Dear Westwood Church Family, I've had "Home" from The Wiz stuck in my head all day: "When I think of home, I think of a place where there's love overflowing...
Dear Westwood Church Family, I was recently asked, “Do you believe in a higher power?” Uh. Yes. But then I had to explain it (somewhat). So this is what I wrote: DO YOU BELIEVE IN A HIGHER POWER? Yes. I love the second story of creation in the Book...
Dear Westwood Church Family, This past Saturday, many of our Westwood UMC staff members met up for a day of visioning together. In the busyness of our lives and shared ministry, it's a rare and lovely gift to have time to dream together. It helped me notice...
Dear Westwood Church Family, On vacation in France this month, we stopped in a beautiful hillside village near the Gorges du Verdon, called Moustiers-Sainte-Marie. Above the winding streets of the village, we walked up worn stairs to visit the 12th century church above; since long before...
Dear Westwood family, I am very pleased to welcome Everest Harvey to our church staff, as Director of Youth and Social Justice; Everest officially begins this work tomorrow, and we will have the chance to welcome them on Sunday in worship in The Sanctuary and The...
Dear Westwood family, This coming Sunday August 6th, Pastor Diana and I will be speaking in The Loft about the role and importance of creating a community where all people - including our children - feel like they belong. In my preparation for this Sunday I...
Greetings Westwood Community, I'm getting ready for a family trip to France, which I'm pretty excited about. Vacation planning is one of my favorite hobbies, and I've been working on this one for a while. We have the privilege of traveling as tourists, with the assurance of...
Greetings Westwood Community, Last week, I visited my parents' home in Colorado, and then drove from there to the farm my dad grew up on in central Nebraska. I visited to help host our annual Field Day for the non-proft Grain Place Foundation we started to...
Dear Westwood Church family, Every summer in The Loft - well, every summer since I have been here! - we spend a few months reflecting on one of the four value-pillars that inform the life of our worship community. Those values are Compassion, Conversation, Belonging, and Decolonization, and...
Dear Westwood Church family, While hanging out with my family yesterday, I ended up laying back on a grassy lawn, grateful for the shade from a tree that covered me, and for the breeze blowing by. Plus, the leaves of the tree were lovely as they...
Dear Westwood Church family, I had an incredible experience last week, with young people from our church participating in the Sierra Service Project on the Navajo Nation in northeastern Arizona. I'm inspired by our Grapplers, who showed commitment and compassion during the experience. On our way home, we stopped...
Dear Westwood Church family, While Pastor Molly is away with our youth, she invited me to write the pastoral note this week. Earlier I had made the list below at the behest of my adult children who have me writing each week for Storyworth. I’ve been...
Dear Westwood Church family, This week, our regional church gathers for our Annual Conference; our theme this year, "Nourish," responds to the vision we've named together: "Ending Spiritual and Physical Hunger." I'm always glad to connect with old friends at Conference, including leaders from churches who helped...
Dear Westwood Church family, This Sunday, in the Church calendar, we begin "Ordinary Time." I've always found the name of this season, which stretches all the way from Trinity Sunday to past Thanksgiving at the first Sunday of Advent, amusing. It amuses me because of the...
Dear Westwood Church family, "Do all in your power to increase their faith, confirm their hope, and perfect them in love." These words are spoken to the gathered community as a part of the baptism liturgy in our United Methodist Church. Last Sunday, they were spoken in...
Dear Westwood Church family, Today's a big day in the Methodist Church calendar: Aldersgate Day. It was on May 24, 1738 that John Wesley, an Anglican Priest in England, attended a gathering of Moravians in Aldersgate, London, England. As they were reading from Martin Luther's preface...
Dear Westwood Church family, Singing and music have long been a foundation part of our worship; next to the Bible, our hymn books have shaped our theology and our community at least since early Methodists printed some of the first English-language hymn books that were designed...
Dear Westwood Church family, One of the reasons I need church most every week is that it helps me stay grounded in hope, and open to possibilities. I know that churches haven't always cultivated open-hearted hope; we have sometimes let fear, grief, and anxiety distort the message...
Dear Westwood Church family, This past Sunday, our Westwood Kids participated in a Toy Swap; they did so after hearing about how early Christians shared all that they had, as described in the book of Acts. I was moved to hear about what happened on Sunday...
Dear Westwood Church family, I was on a call this afternoon with board members of the Foundation that operates my extended family's organic farm in central Nebraska. I found the conversations -- about planting red oak trees, new calves being born, and the need for rain...