Dear Westwood Family,

One of the many saints whose love and dedication shaped our congregation is Jane Crail. A 1952 graduate of UCLA, Jane was an LAUSD elementary school teacher in Brentwood. She was known and loved by generations of students, by her neighbors, and by her church family. It was easy to see how much she cared for and was proud of her church. Many times, she told me how much she loved having a woman as her pastor, and she loved having me as a pastor.

After her death in 2024 at the age of 97, I came to suspect that she shared similar beautiful, specific affirmations with many other people, too. Lots of people knew that Jane cared for them, and the projects they were involved in. Perhaps you’re one of those people. In the years that I got to be her pastor, she was active in the choir (interrupted by pandemic, unfortunately), but her church involvement was deep and life-long. It was easy to see how proud she was to be able to contribute to the life of our church.

I was recently looking through a Westwood UMC publication, “The Spire,” from October 2015. In it, Bette Caldwell interviewed several church folks to ask about why they contribute financially to the church, and how it has impacted their life. Here’s what Jane said:

“When I joined Westwood UMC, I vowed to support the church through my prayers, my presence, my gifts, and my service. This vow is what guides me to faithfully execute my church financial responsibilities. They are a priority of my monthly budget and are among the first paid of my obligations. These funds are needed regularly to support staff salaries, Sanctuary and Loft gatherings, spiritual growth classes, and all that is available to our congregation and young people. I realize, as well, the need for additional financial giving for the many missions that Westwood UMC supports: Sierra Service Project, PATH, … UMCOR, and others. When additional donations are needed, I do what I can to help with the funding. Westwood UMC is unique in all that it provides for its growing congregation and membership an for our local and international communities. I am so proud to be a member and a financial contributor.”

She was an active part of the church, and supporter of its ministries in her life; in her death, Jane left her estate to the church. A few months ago, our Trustees received this gift of approximately $1M, and placed it in our endowment, The Spire Fund. This means that her estate will provide annual funding to the church in perpetuity; according to the structure of our endowment, the first income from her gift will be available in 2027. Our church council has begun more conversation about how to best choose to use those funds–a conversation that has evolved into a bigger, meaningful conversation about aligning our new mission statement and our use of resources in a strategic, faithful, and sustainable way. With leadership from our Finance and Stewardship Committee and Church Council, I look forward to being a part of this conversation this coming fall.

For today, there are two big ideas here that sit with me:

First, that we stand on the shoulders of so many faithful people who’ve gone before us. Jane was born just two years before our church was founded in 1929. Could the people who first purchased these lots on a not-yet-paved Wilshire Blvd for a Methodist Church in the brand new neighborhood of Westwood have imagined how this community would change over our first century? I think of the generations of people who invested in our congregational life, who built our beautiful campus, and who (more recently) guided the development of the Belmont Senior Living building on our former parking lot, which provides significant funding that underwrites the expense of keeping this incredible facility going. Gifts like Jane’s give us an amazing foundation for our present life. I feel incredible responsibility in this present moment to use these inherited gifts to meet the moment we are called into as we live out our mission, today.

Second, the most powerful way we step into this moment is by making the choice Jane did: of contributing what we can to the work that we share. The church cannot be the church without the involvement of the people. Without contributing (and here I’m quoting both Jane Crail and the membership vows of the UMC) our prayers, our presence, our gifts, our service, and our witness.

This is bigger than our finances, but it also includes them. This year, fulfilling the plans and vision we wrote into our annual ministry budget will require a step-up in our giving; we are counting on people who haven’t yet been contributing financially choosing to do so. And we are counting on people who have been giving to take a step toward greater generosity. To support meaningful new projects of the church, and as we use up some one-time resources we’ve been lucky to receive in recent years, we will need more financial support from the congregation. Here, at the mid-point of the year, I invite you to consider the ways you’re able to contribute to the life of the church.

It is such a gift to get to be a part of the ongoing life of this congregation. With deep gratitude for the people who’ve gone before me, including dear Jane Crail, I am proud to be able to contribute to who we are now, for the sake of the generations that will come after me.

grace and peace,

Pastor Molly