Word from the Pastor

Happy New Year friends!

Are you a person who likes to make New Year resolutions and then struggles to stay the course barely a month in? Even if you have been there, and yes, I have been there a few times… I am not asking you to commit to yet another impossible resolve. 

I invite you to spend some time this month and reflect on the past year celebrating accomplishments, analyzing struggles, assessing what worked well and what did not. I find it helpful to put things in perspective, to not get bogged down in one thing that was hard and challenging, or simply focus on the good things. Instead, let us ponder, where have we seen God at work in ourselves, in our community, in the world. What did we learn about ourselves? What gives us cause for celebration? What area(s) of growth do we recognize in ourselves as individuals and as Westminster—a community of faith? What are our new hopes and dreams for this year 2023?

Earlier this week, I shared with you a prayer meditation from pastor, author, and civil rights leader Howard Thurman titled “Through the Coming Year,” written initially for the congregation of Fellowship Church in San Francisco, where Thurman served as co-pastor in the first racially integrated and intercultural church in the United States. 

Grant that I may pass through the coming year with a faithful heart.

There will be much to test me and make weak my strength before the year ends. In my confusion I shall often say the word that is not true and do the thing of which I am ashamed. There will be errors in the mind and great inaccuracies of judgment...

In seeking the light, I shall again and again find myself walking in the darkness. I shall mistake my light for Your light and I shall drink from the responsibility of the choice I make. 

Nevertheless, grant that I may pass through the coming year with a faithful heart. May I never give the approval of my heart to error, to falseness, to vanity, to sin. Though my days be marked with failures, stumblings, fallings, let my spirit be free so that You may take it and redeem my moments in all the ways my needs reveal.

Give me the quiet assurance of Your Love and Presence. Grant that I may pass through the coming year with a faithful heart.

Thurman’s meditation is an honest acknowledgement of how “inaccuracies of judgment” and mistaking “my light for Your light” interlace our human experience as we journey toward our God-desired fullness. Yet, he reminds us that we are called not to be perfect, but to journey with a “faithful heart,” trusting the promise of God’s presence and love for us. 

Friends, amidst all our hopes and dreams for 2023—dreams of accomplishment and opportunity and love—we recognize that challenge and trial will also be present. As we spend this month and beyond dreaming about the year ahead, it is easy to be seduced into believing that next year will bring all the goodness and success we failed to realize in 2022. Instead, may we balance our goals and intentions with truth, and to aim above all for faithfulness. 

Let us remember who we are, with the words of another faithful visionary, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: 

Lord…

We thank you for your church, founded upon your Word, that challenges us to do 

more than sing and pray, 

but go out and work as though the very answer to our prayers depended on us 

and not upon you. 

Help us to realize that humanity was created to shine like the stars and live on 

through all eternity. 

Keep us, we pray, in perfect peace. 

Help us to walk together, 

pray together, 

sing together, 

and live together 

until that day when all God’s children 

- Black, White, Red, Brown and Yellow - 

will rejoice in one common band of humanity 

in the reign of our Lord and of our God, we pray.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Enikö

Annual Hearty Italian Soup

Sale Continues

 Hearty Italian Soup Sale Update

Our annual “Soup Sale” continues until there’s no more soup to sell. We will donate this year’s proceeds to the Wooster Homelessness Taskforce, including the Severe Weather Shelter.

You can choose regular with Italian sausage or vegan for $8 a quart or $9 with

Sue-min’s homemade bread. Pick up after church most Sunday’s or call 330-263-2398 to pick up during the week. If you have empty quart soup containers, please bring them to the church kitchen. We will happily use them for our next batch of Hearty Italian Soup. 

Enjoy!

Benevolence Committee

Saving Nature and our Planet Starts Here     January 2023

Juli Douglass-Gillsepie

In 2023 I’ve decided to change the name of this column. The “Earth Emergency” hasn’t changed at all, and “First Aid” is still very much needed. However, band aids and other emergency solutions are not appropriate when the problems are not indicative of a temporary situation which can be corrected with temporary fixes. The effects of climate change and extreme loss of biodiversity are here to stay and cannot be undone. Furthermore, the Earth’s environmental problems encompass every aspect of our consumer society dependent on economic growth, technological growth, industrial growth, and are plagued by population growth, disinformation and misinformation growth, social injustice growth, to name just a few. “Starting Here” focusses on us as unique individuals who all have something personal to contribute as antidotes. Eniko our pastor reminds us constantly that God doesn’t give up on us, ever. I, for one, need to hear this, when I think of the harm that human beings are causing the Earth by abusing and destroying each other and all of Nature. God is telling us that he forgives us AND wants us to do better: Here–in our individual space we call home, and Now–in the immediate present of our lives.  

