Westwood UMC: Recent Episodes
Westwood Church
Sunday, September 29, 2024Rev. Molly Vetter
Scripture tells us stories of leaders like Esther, who found their power and capacity to be a meaningful part of transformational change. In this moment in the story of our planet, we are invited to step into our own capacities to tend, restore, and support God’s work of redemption and justice.
Sunday, September 22, 2024Rev. Molly Vetter
Scripture gives us examples of good, wise, compassionate, peaceable ways actions, and invites us to let our lives be a declaration of our faith. This Homecoming Sunday, we are invited to remember and share the stories of faithfulness that are a part of our community, that have shaped each of our lives, and that enable us to take action for the future of our planet.
Sunday, September 15, 2024Rev. Molly Vetter
Our series, “Holy, Worldly Wisdom” continues, and asks us to consider why we are so resistant to heeding the voice of God. In Proverbs, Woman Wisdom speaks in a voice that cries out in the street. James names the dangerous power of the words we use, when we don’t “tame our tongues.” In an era of sound bites, zingers, and sick burns, how do we listen for holy wisdom? And how do we speak up for good, for our neighbors and our planet?
Sunday, September 08, 2024Rev. Molly Vetter
The Bible is full of instruction–from the wisdom of Hebrew Proverbs to the advice of the Epistle of James. Also, we continue to learn, using contemporary aphorisms to pass along the moral advice needed in the present moment. In all of these forms, we find good advice that asks us to look beyond ourselves and pay attention to the needs of others. And, they remind us to act!
Sunday, September 01, 2024Rev. Molly Vetter
This Sunday begins a five-week series that interprets lessons from the book of James and ancient wisdom from the Hebrew Bible — as we seek insight about how to respond to the ecological crisis we face in the 21st century. With poetry and practical faith, their lessons speak through the centuries, bringing a steady focus for an uncertain time. This week, we begin with love poetry from Song of Songs, and practical wisdom from James..
Sunday, August 25, 2024Rev. Molly Vetter
In Ephesians, we are told how to prepare ourselves to face life’s battles: with righteousness, peace, and the word of God. This is an unconventional form of armor, but one that gives us an unexpected strength.
Sunday, August 18, 2024Rev. Molly Vetter
In Ephesians, we are admonished to live as wise people, and not be foolish. But our scripture also invites us to live in distinct ways that are certainly in tension with conventional expectations. From Weird Barbie to our national politics, we have a rich diversity of weirdness on display. Jesus invites us to be attentive to which wisdom we follow, and how we are called to live with each other.
Sunday, August 11, 2024Rev. Molly Vetter
In a culture that connects authenticity and originality, the directions in Ephesians that invite us to be “imitators of Christ” sound a bit strange. Nonetheless, we are invited to shape our lives in imitation of Christ-like love. What does that look like today?
Sunday, August 4, 2024Rev. John Woodall
We are very pleased to welcome Rev. John Woodall to our pulpit this Sunday. Rev. Woodall served as our Senior Pastor from 2006-2019, and currently serves as the CEO and President of our California-Pacific United Methodist Foundation. He will preach on John 6:24-35, in which Jesus speaks about his miraculous feeding of multitudes, and then describes himself as the “bread of life.” We will also share in the sacrament of Holy Communion.
Sunday, July 28, 2024Pastor Molly Vetter
This Sunday’s reading from Ephesians includes some of my favorite lines from the Bible–phrases that are embedded in my memory and my heart whenever I think about my life of faith. I seek to be “rooted and grounded in love,” to dwell on “the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge,” and a grace of God that is “far more than all we can ask or imagine.” These phrases have literal meanings, but also additional meaning that has been added by the people, places and contexts from which I have learned them. So, this Sunday, we get to revel in the goodness of Good news as it was proclaimed in ancient scripture, and repeated in the communities that came after.
Sunday, July 21, 2024Pastor Molly Vetter
We continue to read wisdom from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, this week hearing an invitation to a new unity that reconciles us with God. This new belonging honors and remembers what was before, even as we are made new by what we are becoming.
