Spiritual Practices

Sunday, February 14, 2021: With Feathers

Robert
Great Blue Heron striding along a drifting log in Reelfoot Lake State Park, Tennessee

“Hope” is the thing with feathers –
++That perches in the soul –
++And sings the tune without the words –
++And never stops – at all –

— Emily Dickinson, “‘Hope’ Is The Thing With Feathers”

This Sunday we will consider “hope” and “things with feathers” in anticipation of the coming reawakening we call Spring, though still so far away. Robert Helfer will lead the service.

Because of technical difficulties this service was deferred until Sunday, February 21, 2021.

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, January 17, 2021

johnnyawwsome 1 Comment

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.

[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:

Opening Words: Call to Worship and Action by Sharon Wylie

Continue reading →

A Month of Imagination

johnnyawwsome

“I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells.  Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope.  Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life’s realities.” – Theodore Geisel (better known as Dr. Seuss)

This month we will be focusing on imagination in our services and our posts. We will have meditations about imagination posted on Wednesdays and articles/information about the spiritual practice of imagination on Saturdays. We hope you will join us on our imagination journey.

Here are some spiritual practices to consider –

The practice of waking up to possibility.

The healing practice of putting ourselves in other people’s shoes

                  The practice of completing the world by conjuring up its missing parts.

                 The practice of allowing hope to widen our view.

November the Month of Healing

johnnyawwsome

Our theme this November is Healing. We will be concentrating on healing through grace and surrender.

There are multiple spiritual practices that help us heal, but we will be focusing on the following

The practice of turning our pain into connection.

The practice of letting go of the life you wished for.

The practice of forgiving yourself for being imperfect.

The practice of moving beyond apology to repair.

Image Credit Soul Matters

Sunday, August 23, 2020: Once More with Feeling: Repetition as Spiritual Practice

Robert

The little chores in our kitchens, bathrooms, living rooms, and outside surroundings become spiritual practices when they bring us back to ourselves. As Thorp puts it: “When you bring energy and attention to each of your activities, you are no longer engaged in maintenance. You’re involved in taking care of things.” – Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

We are forgoing meeting in person during the coronavirus epidemic, meeting instead through the magic of 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.

We would love to have you worship with 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 during this time. Public announcements will continue to be posted here on the website and on our Facebook page and Twitter account, as usual.

Once More with Feeling: Repetition as Spiritual Practice

johnnyawwsome

The little chores in our kitchens, bathrooms, living rooms, and outside surroundings become spiritual practices when they bring us back to ourselves. As Thorp puts it: “When you bring energy and attention to each of your activities, you are no longer engaged in maintenance. You’re involved in taking care of things.” – Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

We will be meeting on Zoom. We will have a gathering coffee time at 10:30am and the service will begin at 11:00am. 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.

We would love to have you worship with 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 during this time. Public announcements will continue to be posted here on the website and on our Facebook page and Twitter account, as usual.

Once More with Feeling: Repetition as Spiritual Practice

johnnyawwsome

The little chores in our kitchens, bathrooms, living rooms, and outside surroundings become spiritual practices when they bring us back to ourselves. As Thorp puts it: “When you bring energy and attention to each of your activities, you are no longer engaged in maintenance. You’re involved in taking care of things.” – Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

We will be meeting on Zoom. We will have a gathering coffee time at 10:30am and the service will begin at 11:00am. 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.

We would love to have you worship with 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 during this time. Public announcements will continue to be posted here on the website and on our Facebook page and Twitter account, as usual.

Sunday, June 21, 2020

CZ

“Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves – slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future; live the actual moment. Only this moment is life.” ~Thich Nhat Hanh

This Sunday, John Hall will give a lesson entitled, “Mindfulness: Being Aware of Ourselves” 

We are forgoing meeting in person during the coronavirus epidemic. 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.

We would love to have you worship with 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 during this time. Public announcements will continue to be posted here on the website and on our Facebook page and Twitter account, as usual.

Sunday, January 19, 2020: Food Rules

Robert

Most often the people in Berlevaag during the course of a good meal would come to feel a little heavy. Tonight it was not so. The convives grew lighter in weight and lighter of heart the more they ate and drank. They no longer needed to remind themselves of their vow. It was, they realized, when man has not only altogether forgotten but has firmly renounced all ideas of food and drink that he eats and drinks in the right spirit.
— Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen), “Babette’s Feast”

We’ve all got to eat, if only for our bodies’ sake. But can eating nourish our spirits as well as our bodies? Do we need rules? What rules? This Sunday Robert Helfer will ponder how eating can feed our spirits.

Join us for Worship:

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. There are classes for children and adults 10 to 10:45 am, and a coffee gathering before 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.  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

Sunday, October 6, 2019

CZ

“Today, the idea of idealism is not enough. Casual optimism rings hollow, and triumphal, self-assured liturgies leave our broken hearts still yearning for the chance to sing together in a minor key. The people we serve yearn for that too, for an honest word and an opportunity to hold our shared grief and deep personal brokenness together in community on a Sunday morning. We cannot offer the cheap grace of eventual societal perfection in times of systemic desolation, and we cannot sell one another on the idea that it’s all going to be just fine in the end.”
― Nancy McDonald Ladd, After the Good News: Progressive Faith Beyond Optimism

Join us for Worship: This Sunday, Cricket Hall will explore the place of atonement in liberal religion.

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. There are classes for children and adults 10 to 10:45 am, and a coffee gathering before the service. More about us.

We would love to have you come worship with 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