Finding A Place At The Table

Summer is starting...

As we move toward summer,  here's some news about what's happening at West...

We invite you to join us for PeacePrayers, an informal time of worship and prayer, on June 1 at 5:00 PM.  We will also gather for PeacePrayers on the first Sundays in July and August as well.

On June 8, West Church begins our summer schedule, with our Sunday morning Service of Worship moving to 10:00 AM.  We will continue to worship at 10 AM on Sunday mornings through Labor Day weekend.  Following the Service of Worship on June 8 the congregation will journey to Fox Point State Park for our annual church picnic.

West Church is sponsoring Worship @ The Beach again this summer on a periodic basis.. Our gathering schedule is a bit more "relaxed" this year than last.  Please see the Worship @ the Beach website for more information about our gathering times and places during the summer.  To reflect some dreams and hopes for this gathering, we anticipate changing the name from Worship @ The Beach to Safe Harbor Community.

The PCUSA General Assembly meets in late June in San Jose.  Please keep the commissioners to the Assembly in your prayers.

West Church "adopted" a section of the beach in Cape Henlopen state park this year.   There's a picture of the sign on the beach on West Church's web site.  We recently had our first beach clean up day, and will have another one this coming fall.

Also, our our web site is a picture of some of the baptismal banners that were created by long-time member Marie Goss. 

A Week Since Easter

In the week since Easter day, as we have continued our lives, I have found myself drawn again and again to the story from the 28th chapter of Matthew's Gospel of the first Easter day.  In particular, I have found myself pondering the image that appears frequently in that story of Jesus going ahead, and of the invitation to people to go to where Jesus is, and of Jesus' command that the disciples go and baptize.  It's an amazing image--Jesus not just in the past, and Jesus not just beside us today,  but Jesus out in the future.  Jesus in the future, calling us to journey toward that future in faith.   

If Jesus is in the future, then we need not fear the present.     And, if Jesus is in the future as well as in the present, then we can have the courage to go wherever it is God calls us to go, knowing that God is waiting for us to arrive.

Foot Washing and Other Service

As Jesus was nearing the end of life, having loved too many of the wrong kinds of people, after eating with his disciples, he  began to was his disciples feet. John's Gospel (chapter 13) tells us that Simon Peter objected to Jesus washing the disciples feet.  After all, washing feet was something that servants did, not the masters.  Jesus washed feet that night, and commanded his disciples to do the same.

It's rare that we wash one another's feet now, and realistically, most of us don't need someone to do that for us these days.  But the world does need our love, and the world does need to hear of God's love in Jesus Christ.  As people of faith, we are still called to serve, to share, and to let our words as well as our actions proclaim hope and peace as we meet the real needs of a hurting world.   All around us bodies and souls are hurting and in need of the radical, barrier-breaking love that we find in God.

On this Maundy Thursday, perhaps some questions are worth pondering:  How are we called to serve today?  How can we share the Good News of God's love?  Where are we called to share this news?  If we aren't called to wash feet, how are we called to be servants of God? 

In The Middle of Holy Week

In the middle of Holy Week--the palms from Sunday have wilted, and the hosannas we said are now a memory.  Between now and Easter morning we will gather to remember Jesus' last supper and his arrest, trial and crucifixion.  Before we get to the celebration of Easter, we will remember that Jesus' disciples deserted him, that both religious and secular authorities will conspire to kill him. We may be in the middle of holy week, but we are still a long way from Easter festivities.

According to Matthew, when Jesus' donkey ride into Jerusalem ended in that holy city, he went into the temple and cured the blind and the lame.  But the reaction of the religious insiders was not positive.  In fact, Matthew says, they became angry (see Matthew 21:14-15).   One might think--or at least hope--that the world would respond to the amazing things Jesus did with great joy.  But Jesus' love does have the way of upsetting the powerful, turning things upside-down, and threatening the powers and principalities of the world.    

On Palm Sunday I was reminded that Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey, a very humble beast of burden.  His life was one of service, breaking down  barriers that divide, and loving even those the world refused to love.   His love and his service to the world was so amazing that it filled the powers of the world with fear, and led Jesus to death on a cross.

Someone once noted that it was not hate that killed Jesus.  It was love.   Sometimes real, barrier breaking, life giving, hope inspiring love does cause some to fear as it works to change  the status quo, invites all people to the table of life, seeks justice and power for the dis-enfranchised, and tries  to create a world where everyone has enough and no one is left out.

In the middle of Holy Week...what's our love like?

 

On a Tuesday

The lectionary text for Tuesday of Holy Week is John 12:20-36.  In this pasage, Jeus says that his soul is "troubled."  It seems he is troubled because he knows what is to come.  Yet, even though his soul is troubled, he continues to allow himself to be used by God.   The passage ends with a notation that Jesus "departed" and "hid from them." 

