Westwood United Methodist Church: Recent Episodes
Westwood Church
“I moved out to California right after I finished my Masters degree in Voice and Opera Performance from the University of Michigan. My brother Scotty was already living in Culver City, and he was attending Westwood United Methodist Church, who needed to hire some “ringers” for a Christmas album. This began my relationship with WUMC. I became a regular member in 1985 right after my daughter was born. (She will be 42 in December). My kids learned how to drive by driving me to choir practice and church every Thursday and Sunday, from Long Beach! I soon became the Soprano Soloist/Section leader and felt this was a gift of worship twice a week. Ruth Drossel and I had kids around the same age and really wanted to start kids choirs….the Hope and Glory Choirs were born. (Hope K-3 and Glory 4-6). We felt it was important for our kids to learn Methodist hymns and preserve our cultural heritage for our church. It was after 25 years as soloist that I gave up that position to concentrate on my California Teachers Association goal of mandatory kindergarten. I realized I had been a member of our Chancel Choir with seven different choir directors and six pastors! I couldn’t be happier with our current director Dr. Andrew Schultz and his great idea of Summer Choir. Genius! In the past we just had August off and the soloists each covered a Sunday. Come join Summer Choir! Choir is my family!”
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JOIN THE SUMMER CHOIR!
Sundays – July 19th through September 13thPractice – 9am in The Sanctuary to sing at 9:30amDo you like to sing? Don’t read music? That’s okay! Join us in The Sanctuary at 9am to learn a simple anthem that we’ll sing in the 9:30am gathering that day. We don’t wear robes, and we sit in the church service as part of the congregation until the Offertory. Come one Sunday, or come to every Sunday! For more information, contact Andrew Schultz at andrew@westwoodumc.org. (Regular Thursday evening rehearsals restart on October 1st with the Chancel Choir returning to the worship service on October 4th.)
“My husband John and I have been married since the “turn of the century” – 27 years – and have been blessed with a daughter, Patience (23) and son, Graham (16). In recent years we have faced the challenge of our lifetimes: John’s decline into the neurological changes that come with Parkinson’s and Lewy Body dementia. As a social w orker who spends my days supporting others through their hardships, I find myself often feeling scared, isolated and exhausted by the “what ifs” and responsibilities of caregiving – and praying for help but not sure how to get it. Westwood UMC’s Care Givers group has been a godsend.
The Care Givers group meets twice a month over Zoom. There are a variety of care givers in attendance, with different types of situations and needs. We discuss our challenges, share our joys and gratitude, and engage in self-care such as guided meditation. A smaller subset of us who are caring for spouses with similar conditions have been able to connect outside of group, providing support and encouragement throughout the week. A special shout out to friends from the former Moms and Culver City small groups who have also been there through it all. Thanks to this church community, we feel less alone as we face this uncertain journey.”
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To request care or submit a prayer request, click here. Questions? Contact Pastor Diana at diana@westwoodumc.org.
Dear Westwood Family,
I’m headed on a vacation to Spain next week, hoping to experience another total solar eclipse. And, of course, to enjoy the rich cultures of Spain. In preparation, I’ve been reading Teresa of Avila’s Interior Castle. (I am grateful to my friend, Rev. Laurel Mathewson, whose new translation into English is both beautiful and accessible. She was here at Westwood shortly after its release back in 2024.)
Teresa, a 16th century Spanish Christian mystic, described the journey of faith using the metaphor of a castle, with seven successive dwelling places that lead a believer closer in toward the final interior dwelling place: union with God. She surely presumed the people reading her words would be people devoted to God and to prayer–like the sisters in her Carmelite order. It’s humbling, then, to make my way through these many layers and levels of faith. I appreciate her detailed descriptions, which remind me that just because I (like her sisters!) take God seriously doesn’t mean my experience of closeness to God will be easy or quick. It is, as she describes, a long journey toward union with God. My experiences and sense of connection to God have more to do with the graciousness of God than my exceptional skill or merit in prayer.
As of my writing today, I’ve made it to her description of the fourth dwelling. I confess I’ve gotten a bit stuck there, pondering her description of the grace of God, which comes to humble hearts as a gracious gift, like an everflowing stream. She borrows a phrase from the Latin translation of Psalm 119:32 to describe this amazing gift that arrives: “cum dilatasti cor meum.” That is, “when God enlarged my heart.”
At this point, I feel compelled to note that the Psalm was originally written in Hebrew, not Latin, and that the ancient Hebrew culture imagined the heart to be the location of wisdom and understanding, more so than love. (This really makes our beloved UMC slogan sound redundant when we say: “Open hearts, Open minds, Open doors.”) To get to the heart of the matter (see what I did there?), “heart” in Hebrew encompasses mind, will, and emotion; it’s the location of the whole self.
In English translations of Psalm 119:32, we’re forced to make a choice, since just using the Hebrew word (“lev”) would make it even harder to comprehend. Faithful translators take different approaches, as they seek to accurately and faithfully capture the meaning. While I appreciate the gifts of other ways of writing this phrase, today I’m holding appreciation for the choices made by Robert Alter in his elegant and literary translation of the Hebrew Bible: “for You make my heart capacious.” (He adds a footnote, of course, to clarify that this includes minds, too: “The poet clearly refers here to the biblical notion of the heart as the seat of understanding.”)
A capacious heart has generous space to hold more. This seems to me to convey something critical about enlarged metaphorical hearts: God widens the capacity of our hearts, minds, and souls so that they can hold more. Teresa imagines this enlarged capacity using water as a stand-in for God’s presence and grace. By grace, God pours into our hearts, bubbling up like a natural spring. That water causes our hearts to grow larger, which means they’re able to carry more water. With our whole selves, we are able to hold more of God’s grace, for ourselves and for others.
Of course, as I’m seeking to understand the implications of Teresa’s mystical writing, I’m also thinking about the town of Ávila, where a wildfire rages nearby this beautiful walled city with ancient origins. I’m thinking of the parched land, as another heat wave comes with its desiccating warmth, extending the likelihood that fires can become extraordinarily destructive. I know Teresa’s description of water was used metaphorically, but I cannot escape the literalism of this vivid moment In our expanding climate crisis. I pray for containment for these fires, for relief from this heat wave, and for mitigation of the damage of extreme weather events in all places.
I’m also thinking of my recent visit to the Grand Canyon; with our Sierra Service Project team, we stopped for a brief visit at the Desert View Watchtower area of the South Rim. I find it dizzying to try to comprehend the scale of that canyon–it’s more than 10 miles across to the North Rim at points visible from our stop, and even so, the depth and dimensions of the canyon make it so that you can easily see to the bottom only in small sections. Over 5-6 millions of years, water carved this beautiful, intricate canyon, dramatically enlarging its capacity to hold water. And to stop my heart with awe.
I suspect that the ability to hold all these things at once is connected to the insight Teresa offers to us across the centuries: that it’s by the grace of God that we are given the capacity to know about and more deeply understand ourselves, others, and our planetary systems. Grace also allows us to love and care about all these things. And, divine grace enables us to choose to live differently in the world–to use our will to seek a world that honors, protects, and sustains the communities and ecologies we belong to.
So, today, I join my prayer to that of Teresa: dilatasti cor meum. You have enlarged my heart. Make it larger still.
grace and peace,
Pastor Molly
Dear Westwood Family,
Just before we arrived at our Sierra Service Project (SSP) site in Teec Nos Pos, Arizona, on the Navajo Nation, our team of 24 stopped by the Four Corners Monument. It was hot, and the particular place where these four states’ corners connect isn’t an especially captivating landscape. (There are a multitude of captivating landscapes nearby, I would like to note.) Still, we paid our admission fee and took photos standing in this unique spot where you can inhabit four US states at once.
Around the monument that designates the exact spot of the intersection, Navajo vendors were selling handicrafts, jewelry, and t-shirts; bottled water and fry bread with honey. It was the middle of a hot, sunny day, though, which made it a more agonizing visit than it might have otherwise been. It was, however, delightful to drive around in the area, cheering every time the highway took us through a hew state, sometimes only for 3 minutes.
For me, the whole experience underscored the absurdity of our political borders. In particular, these boundaries drawn by cartographers using straight lines of latitude to mark political edges remind me that such designations have nothing to do with the lived experience of the people, creatures, water, and plants that call these places home.
At the Four Corners Monument, I was remembering my time on our church pilgrimage to the US/Mexico border in January–how different the tall, foreboding wall is that marks the boundary between our two nations. And how similarly the straight line is drawn from east-to-west, irrespective of people and ecosystems. Navajo Nation stretches through all four of the US states we stood in at that monument; now a political boundary that maps the edges of an area “granted” back to the descendents of Diné people who long inhabited that place. Unlike the Kumeyaay people whose ancestral lands were divided in two by the boundary of the US and Mexico, these state borders do not prevent the movement of people or land animals.
I was also thinking about the boundaries of identity that we draw to designate belonging, responsibility, and allegiance. How similarly absurd it is to imagine that there’s a place where our interconnection ends, or our responsibility to one another begins.
It was a joy to experience the gifts of human community during our week on SSP, as 70-ish folks from four different church groups joined the young adult staff leading at the Navajo Nation site, plus the local Navajo folks who joined us for meals, for programs, and in welcoming us to the work sites where our volunteer labor could be useful. Yes, there were some boundaries in our group — appropriate and separate responsibilities for the middle- and high-school age youth, the young adult volunteers and staff, the adult counselors, and the local folks. But even more, I experienced a deep sense of interconnection and belonging. I love how consistently people at SSP are willing to pitch in together; everyone has chores (re-branded at SSP as “Opportunities to Serve”), everyone eats together, most of us sleep in a big multi-purpose room together, on the floor. Though each participant brings their own life experiences, struggles, and gifts, there’s a powerful sense of being “in it” together.
Again this year, being a part of a community of people who choose to spend warm summer days offering volunteer service for others has been a beautiful antidote to the temptations of individualism that are rampant in our culture. Freely choosing to give of myself in service to others and to community helps me overcome feelings of isolation, helps ground my identity in community, and liberates me for deeper belonging. Time spent in a landscape and culture that differ from those I see in my everyday life has been a beautiful reminder that life is bigger than what I see right in front of me. I am grateful to belong in this beautiful, diverse, wondrous world, and reminded of my calling to recommit to seeing beyond boundaries toward the fullness of what God sees and loves in this world.
grace and peace,
Pastor Molly
“One thing I love about the organ programs is learning about the composers and the music. Just as when I am part of a docent-led tour at an art museum or engage in conversations at a book club, I learn things I would probably not even notice or appreciate. It’s always more than I can process, but it’s obvious that a lot of thought (and expertise!) goes into the program notes.
But above all is the emotional reaction to the arts: It can be angst or tranquility and/or all the emotions in between! I can just be in the moment as the sounds wash over me. One of my favorite composers is Duruflé, and most of his pieces are based on Gregorian Chant. The old becomes the basis for the new! I was pleased when Peter included Duruflé in this year’s concert.
The variety of pieces played is also a plus. I like the traditional as well as some of the more modern styles. There are moments in pieces by Phillip Glass that are pleasant, but then the minimalism becomes too minimal for me. Still, Glass and other innovators expand the musical repertoire, and we have been blessed to hear some of those compositions on our marvelous organ.
I am a Francophile, so July 14th, France’s Independence Day (La Fête Nationale) is special to me. In 2013, Ned Tipton, who had been the Canon for Music and Organist Choirmaster at The American Cathedral in Paris for 21 years, was the guest organist for the concert series on July 14th. I brought my large French flag, and Pablo hung it up in the courtyard for the reception. Ned and I even sang La Marseillaise after most people had left. Vive la musique!”
Dear Westwood Family,
On July 3, air traffic controllers and pilots at Newark airport interrupted their normal workflow to make sure everyone saw and acknowledged a beautiful rainbow that stretched across the Manhattan skyline just after a thunderstorm passed through. “I just need everybody out here to acknowledge this rainbow, because this moment will never happen again Newark,” one pilot says, before others join in to celebrate and describe the beautiful, fleeting moment. One even noticed how lightning strikes added even more drama to the incredible scene. “This should be a moment for everyone.”
The conversation continued, including jokes about Newark rarely getting such special moments, about Taylor Swift’s wedding that evening, and about the World Cup. The recording of the conversation is a sweet moment of human connection, and astonishing beauty.
I’m still thinking about our recent Annual Conference session. The theme was “Astonish!” and it has prompted me to think about other times when I’ve been caught short by surprising reminders of God’s presence in our midst, holy beauty in our community, and resilient hope in difficult moments. I sympathize with that first pilot, who felt compelled to share what he was seeing – astonishing beauty that needed acknowledgement.
Last week, I went in search of a good vantage point from which to watch the full moon rise over Los Angeles; I was delighted to find live music at a scenic overlook, where a whole bunch of local musicians came together to enjoy summer sunsets together. My friend Marcia McFee has taught me to embrace the gift of these moments of “collective effervescence,” when we get to experience moments of fleeting beauty together.
I’ve been busy this week getting things ready for this year’s Sierra Service Project trip. The 26 of us will leave this coming Saturday morning. I’m excited to go on the trip again, and grateful that I get to do this as a part of my pastoral work. I know of no better way to get to be present with the young people of the church than to do on a service trip like this; I’m grateful that there are 19 middle and high school youth, as well as one college-age young person, who are choosing to spend part of their summer on this trip to the Navajo Nation in Teec Nos Pos, Arizona. We’ll be helping build wheelchair accessible ramps and replacing worn roofing on the homes of a few seniors in the community, and we’ll be learning–about ourselves, God, and our neighbors.
I don’t know what the astonishing, holy moments will be on this year’s trip, but I trust that there will be some. I still catch my breath when I think of how incredible it was to watch an owl settle into a tree at sunset together last year on our SSP trip–while we were holding silence during a prayer walk. I treasure memories and moments of awe, shared with others.
I also hope and trust that your summer will hold some astonishing experiences of suprising beauty. Perhaps some sunset colors, a view of the moon, time spent with loved ones, or a delicious meal. And, I hope you’ll have someone nearby – or accessible by phone – who you can tell about it.
grace and peace,
Pastor Molly
“Hi! My name is Will Read, and I am part of the Grapple Group here at Westwood UMC. I chose to start going on SSP for three main reasons: First, I like the feeling of connecting with a community and other people. It feels more helpful than just talking about the issues and forms a more meaningful connection with those impacted by such issues. Also the feeling of bonding with those I work with is one of intense trust. Second, I like the unplug that SSP gives. In SSP cell devices are confiscated so that people stay present. I appreciate this because it allows you to step back from the bustle of daily life and all the connected chaos. It also allows you to feel unstressed to meet an unreasonable deadline. Lastly, I appreciate all the staff that work to provide meals as well as structure when I am on a project. They are incredibly supportive and are incredibly approachable when you need some help. In addition, they are incredibly open to sharing their journey to joining the SSP staff as well as the prior journeys. In conclusion, I think that everyone that can go to SSP should go at least one time so they can experience it for themselves.”
