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Westminster World
| April 2012
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To Experience God's Love
 As we prepare for Palm Sunday, Holy Week and Easter Sunday, I invite you to join us for all our worship services as an opportunity to grow in faith and spirituality. From my own personal experience I know that the Easter events are much more meaningful if you travel within community with Jesus through Holy Week to Easter morning. To this extent I am sharing a short devotion with you that Beth once wrote for Holy Week. "When I was growing up, Protestant churches didn't much observe Holy Week....at least not that I remember. Easter of course was one of the biggest church days of the year, but I find Easter Sunday cannot be fully appreciated without living with the events that lead up to Christ's resurrection. When I went to work at Wesley United Methodist Church as their program director, I was given the opportunity to celebrate not only Palm Sunday, but also to walk with Jesus and his disciples through Maundy Thursday and Good Friday before glorious Resurrection Sunday. I remember thinking how much more meaningful Easter was when I lived Jesus' story the preceding week.
In 1998 I experienced a painfully significant event in my life during Holy Week. On the night of Palm Sunday my husband at that time told me he wanted a divorce. It was the beginning of a nightmarish time in my life. The children would have to be told, but I wanted to wait until Friday...Good Friday...when they would be out of school for 4 days and have some time to process the news I dreaded sharing. That Holy Week I was comforted by friends close to me, but also by the realization that Jesus walked with me, sharing my feelings of betrayal, grief, and loss. As you know, God had a resurrection planned for me more precious than I could ever have imagined.
During this time of year we are especially reminded that God became fully human to experience our deepest pain as well as our most profound joy, to share our life journey, and to lift us through and beyond our trials, into a place where we will be encompassed by God's everlasting love." (Beth Coetzee).
Time Away for Renewal and Rest
 I will be out of the office April 16th through the 23rd on a retreat at Beaver Hollow Conference Center as part of the Presbyterian Church (USA) CREDO. "CREDO is much more than a "how-to" workshop - as it provides time for clergy to step back from the non-stop pace of ordained ministry. CREDO provides a foundation for participants to embrace wellness and to prayerfully discern the direction of their personal and professional lives. It addresses, individually and in community, the questions of 'Who am I?' and 'Who is God calling me to be?'" As a participant I committed myself to extensive reflection through pre-conference instruments and surveys that focus on personal and professional wellness. I want to thank you as a Congregation for allowing me this time away for reflection and renewal.
My prayer is that the worship opportunities this coming week at Westminster will be a time of renewal for you!
Dries
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Plastic Bottles Needed
As part of Earth Day Celebrations on the campus of The College of Wooster, Peace By Peace is organizing an art project with Hector Castellanos for EarthFest on April 22nd. They are looking for any sort of plastic bottle as long as it is emptied out and relatively clean. They'll be taping them all together with clear packaging tape to make giant puppets!
Help support our interns Erika Takeo and Catherine Gillette in this ecological endeavor. |
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Eco Palms for Palm Sunday
The purchase of the palm branches that will be used in our Palm Sunday service helps support the families that harvest and select the palms; it also benefits the environment by protecting the rainforest in which the palms grow. With our support, these social and environmental benefits will continue to increase and other communities will be able to join the project. |
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Due Date For May Westminster World
April 30
For contributions
please contact
Sue Brown
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(Listen to past sermons on our website)
Westminster Presbyterian Church is a safe place for all people
to worship regardless of race, creed, age, cultural background
or sexual orientation.
Childcare is provided during worship
 Sunday, April 1, 10:45am - Palm/Passion Sunday
Maundy Thursday, April 5, 6:00pm A soup & bread supper will be served at 6:00pm in the Meeting Place with communion, followed by a Tenebrae Service in Mackey Hall. Good Friday, April 6, 7:00pm A service of Silence, Reflection, & Liturgical Actions in Mackey Hall.
