A Word from Laura: Farewell to Patrick
With a heavy heart, I share with you the news that our interim music director Patrick Merrill shared officially with me, the Personnel chair, clerk of session and choir this past week: that he is leaving Western to pursue an opportunity to work at St. Stephen Martyr Catholic Church, where his wife Grace has served as a cantor for over a decade. (click to read more)
The Negro Spirituals Project at Western presents “Great Performances: The Magic of Spirituals”
The Negro Spirituals Project at Western invites you to listen in on Friday, February 24th at 9 p.m. on your local PBS station to see "The Magic of Spirituals" a documentary that shares “the behind the scenes story of a famed concert at Carnegie Hall on March 18, 1990, by celebrated singers Jessye Norman and Kathleen Battle.
Congregational Conversation
Dear Western Friends,
On behalf of the Session, I invite you to join us for a congregational conversation following worship on Sunday, February 12.
Last Sunday, you heard from some of our leaders sharing both gratitude for your continued generosity as well as some of the financial challenges we face as a church. As we respond to changes in our post-pandemic life – fewer in attendance, shifts in membership and giving, needs requiring technological dexterity – we are also working to adjust our staffing and programming.
Western's Negro Spiritual Fund Honors Black History Month
As part of our celebration of Black History Month, we will be singing and/or performing a Negro Spiritual every week during our Sunday worship. Recognizing that none of the composers of Negro Spirituals ever received compensation for their performances, Western joined other churches last year and established the Negro Spirituals Fund to “pay it forward” by making gifts to organizations performing this type of music.
Click to read more.
A Word from Laura: Praying to Dismantle Racism
“To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.”
-Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
As Western prepares to celebrate the legacy of Martin Luther King, in light of a PC(USA) emphasis on dismantling structural racism, I call us, my friends, to prayer.
In his work, Dr. King prayed to the “creative force in the universe, already working to pull down gigantic mountains of evil, a power that is able to make a way out of no way…” He knew that the evil, injustice and sin at work in racism were too big for humankind alone.
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A Word from Laura: New Things
Dear Western Friends,
Greetings on Epiphany, the day we remember the Light of the star the magi followed to find the Christ child. It’s also the day we celebrate that Light in our own lives, a beacon at the beginning of our calendar year.
It’s also the turning of the year, when we take stock of who we have been and who we will become. We have a moment to look back at the past year and ask if we are measuring up to who we want to be – or better yet, who God calls us to be. We can set intentions for what lies ahead. As a church, we can ask how we will live into God’s love and justice more fully, more deeply.
(read more)