Dear Westwood Family, I hope this note finds you all doing well as we move ever closer to the holiday season. Although I missed worship last week, I have heard that both worship and the Thanksgiving lunch went really well. For those of you who didn't...
Dear Westwood Community, The world needs more justice and love, more love and justice! Over the last few weeks, I’ve written about some of what Jesus means by “abundant life,” and how Westwood UMC is called to share it with the world. First, by being a vibrant,...
Dear Westwood Community, The world needs more compassion! That’s part of what God’s “abundant life” looks like – not hostility, indifference, or patronizing pity, but genuine compassion, the kind of mutual care evoked by Jesus’ call to “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Compassion means seeing things from someone...
Dear Westwood Community, As our holy scriptures tell the story, from its very beginning, our earth has been home to life abundant--to creation that lives and thrives in community. Flocks and herds and schools and packs, and groups of human beings, too. Our Westwood United Methodist...
Dear Westwood Community, My heart breaks for so much going on in the world; I have been spending extra time in prayer these days, lifting to God my prayers for peace in Palestine and Israel, prayers for our national government amid chaotic leadership in Congress, prayers...
Dear Westwood Community, Hello! Everest here. As you may or may not know, I am not, in fact, a cradle methodist. I was raised in the Episcopal church, took communion every week, you know the drill. As of last week, I’ve been at Westwood for two...
Greetings Westwood Family, By now, I am sure that most of you have met Everest Harvey, our new Director of Youth and Social Justice. Everest has been hard at work, meeting with many of you and getting the pulse of what social justice issues our community...
Dear Westwood Church Family, Today, October 4, is St. Francis Day - celebrated in many parts of the Christian church for the ways Francis of Assisi shaped our understanding of our relationship to our world and all its inhabitants. Born into wealth in late 12th Century...
Dear Westwood Church Family, I've been pondering this image over the past week, of a seedling and its roots. On the surface, a tiny tree is visible. Beneath the surface, a delicate and extensive web of networked roots connects that visible plant to its home. These...
Dear Westwood Church Family, When we became a Reconciling United Methodist Church, we adopted the following statement: In an address aimed toward the whole United Methodist Church, the President of our Council of Bishops, Tom Bickerton, challenged us to “be the architects of a renewed, revived and...