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
“I recently had the privilege of serving as a Westwood Church lay member at the California-Pacific Annual Conference in La Quinta, CA. The theme of the conference was “Ending Spiritual & Physical Hunger: Astonish!” For me, it truly was an astonishing experience. I was initially overwhelmed by the large agenda and busy four-day schedule. It was evident that many, many people worked long and hard to plan all the activities and organize the work that needed to be accomplished. Thankfully, everyone was eager to help—whether it be finding a meeting room, figuring out the online voting, or making you feel welcome. I loved meeting so many passionate and dedicated people—Bishop Dottie Escobedo-Frank, former WUMC clergy, members of predominantly Black churches, members of Pacific Island churches. The inspiring sermons and joyful music at the daily worship services left me feeling energized. A recurring message throughout the conference was that it takes each and every one of us to make a difference in the world. I left the conference feeling spiritually refreshed and eager to serve the communities around me. And, I felt happy and proud to be a member of WUMC.”
Rachel Gipson (right) with Louise Spear, Mariandrea Patel, and a peanut butter pie
As someone who has been attending Conference since I was three weeks old, I can say with authority that it is a special and supportive place. Not only do we do the work of the Annual Conference (something I have grown to enjoy), but we do the equally important work of hanging out. Seeing old friends, meeting new friends, and finding familiar faces brings joyful moments. We are lucky to have Westwood UMC well-represented here, and getting a little time together is a highlight. I am grateful for the dedication of our local church team, who are enthusiastic, prepared, super involved, and also super fun. In the coming weeks you will hear about the work we did, but in the meantime I want you to hear that your representatives enjoyed conversation, collaboration, meals together, and peanut butter pie. How lucky we are to have each other as we do this work, and my heart is renewed and grateful.
Dear Westwood Family,
This Saturday is the feast day for St. Francis of Assisi, and this year we celebrate the 800th anniversary of his beautiful poem, one of the oldest existing pieces of religious writing penned in Italian, known as his Canticle of the Creatures. It’s familiar to me because its words were paraphrased for the 20th century hymn, “All Creatures of our God and King.” It sings of kinship with all creation: sun, moon and stars, wind, water, and fire are all named as our siblings.
I’ve been a fan of Francis for many years, since I first found the beautiful prayer known by his name: “Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace,” it begins.
My delight in Francis, though, just keeps growing: it turns out that Francis had a special love for roadside worms. Thomas of Celano (c. 1185–1265) wrote an account of Francis’ life, and described his commitment to picking up the worms he saw on the road, and relocating them so no one would step on them. For Francis, this compassion was a natural outgrowth of Jesus’ humility, and the words of Psalm 22:6. (“But I am a worm and not human, scorned by others and despised by the people.”)
I frequently struggle with theologies that describe humans as worms; these theologies often focus on our sinful nature, emphasizing how wretched and unworthy we humans are. Coupled with systemic sexism and racism (among other things), I confess I’ve never felt called to emphasize the message that we’re all “worms.” Instead I do, as I’m sure you have heard, like to reaffirm how humankind is created in the very image of God.
But then comes Francis, drawing from these scriptural words about worm-like humans. Instead of using them as a reminder of our wretchedness, though, he lets them be a call to care for the worms themselves. To take action against their getting trampled.
In our dominant culture of individualism, where our greed and desire for power frequently cause us to trample on all who are poor and powerless, this commitment to the worms seems so incredibly radical. It is for me, today, a call to humility and care: to take my own little life and the power that I have and use it to care for those more vulnerable than me.
May that kind of love be visible in all that we do.
grace and peace,
Pastor Molly
Dear Westwood Family,
For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been binge-watching The Summer I Turned Pretty, the coming-of-age romantic drama series that’s based on Jenny Han’s best-selling Young Adult trilogy of books. It’s been comforting to immerse myself in a romantic drama–it’s a very tempting (and occasionally unhelpfully obsessive) escape from a brutal news cycle. I cannot resist being drawn in when I read or watch romance stories that so vividly depict the yearning of not-yet-reciprocated love. The longing glances! The sharp pain held in the tear-filled eyes broken-hearted love are just so compelling to me.
This Sunday and last, we’ve been reading from the book of Jeremiah in our Sanctuary worship gatherings. (Can it be mere coincidence that one of the characters in The Summer I Turned Pretty shares this prophet’s name?!) This ancient Hebrew prophet gives us words of lament – heart-rending prayers about desolation, loss, and injustice. I’ve found them to be a tender gift, too. After all, they are rooted in love, too – tears of grief that give away the deep love held by our broken-hearted God.
On days when it feels like so much is coming at us, so fast, without mercy, tears seem like an insufficient response. But perhaps they are the most human and holy response. I think of mystics and saints who let their tears give form to their deep relationship with God. I remember Margery Kempe, whose 15th century Book is the known first English-language auto-biography. She cried incessant tears, and they connected her to God.
I think of Catherine of Siena, the 14th Italian mystic, who in her Dialogue described five different types of tears, each with capacity to draw us closer to God. She described the gifts that come through our yearning for God–the deep pain of our longing can itself be an experience of God.
Our Psalms described this kind of love and longing:
You, God, are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
I thirst for you,
my whole being longs for you,
in a dry and parched land
where there is no water. (Psalm 63:1)
In a season where it’s tempting to grow numb to all the things that break our hearts, I’ve found that a coming-of-age tv romance helped reminded me of my capacity to yearn. I don’t know what might help you, but I want to offer a word of encouragement: I believe that our tears, our aching hearts, and our long yearnings for connection can be gifts that give us an experience of divine love. We who live in wrenching tension between our confidence in the “blessed assurance” of Christ’s grace and the brutal realities of fear, injustice, and violence are stuck in an ongoing state of longing for the fulfillment of what we believe so deeply to be true, and yet experience only in part. In moments and glances, with insufficient words and unintended injuries to one another, we trust in a love deeper than we have yet known.
So, today, I’m offering my prayers and tears for children in Gaza amid hunger and unthinkable grief, for immigrant neighbors in LA in fear of detention, for transgender siblings afraid for their safety, for autistic friends whose diverse gifts have been denied in our national conversation, for all the families in grief after losing loved ones to gun violence, and for so many others. I encourage you to make your own list. Dare to imagine another world, and let your tears help you dream of it.
May it be so.
grace and peace,
Pastor Molly
Dear Westwood Family,
Thank you to those who were able to attend yesterday’s conversation about immigration in The Loft with Marilyn Figueroa, an immigration attorney and church community member.
Click here to watch the video (her presentation starts at 49:30).
Click here to access her presentation slides. Feel free to use them as you continue to learn more about what is taking place in our community.
I know that many of you spoke to her after the worship service and wanted to learn more about what our church community should be doing and how you could get more involved.If you’re interested in joining an immigration rapid response team or helping our community develop a plan for when ICE comes to our church, please complete this form to let us know.You will receive a follow-up email with the next steps in the coming week.
Thank you all, and I encourage you to keep praying for our immigrant neighbors during this difficult time. We believe that all human beings are created in the image of God and deserve our love, respect, care, and, when necessary, protection.
Love and Solidarity,
Rev. Dr. Carter
Corita Kent, yes #3, 1979, color screenprint on wove paperGreetings Westwood UMC Family,
During a recent conversation, something I read a long while ago came to my mind: in Kathleen Norris’s “Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith,” she offers what has been for me a fresh and helpful definition of “belief”:
“I find it sad to consider that belief has become a scary word, because at its Greek root, ‘to believe’ simply means ‘to give one’s heart to.’ Thus, if we can determine what it is we give our heart to, then we will know what it is we believe” (from the chapter “Belief, Doubt, and Sacred Ambiguity”).
I received Norris’s book as a gift from a dear friend during my first semester in seminary; these words have stuck with me since then, as has the idea that “belief” is something very different from certainty, and that it certainly does not require I give up my questions and struggles as I try to move through the complex contradictions and tensions that just keep inevitably coming. As voices professing to be Christian proclaim values that are directly opposed to those I find in the Gospel–and do so loudly in our national politics, I can’t help but question and reflect on how this is possible. How do I treasure this faith as a source of expansive love that breaks down divisions and demands that I love even my enemies, when others are perpetuating fear, division, and hatred in the name of the same God?
I re-read this chapter in Norris’s book today, and found incredible balm in the final paragraphs, as Norris quotes Father Martin Smith, an Anglican monk: “‘How can my rage and sickening disappointment in so many manifestations of ‘Christianity,’ he asks, ‘cease to be a poison which depresses and paralyses me, and be traced back to its source in my longing to be fully alive in God?’ It no longer surprises me that a devout monk can ask such questions, or that his anguish might lead him straight to prayer, which is not the result of belief so much as its source and guardian. ‘Only prayer,’ Smith concludes, ‘is a crucible strong enough for this kind of transmutation.'”
What if we understood worship not to be about confidently affirming certainty, but about tending the powerful, vulnerable hope that worship and prayer make possible?
I treasure that this has been true for me: one of the gifts of church life is that our community, our music, and our prayers continually give me the courage to give my heart to God, for the sake of love, compassion, and justice. And in doing so, I continue to be transformed in love.
I hope it does the same for you.
grace and peace,
Pastor Molly
Greetings Westwood UMC Family,
I start every episode of The Progressive Christians podcast with the tagline “We are the ‘love your neighbor’ kind of Christians and not the ‘storm the capital’ kind.” It’s an honest and slightly cheeky way to highlight the difference between the community we aim to build at Westwood. This saying also captures the evangelistic spirit of both our podcast and our community. We are a community built on the invitational love of God, not the coercive love of political power. I wouldn’t have used the term “evangelistic” last year, but one of the blessings of our show was that we used it as a tool to help recruit Rev. Blair Triggstad-Stowe to our community. Blair is a UM clergyperson and academic who specializes in evangelism, and through our conversations, I’ve come to realize the evangelistic power of what we’re creating, how it’s transforming our community, and how it’s touching the lives of many people around the world.
For those of you who don’t know, the idea to start a podcast came from our very own Director of Music and Worship in The Loft, Julia Black. Julia has been a key part of our community for many years, and it is with mixed emotions—sadness and joy—that I share the news that this coming Sunday, September 14th, will be her last with us. Julia will be moving to London to pursue her education at the London School of Theology. I will miss her sarcasm, her vegan banana bread, the way she adds sparkle to everything she does, and, of course, her leadership within our faith community. Please keep Julia in your prayers as she embarks on this exciting new chapter!
Despite moving across the pond, Julia will still be connected to our community because she remains a co-host on The Progressive Christians Podcast. It wouldn’t be the same without her, and I’m grateful that convincing her to continue working for our church in this role wasn’t necessary. Some of you might wonder if it’s worth the effort to coordinate recording schedules across an eight-hour time difference, so I’ll end this pastoral note by explaining why the short answer is yes!
Our podcast ministry is making a significant impact in America and around the world (we have subscribers on every continent except Antarctica!), and we couldn’t do this without your support. We currently have 1900 individual subscribers across YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. In August, we had over 4,000 downloads and views. Our most popular episode, recorded just a few weeks ago, was “I Was A Christian Nationalist & Didn’t Know It, ” with April Ajoy, and it has over 5,500 views on YouTube alone! While these numbers are encouraging, what’s even more inspiring are the messages we receive from our listeners.
- “In this challenging time of re-evaluating my core beliefs and seeking to rebuild my faith, The Progressive Christians Podcast has been an absolute godsend. This show provides invaluable guidance as I strive to reconstruct my understanding of Christianity around the actual person and teachings of Jesus, and what it truly means to be a faithful follower in modern-day America.”
- “Like so many others, I’ve been reevaluating / deconstructing / reconstructing my faith in light of the 2024 election. These people get it! They give honest, raw, intelligent, and thoughtful insight not only into pop culture and politics through a Christian lens but also into the policies and purpose of the Church as a whole. Every episode makes me think. Every episode makes me want to dive deeper into my faith, a feeling I had lost for quite some time. I’m so incredibly grateful for this group of people!”
- “Long time listener, first time commenter. I just want to say thank you – all of you – for your leadership and courage. Your episodes have provided me with such great insight and hope. I have not attended church or called myself a Christian in many years, but I am thoroughly enjoying this side of Christianity. Please keep going – your voices matter deeply, especially right now.”
- “A few weeks ago my husband and I were having one of those deep “what is even happening to the world” chats, and without thinking, I blurted out, “I don’t think about the future anymore because I have no hope left.” Yeah… not exactly a vibe I’m used to giving off. It kind of stopped me in my tracks. After a few days of sitting with that, I realized my spiritual tank was running on empty. Christianity, something that used to bring me comfort, now just kind of leaves a bad taste in my mouth, thanks to how wildly politicized and radicalized it’s become lately. Somewhere along the way, I let go of some core beliefs just to keep my sanity intact. But yesterday, while working, I randomly searched for a progressive Christian podcast just hoping something might speak to me. And wouldn’t you know it, The Progressive Christian Podcast popped up. I hit play… and it felt like coming home. Finally, voices that sounded like love, justice, and inclusion. Real people just trying to help others and love radically. Breaking down what is happening in our country while still giving us hope. My people.”
A few weeks ago, Blair said that evangelism isn’t just between Christians and non-Christians, but wherever we need healing; that is where evangelism belongs. We need healing, the church needs healing, our communities need healing, and our country needs healing. This need for healing explains why both our church community and our podcast keep growing. My prayer is that we continue to serve as a space for healing and transformation for people who reject Christo-fascism and instead embrace God, who meets us with love, compassion, grace, and justice.
Love & Solidarity,
Rev. Dr. Carter
Dear Westwood Family,
In our Church Council this year, we’ve been having rich conversations about the mission and identity of our congregation; it’s been inspiring to me to think deeply about how we understand and describe the core of who we are.
We can use words to describe details and characteristics of who we are (good coffee, resounding organ, thoughtful conversation, poetic liturgy) that give people a sense of the vibe of our worship, so they might know whether they feel comfortable in our community (or, better, just a little uncomfortable, but in a good and holy way). And there are words that describe the values at the center of our life, and the high calling to which we are called. Whether optimized to meet the queries of Google searches or shaped for quick conversations with neighbors in the grocery store or formatted for social media posts, our words attempt to describe who we are in ways that meet the needs of this moment.
Our United Methodist Church’s Book of Discipline has elegant words about the purpose of a local church: “It is the redemptive fellowship in which the Word of God is preached by persons divinely called and the sacraments are duly administered according to Christ’s own appointment. Under the discipline of the Holy Spirit, the church exists for the worship of God, the edification of believers, and the redemption of the world” (from Paragraph 201).
The next paragraph goes on to describe each local church as “a strategic base from which Christians move out to society,” with the responsibility of helping people to “live their daily lives in light of their relationship with God,” including through care of one another and of the whole planet (from Paragraph 202).
