by Rev. Anthony Makar, Worship Leader
Elizabeth Gerencser, Worship Associate
David Blazer, Director of Music
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by Rev. Anthony Makar, Worship Leader
Judy Montgomery, Worship Associate
David Blazer, Director of Music
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by Param Srikantia, Guest Worship Leader
Melinda McGucken, Worship Associate
David Blazer, Director of Music
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by Reverand Anthony Makar, Worship Leader
Grace Durfee, Worship Associate
David Blazer, Director of Music
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by Reverand Anthony Makar, Worship Leader
Melinda McGucken, Worship Associate
David Blazer, Director of Music
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by Reverand Anthony Makar, Worship Leader
Vicky Warden, Worship Associate
David Blazer, Director of Music
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by Shirley Nelson, Worship Leader
Judy Montgomery, Worship Associate
David Blazer, Director of Music
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by Reverend Anthony Makar
Melinda McGucken, Worship Associate
David Blazer, Director of Music
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by Reverend Anthony Makar
Grace Durfee, Worship Associate
David Blazer, Director of Music
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by Reverend Anthony Makar
Jeff Modzelewski, Worship Associate
David Blazer, Director of Music
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by Reverend Anthony Makar
Judy Montgomery, Worship Associate
David Blazer, Director of Music
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by Reverend Anthony Makar
Vicky Warden, Worship Associate
David Blazer, Director of Music
Somewhere downstairs a door slammed, and my father entered the house laughing. Instantly, the whole universe joined in. Great roars of hilarity sounded from sun to sun. Field mice tittered, and so did angels and rainbows. Laughter leavened every atom and every star until I saw a universe inspirited and spiraled by joy, not unlike the one I read of years later when Dante describes his great vision in paradise, ‘D'el riso d'el universo’ (the joy that spins the universe). This was a knowledge of the way everything worked. It worked through love and joy and the utter interpenetration and union of everything with the All That Is." This story comes from psychologist and spiritual teacher Jean Houston, and it adds to an untold number of similar stories about people encountering the infinite. Let’s take a closer look.
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by Reverend Anthony Makar
Melinda McGucken, Worship Associate
David Blazer, Director of Music
Our year-long sermon series exploring some of the world religion sources of our Unitarian Universalist spiritual way begins with Hinduism. Our study text is Huston Smith’s The World’s Religions: The 50th Anniversary Edition. The book is available at your local bookstore, at Amazon, and other outlets. Reach out to Rev. Makar directly if you are unable to afford purchasing the book. As preparation for the sermon, please read the chapter on Hinduism (pp. 12-81) before the service.
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by Reverend Anthony Makar
Christine Salontay, Worship Associate
David Blazer, Director of Music
We are needing some sweet silliness in these difficult, emotionally-heavy days. So, join us for a worship service full of sweet silliness. Even the very serious and intense philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein said, "If people did not sometimes do silly things, nothing intelligent would ever get done." Writer Richelle Goodrich adds, "It's okay to be absurd, ridiculous, and downright irrational at times; silliness is sweet syrup that helps us swallow the bitter pills of life."
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by Reverend Renee Ruchotzky
Elizabeth Gerencser, Worship Associate
David Blazer, Director of Music
Even when diversity and inclusion are aspirations for a community, living into such a community can be fraught with misunderstandings and hurt. How might we hold one another in love and covenant as we build a beloved community together?
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by Reverend Anthony Makar
David Blazer, Director of Music
You can be the best and most careful driver in the world, but if there’s no system of traffic lights, signs, and laws already in play (or one that’s confusing and/or insufficient), you’re guaranteed to crash into someone else. We have amazing individual leaders at West Shore, but how are we doing in terms of shared understandings about how to work together? What does our system of “traffic lights” look like? Today, I want to explore with you a plan for how we can all share in the work of ministry, in a way that expands the range of people’s involvement in deciding and doing and improves communication, coordination, and morale across the board. This plan was developed in the 2019-2020 program year by the Organizational Development Committee of the Board, and the Board of Trustees has formally approved it.
