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Westminster World
| May 2012
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Pilgrimage of Transformation
 This coming month Westminster will continue its journey in seeking to be a voice for justice and compassion for people whose suffering is ignored. On Monday, May 14 Don & Nahida Gordon and Beth and I will leave with five College of Wooster students on a Westminster sponsored trip to Israel/Palestine. The aim of this study seminar will be to challenge the perceptions of both participants and local hosts through immersion into the realities of the peoples of the Middle East. In addition to visiting in the footsteps of Jesus, we will have the opportunity to meet members of of local Christian, Muslim, and Jewish communities. By listening to their stories, their hopes, aspirations, and fears we will hopefully strengthen our own passion for peace, justice, and reconciliation and show our support for their non-violent efforts to bring about lasting peace. As a church we strongly feel that exchanges like these have the power to transform visitors and hosts and thus the religious, social, and political spheres in ways that will help bring an end to tragic violence and conflict that defines the Middle East. Dries out of the office  At its February meeting Session approved my participation in the Middle East trip as well as a week of vacation after the trip with the students. Personally, and as a Congregation, we are very thankful for the ministry of Jim Collier who has graciously agreed to lead worship and fulfill pastoral duties during my time of absence. If you need to get in touch with Jim, please phone Sue Brown at the Church House .
Thanksgiving
I want to thank you as a Congregation for the privilege to serve as your pastor and the wonderful opportunities I have been part of since I joined your ministry in March 2010. Personally I can testify that Westminster is indeed a transformative community and I am looking forward to sharing my experiences of this upcoming trip to the Middle East with you upon our return! Blessings, Dries |
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PC(USA)
The PC(USA) Office of Immigration Issues has valuable information and resources for all congregations involved with the work of immigration advocacy. Please view the site to see all that is offered.
The Office of Immigration Issues was created upon a resolution passed at the 216th General Assembly (2004) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The department communicates with middle governing bodies, PC(USA) entities and ecumenical agencies on immigration issues and policies. They also provide regular updates, reliable advice and counsel to presbyteries and pastors whose members have immigration questions or issues.
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Due Date For June Westminster World
May 25
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, May 6 at 10:45am - Intern Appreciation Sunday/ Communion will be celebrated
Pastor Dries will share a Meditation and some of our College of Wooster Interns will share their experiences of this past year with us. The focus of the communion liturgy will be on "peace through justice." "The liturgy emphasizes God's vision of love, justice, and mutuality, even in the face of the divisions, injustice, and violence of the Roman Empire. It also shows the differences between the nonviolent tactics of Jesus' "Kin-dom of God" and the brutal tactics of Caesar's "Empire of Rome." The hope is that this liturgy invites Christians to feel the love and presence of God in their lives, so they can be strengthened to share the peace and justice of God in the world. The same God that loved the disciples, also loves us. And the same God that worked for peace and justice in the Roman Empire, continues to work for peace and justice today. This liturgy seeks to invite modern Christians to join in on God's healing work in the world". � Sojourning Spirituality
 Sunday, May 13 at 10:45 am- Sixth Sunday of Easter
Pastor Dries will be preaching as he leaves for Israel/Palestine. See also information regarding The College of Wooster Baccalaureate Service for this date. During the service we will have a Liturgy of Thanksgiving for the ministry of Mary Kilpatrick and Bill & Marna Mateer among us. Mary is moving to Warren, OH where she and her husband Jim are farming. Mary has been part of the ministry of Westminster for more than 35 years. The Mateers are moving to Goshen, Indiana in June. We celebrate the gifts of ministry they have shared with us these past two years.
Sunday, May 20 at 10:45 am- Seventh Sunday of Easter/Presbyterian Heritage Sunday
Rev. Jim Collier will be the guest preacher.
Sunday, May 27 at 10:00am - Day of Pentecost Rev. Jim Collier will be the guest preacher and the Pentecost Offering will be collected.
Sunday, June 3 at 10:00am - Trinity Sunday - Communion will be celebrated
Rev. Jim Collier will be the guest preacher.
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McGaw Chapel on Sunday, May 13, at 10:00 a.m.
 Baccalaureate, a farewell worship service for the members of the Class of 2012, will be held in McGaw Chapel on Sunday, May 13, at 10:00 a.m. Family and friends of graduating seniors, as well as the entire College of Wooster community, are invited to attend.
Members of the Class of 2012 plan and participate in this multi-faith service that reflects broad themes of their shared time and experiences at Wooster. They strive to make the occasion accessible to persons of all faiths by incorporating prayers from several world religions.
Members of the faculty and the senior class will be present in caps and gowns. Also participating in Baccalaureate will be President Grant H. Cornwell; The Reverend Dr. Linda Morgan-Clement, Henry Jefferson Copeland Campus Minister; Rabbi Dr. Joan S. Friedman, Campus Rabbi; and this year's Baccalaureate preacher, Rabbi Patricia Karlin-Neumann from Stanford University.
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Adult Education: Sundays at 9:30 a.m. in The Lounge
What have we learned from the oppressed people encountered by Westminster Presbyterian Church's three peace initiatives about ourselves and our culture?
