Dear Westwood Family,

Yesterday our church campus was busy with life: the kids and teachers from the Palisades Montessori center were active in our classrooms and playground, adults arrived for the regular Wednesday noontime Al-Anon group, participants in the Racial Resilience cohort that Dr. Carter is helping lead worked in the Loft, Trustees of the Claremont School of Theology (CST) met in their school space–and at 3pm, faculty, trustees, graduates and family and friends of the CST Class of 2025 shared in a joyous graduation ceremony in the sanctuary!

At CST’s graduation, our own Bishop Dottie Escobedo-Frank, who was in worship with us here at Westwood last Sunday, was one of three people to receive an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree!

I love that we can host and support all of these things on our campus, and more, too.

In a recent small Church Council breakout group conversation about our core values and our shared purpose, this idea really resonated with a few of us: that we treasure how our church can serve as “a home for work and worship that matters.” This happens when we host folks on our campus, like yesterday. It also happens in more metaphorical ways–when our worship welcomes in new people, when our podcast includes guests whose voices we want to amplify, as we give funds and labor in support of ministries of compassion and justice beyond our walls.

I take pride in how we are able to share our beautiful facility, and I love that we are a part of projects far beyond our building. I love that we get to bring together people who might not otherwise know each other, as we host and support the life of the church.

Over the past weeks, we have been working on an update to our church website (www.westwoodumc.org), and we’ve now made the switch; we will continue fine-tuning details, but I’m really pleased with the ways that it better represents the life that we share to anyone who visits. One of the joys of working on this site has been that it’s an excuse to look through photos of church life in recent years. It’s a delight to see what ministries and life we have provided a home. I found so many fun snapshots of our community! (We hung a small collection of them in the narthex gallery, and I hope you’ll check them out, too.)

Of course, all of this is most possible when we share together in the work of welcoming. I hope you will find ways to participate in this home-making purpose, as we extend hospitality and care to our neighbors and community.

grace and peace,

Pastor Molly