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by Reverend Anthony Makar
Melinda McGucken, Worship Associate
David Blazer, Director of Music
Did you know that the history of our faith - its journey across time - can be told using the Six Sources? Come hear Rev. Makar tell our story in a way you may never have heard it told before!
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by Reverend Anthony Makar
Judy Montgomery, Worship Associate
David Blazer, Director of Music
Regular life is in upheaval, as the pandemic reigns. Around this time of year, we would be returning from summer travels away or "staycations" closer to home. We would see kids going off to school or to college. Fall favorites like college football would be gearing up. And so on. But none of that is in the cards for us, in this strange year of 2020. For this reason, it becomes even more important to practice spiritual disciplines that help structure our lives and give them meaning. One of these practices is observing time cycles, which includes endings and new beginnings.
This is what our annual Ingathering service is all about. It signifies a new beginning for our collective life together. The service, appropriate for all ages, draws from the classic story, The Cello of Mr. O by Jane Cutler and illustrated by Greg Couch. Some things our children might listen for, and to think about as this service unfolds, includes: (1) Have you ever felt afraid of being hurt, if not by war than by COVID-19 or a bully at school, or something else? (2) Why do you think people fight? (3) Life is scary and hard these days, so it is especially important to remember that we are not alone, and there is hope. What gives you hope and courage when you are afraid?
Ingathering is also the time when we celebrate our annual Water Communion ritual, a beautiful ceremony of the celebration of life! Be sure to have a small container of water near you, and a bowl to pour it into, as you, with hundreds of your West Shore friends, simultaneously engage this ritual. It will be different this year, but that doesn't have to mean it will be less meaningful.
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by Reverend Anthony Makar
Grace Durfee, Worship Associate
Joe Schafer and Abby Rosu, Guest Musicians
When COVID-19 pandemic struck, it was as though we all crossed a line in time. There had been "before the pandemic," or BP, and now it is "after the pandemic," or AP. But whether it's BP or AP we're talking about, there has always been a need for downtime, time off, time away--sabbath time. This is the spiritual dimension of the Labor Day holiday, which is side-by-side with its more social-political dimension of support for the working class and labor unions. Today, we take a closer look at that more spiritual dimension.
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by Reverend Anthony Makar
Judy Montgomery, Worship Associate
David Blazer, Director of Music
Do you believe in reincarnation? Unitarian Louisa May Alcott did. She once wrote, "I think immortality is the passing of a soul through many lives... such as are truly lived, used, and learned, help on to the next, each growing richer, happier, and higher, carrying with it only the real memories that have gone before." Echoing this is Ralph Waldo Emerson, who said, "The soul comes from without into the human body, as into a temporary abode, and it goes out of it anew. It passes into other habitations, for the soul is immortal." Today, we take a closer look at this ancient spiritual perspective.
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by Reverend Anthony Makar
Elizabeth Gerencser, Worship Associate
David Blazer, Director of Music
Early on in his amazing Ware Lecture, given before a whole host of Unitarian Universalists at the 2015 General Assembly, Cornel West says "unequivocally" that "I am who I am because somebody loved me, somebody cared for me... Any serious talk about struggle for freedom and struggle for justice has to radically call into question any conception of ourselves being self-made." Today, we talk about the role of love and being loved in our activism.
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by Reverend Anthony Makar and
Jeff Modzelewski, Worship Associate
Back in 1878, the Unitarian Lydia Marie Child once imagined "an eclectic church of the future which shall gather forms of holy aspirations from all ages and nations." She imagined this at a time when our congregations were still very much Christian-centered. But now, all these years later, we embody Lydia Marie Child's dream and are fully pluralistic. How did we get from there to here? What do we need to know, going forward?
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by Reverend Michelle Ma and
Vicky Warden, Worship Associate
Why go to church? What do we get out of it? What is church for? Rev. Michelle Ma has some ideas: at church, we build a new world, one that doesn't play by old rules.
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by Reverend Michelle Ma and
Jeff Modzelewski, Worship Associate
Fred Rogers has seemingly been elevated to sainthood these last couple of years. Rev. Michelle Ma didn't grow up watching Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, but she has nonetheless come to see him as a role model, and the Neighborhood as a form of Beloved Community.