Over the last several weeks, in preparation for Homecoming Sunday and our Service Fair, we’ve been making a booklet that describes all the various ministries of our church. I frequently experience gratitude for the rich life of our congregation, but I don’t often just make a list of everything we’re doing, all the groups that are in ministry here. It’s pretty inspiring to see it all together at once–all the beautiful and diverse ways we are living our mission, “for the worship of God, the edification of believers, and the redemption of the world.”
I hope you’ll make it a priority to be with us on September 14 for Homecoming, to share in rich worship and to participate in the Service Fair on the courtyard after each worship gathering. In the Sanctuary, I’ll be beginning a month-long sermon series celebrating of the Season of Creation, with special music from the choir and our guest harpist, Alison Bjorkedal. In the Loft, the Singers of Soul Gospel Choir are joining Dr. Carter for a Gospel Sunday that will inspire and energize.
Even more, I give thanks for all the ways you are a part of living out our mission. With gratitude for what we are, I look forward to what we are becoming as a community of compassion, grace, and radical welcome.
grace and peace,
Pastor Molly
From a photo shared on Instagram @taylorswift @killatravDear Westwood Family,
There continues to be so many things in our world that break my heart – personal griefs, concern for the state of our democracy, devastating impacts from a changing climate, and (even this morning) the wrenching news of a shooting in a Catholic church school in Minneapolis that happened while the school was in worship. I pray earnestly for God’s mercy.
But also: I’m a fan of Taylor Swift, and this has been an exciting couple of days, since yesterday when she and Travis Kelce shared word of their engagement – along with photos of a luscious, flower-filled garden proposal. It’s a joy to see a singer and songwriter – whose albums have so effectively narrated experiences of love and loss and identity over the past 20 years – experience this moment that looks like deep joy.
At least since her “Love Story” used Romeo and Juliet to tell the story of teenage dreams that are at odds with parents’ rules, she has used her life, great literature, and the well-honed craft of storytelling to create music that lets us be fully human. She takes her own lived experience seriously, which is a part of what I think makes her so compelling: insofar as I see myself in her experience, she takes me seriously, too. Even better, her Eras Tour showed us that it’s possible to still claim all the seasons in life that we’ve come through, without needing to cringe or apologize for what we were like when we were younger.
Just two weeks ago, in her two-hour-long appearance on the Kelce brothers’ New Heights podcast, one of my favorite moments came when they were talking about how she and Travis met after he publicly shared on social media his desire to ask her out. She saw the post about his failed attempt to meet her when her Era’s tour came to Kansas City: “I was like, if this guy isn’t crazy – which is a big if – this is sort of what I’ve been writing songs about wanting to happen to me since I was a teenager.
Travis’s next line was so good: “I was sitting there at the Eras Tour listening to everyone one of those songs, like, ‘I know what she wants me to do.'”
Taylor was singing a vision of what she wanted, and Travis was listening. He paid attention, and then just did it. After building a relationship marked by deep appreciation for each other, guided by mutual respect, he filled his backyard garden with 1000 roses and asked her to marry him.
Now, flower-filled engagement posts are not the fullness of God’s Beloved Community (and I’m almost always down to examine cultural practices for problematic dynamics of gender and power) but for today, I am definitely finding encouragement in the power of singing, and listening, and living.
I think this is a significant part of what we do when we come to worship: we share music and prayers that help us see and believe in a version of the world that looks more like God’s dream. Drawing on scripture, with poetry and music and story, our worship gives us a space to describe the world we long for. We sing about amazing grace, so that we can dare to receive it. We pray for God’s will to be done on earth, so that we remember to seek clarity about what that is. We tell stories of people being healed and fed, so that we have courage to feed and heal others. We sing about resurrection so that we can be fearless in our pursuit of love.
That we worship matters – the singing of the songs gives glory to God. Our worship also forms us. And when we’re ready, if we’re willing to listen, it gives us a guide so we can embody the world that God dreams of.
grace and peace,
Pastor Molly
Dear Westwood Family,
To start: some mundane logistical information for getting to church this weekend. CalTrans is starting a big project of “pavement rehabilitation” this weekend, which means that not only is the 405 reduced to 3 lanes over the Sepulveda Pass, but several on and off ramps are closed–including at the streets closest to the church. Please read all the details here!
Unlike on Marathon Day, there won’t be surface street closures, so I’m hopeful folks can easily find a way to church around these closed routes.
There are going to be additional closures along the Sepulveda Pass, the announcement says, about every other weekend for half a year. They’ve already announced the specific plans for the weekend of September 7th.
I’m sure there are lessons and metaphors we can learn from here: about how sometimes you experience what seem to be set-backs before you get to move ahead more smoothly. About the gifts that can come from unexpected new paths. About the value of investment in infrastructure for the common good. (This is a value I confess I also call to mind regularly when I need help shifting my sour attitude as I wait to merge into the one open lane on Wilshire Blvd in Westwood Village, while construction cranes lift giant loads to build the purple line metro.)
In the Sanctuary, we just started a four-week worship theme called Quest, an invitation to an inner spiritual journey. It’s an occasion to open ourselves more fully to the curiosity and wonder, reflection and transformation that travelers–not merely tourists–experience when they choose to immerse themselves, with humility, in soul-widening adventures.
Perhaps the closed lanes, closed off-ramps, and blocked roads can become occasions to let the outer journeys of navigating our community streets become unlikely invitations that prompt us to see things and ourselves in new ways? I think it’s worth a try–I hope you’ll join me.
grace and peace,
Pastor Molly
Dear Westwood Family,
I hope this note finds you well and that your parents are as excited for the start of a new school year as I am! I was always excited for the beginning of the school year growing up – not because I was especially interested in learning, but because I was eager to hang out with my friends, pretend I was going to talk to some girl I thought was cute, and get preseason basketball conditioning underway. Learning, at least according to my teachers, wasn’t something I paid much attention to. I’m aware of the irony that I grew up to become an educator, a writer, and someone probably addicted to learning!
My passion for education is most evident in my sermons. I spend more hours than is probably reasonable researching, outlining, writing, revising, and rehearsing each sermon because I believe that each sermon has the potential to change someone’s life for the better. That is an unreasonable amount of pressure to put on myself, but it honestly reflects how I feel. This sense of conviction is why I often say more than I need to on Sundays. This passion started in earnest when I was a pastor in Compton, grew while I was a professor at the University of San Diego, and continues to this day. What is motivating me to begin to try to change is my increasing awareness that Sunday morning alone is not enough time to address all that needs to be discussed if we are to effectively respond to the growing Christian Nationalist threat in our country.
The words of one person alone can only do so much; however, through conversation, exploration, and collective study, we can better prepare ourselves to confront the existential challenges of our time. To be clear, proponents of the abductions by Homeland Security, the deployment of the US Military in Los Angeles and now Washington DC, and the genocide in Gaza are using Christian theology to justify their actions. We can no longer pretend not to see what is happening in front of our eyes. It will take a concerted, coordinated effort between our Sunday worship, Christian Education, and small group ministries to equip us to respond to our present reality.
To this end, Pastor Molly, myself, and the entire pastoral staff are in the early stages of reimagining Christian education and small group ministry at our church. We aim to create a new Bible study that will gather in the evenings over Zoom, offering an opportunity to educate and form during the Sanctuary, targeted at those who attend The Loft. Additionally, we plan to work closely with small group leaders to provide guidance for discussions and to offer resources and support. If you have any additional ideas, suggestions, or are interested in helping organize a new educational ministry at our church, please reach out to Pastor Molly or me. We would love to hear from you!
In Love & Solidarity,
Rev. Dr. Carter
Dear Westwood Family,
On the final day of our recent Sierra Service Project trip, the 24 of us (19 youth and 5 adults) made a pilgrimage to the US/Mexico border area. We drove to an area known as Whiskey-8–a large gate in the new 30′ tall border wall, which allows access to the desolate space that exists between the two border walls we have built at our southern border between the San Ysidro port of entry and the Pacific Ocean.
Metal fences were first built on this stretch of the border in the 1990s; after 2006, they were replaced with a taller bollard fence. The first fence follows the straight line of the national border, up over mesas and down into canyons. Now, since 2019, a second fence traces a more level course – this tall, dramatic barrier cuts through hills and over natural valleys, several meters north of the older fence. Between the two fences, a bulldozed flat area is used as an “Open Air Detention Facility;” people presenting themselves at the border to apply for asylum are held here–not technically in the US–until they can be transported elsewhere.
Standing near the border fence, one of our adult leaders, Gaby Worrel, invited us to pay attention to what we saw, felt, heard, smelled, in that place. She invited us to imagine what the land looked like before these walls were built, and before this place was a national border. She told stories of her own growing up in the San Diego area, frequently crossing through the San Ysidro port of entry to spend weekends with her grandma in Ensenada, Mexico. We talked about the Tijuana River estuary, and the environmental impact of our border policies. We consider what we had learned about the Kumeyaay people who long inhabited this area, and are now divided by this impressive wall.
Even with the dramatic border walls that presently mark the land, lots of people pass between the US and Mexico, all the time. In 2023, there were more than 21 million vehicles crossings into the US in San Diego County. Here by this gate, signs now warn people not to get too close to the wall, lest they be detained by Border Patrol agents. At the point where the border wall meets the Pacific Ocean, Friendship Park used to be a place where people could meet up and connect across this boundary; since 2020, the Park that was dedicated to international friendship is totally off limits.
Since our visit, I’ve been sitting with my own experience of that place: of the beautiful birds in the wetland estuary, of the visceral smell of the binational sewage treatment plant, of the way the newest border wall cuts a scar across the natural landscape, of the dehumanizing inhospitality of that space between the fences, of the energy and vitality of cars flying by just across the fence in Mexico.
This year, the Sierra Service Project’s program theme is “Building Bridges.” During our week of service, we were thinking and working for ways to increase connection. At our national border, we have built dividing walls. Up close, they look more like a visual message–a kind of bizarre, imposing border art installation–than they do a practical way of marking a border.
In so many ways and places, it’s tempting to focus our energy on the things that make us distinct–on divisions and boundaries. But, over and over, I keep feeling the pull of Jesus’ gospel toward breaking them down: in Christ we are no longer divided into male/female, into slave/free, into insiders/outsiders.
One of the work projects that my team got to participate in was a collaborative art project, with an organization called Friends of Friendship Park. They are creating giant puppets – an eagle and a condor – to use in a celebration of a Day of International Friendship on August 16, with one bird on each side of the border wall. There’s an ancient story told by indigenous peoples of the Americas about these two birds, one representing the north and one the south. Their reunification, as the story goes, brings about a new era of healing and peace, and of living in harmony between humans and the planet.
It felt really hopeful to participate in an art project that’s helping imagine a different way of engaging our differences. Art, like our prayers and poems and theologies, helps us imagine and believe that a new world is possible. I’m grateful to be a part of that project, that day as we talked and prayed at the border wall, and every day as we seek to live toward greater compassion, justice, and love.
grace and peace,
Pastor Molly
This Sunday we will look at the power of leadership, community, and COURAGE when we study the Book of Esther. Who knows? We all may be asked to be courageous “for such a time as this!” We’ll make “Courage Crafters” in the first hour to hang in our bedrooms to add to whenever we have done something brave. The Westwood Kids Choir will be singing October 6, so we’ll meet in the sanctuary this Sunday at 11:15 to get used to the setting & the piano part.
Last Sunday we learned so much about welcoming others into our community – and even offering them our chairs! We made a mural of people who might need more protection. You can find it in the hall.
Pastor Diana
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| 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 music stopped, we took out a chair, but the person standing without a chair found other people who looked ready to make room for them on their chair. As you can see from the photographs, hilarity ensued.Why would we play this game? How does what we do in children’s ministry echo what we try to do in our entire church? |
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| Later, during story time, we told the scripture from Mark* by using small, plastic figures in modern dress to represent Jesus, his disciples, and children. Then, one by one, our kids brought forward other figures: this one in a wheelchair, this one with a walker, this one with a white cane for their blindness, etc. I asked, “How would you welcome these people to our class?” They had great suggestions. But we didn’t learn yet to ask what the person needed. “And what about the challenges that some children have inside, like neurodivergency or depression or mental illness or bullying?” Again, we forgot to ask what the person needed from us. But the conversation was rich, and we remembered together the game we’d played earlier — of how they welcomed others to share their chair. |
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| Each week, Deanna and I spend time studying, dreaming, creating, preparing, and offering a morning’s plan based on scripture. Why would we care (and sometimes agonize over it)? Wouldn’t it just be easier to offer childcare so the parents can have a break?Our church believes that every child is of sacred worth, and that churches have an opportunity to help raise children to grow in the knowledge and love of God: to learn the traditions, to practice critical reasoning, to grapple with scripture, and to experience first-hand what it means to create a Beloved Community.I personally don’t call children “the future of the church.” They are the church. But I do believe in the future of each child. Last week, a parent of one of our Westwood Kids met with Molly and me to chat about why she’s invested in our children’s ministry program. She brings her child at 9:30am each Sunday to stay until noon. She knows that setting aside time for kids not to be rushed can help them get off the “hurried child” syndrome from the rest of the week. And she is committed to our church’s theology. “I want a community for my kid not like what they see in society – a twisted version of Christianity. I want them to grow their own faith.”We have a choice, my friends. Who are we choosing to be? Just as the kids made room on their chairs for others, what do we want? Can these children become our teachers to see that our choices must be fully accepting of all? This brings me to a final word from Mr. Rogers: “You rarely have time for everything you want in this life, so you need to make choices. And hopefully your choices can come from a deep sense of who you are.”Pastor Diana |
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| * We studied Mark 9:33-37. The disciples had been arguing who was The Best Disciple. Jesus turned to them and said, “So you want first place? Then take the last place. Be the servant of all.” He put a child in the middle of the room.Then, cradling the little one in his arms, he said, “Whoever welcomes one of these children as I do, welcomes me, and far more than me — they welcome God who sent me.”John Wesley’s thinking of the importance in religious life is based on what came to be known as the “quadrilateral”: scripture, tradition, reason, and experience.These highly recommended books came across my desk this week: * Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World by Vivek Murthy, Surgeon General * The Explosive Child: A New Approach for Understanding and Parenting Easily Frustrated by Ross Greene * My Body Is Not a Prayer Request: Disability Justice in the Church by Amy Kenny * Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity by Devon Price
And a wonderful podcast with Dr. Christopher Carter entitled “Creating A Church With & For Families With Disabled Children.” |
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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.
“Lady Wisdom” in the Bible. Who was she? What wise characters do you know in movies, books, and real life? Bobbi Shiflett helped lead a rousing discussion on these various personas for the 1st-3rd grade class, and the pictures each of the classes drew of someone who is wise are hanging in our hallway on the 2nd floor. I love that Arden chose her mom “Carol” by name. We got to burst balloons if we could answer whether a story was wise or not-wise in our community game. Very fun morning. And the community growth and the faith formation are happening!
