| Weekly News Friday, February 8, 2013 |
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| On the Westminster Blog |
On Wednesday, February 5, The Boys Scouts of America decided to postpone the decision to move towards full inclusion until May. Although we are disappointed with this decision, as Christians we are not giving up. Like so many other people of faith we will continue to be in conversation with our Troop and our regional office to ask them to muster the courage to affirm the dignity and inclusion of all God's children. ...�
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| Sign Ups |
Vegan Potluck
Thursday, Feb. 21st, at 6:00pm in Mackey Hall
"Cooking with Natalie"
Natalie Friedrich leads a cooking class prior to the Vegan Potluck at 4:30pm. The title of this month's class is "Vegan Baking with Chocolate: Learn substitutions and tricks for baking your favorite treats, vegan". Join in on an interactive demonstration on baking scrumptious vegan brownies
with ganache.
Sign Up Here
or contact Carly Jones
for more information at cjones@wooster.edu.
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| Worship | |
Ash Wednesday at First Presbyterian Church
February 17:
First Sunday in Lent with
The Rev. Lynn Bozich Shetzer preaching
February 24:
Second Sunday in Lent with
The Rev. Virginia Birks preaching
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| Pastor Dries & Beth out of the office |
Pastor Dries and Beth are leaving for South Africa on Tuesday, February 12 and will return on Friday, March 15th. While in South Africa they will be joined by members of Westminster to explore Dries' native country from Friday, February 15 through Friday, March 8. Before and after the Westminster trip, Session approved vacation for them to spend time with family.
Pastor Virginia Birks will fulfill pastoral duties and preach, with the exception of February 17 when the Rev. Lynn Bozich Shetzer (alumna from The College of Wooster) will preach. Please contact Carly Jones in the church office with concerns or needs during this time at 330-263-2398. |
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Ecumenical Advocacy Days
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April 5 - 8, 2013
Washington, D.C. A national gathering for people of faith who want to be a force for change for the betterment of all! Contact David Gillespie for more information.
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Immigration
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"The New Administration and Immigration:
the National Scene and Ohio"
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February 18, 2013
The Methodist Theological School in Ohio
3081 Columbus Pike
Delaware, OH
Time: 10am - 3:00pm
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| Celebrating Community | 
This Sunday, February 10, will indeed be a celebration of ministry at Westminster. During worship we will ordain and install our newly elected elders and deacons. The service of ordination and installation is always a spiritually enriching and moving experience. I am reminded as a pastor that we as Presbyterians do not minister by ourselves or in isolation from one another. Being Reformed we believe in the "Priesthood of all Believers"! Jack Haberer wrote; "In the days of the apostles, the calling to serve as priests was revived. Peter declared, 'You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light' (1 Peter 2:9). In this case God's word has not come as a promise for the future but as a declaration for the present: 'You are ... a royal priesthood. However, around 200 A.D. two of the church's leaders, Hippolytus and Tertullian, revived the notion of a 'special priesthood,' with that title to be worn only by the clergy. By the end of the fourth century that office had been formalized, and the 'laity' accepted second-class status in ministry. As a priest-in-training Martin Luther rediscovered the claims of Scripture, with its gift of justification by grace through faith and its commission to serve in the "priesthood of all believers." He minced no words:'All Christians are priests, and all priests are Christians. Worthy of anathema is any assertion that a priest is anything else than a Christian.' John Calvin applied that message by forming a polity wherein laity and clergy alike would serve in ordained offices of leadership - as peers in proclamation of the Word, peers in intercessory prayer, and peers in mission service." Unfortunately, Jack continues, 'creeping clericalism' among the clergy plus a spiritual inferiority complex among the laity have continued to minimize believers' perception and fulfillment of their priestly call. But that call remains God's call and commission for all God's people to fulfill." Let us here at Westminster reclaim this privilege of serving as a "priesthood". In my Year End Report for 2012, I wrote the following; "I do think and believe that many of us can testify to the transforming power of following the ways of Jesus of Nazareth in serving others. Why then do we sometimes claim this privilege only for some of us? Is not this, to be transforming in the name of Jesus, what we want for others and how we want them to experience Westminster? As a church community who claims intentionality and inclusiveness, our job is not to do everything ourselves, but to create opportunity of transformation for all people. Now that to me is a growing church, changing lives and making disciples!" (PDF). ...�See you on Sunday!
