Finding A Place At The Table

Music and Poetry for Peace

2008-07-26T21:32:26-04:00

As Wilmington mourns the 14th homicide in 2008, West Church invites you to Music and Poetry for Peace in Our City, at 4:00 PM on Sunday, July 27, 2008. This free concert is a gift from West Church to the community and will feature the music of Nate Farrar and Bruce Anthony, and the poetry of the Twin Poets. Please join us.

Parking is available in the lots behind the church building. The church is located at the corner of 8th and Washington Streets in the City of Wilmington.

Post General Assembly...

2008-07-13T18:54:07-04:00

General Assembly was an awe-inspiring experience as hundreds of Presbyterians worshipped and worked and prayed together. Although the actions of the assembly will continue to be dissected and digested for months to come, those of us who dream of an inclusive church are overjoyed at the Assembly's actions relating to ordination and are prayerfully hoping that a majority of presbyteries will vote affirmively on the re-write of a paragraph in the book of order, 6.60106b. The re-written paragraph ties ordination decisions to assent to ordination vows. The Assembly also issued a new authoritative interpretation which says that all interpretive statements related to sexual standards for ordination which were issued before 1996 no longer have any force or effect. including the old "definitive guidance" from 1978.

We are thankful for GA's actions!

Our Denomination's General Assembly

2008-06-16T20:36:10-04:00

Our denomination's General Assembly begins at the end of this week in San Jose, California. There are a variety of important issues which will come before the Assembly this year. The Stated Clerk of our denomination has provided a list of what he believes will be the top 10 issues.You can follow the "action" on the Presbyterian Church (USA) website.

Also check out the Just Presbyterians website. Just Presbyterians is a web site created by a number of progressive organizations related to the Presbyterian Church

This blogger is going as a commissioner, and two other clergy associated with 'West Church will also be in San Jose as volunteers and visitors.

Please keep the Assembly in your prayers.

Summer is starting...

2008-05-31T21:30:07-04:00

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.

PeacePrayers

2008-04-30T20:08:05-04:00

At 11 homicides already in this calendar year, our City will almost certainly far exceed the 14 that occurred in 2007., and could easily far exceed the record of 22 which happened in 2006. Clearly there is something wrong with the fabric of our community, our city and our society. Despite real needs that can only be met by government, surely there is a significant role that the faith community is called to bring to the issue. One place to begin to figure out what we are called to do, is to go to God in prayer. We begin to work for peace by asking God for peace, and by asking God to help us discern what God calls us to do to be peacemakers in our community

We invite the community to join us for PeacePrayers, on Sunday, May 4 at 5:00 PM. Through this service of scripture, song and prayer we will bring our fervent prayers for peace to God, even as we seek to determine what God is calling us to do to be an effective witness for peace in our community. Please join us for PeacePrayes; and please join us in praying daily for peace in Wilmington.

Praying for Peace

2008-04-22T07:50:55-04:00

Being concerned about the rate of violent crimes in our city, and especially in our neighborhood, we encourage everyone to commit themselves to praying for peace regularly. Please, pray for peace in our city.

We also invite all to a special service of worship and prayer, called PeacePrayers. PeacePrayers will be a service of prayer, song and scripture in which we remember the hope we have in God and in which we pray for peace in our city. Please join us for PeacePrayers on Sunday, May 4 at 5:00 PM at West Presbyterian Church.

Events of Interest

2008-04-10T10:35:06-04:00

The Interfaith Coalition: Building Blocks for Wilmington, will have their monthly meeting tonight, at 7 PM here at West. All are invited.

The Interfaith Coalition: Building Blocks for Wilmington is sponsoring a Governor Candidates Forum on Saturday April 26, 10 am until noon in the Community Hall of Westminster Presbyterian Church. The focus of this forum will be on the candidates vision for and commitment to Wilmington's inner city neighborhoods.

West Church has "adopted" a portion of the beach, and will have our first clean up day on Saturday, April 19. More details available on Sunday, April 13 during the service of worship. We will celebrate Earth Day during the Service of Worship on April 20 at 11:00 AM.

The adult spiritual formation group continues its conversation about globalization on April 13, 20 and 27. Join us at 9:30 AM on Sunday mornings.

A Week Since Easter

2008-03-29T11:30:36-04:00

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

2008-03-20T16:00:00-04:00

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?

Maundy Thursday at West

2008-03-20T10:00:00-04:00

The Maundy Thursday Service of Worship will be at 7:00 PM this evening. We invite you to join us. The service includes special vocal music sung by the West Church choir and guest vocalist, Kelly Curtin. Instrumental music will be provided by Doreen Fell (piano) and Beily Street (cello). The Service of Worship will include the sacrament of the Lord's Supper and lessons focusing on the last day of Jesus' life.

The church is located at the corner of 8th and Washington Streets in downtown Wilmington. Parking is available in the lot behind the church building.