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by Reverend Michelle Ma and
Barbara Walker, Worship Associate
Have you ever been asked why Unitarian Universalists have Sunday morning services? Or why we worship at all? Maybe you're one of those people who grits your teeth every time you hear the word "worship." Rev. Michelle Ma offers some context for Unitarian Universalist worship and what that's all about.
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by Reverend Michelle Ma and
Judy Montgomery, Worship Associate
One of the things you learn as a hospital chaplain is how to listen: not just to the content of someone's words, but to the feelings those words are signaling. Unitarian Universalists are famously a really cerebral bunch, but that doesn't mean we are without feelings. What would happen if we listened to our and each other's feelings?
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by Reverend Michelle Ma,
Elizabeth Gerencser, Worship Associate and
David Blazer, Director of Music
What is your greatest gift? Is it your cooking? Is it your public speaking skills? Is it your green thumb? Spoiler alert: it's none of those things. You'll have to tune in to find out what Rev. Michelle Ma thinks our greatest gifts are.
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by Reverend Michelle Ma and
David Blazer, Director of Music
You're going to be seeing something different and new in the Sanctuary: a minister preaching while wearing a mask or a face shield. Rev. Michelle Ma is going to explain why, and how it all comes back to the Seventh Principle..
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by Reverend Anthony Makar
Worship Associate Ryan Rosu and
David Blazer, Director of Music
Join Rev. Makar in his exploration of some of the happiest facts of all time.
In these “happy facts” we will hear hope’s tune.
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by Reverend Anthony Makar and
David Blazer, Director of Music
June is Pride month! Join us for a celebratory and thought-provoking service where we lift up the GLBTQ+ community. Our focus will be RuPaul, who is arguably America’s most famous drag queen. Since 2009, he has hosted and produced the drag queen reality show RuPaul’s Drag Race, for which he won an Emmy 2016. He is whip-smart, sharp, wise, and worth getting to know better!.
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by Reverend Anthony Makar and
David Blazer, Director of Music
By now, it may feel cliche to say that the times we’re living in are unprecedented. It’s been said already so often. And, it’s just true. Our times have seen an unprecedented pileup of crises, one after the other, in a mere five-month period: Trump’s impeachment and governmental disarray, the coronavirus pandemic, the economic crash, and most recently, intense protests against racism and police violence in the wake of George Floyd’s murder on March 25. Some say it’s like 1968 all over again. Is it? What is the meaning of the fire this time? What do we do? Today, we will also honor our high school graduates with a Bridging Service.
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by Reverend Renee Ruchotzke and
David Blazer, Director of Music
Instead of a world where exploitation and extraction rule, there is a world of interconnection, beauty, and resilience that we yearn for. How might Unitarian Universalists be partners with indigenous and other marginalized communities to live into a transformed way of living that invites all of humanity to participate?
Rev. Renee Ruchotzke serves local congregations as a part of our larger Unitarian Universalist Association. She serves on the LeaderLab design team and as Dean of the UU Leadership Institute. She lives in Kent, OH, where she and her spouse Randy spend their free time outside in their Permaculture food forests garden.
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by Reverend Anthony Makar and
David Blazer, Director of Music
In light of recent events, Rev. Makar has written a different sermon for tomorrow: The Bigger the Break, the Bigger the Opening
We are seeing things break in the horrific death of George Floyd from police violence and the sick way this same sort of thing keeps on happening over and over again in America.
We are seeing the break in the protest fires of Minneapolis and smashed windows of Atlanta and the thrown bottles and the pepper spray which all represent, as Dr. King once said, “the language of the unheard.”
We are seeing the break in our President’s despicable tweet where he urges the violence on, saying, “When the looting starts, the shooting starts.”
We are seeing the break.
But you know what? The bigger the break, the bigger the opening, and the bigger the possibility for transformation.