Sunday, July 14, 2024Rev. Dr. Sharon Rhodes-Wickett
This Sunday, we begin a three-week series on Ephesians, one of our New Testament epistles that is attributed to the Apostle Paul. He begins this letter to the church in Ephesus by offering blessing. What blessing might we hear in his words today?
We are glad and grateful to welcome Rev. Dr. Sharon back to our Westwood pulpit; she served as Senior Pastor of Westwood UMC from 1994-2006, and is an active part of our congregation in her retirement.
Sunday, July 07, 2024Rev. Molly Vetter
Before sending his disciples out to expand his ministry, Jesus experiences a strange rejection in his hometown. His story speaks to us in times when we’ve changed, and the world has changed, and suddenly nothing is quite what we expected. Still, through it all, God’s power continues to heal and set free.
Sunday, June 30, 2024Rev. Kevin Kim Wright
We are pleased to welcome Rev. Kevin Kim Wright back to the Westwood UMC Sanctuary, to bring a special Gospel message on this last Sunday in Pride Month. An ordained United Methodist pastor, Rev. Kevin serves as Chief of Staff for the Point Foundation here in Los Angeles. This Sunday, he invites us to consider the ways our Gospel story invites us to step out of powerlessness and into God’s opportunities.
Pastor Molly Vetter is away this Sunday, traveling with young people from the church on our Sierra Service Project trip to Chiloquin, Oregon.
Sunday, June 23, 2024Pastor Molly Vetter
There is so many examples of incredible visual art and music that respond to our Gospel stories of Jesus calming a stormy sea–presumably because we are so in need of the good news that our God has power to speak peace into moments of chaos. When it feels like we’re about to capsize, God’s Word still the swirling seas, and invites us to know peace.
Sunday, June 16, 2024Pastor Molly Vetter
Jesus teaches in parables, describing the Kingdom of God with images of farmers and seeds. Both metaphors make it clear that our faith is meant to grow and change–and that God works in the world to give life. Plus, we celebrate Juneteenth and Father’s Day, honoring liberation and our human relationships.
Sunday, June o9, 2024Rev. Molly Vetter
We celebrate Promotion Sunday by honoring our graduates and giving new Bibles to those who are becoming 4th graders. We honor accomplishment and achievement and offer gratitude for all those who have helped along the way. Most of all: we celebrate a God whose love makes everything possible.
Sunday, June o2, 2024Pastor Molly Vetter
In the tender poetry of our Psalms, we find a description of a God who knows us deeply. This is good news at the core of our faith: we are personally known, and beloved by the God of all creation.
Sunday, May 26, 2024Pastor Molly Vetter
Though we frequently describe God with names that seem simple, like Love, we know that at the heart of our faith is a reality that is both dynamic and complex. We honor God as triune, giving praise to a God whose nature resists rigid answers. In our scripture, we are invited to wrestle with understanding, and claim a vital relationship with God–this Trinity Sunday and always.
Sunday, May 12, 2024Pastor Molly Vetter
We finish our series this Sunday, grateful to have engaged the Bible deeply and with expansive, healing love. Drawing from a new devotional by Kat Armas, “Sacred Belonging,” we still encourage you to use it for daily devotion. This Sunday, on Mother’s Day, we focus on the feminine in scripture, and look God’s love for all creation.
Sunday, May 05, 2024Rev. Dr. Christopher Carter
The roots of war and conflict are apparent in how we are socialized to live our daily lives. American political and economic policies and our social imagination of the “other” entice us into a zero-sum game where mutual flourishing feels impossible. This way of thinking is inconsistent with the spiritual path of Jesus and his disciples. Instead, we are invited to wage peace within ourselves and between each other because peace and justice are inextricably linked.
Sunday, April 28, 2024Rev. Clint Collins
We like to throw around the metaphor of being the body of Christ, but where does all that talk go when it comes to acknowledging the very real, physical bodies of Christians? Even in our age of elevators and ADA accessibility, it’s easy to get caught up in seemingly transcendent ideals of our faith and leave our bodies behind in this earthly dust. And it’s more than just our unconscious moments of embedded ableism – we’re still regularly tempted to consciously ignore at best – and disown at worst – the very bodies that contain and sustain us. So, let’s dig into the liberating power of our scriptures and see if the Spirit offers us new wisdom on how to better embody our faith as we gather this Sunday. See you in worship!
