
On February 14th - Valentine’s Day the teens who are participating in the Sierra Service Mission Trip this summer will be holding a fund-raising bake sale during Coffee Hour. Sierra Service Project is a week long opportunity for our high school teens to work with Native Americans to help improve their living conditions. Our teens paint, repair, build and roof homes and other buildings while learning both practical and social skills. Most importantly – they learn the importance of Jesus’ teachings of love and servanthood!
How can you help?
Bake something to sell! Please bring your bake goods on Sunday morning!
Buy something for your sweetheart! We will have great food, flowers and candy to buy! All donations are gratefully accepted!
As winter wanes and spring approaches, the second great cycle of the Christian calendar unfolds. Lent is the season of 40-days prior to Easter, minus Sundays. Traditionally the Church has observed this time as a period of reflection on our inner workings and motives. For hundreds of years Christians have set aside time as the death of winter closes to prepare for new life found in the spring. This year, Westwood UMC will embark on A Lenten Journey of Spiritual Practices as a new step in an ancient custom. These Spiritual Practices are practical tools that will grow our faith, our understanding, and our connection to God and one another.
A Lenten Journey will begin a new phase of our Adult Education efforts – introducing “Plan Be.” Meeting at the same time as “Follow-Up,” “Plan Be” is a study series lasting for a pre-determined number of sessions on Sunday mornings. For instance, Pastor John will be teaching a 4-week series called “Four Gospels, One Jesus” based on the book by the same name. It will meet for 4 consecutive Sundays in late spring, early summer. Sign-up is required for “Plan Be” sessions.
A Lenten Journey will be using a book called “Unbinding the Gospel” by Martha Grace Reese. The book contains a day-by-day guide to a different Spiritual Practice that every participant will do on their own. These take 15 to 20 minutes and vary from reading the Bible to going on a walk to calling a friend. On Sunday mornings after our coffee fellowship following morning worship, all participants will gather together for “Plan Be.” Here we will have a group education element whereby we will gain practical incite and historic perspective into the Spiritual Practices of the week. Finally, we will debrief in smaller groups about how our experience and understanding has grown.
This is chance to do something special to grow your faith. This is a chance to set aside time for spiritual training. This is a chance to connect. Won’t you be a part of the Journey?
Sign-up begins 1/31 and the experience costs $10 for materials. If you would like to participate in A Lenten Journey, please sign-up here.