This Sunday we’ll look at “othering,” centered on Mark 9, where the disciples jostle for being the “GOAT” and Jesus responds with, “Listen. Look at these children that you think should act like little adults but who need protection and nurturing. Focus on them. Focus on people without power.” We’ll play a crazy wonderful & inclusive version of “musical chairs,” make an all-embracing mural in each class, and enjoy ice cream treats at 10:25 before our game, story, and choir. It’s Homecoming Sunday!
Pastor Diana
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 West Los Angeles. It served as a temporary sanctuary for their church campus on Purdue Ave. Soon after, during the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese-American people during WWII, it also provided storage for the personal property of church members; when Japanese-Americans were finally allowed to return to the West Coast, it temporarily sheltered families from their congregation, as well. The church has since built a new sanctuary and other buildings. Still today, that building serves as the Fellowship Hall for the West LA United Methodist Church, a vital and faithful congregation here on the Westside.
The generosity of our congregation made a difference to theirs.
This story runs even deeper, though: we, too, stand on a legacy of generosity that preceded us. In 1926, Methodists in Los Angeles purchased the property that our church now occupies, in hopes of encouraging a new congregation here on Wilshire, near where UCLA was building a campus. Other Christians in the city, including and especially Rev. Elmer Ellsworth Helms, Senior Pastor of the First Methodist Church in downtown LA, gave generously so our first building could be built in 1929. We named it Helms Hall. His son and daughter-in-law, Paul and Pearl Helms (of Helms Bakery fame), would be leaders and generous supporters of the church for years to come.
Through the Great Depression, our congregation outgrew the first building; wood-framed buildings were added as classrooms, in 1930 and 1936. Then, we built our education building (which now houses classrooms like Wesley Room, our Sunday School rooms, and The Loft). My best guess is that when we started using it in January of 1940, we were able to pass along those temporary wood-framed classrooms–and one of them went to West LA UMC.
It’s humbling to imagine the ministry that has been possible because of this chain of generosity. We all stand on the grace of those who wanted us to flourish before we even got started. That grace has provided shelter and enabled hope, and given us a place from which to speak compassion to a world in need.
This Homecoming Sunday, we are excited to welcome folks new and old to our congregation. I feel tremendous honor at getting to share this incredible community with anyone who shows up–as we show and tell about the transformational love of God. As we invite others into our shared legacy of work for compassion and justice.
I hope you will join me in this joy: of inviting and welcoming people into our community.
On Sunday, we have some very special things planned. I get to preach in our Sanctuary gathering, which will feature our Summer Choir and brass ensemble. The Loft gathering will be a gospel concert, featuring the Singers of Soul Gospel Choir, and preaching from Dr. Carter. After each gathering, we will have ice cream treats on the courtyard for fun and fellowship. Plus, there’s Westwood Kids, and the Grapple Group, and a new Wisdom at Westwood class on the Bible.
I encourage you to invite someone new to join us for Homecoming!
grace and peace,
Pastor Molly
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?
Our schedule has changed and we look forward to seeing you each Sunday morning beginning at 9:30 and ending in the Loft at 11:50. During that first hour we get the theme of the day in the sanctuary and then move to our classrooms where we can discuss and question and laugh and make friends. We’ll also have a chance to explore art in response to the theme. Last week was an interesting discussion & art time, even though few children were there. Lauren McBrayer helped guide the 4th and 5th graders into a terrific sharing time. This Sunday we’ll be talking about wisdom as seen in the Wisdom of Solomon and also seen in Calypso from “Bluey” and Jiminy Cricket from “Pinocchio” and Dumbledore from “Harry Potter” and even Yoda! How can we make good decisions? What is wise or not wise? What is a conscience? How do we become wise? We love being with our children and watch them grow in their faith.Pastor Diana
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 of us face challenges that neither my parents nor I faced during my childhood. The question I am left with is, what ought the church do about the challenges families face today? In Christian Ethics, the word “ought” signals moral obligation, and to be sure, I believe we have a moral obligation to attend to the unique challenges families face today.
The US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy has spent the better part of his second stint as surgeon general examining the mental health crisis among children. He was instrumental in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 2022 report highlighting a steep decline in teen mental health, with more than 1 in 3 students feeling persistently sad or hopeless. Mental health outcomes were worse among BIPOC and LGBTQ youth. Moreover, research also shows that nearly half of children with mental health disorders do not receive care due to disparities and a lack of policies and infrastructure that prioritize well-being.
To be sure, parents are stepping up, advocating, and demanding that institutions shift their pedagogical approach and programs to meet children’s current social, emotional, and mental health needs, as well as their intellectual needs. However, this level of vigilance and advocacy has taken a toll on the mental health of parents as well. The cultural assumptions that we should be constantly available to our children or that the parents should be able to “handle” their children on their own, even if they are disabled and/or neurodivergent, are some of the root causes of this mental health crisis. Dr. Murthy has recently issued a public health advisory regarding the serious mental health challenges parents are facing as well. Forty-eight percent of parents feel overwhelmed by stress, and 65% feel lonely and isolated.
Most of the research in the articles linked to this pastoral note references the importance schools and other institutions can play in meeting the needs of children and their parents. So, let’s return to the question that I raised at the beginning of this note – what ought our church do to help meet the needs of the parents within our community? I would love to hear your thoughts and invite you to email me your suggestions! One suggestion I would like to make is that we, as a faith community, work on expanding the notion of parenting beyond the one or two-parent model that American culture has lauded as the ideal since the 1950s. One of the ways that Gabi and I have felt most supported by the community at Westwood is that when I call and ask for help with Isaiah, people show up (you know who you are!), and I cannot express how much just showing up has made our lives easier. We couldn’t be the parents that we are without the additional aunts and uncles that we have at Westwood.
How might we expand this practice of presence within our community? To be sure, I had to get over the idea that we could (or should) do everything on our own. I had to let go of the idea that asking for help meant that I was failing as a parent. Our internalized shame of “needing help” can manifest in how we judge others when they “can’t control their kids” or ask for help. In these moments, we should take a U-turn and tend to the reactive parts inside of us that led to these judgmental feelings because they need to be held in compassionate care. Once they are settled, we will find that our souls are again open for compassionate connections that empower us to build families beyond our genetic kin. The church should help create these communities of care because we already see ourselves as a family within the community of Christ.
May God grant us the strength and courage to help create the community that we need, the community that we long to become. Amen.
In Love and Solidarity,
Rev. Dr. Carter
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!
“Do this and remember me!” we shouted when the plastic grapes landed in our hands. Our Sunday was full of fun and learning. What is grape juice made of? And what do different grapes taste like? How do we remember Jesus in communion? We also loved meeting our new choir director, Ms. Hsin, and taking communion in The Loft.
This Sunday, we’ll ask the differences and similarities in the rich and the poor, as seen in Proverbs 22:2. We’ll watch a four-minute movie from Egypt called “The Other Pair,” play a game of “Streets & Alleys” with the Grapplers, and learn more about how we can share what we have with others who don’t have so much.
Pastor Diana
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.
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 searched for a space that would allow me, my queerness, and God to exist all together in harmony.
Following my time in The Loft, I went on to Queer Group, the Westwood small group for LGBT+ identifying people. Since it’s genesis, Queer Group has become a space that feels deeply sacred to me. I have met truly amazing people and had countless conversations that have both challenged and affirmed me in so many ways.
Several of our members have been cut off by parents, other family members, and past church communities at various times in their lives. Almost all of us have struggled, at one time or another, to find a place for ourselves in communities of faith. Despite this, I am constantly reminded that queer spirituality is defined by so much more than struggle. Every time I am with the members of the group, I am filled with amazement and love for their dedication and resilience, their insistence on searching for a place that would embrace them and welcome them, even when it may have felt impossible.
Lucien (he/they), a trans member of our group, shared that no matter how far he tried to go from the church, the idea of being “made in God’s image” had stayed with him. They were moved to tears as they reflected on the ways that God was taken from them so early on, that they were told “the image of God” had to look a certain way, when in reality God had been with them throughout their journey, and had known them and seen them from the very beginning.
It is something I came to at some point as well, the idea that whoever I was becoming would still fit into God’s image, that God is a presence that goes beyond any boundaries we may try to place around Them or boxes into which we may try to make Them fit. No matter how hard some people may try to convince us that we, too, must fit into certain requirements to earn God’s love and grace, the truth is that, as Lucien said, “God was there all along.”
Their words reminded me of the song we sang at the Reconciling Ministries Convocation in North Carolina, “All Y’all,” which includes the line “God was not surprised when I found a new name/ God is not confused by a pronoun change.” The first time I heard these words, sung by a crowd of people gathered to embrace a more abundant, welcoming truth about God’s love, I was overwhelmed with gratitude and awe.
In both of these moments, I thought about the younger me, the loneliness and isolation I felt when the God I felt and knew seemed to be outside the realm of the God insisted upon in many Christian spaces, when the person I was becoming didn’t seem reconcilable with the image of God described to me all my life. I don’t know what my past self would say if they could see the beautiful spaces and communities of which I am now a part, the conversations I have without shame, and the way I get to exist in spaces that welcome both my spirituality and my queerness without pause.
Despite my own years of exploring Christian spaces, Westwood was the first one where I heard someone say that accepting queer people was not a burden, but rather a gift, something that makes a community stronger, not a weakness for which others must pick up the slack (Thanks, Pastor Molly). I find this to be true generally- that the more people are welcomed and embraced for the entirety of who they are, the more parts of God that community will get to know and witness, leading to a fuller, deeper understanding of who God is and how God’s love can manifest.
What does it mean to believe in a God whose image is expansive enough to include all bodies and identities? A God who is in all people, who loves all people, whose image is seen more fully through embracing the full spectrums of human expression and identity? This Pride Month, I invite you to look both inward and out, to notice the way God shows up through you and through the people around you, even (and especially) when it doesn’t seem abundantly clear. Lean into the light of a limitless creator, big enough to hold and love you in all of your messiness and glory.
Thank you for the space you give me, the light you bring, and for the community we get to build together.
Keep the faith,
Everest
What a glorious morning for Promotion Sunday! Two of our rising 4th graders received their Bibles, and they were thrilled. So are we! We said goodbye to the Jesus Jaguars who will be moving on to the Grapplers.
This Sunday, we look at the Parable of the Mustard Seed, searching for what makes the Kingdom (or Kin-dom or Realm) of God. We’re moving kids around in classrooms and helping them make community in church. Many thanks to Dr. Deanna for carrying on last Sunday while I was sick. I’m much better now and looking forward to watching us try to grow mustard seeds and form our new little classroom communities. Maybe, in due time, we’ll even be able to put the mustard greens in a salad. Think of that!
Pastor Diana
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.
One of the delights of children’s ministry is seeing the physical and spiritual growth of our children. I am thankful for our church whose members light up when children are present. What a gift to them and to all of us to see this warm acceptance and intergenerational love!
Last Sunday, we told the story of young Samuel and old Eli, and the courage it took Samuel to tell the truth. We also played outside and danced a song in choir. Lots of energy and focus helped us to find the quiet center and also the exuberant joy which comes to children as they learn.
This Sunday will be Promotion Sunday. The 4th graders will receive their grown-up Bibles, and we will honor all students who are moving on to a new grade, a new school, or into the work force. Helping us make this transition will be the story of Genesis 3, when God lent a hand to Eve & Adam as they made the transition from the Garden of Eden into life as we know it. The children’s choir will also sing! Don’t miss!
Pastor Diana
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 don’t all line up exactly, but we are certainly in the midst of these weeks of stress and celebration as school years come to an end. I am so proud of our graduates, and all of our students.
I invite you to use this time of transition as an occasion for reflection, wherever you are in life. Perhaps even more than the end of the calendar year, these days are an ideal opportunity for contemplating what has been, and getting ready for what will be–in the shifting schedules of summer and in the year ahead.
Drawing from St. Ignatius’ Examen prayer and the traditions that have used it, I invite you to find time to sit and contemplate, with these prompts as a guide:
- Place yourself in awareness of God’s presence. Give thanks for God’s great love for you.
- Pray for the grace to perceive and understand how God is active in your life.
- This back over this past year — recall specific, significant, memorable moments and your feelings at the time. (If it’s helpful, you might look back through your calendar, or scroll through the photos on your phone. I encourage you to make a list of moments from the year.)
- Reflect on what you did, said, or thought in those moments. Were you drawing closer to God, or further away? Hold gratitude for times you drew near to God, and offer yourself compassion for moments when you drew away.
- Look toward this summer and beyond — think of how you might open yourself to God’s presence and call. Name some ways that you hope to experience grace. End by praying the Lord’s Prayer.
Grace and peace,
Pastor Molly
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.
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 his wife Alfreda, he filled it with beautiful art they collected, and furniture he built. Immediately upon entering, I was overwhelmed with the warmth and energy of their beautiful, handmade space.
I was excited to take the tour, to get a deeper connection to the artist whose worship furniture is now a part of our Sanctuary, on long-term loan from the Claremont School of Theology. I encourage you to take time to see and touch the beautiful altar, cross, and chairs that he built for CST’s Chapel in the 1990s. They are now located in the prayer chapel on the east side of the Sanctuary.
Maloof’s work is hard to describe, in that it’s so beautifully wrought that “furniture” seems insufficient to its artistry. But “woodworker” was what Maloof called himself all through his life, on his business card, when he received a MacArthur “Genius” grant, and when asked, as quoted in his obituary in the LA Times: “’I like the word,’ he once said, his eyes brightening behind large, owl-eyed glass frames. ‘It’s an honest word.’”
I find Maloof’s work both inspiring and comforting: there’s a certain peace that comes through these simple materials that are thoughtfully and carefully crafted into useful objects. Humble. Honest. With integrity, in the sense that the material and the object and the one who uses it are all well integrated. Everything is integral.
This is, for me, an image that speaks to the kind of life of faith I seek to live. One that is simple, but beautiful; elegant, but strong; thoughtful, well-built, and practical. My faith ought to be shaped to my body, and hospitable to others, too.
On the tour, our guide several times asked us to compare chairs Maloof had made early in his career with those made toward the end of his life. He was continuously refining the shapes, so they felt better to sit in, and were more beautiful. Consistently, his work made the joinery a feature–as if he meant you to understand that he had worked on it. I find both of these details reassuring, as I continue to work at my own life. In our Wesleyan tradition, we describe how the grace of God works in us as we are “going on to perfection” in love. I hope that others might be able to trace the evolution of my own practice of living out Christ-like love, as I’ve learned and changed and honed the craft of my faith.
As you reflect on your own practice of faith, I invite you to reflect on how you’ve grown, too. Where are you still working out some things? How can you let your life better reflect divine love?
I am glad to share this work with you.
grace and peace,
Pastor Molly
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.