Sunday, April 21, 2024Rev. Molly Vetter
This Earth Day weekend, we look to our planetary neighbors to learn more about God (and ourselves). We honor our belonging in creation, and take up our call to live in ways that better respect the integrity of the wondrous relationships we belong in. We will also celebrate the sacrament of baptism, as we welcome Jasmeen Ayomide Bamgbose Whitaker into the family of grace.
Sunday, April 14, 2024Rev. Molly Vetter
In this season after Easter, we take a fresh look at the Bible, engaging it deeply and with expansive, healing love. Our themes come from a new devotional by Kat Armas, “Sacred Belonging,” we encourage you to use it for daily devotion. This Sunday we begin with the theme of Spirit and Belonging, as we listen deeply for how God speaks into our lives and world.
Sunday, April 07, 2024Rev. Dr. Christopher Carter
This week, we come full circle with our series on Peter. He has dropped his nets, walked on water, professed his faith, been rebuked, received foot-washing, denied Jesus, and run to the tomb. And now, Jesus once again meets him at the shoreline where Peter is casting his nets. Jesus offers abundant nourishment and also a new command: “Feed my sheep.” Then he turns to Peter and asks three times, “Do you love me?” It’s as if Jesus says, “Here’s my heart,” which washes over Peter’s three denials like a healing balm. No matter how far we wander, may we entrust our hearts to God. No matter if our faith is strong or weak, what we can give is our love.
Sunday, Mar 31, 2024Rev. Molly Vetter
Join us to celebrate Easter with a trumpet fanfare and a joyful procession in our beautiful sanctuary. We invite you to join us to sing resurrection hymns and to hear a word of hope – about a love that triumphs over death. With beloved traditions and pageantry, we get to proclaim the bold, good news of God’s love for all of us here, and now. Easter gives us an occasion to notice and celebrate the beauty that is in front of us, and inside each of us, in all our wondrous diversity.
Sunday, Mar 24, 2024Rev. Molly Vetter
It’s Palm Sunday, when we imagine Peter with the rest of the disciples, as Jesus enters Jerusalem on a colt. They witness crowds shouting hosannas, and surely the disciples are confused. They are supposed to be praising Caesar, but instead they are shouting for the one entering the city on a donkey. Their singing is subversive, courageous, and contagious. It lights the path forward through Holy Week, as the sacrificial, wondrous love of Christ becomes sharp and clear.
Sunday, Mar 17, 2024Rev. Molly Vetter
Peter is a disciple who seems hungry to learn: His posture is humble and open as if he wants to absorb Jesus’ teachings like a wet sponge. This week, we read a scripture in which he asks a question that might have a straightforward answer: “How many times should I forgive?” However, Jesus’ math is not predictable—it’s infinite. Forgiveness is abundant; grace is not earned. In your faith, do you find comfort in theological formulas? Do you wish for straightforward answers? Can you let go of black-and-white thinking and instead embrace the infinite colors of grace?
Sunday, Mar 10, 2024Rev. Molly Vetter
When your world unravels and your beliefs are tested, you may cling to what you know. As Jesus foretells his death and resurrection, Peter protests. Peter is fixed upon the way he thinks things should go; he resists the pain of what will come. But Jesus is fixed upon his calling and calls Peter out. For everyone, there comes a time when your faith is tested and you will have to face difficult and inconvenient truths. We may want to take the easier path, the path with less pain. We may want to cling to easy or simplistic answers. Instead, what does it look like to welcome complexity? Can you stay fixed upon your convictions while also expanding your perspective?
Sunday, Mar 03, 2024Rev. Molly Vetter
In our journey with the disciple Peter this Lent, we hear his early profession of faith in Jesus’ identity. I believe these two things are true: belief should not be a prerequisite for belonging to a church community, and, beliefs matter. What do you believe? How does it inform the way you live?
