother with the whole church thing. Buildings and ministers are expensive. Committees and classes and Sunday services are time-consuming. And for what? Our churches don’t promise to take us to heaven. At the end of the day, we’re going to make up our own minds about the big questions anyway, and choose a path through life according to our own consciences. So what’s the point?

When our values are threatened, a congregation is an anchor against despair.

Doug Muder  from “Let’s Get Started Together” in UU World 1/30/2017

Lisa deGruyter will lead the service. She says “Many times my UU faith has been an anchor against despair, and my congregation a place where I could reaffirm I was not alone in beliefs that didn’t seem to be shared, or were actively condemned, by the culture around me.”

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 on the west side of the building.

Map

If you wish to join on ZOOM, please contact us for logon information. 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.

A coffee hour, a time for discussion and socializing (including ZOOM participants), follows from the end of the service until 12:00 noon. More about us.

If you have been 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

Sunday March 3 2024: Saving Daylight

Robert

“Beginning with the first day of Daylight Savings Time, those entering the contest must begin saving daylight. Those who save the most daylight by midnight of the last day of Daylight Savings Time will be awarded a prize.”

“Only pure daylight is allowed. No pre-dawn light or twilight will be accepted. Daylight on cloudy days is allowable. Moonlight is strictly prohibited and any of it mixed with daylight will bring immediate disqualification.”

“Contestants are instructed to save their accumulated daylight in any container they wish, then bring the container to the Daily Journal office at the end of DST — or when they think they have saved enough daylight to win.”

— “Daylight Savings May Mean a Prize” – UPI (April 1984) quoting The Eldorado Daily Journal [of Eldorado, Illinois], 1 April 1984.

Daylight Saving Time BEGINS Sunday, March 10, 2024, when 2:00 a.m. is magically revealed to be 3:00 a.m., leaving an hour-long hole in the night, and an hour of sleep lost.  We have a week to prepare ourselves.  Robert Helfer will lead the service.

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 on the west side of the building.

Map

If you wish to join on ZOOM, please contact us for logon information. 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.

A coffee hour, a time for discussion and socializing (including ZOOM participants), follows from the end of the service until 12:00 noon. More about us.

If you have been 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

Sunday, 2 April, 2023: Our Universalist Roots

LdeG
white frame church

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 profitable improvement of his social feelings.”

Universalism has a long history in north-central West Virginia. Lisa deGruyter will lead this week’s service on our Universalist history.

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. If you wish to join on ZOOM, please contact us for logon information. A coffee hour, a time for discussion and socializing (including ZOOM participants), follows from the end of the service until 12:00 noon. More about us. 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, 26 February, 2023: On Love and Loving

Robert
Love is an action, Never simply a feeling. -- Bell Hooks

To begin by always thinking of love as an action rather than a feeling is one way in which anyone using the word in this manner automatically assumes accountability and responsibility. We are often taught we have no control over our “feelings.” Yet most of us accept that we choose our actions, that intention and will inform what we do. We also accept that our actions have consequences. … If we were constantly remembering that love is as love does, we would not use the word in a manner that devalues and degrades its meaning.

— Bell Hooks, All About Love (2000)

“On Love and Loving,” Phoebe Durst will lead this week’s service as an exploration of the work of love and how this work can be a building block of a spiritual practice.

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. If you wish to join on ZOOM, please contact us for logon information. A coffee hour, a time for discussion and socializing (including ZOOM participants), follows from the end of the service until 12:00 noon. More about us. 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, January 29, 2023: Personal Centering Practices

Robert

This Sunday, Phoebe Durst will present a service on “Exploring Personal Centering Practices.” We will also have some time to share our own experiences with centering.

