We are glad that you are here this morning. We hope this time of worship nurtures
your faith enlivens your spirit and engages your mind as we celebrate God’s
love and healing for the world with the resurrection of Christ, our Risen Lord.

Before you begin, remember to download and print the 06.18.23 – Bulletin

Then grab your Bible, a cup of tea, or coffee, and prepare your heart for worship.

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READ THE SERMON

June 18, 2023 | 3rd Sunday after Pentecost

Rev. Chip Roland

“TBA”

Abraham probably had no clue that God was standing before him as he lounged through the hottest part of the day.  When he called the Lord lord and took care of His and His traveling companions’ needs he wasn’t acting a a worshipful religious man, but a meticulously hospitable one.  This aspect of the story had honestly never occurred to me.  It took a commentator, Terance Fretheim in the New Interpreter’s Bible to point it out.  Sure, I knew that Abraham’s hospitality is a major theme of the narrative, but that it was performed with no particular reason to believe it could be repaid or implied danger at turning away the travelers changes the tenner of the narrative.  Likewise, the households who welcomed the disciples, hungry, unprepared and unarmed could not have anticipated what they would bring.  Sometimes the stranger we welcome comes with what we need.  God brought Sarah and Abraham new life in Issac, the disciples brought new life in the healing and transformation of the Kingdom of Heaven.  Part of hospitality is humility.  It is the willingness to imagine that we are greater together, are greater in a community that we are separate and protected.

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“As a newcomer to Westminster,  I’ve found it to be a most welcoming fellowship.  I look forward to going to services and events and find the warmth of the congregation to be most helpful to a newcomer to the entire area.  I find sermons challenging … music beautiful and well prepared … and a dignity in the worship that is all too lacking in most Protestant congregations.  Mix this with an open atmosphere where it is OK to question and still be seen as a good Christian, and I know I’ve found one important ‘home’ in Central Illinois.”