Sunday, Feb 25, 2024Rev. Molly Vetter
This is the reality of life and faith: we will inevitably face many emotional, relational, professional, physical, and global dangers. We feel desperation when these dangers are imminent. Peter stepped out of the boat at Jesus’ invitation, to walk on water–and then began to sink. In reaching out to Jesus, he found rescue. It required bold courage to step out in faith like that.
Sunday, Feb 18, 2024Rev. Molly Vetter
Our journey this Lent follows the story of Peter, a fisherman who Jesus sought out and called to follow him. As we look at his story, we reflect also on our stories. What is the beginning of your faith story? When has God sought you out? Have you ever felt like your calling was pursuing—or chasing—you?
Sunday, September 10, 2023
Rev. Molly Vetter
We launch a fall series — Reclaim, Revive, Renew — with joy this Sunday, on our Homecoming Sunday. Reclaim the gift of grace as we remember our baptism, and affirm our belonging in the Beloved Community. Plus, a brass quartet joins our Summer Choir to sing a classic John Wesley hymn. This series was inspired by a call from our Bishops in the United Methodist Church – who invited us to be architects of a new future for our denomination.
Sunday, September 3, 2023
Rev. Molly Vetter
Living life in a Christ-like way requires a lot. It asks us to take up priorities that extend well beyond ourselves, even to the wellbeing of our enemies.
Sunday, May 28, 2023
Rev. Molly Vetter
Sunday is Pentecost, celebrated as the birthday of the Church. It’s an occasion to delight in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and the ongoing presence of God in our midst. This week, we celebrate Confirmation, honoring the 11 young people who have been a part of this year’s class. We are blessed by their presence in our community!
Sunday, May 21, 2023
Rev. Dr. Christopher Carter
The Sanctuary will celebrate its rich history of music ministry on Ascension Sunday, May 21st. Featuring the Chancel Choir and soloists accompanied by chamber orchestra and the Shaffer Memorial Organ, special music will include J. S. Bach’s Cantata 37, Gerald Finzi’s God is Gone Up, and selections from G. F. Handel’s Organ Concerto Op. 7, No. 1. The music is made possible by the generosity of the Friends of Sanctuary Music.
Sunday, May 14, 2023
Rev. Molly Vetter
Our Christian tradition uses the familiar and personal metaphor of “Father” to God’s relationship toward us; scripture also describes Jesus’ desire to love us with mothering care. These metaphors of God as our parent provide rich descriptions of divine love and of our deep connections to one another and to God.
Sunday, May 7, 2023
Rev. Molly Vetter
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When 1 Peter describes Jesus Christ with the image of a cornerstone, it doesn’t merely describe the foundational strength of our salvation–it holds unlikely descriptors together: rejected, chosen, precious. This metaphor gives us lots of opportunity to delight in the unlikely, life-changing power of our God.
Sunday, April 30, 2023
Rev. Molly Vetter
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Theology depends on metaphors–on images and words that help us understand our God who is beyond all words. This Sunday, we start the first of three sermons that dive into familiar metaphors of God, exploring their rich possibility and their limits. Come, be tended by a God who shepherds us.
Sunday, April 23, 2023
Rev. Molly Vetter
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We continue to celebrate Easter, sharing scripture accounts of Jesus’ resurrection appearances to his disciples. On Earth Day weekend, we celebrate God’s presence among us, still.
Sunday, April 16, 2023
Rev. Molly Vetter
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Our Easter celebrations continue this Sunday, inviting us to experience joy and wonder. Jesus also welcomes our doubts and questions, and invites us to experience peace in place of fear.
Sunday, April 9, 2023
Rev. Molly Vetter
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Join us to celebrate Easter with trumpet fanfare and a joyful procession in our beautiful sanctuary. We invite you to join us to sing resurrection hymns and to hear a word of hope – about a love that triumphs over death.
Sunday, April 2, 2023
Rev. Dr. Christopher Carter & Rev. Molly Vetter
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Palm Sunday begins with Jesus’ triumphant entry to Jerusalem, and leads us through Christ’s Last Supper and his prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. Join us as we sing “Hosanna,” as we share at the communion table, and as we head into the mystery of Christ’s deep love for us all.
