Word from the Pastor

Friends,

As some of you know, I grew up in the Hungarian Reformed Church in Transylvania (the central part of current Romania). In this particular Reformed tradition, there is a special worship service hosted at the end of the summer to give thanks for the bounty of the harvest--symbol of God's gifts of provision and care. 

In the spirit of this beautiful tradition of the early years of my faith journey, I thought that it would be appropriate to take account and give thanks for the many ways we have experienced God's sustenance and love here in our Westminster community in these past months. 

Earlier this summer, as your pastor and member of Muskingum Valley Presbytery, I had the privilege to serve as a Teaching Elder commissioner at the 225th General Assembly. As the vice-moderator of the Theology, Worship and Education Committee, I had the opportunity to engage in the ministry of the larger Church and was reminded that we are not the church on our own... that God works through our many different voices to bring about a world where all can experience wholeness and justice.

In June and July, we enjoyed the fruits of our longstanding partnership with the Ohio Light Opera musicians. Their inspiring vocal and instrumental performances enriched our worship experience. We hosted the very first woodwind chamber concert of an ensemble that just formed this OLO season. How awesome it is to have our imagination broken open to new visions of what the world can become through music and art, and find healing and wholeness, beauty and a renewed sense of purpose! 

Our music ministry at Westminster saw a different cycle come to closure with the end of the summer. On July 31, Dr. Divine Gbagbo, our Minister of Music and Worship Arts (in the top photo), concluded his tenure with Westminster and moved to Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles to begin a full time teaching as Assistant Professor of Music (Ethnomusicology). We are so grateful for the partnership in ministry we shared with Divine this past year, and for the many years of friendship that Westminster enjoyed with him while he was pursuing his advanced degrees.

In September, we will begin a new season in Westminster's music ministry with a celebration. On behalf of the Westminster Session, I'm delighted to welcome Rev. Dr. Tom Shaw as our new Minister of Music (in photo to the right). Tom is a freshly retired United Methodist minister, who is also an experienced organist and pianist, as well as choir director. He lived and served in places ranging from Massachusetts, Iowa, Germany and Tunisia, and most recently Brunswick, Ohio. I look forward to sharing this new chapter of our journey and see where God leads us as we continue to re-envision our music ministry. 

Our educational ministry has taken new wings this summer. We have restarted our book group. We typically meet every 2-3 weeks on Zoom to allow wider participation and easy access to anyone who is interested in discussing topics that relate to deepening our spiritual life. You do not have to be Westminster member! The group brings issues of interest and we are passionate about exploring how to interpret contemporary issues from a faith perspective. We recently finished Elaine Pagels' Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas and are currently reading Mitri Raheb's The Politics of Persecution: Middle Eastern Christians in an Age of Empire. I am grateful for the commitment of our book group members to create a "brave space" (in the words of poet Mickey Scotbey Jones) where there are no wrong questions, and everybody is welcomed to speak their heart. This book study has been a wonderful place to practice vulnerability and compassion and listening with an open heart and mind and being... a true place of learning that fosters community beyond Westminster. 

During the summer, we continued to reach out to our community. We hosted another successful Compassion Camp--the 2.0 edition :) This year, we welcomed a younger, wonderfully energetic and curious group of children who were eager to learn how to show kindness and compassion to each other and to the world. The little ones not only recognized that we all need to learn to love ourselves to be able to show kindness to others, but they demonstrated daily their new learning to one another and to the bigger people around them.

They definitely inspired our Westminster family to strive to be more compassionate and loving neighbors to our wider community. 

The prophet Jeremiah reminds us that God is calling us to seek the wellbeing of the city where we are planted, for in its wellbeing we will find ours (cf. Jeremiah 29:7). This is my prayer for us as we begin this new season. May we continue to nourish and love all in our community as we welcome children coming to the Nursery School and as we prepare our "Welcome Back" dinner for the College of Wooster students. May we be more compassionate and loving neighbors in our worship and in our ministries of compassion and justice, in everything that we do.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Enikö

Highlights From This Month's Session Meeting

The Westminster Session met in August 24, 2022 at 6:30pm. The following are highlights from the meeting:

Clerk’s Report –

Membership on 7/20/2022 – 107

Communion was served to 38 on 7/3/2022 and to 25 on 8/7/2022

Membership on 8/24/2022 – 107

Pastor’s Report

• Feedback about the last month – highlighted the Compassion Camp success
• “Welcome Back” Vegan Dinner with COW students – Thursday, September 15, 6:30pm
• Vacation – August 29 – September 6, 2022

Congregational Life Cohort

Worship Committee:

• Motion 1: Move Communion to September 11, 2022 approved
• Motion 2: Rev. Barbara Johnson will be the guest preacher on September 4, 2022 approved

Education Committee:

• The book group met on July 28 and Aug 18

Congregational Care Committee:

• Continue to reach out to members of the congregation who are in need of support.
• Motion to purchase Ceramic Mugs for use during church functions. Seconded and approved

Mission Cohort

Benevolence Committee:

• “Shuck and Stuff” Congregational Meal Fundraiser on Sunday, Aug. 28 after church along with packing up the CWS School Kits. This is a freewill donation fund raiser, and the money collected will go to the Startzman Clinic for their Encouragement Bundles
• Break the Cycle 12th Annual Event on Saturday, August 27th - Eight bikers and eight walkers are expected to participate

Immigration Justice Committee:

• Open Arms; summer "Kids' Camp" with 28 children and many volunteers was a huge success. We will also discuss how the academic-year tutoring program is doing and how we can assist and offer volunteer opportunities for our members

Property, Finance and Personnel Cohort

Personnel Committee

• Motion to approve new Minister of Music – Rev. Tom Shaw effective September 1, 2022. 

