From the Pastor's Desk

After Easter, we rapidly shift gears from Christ’s life-on-earth to Christ’s life-in-us and the origins of the early church in Acts. It is a time when we look at our own Christian fellowship and re-invest in the relationships among one another. This year we are focusing our attention on the ways that the different generations live together in peace as one congregational family. Heidi Miller from Center 50+ will be joining us in worship to reflect on how we build community and nurture our village through different stages in life. You won’t want to miss her! 

First Sundays 4 Families

Starting this week (and continuing on the first Sunday of each month) you will see an increase in the number of family-friendly elements during our First Sunday worship services. This Sunday look for:

• A lively children’s story from our resident librarian, Susan Ray.
• A special note from Pastor Kelly for the children when they come forward for communion.
• A surprise book for our families from the ushers when they depart the sanctuary.
• An all-ages service project during coffee hour assembling food packs for our unsheltered friends.

My own family will be on vacation April 6-13 for a time of rest and reconnection after Easter. I look forward to rejoining y'all on April 14. 

Power to the peaceful,

Pastor Kelly

Looking Ahead

April 13 @ 9 am: Birdhouse Installation Event

April 17, 9-5: Lifeline Screening (more info/sign up here)

April 20 @ 9 am: Native Plants Planting Event

May 5, 9-11 am: Youth Geranium Sale

May 13, 1-6 pm: Red Cross Blood Drive

May 19 @ 11 am: Congregational Meeting

Access the full church calendar here. To add or correct something, please email office@salemwestpres.org.

Save the date! Vacation Bible Camp: August 26-30

Registration for kids kindergarten through 5th grade opens soon. If you would like to help in any way, please contact Terri Crall (tcrall71@gmail.com).

Opportunities

Youth Geranium Sale is back! We are so happy to offer you Peterson Nursery's BEAUTIFUL individual geraniums AND mix colored floral baskets (petunia and other mixed florals) for pre-order!!!

The baskets are different this year, but I've been told by the owner that every time people order one, when they see it, they usually ask for a few more! 

Flowers are $6 each and hanging baskets are $30 each.

Flowers can be picked up on Sunday morning, May 5 from 9-11:00 AM.

Delivery is available for $10 if necessary.

Pre-Orders are due by April 18.

We will have a limited amount for sale out front at Westminster on Sunday, May 5. Please make checks payable to Westminster Presbyterian Church with "Youth Missions" on the memo. Fill out your order form here. Questions? Talk to Vik (vik@salemwestpres.org).

Earth Month Opportunities

On Saturday, April 13 from 9:00 to about 12:00 you have an opportunity to help the Building and Grounds team install songbird houses on the church property. No particular skills involved; can do everything from handing screws to an installer to driving posts into the ground. All are welcome to help make our property attractive to songbirds.

Attend an online ecumenical Earth day service April 19, 2024 at 9 am. Drawing on Creation Justice's resource, "Plastic Jesus: Real Faith in a Synthetic World", this service will lead participants into a time of contemplation and prayer while considering the prophetic actions we might take on behalf of God's creation. Rev. Caleb Haynes, author of Garbage Theology, will preach, and the service will include new music commissioned for Earth Day. Register here.

On Saturday, April 20 from 9:00 to 11:00, you could help the Building and Grounds team plant shrubs along the Liberty Street side of the property. These plantings will include Oregon grape, camas, and kinnikinnick as recommended by the Marion County Soil and Water Urban Habitat people who walked the property with church representatives about six weeks ago. They are part of a broader program to remove invasive species and make the property more inviting to wildlife.

Thanks--2023 Peace & Global Witness Donations

Our total donations for the Peace & Global Witness Fund (collected in October) amounted to $1,566. Three-fourths of that amount is sent to Presbytery and General Assembly and the remainder, which amounted to $391.50, is retained by Westminster for local missions. The Mission/Peace/Eco-Justice Committee had designated these funds to further aid in forest fire relief from the 2020 fires. With the help of Presbytery in locating areas still in need, the MPEJ committee decided that the McKenzie Valley Presbyterian Church would receive our funds to assist in the rebuilding of the Vida McKenzie Community Center, which is used by the entire area including McKenzie Valley Pres. You may recall that area, known as the Holiday Farm Fires, was totally destroyed and then suffered more damage in the following winter ice storms of 2021. After reading of their needs, the MPEJ Committee also decided to increase our donation to $500 with $108.50 of funds from the budgeted Mission Expense Account.

A bit of history: John Najarian, Westminster's second pastor, was pastor at the Leaburg and Walterville Presbyterian churches before coming to Westminster. Leaburg and Walterville later joined to become the McKenzie Valley Presbyterian Church.

Give

April is child abuse prevention month, and this year Westminster is an official drop site for the Les Schwab diaper drive, which benefits Family Building Blocks, a local organization that partners with at-risk families to keep children safe and families together. Help us fill the pack-n-play in the narthex with diapers and wipes through the end of the month. 

Pam Garland and I are very much looking forward to the May 13 blood drive at Westminster (since I missed the last one in March). Wow, we are up to 19 appointments filled out of a total of 39 available. And this is about 5 weeks from the drive! We know that Westminster congregants are very willing to step forward to give their blood when the (blood drive) chips are down. You folks are awesome!

We’re on a mission to help save lives with the Red Cross! Roll up a sleeve with other congregation members (as well as the greater community members who also join us) to give blood on May 13, 2024 from 1:00pm to 6:00pm at Westminster Presbyterian Church. The need for blood is constant. For some reason fewer people are giving blood than usual. We are especially in need of "double red or Power Red" blood donors who give two units of red cells. If you are an eligible type O, A negative or B negative donor please consider this type of donation.  

As a donor I give only Power Red which can be done only every 112 days minimum (so you have an excuse to donate less frequently if that is important to you!!). It takes just a bit longer to donate this way, and I come away feeling more perky and refreshed than if I have given a pint of whole blood. This is due to the fact that all of your platelets and plasma are returned to you along with some saline; you don’t lose the liquid portion of your blood and may feel more hydrated after your donation.

Please join us! Call me at the number below if you would like instructions on using the Red Cross Apple or Android app to sign up.  

Regards,

Bill N. and Pam G. 

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Bill Nelson - 

bnelson@pacificomm.net

Voice-Voicemail-Text: (503) 576-1278

Westminster Presbyterian Church