Sunday, March 26, 2023
Rev. Molly Vetter
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Even in the very midst of death, our God brings us hope that claims possibility in every new moment.
Sunday, March 19, 2023
Rev. Molly Vetter
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This Lent, our Seeking series has invited us to ask questions, to engage with curiosity, to question and wonder. This Sunday, our gospel story has Jesus pushing back against some of our questions–the questions that take us in the wrong direction. Too often, when we see disaster, our desire is to know who to blame. When we rush to judgements, we often miss deeper human need; once we’ve gotten past a helpful assessment about the things we could fix, we end up with mysteries that have no easy answers. Worse, our attempts to make sense end up twisting and limiting God’s presence in the midst of our messy, heart-breaking, beautiful world. In the midst of all that, Jesus shows up with grace.
Sunday, March 12, 2023
Rev. Molly Vetter
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This Sunday, our gospel scripture tells the story of an encounter between Jesus and a Samaritan woman by a well. I love this transformative conversation, which crosses social, political, cultural, and religious boundaries. They talk about thirst, and living water; at the end of the exchange, we’re told that she leaves her water jar, and goes into her home city, to testify about Jesus. As we share the story in 2023, it opens up space to ask questions about what it is we’re thirsty for, and what it is we have to offer the world.
Sunday, March 5, 2023
Rev. Molly Vetter
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This Sunday, our scripture offers us the familiar story of Nicodemus, a faith leader who comes to Jesus under cover of darkness, with questions about what it means to begin again–what it means to be born from above. If we sift through familiar Christian traditions that define being “born again” in specific and narrow ways, underneath it all we find a spacious exploration of a mystery that’s at the heart of salvation: can we really begin again? How do we do that? Can we really dare to believe that we get fresh starts, total forgiveness, and new life?
Sunday, February 26, 2023
Rev. Molly Vetter
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Who do you listen to? What sources do you seek for news, information, and media? Whose voices—and what messages—take up too much space in your head? From the onslaught of messaging we receive, we are invited to choose carefully. On this first Sunday of Lent, stories from the Garden of Eden and Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness open up space for our own consideration of how we listen and try to discern God’s genuine voice.
Sunday, February 19, 2023
Rev. Dr. Christopher Carter
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This Sunday, we conclude our series, “Toward Love,” connecting John Wesley’s teachings on “Christian perfection” and Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians. Both sources point us toward a way of living that requires our labor and our humility. Following Christ sets us on a life-long journey–our faith brings continual growth, and ongoing change. Christ’s love reminds us that it isn’t about what we achieve or build, but how God is working through us.
Sunday, February 12, 2023
Rev. Molly Vetter
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This Sunday, we conclude our series, “Toward Love,” connecting John Wesley’s teachings on “Christian perfection” and Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians. Both sources point us toward a way of living that requires our labor and our humility. Following Christ sets us on a life-long journey–our faith brings continual growth, and ongoing change. Christ’s love reminds us that it isn’t about what we achieve or build, but how God is working through us.
Sunday, February 5, 2023
Rev. Molly Vetter
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Our faith has paradoxical claims at its heart, including that our salvation comes from a crucified God whose wisdom looks like foolishness. Our God shows strength through weakness. Further, in our Methodist tradition, we add methods, practices, structures, and rules that somehow lead us to freedom. This Sunday, we continue our journey through John Wesley’s teachings on “Christian perfection,” and Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian church.
Sunday, January 29, 2023
Rev. Molly Vetter
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When John Wesley spoke of “Christian Perfection,” he was talking about something far different from perfectionism. Instead, he described the way God makes it possible that we, with all our flaws and imperfections, can experience and share love perfectly and fully. When this happens, it’s not because we are singularly awesome or uniquely virtuous: it happens when we participate in what God is doing. We become a part of a different sort of wisdom. (This wisdom often appears foolish to others.) In Wesley’s writings and in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, we hear invitations to a different sort of life–one that echoes the wise words of the prophet Micah that are etched in our church steps: God desires us to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God.