Pentecost came in with flame stickers and the wind beneath our kites! Many thanks to Stephanie, Christina, and Bridget for assisting us in a great celebration as we ran across the courtyard to the strains of “Let’s Go Fly a Kite.”
This Sunday, we will wonder together about Nicodemus coming to Jesus in the night. Many, many thanks to Dr. Deanna for picking up the slack and creating the morning while Pastor Diana is home in bed with Covid.
Pastor Diana
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 years after the church revoked her credentials as an ordained pastor.
Later that day during worship, Bishop John Schol knelt in front of her, and received a grace-filled blessing from Rev. Stroud.
Earlier this month, when the UMC finally removed the harmful words that have spoken judgement against gay and lesbian people for more than 50 years, and have explicitly banned their ordination for 40 years, I imagined the difference this would make for the generations that will come after us. I am not sure that I dared to believe in the power of God’s Holy Spirit to do the difficult and tender work toward reconciliation even now, with some of those we have caused specific and deep harm.
The image of a Bishop of the church kneeling in a posture that conveys humility and confession is powerful, and needed. That Rev. Stroud was willing to lay hands on him in prayer speaks of such powerful grace and the hope-filled possibility of transformation.
I keep getting surprised and blessed by the power of repentance. Not only in dramatic moments like this one, but in small apologies that lead to forgiveness. I’m coming to learn again and more deeply the power that an apology has, especially in the way that it allows someone who has been harmed to know that they are seen, and worth the work of confession.
I watched scenes from the day, as Rev. Stroud reclaimed her belonging in the clergy community of the Eastern Pennsylvania Annual Conference, in video clips on Facebook and sent from a friend. In one, she put on a red stole–a physical marker of her status as an Elder in the church. The stole said: “Rejoice.”
Rejoice, indeed: at our capacity to practice confession and forgiveness. Rejoice that God is at work in us, drawing us toward the heart-rending work of repentance. Rejoice, because we have seen that God continues to lead us toward liberation, life, and joy.
We have so much work to do, to acknowledge the ways we have participated in harm against one another. So often unintentionally, we continue to do things that repeat painful patterns of abuse, that perpetuate sexism and racism, that further ways of living that harm our planet. We certainly have this work to do in the church, as we reckon with anti-LGBTQ+ legacies and so much more.
For today, I’m heartened by this rich image, which reminds me that this work leads to life. It makes space for blessing. It invites us to rejoice, already.
Grace and peace,
Pastor Molly
Sunday, May 19, 2024Pastor Molly Vetter
On Pentecost, we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit, which not only gives birth to the church but gives us the ability to hear and be heard. This Pentecost, we celebrate how God is still moving in our midst. (We encourage you to wear red or orange, though as always, all colors are always welcome!)
So many thanks to Sarah Wilson, Stephanie Lange, Isabel Kilroe and our wonderful children’s ministry team for covering for Pastor Diana AND for Dr. Deanna! They made flowers and cards for their own moms as well as the young mothers at Harvest Home.
This Sunday for Pentecost, we’ll paint red flames of the Spirit on kites and then go to the parsonage lawn and try to fly them. Should be a great way to celebrate the Church’s birthday when the wind and flames descended on the disciples! See you then!
Dear Westwood Family,
Last week, I attended LA Voice’s leadership assembly and found myself in a crowd of people committed to pursuing justice and equity for their communities, this city, and the world. Sitting in the plaza at Dolores Mission Catholic church, surrounded by people of different faiths, ages, races, and backgrounds, I listened to pastors, rabbis, and people of faith from all over Los Angeles talk about what it means to embrace mutuality and seek justice in the city we all share. I witnessed a community of communities who believe in something bigger than themselves, not only because of the faith traditions they follow, but because of their desire to offer themselves to a cause that goes beyond those traditions and seeks equity, love, and justice for all people.
I often find myself struggling to embrace the “discipline of hope,” as Dr. Carter so wisely calls it, the choice to persist even as the oppression, grief, and pain of the world seems so vast and beyond my individual reach. Amid the existential dread I wade through in day-to-day life, some of the only places I am able to tap into real hope is when I am in spaces like the one in the plaza, places where I am reminded that I am not the only one who witnesses the pain and yet still wants so badly to create a different path forward. I feel a spark when I am in groups of people who are willing to speak honestly about the crises happening around us, who do not simplify or dance around the depth of the struggle, yet still insist on throwing themselves and their hearts into bringing their communities even a little closer to the ever-loving embrace of God’s love.
This past weekend marked one year since the first time I set foot on Westwood’s campus. When I think about the conversations I had over the course of that first weekend, I recall how inspired I was by the way the people here spoke about justice. I saw a place that was not afraid to have the hard conversations, a community with a lot of resources who wanted to put those resources into action. I have heard the same sentiments echoed in many of my conversations since then. I hear people who want to lean into the hardship they witness around them, who want to do something about the injustices they witness both in the city and in the world.
James 2:14-17 says “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” I revisit these verses and this message whenever I find myself struggling with despair. I remind myself what I believe, and I ask myself how I am living out that belief in my everyday life. When I explore the story of Jesus, I find the same message again and again: that all people are deserving and worthy of love, respect, and humanity. To follow the teachings of Jesus is, I believe, to extend grace and compassion to every person I encounter, and to work towards a world that will do the same.
This Sunday, my friend Nona, a representative from LA voice, is coming to facilitate a community organizing training at Westwood. It will be an opportunity for us to explore what our deeds and our collective vision for justice might look like going forward. As I’ve reflected on the last year of my life and work, I feel hopeful about this training, a future partnership with LA Voice, and the ongoing social justice work we will continue to engage in within and beyond the Westwood community.
When I think about and pray for the members of our community and the role we can play, I pray that we put our hearts and faith into building the kind of Los Angeles we say we are in favor of, that we love our neighbors in the way we are called to, that we make the sacrifices and commitments necessary to pursue justice and Christlike love for each other, our neighbors, and the world. I hope to see you on Sunday, to continue putting our faith into the words we speak, the work we do, and the community we build together.
Keep the faith, see you soon,
Everest
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.
Dear Westwood Community,
Last week, at the General Conference of the United Methodist Church, we finally and fully removed anti-LGBTQ+ language and policies from our denominational Book of Discipline. This is a significant shift for the church: when the General Conference last met in 2019, we doubled down on exclusionary policies. But so much has changed, and now we have moved in a new direction. I look forward to further reflection in the future.
For today, I want to honor the part this congregation played in the movement for this holy and needed change in the church. Your clear witness to the Gospel and our voice in speaking up about the dignity, valued, and belovedness of all people, in all our diversities of sexual orientation and gender identity, made a difference. I know that there is still significant work ahead of us, but I also want to celebrate some of the shoulders we stand on:
Westwood UMC is the church of Bishop Mel Wheatley, who was Senior Pastor here from 1954-72. He and his wife Lucille became courageous advocates for inclusion, including through PFLAG, and also in the church. Elected Bishop in 1972, Mel Wheatley stood apart from all the other Bishops in the church, as in 1978 when he wrote an open letter to his colleagues declaring that he did not believe that homosexuality is a sin. He alone refused to sign on to the Episcopal address at General Conference in 1980, demanding that his colleagues acknowledge how their anti-gay words were not spoken unanimously. For the rest of their days, he and Lucille continued to be courageous advocates for inclusion.
At this General Conference, Rev. Frank Wulf was able to cast a vote to repeal the ban on gay clergy; Frank is known and beloved by Westwood UMC as one of the former directors of the Wesley Foundation at UCLA. He has three times faced charges for his identity as a gay man. He first attended GC in 1984, when a ban on gay clergy was introduced. This year, he got to participate in the removal of that ban.
Rev. Dr. Sharon Rhodes-Wickett, when she was Senior Pastor here, took a courageous stand as one of 15 prominent United Methodist pastors who publicly declared their opposition to the ban on same-sex weddings and on gay clergy, following the 1996 General Conference.
While Rev. John Woodall was Senior Pastor here, Westwood UMC opened its sanctuary to same-sex weddings. The first same-sex wedding we hosted celebrated the marriage of one of our pastors, Rev. Greg Norton, to Paul Floyd.
I know there are others, too.
With my pastoral colleagues here, I am so grateful to stand in this lineage of witnesses, each of whom has seen and shown ways that the Holy Spirit pushes us past barriers that others have held.
I know that so many of you, too, have been a part of this long work. I am grateful.
Rachel Gipson of our congregation was there with me in Charlotte, North Carolina for General Conference. She is both a reserve delegate from our Annual Conference, and one of the organizers of volunteer chaplains. On behalf of Resist Harm, and with support from groups like the Reconciling Ministries Network and Affirmation, the Chaplains offered meaningful, caring presence to LGBTQ+ folks and allies. They also, with their presence, remind us of something very important: that we have done harm. Their presence was a gentle reminder that there is work to be done if we are serious about reconciliation.
I look forward to continuing in this work, knowing that there is more to do, and that the work belongs to all of us together. Thank you for being a part of it.
grace and peace,
Pastor Molly
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.
This Sunday, our children will be digging into Psalm 98 and raising their voices to sing a “new song” in praise to God. We will explore making a joyful noise in different ways and make rhythm instruments to remind us to praise God with joy throughout the week.
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!
Dear Westwood Community,
Recently, while getting lunch with one of my dear Westwoodian friends, he asked what I thought about how to hear God over all the noise- of our lives, our screens, this ever-louder city we all share. And truthfully, I think hearing God among the noise is a little like Earth Day in Los Angeles. I have spent my Earth Days in many different places, but never before have I found myself in a city anywhere near as big as this one.
Early white conservationists constructed the idea of an untouched, humanless wilderness as the ideal escape from an increasingly industrialized world. In truth, the “untouched” land they spoke of had been home to communities of indigenous people for thousands of years before their arrival. Colonization introduced the false dichotomy between civilization and nature, the idea of wilderness as something away from the places we do our living.
A while ago, Pastor Molly referred me to The Friends of the LA River, and told me the organization felt very Christlike to her. After all, she observed, everyone wants to be a friend of Yosemite, or Joshua Tree, or any of the other spaces widely deemed worthy of our effort and preservation. But befriending the Los Angeles River feels more like reaching out to someone who doesn’t enjoy the same abundance of support and community.
Ever since reading William Cronon’s “The Trouble with Wilderness,” along with much of Mary Oliver’s body of work, I’ve worked to appreciate the way growth and nature are persistent and present everywhere, not only in the places we’ve constructed to center it. I remind myself that every place on Earth is a place worthy of noticing and holding as sacred. It is easy to think of Los Angeles as a place away from nature, save for the rare park or trash-filled beach. It is easy to overlook the so-called weeds growing on the edges of our sprawling parking lots, the trees and vines on the sides of roads and buildings. It is easy to forget that this land is also a living, breathing part of our planet.
Last week, a member of my family asked me about the balance between humility and pride- of loving herself and acknowledging her own accomplishments without bragging or abandoning humbleness. I returned to a Robin Wall Kimmerer quote from her masterpiece “Braiding Sweetgrass”: “The most important thing each of us can know is our unique gift and how to use it in the world… In order for the whole to flourish, each of us has to be strong in who we are and carry our gifts with conviction, so they can be shared with others.” In the same way that both the Los Angeles River and Yosemite have a place in California’s ecosystems and deserve stewardship, each of us has something to offer, a role to play in the larger communities in which we find ourselves.
I see myself and the people I love constantly comparing themselves to everyone around them, navigating feelings of inadequacy peppered with brief spikes of superiority, as though our own success must come from being somehow “better” than any of our peers, as though any one else’s success is somehow an indication of our own shortcoming. When these thoughts get too loud for me, I try to ground myself in the wisdom of “Braiding Sweetgrass,” that I am a part of something much bigger than myself, a community that extends out in all directions. Too big a dose of self doubt or self assurance lead to the same thing- an inability for me to offer my gifts to the communities I am a part of while leaning on the strength and support they have to share with me.
These things feel connected in my mind: the false hierarchies of places and the care they deserve, of people and the gifts they have to offer, of all that lives and grows. After all, God’s love, Jesus’ ever-open hands, the abundant presence and grace of the Holy Spirit, these are not reserved for the people and places most easily and widely acknowledged as beautiful and worthy. I hear God best when I remember that I and everyone I love are just one part of it all, no more or less valuable than any other. When I remember that all of our gifts bring love and beauty to our communities. When I remember that the Los Angeles River is just as worthy of love and care as the valleys of Yosemite. When I hold myself as a contributing, gifted, beautiful piece of this vast puzzle, just as worthy as any other of my place on this beautiful planet.
Happy Earth Day, keep the Faith,
Everest
We all loved celebrating Earth Day last Sunday! We shared our ideas and plans in doing our part to love and care for the Earth. Playing with our ideas included making “binoculars” to help us focus on specific things of beauty, making little bird feeders with cereal “O’s”, and creating art pieces of our favorite parts of creation, displayed on a giant blue octagon shape. Maybe you will see it in our children’s hallway. Get ready for a special time this next Sunday, because we are going to have a special guest come to read his very own book: Timothy Murphy himself will be our guest storyteller, reading his book JESUS LEARNS TO GLOW! We’ll figure out ways we can do some glowing, too! We hope you can be with us!
Ms. Deanna Edwards
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.
Last Sunday we illustrated Psalm 23. We’ll continue to work on memorizing it. Look for our beautiful watercolors in the hallway! This Sunday is Earth Day. We invite everyone to wear something with birds on it. We’ll be making bird feeders and cardboard “binoculars,” and of course we’ll sing earth songs and remind each other how to protect our precious planet. Don’t miss it!
Pastor Diana
Dear Westwood Family,
Last month, a beautiful, old, big jacaranda tree on my parsonage lawn fell over. I’m not sure exactly what prompted the fall: it happened just before midnight on a still night. Certainly, the soil underneath was saturated with water from recent rains. The whole, big root ball pulled up from the ground, and the tree fell sideways. Thankfully, no one was injured (though our car did meet its end).
Especially in springtime during those 2 pandemic years when our son and I were both home together most all the time, I got in the habit of attentively watching for first signs of this tree’s marvelous purple flowers. Jacaranda Watch, I called it. I will miss that tree.
My friend, Jerry, saw a social media post that I shared about the tree, and asked if he could have a few logs; he’s a wood turner. I left two logs near his brother’s house, which is near a family cabin of ours, and Jerry was able to claim them. Then, this past week, I got an unexpected package in the mail: a beautiful bowl that Jerry made on his lathe, from a piece of our fallen jacaranda tree. (Normally, you’d need to wait much longer for the wood to dry sufficiently for work like this, but he tried out some work-arounds that made this possible much sooner than I’d known possible. He says it’s a practice among wood turners to make a first bowl like this, as a way of honoring the tree.) Jerry’s bowl is pictured here.
I am so grateful for this gift, which helps me remember a specific tree.