"As a people we have to understand that those who have suffered need to tell their stories, to have others witness to the horror that has been inflicted on them, in order to have their memories respected, to find a way of dealing with what they have endured, to regain their dignity and wholeness as human beings. Unless those who have suffered can be healed, the nation suffers by not being able to benefit from what they can contribute to the building of our common future." (Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz, La Lucha Continues, Mujerista Theology) From The 46th Wooster Spring Academy of Religion 2012 - Pedagogy from the oppressed: wisdom and vision from the underside. Dr. Charles Kammer
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Children and Youth Ministry
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Children's Sunday School - 9:45am in the Upstairs Room
This month our children will focus on faith stories - contemporary, biblical, and church related. Come explore these journeys of faith together through different avenues. May 20, Presbyterian Heritage Sunday, will be our last Sunday for Children's Sunday School this school year. Special thanks to Chris Kovach and Intern Maria Janasz for their faithful dedication to our children.
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Local Missions
Spot On!
 
The Mission Committee served a meal to 40 plus students and staff at The Spot! on Wednesday, April 18, 2012. The event went well largely because of the generous help from many in the congregation. A special thanks is owed to Dick Beery, who served as photographer and you can view his photographs on the Westminster web site. Also, Dick and Sandy helped us transport everything to The Spot and stayed to serve. Sandy, Dorothy Iams, Candy Relle, Jean Brazee, Vivian Holliday, Elaine Smith Snyder, Peggy Schmitz and Joan Houglan, Peggy's mom, contributed cupcakes, bread, table service and lots of help in serving and clean-up. Committee members, Krista Asher, Linea Barbu, Sue Coleman, Chris Jones and Shelley Peterson prepared casseroles, salad and beverages. Thank You! Pictures � 3 Oaks Enhancements and Dick Beery
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Middle East Peace
The Work and Mission of Al Rowwad Cultural and Training Center for Palestinian Children
 A presentation by AbdelFattah Abusrour, Ph.D. Friday, May 4 at 7 pm
The Meeting Place
Westminster Presbyterian Church
Light refreshments will be served.
Dr. Abusrour founded the Al Rowwad Cultural and Training Center located in the Aida Refugee Camp in Bethlehem, Palestine in 1996, and has since devoted his life to theater and the cultural enrichment of children in Palestinian refugee camps through artistic expression in what he commonly calls the "Beautiful and Peaceful Resistance."
Please join us for a fascinating evening of listening and interacting with a creative and innovative powerhouse for peace--a spokesman for human dignity and the Beautiful Resistance against all human oppression, no matter where it occurs.  Pilgrimage of TransformationA description of the Westminster Presbyterian Church trip to Jordan, the West Bank Palestinian Territory and Israel.  The trip is intended to learn about the Biblical Holy Land and its current inhabitants, Christian, Jew and Muslim, and the land as it exists today. The Westminster travelers include five college students and five older adults, including Rev. Andries Coetzee and his wife, Beth. The travelers leave the US on May 14, 2012 to travel by air by way of Paris, France to Amman, Jordan, arriving at the airport in the evening of the 15th. From the airport they will travel to Madaba, Jordan, a center of Christian habitation from the earliest times of Christianity, for an overnight stay. In the morning they will visit Madaba's St George's church famous for its ancient mosaic floor depicting the map of ancient Palestine with Jerusalem at its center. From Madaba they will descend into the Jordan River Valley, the deepest dry land on earth, and then cross the Malik Husein (Allenby) Bridge into the West Bank. From there they will travel up out of the valley on a modern, winding highway through the desert uplands to East Jerusalem and Bethlehem, where they will stay for three nights. While in Bethlehem they will visit the Church of the Nativity, The Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church, Shepherds' Field, the AlRowwad Cultural Center in the Aida refugee camp, and BADIL (Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights). The following day, they will visit the ancient city of Hebron to the south, touring the old city, including the Ibrahimi Mosque and meeting with Hebron Rehabilitation Committee. From Hebron they will travel to the neighboring Palestinian village of al-Tuwanee and meet with the Christian Peace team representatives and then with an Israeli settler from the Afrat colony. They then will return to Bethlehem where they will have time to shop. Following Bethlehem, they will travel to Jerusalem where they will visit the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the Sisters of Sion on the Via del la Rosa, and the Muslim Haram El-Sharif with its Temple Mount including the Dome of the Rock and the Al Asqua Mosques. Also,
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Westminster's visit to Sabeel in 2010
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they will visit with Sabeel, the Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center, and Dahr El Zuhur, an elementary school. Further, they will travel to the Holocaust Museum, in honor of the Jews who perished in the Holocaust, and nearby Deir Yasin, a village where many of its Palestinian inhabitants were killed by the newly arrived European colonialists in 1948. They will tour the Mount of Olives and the settlements around Jerusalem. Organizations visited will be the Applied Research Institute Jerusalem to learn about the Separation (Security barrier) Wall and land confiscation and the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD). Then they will tour East and West Jerusalem and the Old City. Then, they will travel to the ancient port city of Jaffa, where we will meet a representative of Zochorot, an Israeli human rights group which seeks to commemorate the Nakba and learn of the destroyed Palestinian villages. They then will travel to modern city of Tel Aviv. From Jerusalem they will travel north to Ramallah, visit Bir Zeit University, the Palestinian human rights group Addameer, to learn about Palestinian inmates in Israeli prisons, and visit Arafat's tomb. In Ramallah they will have free time to tour, shop, and meet people. From Ramallah they will travel to Qalqilya, a Palestinian city completely surrounded by the Israeli separation (security) barrier, and then to Nablus, founded in 72 CE and a prominent Palestinian city in the West Bank. They will then travel on to Nazareth in the Galilee to visit the Church of Annunciation and stay overnight. Their travel will continue on toTiberius and