Sunday, January 22, 2023
Rev. Molly Vetter
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In 1 Corinthians, Paul warns the church against division; John Wesley does the same in his teaching, clarifying that “such internal division begins when sisters and brothers in Christ, the members of his body, no longer have love ‘for one another.’” It’s love that holds the Church together, and it depends on our humility and mutuality. This Sunday, we continue our series, “Toward Love,” connecting readings from 1 Corinthians, Wesley’s teachings on “Christian perfection,” and the call of the gospel in our own time.
Sunday, January 15, 2023
Rev. Molly Vetter
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This Sunday, we begin a new sermon series, looking at John Wesley’s teachings on love and “Christian perfection.” In 2023, the phrase might raise suspicions of a Christianity rooted in perfectionism and narrow-mindedness, for Wesley it was a way of describing a faith that pursues Christ and expects it to make a difference in this life. With marks of humility and an expansive experience of divine love, it’s a way of living toward God that honors our capacity to bear more and more Christ-like love. For the next five weeks, we will look at Wesley’s teachings, as described in his “Plain Account of Christian Perfection,” alongside the first chapters of 1 Corinthians.
Sunday, January 8, 2023
Rev. Molly Vetter
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This Sunday, we celebrate the Baptism of Our Lord–in our liturgical calendar, it follows just on the heels of Epiphany. In Jesus’ baptism, we hear voices of God’s affirmation; tucked into the gospel account are conversations about righteousness, and reminders of divine belovedness. As a Church that practices the sacrament of baptism, we hear ourselves in these words of blessing, as we claim belonging with a God whose love is both specific and expansive.
Sunday, January 1, 2023
Rev. Molly Vetter
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This Sunday, we celebrate Epiphany. Sometimes, I think of it as the final act of the Christmas season. I insist on keeping our family Christmas tree up through all the 12 Days of Christmas, and through Epiphany on January 6th. When we think of it as the end of Christmas, though, we miss something important: epiphany is a celebration that has us, like the magi, looking up to the stars. As we gaze up and out, we see starlight that inspires wonder, and are reminded that divine light keeps beckoning us further into the expansive mystery of God.
Sunday, December 18, 2022
Rev. Molly Vetter
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Foundational to our faith is the wild idea that humans carry the divine image; each of us, in our beautiful diversity, bears the likeness of God. In each other, we see God. This Sunday’s Advent scripture, about a visit between Mary and Elizabeth, describes a holy encounter. These two women see holiness in one another, and their companionship opens space for incredible, beautiful possibilities.
Sunday, December 11, 2022
Rev. Molly Vetter
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We continue our Advent scriptures with an account of an angel who appeared to Joseph. Repeating the familiar refrain, “Do not be afraid,” the angel helps Joseph make the difficult and holy choice to stay with Mary, who will bear a child, for the salvation of the world. This is one of the ways God continues to work through us today – inviting us to make the more difficult and holy choices that allow us to choose belonging, for the sake of divine love and justice.
Sunday, December 4, 2022
Rev. Molly Vetter & Dr. Jeffrey Kuan
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On this second Sunday of Advent, our scripture texts invite us to consider Mary’s participation in the Christmas story; alongside her uncertainty and fear, she chooses brave participation in the incarnation. Or, as in the words of prophet Isaiah who described a vision of wolves and lambs dwelling together, we get to imagine another world that’s possible if we participate in God’s generative work. This Sunday, Dr. Jeffrey Kuan, President of the Claremont School of Theology, will join Pastor Molly for a collaborative sermon, and will share about how his work in theological education is helping shape a courageous, just, and compassionate future.
**Sunday, January 23, 2021
Rev. Molly Vetter**
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One of the metaphors we use to describe the Christian life is as members, together, in the body of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul runs with this image, giving us ways to contemplate the depth of our belonging to one another, our interdependence, and the life we share. This message continues to offer powerful and radical implications for us, today, as we seek to live into this fullness of life in Christ.