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by Reverend Anthony Makar and
David Blazer, Director of Music
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE SERVICE
by Reverend Anthony Makar and
David Blazer, Director of Music
by Reverend Anthony Makar and
David Blazer, Director of Music
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE SERVICE
by Reverend Anthony Makar and
David Blazer, Director of Music
American poet William Carlos Williams once wrote, “It is difficult to get the news from poems yet men die miserably every day for lack of what is found there.” Today, we explore the salvific power of art, with an emphasis on the visual arts. As a German proverb says, “Art holds fast when all else is lost.”
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by Reverend Anthony Makar and
David Blazer, Director of Music
by Reverend Anthony Makar and
David Blazer, Director of Music
by Reverend Anthony Makar and
David Blazer, Director of Music
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE SERVICE
by Reverend Anthony Makar and
David Blazer, Director of Music
Click here to view the service
by Reverend Anthony Makar and
David Blazer, Director of Music
One of the best-loved prayers of all is the Serenity Prayer: God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. This is a great prayer to pray in our time. Let’s take a closer look.
One more thing. During this Sunday’s service, when Rev. Makar lights our West Shore chalice, he will at the same time invite you to light something in your home—anything resembling a chalice will work. This will symbolize our solidarity. The physical distance does not matter if our spirits come close together.
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by Reverend Anthony Makar
The joke that's circulating is how introverts were born for this time of social distancing. Being one myself, I get it; and yet I'm still struggling. So what must it be like for the extroverts among us? We all need to stay at home as much as possible to do our part in reducing community transmission of the coronavirus - and it's not easy! So how do we do this? How might we engage this from a more spiritual perspective? One more thing. During this Sunday’s service, when Rev. Makar lights our West Shore chalice, he will at the same time invite you to light something in your home— anything resembling a chalice will work. This will symbolize our solidarity. The physical distance does not matter if our spirits come close together.
Click here to view the video of the service
by Reverend Anthony Makar
Events and circumstances related to the Coronavirus are moving fast. Where things stood earlier this week are very different from where they stand now. We must do our part to reduce the rate of infection, and prevent our healthcare systems from being overburdened. We must act now to preserve the health of the community and especially of the most vulnerable among us. I must, therefore, call for West Shore to cease face-to-face gatherings starting this Sunday, March 15, to extend through the month of March. Instead, we will Livestream our worship service for the first time ever at West Shore! After that, we will see where things stand with the pandemic situation.
Click below to view via FaceBook.
by Reverend Anthony Makar and
Ryan Rosu, Worship Associate
“Pay It Forward” is about a way of being kind in a world that needs kindness. It’s about putting your time and energy and money in service to Love. Come and find out how you might take part in this. There will also be a surprise that you simply won’t want to miss!
Music: Wonderful, Beautiful People by Jimmy Cliff Free Spirit Band; Laird Wynn, lead vocal
You Can Get It If You Really Want by Jimmy Cliff Free Spirit Band; Bill Hudson, lead vocal
by Reverend Anthony Makar and
Victoria Warden, Worship Associate
If a “foodie” is someone who has refined tastes in food and drink and tends to seek out new food experiences, a “soul foodie” is someone who is like that in the religious realm. Today we talk about how Unitarian Universalism invites people to be soul foodies and what we need to be aware of in order for our worship to be hospitable to that.
Music: I am Resilient by Rising Appalachia, sung by Margaret Gardner and Ally Jagoda
by West Shore Youth Group, Worship Leaders
Once every year our youth prepare and deliver a Sunday morning service for the congregation. The services provided by the youth are typically heartfelt, engaging, and inspiring. This year’s service is on the theme “Community.” The Youth will be sharing what it's like to grow up and GROW in a Community; whether that community is church, family or another type of community.
Music:
The Times They are 'a Changing by Bob Dylan Performed by The Byrds
Blowin’ in the Wind by Bob Dylan Performed by Abby Rosu & Seth Wanner
Changes by David Bowie
by Reverend Anthony Makar and
Christine Salontay, Worship Associate
Feeling like you belong is a two-way street. Part of it has to do with how others treat you—whether they are being invitational and hospitable. But an equally important part of feeling like you belong is your own openness to that, and things you do to enhance your sense of belonging. As Care of the Soul author Thomas Moore says, “Belonging is an active verb, something we do positively.”
