Come worship with us
We worship inside at 10 AM on Sunday mornings; the service also streams on Facebook live. The links below and our Facebook page are (usually) updated every week so you can access the service from home. Watch for emails with the latest updates and instructions.
Join us on Sunday, December 15th, in person or by clicking here
The bulletin for the service is here
Masks are optional at all indoor services and events at the church
Older service videos may be found here and on our Facebook page
The most recent WHISTLER is here; older WHISTLERs may be found here
Video and audio of sermons, service music, and prayer times may be found here
More music, poems, and other offerings for the COVID era may be found here
Music made at West West for pre-COVID services may be found here
Several centuries of sacred music made elsewhere may be found here
The work of Christian activists, writers, and poets
(of our time and other times) may be found here
You can make a contribution to the church through PayPal here:
When you click on the button and are connected to your PayPal page, please remember to
“add a note” to let the church know the purpose of your donation: whether it’s
a pledge payment,a donation to the building fund or to the manna offering,
or something else
Who are we?
We are a small band of progressive Christians supporting each other as we try to live as disciples of Jesus. We seek to learn from him, to follow and love him, and to live that love by loving the people Jesus loved – the lost, the last and the least.
We seek to be a blessing to all of God’s creation, to promote peace wherever we can, to work together with people of other faiths and of no faith. We believe that no matter who you are or where you are on your journey, you should be made welcome.
We try to live by that faith, to make our church a sanctuary in every way: a space for worship, a place of safety, and a place where souls are nourished and prepared for their work in the world. We think God is doing remarkable things here in Westminster West, and we’d love to have you be part of it.
What is our congregation like?
The United Church of Christ comes out of the Reformed (or Calvinist) tradition; our congregation is made up of people from that tradition and many others–we don’t require a particular test of faith. Not many of us take the Bible literally, but all of us take it seriously. As members of the United Church of Christ, we believe that God is still speaking, and that we need “ears to hear” that word. We believe that God’s wisdom comes to us through Scripture, but also through art and music, through conflict and joy, and on many other paths.
What are our services like?
We value serious thought and true diversity, to help us face shared questions and insights. We love silence as much as music or the word. Although our style of worship is notably informal (and although we believe God has a sense of humor and try not to take ourselves too seriously), our services seek to worship and honor God in every way. Our preachers follow the Narrative Lectionary, a four-year cycle of readings that begins with the Hebrew Scriptures and leads us through readings from the Prophets, Gospels, and Epistles.
For some time, we had no pastor; we all led worship and many of us preached. Some of us still do, but in 2002 we called Susie Webster-Toleno to be our pastor, and she continues to lead us today. We’re grateful for her rare loyalty, her challenging leadership, and her unfailing support of the life of our congregation.
Come worship with us!
Music is central to our worship experience. We sing hymns mostly from the New Century Hymnal, occasionally from the Pilgrim Hymnal or the Sacred Harp or from the Taizé community. Our choir is a talented pick-up ensemble; they meet at 9 am on Sunday to learn new music and then sing it as the anthem during the service at 10. The anthem can be anything from Bach and Palestrina to Ellington and Amidon, from folk and gospel to jazz and world music. New voices are always welcome. The music our musicians play for preludes and postludes is similarly wide-ranging.
We celebrate Holy Communion on the first Sunday of each month. The scriptures tell us that Jesus spent a good deal of his ministry feeding people and welcoming even the unlikeliest of followers, so we keep an open table: All who wish to share in the bread and cup are welcome.
Thinking of joining us for a service?
You’ll find answers to some frequently asked questions here.
Want to know more about what inspires us?
Here are some useful links and resources posted by our pastor and members of the congregation:
things that inspire us and that might inspire you.
And lest we forget–you can still get copies of our church cookbook, Beyond Soup Night: Recipes from West West for only $25. It’s the congregation’s answer to all the requests for recipes from Soup Nights over the years–most of the soup recipes are there, along with a lot of others. If you come to the Fair, you can order a copy along with your dinner, or add a copy to your winning Silent Auction bid and we’ll get it to you along with the treasure you scored.
