WEST PARIS — Worship services have been announced for November at The First Universalist Church of West Paris, Sundays at 9 a.m., with refreshments following the service.

Nov. 4, “Gratitude, the Key to Happiness” led by The Reverend Fayre Stephenson. According to author Anne Lamott, “Thanks” is one of the three essential prayers. The other two are “Help” and “Wow.” Gratitude, experts say, is also a key to happiness. 

Nov. 11, “Our Better Angels” led by The Reverend Doretta Colburn. Taking a line from Abraham Lincoln’s inaugural address in 1861, “the better angels of our nature,” Colburn will explore the necessity of harnessing the good within and how it is needed in today’s world to overcome the negative. As a farmer, businesswoman, teacher and pastor, Colburn believes that coming together for the common good and celebrating community is vital to living successfully.

Nov. 18, “A Communion of Thanksgiving” led by The Reverend Fayre Stephenson. This service will celebrate a cornbread communion and reflect on the first Thanksgiving and gratitude. Also considered will be Epicurus’s assertion that “it is not what we have but what we enjoy that constitutes our abundance.”

Nov. 25, “Choosing Wholeness” led by The Reverend William Campbell. This worship service is based on the story of Naaman, contained in the book of II Kings, chapter 5:1-19. Rev. Campbell is a retired United Methodist pastor living on Paris Hill with his wife, Lin, and two grandsons. He served churches in Paris, France; Brussels, Belgium; and Harvard Square in Cambridge, Mass. He has been an adjunct faculty member at Harvard Divinity School for 22 years. His Maine roots go back to the early 1960s when his parents bought a home in Winthrop. He will be teaching a course in the spring at the Harvard Divinity School.

For more information about the church and services, contact Marta Clements at 207-674-2143, mclements96894@roadrunner.com, or Bob Clifford at 207-674-3442, bobarlen@megalink.net. To learn more about Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, visit www.uua.org/.


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