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 It is with excitement that we welcome returning and new students of The College of Wooster this coming Sunday at 10:45am followed by our traditional brownie reception. As a church we are privileged to be on The College orientation schedule for first year students and to have many new and returning students visit us on the first Sunday of a new academic year.
The recent Pew study on the grown of "Nones" and the "Spiritual But Not Religious" has roiled the church. But we really shouldn't be surprised. We've known for a long time now that the apparent "churchiness" of the fifties and sixties was an exception, not the rule.
Frankly, I'm not convinced that the statistics charted by Pew are even "a trend." It could be argued that Americans are just getting honest about how disenchanted they are with church.
Trend or not, the disenchantment can be traced to six things that people need to hear from churches, but are rarely said:
"Welcome!"
A welcome is not just something offered at the front door. It's not just about a few words at the front door. It's a smile. It's warmth. It's ease with the stranger. It's not something that the visitor hears. It is something that the visitor senses. Welcome is a state of mind that embraces newcomers. The visitor concludes, "I could belong here."
"You can find God here."
The service should suggest the presence of the transcendent God. Not the remote, prime mover-God who winds up the world and exits stage right. Not a God who is the ghost in the machine. Not a cosmic buddy. What people need to know is that the Holy is here, present and tangible.
"What do you feel God is calling you to do?"
Too many people who enter our doors hear us say, "We are glad you are here. These are the gaps in our 'org chart.' Which job would you like to do?" What people need to hear instead is the open-ended question, "What do you feel God is calling you to do?" That question will make life in the church elastic, changing, ever shifting. Ministries will come and go. But the work that the church does will be integrally related to the lives of those who join our communities.
"How can we help you make that calling possible?"
The church of the future will be led by people with the instincts of a spiritual director. Leaders will need to be alive to the movement of God's Spirit in the lives of those who attend their churches and they will want to know, "How can we help?"
"The spiritual and religious dots connect in this place."
Too much of what we do as church is about church as an end in itself. Some of that is unavoidable. Planning, budgeting, and reporting are all things that life in "the real world" requires. But they often loom too large. People who enter our churches need to know how the church's sacraments and worship enhances the spiritual life.
"You have gifts and we are incomplete without them."
The church is not a collection of Lone Rangers. It is the Body of Christ. There are contributions that each of us can make but there are other contributions that can only be made when we work together. The message of the New Testament is not "you have a gift, but so do I." The message is "you have a gift and we are incomplete without it."
Join us on Sunday as we grow in practicing radical hospitality!
See you in worship,
Dries
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  This coming Sunday, August 30th we will return to worship at 10:45 am on Sunday mornings. For the the next five weeks I invite you to journey with me in worship through the book of James as we "Connect Through Kindness". Although this letter is controversial in church history with its emphasis on "good deeds," it instructs us how to put our faith into action and encourages us to "be doers of the word, and not merely hearers..." (James 1:22). Also this fall we will continue to cultivate mindfulness through walking. On the first Sunday of each month, as long as weather permits, join us as we "Walk in Mindfulness" at Oak Hill Park located on Oak Hill Road. This worship opportunity is in addition to our regular worship in Mackey Hall at 10:45am. We hope that this worship experience will continue in The Meeting Place in a different format once it gets too cold outside.
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Westminster's Women's Bible Study will resume September 8, 2015 at 10:00am in The Lounge, the second Tuesday of each month through June 14, 2016. This year's study will be Come to the Waters by Judy Record Fletcher. "In this study, we consider the waters of chaos in Genesis, and the River of Life in the last chapter of Revelation, where chaos is no more. Water plays a central role in the stories of creation, the delivery of God's people (through the parting of the Red Sea and the crossing of the Jordan River), judgment of a people weak in faith, and the adoption of the people of God through baptism. Sometimes there is too much water (think Noah) and sometimes there is too little water (think drought in the desert). Together, we will explore some of the Bible's 800 references to water." If you are interested contact Elaine Smith Snyder for more information or pick up your copy of the book in the office or after worship.
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As a church founded in peacemaking we realize that there are times when "doing good" is just not enough! To bring about a more just reality, especially for the marginalized and the oppressed, requires of us to address the root causes of inequity in our society. Join me in studying the book Faith Rooted Organizing. Mobilizing the Church in Service to the World.
"With so many injustices, small and great, across the world and right at our doorstep, what are people of faith to do? Since the 1930s, organizing movements for social justice in the U.S. have largely been built on assumptions that are secular origin - such as reliance on self-interest and having a common enemy as a motivator for change. But what if Christians were to shape their organizing around the implications of the truth that God is real and Jesus is risen? Alexia Salvatierra has developed a model of social action that is rooted in the values and convictions born of faith. Together with theologian Peter Heltzel, this model of "faith-rooted organizing" offers a path to meaningful social change that takes seriously the command to love God and to love our neighbor as ourself."
I have not identified a time when this study will take place, but please contact me as we discern together when we will gather in cultivating the "Gift of Justice". Contact Dries Coetzee for more information.
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You may have noticed the BLUE recycling container with a recycling logo in Mackey Hall beneath the "Fish and Loaf" stained glass at the main entrance. We invite you to recycle your bulletins and other papers as you leave the space. The College of Wooster has Single Stream Recycling so please feel free to place all recyclable material in this container. Watch a video from Waste Management for an explanation on Single Stream Recycling, how the recycling material is handled, and what happens once it leaves the College.
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What's happening at Westminster this week?
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9:30am - Choir Rehearsal in Mackey Hall
10:45am - Worship in Mackey Hall, Pastor Dries preaching, Student Welcome Sunday
12:00pm - Fellowship on the Mackey Patio
7:00pm - Garden volunteer time at GreenPoint Garden
7:45am - Men's Breakfast at the Downtown Buehlers
8:30am - Agape Latte in the Fishbowl in the Old Main Cafe
11:30am - Property & Finance Cohort Meeting in the Lounge
7:00pm - Choir Rehearsal in Mackey Hall
6:00pm - UKirk in The Meeting Place
6:30pm - Dance Group in Mackey Hall
7:30am - Walking in Mindfulness at Oak Hill Park
9:30am - Choir Rehearsal in Mackey Hall
10:45am - Worship in Mackey Hall, Pastor Dries preaching
12:00pm - Fellowship in Mackey Hall
7:00pm - Garden volunteer time at GreenPoint Garden
Church Office closed in celebration of Labor Day
For the latest and most up-to-date information visit Westminster's calendar here.
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