Sunday, April 8, Resurrection/Easter Sunday with services at 8:30 am & 10:45am and Breakfast at 9:00 am
Sunday, April 8, Easter Sunday including Early Worship at 8:30am with communion, Easter Brunch at 9:00am followed by Intergenerational Activity, and Worship at 10:45am. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) One Great Hour of Sharing offering will be collected.
Sunday, April 15, 10:45am - 2nd Sunday of Easter
Westminster has been fortunate to sponsor a BorderLinks delegation consisting of members, Dick Beery and Beth & Dries Coetzee, with six College of Wooster students to Tucson, Arizona and Nogales, Mexico over Spring Break. We invite you to share in their life-changing and heart-opening experience of God's care for the oppressed, the disenfranchised, and the poor.
Sunday, April 22, 10:45am - 3rd Sunday of Easter/Earth Day
Westminster member, David Noble will be preaching on Earth Day during our morning service. At Westminster we strongly believe that Christ's resurrection was not for personal salvation alone, but for the salvation of the whole of creation!
Sunday, April 29 - 4th Sunday of Easter/Gomez Choir
During our morning worship we we will be joined by the Gomez Children's Choir from New York. Pastor Dries will be leading worship and the choir will proclaim the Word in music and song.
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Volunteers Needed for Holy Week
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Volunteers Needed
to provide for the meals on Maundy Thursday, April 5th at 6:00 pm and the Easter breakfast on Sunday, April 8th.
Maundy Thursday:
1) Set-up during the day (set-up of tables and chairs by custodian)
2) Clean-up after worship
3) 2 people to bring a crock-pot of soup each
4) 1 person to bring bread
5) 1 person to bring tossed salad
Easter Morning:
1) Those attending the brunch are asked to bring fruit or bread to add to the meal.
2) Breakdown after Easter Brunch (10:15 am) to ready The Meeting Place for the Friends.
Please e-mail Dries at acoetzee@wooster.edu if you can help.
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Refurbishing Westminster Church House
 Session has appointed a committee to review and analyze Westminster Church House facilities. This committee will review how the building is used and by whom. With input from the congregation it will consider our needs and make recommendations for renovating and renewing the building. As this work progresses the committee will keep the congregation informed and it welcomes all ideas and suggestions to make our space attractive, usable, and welcoming. Members of this committee include Ferenc Relle, Caryl Slater, Nahida Gordon, Chris Kovach, Ruth McKenzie and Ken Shafer.
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Intergenerational Sunday School
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Sunday, April 8th after the Easter Breakfast
On Sunday, April 8th, all ages are invited to gather during Sunday School time for an intergenerational Sunday School. One of our strengths as a community of faith is that we have the richness of various generations interacting with one another. Come and share in this rewarding experience!
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Adult Education: Sundays at 9:30 a.m. in The Lounge
Our April classes will be focused on the environment, as our Green Peace Initiative will lead us in discussion and also in worship on Sunday, April 22, Earth Day. Please see the Weekly News for more information. Westminster members are also invited to join First Presbyterian Church of Wooster on April 15 for an Adult Education opportunity by Dr. Kwok Pui Lan who is The College of Wooster's Theologian in Residence and part of the Spring Academy of Religion.
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Children and Youth Ministry
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Children's Sunday School - in the Upstairs Room
April 1: Come at 9:15 to make Easter baskets for our homebound members with Ferec Relle on Palm Sunday. Plan to come to church to assemble baskets and then join the Relles and other deacons to take the baskets to our home-bound members.
April 8: Intergenerational Sunday School after the Easter Brunch
April 15, 22, 29: Back to our regular time at 9:45.
See you at Sunday School!
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Local Mission
Come "Hit The Spot!"
The M ission Committee will serve dinner to children and adults at The Spot, located in Cornerstone Elementary School, on Wednesday, April 18 at 5:00 PM. We intend to serve a casserole that is in our own Westminster Cook Book. Members of the Committee will prepare the entr�e and beverage and we invite you to contribute bread baguettes and cup cakes to add to the meal. We would also welcome e veryone's help in the serving and clean-up. We expect to serve around forty-two diners.