The next Session Meeting will be Wednesday, August 21, 2022 at 6:30 pm in the Lounge.

Respectfully submitted,

Josie Drushal, Clerk of Session

Q & A Gathering with MVP Commissioners

Please join us for a Question and Answer Gathering with our MVP General Assembly (GA) Commissioners via Zoom September 14, 2022 at 7:00 pm.

Here is the Zoom link for the gathering:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83916160644?pwd=aWpHUlU3MG5RWkc0a3ZZTWFWZkFBZz09

Meeting ID: 839 1616 0644

Passcode: 819389

Eniko Ferenczy is a Teaching Elder Commissioner.

Cathy Bigler (Church of the Covenant, Canton) is a Ruling Elder Commissioner

Muskingum Valley Presbytery Contact Changes 

• mvpjourney@gmail.com will be discontinued as of September 1, 2022

• Matt's new email is matt@mvpresby.org

• Their new web domain is at www.mvpresby.org

• Na's email address is: na@mvpresby.org. This address will serve as the general email account for MVP

• Na will be based in Ashland. Therefore, starting in August, please mail your per capita, gifts, and other contributions toward our common mission of the presbytery to:

Muskingum Valley Presbytery

c/o First Presbyterian Church of Ashland

320 Church Street

Ashland, OH 44805

COW Students Welcome Back!

We are beginning the planning for our first vegan dinner of the 2022-2023 school year. It is scheduled for September 15 at 6:30 pm in Mackey Hall.  

We welcome any help you are able to provide by signing up here for "set-up", "clean-up" or a vegan dish. Thank you for helping us welcome back the students.

What To Do with Extra

Garden Veggies!

As fall approaches, the Benevolence Committee is preparing to make Hearty Italian Soup for our Annual Winter Soup Sale.

If you have extra vegetables,

here is what we will need:

• Zucchini or yellow squash—cut into 1/2 inch cubes, 6 cups per freezer bag 
• Bell peppers, any color—cut into 1/2 inch cubes, 3 cups per freezer bag
• Whole tomatoes—Sherry Hatter-Miller will can them for us
• Fresh whole carrots, onions and garlic—we will dice these when we make the soup in October
• Plastic quart containers with lids

Please put bagged squash and peppers in the freezer at the back of the church kitchen. If you have other extra fruits or vegetables, please bring them to church any Sunday morning to share with the congregation. 

Monetary donations received for the fund-raiser

will be used to buy what we can not grow—

Italian sausage, chicken broth, orzo, parmesan cheese and wine

Any questions? Please reach out to Lemoine Peart

330-624-7506 or lwmn@bright.net.

Thank you for supporting our annual fund raiser!

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.

In addition for our support of the Free Clinic, we will be having a harvest themed luncheon after church on Sunday August 28 with corn dishes being the featured food of the day!   During this time, we will also be filling the bags with school supplies that we are collecting for distribution by the Church World Service.

It might sound corny but please plan on attending our "Shuck and Stuff" Event on August 28th. You are welcome to bring a corn related dish if desired

This will benefit the Startzman Clinic's Encouragement Bundles to help fund the collection of items including chapstick, candles, blankets and books.

Bottle Caps to Benches Update

Juli Douglass-Gillespie is taking a summer break this month so we will provide you with an update from the Fall 2022 Newsletter from The Wilderness Center on the "Bottle Caps to Benches" initiative that Juli our church involved in.

Based on the The Wilderness Center's end date of September 23 for collection, our church will stop collecting as of September 7 in order to meet their end date.

Please click here to see the exciting response to this program.

Westminster Book Group

The Westminster Book Group welcomes all! 

We are currently reading Mitri Raheb's The Politics of Persecution: Middle Eastern Christians in an Age of Empire.

Our next meeting will be on

Thursday, September 8 at 7:00pm.

At this meeting we will cover Chapters 3 through 5.

There are no wrong questions. We honor each other by creating space for openness and vulnerability. 

We are meeting online to make it accessible for everyone. Here is the Zoom link for the gathering:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88403318289?pwd=MVh1cit4L2o3VGxNK1B1TXNMcjlqZz09

Meeting ID: 884 0331 8289

Passcode: WPC353

Later this summer, we will also be reading The Book of Hope by Jane Goodall.

Feel free to invite friends. Hope you join us to share about life and faith...

our passions and struggles!

September & October

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. 

We need a liturgist for September 4 to assist our guest preacher.

Please sign up!



Thank you for your contribution to our worship service.

Westminster's Mail Call

This month we received the following communications:

Thank You from Open Arms 

Hartville Migrant Council

Viola Startzman

Habitat for Humanity

OutSupport

CAMO in Focus May-June Report

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.

*************

COW UPDATE August 2: The college has issued the following

Masking Requirement: 

"Out of an abundance of caution, while we have an influx of people moving back to campus this fall, well-fitting, high quality masks 

will be required in all public spaces by all 

students, employees, and guests from August 17 to August 30."

Church Office Hours

Tuesday - Friday, 8:30 am - 1:30 pm

Church Office closed September 6th and the entire week of September 12th