**Sunday, January 16, 2021
Rev. Molly Vetter**
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I repeat this every week in worship: we believe that the diversity of people who gather as the body of Christ is a gift. I affirm and celebrate diversities of age and race, gender identity and sexual orientation. I also affirm diversities of gifts that we have to contribute to the work of the church; our differences strengthen and deepen our ability to live into the fullness of the call of the gospel to justice and love. This week, we read Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians that lay out this case for the richness found in our varieties of gifts.
**Sunday, January 9, 2021
Rev. Molly Vetter**
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We celebrate the Baptism of Our Lord this Sunday, hearing again the voice of God as it declares Jesus as God’s beloved child. These words echo through our own understanding of God’s love, as we claim the good news that God is “well pleased” with us, too.
**Sunday, January 2, 2021
Rev. Molly Vetter**
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One of the words New Testament writers use to describe Christ’s gift to the world translates pretty literally as “mystery.” I treasure how this description honors that there’s something transcendent, and not fully understood, about how divine love works. Even as we celebrate Epiphany this Sunday, we honor that there’s more to see, learn, and understand about God.
**Sunday, December 26, 2021
Rev. Dr. Christopher Carter**
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This Sunday we finish our sermon series “Housing the Holy.” This series used the “Innkeeper” from the Bethlehem narrative as its starting point and asked us how we could make the most of our resources, personal and congregational, to best “house the holy” among us?
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Celebrating the birth of new life is a beautiful, joyous occasion. I can only imagine the overwhelming emotions that Mary, Joseph, and those who came to visit the Christ-child would have felt. What emotions do you feel as you remember the Christmas story? What memories return to you as you reflect upon past Christmases? What floods your imagination as you contemplate what future Christmas celebrations may bring? Rather than checking “Christmas party” off of our proverbial to-do list, the invitation for us this year is to dwell in the Spirit of Christmas.
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Developed in the 14th century, the word “dwell” became known as a “lingering” or “abiding.” It had connections to “in-habit”–another word developed at that time. After an Advent season of focusing on housing the holy, how will we linger and abide in this habit of hospitality? What habits did you invite into your heart in this season that you desire to take with you into the new year? How might we sustain the dwelling places that feed, house, clothe those who need it most?
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Join us this Sunday as we lean into some ancient wisdom regarding how we are called to live and how dwelling in the Spirit of Christmas can help us discern how each of us can do our part to house the holy.
**Sunday, December 19, 2021
Rev. Molly Vetter
Rev. Dr. Christopher Carter**
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This Sunday, when the Fourth Sunday of Advent invites us to contemplate love, two of your pastors will preach together. In their collaborative message, they’ll explore the prophetic beauty of Mary’s song. In the friendship of Mary and Elizabeth, and in the radical good news of a God who’s born into the world through the labor of a mother, we get to contemplate how we can participate in housing the holy here, now.
**Sunday, December 5, 2021
Rev. Molly Vetter**
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We celebrate the sacrament of communion on this second Sunday of Advent. Our communion table is a foretaste of the heavenly banquet, which comes in the fulfillment of time. We get to taste and savor the goodness of that divine feast, at a table that belongs to Christ and at which everyone is welcome. When we’ve believed that there isn’t enough room at our tables, it’s because we’ve failed. God’s love is always big enough.
**Sunday, November 28, 2021
Rev. Dr. John Holbert**
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We begin the season of Advent on Sunday, with contemplative music and inspiring preaching. In this season, we prepare ourselves for Christ’s coming into the world; this is not merely historical, but an earnest prayer for Christ’s presence among us, here, now. We welcome our own John Holbert back to our Sanctuary pulpit. Professor Emeritus of Homiletics at Perkins School of Theology in Dallas, John became a part of Westwood Church when he and Diana retired to Los Angeles, and we are grateful for the ways he shares his gifts in preaching and Hebrew Bible scholarship with our congregation. John first joined the Perkins faculty in 1979, and taught Old Testament and preaching during his long tenure on faculty. He has written extensively in his field, has preached and lectured throughout the world, and has written and sung opera. He shared scripture commentary and thoughts regularly on his blog, The Peripatetic Preacher.