Come meet the children and the staff members who provide drop-in child care with very few resources. Please tell any member of the committee if you can help on this project.
Committee: Krista Asher, Linda Barbu, Chris Jones, Shelley Peterson, Sue Coleman, Catherine Gillette
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Immigration Advocacy
| | 2012Westminster BorderLinks delegation |
BorderLinks Delegation 2012Erika Takeo, one of Westminster's peacemaking Interns, wrote the following on her Blog, Erika Takeo Abroad, sharing her experience as part of the Westminster delegation to BorderLinks. "Over and over again, I heard hopeful individuals tell their stories of migration and suffering that I do not believe any human being should have to endure. Over and over again, these individuals said that all they wanted was a job. A simple job. They did not want to get in anyone's way, they just wanted to make a little money to send home and feed their families. Those that had lived in the United States found Americans to be very friendly and helpful and couldn't understand why Latin Americans were being discriminated against. I feel the same way. Just because a human being lives on a different side of an arbitrarily constructed line does not mean that they should not be able to attain a decent livelihood. Oppressive policies of the United States benefit a very select group of people while disenfranchising the rest, and our government refuses to help those who have lost out in this process. I do not know how to get rid of policies such as NAFTA and border militarization but I know that they need to be abolished if we want to prevent the continued impoverishment of millions of people in Mexico and beyond." Read Erika's whole blog entry here.
 Thank You for Your Help
Thank you to all who contributed towels and blankets to add to the Hartville Migrant Ministry Welcome Bags. These Welcome Bags are given in the spring to the newly-arrived migrant farm-worker families of the children our congregation has supported for a number of years through the Hartville Migrant Children's Ministry (see what we do at the immigration reform pages on the WPC website).
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Middle East Peace
"Christians in the Holy Land -
Who they are, why they are leaving and how we can help"
 A presentation by Sir Jeffery M. Abood, KHS Tuesday, April 10 at 7 pm
Westminster Presbyterian Church
Normally when one hears a reference to the "Israeli/Palestinian conflict," the first thought that comes to mind is that it is between Jews and Muslims. However, as the Middle East Monitor has noted, "it is easy to forget that amidst all of the politics and international wrangling there is another deep rooted and valid claim to what is undoubtedly the most disputed "Holy Land" in the world" (12/11/09). The Christian minority there has a legitimate historical and spiritual claim to the land as well as the other groups. Sir Jeffery will discuss the difficulties facing the Christians there, and it is not usually what people think. Their numbers have gone from 18% to 2% of the population. In order for us to effectively be of help, it is important to gain a better understanding of who these Christians are and what they are going through. In this way, we can better equip ourselves to form bonds of solidarity with our brothers and sisters in the Holy Land. 
Jeffery Abood has been knighted by the Vatican, in the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem. He currently serves as the Sectional's Education Master and has most recently returned from the Holy Land in March. Jeff has also received a certificate of Special Congressional Recognition for his leadership in working with the Palestinian Christian communities in the Holy Land. He serves as Chair of the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation's International Speakers Bureau in Washington, DC. Jeff has also served as the Director of HCEF's U.S. chapters. Jeff is also a member locally of the Interfaith Council for Peace in the Middle East of northeast Ohio.
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CAMO Volunteer Opportunity
 On Saturday, March 31, 16 have signed up from Westminster to make a difference in the life of the people of Honduras by volunteering from 10am - 2:00pm at CAMO's Orrville facility. They will sort and pack laundry for the hospital in Santa Rosa, Honduras.
CAMO is one of the most recognized non-profit health care organizations in the region. It serves around 100,000 people annually with services ranging from breast exams and prosthetics to neo-natal care and eye surgery. What makes CAMO different is that it seeks to build a network of long-term, multi-disciplinary public health care providers who offer continuing care to needy families.
