WELCOME to Westminster Church Online!

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 10.30.22 – Bulletin – 125 Anniv. Reformation
Then grab your Bible, a cup of tea or coffee, and prepare your heart for worship.

If this is your first Sunday with us, welcome! We’re glad you choose to worship with us.
Please take a moment to fill out the online Friendship Form and let us know.

We’d love to know you joined us. Please take a moment to fill out the Friendship Form found below.

READ THE SERMON

October 30, 2022 – 21st Sunday after Pentecost
Rev. Denise Clark-Jones

“Grace, Generosity and Reformation”

Appropriately, on this day when we celebrate our church’s past, the psalmist tells us that one finds happiness in life from having one’s past sins be wiped away by God’s forgiveness. Because the Church has always been made up of people who sin like us, our confessions are both individual and communal. The Protestant Reformation began as an attempt to amend the Roman Church’s past and present abuses and exploitations of its members. In our epistle reading from 2 Thessalonians, the congregation there is praised for growing in faith and love, despite hardship and suffering. In our gospel reading from Luke, we meet Zacchaeus, a despised tax collector. Jesus shocks the crowd, who came to hear him preach, by seeking out the tax collector, honoring him by going to his home and affirming God’s love for him. Like the psalmist, Zacchaeus understands it is through forgiveness and repentance that we are saved for a closer relationship with God and one another.

Let us know that you joined us by filling out the Friendship Form below.
Then share with us your favorite part of today’s online worship experience!
Whether that was something from the music or the message, we’d love to hear.
Visit our Facebook to let us know.

Almighty and merciful God, it is only by your gift that your faithful people offer you true and laudable service: Grant that we may run without stumbling to obtain your heavenly promises; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

“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.”