I’ve noticed, too, that it’s made me think at least a little bit more about all the other wood that I touch on a daily basis. I know that it, too, came from specific trees, grown in particular places. I have been grateful for the opportunity to appreciate greater value in everyday things, to think of how deeply they connect our world together (even in mass-production systems that so often are disposable).
This weekend we’ll celebrate Earth Day at the church. We honor the deep connection between our love of God and our care for the planet we inhabit. I pray that you will find ways and occasions to notice and receive the incredible wonder around us. Maybe, even, you have a special tree that you can remember, and enjoy.
grace and peace,
Pastor Molly
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.
Dear Westwood Family,
This week, we are finishing up the parent’s reading group that I started a few months ago. We read and discussed Dr. Becky Kennedy’s book, Good Inside: A Guide to Becoming the Parent You Want To Be. As a new parent and the parent of an only child, I relished the opportunity to listen to, learn from, and commiserate with other parents.
Parenting, like so much of contemporary American life, is intense.
One chapter that stuck with me was on the topic of self-care. Dr. Kennedy writes, “In today’s world of intensive parenting, there’s a common misconception that having kids means sacrificing your own identity – that once you’re charged with taking care of young children, you are no longer entitled to take care of yourself. In reality, however, selfless parenting doesn’t help anyone – it doesn’t help the parents, who become depleted and resentful when they give so much of themselves without filling their own cups, and it doesn’t help kids, who absolutely notice their parents depletion and resentment and might feel guilty, anxious, or insecure in response.” As parents, there is so much social pressure to attend every event, read every email, and volunteer for all the activities that it is no wonder that we end up feeling guilty if we don’t think we are giving up “everything” for our children – note that this cultural expectation is worse for mothers than fathers.
As I continued to reflect on my own self-care, I realized that my tendency to “do more” or “work harder” didn’t start with my desire (or the cultural pressure) to be a good parent. Rather, it was an extension of norms that I had lived out for all my adult life. Whether it was American work culture’s rise, grind, and hustle mentality, the social reality that Black people must work twice as hard to get half as far, or my midwestern agrarian sensibilities, I have internalized the belief that being successful means that you don’t really have time for rest. Unless I am on vacation, when I take time to rest or do something that feels like self-care, I question whether or not it is a productive use of my time, or I feel guilty that I am inconveniencing Gabi and Isaiah.
In an ideal world, I would now transition to the part of the pastoral note where I say something like, “This is how I am solving this problem, and here is how you can do it too!” Unfortunately, I am not working in ideals. Rather, this note aims to highlight a problem that I see in our culture writ large and within myself and to invite you to do some self-examination. Those of us committed to social justice and creating the world we want to live in often struggle to balance meeting our needs and tolerating the distress this might cause in others. Dr. Kennedy writes that the only way we can change this pattern is by accepting that we cannot avoid someone else’s inconvenience or distress; “it’s not our job to make sure someone else is happy, and it’s not someone else’s job to cheerlead us as we assert ourselves. “We need cooperation from others, but not approval.” For some of us, seeking cooperation and not approval feels uncomfortable because we have been taught to prioritize and soothe others based on social hierarchies. For us, self-care and community care often begin by unlearning internalized narratives that have taught us to silence our needs.
Personally, two events rattled me to my core and initiated important changes in my life. Consequently, slowly but surely, I have begun to prioritize self-care in a way that feels right for me. The first was a conversation with my sister about my role as a pastor and example at Westwood UMC. She noted that I was being inconsistent in asking you all to prioritize self-care and community care when I was unwilling to do the same for myself. Later that evening, I read Barbara Brown Taylor’s writing on the Sabbath in An Altar in the World, where she points out that the Sabbath is the only day that God designates as holy in the Creation narratives. Indeed, the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord our God; it is the day that God rested. “If God can rest, why can’t you?” my sister asked. That is a good point.
The second happened in mid-December. During my annual exam, I was told that I was still struggling with high blood pressure despite the medication that I had been taking. My reading that day was 167/98… it’s supposed to be around 120/80. My conversation with Gabrielle later that evening brought me to tears. I was on pace to have a heart attack, and this was not fair to her or Isaiah—point number two. Self-care isn’t just about my individual self because we are a part of a constellation of relationships. In this way, taking care of ourselves is one way we actually care for our families and the communities we are connected to.
In closing, it is important to note how self-care is more complex for marginalized persons. My doctor is a woman of color, and she recognizes the social realities of racism and discrimination (i.e., weathering) that impact the physical health of the BIPOC community. So, in addition to increasing my medication and prescribing a second, we discussed what else I could do to reduce my stress. I decided to begin practicing a sabbath day on Friday and start a running program. I have performed averagely at best at meeting both of my goals, but I am still trying. I am running a half-marathon on Saturday to continue to push myself to commit to running as a habit. So, if I look tired and sore on Sunday, know that I am paying the price for self-care.
Peace and Blessings,
Rev. Christopher Carter, Ph.D.
Many thanks to Ms. Deanna and Dr. Carter for their leadership with the children last Sunday while I was away with my clergy women’s covenant group and to see my sister (with an excellent bonus sighting of the eclipse). The children explored the many faces of Jesus through this life, death, and resurrection. Their artwork is glorious.
This Sunday, we’ll SWIM in Psalm 23 by experiencing different translations and different musical settings, including Bobby McFerrin’s, who paraphrased it in honor of his mother. Can’t wait to be with you all!!
Please don’t forget the beach cleanup and the Singers of Soul concert that our dear Everest is planning!
Pastor Diana
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.
Dear Westwood Family,
Happy April! As I’m fairly sure none of you know about me, Easter is my favorite holiday. Partially for the birds and bunnies, partially because I love Spring, but mostly for the story behind it and the reminder it brings me each year as I move through Lent, Holy Week, and the day itself.
The grief of Good Friday, the uncertainty of the following day, and the joy of Easter echo the cycles of resurrection I see in my own life, the times I have been so sure the story was over, that the light had been put out, only for hope to appear where I had seen none before. There is a beauty in this cycle, in the wonder and delight that comes from seeing the butterfly crawling out of its chrysalis, even though a part of us knew it would all along (a metaphor beautifully discussed in Pastor Molly’s sermon).
In Grapple, we spent the Lenten season discussing the story of Simon Peter, circling back again and again to the humanity of him- his doubts, faults, stubbornness, and loyalty. We talked about spiritual imposter syndrome, which Simon Peter seems to suffer from as he questions his own worthiness and deservingness of Jesus’ company and love throughout his various appearances in scripture.
When I think about Peter before and during the time of Jesus’ death, I think of how hopeless he must have felt, what a confirmation it must have been that he was never worthy or deserving of love to begin with, that all was lost and there was nothing he could do. I know that feeling well, and I’m sure you do too. Doubt is often knocking at my door, and it is all too easy to let it in.
This past Sunday, we experienced our own micro-ressurection arc during what will go down as The Delayed Bunny Incident of 2024. There was an expectation of how the morning would go, and those expectations slowly dimmed as the clock ticked on and the bunnies we had been promised were nowhere to be found. Instead of losing hope, however, our community came together, ate tea sandwiches, and folded paper crowns, realizing, just as the disciples surely did, that it was up to us to create something beautiful out of the desolation we faced.
Lucky for us, the extinguished hope of holding bunnies on Easter blossomed into disbelief and then excitement when they finally arrived, and I feel sure that the joy of the children in that moment rivaled that of Simon Peter when he was able to reunite with his dear friend and teacher after a period of such intense doubt, fear, and sadness.
Of course, The Delayed Bunny Incident is only one small example of the resurrections we experience every day- the places where hope, potential, and wonder emerge from brokenness and desolation. In Dr. Carter’s sermon, he spoke about despair and presumption as opposite sides of the same apathy coin. As far as the bunnies go, I think we as a community found a pretty good balance, engaging with our young ones in different ways, offering them crafts and temporary tattoos, all the while keeping an eye on the door, hoping the floppy ears would soon arrive.
The story of Easter tells us that it is not foolish to hold on to hope, that if we only keep moving, surely a new day will dawn. It tells us that not one of us is beyond forgiveness or redemption. It shows us that grace, forgiveness, and redemption are not given based on what you do or don’t do, but rather because you simply are, and that is enough.
May you feel the hope and grace that surrounds us all, this week and always.
Keep the faith,
Everest
Look at these huge smiles of delight in Sunday school! We had a big surprise when Pastor Diana broke the bread and dozens of pink and red hearts fell out. Magnificent! Love, love, love everywhere. What a great way to prepare for our taking communion with Dr. Carter in the Loft. Love just spills out to our entire community and beyond. “You are loved, more than you know. You are a blessing!”
This week we’ll be studying Exodus, remembering the hasty meal the Israelites ate as they were escaping Egypt, and why the story of the Last Supper takes on a special shimmer, remembering Passover and being freed.
Pastor Diana
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…”
Learning to love, in the lyrics of the song, has the power to make things “real.”
I hope you feel at home here at church. Whether it’s a familiar place and a community that’s embedded into memories from all through your life, or whether it’s a place and community you’ve only just found. Even more, I hope that this home can be a place where we all have occasion to be taught more and more about how to love.
Because our community is formed by people who follow Jesus, we’re always trying to figure out how to let compassion, grace, justice, and love shape us. This requires that we welcome strangers, freely offer forgiveness, and serve one another. Because that isn’t always easy, we do this together–and we practice with each other. Our diversities carry rich gifts as we discover “home” together.
If we’re committed to this practice–to trying to live out Jesus-like love–this community can easily feel like home not just for those of us who are already here, but for folks we haven’t yet met.
This Sunday, we’ll celebrate “Homecoming Sunday.” More than a nostalgic celebration of what we’ve already known, I am excited for ways that it will shape us toward a future together. In worship, learning, and at lunch, may we all find ourselves “at home” in a meaningful way.
grace and peace,
Pastor Molly
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.
“This is me, meditating. I like the wind all around me.” You can see the figure by her left thumb. Last Sunday, we danced our prayers, did a scavenger hunt of the worship guide, and made fascinating pictures of what happens in worship. Come by...
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...
Joseph forgave his brothers, and his brothers forgave Joseph. We told stories of forgiveness in our own lives with our younger classes’ puppet shows, and then we got to see the entire story from Genesis with our Jesus Jaguars’ puppet ministry. They even portrayed the...
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...
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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...
PARENTS’ & GRANDPARENT’S LUNCH: • The families whose children will be attending the lunch need to tell their kids to stay in 203 after we end Sunday school at 11:45. They can be picked up in the same place (second floor) at 1:30. • Grapplers...
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Last Sunday, the Pearl of Great Price helped us to learn to search for and treasure God. This Sunday, we return to the Feeding of the 5,000. What miracles do you witness when people learn to share? Dr. Carter will be interviewing Pastor Diana Holbert...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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....
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,...
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...
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...
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...
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,...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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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...
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!
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 will wear something RED for the day, come to hear the Pentecost story, have a great time dancing with lots of red ribbons, eat mini cupcakes (it’s a birthday!), and create something special to take home.
Ms. Deanna
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 to the book of Romans, he experienced his “heart strangely warmed.” He described it in his journal:
“…while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”
In our Wesleyan tradition, grace is foundational to our way of being. Assurance of salvation gives us confidence that we already belong. From this trust in our belonging and belovedness, we are turned outward toward our neighbors and strangers, with compassion and love.
One of the reasons I keep going to worship is to remember this grace; though I believe in grace, I certainly benefit from continuing reminders that our beginning point is God’s deep love for us, and God’s grace that gives all the forgiveness we could need. It’s easy to lose hold of this confidence, when I fail, or when other voices suggest that I’m not enough, for whatever reason.
I also love that, though this is a peculiarly Methodist holiday, its origins depend on a broader Christian movement. At this moment of deep conversion to trust in divine grace, John Wesley was a priest in the Church of England, meeting with Moravians, reading from Luther. This is, for me, a reminder that we have gifts to receive from other traditions; we are just one part in a broader movement of those who seek to follow Christ.
This Aldersgate Day, I encourage you to take a moment to sit with John Wesley’s words. What does it mean, for you, to “trust in Christ,” and to experience assurance in your salvation? What difference does it make for you, and for how you will treat every person you see today?
_______
This Sunday, we are celebrating Confirmation in both of our worship gatherings; this year, a cohort of 11 incredible young people is a part of our Confirmation class. They’ve met for retreats, shared conversation with mentors, and participated in the life of our congregation. I look forward to celebrating them, and their part in our church. I hope you can be there, too.
grace and peace,
Pastor Molly
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.
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 for public worship.
I love that you can still find John Wesley’s “Directions for Singing” at the beginning of the United Methodist Hymnal; written in 1761, they are evidence of why Wesley and his colleagues earned the nickname “Methodists.” They are very specific in their guidance. For example: “III: Sing all. See that you join with the congregation as frequently as you can. Let not a slight degree of weakness or weariness hinder you. If it is a cross to you, take it up, and you will find it a blessing.”
We seldom pick up hymnals in worship these days at Westwood UMC. In The Loft, we worship with a musical repertoire that includes hymns and “secular” music – our worship affirms that such distinctions are artificial, and affirms the presence of the sacred in all aspects of life. Words are shared on our screens, so people can sing along, and the poetry of the songs can deepen the shared theology of the community. In the Sanctuary, we print music into our Worship Guide each Sunday, which both makes it easily accessible, and gives us opportunity to expand our repertoire beyond what’s in our denominational hymnal; we choose music new and old, from ecumenical communities and diverse composers.
Still, our continually-evolving songbooks give form to our faith. They remind us of our rich inheritance from the ancestors who went before us, as well as the legacies of problematic Christian practice and theology we are left to unravel. They give form to beauty and mystery that is deeper than mere words, that is best shared in community. The sing us forward, as we labor to become the church Christ calls us to be.
I think of the poetry of the late Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray, whose groundbreaking legal work laid the foundation for progress in civil rights in the US, and who was the first Black woman to become a priest in the Episcopal Church USA. Verses from her poem, “Dark Testament,” help me understand the urgency John Wesley have been trying to express in those “Directions for Singing”:
Hope is a song in a weary throat.
Give me a song of hope
And a world where I can sing it.
Give me a song of faith
And a people to believe in it.
This Sunday, in our worship, I encourage you to sing “with good courage” (to borrow more directions for Wesley).
Also, I want to be sure you know that this week, in the Sanctuary, our worship will be shaped around some particularly beautiful music: in addition to hymns and organ music, the choir and an orchestra will lead us in an Ascension Day cantata by J.S. Bach, as well as an emotional anthem by Gerald Finzi. I’m grateful to Andrew Schultz and our Sanctuary Music program for making this gift.
As always, also, The Loft band will lead incredible music to give form to our worship. I continue to be grateful to Julia Black for her leadership in music and worship for the Loft gathering.
grace and peace,
Molly
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 the story of Jesus when he tells his disciples, “I am going away now, but I will always be with you in a different way. Look for me – in the words of sacred stories, in meals you share, and in each other.” The beautiful book Wherever You Are, God Is There will also give us some great ideas to think about together. We hope everyone will enjoy creating something about this to share.
