| Weekly News Friday, February 22, 2013 |
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| Worship |
February 24:
Second Sunday in Lent with The Rev. Virginia Birks preaching
Celebrating the Gifts of Women with The Rev. Virginia Birks preaching
March 10: The Rev. Virginia Birks preaching on this Fourth Sunday of Lent.
March 17: The Rev. Virginia Birks preaching on this Fifth Sunday of Lent. We also welcome home Pastor Dries & Beth as they will be in worship.
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| Pastor Dries and Beth Coetzee Out of 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. Please contact Carly Jones in the church office with concerns or needs during this time at 330-263-2398. |
| Deacon Meeting |
The Deacons will be meeting on Sunday, February 24th following worship back in Mackey kitchen.
Contact Kathy Hothem for more information.
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| Annual Meeting Report | |
Unable to make it to the Annual Congregational Meeting on February 10th? Extra copies of the Annual Report are available in the church office. Stop by to pick one up, or e-mail Carly Jones (cjones@wooster.edu) and
we will put one in
the mail for you.
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ECUMENICAL
ADVOCACY
DAYS
CONFERENCE
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ECUMENICAL ADVOCACY DAYS FOR GLOBAL PEACE AND JUSTICE CONFERENCE 2013 Dates: April 5-7
(Optional participation in "Lobby Day" on
Monday, April 8) Theme: "At God's Table: Food Justice for a Healthy World" Location: Doubletree Hotel, Crystal City, Arlington, Virginia For detailed information about the 2013 EAD Conference, see: http://advocacydays.org/2013-at-gods-table/ or contact Westminster Presbyterian Church office. |
| CAMO Volunteers Needed |
 CAMO is looking for help packing medical supplies. There is no need to have a medical background. CAMO is looking for volunteers to give an hour or 2. They are open Monday through Friday from 8am to 4pm. There is not much lifting involved and volunteers can just sit to pack the boxes. They are not the large laundry boxes that the church usually does. CAMO is always looking for nurses to help sort medical supplies as well. If you are interested, please contact Claudia Caballero at 330-683-5956 or claudiac@camo.org.
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Westminster in South Africa
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It is with gratitude that I send greetings from South Africa. All are doing well and our time has been filled with an array of experiences and emotions. As pastor, I have questioned the timing of this trip during the holy season of the church year. Lent is a time of introspection and sacrifice, or as some people like to do these days, taking on a spiritual discipline. Somehow it seems that traveling to another country is not very Lent-like.
Yet there is another side to Lent, and that is that we are dying ... dying to our individual selves and becoming a community,or as we say in church, The Church. It is then within this communal context that one of our travelers responded with a heavy heart after our visit to the Apartheid Museum in Soweto, South Africa,saying, "Where was I?" What she was referring to was her lack of awareness and subsequent action to support the liberation of all people in South Africa, like Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu called for. 
In hindsight, her response is still very true for us today as we can still ask ourselves "Where are we?" What makes this question of awareness and action even more urgent is when we ask it as The Church that is called to be the Body of Christ in the world. Here at Westminster we join those who believe that the fruits of mindfulness are joy, compassion, forgiveness, and work for justice.
This coming week we welcome back to Westminster the Rev. Virginia Birks, who will preach for the next four Sundays (which includes March 17th,our first Sunday back from South Africa). Virginia, who needs no introduction at Westminster, will also fulfill pastoral duties while I am in South Africa. Please do not hesitate to phone the church office if you have pastoral care needs.
It is also wonderful to hear from some of you regarding our Weekly News. Some of you have commented that you really missed the Prayer List, and I am very encouraged by that. Not only do I appreciate your feedback,but also that the Prayer List has become such an important part of your prayer life. As I communicated some weeks ago,we will start sending out a separate weekly e-mail with our Prayer List and other weekly prayer resources upon my return from South Africa. Until then I do invite you to contact the church office and ask them to include your prayers in our printed prayer list in Sunday's worship bulletin.
Blessings from South Africa,
Dries
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| Worship This Week |  Virginia Birks will be preaching on "The Imagery of Protection"Second Sunday in Lent Gospel: Luke 13:31-35Westminster 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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| Green Tip of The Week |
 The Geography of Food - Food MilesWhere does your food come from? How many miles does your food have to travel before it hits your dinner plate? Not so long ago, for most of humanity, the majority of our food came from areas we could walk to or at least from within our own countries. These days, our food is increasingly from many thousands of miles away. We can express this distance as Food miles, which refers to the distance food is transported from the time of its production until it reaches the consumer. It's amazing that we can enjoy many foods out of season and at relatively low cost; but the price paid in terms of environmental damage can be very high. The environmental impact is mainly related to freight and shipping - more trucks, more planes, more ships, more consumption of oil and more greenhouse gas emissions. Produce in the U.S. travels, on average, 1300 - 2000 miles from farm to consumer. Since 1970, truck shipping has dramatically increased, replacing more energy efficient transportation by rail and water (National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service). Also, food imported from some countries may have been grown in very unsustainable ways. For example, rainforests may have been cleared, toxic effluent released into the environment from processing and inappropriate use of pesticides and herbicides applied to crops. A brand of coffee I drink is grown in Brazil. That's a distance of over 3,000 miles (over 5,000 kilometers) as the crow flies. I then switched to buying a fair trade brand from Guatemala - under 2,000 miles - around 3,200 kilometers. Just to illustrate the difference, take a look at the map below showing the distance comparison between the origins of my usual brand of coffee (Brazil) and new brand of fair trade coffee (Guatemala). You can take action on your next shopping trip. Try to buy local where you can - even if it's just one or two more products that you regularly use. Read labels on cans and learn more about what foods are in season within your country and try to utilize those more as there will be less chance of you accidentally purchasing imported foods. Better yet, consider starting a vegetable garden for your back yard (next spring). It will greatly reduce your food mile impact from thousands of miles to a few feet - plus saving you money! Article modified from Michael Bloch
Find out more!
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Presbyterian Church (USA) Weekly Blogs:
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| What's happening at Westminster this week? |
All events can also be found on our website
www.wpcwooster.org
We hope to see you there!
Sunday, February 24, 2013 - Second Sunday in Lent
9:30am - Choir Rehearsal in Mackey Hall
9:45am - Children's Sunday School in Sunday School Room
10:45am - Worship Service in Mackey Hall. Rev. Virginia Birks preaching.
12:00pm - Deacons Meeting in Mackey Hall kitchen
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
7:00pm - Choir Rehearsal in Mackey Hall
Thursday, February 28, 2013
7:00pm - Dance Group in Mackey Hall
Sunday, March 3, 2013 - Third Sunday in Lent
9:30am - Choir Rehearsal in Mackey Hall
9:45am - Children's Sunday School in Sunday School Room
10:45am - Worship Service in Mackey Hall. Rev. Virginia Birks 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.
Sincerely,
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Andries J. Coetzee
Pastor, Westminster Presbyterian Church
353 Pine East Pine Street, Wooster, OH 44691
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