“Doing better” is subjective, so it requires what makes sense for each of us, and it requires self-examination. Most of us know by now, from reading and learning, where our own personal environmental offenses lie. Yet procrastination and clinging to comfort prevent us from making drastic changes in our lifestyles, to say nothing of sacrifice. I think we also don’t believe we could be happy with less, and why should we, anyway? The calamity will happen, you say, if it even happens (the projections are too much like Hollywood fantasy), in the distant future. Meanwhile God keeps watching and waiting, tapping on our shoulders. God calls us to action, but the choice is always ours.

So at the beginning of 2023 here are some of my meager thoughts, which you may or may not find helpful for yourself. 

• On RFI Radio this morning I listened to a discussion on new discoveries of the universe apart from the Earth, based on photos from the James Webb telescope, and the question of “What is life?” It was said there are nearly 200 different scientific answers. So scientists can’t agree, to say nothing of anyone else’s opinions. [ Here on Earth so many forms of life are disappearing, having gone extinct. If you care that certain species have gone or are going extinct (our human species will follow, influenced by a lack of biodiversity), will you try to do something to change that? How can you be a defender of life–God’s creation– on Earth?] 
• Plastic is such a pervasive problem because it is everywhere in our throw away society. Most recycling is a sham and not a responsible way to dispose of plastic. Wildlife on land and sea are dying because of it, and the dangers of microplastic in our bodies are not fully understood. [Every time you use plastic for anything, think about what you could do differently so that you don’t contribute to killing another species, or putting your family in danger. How can you reuse what you have, never throwing it into the landfill or river, and minimize buying more? This likely means more work for you, less convenience. Doesn’t God want us to think of what impact we make on others?]

• Waste has become such a characteristic of American life. This article about food waste of Ohioans is worth spending time reading and reflecting on.

“How central Ohio got people to eat their leftovers” Read it HERE .



[Think of how efficient the birds and the squirrels in your yard are. Squirrels in the wild can live 5 to 10 years without ever buying a bit of food, clothing, or possessions. Animals use what they need, except humans, who accumulate STUFF, throw away STUFF, buying so much more than they need. Our capitalist culture brainwashes us into thinking we have to have more. This waste of STUFF ends up in our environment as pollution. Imagine a better world where everything is reused and reused. Imagine the effect on habitat for wildlife, and on global equality for all people and all forms of life. Doesn’t God want us to share the beauty of this Earth with all creatures?]

Volunteer Opportunities for the Viola Startzman Clinic

The Benevolence Committee is now offering support to The Viola Startzman Clinic.

They are seeking volunteers to send cards and notes of cheer to their clientele. You can write your own notes at home and drop them off directly to the clinic. If you do so, please mention that you are participating through Westminster Presbyterian Church.

You can also volunteer to do this at the clinic and they will provide the cards, pens and addresses. The Benevolence Committee is considering doing this as a group. If you are interested, please reach out to any member of the Benevolence Committee or contact Dawn Kridel at mdmesk@ gmail.com for further information.

The Viola Startzman Clinic is also looking for healthy, budget friendly recipes for their clientele. If you have any to share, let Dawn Kridel know and she will get those forwarded to the Viola Startzman Clinic.

January Collection Items

Spaghetti Sauce

Saltine Crackers

Pork n Beans

Ready to Serve Soups

Hygiene Items

Deodorant for Men & Women

Hand Soap

Severe Weather Shelter Volunteers Needed

Janet Burkhart from the Homelessness Taskforce informed us that the Salvation Army Severe Weather Shelter will operate between December through March when temperatures "feel like" 25F or lower. We are partnering again with First Presbyterian Church to prepare and serve meals on Mondays during this period. Our congregation will be responsible for every other Monday. 

If you are interested in preparing a meal and serving at the shelter, please contact Linda Barbu. 

January - February

Hospitality & Liturgist

Westminster's worship and fellowship time is an important way to build relationships among all attending. 

We invite you to participate as a liturgist, assistant or provide flowers to decorate our alter. 

If you are able to fill one of these areas, 

please click here to sign up. 

Thank you for your contribution to our worship service.

Public Health Safety Update

WPC Current Status is:  Mask Optional. 

As masks may be required in specific, private areas,

please make note of any exception signage. 

Westminster Church will continue to encourage safe health practices 

and will adjust our guidelines as needed.

Thank you for your understanding and support to keep all of us safe.