What "troubles" our souls?  Where do we find assurance? help? courage?  How do we allow ourselves to be used by God, even when our souls are "troubled"?

Passion Sunday

In the liturgical life of the church, today is an odd day--a day of joy and celebration, but also a day when the knowledge of the events to come cast a shadow.  Known as Palm Sunday, we celebrate Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem.  He rode into the holy city on a donkey, with the road lined with people waving palms and shouting "Hosanna".  But his entrance into Jerusalem at Passover was also the beginning of the last week of his life.  So, even as we wave palms today and sing "Hosanna" we also are aware of the events that are soon to follow--an arrest, a trial, a conviction, a crucifixion and a burial.   

In keeping with our commitment to justice, we used Eco Palms today at West.  According to the PCUSA web site

Typically, palm harvesting is done by community members hired by local contractors, who then sell palms to large floral export firms. Payment is based on volume, so the harvesters are motivated to gather a large number of palms without regard for the quality. As a result, up to 50 percent or more of the palms are later discarded because of poor quality. This method risks the rapid depletion of the forest's rich biodiversity, including the many bird species that migrate to these regions during the winter.

Many palm producing areas in Central America are important biosphere reserves where palms are part of the natural forest.

Growers of eco palms are paid based on quality of the harvest, which in more environmentally sound because it limits the number of palms harvested.  Furthermore, because growers of eco palms do the sorting and packaging rather than sending them off to a distant warehouse for these tasks, the growers themselves receive more income from the harvest.

Amazing Grace

This past Sunday a group of folks gathered to watch the movie, Amazing Grace.  This film, which was directed by Michael Apted, tells the story of a 20 year attempt by William Wilberforce to abolish slave trade and slavery in England.  The film is beautiful, moving and powerful as it shows a man who felt God's call and experienced God's grace, being transformed and then seeking to transform the world around him.  Despite continual setbacks along the way, he continued to pursue justice vigorously. 

As I reflected on the film and the convesation the group had following I found myself pondering a variety of questions and issues:

• Does experiencing God's grace necessarily lead to our comfort and ease?  Or, does it sometimes invite us to journey outward in love, compassion and concern for others in ways that may challenge us as we challenge the world?
• Is there similarities between the arguments used by those who supported slavery and slave trade in England and the arguments used by the abolutionists, wiht the the arguments used today to around our own imigration policies?
• At one point, Wilberforce thought he had to choose between doing the work of God and doing the work of a political activist.  Is there a line between doing God's work and working through the political system to bring about justice and love?
• John Newton, the author of the hymn, Amazing Grace, was once the owner of a slave boat.  He became clear that those actions were wrong and his hymn Amazing Grace, becomes a central inspiration for Wilberforce's work to abolish slavery.  At one point, Newton writes a "confession"  in which he details what he had done as a slaver.  He invites Wilberforce to publish that document, recognizing, in his words that he was a "great sinner and Christ is a great savior."  Does forgiveness compel action for us? 
• Where in our world do we continue to see people enslaved today?  How does God call us to respond to those situtions and people?
• How do we experience God's amazing grace today, and how is that changing us?

The film raises tough questions; but they are questions that just may go to the very heart of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Intentional Faith and Baptismal Vows

When anyone is baptized in the Presbyterian Church someone affirms their faith and makes a promise.  In the case of an adult, the person being baptized makes their own profession of faith and promises.  When it's an infant, the parents make the vows in the hopes that when the child grows up they will make their own profession.    We don't ask for a series of 20 promises and theological affirmations, but only a few:  Do you profess your faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior?  Do you renounce evil and affirm reliance on God's grace?  Do you intend to actively participate in the worship and mission of the church?  These few affirmations, however, are the foundation and bedrock of our spiritual growth and faith journey.   

Tomorrow we begin the season of Lent.  This season of repentance and preparation is an opportunity for us to reflect on how we are living out the vows and affirmations we made when we were baptized or when we made our own professions of faith.  How are our lives being molded by our faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior?  What difference does this affirmation make in the way we are living our life today?    How are our lives being shaped by our reliance on God's grace?  Are we faithfully living out our promise to actively participate in the worship and mission of the church?  What difference does our baptism and our professions of faith make in the way we live, in how we spend our money, in what we do with our time, in how we relate to others?  Are we intentionally living our lives in ways that are consistent with these promises?  As a time of preparation, the season of Lent is an invitation to consider anew these important vows and how they shape who we are and what we do.

We invite you not only to prayerfully reflect on your baptismal vows in the season of Lent, but to begin Lent with us at West on Wednesday, February 6 at 7:00 PM when we gather for an Ash Wednesday Service of Worship.  Please join us for a quiet, reflective and prayerful time.  The service will include the imposition of ashes for those who desire to receive them as a sign of our repentance.