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Weekly News Friday, May 23, 2014
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Get Involved
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Help make Westminster the warm and inviting place we are called to be, sign up to be a Sunday morning greeter, to provide flowers, or bring goodies for fellowship time after worship. If you are interested in helping, please sign up through Sign Up Genius, on t he sign up board to the right of the name tags in the back of Mackey Hall, or by contacting Carly Jones (330-263-2398) in the church office.
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Memorial Day Office Hours
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Due to the Memorial Day Holiday, the Church Office will be closed on Monday, May 26th. Dries and Beth will return to the office on Tuesday and Carly on Wednesday after her usual Tuesday off. We will be checking the church voice mail throughout the weekend and Dries is available on his cell phone.
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People to People Summer Collections
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The Benevolences Committee would like to concentrate on providing cereal and oatmeal to People to People during May through August. With children home during the summer, cereal makes an easy snack as well as a breakfast and the pantry always seems to need it. Cereals which are lower in sugar and higher in protein are most helpful.
Dorothy Iams and Jean Brazee, regular volunteers at People to People, mentioned in worship that there is also a strong need for peanut butter, 4 to 6 oz. empty glass jars with lids, and dish detergent.
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Looking for loving homes
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 Otis Whitmore, member of the Westminster choir, is moving and is looking for loving homes for perennials from his yard. If you are a gardener and would welcome an addition to your garden, please contact Otis.
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Reflection of the Week
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 This weekend our nation will celebrate Memorial Day, commemorating the men and women who have died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. Although Memorial Day is not on the Liturgical calendar of the Church, we will embrace the opportunity to reflect on what it means to remember the sacrifices of our soldiers, especially within the context of the resurrection, as we still find ourselves in the season of Easter. As we prepare ourselves for worship on Sunday I invite you to reflect on the following pointers given to preachers who will make some reference to the U.S. holiday/holy day:
1. Do not glorify war. Consider using a quote from a war-seasoned expert about war. Eisenhower, for instance, said, 'I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity.'
2. Do not sacralize war. War is not a holy enterprise, a crusade led by God and God's representatives on earth, but a human project caused by failures and full of evils, no matter what its rationale or outcome.
3. Do not make war salvific or Christian by misapplying Jesus' statement in John 15:3 about his own loving death and about radical discipleship ('No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends') to war-deaths.
4. Do not let anyone leave the church thinking that any nation is the kingdom of God, or that any nation deserves the unqualified allegiance and praise due to God alone.
5. Do not let anyone leave the church thinking that there is anything more important than worshiping God and following Jesus Christ in the power of the Spirit.
6. Do not let anyone leave the church thinking, "Man, that was a great sermon about this great country and our great wars!"
And one thing to do:
Make sure everyone leaves the church knowing it is Easter season and Pentecost is around the corner! It is the season of life and peace and promise."
See you in worship on Sunday,
Dries
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Worship @ 10:00am this Sunday!
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Mark your calendars! Starting this Sunday, May 25th, Westminster will move to a 10:00am worship time for the summer months.
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Hymns for summer worship
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 This summer we are inviting you to suggest your favorite hymns or new ones you would like to learn for inclusion in the summer worship services. Please list up to three hymns, from our new Presbyterian Hymnal and place this sheet in the offering basket, return it to the church office, or e-mail it to Carly. We encourage you also to give a reason t he hymn is one of your favorites. At each service this summer, we will include at least one hymn chosen from those submitted. Thanks for your participation. -Dries
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Memorial Day: Perspective from Church History by Diana Butler Bass
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Every Memorial Day, I remember how early Christians almost uniformly rejected any kind of military service - and how little we have learned from their witness to peacemaking. As we pause today, it may well be good for our souls to consider this perspective from church history about what it means to be both a Christian and a soldier.
...>>>
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Ohio Light Opera Welcome Picnic
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Adult Education
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The Adult Education class for Sunday, May 25, 2014 will continue its discussion of Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer's book, Authentic Hope: It's the End of the World as We Know It but Soft Landings Are Possible. Because of the change of the time of the Worship Service the discussion will begin at 9:00 AM and end at 9:45 AM and as before will take place in the lounge.