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. If you wish to join on ZOOM, please contact us for logon information. A coffee hour, a time for discussion and socializing (including ZOOM participants), follows from the end of the service until 12:00 noon. More about us. If you prefer not to be seen, video is optional. If you would like to participate on ZOOM, 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 4, 2022

johnnyawwsome

“Wonder is where love begins, but the failure to wonder is the beginning of violence. Once people stop wondering about others, once they no longer see others as part of them, they disable their instinct for empathy. And once they lose empathy, they can do anything to them, or allow anything to be done to them. Entire institutions built to preserve the interests of one group of people over another depend on this failure of imagination…To wonder is to cultivate a sense of awe and openness to others’ thoughts and experiences, their pain, their wants and needs. It is to look upon the face of anyone or anything and say: You are a part of me I do not yet know…” — Valarie Kaur

This Sunday, Cricket Hall will offer a service on “Wonder, Love, and Inspiration”

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. If you wish to join on ZOOM, please contact us for logon information. A coffee hour, a time for discussion and socializing (including ZOOM participants), follows from the end of the service until 12:00 noon.

Classes and worship are replaced by Spiritual Outings on the first Sunday of each month during the summer, with brief worship, a potluck picnic, and outdoor activities. The schedule is in the sidebar.

We would love to have you come worship with us. Children are welcome.

The building is wheelchair accessible, with an accessible restroom.

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

Sunday, October 23, 2022

johnnyawwsome

Due to unforeseen circumstances, we will be having church on ZOOM this week. If you are interested in attending please email us at westforkuu@gmail.com

This Sunday Cricket will be doing a service titled “The Courage to be Authentic: coming out of all of our closets.”

“What if this darkness is not the darkness of the tomb, but the darkness of the womb?”- Valarie Kaur, A Sikh Prayer for America

Please Join US!

Sunday, September 24, 2022

johnnyawwsome

“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”
— Hebrews 13:2

This Sunday, John Hall will present a Comfort & Inspiration service on chosen community in support of the September theme of Belonging.

Join us for Worship:

We returned to virtual services in August of 2021, but West Fork Unitarian Universalists were excited to resume in-person services at the end of March 2022. We have also slightly changed our schedule.

Our services are now Sundays at 10:30 a.m. at the Progressive Women’s Association Event Center, 305 Washington Ave., in downtown Clarksburg, behind the Courthouse, with a coffee gathering after the service. More about us.

Classes and worship are replaced by Spiritual Outings on the first Sunday of each month during the summer, with brief worship, a potluck picnic, and outdoor activities. The schedule is in the sidebar.

We would love to have you come worship with us.

Children are welcome. 

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

Sunday, August 28, 2022

johnnyawwsome

“A Caterpie may change into a Butterfree, but the heart that beats inside remains the same.” — Brock

Join us for Worship:

This Sunday, Loki Hall will present a service about Pokemon and Spirituality. SpecifIcally: Persistence and the power to not give up despite others unhelpful comments.

We returned to virtual services in August of 2021, but West Fork Unitarian Universalists were excited to resume in-person services at the end of March 2022.

We have also slightly changed our schedule.Our services are now Sundays at 10:30 a.m. at the Progressive Women’s Association Event Center, 305 Washington Ave., in downtown Clarksburg, behind the Courthouse, with a coffee gathering after the service.

Classes and worship are replaced by Spiritual Outings on the first Sunday of each month during the summer, with brief worship, a potluck picnic, and outdoor activities. The schedule is in the sidebar.

We would love to have you come worship with us.

Children are welcome.

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

Sunday, August 14, 2022: Audra State Park

Robert
Swimming at Audra
Swimming at Audra

We have Spiritual Outings on the first Sunday of each month during the summer, but due to other scheduling issues our August Outing will be on the second Sunday (14 August). For this year’s fourth outing, we will gather for a celebration of summer and fellowship on Sunday, August 14, at Audra State Park.

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/daily-life-coping/participate-in-activities.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 and driving directions, please use this link: https://goo.gl/maps/dQZFRS2idTJ2

Note that it is summer, and road work might affect roads you plan to take.  Please confirm your route before you start out.

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