Dries
P.S. You can download the full Congregational Report here in PDF.
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| Worship This Week |
 | | "Loaf and Fish" |
A Service of "Celebrating Inclusive Community"
Text: Luke 9:28-43
Sermon Title: "Community Without Boundaries"
Quote:
Marcus J. Borg in a sermon entitled "Born Again" wrote about Lent: "The journey of Lent is about being born again by participating in the death and resurrection of Jesus, about that journey from Galilee to Jerusalem. The journey of Lent with its climax in Good Friday and Easter, is about embarking on the way of Jesus on that path of mortality and transformation that is at the very center of the Christian life. When you think of it, who of us does not yearn for this? Who of us does not yearn for a fuller connection to life? Who does not yearn for an identity that releases us from anxiety and self-preoccupation? To be born again, it seems to me, corresponds to our deepest yearning. May we this Lent experience that internal transformation that is at the center of the Christian life. May we experience being born again."
Westminster Presbyterian Church
is a safe place for all people to worship regardless
of race, creed, age, cultural background,
or sexual orientation.
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Ash Wednesday Service at First Pres
|  On Wednesday, February 13 at 7pm we will join First Presbyterian Church for our annual joint Ash Wednesday Service. Join us for the potluck meal at 6:00pm followed by a meditative Ash Wednesday Service with a combined choir and Pastor Bruce Ballantine (Interim Pastor, First Presbyterian Church) leading worship. If you are attending the potluck please e-mail Carly Jones to sign up (you do not have to specify what you are bringing). First Presbyterian Church also asks that you bring your own place settings. They will provide place settings for students and those who forgot. |
 Introduction of Elders and Deacons
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All are invited to join us in fellowship for the introduction of elders and deacons during the Education Hour on Sunday, February 10th at 9:30am. At 9:45 newly elected elders and deacons will share their faith stories and why they are willing to serve in leadership at Westminster. We will hear from the following parishioners who will be ordained and installed during worship:
As Elders: Sandy Schmidt to the Class of 2013, John Veney, Shelley Peterson, and Elaine Smith Snyder, all to the Class of 2015. As Deacons: Mercy Chewachong, Dorothy Iams, and Ruth MacKenzie, all to the Class of 2015.
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| 2012 Year End Report |
In preparation for the Annual Meeting of our Congregation you are invited to study our Annual Report and come prepared for conversation. You can download the report in PDF here, or pick up a copy today (Friday, February 8) or Sunday morning in Mackey Hall.
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| Westminster Leaving for South Africa | 
T his coming week 14 members of Westminster (including Pastor Dries & Beth) will be leaving for South Africa Friday, February 15 through Friday, March 8. The aim of this trip is to experience the many facets of South Africa, as the country still struggles to overcome years of apartheid and also live into its new-found democracy. The itinerary includes the activities that most tourists take advantage of when visiting South Africa, such as going on a safari, experiencing the natural beauty of Cape Town, and taking a cable car to the top of Table Mountain, one of the new seven wonders of nature. Travelers will also experience South Africa's apartheid history, its reconciliation, the rebuilding of a nation, and the people who make up what Desmond Tutu calls the Rainbow People of God. Follow this link to read the highlights of the trip.
 The trip participants are:Nahida & Don Gordon
Linda & Greg Barbu
Gayle & David Noble
Sandy & Dick Dick Beery
Barbara & Rich Bell
Mary Kilpatrick
Peggy Schmitz
Beth & Dries Coetzee
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| New Format for the Westminster Weekly News |
 Starting this week we have a new format for our W estminster Weekly News. Since we started our mailing about three years ago in the Spring of 2010 our readership
has increased from about 30 readers to our current 106. Some of you are not members of Westminster and even live in other cities, states, countries, and continents, but you support our community of faith in our embrace of Progressive Theology. To us here at Westminster, each one of you are very much part of who we are as a church. In order to extend this ministry and make it more accessible, you will see some changes in the content of our mailing and how you can access it.
