Sunday, August 30 at 11:00AM
Come welcome Rev. Nicole Bates and celebrate with the entire Westminster Community as old and new friends and families are invited to join us from the Devonshire Neighborhood, Westminster Preschool & Kindergarten, Mabuhay Fellowship, Boy Scouts, Westminster Dog Park and Community Garden, Sunday @ 5, Next 2 Grace and Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church. Preschool age childcare will be available. Contact the church office if you need transportation.

Father, Creator of all, thank you for summer!
Thank you for the warmth of the sun and the increased daylight.
Thank you for the beauty I see all around me
          and for the opportunity to be outside and enjoy your creation.
Thank you for the increased time I have to be with my friends and family,
          and for the more casual pace of the summer season.
Draw me closer to you this summer.
Teach me how I can pray no matter where I am or what I am doing.
Warm my soul with the awareness of your presence 
          and light my path with your word and counsel.
As I enjoy your creation,
      create in me a pure heart and hunger and a thirst for you. Amen.

Free me, Lord Jesus from anything that obstructs my way to you.  Clear away the clutter of petty grudges.  Remove smudges of resentment and bitterness.  Cleanse me of thoughts filled with anger, envy, or self-pity.

Create space in my life for more kindness and less spitefulness, greater generosity and few self-centered needs, stronger compassion and weakened judgment of others.

Enlarge my heart with a spirit of gratitude this Lent, so that I recognize the simple gifts that lay in abundance all around me.

In your sacred name, I pray.  Amen.

Life Everywhere

This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. – Psalm 118:24

The beginning of winter is a time when we yearn for the brighter days of fall.  As we go for walks, we remember the warmer wind and the green ground signaling life.  But in the gray days of winter as snow falls, we sometimes forget about the life that is still ever present around us, buried beneath the snow.

This passage from the psalmist calls us to remember that in each day the Lord has made there is much for us to appreciate.  Even in the darker days of winter, we can still find new life.  God has blessed us with new life all around from the crocuses growing in the snow to the sound of the birds searching for food to eat.  We just need to take time to search for the new life that is hidden from our sight.

Action Step:  Go for a walk and search for something that makes you glad today.

God, help me to see something to rejoice in each day.  Amen

Entry in These Days - Daily Devotions for Living By Faith

Welcome to our blog.  Contrary to what you might think, the picture above was not taken at a recent Westminster Session meeting.  Being a congregation of the Presbyterian Church, USA, we embrace the role of women in the leadership of our church.  You will also find far fewer mustaches and more smiles among our members. The picture actually depicts the one hundred and twenty-one Puritan clergymen who met at Westminster Abbey in 1643 to discuss, debate and reduce their thoughts to writings that would serve to reform the Church of England. The Westminster Confession of Faith was one of these writings. The Confession still serves as one of the standard texts of the Church of Scotland, and it remains influential within Presbyterian churches across the world, including our own.

Oscar Wilde said that "an idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all."  Indeed, what would our world be like without dangerous ideas such as: "All men are created equal," "Love your neighbor as yourself," or "Wine is constant proof that God loves us and loves to see us happy." Not all ideas are big or world changing, but Presbyterians generally like to share ideas and Westminster is no different. If you've spent some time with us, you already know that we like discussion and we make room for differences of opinion and even doubts.  We are a safe place to wonder aloud about the mysteries of this world and the God we all want to understand better. We hope you will find our posts to be interesting, insightful and sometimes humorous. Please check back often and consider dropping by some Sunday to share your "dangerous ideas" with us in person.