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Jaffa Port
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Jaffa Port, Capernaum, and the Sea of Galilee, where they will stay at the Pilger House to rest and debrief. From there they will travel south via the western side of the Jordan River Valley to Jericho where they will visit the market and the old city. While in Jericho, those who wish will go to the Dead Sea for a swim. After an overnight stay in Jericho they will travel west through Wadi Qelt to see the Greek Orthodox monastery built on the wall of the Wadi and the Mount of Temptation, where Jesus spent 40 days and 40 nights. Some of the travelers then will return to Amman, Jordan where they will tour the city before boarding planes to return to the US, Tuesday, May 29. A few of the travelers will remain to travel to the ancient city of Petra in southern Jordan where they will stay overnight and tour the following day. They will then return to Amman, visit with friends and relatives, tour historic sites and then return by air to the US, Friday, June 1. During the travels to these various places, the travelers will visit with many Palestinians, both Christian and Muslims, of all walks of life, education, and economic status to learn of their life living under foreign domination. They also will visit Jewish Israelis to learn of their life in their Jewish state. The travelers will experience the wonderful Palestinian cuisine and hospitality and the beauty of the land. They will begin to understand why this land is referred to as the Holy Land for it is a land that inspires deep reverence and love for our world and its people.
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Immigration Advocacy
Thank You To Our Intern Wyatt Smith
The Westminster BorderLinks Committee wishes to thank our College of Wooster intern, Wyatt Smith, for all the assistance he has provided. His work on campus to promote the 2012 BorderLinks trip was an integral part of the success of the 2012 WPC delegation. Wyatt has been an asset to our immigration advocacy efforts, and his input and sharing have been much-valued by our committee. Next year, Wyatt will not be available as an intern due to other campus duties in the fall and then, in the spring, as he studies abroad. We will miss you, Wyatt. Thank you very much.
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Westminster involved in CAMO
Thank You to all volunteers!
Fifteen volunteers from Westminster (including three College of Wooster students) spent the Saturday before Palm Sunday at CAMO's warehouse in Orrville. Thanks to Claudia Caballero, Operations Manager and native Honduran, we had a tour of the facility and heard stories of how CAMO is making life-saving differences in the lives of Hondurans. To find out more about CAMO's amazing work, visit their website. Our job was to sort and pack all kinds of donated laundry to be used in the hospital in Santa Rosa de Copan. As we packed 63 boxes to be shipped, we truly felt connected to the patients who would be cared for in those hospital gowns, comforted in those sheets, treated by staff dressed in those scrubs. Nothing lifts spirits like giving and nothing builds community like working together! We hope to make volunteering at CAMO a regular event; it's a local cause with international outreach. Hope you can join us next time.
Dear Westminster Presbyterian Church Volunteer Group, 
Your generosity and willingness to serve those less fortunate, touches me. The over 90,000 people in need Central American Medical Outreach (CAMO) serves is only possible with the many hours donated by volunteers like you that sort and pack the supplies we receive.
My sincere thanks to you on behalf of all of those who we serve.
Claudia Caballero, Operations Manager,
Central American Medical Outreach
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Pentecost Offering
Westminster will receive the Presbyterian Church (USA) Pentecost Offering on the Day of Pentecost (May 27, 2012). It provides a direct way to meet the needs of children at risk, youth, and young adults. Congregations are encouraged to keep 40 percent of the Offering to support ministries benefiting these age groups in their communities.
The General Assembly's portion (60 percent) provides leadership development opportunities for Presbyterian youth and young adults and supports children-at-risk programs at the national level. Since 1998, Presbyterians of all ages have raised more than $8 million for these ministries that benefit younger members of God's family.
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Vegan Pot-luck - Thursday, May 17th at 6:00 p.m. in Mackey Hall.
It has been a joy this past academic year to see the ever-increasing number of students in attendance at the vegan pot-lucks lucks. Thank you to all pot-luck attenders (and meal-providers) for helping to create such an inviting, enjoyable event each month.
At the May pot-luck, we will discuss plans for the summer and beyond. Please plan to attend, to add your input, and to enjoy good food and fellowship. Most who attend are not vegan, so please attend even if you haven't before.
Bring any vegan dish you wish (containing no meat, dairy, or eggs).
See our website for recipe ideas. Contact the Church House to RSVP.
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For more information please contact:
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