|
Weekly News Friday, November 21, 2014
|
|
|
|
Get Involved
|
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 sheet in Mackey Hall, or by contacting Carly Jones 330-263-2398) in the church office.
|
|
Worship At Westminster
|
Sunday, November 23, 2014
10:45am Worship service. Pastor Dries preaching.
Sunday, November 30, 2014
10:45am Worship service. First Sunday of Advent with Pastor Dries preaching.
|
|
Office Hours during Thanksgiving
|
 The Church Office will be closed for the Thanksgiving holiday starting at noon on Wednesday, November 26th and will re-open on Monday, December 1st at 8:00am. The building will be open normal hours on Wednesday, but will remain locked Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. If you need assistance during this time, please contact Pastor Dries on his cell phone. We will also be checking the church voice-mail daily. Happy Thanksgiving!
|
|
In Appreciation
|
 | |
Ross & Cinny Gooch
|
To Westminster -
We appreciate your support of our parents during both the good times and the bad times. We especially have appreciated your support of us. Thank you for all that you have done for both our father's memorial service and that of our mother.
Thank you,
The Gooch Family
|
|
Alternative Gift Market
| |
In support of the Alternative Gift Market Westminster did not schedule our monthly Social Justice Potluck on Sunday, December 7th. Please join friends and members of our congregation from 12-2:30pm at First Presbyterian Church, Wooster. At this community-wide event, shoppers tour displays related to thirty different humanitarian aid projects and can purchase $5.00 shares in the projects of their choosing to give to friends and family members in lieu of material gifts. Buyers receive a greeting card with each share purchased. Soup,
sandwiches, and pie will be available, with proceeds benefiting local community meal programs. Also for sale will be locally handcrafted items and fairly traded merchandise from Ten Thousand Villages. Cash or checks accepted.
|
|
|
|
Reflection of the Week
|
 | |
Letters to the Ohio legislators
|
I want to thank all those of the Westminster community that submitted letters for the Equality Ohio Faith Day Press Conference. Beth and I, along with Revs. Elaine Strong from the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Wayne County and Evelyn Manzella from St. James
 | |
The Wooster delegation undergoes advocacy training before our visit with Rep. Ron Amstutz's office
|
Episcopal Church personally delivered your letters to an aide of State Representative Ron Amstutz of Wayne County. I was also privileged to be the Master of Ceremonies at the Press Conference and speak as Moderator of the Synod of the Covenant of the Presbyterian Church (USA), representing the Presbyterian Church in most of Ohio and Michigan. As such I was able to deliver a very strong voice from the Presbyterian Church in support of non-discrimination, saying:
"At our stated meeting on November 8, 2014 we unanimously added our voice to call upon the Ohio Senate and House of Representatives to explicitly protect the rights of all Ohio citizens, without regard to sexual
 | |
Dries speaking at the Statehouse Press Conference
|
orientation or gender identity, in order to provide equal access to employment and housing for all Ohio's citizens. This decision was made on a longstanding mandate from the Presbyterian Church (USA) at its 190th General Assembly (1978) and reaffirmed at its 214th General Assembly in 2002 for all her members to work for the passage of laws that prohibit discrimination in the areas of employment, housing, and public accommodations based on the sexual orientation of a person".
Visit the following link to see news coverage of the event here.
Thank you, Westminster! This past week you made a difference!
Blessings,
Dries
|
|
Advent 2014
| 
I have heard the saying so often here at Westminster, and in fact I have said it myself, that we want to be a "voice for the voiceless". The reality we so easily forget in our zeal for justice and reconciliation, is that the so-called voiceless indeed have a voice. This coming Advent we will journey in mindfulness as we "Listen for the Word Made Flesh" [1] and explore why we find it so difficult to "hear" or to "listen" to this voice.
I would love for this to be an interactive worship experience and invite you to share your thoughts with me in the coming weeks on "listening to the voice of the voiceless". You can e-mail me at acoetzee@wooster.edu, call me, or we can make time for coffee and conversation.
To deepen your Advent journey I invite you to join me and the San Francisco Theological Seminary in reflection and prayer through Daily Devotions for Advent from December 1-25.