In the future this mailing will be more integrated with our website and you will see several links that will direct you to read it from there. For instance, the Worship section in the sidebar will direct you to our church calendar where you can read more about upcoming services, the Lectionary text for the day, the Liturgical Year as well as a link to the Minute for Mission from the Presbyterian Church (USA). Now you can use our website in your preparation for worship as well as Daily Prayer.
You will also see more links to Blogs from various organizations that we as a church support including our own, posted on our website. We would like to hear from and be in conversation with you, and our website gives us the tools to do so. As we leave for South Africa we will keep you up to date weekly, but we would love to hear from you as well.
Starting this week our Weekly News will also be posted on Facebook and you will see a panel of share buttons at the top of the Weekly News so that you can share it on other Social Media sites, to make it easier for you to share who we are as a church and what we stand for with others.
Because of some of these changes we have decided not to publish our Weekly Prayer List in this mailing (it will still be in our Bulletin for Sundays) since the Weekly News will be posted on the Internet. Starting the beginning of April when I return from South Africa we will schedule a separate e-mail mid-week with our Weekly Prayer List. This mailing will not only include those from our own congregation whom we keep in our prayers, but also those from around the world , as well as other resources for spirituality and prayer.
I hope you find this new format meaningful and we'd love to hear from you!
Thanks,
Dries
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| Per Capita |
 You can further support the mission of the Presbyterian Church (USA), as well as helping offset costs from Westminster's budget, by writing a check to Westminster Presbyterian Church for $28.48 for each confirmed member in your family and marking it in the memo line as "Per Capita." First, what it isn't.
The per capita apportionment is not a tax, although it has been called the per capita tax or 'head tax'. By definition a tax is mandatory, not voluntary. The General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission in 2003 reaffirmed an earlier ruling: "a church may neither be compelled to pay nor punished for failure to pay any amounts pursuant to such [per capital system] plan." There is no force or compulsion here, only a request for you to support the work of the larger church.
Just what is per capita, and why are we asked to pay it?
It is the apportionment, or equitable distribution, of the administrative costs of the presbytery, synod and General Assembly on a per-member basis. Churches with larger membership and more resources pay more than small churches with limited funds. Each of these governing bodies establishes by vote the amount of apportionment and then makes it known to the sessions of our churches.
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Fundraiser Banquet for Open Arms
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 FUNDRAISER BANQUET FOR OPEN ARMS - FEBRUARY 2013 When: Thursday, February 21, 2013 Time: 6:00 PM Where: Fairlawn Mennonite Church - Community Center (back side) 8520 Emerson Road - Apple Creek, Ohio Background: In the last two years God has blessed Open Arms in different ways. We are looking forward to another fruitful year of ministry, and we invite you to be a part of it! With all the opportunities that God is presenting to us we would like to keep meeting the spiritual and physical needs of our brother and sister immigrants in our area. The ministry is expanding. In our recent visit to Guatemala we saw the fruit of the ministry in our brother Jacinto, who is in ministry there. It is with these challenges in mind that we are inviting our business friends to help us in this project, giving a good boost to our budget in the first quarter of the year. Helping Open Arms is much like supporting missionaries overseas, except it is in our own back yard. Description: We are planning to have a fundraiser banquet at Fairlawn Mennonite Church in Apple Creek, Ohio. We want to invite 150 to 200 people, including Open Arms board members and spouse or friend; there will be no charge for the meal. We will ask for a donation for the ministry. We will have a short presentation of our mission trip to Guatemala. If you have any questions, you can contact Haroldo Nunes at:330-775-2553 or 330-933-9376 (cell). Thanks for everything that you do to help our Hispanic brothers and sisters to be welcomed in our community. The Holy Bible declares: " For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in..." Matthew 25:35 (NIV) Blessing for you all, Open Arms Hispanic Ministries
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| Green Tip of The Week |
 Is your home staying green this winter?
