![Love is Our Best Coach]()
November 29, 2020
by Shirley Nelson, Worship Leader
Judy Montgomery, Worship Associate
David Blazer, Director of Music
Passion for life does not necessarily come when we make huge achievements. But it comes when we know how to see beauty in the smallest things, grace in the darkest hour, and the courage to love when life is at its messiest. The gifts that keep us growing are often wrapped in the most unusual packages.
Today’s guest speaker is Shirley A. Nelson. Ms. Nelson is a Cleveland-area inter-spiritual counselor and life skills coach; founder of San's Sacred Circle, which offers retreats and workshops; former vice president of the Council for Health and Human Service Ministries of the United Church of Christ; and author of "The Many Faces of Prayer: A Healing Balm in the 21st Century." Shirley is currently a student at One Spirit Learning Alliance in NYC. She is in her last year of seminary and will be ordained in June 2021. She is also the part-time office administrator and newsletter editor for our sister Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Cleveland. Her website is www.sanssacredcircle.com
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November 1, 2020
by Reverend Anthony Makar
Judy Montgomery, Worship Associate
David Blazer, Director of Music
Happy 250th birthday, Universalism! 250 years ago, in 1770, John Murray preached in Thomas Potter's chapel in Good Luck, New Jersey. Ever since people have been telling the amazing story surrounding the whole event. Today, I will share that amazing story with you.
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![Ingathering 2020: The Story of Mr. O]()
September 13, 2020
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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August 30, 2020
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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July 19, 2020
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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January 5, 2020
by Reverend Chris Long and
Judy Montgomery, Worship Associate
West Shore is known throughout Greater Cleveland for its justice-making. The work that our congregational Task Forces and our Social Action Committee continues to do, with a few highly dedicated members and friends of the congregation, is astounding. We will reflect on our individual and collective journey over the last year with our justice efforts at West Shore and beyond. Rev. Long will also share some of his experiences with our Interfaith Community Partners and other organizations in Cleveland. He will also include details regarding his faithful journey with our denominational efforts in becoming a living tradition striving to become an “anti-racist, anti-oppressive, multicultural” faith movement as we lean into 2020. This holy work needs more of us in it!
Music: I am Resilient by Rising Appalachia, sung by Margaret Gardner and Ally Jagoda
November 24, 2019
by Reverend Anthony Makar,
Judy Montgomery and
Ryan Rosu, Worship Associates
In this time of unprecedented migration all around the world, what does it mean to find home? This Sunday we invite people of all ages to experience a powerful Thanksgiving service centered around Eve Bunting’s story, “How Many Days to America?” While acknowledging that some will show up to this holiday time with celebration in their hearts, others will be feeling emotions that are decidedly mixed. Come to a service that makes room for all of this and will send you out into the world inspired and hopeful.
October 6, 2019
by Reverend Anthony Makar and
Judy Montgomery
Worship Associate
Universalism represents one side of our amazing historical heritage. Come explore Universalism's essential wisdom of "loving the hell out of the world" and its guidance on what it means to be a Unitarian Universalist today.