Last Sunday's discussion was on the topic of Chapter 4, "Good Riddance to Empire Part 1: Arragance and Interests." This Sunday we plan to discuss Chapter 5, "Good Riddance to Empire, Part 2 Possibilties." We will consider the extent of US military involvement worldwide in the pursuit of domination and control for US self interests and the economic cost of this policy. As Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer asks "Does this policy provide the security to our nation and the world as alleged and what is the price we pay for this policy for our national well-being?" If a portion of this vast sum of the nation's wealth were redirected toward improving our educational system, our medical services, repair of our crumbling roads and highways, helping the poor and handicapped, expanding job opportunities, and addressing the needs of the victims of our criminal justice system among the many currently unmet needs to our national well-being, would we and the peoples in other parts of the world not be better off and our exploitation of the natural environment be reduced?
As a community committed to peace and compassion for others why do we countenance the inordinate expenditures for our military at the expense of the needs of our people and our nation as well as of others in impoverished foreign lands?
Submitted by Don Gordon
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Alternative Gift Market Coordinator
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Westminster Presbyterian Church has volunteered for many years with other faith communities in Wooster to sponsor the Christmas-season Alternative Gift Market, a community event. The Alternative Gift Market supports humanitarian and environmental causes by offering donors the option to designate charitable gifts through carefully selected agencies in the name of their relatives, friends and associates.
The goal this year as in past years is to successfully raise $10,000 from AGM attenders. For many years WPC has worked with Wooster Mennonite, Unitarian Universalists, Trinity UCC, First Presbyterian and other churches in making this available to Wayne County during the early weeks of December. I have served as Westminster's lead organizer of the Alternative Gift Market for a number of years, but out-of-town family commitments now prevent me from serving in that role. If someone in the congregation would like to lead Westminster's participation in the 2014 Christmas Alternative Gift Market, please contact the Church House: cjones@wooster.edu.
You may visit the Alternative Gifts International Website for more information. I would be delighted to tell you more about what is expected of a Westminster coordinator.
Submitted by Bill Weiss
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Sunday School Year End
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Children's Sunday School ends with a sweet treat at Towne Market.
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Green Tip of the Week
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 Mowing and Fertilizing
- Many local utilities offer discounts on new, electric powered lawn care equipment to businesses and homeowners who trade in their gasoline-powered appliances. Contact your power company to find out if they offer such a program.
- Mow only as often as you need to keep your lawn in good shape. For most lawns, that means cutting your grass no lower than 2.5 inches; keeping many grasses as long as 3.5 inches is ideal for crowding out crab grass and other weeds. Longer grass retains water better.
- Use natural fertilizers or compost. They release nutrients slowly throughout the year, won't leach away, and support the variety of soil organisms that combat diseases.
- If you're in the market for a lawn care company, seek out one that uses "natural" management practices as opposed to heavy chemical treatments.
- Leave grass clippings on the lawn after you mow to provide your lawn with a natural (and free) source of nutrients, or compost the clippings for use in your garden.
- Create healthy soil. Earthworms and other soil organisms keep the soil healthy. By moving through the soil, they allow water and air to penetrate, and they recycle thatch back into nutrients that the grass can use.
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Presbyterian Church (USA) Weekly Blogs:
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What's happening at Westminster this week?
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All events can also be found on our website
www.wpcwooster.org
We hope to see you there!
Sunday, May 25, 2014
9:00am - Adult Education in The Lounge
10:00am - Worship in Mackey Hall, Pastor Dries preaching (summer worship schedule begins)
Monday, May 26, 2014
Memorial Day- Church Office Closed
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
7:00pm - Session Meeting in the Lounge
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
10:00am - CAMO Volunteer Days (meet in church parking lot at 9:30am to carpool)
Thursday, May 29, 2014
6:30pm - Dance Group in Mackey Hall
Sunday, June 1, 2014
9:00am - Adult Education in The Lounge
10:00am - Worship in Mackey Hall, Pastor Dries 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 East Pine Street, Wooster, OH 44691
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