Insulate your attic. It is relatively easy, yet very cost-effective, to add insulation to your attic. The Department of Energy (DOE) suggests a minimum attic insulation level of R-38 (R-value is a measure of resistance to heat flow), equivalent to 12 to 15 inches of insulation. The DOE provides a map on its website that lists recommended insulation levels for U.S. climates.
Seal air leaks. Weather stripping, door sweeps, window shrink wrap, and other materials can be purchased at your local hardware store for $50 or less, and can save you as much as 10 percent in energy costs. If you have an old fireplace, consider installing glass doors (which can cost a couple hundred dollars or more) to help prevent heat from escaping out the chimney when not in use.
Seal heating ducts. Leaky ducts from forced-air or heat pump systems can allow up to 20 percent of the warm air to escape. While most duct work is hidden in walls and floors, you can seal duct leaks on your own in attics, basements, or garages, and in areas where ducts meet floor or wall vents. The DOE estimates that sealing leaky ducts can save you up to $140 annually.
Install a programmable thermostat. An Energy Star-qualified programmable thermostat can cost as little as $30 but save you $100 or more each year on heating costs by automatically turning the heat down when you are asleep or away (so you don't have to remember to do it yourself).
Upgrade your furnace. If your heating system is more than 10 years old, consider replacing it with an Energy Star-rated model to cut your energy costs by up to 30 percent. Before you buy, make your home as efficient as possible first (following the tips above) so you can purchase the smallest system to fit your heating needs.
Source: Union of Concerned Scientists
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| This Week at Westminster | |
What is Happening at Westminster this Week?
All events can also be found on our website
We hope to see you there!
Sunday, February 10, 2013 - Transfiguration of the Lord
9:30am- Called Session Meeting in Office Reception
9:30am - Choir Rehearsal in Mackey Hall
9:45am - Children's Sunday School in Sunday School Room
10:45am - Worship Service in Mackey Hall. Pastor Dries Preaching
Congregational Meeting and installation/ordination of elders and deacons will take place following worship.
Monday, February 11, 2013
12:00pm - Building Committee Meeting in the Lounge
Tuesday, February 12, 2012
First group of Westminster members leave for South Africa (Beth & Dries Coetzee,
Sandy & Dick Beery, Barbara & Rich Bell).
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
7:00pm - Choir Rehearsal in Mackey Hall
6:00pm - Potluck Supper at First Presbyterian Church
7:00pm - Joint Ash Wednesday Service at First Presbyterian Church
10:00pm - College of Wooster Campus Ministries Ash Wednesday Service in Mackey Hall
Thursday, February 14, 2013
7:00pm - Dance Group in Mackey Hall
Friday, February 15, 2013
Second group of Westminster members leave for South Africa (Nahida & Don Gordon, Greg & Linda Barbu, Gayle and David Noble, Peggy Schmitz and Mary Kilpatrick)
Sunday, February 17, 2013 - First Sunday in Lent
9:30am - Choir Rehearsal in Mackey Hall
10:45am - Worship Service in Mackey Hall with the Rev. Lynn Bozich Shetzer Preaching.
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"We are an Intentionally Inclusive Church"
Westminster Presbyterian Church embraces the "house" metaphor for our community as we worship at the Westminster Church House and have a strong sense of hospitality and desire to be a welcoming and inclusive church for all. We endeavor to give voice to a "progressive" expression of Christianity that emphasizes among other things:
- intellectual integrity in matters of faith;
- acceptance of all people regardless of race, creed, age, cultural background, or sexual orientation;
- openness toward the value of other religious traditions;
- a strong commitment to social justice, peacemaking, and the care of our planet.
Blessings,
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Andries J. Coetzee
Pastor, Westminster Presbyterian Church
353 Pine East Pine Street, Wooster, OH 44691
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