"Devotions are written by SFTS students, alums, faculty, staff and trustees, and collectively serve as our gift to the SFTS community, our family and friends, and the larger church. Many people find that devotions are a great way to begin each day during the holiday season. ... This year's theme is "Listening for The Word Made Flesh." The theme asks us to join those first Advent listeners -- Anna and Simeon, John the Baptizer, Elizabeth and Mary, Zechariah and Joseph, shepherds, a people longing for liberation -- to listen for a Word in Scripture and to listen in our world for the Word made flesh in the midst of us". Join here to receive daily devotions. The First Sunday in Advent will be during Thanksgiving weekend on November 30. I am looking forward to starting this Advent journey in the midst of the community of family and friends at Westminster. Dries [1] This title, and banner above, is borrowed from the San Francisco Theological Seminary. |
November Donations for People to People
| 
People to People collection suggestions: Holiday foods are welcome this month
including dessert mixes, potatoes, quick bread mixes, canned vegetables, canned fruit, and applesauce. The pantry is also low on peanut butter, jelly, and crackers among
others. Thank you for your contributions!
|
|
Olive Oil
| |
 Free-trade, organic Palestinian olive oil is available for purchase at $20 a bottle for 750 ml. This is a great gift for a Thanksgiving host/hostess instead of a bottle of wine or flowers. Please contact Linda Barbu (330-345-7112) to arrange delivery.
|
|
|
|
|
The Westminster Vegan Potluck
|
At Westminster we believe that we are a community of faith where we are making a difference. One such way is the monthly Vegan Potluck. Over these past three years, we have seen the Vegan Potluck grow from four adult Westminster members meeting in The Meeting Place to about seventy people from Westminster, The College of Wooster, and the larger Wooster Community participating in the meal in Mackey Hall. For many people, the Vegan Potluck is a time of intergenerational fellowship, for others it is a social justice issue, and for some it is about eating a plant based diet for health reasons. The one thing we have in common is that we believe we can make a difference through mindful eating and being in community.
Don Gordon, one of the attendees of the potluck, shared the following article from Chris Hedges entitled, Saving the Planet, One Meal at a Time, posted on November 9, 2014
"My attitude toward becoming a vegan was similar to Augustine's attitude toward becoming celibate-"God grant me abstinence, but not yet." But with animal agriculture as the leading cause of species extinction, water pollution, ocean dead zones and habitat destruction 2, and with the death spiral of the ecosystem ever more pronounced, becoming vegan is the most important and direct change we can immediately make to save the planet and its species. It is one that my wife-who was the engine behind our family's shift-and I have made." ...>>>
|
Salvation Army Bell Ringers
| 
As many members of Westminster ring bells for the Salvation Army through other service organizations, we will not be ringing bells this year as a congregation. However, the Salvation Army is still looking for Bell Ringers to sign up for two hour shifts from 10am-8pm during the holiday season. If you are interested, please call Brenda at 330-264-4704 to ring a bell and change a life in your community.
Bring a friend or your children. It's a great way to teach young ones about giving. All the money raised at the kettle stays in the community to support local programs. Thank you so much! They really need lots of people to cover all the hours.
|
| Green Tip of the Week | 
Tips for Buying Renewable Electricity
A growing number of electric companies are offering green power, green pricing or renewable energy credits (RECs) to consumers. Here are some tips for making the switch to clean power and supporting the greening of our grid:
- Find out how green your existing utility is with the EPA's handy power profile report. Simply plug your zip code into the form and you'll get a report on both the power mix in your area and the types of emissions produced by those sources.
- Learn the lingo. Green Power is renewable electricity directly supplying the grid, large or small, that you draw power from. A Renewable Energy Credit (or REC) is proof of one megawatt-hour of renewable energy generation that you can buy separately and match with your home electricity use to make it green. Green Pricing allows you to add renewables to your power mix after paying a premium on your bill, though signing up for some green pricing programs could even cost less than your regular electric bill!
How RECs Work (Image: Renewable Choice Energy)
- Crowdfund a renewable project in your community. Think of it like a community garden: neighbors can buy "shares" in a solar project in their town to both make a bigger impact than a single project and save money. In other situations, neighbors can join together to make a bulk purchase to save on their individual solar panels.
- Ask your utility to support green power. Email or call your power company and tell them that you want them to both switch to sustainable sources like wind and solar and offer their customers more green power options.
-
Don't forget about efficiency. Efficiency might not be as flashy as renewables, but it could make an even bigger impact on emissions reductions while reducing your electricity costs.
- Get inspired. See how easy it is to make the switch by reading these stories from EarthShare employees who use green energy.
information taken from www.earthshare.org
|
Presbyterian Church (USA) Weekly Blogs:
| |
|
|
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, November 23rd
9:30am - Choir Rehearsal in Mackey Hall
10:45am - Worship in Mackey Hall, Pastor Dries preaching
Tuesday, November 25th
8:30am - UKirk's Agape Latte in Kauke Old Main
7:00pm - Session Meeting in the Lounge
Wednesday, November 26th
Office closes at noon
Thursday, November 27th
Happy Thanksgiving! Friday, November 28th
Sunday, November 30th
9:30am - Choir Rehearsal in Mackey Hall
10:45am - Worship in Mackey Hall, First Sunday in Advent, Pastor Dries preaching
|
|
"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.
|
|
Andries J. Coetzee
Pastor, Westminster Presbyterian Church
353 East Pine Street, Wooster, OH 44691
|
|
|
|
|