Ms. Deanna
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.
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 choir will be singing on Mother’s Day. Please have your child in the Narthex at 9:25 so they’ll be able to participate.
Family camp was full of hilarious goofballs and serious discussions about what is God like. Sunday morning was full of interpreting the nature of God by making collages and reading the fabulous book Maybe God Is Like That, Too? I will miss you all for the next three weeks. I’ll be with my sisters and our husbands in Italy. Be safe. Be happy. And shine the light of God into every cranny!
This next Sunday we will be learning about a conversation Jesus had with Peter. He asked “Do you love me?” several times, and we will learn that Peter said “YES!” We will be wondering about ways we can say YES to this question, too, and sharing our ideas of how to show love like Jesus . Since it will be Mother’s Day, we will also enjoy making some “love coupons” for our Mothers or Grandmothers.
Ms. Deanna
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 we’re meant to proclaim. But it’s always there, woven into the scriptures we read and the songs we sing: an invitation to choose to practice love, offer grace, and trust in our belonging.
We can find these things in other places, too. I am often reminded of them by my favorite artists. This week, for me, it’s been in the music of Brandi Carlile, who’s song, “Stay Gentle” is a needed reminder to refuse to grow callous or rigid, even in the face of violence, hatred, and oppression. She sings: “Know to find joy in the darkness is wise / Although they will think you don’t understand.”
Choosing to live with hope comes with the risk of looking naive, or poorly informed. But the central story of our gospel is otherwise: Jesus endures violent evil–even in his death on a cross–while still persisting in offering forgiveness, and generously inviting others to participate in his kingdom. After his resurrection, he cooks breakfast on the seashore for his disciplines, appears inside the locked rooms where they’ve sought refuge, and invites them to touch, see, and know his living presence.
Persisting in open-hearted living requires not only our own individual understanding–it demands our participation in communities of hope. We can’t experience love in isolation. Our healing and our holiness are collective experiences, fully realized only in community with others.
Which, again, is one of the reasons I depend on the community of the church. Most every week, in our shared life together, I see acts of radical compassion, evidence of persistent joy, signs of gracious healing, and a witness of deep love. May you see and experience this, too, and may it allow you to stay gentle, and embody grace.
grace and peace,
Pastor Molly
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.
“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 had in common. Gratitude and delight filled our Story Room last Sunday! In addition, every project/response we made to this ancient story was to be done in partners. I loved witnessing how they negotiated coloring the same page or mural. Cooperation, sharing, and love filled each classroom.
This Sunday we’ll be studying John 14:1-14, trying on the idea of how we can see the face of God – not just in Jesus but in everyone that helps instead of hurts. We will miss those who will be away on the family camp-out (although I’m delighted I get to spend Friday and Saturday with you), and we look forward to all the kids who will search for God in contemporary guises. Maybe God is like that, too!
DATES for your CALENDAR:
June 11: Promotion Sunday and presentation of 4th grade Bibles; blessings for the rising 6th graders before they go to Grapple; AND Vacation Bible School starts: Building a Community of God”
June 18: Move to new classrooms for K, 4th & 6th graders + the second week of VBS
June 18: VBS
June 25: VBS
July 2: VBS
July 9: VBS
VBS will be from 9:30-11:45 each Sunday. Over the five Sundays, we will create together a tiny city! Please save your cardboard that has no writing on it.
Pastor Diana
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 morning, as Pastor Diana told me how the kids took turns choosing a new toy to take home. With each toy that was picked, the person who’d brought it to the swap was invited to tell its new recipient, “I give this to you in love.”
What a beautiful experience! I’m so glad for the ways our Children’s Ministry creates loving spaces for our young people to learn how to give and how to receive–how to be a part of a generous and joyous community together.
Giving and receiving are both such important parts of our practice of living. Both are a gift, and both require some amount of humility.
I’ve been thinking of this, in part, because there are times when I still find it hard to receive gifts, and times when I struggle to give with a generous heart. I was raised to value self-sufficiency, and take pride in “pulling my own weight.” Though I’ve gotten much better at receiving care, there are times when it feels threatening to my pride and uncomfortable to my sense of self. And, there are times when I’m not sure I’m ready to share–when I want to control what happens to a gift after I give it, or when I question whether someone else will really be helped by what I have to offer.
Then, other times, I’m moved to tears by the generosity I get to catch sight of in our community–by gifts that surprise me with their timing, their graciousness, their delight. It is such a gift to be a part of a community that practices generous giving and gracious receiving.
After all, we humans all need to receive care, and to give care.
I think of the many care-givers, both professional and volunteer, who contribute to our church life and the lives of our congregation. So much is made possible because of family members, neighbors, and care-workers who help tend to our human needs. For our children who need daycare, for our aging parents who need assistance, for friends who just had surgery and need help for a time, we depend on care-givers to help get us through. I am so grateful for such labor.
Ai-jen Poo, President and co-founder of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, is one person who is working not only to improve the working conditions and treatment of care-workers, but to change how we think about care-giving. She writes: “We need to collectively support the idea that care is valuable, that care is a shared need, and that we deserve to be supported in the care of our families, instead of feeling like a constant failure because we can’t afford it, or manage it, or find the right care.”
Care IS valuable. Sharing is a blessing. It is a gift to give and receive in community together. May you know such blessings today and always.
grace and peace,
Pastor Molly
Sunday, April 30, 2023
Rev. Molly Vetter
.
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.
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 to do this is to have a Toy Swap! Instead of emptying out your toy box to share, please have your child bring one (or two in case another child forgets!) nice toys to swap/share with another child. And books of any number are always welcome.
Last Sunday we listened to the story of the Road to Emmaus and shared bread together, a sacred act. We also had great fun with our games at 10:10-10:30. And choir was especially wonderful. Come at 9:30, y’all, and stay for the whole shebang. It’s super!
Pastor Diana
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 — surprisingly inspiring.
I am hungry to connect more to the people and places involved in growing and raising the food that is my (literal) daily bread. It feels good to know that food comes from actual places. Even the food that comes to me by way of the grocery store was grown somewhere, by someone.
One of my favorite writers, Wendell Berry, holds together the role of farmer and poet; his work sings with practical theological insight that connects food and faith. With the appreciative knowledge that having tended fields gives, he invites us to claim the responsibility that comes with eating. He challenges us to be worthy of the food we eat. That is, to recognize that we depend on things outside ourselves.
No matter how much we believe we stand on our own two feet, we depend also on things outside ourselves. As a Christian, I acknowledge that this is true for both my physical body, and my spiritual life. I depend on food I have not produced, and also on a grace that is beyond me.
So, today I offer this short prayer, written by Wendell Berry. Though written by a meat-eater, I hope this devotional invitation might be relevant for us all:
I have taken in the light
that quickened eye and leaf.
May my brain be bright with praise
of what I eat, in the brief blaze
of motion and of thought.
May I be worthy of my meat.
(“Prayer After Eating”, by Wendell Berry)
grace and peace,
Pastor Molly
Sunday, April 23, 2023
Rev. Molly Vetter
.
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.
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 resurrection. We’ll even have bread! Will we know Jesus by taking bread, blessing it and breaking it? Be sure and let me know if we should have any gluten free bread. See you then, my little pals!
Last week we had a ball making scared faces and happy faces after we heard the story of the frightened disciples, behind locked doors, wondering what on earth they should do now that Jesus was gone. Ask your kids what the balloons were for!
Pastor Diana
Dear Westwood Church family,
Last Sunday in the Loft, our band led us in singing words written by St. Francis of Assisi, from the familiar hymn, “All Creatures of our God and King.” It’s wild to think that these beautiful, poetic words are more than 800 years old–they describe how we join the sun and moon, the wind and the stars, in giving praise to God.
This weekend is Earth Day–the 53rd anniversary of a holiday aimed at directing our attention to the beautiful, fragile planet we share.
I love imagining St. Francis in those early years of the 13th century, looking up at the night sky from his cottage at St. Damiano monastery, just outside of Assisi, Italy. Writing in the Umbrian dialect, he used the Italian language of his community to describe kinship with all creation, including his “brother sun” and “sister moon.”
It wasn’t until the 1940’s that humans were able to switch perspectives, and take photographs of the earth from space – and it was in 1972 (two years after that first Earth Day celebration!) that the astronauts on Apollo 17 gave us the now-iconic image of the “blue marble” planet we inhabit. Some of you remember these moments, and have first-hand understanding of how they shifted our thinking, and focused our view back onto ourselves.
When Francis wrote his Canticle of the Sun, I wonder, was it unusual to see the connections between humans and the rest of creation?
I have been thinking of the challenges we were beginning to understand in 1970–after Los Angeles had begun to reckon with smog and regulate emissions, but just before the EPA existed. We could already see the health consequences of auto emissions, but did not yet know the devastating impact that the carbon we were releasing would have on our whole planet.
Science continues to give us more sophisticated ways to describe our connection to one another, and to all creation; it is helping us understand the deadly consequences of our consumption of resources. It helps us see the impact we have–how our actions (or inaction) here affect others who are far from our immediate view. It is helping us imagine and work for ways we might alter our actions, for the sake of the well-being of our planetary system.
This Earth Day, I invite you to join me in practicing kinship with our planet. Go outside, and put your hands or your feet onto the earth. (You can choose where: in the grass, in the soil, in water.) Take a deep breath, and hold space for silence and wonder. Listen, in hopes of hearing our otherwise sensing the connection that Francis named so many centuries ago: that we creatures belong together.
If it’s helpful, you can sing St. Francis’ hymn, too.
grace and peace,
Pastor Molly
Sunday, April 16, 2023
Rev. Molly Vetter
.
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.
This week, our Note from the Pastor comes from Pastor Diana Holbert. Rev. Dr. Holbert is an ordained elder in the UMC, who led congregations in the Dallas area before retiring to LA. Lucky for us, her commitment to ministry with children drew her out of retirement and back into leadership in our congregation. This week, she offers insights for us all about how to help our children thrive.
Dear Westwood Church family,
As a child, I was raised in the milieu of Dr. Spock’s Baby and Child Care which promoted nurturing in a “benign neglect” manner. My children were four and seven years old when The Hurried Child was published. Its premise was to stop pushing our children to be the best. Consequently, teachers were told to give everyone a ribbon for at least trying, so that everyone would feel special. A year later, Parent Effectiveness Training made the rounds by promoting love, limits, and consistency. When our daughter was in her teens, enmeshed in a culture that was toxic to adolescents, she attended a course that I led on Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls.
We parents have received good help along the way.
But not until Dr. Lisa Miller’s The Spiritual Child: The New Science on Parenting for Health and Lifelong Thriving came across my desk did I find something that spoke directly to what I’ve been trying to do all my life: help children flourish spiritually.
Lisa Miller is a trained scientist and the director of the Clinical Psychology Program at Columbia University. Her message is to help us fortify our children to mature as spiritual beings. Miller makes the claim that we are all born as innately spiritual beings. If the grownups around a child nourish this by talking about spiritual things with them, children will be socialized into seeing the world as welcoming and meaningful.
“Spirituality is an inner sense of relationship to a high power that is loving and guiding. The word we give to this higher power might be God, nature, spirit, the universe, the creator, or other words that represent a divine presence. But the important point is that spirituality encompasses our relationship and dialogue with this higher presence.” (Page 25)
For a quick overview of Miller’s thoughts, you may want to watch these seventeen minutes of a talk she made at the “Festival of Faiths” in May 2019.
Science, according to Miller, tells us that a child is one-third innately spiritual and two-thirds socialized to being spiritual. That is, we are all born spiritual, but as parents, grandparents, foster parents, and child/youth workers, our impact on these children is huge. How we live our lives beside our children determines how our children will thrive. She speaks, “Will they look [at the world] with an open heart onto a foundationally spiritual world or will they feel isolated and separated in a meaningless universe?” (from her video)
“Our parenting choices in their first two decades radically affect our children’s spiritual development in ways that last their entire lives. Natural spirituality in fact, appears to be the single most significant factor in children’s health and their ability to thrive.” (Page 6)
Children desperately need to talk to someone about their spiritual experiences.
As the Pastor of Children & Families at our church, I listen to our little ones very carefully during our sacred conversations. This is a task I totally love: to see what is innately spiritual in their words and how the biblical stories help put words and images to that sacred “holy of holies” within each child. My children’s ministry team and I have these precious ones only for the first decade of their lives, but Westwood UMC is dedicated to the spiritual formation of all children and of youth. Miller writes, “Without supported and guided spiritual awakening in adolescence, our teens are left to fend for themselves. The cost is high.” (Page 71)
An Activity to Develop and Put Words to SpiritualityAn example of one of Miller’s suggestions (page 145) is to create a map of your family’s “Field of Love,” the family connections that encourage spirituality.
With your child, make a list of people and animals that support and have supported your child. Parents, siblings, aunts & uncles, grandparents, teachers, preachers, creatures. Try to remember events that happened with each individual and how your child feels about each person/animal. Perhaps some of them have died, but you can make the claim that they loved your child even before they were born.
This “Field of Love” can be a nightly bedtime ritual or a one-time activity to do as you wind the day down. Once the people/animals/natural sights have been written down, why not draw pictures to illustrated them? Then put it on their wall.
We all need reminders that we have a community of saints surrounding us as we take each step through our lives. And that God is with us. We are not alone. Thanks be to God. And thanks be to grownups who care.
Breathe peace,
Pastor Diana Holbert
P.S. Ms. Deanna and I are in a bookclub of two as we discuss The Spiritual Child together! Let us know if you want to talk, too.
Sunday, April 9, 2023
Rev. Molly Vetter
.
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.
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 Scavenger Hunt that the Grapplers are helping to design. DON’T FORGET to bring your coins in your collection jars!
So here’s the order for Easter:
- At 9:00 families may gather for worship in the Sanctuary. Each child will receive a bag of activities, and Pastor Diana will offer the Children’s Time (no children’s choir).
- At 10:00 on the courtyard we’ll have our Easter Tea Party & Brunch.
- At 10:20 we’ll gather families on the upper courtyard for the Annual Easter Scavenger Hunt!
- At 10:50 Kids’ choir will rehearsal in room 108.
- At 11:00 families may worship together in the Sanctuary or the Loft, with the Westwood Kids Choir singing and playing instruments in both: first in the sanctuary, followed by the Loft. (We hope some parents will be willing to take the Orff instruments from the Sanctuary to the Loft!)
- Children will then stay with their parents or be guided back to the sanctuary and those families.
Can’t wait to be with you all!
Pastor Diana
Dear Westwood Church family,
I am excited to invite you to participate in our Easter celebrations this year; this is such a meaningful time to experience the grace-filled hope of our faith, as a community.
