Dear Westwood Community, Last week, I saw a new coming-of-age movie that affected me deeply*. There is a sequence where two main characters talk about saying goodbye and growing up. One of them observes what a blessing it is to know that an ending is an...
Dear Westwood Family, Last Sunday morning the Westwood Kids played a game of “Reverse Musical Chairs.” The point of the game wasn’t the typical one: to be the last one sitting on the final chair, with everyone else on the outside, watching. This time, when the...
Dear Westwood Family, A few months back, folks from one of our neighboring United Methodist Churches contacted me, to ask about a gift from our congregation to theirs in 1940: that year, our congregation donated a wood-framed building to what was then the Japanese Community Church at...
Dear Westwood Family, I love being a parent—most of the time. Isaiah is a great kid, and Gabrielle and I having a child is one of the reasons why I believe in miracles. However, being a parent or a child is increasingly challenging. Collectively, the three...
Dear Westwood Community, As I was getting ready for a staff meeting today, I pulled up notes from a retreat that our staff leaders participated in a year ago--where we shared ideas about how we would describe the kind of church we are and are seeking...
Dear Westwood Family, Walking from the church parking structure to our front doors today, I was struck by how beautiful the sunlight seemed as it lit the blossoms of the crape myrtle trees. I stepped back, to enjoy the view of our church spire through the...
Dear Westwood Family, This morning, my read through the LA Times online affirmed something I've been thinking about lately: what a gift intergenerational friendships are. (You can read the Times' take here.) I continue to believe that the relationships we are able to make across diversities are...
Dear Westwood Family, I hope this email finds you all doing well, and a special shout-out to the parents who are (quietly) celebrating the return of the school year! Given the number of graduate degrees I have, it may come as a surprise that I didn't...
Over the summer, I am inviting clergy members connected to our Westwood UMC congregation to serve as guest writers of our Pastoral Notes. This week, we are pleased to share words from Rev. Dr. John Holbert. I am grateful that he is a part of...
Dear Westwood Community, I hope this note finds you all doing well and having enjoyed the past few months of summer. I am excited to be returning to Westwood after my two-month writing leave. And while I was able to finish one essay and make significant...
Over the summer, I am inviting clergy members connected to our Westwood UMC congregation to serve as guest writers of our Pastoral Notes. This week, we are pleased to share words from Rev. Dr. Sharon Rhodes-Wickett. I am grateful that she is a part of...
After much prayer, voting, and discernment, I'm pleased to say that I will be remaining your Senior Pastor here at Westwood, and that I was not elected to be a bishop in the UMC. I believe that I am where God is calling me to...
Dear Westwood Family, I wanted to let you know, as our Western Jurisdictional Conference for the UMC begins today in Spokane, Washington, that I have decided to let my name go forward as a nominee in our election of new Bishops. This is a very new...
Over the summer, I am inviting clergy members connected to our Westwood UMC congregation to serve as guest writers of our Pastoral Notes. We are so glad that Rev. Dr. James Edwards is a part of our Westwood UMC congregation. Before retiring to Los Angeles with...
Over the summer, I am inviting clergy members connected to our Westwood UMC congregation to serve as guest writers of our Pastoral Notes. This week, we are pleased to share words from Rev. Karen Clark Ristine. I am grateful that they are a part of...
Dear Westwood Family, I hope this pastoral note finds you all doing well! I am currently in New Orleans researching, writing, and visiting plantations to learn more about the indigenous West and Central African foodways that my ancestors brought to America. It is, perhaps, the Holy...
Dear Westwood Family, This past Sunday, I had the privilege of talking to Pastor Molly in The Loft about my identity and my understanding of God and myself. In our conversation, I referenced the “spiritual crumbs” my relationship with God subsisted on for years as I...
Dear Westwood Family, This weekend, we'll celebrate Promotion Sunday--honoring and recognizing how our young people are all becoming a grade older. We'll give Bibles to our new 4th graders, and celebrate our graduates. I know that our young people attend many different schools, and that the calendars...
Dear Westwood Family, Today, I joined a group of Westwood UMC folks on a tour of the Sam and Alfreda Maloof Foundation for Arts and Craft, on the edge of Rancho Cucamonga. There, we were able to walk through the home that Sam Maloof built. With...
Dear Westwood Family, Yesterday, in Wildwood, New Jersey, the United Methodist Church reinstated Rev. Dr. Beth Stroud as a clergy member of the church. This was twenty years after the UMC tried her for breaking church law by being in a relationship with another woman. Twenty...