unitarian universalism

Sunday August 7, 2016: Redemptive Art?

Robert
6 Turning Leaves

Prelude: Amarillo by Morning – George Strait

Welcome: We gather together to face ourselves honestly, By Philip Larson

We gather together to face ourselves honestly,
to forgive ourselves gently,
to love one another fervently.

Chalice lighting: For every time we make a mistake, By Maureen Killoran

For every time we make a mistake and we decide to start again:
We light this chalice.
For every time we are lonely and we let someone be our friend:
We light this chalice.
For every time we are disappointed and we choose to hope:
We light this chalice.

Song: Gathered Here In the Mystery of This Hour (3 times)

Gathered here in the mystery of this hour.
Gathered here in one strong body.
Gathered here in the struggle and the power.
Spirit draw near.

Principles of Unitarian Universalism
Unitarian Universalist congregations affirm and promote seven Principles:

  • The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
  • Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
  • Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;
  • A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
  • The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
  • The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;
  • Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

Story for All Ages: from “Leaf by Niggle”, by J.R.R. Tolkien
(https://heroicjourneys.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/niggle.pdf)

{Today’s “story for all ages” was taken from a little-known story by J.R.R. Tolkien. Tolkien says that he wrote it around 1938 or 1939, after he woke one morning “with it already in mind.” It was originally published in 1946 in the Dublin Review, then republished in 1964, joined with the essay “On Fairy-Stories”, in a small volume titled Tree and Leaf.}
Continue reading →

Sunday June 12, 2016: Each Person is Important

Robert

Each Person is Important

“Each Person is Important” — this Sunday the children of the congregation will conduct the service.

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 from 10 a.m. until 10:45. We will gather for 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

Sunday June 5, 2016

CZ

Cricket Hall will reminisce about on of her favorite things as a child, her Grandmother’s Candy Dish and how that can and does relate to her faith.

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 be talking about childhood memories and how they have affected our faith choices.This is 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, May 29, 2016: Kanawha State Forest

LdeG

We and the other congregations in the Appalachian Cluster have been invited to join the Charleston UU congregation for their annual retreat in Kanawha State Forest.  We will have no RE or service in Clarksburg.  Email westforkuu@gmail.com if you would like to carpool.

May 29 – WEEKEND IN THE FOREST   (no service at UUC)
Rev. Patricia Hart  and Carol Sroczynski, Worship Leaders
Come join UUC’s annual Memorial Day campout in Kanawha State Forest – for children, youth, parents, and everyone!  The site is reserved for UUC on both Friday and Saturday nights.  We will gather in time for a potluck supper on Saturday, and have an informal worship service Sunday morning at 10am.  Come for the weekend, for Saturday’s potluck, or just for the Sunday service – all are welcome!

Sunday, May 22, 2016: Dissent, Heresy, and Innovation

Robert
Dissenter of Sidmouth

Prelude Galileo – Indigo Girls

Welcome The beauty of the whole – 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 In memory of all the flames – Amarette Callaway

In memory of all the flames that didn’t die—
in the midst of darkness,
in spite of the darkness,
we light this flame today.
“The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness did not overcome it.” (John 1:5 NRSV)

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Sunday, May 15, 2016: French Creek Wildlife Center

LdeG

We have Spiritual Outings on the third Sunday during the summer. This month, we will gather at the West Virginia State Wildlife Center in French Creek at 11 a.m. for a short service, followed by a potluck picnic, conversation, and a walk around the elk, bison, wolves, and other animals. The trail and restrooms are wheelchair-accessible.

Map

Please email westforkuu@gmail.com if you would like to carpool.

We would love to have you come worship with us.

Email westforkuu@gmail.com or use our contact form for more information

or write to us at PO Box 523, Clarksburg WV 26302

Sunday, May 1, 2016

Robert

Note: Venue change. We will be meeting at Lisa and Robert’s house. Email us at westforkuu@gmail.com for directions.

May Day

International Labour Day 2016,
May Day, the first day of the month of May is celebrated all over the world with utmost importance. The day is also known as the International Worker’s Day which has a historic significance. The first day of the month of May is also a day of political protests. May Day is otherwise observed as a saint’s feast day or a day for organized labor. In many countries, it is a public holiday.

Service leader John Hall

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. Please note: This Sunday we will meet on the second floor. There are classes for children and adults 10 to 10:45 am, and 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

Sunday, April 24, 2016: Frontier Faith and a God of Love

LdeG

Prelude: Morning Prayer by Hosea Ballou Sung by Second Ireland Sacred Harp Singers

Welcome
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.” And so we gather here, not only to practice our religion, but to support each other.

Chalice Lighting Drawn Together – Jennifer Leota Gray
We come together every week bound not by a creed,
Or a mutual desire to please one God or many Gods
Yet we are drawn together by a belief, that how we are in the world,
Who we are together matters.
We light this chalice, together in the knowledge
That love, not fear, can change this world Continue reading →