CAMO depends on kind-hearted volunteers who regularly lend a hand in the U.S. as well as on spring and fall teams in Honduras. We are fortunate that this organization's US headquarters is right next door in Orrville, Ohio, and they are always in need of more help in their warehouse.
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One Great Hour of Sharing
The Presbyterian Church (USA) One Great Hour of Sharing offering will be received on Easter Sunday, April 8th. You can help sustain the important PC(USA) ministries and programs that are supported by the One Great Hour of Sharing offering by making an online gift at any time throughout the year. | | 2012 One Great Hour of Sharing: Compilation Video |
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No Impact Week - April 15 - 22
 No Impact Week is an 8-day immersion into sustainable living that will take place from Sunday, April 15th to Sunday, April 22nd (Earth Day) as part of The College of Wooster's Peace, Justice, and Earth Week celebration. No Impact Week was created by Colin Beavan, who spent one year living in New York City with his family and attempting to live with no environmental footprint in what he called the No Impact Experiment (Colin is also known as No Impact Man, and a book and documentary were published about his experience). Since his original experiment, countless communities (including many colleges and universities) throughout the United States have organized their own No Impact Week.
No Impact Week consists of daily topics that relate to one's environmental footprint. These are themes that build upon themselves so by the end of the week each individual will have  learned a variety of techniques to live more sustainably. The daily themes are in the following order: consumption, trash, transportation, food, electricity, water, giving back, and eco-sabbath. In addition to having an electronic handbook that details how to participate in each day of No Impact Week, we will have 3 workshops that will serve as guided conversations and reflections about the experience.
We will be screening No Impact Man (a documentary about Colin Beavan's No Impact Experiment) on Monday April 9th at 7:30 pm in Lowry Pit and everyone is welcome to come learn more about what No Impact living is all about.
 | | No Impact Experiment - Welcome! |
Sunday: Consumption
Monday: Trash Day
Tuesday: Transportation Day
Wednesday: Food Day
Thursday: Energy Day
Friday: Water Day
Saturday: Giving Back Day
Sunday: Eco Sabbath Day
Register Here:
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Missions Meal on Thursday, April 12
 To better coordinate the social justice work of our congregation and to be more accessible to students, we will have our last Missions Meal of the academic year on Thursday, April 12. The evening will start at 5:00pm with a joint meeting between our General Mission Committee and the three Peace Initiatives in The Lounge. Then from 6:00pm until 7:00pm we will share in a simple pot luck meal in The Meeting Place. Please bring a dish to share! We invite all to participate in the evening program and most of all, the meal. It's also a great time to connect with our Interns.
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Vegan Potluck - Thursday, April 19th
 Please join us at our next vegan potluck on Thursday, April 19th, at 6:00 p.m. in Mackey Hall. The Westminster vegan meals are an opportunity for fellowship with members and friends of our congregation and with College of Wooster students, who love the good food at our meals.
In April, student organizers of the College of Wooster No Impact Week , (week of April 15th) will explain the project and answer questions.
Feel free to attend whether or not you are vegan (most who attend are not). Try some interesting recipes, visit with each other, and meet College of Wooster students. Many who attend have interests ranging from sustainable living to healthy eating to simply a love of good food and fellowship.
Bring any vegan dish you wish (containing no meat, dairy, or eggs). See our website for recipe ideas. Students: no need to bring a thing.... Just come to enjoy some good food and fellowship.
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Thursday, April 12th at 7:30pm at Gault Recital Hall of Scheide Music Center
 Westminster is invited to join the College of Wooster community for a lecture by Dr. Kwok Pui Lan on Thursday, April 12, 2012. Dr. Kwok will speak as part of the Spring Academy of Religion. A widely published scholar, she is also an open, engaging, and wise woman of faith who challenges us to think carefully about our worldviews and their impact on others. She brings a broad perspective to the global theological discussion as she engages us with post-colonial theory, liberationist faith, and a cross-cultural sensitivity.
Dr. Kwok will also be leading an adult education class and preaching at First Presbyterian Church on Sunday, April 15th.
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For more information please contact:
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