This week, the Westwood kids will be hearing the parable of the Pearl of Greatest Price, or as we like to call it - "The Great Pearl." Have you ever wondered what the great pearl could really be that Jesus was talking about? We will...
Sunshine yellow and ocean blue surrounded one of our beloved families on last Sunday before their move to England. We will miss all three of you! You each have offered our church so much good will and encouragement and leadership. Go with God, dear friends. This...
Puppet ministry, quill writing like St. Paul, and lovely new friends. This is only one day in the life of our Sunday morning faith formation for children. Thank you, Stephanie Lange, for volunteering, and to Deanna Edwards for guiding the team and the children to...
Last Sunday was AMAZING! We had guests speaking other languages as we told the Tower of Babel & the story of Pentecost, a puppet show-in-the-making of the Good Samaritan, 6 drummers drumming, a rolicking game of compassion charades, and our beautiful, tiny City of God...
How do you feel when someone speaks in your own language? For the 4th Sunday in Vacation Bible School, we will revisit the Pentecost Story with older church friends coming into our classroom to speak to us in Hindi, Hebrew, Korean, German, Spanish, and maybe...
On Father’s Day I asked the kids during Children’s Time to describe a good parent. One of our 1st graders said, “Making sure they feel good about themselves.” Watch out, Church, we have a compassionate theologian in the making! This Sunday is the 3rd week of...
What a Sunday! 4th graders receiving Bibles and a whole lot of promoted kids launching Vacation Bible School. It was a blast! Thank you, parents, for your promoting VBS for your children. We hope they come every Sunday from 9:30-11:45! Next Sunday at Compassion Camp...
PROMOTION SUNDAY! THE START OF VBS! Inspiring. Fun. Compassionate. Lively. Serene. YOGA! Constructing a tiny cardboard CITY OF GOD! Don’t miss these five Sundays from 9:30-11:45. We’ll be building on each Sunday, so we hope you’ll be there throughout! And this Sunday the 4th graders...
Pentecost 2023 was full of fire and wind and excitement! Thank you to Ms. Ruth, for leading the children in sacred dance in the sanctuary - yet another way to embody God’s gift of presence in our lives! Many thanks to Ms. Deanna for her...
Our children shared stories last Sunday about the many ways we can know that wherever we are, God is with us. This Sunday we look forward to celebrating Pentecost Sunday, or as we like to think of it - "The Church's birthday!" We hope everyone...
Last week our children's choir shared "Tell Me the Stories of Jesus," Olive Burkhard was baptized as we watched, we had our story time around a campfire (pretend), and shared ideas about ways we could show love. Then: Mother's Day coupons! This Sunday, we will hear...
While the kids were at family camp (please look on our Facebook link for great pictures) last Sunday, we had an especially lovely time at Westwood Kids Choir when one of our little choristers was invited to help lead a song. Isn’t music amazing? The...
“I give this to you in love,” each child responded as another child chose the toy that they had brought for our Toy Swap. And in this way, we tried to find a contemporary way of learning how the first century disciples shared all they...
Are we starting a commune in the children’s department at church? No, but we do want to learn for ourselves what the Holy Spirit enabled the disciples and followers of Jesus to do: to share what they had in common. And the way we hope...
When do you recognize Jesus? And why didn’t Simon & Cleopas recognize him on the Road to Emmaus? Why did it take breaking bread together before they knew him? We have so much to talk about in this fabulous story that happened three days after...
Easter is coming! We’ll un-bury the ALLELUIAS, sing in worship, and have a scavenger Easter egg hunt! We look forward to Easter when the Westwood Kids Choir sings in the Sanctuary and the Loft in the 11:00 services! At 10:20 the Alleluias will have been unburied, and we can go as families through an Easter Egg...
Please bring your family to join together in front of the church at 9:25. You’ll each get a palm branch and we’ll process down the “parade route” to wave your branches. After the music stops, we’ll lay down our branches, and the grown-ups will sit...
What Bible story do we know that might explain why the Pool of Siloam gave the man born blind a chance to see? When I asked that question after the Godly Play sacred story time last week, one of our third graders made a deep...
Is there a story of Jesus and the Man Who Was Born Blind in the sanctuary? During Sunday School, we’ll wonder together: How does Jesus see, really see, what is before him? And how does that “seeing” bring healing to those who are invisible? In...