It’s such a gift to gather together, to claim hope and embody compassion. When we sing “Hallelujah” on Easter morning, it gives voice to a joy we need to believe in. In The Loft with a gospel choir, or in The Sanctuary with trumpets and timpani, our worship on Easter takes us to a next level; the wonder of resurrection startles us with a love that’s deeper and wider than we have dared to imagine.
I think of Mary, who comes to Jesus’ tomb on Easter morning; in John’s gospel, she talks to Jesus without recognizing him. “Who are you looking for?” he asks, his teasing question giving us a chance to see how impossibly, beautifully wild the Easter miracle is. As we read the story all these centuries later, the question remains: What are we looking for? Have we recognized God’s presence when it’s standing right in front of us?
I want to invite you to be a part of these questions this year – I invite you to claim your belonging in our community of faith as we celebrate and marvel at the gift of resurrection hope. I encourage you also to extend an invitation to someone else. I believe that we have something incredible to share with the world.
We also invite you to consider making a special Easter Offering through the church this year. Like last year, we will use this offering to support others in need in our community. This Offering will go to support the Echo Park Immigration Center at Echo Park UMC, and our Good Samaritan Fund, which provides direct assistance to people in need. You can use the enclosed envelope, or give online to the Easter Offering (www.westwoodumc.org/give).
May the gift of resurrection be yours this Easter.
Pastor Molly
Sunday, April 2, 2023
Rev. Dr. Christopher Carter & Rev. Molly Vetter
.
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.
The prophet Micah describes a vision for peace with compelling details: then, we will sit under our vines and fig trees, unafraid. We will know security and taste its sweetness. In preparation for that hopeful moment, the people of the world will “beat swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks” (Micah 4:3). Then, the nations of the world will stop learning war.
I’m struck by the dissonance between this vision of peace and our present moment, as I sit with the heart-wrenching news of another school shooting, this time in Nashville, Tennessee. I feel desolate, and angry, and worn down at our apparent unwillingness to change policies and practices that would reduce gun violence in our nation. I cannot understand why we will not take action to protect the safety of our schoolchildren.
Micah’s vision, after all, required the participation of the people: it was the people who beat those weapons into farming tools. It was the nations who choose to dismantle the arms.
Our United Methodist Church has articulated a theology that requires us to stand against gun violence: “Whether it happens in the towns of northeastern Nigeria, a suburb in the United States, the streets of Australia, or an office in France, gun violence has become an all-too-often frightening phenomenon. We need the reality of Micah’s vision [of peace] more than ever.” (“Our Call to End Gun Violence,” 2016 Book of Resolutions, #3428)
As Christians, we are called to pray and lament with those who mourn, and we are called to speak up for laws to prevent or reduce gun violence. Along with many organizations that are working for reform, I encourage you to use your voice as a person of faith to speak up and speak out. One easy way is to use this online tool to send a letter to elected officials to advocate for change.
As we prepare to celebrate Palm Sunday this weekend, we are reminded by the stories of Holy Week of the depth and strength of Christ’s call to love; our God engages the world not with fear, but with courageous compassion. As we move into this meaningful time, may we bring commitment to action for the sake of peace.
grace and peace,
Pastor Molly
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 in their pews while we have our Children’s Time.
Later, after choir & games, the children will parade through the Loft at 10:45. In our Story Time, Ms. Deanna will present the Godly Play story of following Jesus into Jerusalem. Our response to this sacred story will be to design a sandal to take home so that we remember the day and prepare for Holy Week as we learn to follow in the footsteps of Jesus.
Thanks to Carol Chan for her loving assistance last Sunday as our parent volunteer! In game time we tied ourselves into knots and then played “Emotions Charades.” I was fascinated to hear one of the children say, “I can act out angry, but I don’t know how to act out lonely!” Our story of the Raising of Lazarus helped us to understand that even Jesus had big feelings.
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 be unburied and we can go as families through an Easter Egg Scavenger Hunt that the Grapplers are helping to design.
So here’s the order for Easter:
- At 9:00 families may gather for worship in the Sanctuary. Each child will receive a bag of activities, and Pastor Diana will offer the Children’s Time (no children’s choir).
- At 10:00 on the courtyard we’ll have our Easter Tea Party & Brunch.
- At 10:20 we’ll gather families on the upper courtyard for the Annual Easter Scavenger Hunt!
- At 10:50 Kids’ choir will rehearsal in room 108.
- At 11:00 families may worship together in the Sanctuary or the Loft, with the Westwood Kids Choir singing and playing instruments in both: first in the sanctuary, followed by the Loft. (We hope some parents will be willing to take the Orff instruments from the Sanctuary to the Loft!)
- Children will then stay with their parents or be guided back to the sanctuary and those families.
And for the SUMMER:
The Cal-Pac Conference offers wonderful choices for children to be away from home in the atmosphere of God’s outdoors and excellent programming. One of our families has already signed up for Camp Lazy W. Church camp has helped develop the faith of thousands of children throughout the years. Take a look!
Pastor Diana
Sunday, March 26, 2023
Rev. Molly Vetter
.
Even in the very midst of death, our God brings us hope that claims possibility in every new moment.
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 connection with the Living Waters that Jesus offered to the Samaritan woman that we had studied the week before. Well done, careful listeners. Our theology and biblical backgrounds are growing Sunday by Sunday.
The children made stained glass “windows” to show that the light God shines on us is beautiful, just like the light that Jesus shone on the man born blind. We ended our sacred story time with this prayer, and we encourage you to use it at home. “Dear God, help us to see others like Jesus did: with love & kindness, to see and then to bring healing. Amen.” Thank you, Gabriela Worrel, for being our parent volunteer! Oh, my, did we need your smile, you’re telling us about running a marathon, and your help in getting that pesky masking tape off our “windows”!
This Sunday we will discuss BIG FEELINGS. Do you know that in the story of the raising of Lazarus (John 11:1-45) three people wept? And one of them was Jesus. This story helps our younger ones to know that Jesus cares about feelings: our own and others’. And for the older children, we will discuss how this prefigures the resurrection of Jesus, keeping our awe as we learn more about the mysterious healing power that Jesus displayed. We’ll consider the deep theological conundrum about the healing power we may have in the name of Jesus, even if a person doesn’t get better. Your children are learning so much by asking questions and wondering!
Pastor Diana
This week, the Los Angeles Unified School District has closed our schools for three days; a strike by the lowest-paid school workers, and supported by our teachers’ union, left the school district unable to open safely.
With the schools closed, I’m grateful that my twelve-year-old is old enough to care for himself during the day, and that my job is flexible enough that I can check in on him; I know that for other families, this school closure creates significant challenges. The LA Times reports that more that 80% of LAUSD students live at or below the federal poverty line; families depend on our schools for free school lunches, as well as childcare while parents work away from the home.
This school closure reveals so many things that are wrong: the number of families living in poverty, the level of food insecurity in our community, the low wages of essential workers in our schools. These things matter to us, as followers of Christ. Our denomination has, since 1908, named worker justice and a living wage as priorities for our faith. Our current statement in the United Methodist Book of Resolutions describes a theological basis for this advocacy:
“Human beings, created in the image of God, have an innate dignity (Genesis 1:27). Commanding human beings to farm and take care of the earth, God granted dignity to the work of human hands (Genesis 1:28, 2:15). Work remains a means of stewardship and God-given creativity.
“Throughout Scripture, God orders life together based on right relationships, shared resources, and economic justice. In the very act of creation, God demonstrates time for work and rest. The Hebrew prophets decry the growing disparities of wealth and poverty. The Book of Acts describes an early Christian community that shared its goods with one another. The basic principles are clear: All human beings should be treated with respect and dignity. Thus, those who work should earn wages that sustain themselves and their families. Employers have a particular responsibility to treat workers fairly and empower them to organize to improve conditions.” (From “Rights of Workers,” 2016 Book of Resolutions, #4135)
This commitment to worker justice is grounded in our understanding that humans bear the image of God. This is the same conviction that also grounds our commitment to overcoming exclusion and marginalization of LGBTQ+ siblings, racism, and sexism. These commitments are knit together into the fabric of our faith, and the core convictions of our identity as children of God and followers of Christ.
May we all find ways of speaking and standing up for the dignity of our neighbors, and living out our faith as individuals, as a congregation, and as Los Angeles.
grace and peace,
Pastor Molly
This week, Claremont School of Theology finalized and announced their plan to relocate to our campus this summer. I am excited that this news is now public, and glad for the possibilities it opens up for our congregation and the school. I wanted to share with you the announcement that they sent to the CST community:
Claremont School of Theology (CST) announced today that for the first time in 66 years it will be relocating this summer to Los Angeles, CA. In existence since 1885, CST will be located at Westwood United Methodist Church.
CST, a leading theological school in the West, has been in Claremont, CA, since 1957. It was previously located on the campus at the then Methodist-affiliated University of Southern California (USC) before moving to Claremont. The school will continue to offer all its current degree programs at its new location, strategically located within walking distance from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and a short distance from USC. The name of the school will remain Claremont School of Theology.
“We are beginning to reimagine CST around our signature values of ‘Compassion, Justice, and Belonging’ by expanding upon our recognized distance learning excellence and transformative in-person hybrid experiences, allowing for increased flexibility and accessibility as a global community of learners. CST will be expanding both its in-person and 100% online programs,” said Bishop Grant Hagiya, President ad interim. “We see Westwood as a strategic move that allows us to begin to retire debt, expand our online digital offerings, and continue to reach toward our 150th year.”
“In this season of radical transformation across theological education, CST’s Board of Trustees, along with our faculty, staff, and students, have remained focused on our mission,” said board chair, Rev. Patricia Farris. “The extensive facilities of our beloved campus in Claremont are no longer necessary for that mission. Resources formerly dedicated to maintenance and upkeep can now be shifted to support the teaching and mentoring of new generations of pastors, chaplains, leaders of non-profits, and community-builders.
“Our new partnership with Westwood UMC maximizes their facilities and opens new partnerships with other educational institutions and faith communities across the greater Los Angeles area. I am grateful to the Westwood congregation for sharing the vision in new, innovative, and deeply faithful configurations,” Farris said.
The relocation to Los Angeles will deepen the school’s mission and emphasis on both in-person and distance learning and will ultimately fold into a strategic plan with renewed focus on the principles of Compassion, Justice, and Belonging. The plan is in the early stages and is currently labeled “Claremont 2.0.” The plan will expand the range and quality of its programs and community partnerships. The school has also launched a new website design today, CST.edu, that will more deeply share its progressive core values.
The school has been working diligently for its mission to continue since trying to restructure its finances and exploring a merger with Willamette University in Salem, Oregon in 2016. Those plans were halted because of a now nearly 10-year court battle with The Claremont Colleges, Inc. (TCC). TCC cited a 1957 agreement that stated that if the school sold its Claremont campus, TCC would have the opportunity to purchase the property for pennies on the dollar. Based on an early 1980’s California law, CST believed this 1957 restriction was no longer applicable. The disagreement on the interpretation and validity of the 1957 agreement and formula is what initiated the legal battle between CST and TCC.
The amount TCC is required to pay CST for the campus is at the heart of the litigation, and now both parties have entered arbitration which is expected to be completed later this year.
Dr. Hagiya also stated that, “students choose CST because of its commitment to the global church, to interreligious engagement, and to rigorous, life-giving approaches to theology, spiritual formation, and the life of vital faith communities. We believe that Westwood is the perfect location to carry out that unique approach to theological education,” he said.
“Westwood UMC is pleased to welcome CST, and proud to be able to use our beautiful campus in a location in Los Angeles as a home for progressive theological education,” said Rev Molly Vetter, pastor of Westwood UMC and graduate of CST. “The congregation has a deep commitment to theological inquiry and a long legacy of partnership in interfaith work and justice-seeking that are a natural fit with CST’s commitments. We look forward to ways that CST’s presence will contribute to our congregation’s practice of justice and compassion,” said Rev Vetter. “The school will have exclusive and shared use of two wings of our large church campus. This is an exciting time for the congregation, and we are confident CST will be a beacon of theological education in the Los Angeles area,” Vetter said.
CST’s leadership is working with apartment property managers and owners surrounding Westwood, including housing executives who are members of the Westwood UMC congregation, and is identifying affordable housing options that the school will subsidize for CST students currently living on its campus. Beyond subsidizing the cost of housing for its current students living in offered Westwood area apartments, CST will also be paying their moving costs.
“This is the exciting conclusion to a long process to find the perfect location for such a vital institution like CST,” stated Dr. Jeffrey Kuan, the school’s president who is currently on sabbatical leave. “We are eager to be in a location that will enable us to continue our mission.
“There has been a sea change in theological education the last two decades, and the COVID pandemic has confirmed for us that we do not need a 16-acre campus to teach and train our future leaders,” said Kuan. “Yes, leaving our large Claremont campus will be difficult, but it has become a burden for our future success,” the president said.
CST’s transition to Los Angeles will occur this summer.
grace and peace,
Pastor Molly
Sunday, March 19, 2023
Rev. Molly Vetter
.
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
.
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
.
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
.
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, November 27, 2022
Rev. Molly Vetter
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As we begin Advent this year, our scripture starts in the first verses of Matthew–with a genealogy that traces the generations that connect Joseph all the way back to Abraham. It may seem like an odd, tedious choice for the opening lines of the story of the good news of Jesus Christ. But there it is: a family tree, rooting Jesus’ family in a story of God that began long before his birth in Bethlehem. In 2022, as we enter into our own re-telling of the stories of Christmas, our scriptural traditions are woven into a broader fabric of stories that belong to our families and our church traditions. As we start this season of Advent this year, we connect these stories–and let them point us in the direction of hope.
**Sunday, February 20, 2021
Rev. Dr. Christopher Carter**
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The Beatitudes are among the most well known verses within the biblical text. The notion that the poor, the merciful, and the peacemakers will be blessed is an appealing message. And yet, it is worth asking how serious Christians take these exhortations from Jesus. Do we really believe that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled? And if we do believe it, how might we develop the courage to stand up for our convictions so that our thirst for righteousness, for justice will be filled, even when the odds seem impossible? As Jesus states in his sermon, doing this will likely require us to get a little salty with authority.
**Sunday, February 13, 2021
Rev. Molly Vetter**
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In Luke’s gospel, Jesus preaches to the people about both blessings and woes; he has words of hope and words of caution. All of them point to his deep love of the world, and how much this world matters to God.
**Sunday, February 6, 2021
Rev. Molly Vetter**
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What does it mean to “hold firmly” to faith in a time of incredible change? In our scripture passage from 1 Corinthians, Paul gives instruction to hold the Gospel message firmly, but also describes the power of divine grace to work change. Far from a rigid set of doctrines, the Gospel is an invitation to transformation. If it could make a difference for Paul, what difference does it make for us, today?
**Sunday, January 30, 2021
Rev. Molly Vetter**
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Sundays readings included the beloved 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians. Frequently read at weddings and funerals, these words are woven into the fabric of important moments of life and community. They speak insightfully about love, its depth, and what it requires.
**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.